The secrets of THE PARIS LIBRARIAN

This post was first published on the fantastic Jungle Red Writers blog, yesterday August 24, 2016.

I wanted to post it here, too, since I think it's a good look behind the creation of THE PARIS LIBRARIAN, my latest novel in the Hugo Marston series.

Enjoy!

There are two stories that lie between the pages of THE PARIS LIBRARIAN. One makes me cry, the other makes me laugh.

Shall we start with the tears? Good, so let me present a nice photo of a gentleman called Michael Harmuth. He’s with his daughter Sarah, who happens to be a book seller in Wisconsin, and her daughter, Scout. 

Well, early last year Sarah wrote to me and said that her dad, Michael, was a fan of the Hugo series. But she said Michael had cancer and was unlikely to live until the next book in the series was released (THE RELUCTANT MATADOR) in June.

Was there any way I could get an advanced copy to him? she wondered.

Now, my own father was taken by the pestilence that is cancer so, obviously, my answer was heck yes. I asked my publisher to send me an ARC, and I wrote a wee note in it, signed it, and sent it to Michael.

That started a wee conversation between the two of us, and he kept me informed as to his progress with the book. He said he was reading it slowly, so as not to get to the end too fast. As you might imagine, that email had me reaching for the tissues.

Turns out Michael enjoyed the book, which I’d been hoping for desperately. And I didn’t want the last page to be the end of Michael’s association with Hugo so I wrote to him and asked, “How would you like to be a character in the next book?”

He loved the idea and, even though I’ve put the names of other people I know in books, he’s the only one I’ve let choose his role. Good guy, bad, guy, red herring, eye-witness… whatever he so desired.

And now, of course, I must remain tight-lipped for fear of giving anything away. Suffice to say, even though Michael is no longer with us, he lives on in Hugo’s world, and in Paris no less!

Now for the laugh, which comes in the form of a “truth is stranger than fiction” guffaw. As you might be able to tell from the title, Hugo’s latest adventure takes place in and around the American Library in Paris.

 Now, back in 2015, once I formulate the idea for the story, I email the good people there and ask rather boldly: “Hello, do you mind if I kill someone in your library?”

Not even hours later I receive a resounding “Yes!!” and an invitation to tour the place. Now, I’m not one to turn down a visit to Paris, so my wife and I hop on a plane to spend a week in our favorite city. And this is where the story gets somewhat amusing.

When we show up to the library, librarians Audrey and Abigail are there to show us around. They start with the front, the circulation area, then lead us through the stacks. At the back of the building, they both stop and when I look past them I see a set of stairs leading down, roped off.

“What’s down there?” I ask.

“Err, the basement. We store books down there.”

“Can I see?”

Nervous glances between them, and a hesitant response. “Well, I guess that’d be OK.”

“Oh, is there a problem?”

“Umm, no real problem. It’s just... a little creepy down there.”

Which, as you know, is precisely what a mystery author wants to hear.

So we head down and it is creepy, slightly dim and musty. I tell them about the book in progress, and explain that I’ll have a character who dies early in a locked room. Audrey says, “Oh, that’s funny, we have a small room down here. We call it the atelier, you can see it.”

Sure enough, there’s the tiny little room for my poor, unsuspecting victim to die in. 

We poke around downstairs a little more and I disappear down a short hallway near the foot of the stairs. To my right is a small boiler room, but to my left is a door. In the wall. It blends in and you could walk right by it.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“Oh.” That hesitation again. “It’s our secret door.”

Are you kidding me?? I thought that, didn’t say it. Not like that, anyway. Instead I ask mildly, “Oh, do tell.”

Turns out it’s their door into the American University, which takes up the majority of that block. A door they’re not allowed to use because, well, it’s kind of their secret.

“Do you happen to have a key?” I ask.

They side-eye each other. “We do but we’re not allowed to....”

My raised eyebrow stops them, and one of the women heads upstairs for the key.

Now, you know what I’m thinking. It’s a possible escape avenue for my killer, right? But that requires lots of people to have access to the key, and what are the odds of that given that it’s to a secret door? But I ask anyway.

“Only the library staff and volunteers can access the key,” they assure me.

“And how many...?”

“Maybe ten staff and, in the course of a year,” Abigail thinks for a second, “maybe a hundred volunteers.”

I grin like a chimpanzee. “Perfect.”

Later, as I wrapped the book up, it struck me that these coincidences might appear too good to be true, too contrived. So I actually put an author’s note in the front of the book pointing out that the library does have a secret door!

And this made me wonder if my fellow writers ever came across situations like this, when their research came up with something almost too perfect... or if readers ever stumbled over something in a novel, not believing it at first but then finding out it was true?

Oh, and you’re probably wondering if I went through the secret door that afternoon. I will tell you that had I done so and admitted it in writing, my librarian friends might have got in trouble.

So here I am, admitting nothing in writing...

DEAD WAKE - a book review

When I started this blog I tried to review a book or two a month, I called it Thriller Thursday. Remember that? Go on, click on the label, you'll see.

Well guess what? It's Thursday! Only now I'm doing something different in that I wanted to let you know about a non-fiction book I just read. In truth, it might just be the best non-fiction book I've ever read. Seriously.

It's called: DEAD WAKE, The Last Crossing Of The Lusitania, by Erik Larson. Here's a cute girl holding my copy:

The Lusitania is one of those things we learn about in history, and vaguely connect it to America's entrance into WW1. But what makes this book so incredible is that Larson tells the story from ground-level, from the perspectives of those involved. Sure, world events are wrapped around those tales but for goodness sake, we even see things from the view of the submarine that sank the ship! Not to mention the Lusitania's captain and numerous passengers and crew.

Anyway, here's the Amazon summary:

"On May 1st, 1915 the Lusitania set sail on its final voyage. That it was sunk by a German U-boat will be news to few—and Larson’s challenge is to craft a historical narrative leading up to the thrilling, if known, conclusion, building anticipation in his readers along the way. To his credit, he makes the task look easy. Focusing on the politics of WWI, on nautical craftsmanship and strategy, and on key players in the eventual attack and sinking of the “fast, comfortable, and beloved” Lusitania, Larson once again illustrates his gift for seducing us with history and giving it a human face. Dead Wake puts readers right aboard the famous Cunard liner and keeps them turning the pages until the book’s final, breathless encounter."

And look, you can go a million places to read reviews of it. I'm posting my own few words because I was so blown away by the book. Only twice in the past few years have I read an entire book in one weekend, and in fact DEAD WAKE took me slightly more than a day.

Not only is it immaculately researched but it reads like an adventure novel. Which, in fact, does it a disservice because it's also emotionally compelling. When I finished reading about the sinking itself, the lives lost and the descriptions of those in the water, the portrayal of that horrible twenty or so minutes, I had to put the book down and walk away.

Only for about ten minutes though, the story is so powerful I had to get back to it.

So if you're looking for an amazing non-fiction read, heck even if you're not, get this book. You won't regret it. Bloody marvelous.

A book recommendation: DANTE'S WOOD, by Lynne Raimondo

Time to dust this place off and give you some useful information. Like, for when you're headed to the pool and plan to drink 'ritas and read something awesome.

Try this: DANTE'S WOOD, by Lynne Raimondo.

Booklist summarizes the plot thusly:

"Still reeling from a late-onset genetic disorder that’s left him blind, Windy City psychiatrist Mark Angelotti is assigned to assess Charlie Dickerson, a developmentally disabled youth allegedly molested by a teacher.

"Just days after dismissing the allegation, Angelotti is shocked to learn that Charlie has confessed to the teacher’s murder. When the defense hires him to testify on Charlie’s behalf, Angelotti’s colossal ego rears itself in a sparring match with the prosecution that gravely wounds the case.

"Motivated by guilt, barely acknowledged curiosity about the world of the disabled, and the aforementioned ego, Angelotti begins his own hunt for the killer."

The cover:

My opinion:

I was amazed to see a main character who's blind. Honestly, I didn't think Raimondo would be able to pull it off and so I was enthralled to see if she could. (I mean, your reader normally sees the world through your MC's eyes, so how the heck...?!?) And a murder-mystery blind MC????

Well, I was wrong, she was right. The characterization, actually, was one of the best things for me. The MC has just the right balance of bitterness, anger, hope, and resolve to really make him real. I was truly impressed.  The plot, too, never let go of you. It's one of those where, part way through, you think to yourself, "Oh, wait, I think I know who..." and then ten pages further on you realize  you were wrong, but think it all over again.

As someone who tries to put a little of the location in my books, I also really appreciated some good glimpses of Chicago in the novel. Another thing that stood out to me, so well done.

Her second book just came out, called DANTE'S POISON. That allows me to pay the author the best compliment I pay any series, which is to say that based on the excellentness of the first, I'm buying the new one. I suggest you do the same.

Three Graves Full

Every now and again I will recommend a book to you, but very rarely will I do a full book review. Mostly that's because I'm short on time and this isn't a book-review blog.

Today is different.

The book is THREE GRAVES FULL by Jamie Mason. For ease of reading, I'll divide this review into three sections: (1) story summary, (2) my review (3) disclaimer (I know that's not normal, but read on and you'll see).

Before I begin, I'll let you know that this is one book that you can judge by its cover, which I just love.

Right, let's begin:

(1) Story summary (from Amazon):

There is very little peace for a man with a body buried in his backyard.
 
But it could always be worse. . . .

More than a year ago, mild-mannered Jason Getty killed a man he wished he’d never met. Then he planted the problem a little too close to home. But just as he’s learning to live with the undeniable reality of what he’s done, police unearth two bodies on his property—neither of which is the one Jason buried.

Jason races to stay ahead of the consequences of his crime, and while chaos reigns on his lawn, his sanity unravels, snagged on the agendas of a colorful cast of strangers. A jilted woman searches for her lost fiancé, a fringe dweller runs from a past that’s quickly gaining on him, and a couple of earnest local detectives piece clues together with the help of a volunteer police dog—all in the shadow of a dead man who had it coming. As the action unfolds, each character discovers that knowing more than one side of the story doesn't necessarily rule out a deadly margin of error.



(2) My review:

The story: I read a lot of crime fiction, and as you know I write it, too. Originality, true originality, is rare but we have it here. Once an author comes up with a unique premise like this, the reader is inevitably going to be hooked and I was. It's a clever double-hook, too, with Jason's body in the back yard and two unknown ones in the front--that's two mysteries that the reader wants to investigate.

Having hooked me, the plot continued to pull me along, not because the author throws in manufactured twists (which can be annoying) but because the story flowed like a river (one of those white-water, excitingly bubbly ones) and I couldn't help but find myself on the cusp of another disaster and desperate to know how it turned out. But also, the characters...

The characters:  here's a challenge: write a story where the main character is a wimp. How do you hold the reader's interest when your central figure is kind of a passive, soft-spined, scaredy-cat? Well, you write this book. See, the other characters become extensions of him, moulding his mind and actions and pressing him into activities that create conflict, which is the essence of a good book. And those surrounding characters are themselves original, interesting, and real.

The other thing that happens, is that you as the reader start to donate spine to the main man. I felt anger on behalf of Jason as one of the characters bullied him, and Jason's flaws let me root for him when I wasn't directly identifying with him.

I reserve a special nod for one character, though, because Mason manages to pull off something that normally irritates me, something that will by itself make me put down a book and roll my eyes. See, there's a dog in the book, Tessa, a dog you come to love very much and Mason tells part of the story (a small part) from Tessa's point of view. Not only did she pull that off, but left me wishing more of the story came from Tessa's POV. (That said, it wouldn't have made sense to do so, I just love how she did it.)

The writing: I probably should have started with this, because the writing was perhaps the greatest pleasure for me. This book has been billed as a kind of Coen brothers movie in book form. I happen to think that's an apt description because this book has a literary flair that elevates it above others in the genre. I've seen reviews calling THREE GRAVES FULL literary and I concur. Paragraph after paragraph, page after page, I reveled in the beauty of the language. Mason has a way with words that, as a writer, delights you and makes you envious, and as a reader is beyond charming. Think of a book as a meal, with the plot as the recipe, the characters as the ingredients, and the writing as the process of combining those two and cooking. Mason is a master chef.


(3) The Disclaimer:

This is Jamie Mason:

I know Jamie Mason. I offered to read and review her book because she's a friend. Understand, though, that such an offer trails behind it an invisible but very real ripple of trepidation. What if I hate the book? What do I do and say then?  Well, I'll tell you: what I don't do in that case is write a long, slobbering review raving about it. I only do that when I love the book, which as you can tell happens to be the case. Now, I haven't said this to Jamie, though I know she's felt the same as a writer and reviewer, but about nine sentences in I experienced a huge wave of relief (and in this case excitement) when it became clear that she could really write.  And believe me, she can really, really write.

If you want to know more about her and her work, check out these links:

Her web site:  http://www.jamie-mason.com/
Her blog: http://jamiemason.wordpress.com/
The writing site she co-run: http://authorscoop.com/
Her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JamieMason.writer

The best news possible!

Okay, so I suppose there could be better news somewhere, but not around here:

Today I signed contracts for a three-book deal with Seventh Street Books (the new mystery imprint for the well-established Prometheus Books).

My first novel is called THE BOOKSELLER, and is set in Paris. I hope to have a website up and running before too long where you can read a synopsis.

Hey, I guess this means I can interview myself, right?!

Actually, the book won't be out for about a year, publishing is kind of slow, but a three-book deal means I have plenty to do in the meantime!

As you might imagine, I'm pretty excited about this. <---- understatement


BTW, I'm adding one of the pics I had taken by a great photographer that I hope to use on my eventual website. He managed to obliterate some of my ugliness, which takes true talent!

Author interview: Jennifer Hillier

I want to introduce you to a new author, a hugely talented thriller writer whose new book is brilliantly titled CREEP. I mean seriously, how perfect is that for a thriller?

I interviewed her via a series of emails, a more conversational back-and-forth. I did that because she has an amazing website and a blog, and most of my usual questions are answered there.

So without further ado. . . Jennifer Hillier:


You have a book coming out, called CREEP. July right? What's it about?

CREEP is a psychological thriller about a popular college professor who is stalked and terrorized by her teaching assistant. Whew! I’m getting better at my elevator pitch. This is my first novel and it will be out very soon – July 5!

That was way too coy... but we'll send people to your website to get more. Where did this idea come from? Were you a teacher? A stalker?

Ha, neither, but I did spend a few years working in the Registrar's offices of a couple different universities, which inspired the setting for CREEP. And I've always been fascinated by worst-case scenarios. What if you cheated on your boyfriend? That's bad, obviously. But what if you cheated on your boyfriend with Hannibal Lecter? That's about as bad - and scary - as it gets.

No kidding. Anything to do with Hannibal Lecter is worst-case-scenario! So how long from coming up with the idea to the finished product? And then how long to get an agent? And then how long to get a book deal? I've found that there's as much waiting as writing in this business, has that been your experience?

Oh, definitely. Like you said, it’s a business, which you don’t necessarily think about as you’re writing and focusing on being creative. There’s a lot of “Hurry up and wait!”

It took me 14 months to write the novel (I wrote a total of 7 drafts). I queried for 3 months, sending out almost 100 queries, half of which were rejected. After I signed with my agent, we worked on another 2 revisions before subbing to editors (which took 3 months), and then the book sold 2 months after we went on sub.

So, to summarize, I started writing the book in August 2008 and the book sold in June 2010. I can’t believe that was almost a year ago. Since then, I’ve worked on a round of edits with my editor, another round of edits with my copyeditor (he kicked my ass), and another two rounds of hardcopy edits. And here I thought I’d have it easy once the book was contracted!

As a business, will you be doing a lot of marketing? Do you like that side of it? Or are you one of those live-in-a-cabin reclusive writers?!

I would love to be a reclusive writer, but unfortunately I don't think that's realistic for any debut novelist these days. I don't particularly enjoy marketing and promo, but it's an important part of the job. I'll have to talk about the book next week at ThrillerFest, so somehow I'm going to have to get over my shyness between now and then! I do enjoy talking about writing in general, though, so conversations like this one are fun.

What about research, is that something you do much of in person? Do you like it? What's the most fun research thing you've done...?

Research can definitely be fun. For the new book (which will hopefully be out in the summer of 2012), I spent an afternoon at the Washington Corrections Center for Women. I interviewed the Superintendent and was able to tour the prison. It was an eye-opening experience, sad and strange all at the same time. For CREEP, I mainly drew on my experiences from my own university days, and read as much as I could about serial killers.

Ah, so you have an interest in serial killers, too? Why do you think that is? (I'm with you, by the way, absolutely fascinated by them...)

You are a kindred spirit. I think the fascination stems from the fact that serial killers are just wired so differently from regular, non-murdering people. They don't follow the same rules that we do, and they don't care that they're breaking the rules. It makes them fun to write...but I wouldn't want to live next door to one!

Well then, without getting too specific (don't want to give my serial killer readers ideas) tell us where you do live, and what kinds of things keep you busy when you're not writing.

I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, about forty minutes outside Seattle. Been here for going on four years now (I’m originally from Toronto, Canada) and it’s finally grown on me. I’ve discovered that the rain is good for writing!

As for what I do when I’m not writing, I read a lot (my fave authors are Stephen King and Jeffery Deaver), I watch a lot of movies (last one I saw was Super 8 – loved it!) and I hunt for new restaurants to try. I also love tennis. I’m watching Wimbledon right now.

I left England because of the rain, so you're a braver woman than I am. You're a braver woman than I am a man. Brave man. I'm not a brave man. Shoot, you know what I mean. :) Anyway, you mentioned a new book. What's it called (if you can share!) and what's it all about?

Haha! I don't know about brave, but the weather isn't for everyone. It definitely took some getting used to.

I would love to tell you all about the new book, but I can't without giving away the ending of CREEP. I will say that that the new book takes place a few years later, and many of the characters do return. I know, so cryptic, but I don't want to jinx it!

Okay, we'll just have to read CREEP and wait, then. So what festivities do you have planned for the launch?

I will be in New York at ThrillerFest next week as part of the Debut Author's Breakfast panel, and afterward there'll be a signing. I'm excited and nervous as these are both firsts for me! I'll also be meeting my agent and my editor for the first time - it's crazy to think how we've worked together for over a year now and yet I've never met them.

Well good luck and thanks for joining us!

Thanks for having me, Mark. This was a fun conversation!

What do YOU want to know?

I'm planning on running an interview with an author , hopefully this Thursday. I'm doing things a little differently, hoping to make it more of a conversation that my usual list of questions.

But then I wondered, what would YOU like to know from a first-time thriller writer? Ask anything, from the publishing process to the creative side, and I'll pass the questions on.

(Hint: someone ask about her research experiences . . .)

Author interview: Steven Sidor

It is a truly rare occasion when I will finish a book and immediately rush out and grab another by the same author. It's a quirk of my personality that I love change, in almost all things. So after reading a military-style thriller by, say, Stephen Leather, I'll plump for the artistry of French author Fred Vargas, and then toughen it up with something by Don Winslow.

But you remember my camping trip? I finished up THE MIRROR'S EDGE by Steven Sidor on that trip. And then, ignoring three books waiting on my nightstand, I went out and grabbed a copy of SKIN RIVER.

Steve's going to see this post so I feel stupid gushing. Read his books.

That's all I'll say.

And, as an added bonus to that recommendation, here's the man behind the pen, Steven Sidor (here's his website, and his blog is a link on my blogroll already):

• Did you always want to be a writer, or did you come to it as an adult?

I decided I wanted to be a writer around age seven. I read no fiction at the time. Mostly I liked books about world disasters and strange trivia. The first things I wrote were one-act plays which my teachers let the class perform on Fridays. In truth, I stole my ideas from the old Carol Burnett show, except there were a lot more gunfights in my plays. I also performed magic at school talent shows, and I told scary stories to bullies so they wouldn’t beat me up – that’s the root of it all.

• What is your writing schedule?

I’ve written all four of my novels late at night and on the weekends. I used to drink a pot of coffee around 9pm. That committed me because I was going to be wide awake one way or the other, so I might as well be writing. I’m a big believer in writing efficiently, but I need a good chunk of time, at least a two-hour bite. I can reread/edit myself in little bursts. I’m a stay-at-home dad so I’ve learned to improvise. Recently, my schedule changed. Both my kids are in school. I write in the mornings for a few hours, and then I go to the gym and lift weights. I come home, take a shower, and rewrite. Then I read.

I work in a basement office, on a desktop. It’s quite nice down there . . . carpeted, heated, warmly lit . . . and I have a great big desk a friend built for me. I face a blank wall. No windows. Distractions will undo me, so I eliminate them. I’ve had no TV access in my home for fifteen years. Seriously, if I had TV I would have no books with my name on them – I’ll watch anything, even test patterns.

• Have you ever thought about writing in a different genre?

I freely blend genres in my writing these days. Thriller, mystery, horror, sci-fi – I think the most exciting genre writing is no longer purely in one field but a mix. I’ve never felt boxed-in by genre; to the contrary, I think you can do things in genre fiction that you can’t in mainstream or literary fiction.

• You have a new novel coming out, PITCH DARK, tell us about it.

PITCH DARK is a supernatural thriller about a young woman on the run from a cult. She’s stolen something from them, and they’ll do anything to get it back. During a Christmas Eve blizzard, the woman holes up at a roadside motel on Minnesota’s northern border. The family that runs the motel has encountered unspeakable evil before, and now they’ll have to protect themselves and the rest of the world from an evil called The Pitch. It’s the most action-packed book I’ve written, and I hope readers will enjoy all the twists and surprises I built in.

• How much energy do you put into the language aspect of your novels, the “art” so to speak?

I write relatively slowly. Two keeper pages per day is good for me. Five is a great day. I pay a lot of attention to language. The telling of a story is what appeals to me as a reader, so I focus on that as a writer. I don’t like flavorless writing. I want style. The style I prefer usually is pretty stripped-down and energetic. I hate padding. I don’t want to read somebody’s research. I’m easily bored as a reader, and nothing bores me more than pages of bland extraneous writing that should have been edited out. When it comes to editing my own work, I’m a cutter – a taker-outer. Less is more. When I go too far, then less is less and I have to put more ink on the page. I’m quick to give up on any book I’m reading if the writing gets lazy or bogs down. I hope to avoid those same mistakes when I write.

• If you could offer just one piece of advice to aspiring novelists, what would it be?

Quit. Seriously, if you can quit then you should. Go get a hobby. Writing to publish is a thankless, painful, and heartbreaking enterprise. If you can get by without it, then take the out. Now, if you can’t live without it, then my advice would be different. Never quit. No matter what. Write every day. Read more.

• Do you outline your novels?

I can’t outline a novel. I’ve tried. If I outline, then the story dies for me. I feel like I’ve already written it. I prepare for writing a novel by writing detailed character sketches. I also storyboard the plot. I take very small sticky notes and jot a word or two about scenes I want to appear in the book, and then I arrange them on a large black poster board that I keep next to my computer. As I progress, I rip down the notes for scenes I’ve written and I add new ones. Plotting is the hardest part of novel writing. Anything you can do to help, you should. I just can’t outline.

• Do you recommend any specific "how-to" writing books for mystery/thriller writers?

I think every writer needs to find his or her own way. “How-to” books never helped me much. Many aspiring novelists think there’s some secret to writing a book, a magic formula. Sitting down and doing it is the only thing I know that works. The best book I ever read about writing is probably pretty hard to find these days, and the information in it might be a little dated. But Dean Koontz’s “How to Write Best Selling Fiction” taught me a lot of practical tips.

• What do you think of the e-book debate - is the trend away from paper books good for authors, readers, publishers, anyone, everyone?

I’m terrible at predicting trends. Given that, it seems obvious to me that the future is digital. Books will go the way of LPs. Some folks will love them and collect them but most won’t. The younger generations will have little or no attachment to paper. Publishers will eventually catch up to readers, who at this point are ahead of the industry on the tech side, as they were with the music business. Storytelling will always find a way to reach people. I’ll try to do the same.

Author interview: Mark Russinovich

You may not have heard of him yet, but my guess is you will. Well, clearly you will because I'm talking about him.

You know what I mean.

He's that rare breed of fiction writer, the guy who writes about scary things that might actually happen. His first novel, ZERO DAY is now out, and not only is it getting rave reviews as a work of fiction but I'm also reading comments about how it may be a glimpse into the future.

Check it out.

Oh, while we're at it, meet Mark Russinovich:

Did you always want to be a writer, or did you come to it as an adult?
I was a voracious reader from a very young age. Like many boys, I was fascinated by science fiction, especially hard-core science fiction that’s grounded in science. I probably read most of the collective works of Asimov, Heinlein, Pohl, Niven and several other author classic sci-fi authors.

I knew that someday I wanted to craft a story anchored in technology, and expected that it would be a sci-fi novel. In seventh grade when a friend got an Apple II and we spent hours writing programs, I knew I wanted a career in computers. I also wanted to share and educate and wrote my first article for the magazine COMPUTE! when I was a senior in high school. I continued my writing as a columnist for Windows NT Magazine (now Windows IT Pro Magazine) and in 2000 coauthored my first non-fiction book, Inside Windows 2000. The book covers the internal operation of Windows and I’ve since coauthored two additional editions of the book, which is now called Windows Internals.

In around 2004, the germ of an idea for a novel emerged and I finally began writing Zero Day in early 2005.

Did you have a lot of support when you began writing, or did you suffer the same raised eyebrow most of us do? In other words, what kept you motivated at the start of your career?

Only a few people knew I was writing a book and they were all very supportive. My wife and close friends read numerous drafts and provided great constructive feedback. It was only a couple of months ago that I announced to the world that the book was coming out.

What is your writing schedule? I'm guessing a full time job interferes with what you'd like it to be...

Yes, it’s hard to find time to write. I generally do it in the mornings before work and in the evenings, but the bulk I get done on weekends. Squeezing it in like that makes it take a long time to write, but that gives me opportunity to think through pretty carefully where the book is and where I’d like it go. I started working on the sequel about a year ago and may have a draft to start sharing with friends in another few months.

Do you work in a study, all alone, or do you prefer a cafe where there are people to watch (and bug you!)?

I definitely prefer to study alone and undisturbed in my home office. I’m easily thrown off by modern distractions like email so have to even shut down by email client so that I can get into the writing zone.

You have a new novel coming out, ZERO DAY, tell us about it.

Zero Day is a book about a scenario that, frankly, I’m surprised hasn’t yet occurred. After the virus waves of 2000-2003, it became obvious to me that a relatively minor effort by a few computer-experts could cause destruction that would easily dwarf that of 9/11. It’s the perfect weapon for terrorist because it has the potential for much wider damage than a physical attack, is virtually anonymous, and is based on technology that’s readily accessible.

I decided in 2005 to raise awareness and thought it writing a thriller would be a fun and effective way of doing that. It shows how such an attack could unfold, with typical thriller misdirection and plot twists.

Was the journey from idea to publication as you'd imagined?

Not at all. I thought with my background as an expert in the field with non-fiction books and an established audience (my blog is read by tens of thousands of people a month) that I’d have no trouble finding an agent and then a publisher. That didn’t seem to have much influence, though, and I received a few dozen agent rejections and a dozen publisher rejections. Many times during the process I seriously considered giving up on mainstream publishing and going the self-publishing route. I even researched self-publishing options. But every time I was on the verge of giving up, something would happen either to keep my hopes alive or to keep the ball moving and here I about six years after I started with a published novel. My agent, Ann Collette, was great support.

Your novel is very reality based, no? Do envisage it making any impact on the way people view technology?

It was one of my intentions to highlight just how dependent we are on technology. Like many things we take for granted, I don’t think people worry about what would happen if their PC died and they lost all the data on it until it happens to them or a friend. And that includes small business owners. Even large corporations get lax about verifying backups or developing contingency plans in the event that their main servers crash and won’t recover.

At a larger scale, we also need to be more thoughtful about the design of our infrastructure systems, including power and other utilities. Boundaries need to be erected between them and the Internet and they need to be subdivided such that cyber-attacks are isolated to just part of the system. Today, there’s very little of that formalized thinking.

Who are your favorite authors?

Besides some of the science fiction authors I’ve mentioned, Michael Crichton has a special spot in my list. I remember reading The Andromeda Strain when I was in seventh grade and being fascinated by the science he weaved into the story. He did it in a way that taught you while entertaining and I finished the book feeling smarter than when I had started. The experience I had with Jurassic Park was the same. I knew that if I wrote a novel that I would strive for the same authenticity and try to give even non-technical readers an understanding of the technology on which the story was based.

What was your favorite thriller/mystery novel of 2010?

It’s hard to pick one because I don’t necessarily read books as they are being released. Most of the thrillers I read in 2010 weren’t released in 2010. A couple of exceptions were Daniel Suarez’s Freedom, the sequel to his first novel, Daemon. Daniel’s books are also cyberthillers, though more futuristic in their portrayal of technology. In some cases I don’t think we’ll see what he imagines for several decades, but it was a great read nonetheless.

A 2010 non-fiction book I thought was great was Cyberwarefare by Richard Clarke and Robert Knake. Like my novel Zero Day, it’s a wakeup call that highlights how unprepared we are for a world where wars are fought in cyberspace. Richard and Robert not only describe the current state, but make concrete recommendations for improving our defenses.

If you could offer just one piece of advice to aspiring novelists, what would it be?

First, try to look at your work objectively and get as much feedback from friends as possible. Don’t be afraid to go back and rework parts of the book that slow the plot. And most of all, if you believe that you have a good story, don’t give up trying to get it published. It can be a long process, but like you always hear, there’s a good bit of luck involved to getting a first novel published that you’ll only find with persistence.

Have you, or will you, attend writing conferences? Which one(s)?

Yes, I plan on attending Bouchercon in St Louis in September. My agent recommended it as one of the best writer conferences for meeting readers, reviewers, and other established writers. My agent put me in contact with another writer that’s attended several years and she had nothing but glowing things to say about the great experience and sharing she’d had there.

What's next, another novel in the works?

I actually have three books coming out this year: Zero Day, which is non-fiction, the 6^th edition of the Windows Internals book, and The Sysinternals Administrator’s Reference. The Sysinternals Administrator’s Reference is a book I’m coauthoring on how to use the computer administration and troubleshooting tools I’ve created.

I’m also working on the sequel to Zero Day. I don’t have a firm title yet, but the book involves China, oil, and Iran’s nuclear program and is based on the real-world cyber-espionage that we’ve seen China engaged in. All the major powers have cyber operations that spy on, and in some cases interfere, with the activities of other nations. The attacks on Google last year and the Stuxnet virus attack on Iran are just some of the examples we’re aware of.

What do you think of the e-book debate - is the trend away from paper books it good for authors, readers, publishers, anyone, everyone?

I think it’s good for authors and publishers, but it’s going to take the publishers time to adapt. There’s no shortage of demand for quality writing and publishers are generally a good filter for good content. They’ll continue to serve that role, but e-books democratize the publishing business and enable authors that otherwise wouldn’t ever have a voice to get published. We’ve already seen cases of first-time authors create a large following and earn some good income self-publishing on Kindle.

I ultimately think that, while the e-book business might be around ten percent of physical books today, in ten years you’ll see that ratio close to inverted. Publishers will have to take a much more active role in marketing authors to stay relevant.

Author interview: J.T. Ellison

And they just keep getting better.

You know, it's not just gratifying when great writers agree to do interviews, but when they really take their time to answer the questions, to show us a little about themselves, it's an absolute thrill. This week, I'm ecstatic to have J.T. Ellison on the blog. She's the best-selling author of the Taylor Jackson series that started with the acclaimed ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS and continues with. . . well, you can read about her new one, below.

And do check out her website - so many author sites are old or clunky (or both). Ms. Ellison's contains a wealth of information about her, her books, and writing generally.

And, for heaven's sake, buy her books. They are awesome and so is she.

Did you always want to be a writer growing up, or did you come to it as an adult?

Both. I was a huge reader as a kid, and wrote the requisite horrible poetry about my loves – boys who kissed me, rock formations, clouds, blue sky and cats… Eventually I went to school for a creative writing degree. I was actually a double major in English and Politics. My senior thesis advisor wouldn’t write me a recommendation to the MFA program I wanted, told me I’d never get published. So I quit writing and got involved in the political world, got my Masters at GW in Politics instead of the MFA. I didn’t come back to writing for fifteen years, when I found John Sandford. Reading the Prey series reminded me of what I loved most about writing – storytelling. I decided on the spot that I wanted to be a storyteller, ASAP.

Did you have a lot of support when you began writing, or did you suffer the same raised eyebrow most of us do? In other words, what kept you motivated at the start of your career?

My husband, absolutely. And my parents. They all seemed to believe I had it in me to write, even though I barely believed it myself. My husband let me stay home and write full time instead of getting a job, and that made all the difference. Not just the time factor, but because I had to teach myself HOW to write, and that took almost a year. The storytelling came naturally, but I didn’t have the first idea about how to write a novel. I ended up deconstructing a Sandford book, chapter by chapter, until I finally saw the patterns emerging. Then I tried it for myself.

What is your writing schedule?

I used to be militant about shutting things down and working from 12 - 4 daily. As the pressures of writing, editing and promoting two books a year mount, I find myself snatching time whenever I can get it. I’m always working – whether my fingers are on the keyboard or not. The mental writing is vital to the actual writing for me. I map the story out in my head, then go to it. I’m getting back on the 12 - 4 schedule though. Mornings are usually for business, but I’m turning some of the heavy lifting over to an assistant so I can focus on the creative again.

Do you work in a study, all alone, or do you prefer a cafe where there are people to watch (and bug you!)?

I’m a loner, no doubt. I’m a magpie, easily distracted by shiny objects. I need quiet and solitude to coax my Muse into showing herself. She can be quite shy. That is, when she’s not being a totally slutty wanton beast, begging me to tease her into being. She does that a lot too.

Do you actively look for story ideas (combing newspapers etc.), or do they just come to you?

That’s a good question. I read a lot online. Crimes and stories catch my attention, and I usually glance at them, then pop them into Evernote to be looked at later. I also have an idea box, with newspaper clippings, story ideas, titles… Strangely enough, I find that I rarely look through either of those forums for ideas. I guess the good ones lodge in my head. I bookmarked a story last year that really got under my skin, and now I’m writing it, so I guess my system works, however ragged it may be.

As a full-time writer, do you miss the hustle and bustle of a 'normal' working day, or do you get enough interaction in other ways?

No. Absolutely not. It’s terrible to say that, I know, but I really am happier all by myself. I never did play well with others. And I stopped working in an office environment in 1998, so all I remember was how annoying the constant interruptions would get. Ironically, I tried to go to my husband’s office to work yesterday, and I ended up looking out the window at the skyline, cursing the fact that I didn’t have my wrist pad, wondering who the big hulking dude was in the hall and whether he was going to break into my office, and why no one ever seems to flush toilets anymore. Very, very distracting. At home all I have to battle is my cat’s incessant need to be in my lap. I use Facebook, Twitter, email and the phone to interact with people, and it works great for me.

Have you ever thought about writing in a different genre?

Sure. But it always boils down to crime for me – I think it’s the act that transcends genres.

Am I right in thinking Lee Child blurbed your first novel? How on earth did you manage that?!

Lee is a darling man who was quite keen on helping a group of new writers all published in 2007 called Killer Year. He was assigned as my mentor through ITW’s debut author program, and I was so honored to have him. He was incredibly kind to me, in myriad ways, and taught me so much about publishing. And trust me, that blurb made me cry.

You have a new novel coming out, tell us about it.

SO CLOSE THE HAND OF DEATH is in stores now – it is the sequel to 14. The Snow White’s Apprentice, now called the Pretender, is back, and making his final move in the chess game he’s been playing with homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson. But Taylor doesn’t play games. She is a vengeful angel in this book, out to stop the Pretender at all costs, even if it takes everything from her - her moral code, her sense of justice, even her life.

How much energy do you put into the language aspect of your novels, the “art” so to speak?

A lot. Like everyone, I’m always learning and growing, searching for the best way to phrase something for the most impact. I’m not a reviser in the sense that I belabor a sentence until it’s perfect. Instead, I’ll go back and adjust as necessary during the revision process. I write fast and try not to think about it too much until I hit that second draft. Then all bets are off and I’m working very hard to make sure my meaning is succinct and crystal clear and the language is vivid without being purple and bruised.

Who are your favorite authors and inspirations?

John Sandford, who inspired the Taylor Jackson series, John Connolly, who inspired my ever-evolving writing style, Lee Child, who’s friendship and guidance has been invaluable. The thriller chicks: Tess Gerritsen, Erica Spindler, Alex Kava, Karin Slaughter and Allison Brennan, for showing me how not to compromise my subject matter just because I’m a woman. Diana Gabaldon, for teaching me how to create worlds. J.K. Rowling, for teaching me to follow my heart. Sharon Penman, Karleen Koen, Danielle Steele and Mary Stewart, for helping me move from children’s books to adult books (i.e.: teaching me the differences between love, romance and sex. I guess I better include Judy Blume’s FOREVER in there too, for that very reason.) Ayn Rand’s ANTHEM changed my life, Book VII of Plato’s REPUBLIC got me into graduate school, Sun Tzu’s THE ART OF WAR helped me find my soul mate, and my all-time favorite, LOLITA, by Vladimir Nabokov, showed me it’s possible to have lovable monsters.

What was your favorite thriller/mystery novel of 2010?

Oh, that’s an impossible question. Put it this way, I gobbled up Daniel Silva’s THE REMBRANT AFFAIR and Suzanne Collins HUNGER GAMES trilogy.

If you could offer just one piece of advice to aspiring novelists, what would it be?

Read everything, and try your best to write every day, even if you feel like it’s crap. 750 words of crap can be refined into 500 gossamer, silky threads, and if you do that every day for six months, you’ll have a novel.

Do you outline your novels?

I try desperately not to, because any time I know what’s happening next, I get bored and lose momentum. I do a lot of mental planning, building around particular scenes that occur solely in my head, and that seems to work best. Every time I outline I get very grumpy. At times it’s necessary, but that kind of outline for me is very top line – no more than a single sentence describing the chapter’s message, purpose or climactic event.

Do you recommend any specific "how-to" writing books for mystery/thriller writers?

On Writing - Stephen King
Write Away - Elizabeth George
The Writer's Journey - Christopher Vogler
Screenwriting Tips for Authors - Alexandra Sokoloff
Forest For The Trees - Betsy Lerner
The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
The Creative Habit – Twyla Tharp
Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life – Winifred Gallagher
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Hamlet's Blackberry - William Powers

What is the value of writing conferences -- do you attend, or have a favorite?

They are invaluable, because you can meet everyone – heroes, agents, editors… there isn’t a better way to get involved in the writing community than sharing a few sweaty, tipsy days with a bunch of fellow writers and readers. Thrillerfest is always a good time. And my favorite small conference is Mayhem in the Midlands, in Omaha, Nebraska. It’s stellar.

You participate in a blog, Muderati: is that for marketing purposes, to connect with other writers, or just 'cos?

I’ve been on Murderati from the beginning. It started as a way to market myself, because I didn’t have a book deal, and was nascently involved with my wonderful agent. We’ve built a lovely community or readers and writers who speak the truth about the industry. I think it’s the most important forum I participate in.

What do you think of the e-book debate - is the trend away from paper books it good for authors, readers, publishers, anyone, everyone?

I want readers to read, and I don’t care what format they choose so long as they’re reading. That said, I never thought ebooks would kill the bookstores. I’m crushed to see the carnage out there right now. It’s horrid. I hope that somehow, someway, we can save our bookstores. That’s paramount right now.

Thanks so much for having me, Mark!

Author interview: John Gilstrap

You know, the one thing I'm discovering as I go about finding authors to interview is just how nice so many of them are. I mean, these are guys and gals stacked with talent and extremely successful, yet more than happy to spend a few minutes talking about the craft of writing, and their own work, with me.

John Gilstrap is one of those authors. I emailed asking if he'd do an interview and he responded within a couple of hours. My mum doesn't respond that quickly, for heaven's sake. He was also kind enough to correct a couple of factual errors in my questions without saying, "Hey, fool, this is the third Grave novel!" Nice, prompt, and classy. When I'm a famous author, I shall aspire to be the same.

Anyway, if you read in the thriller genre you almost certainly know his name, and if you haven't read his books I strongly suggest you do so. He's won awards, been a NYT bestselling author, and he has a new book out this summer.

Here he is:

• Did you always want to be a writer growing up, or did you come to it as an adult?

Writing is the only thing I've ever been really good at. Well, communication, in general, I suppose. Even as a small child, I would entertain myself by writing stories, or by telling stories to my friends. Curiously enough, I never gave a lot of thought growing up to being a professional novelist. Instead, I always thought I'd work for a newspaper. Then reality intruded after college when I couldn't get a job at a real paper. That's when I went back to graduate school to get a master's degree in safety engineering, and my life wandered far away from my writing roots. I was 38 when my first book was published.

• Did you have a lot of support when you began writing, or did you suffer the same raised eyebrow most of us do? In other words, what kept you motivated at the start of your career?

I didn't suffer so much from a lack of support as I did from a sense of embarrassment. I was an engineer and a business professional, for God's sake. To tell my colleagues that I was writing book in my spare time would have felt capricious, and would have set the stage for constant cynical questioning. Can't you just hear it? "So, Shakespeare, how goes the writing dream?" When I finally sold my first novel for well over $1 million, the biggest shock among those colleagues was the fact that they had no clue that I'd been writing a book.

• What is your writing schedule?

I write whenever I can, mostly during evenings and weekends. Full-time writing didn't suit me. I'm too much of an extrovert to toil in the silence of my writing studio. About seven years ago, I went back to a day job--a fairly demanding one at that--so I need to carve out writing time whenever I can find it. My dirty little secret is that I'm more prolific as a part-time writer than I ever was when I wrote full time.

• Do you actively look for story ideas (combing newspapers etc), or do they just come to you?

They pretty much just come to me, but mostly when I'm looking for them. When I need an idea or when I need to solve a problem, the last thing I want to do is address it directly. The harder I think straight at the problem, the more I become aware of the fact that the solution evades me. Solutions come to me when I'm diverted by other things. It's weird, but it's the way I'm wired.

• Have you ever thought about writing in a different genre?

I am writing in a different genre; at least on a diferent spin of the old genre. My early books dealt with normal people in mortal jeopardy who had to figure a way out for themselves. Now I'm writing about normal people in mortal jeopardy who are rescued by my recurring protagonist, Jonathan Grave. The Grave books were in fact inspired by the one nonfiction book I wrote, Six Minutes to Freedom, which exposed me to the world of black ops and Special Forces. In fact, that book is the only one that ever got direct input on the record from Delta Force. SixMin is a terrific book, I think, but I learned the hard way that very few fiction fans will follow an author to nonfiction.

• Your third Jonathan Grave novel is coming out in July - how did you come up with him as a character?

While working with the guys from the Unit--Delta Force--I was fascinated by these guys' unwavering dedication to mission. When Americans are kidnapped on foreign soil, the US government starts working right away to secure their release. In a perfect world, our diplomats leverage local law enforcement personnel to do what needs to be done; but the world is often not perfect. When negotiations break down, the task of hostage rescue falls to the US military. Once the go-order is given, these Special Forces operators' whole mission is to bring the good guys home, whatever it takes. There are no warrants served, and no one cares all that much about the rights of the kidnappers. If the bad guys put down their weapons and cooperate, they get to see tomorrow. If they don't, they don't. Jonathan Grave brings that clarity of mission to civilian rescue here in the United States. As he likes to put it, he almost always operates outside of the law, but never on the wrong side of it.

• Tell us about the new novel.

In Threat Warning (July, 2011), a group of domestic terrorists wreaks havoc across the US through a series of small but brutal attacks against mid-America. Think commuters and high school football games. In order to up the terror ante, they kidnap a mother and her son as they drive home from the boy's high school track meet, and it falls to Jonathan and his team to bring them home.

• How much energy do you put into the language aspect of your novels, the “art” so to speak?

In writing, language is the only tool I have, so I like to think that I work that tool very hard. Voice is very important to me--far more important than proper grammar or formal sentence structure. In fact, my most liberating moment on my path to publication came when I made a conscious effort to stop writing a book and instead to tell a story. For me, I realized there was a significant difference. I realized that when I tell stories verbally of what happened to me in my various adventures, I use far more dynamic vocabulary than when I was writing. I interspersed humor and an underlying cynicism that made people want to listen. Once I started channeling that voice onto the paper, I found that the storytelling to the page became much, much easier.

• Who are your favorite authors?

I like Vince Flynn, Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, Nelson DeMille. Jeeze, too many to list.

• If you could offer just one piece of advice to aspiring novelists, what would it be?

Truthfully, it would be to ignore 99% of the advice that's given to aspiring authors. Quit listening and write. Quit reading books about writing and write. Quit thinking about writing, quit attending seminars about writing, and quit studying the creative process of other writers. Read books that you wish you'd written and dissect them. Ask yourself how the author made you laugh or made you cry or made your heart pound. Then sit down and write and write the story that most resonates in your soul. Accept the fact that first books always suck. (My "first" novel was the fourth novel I'd written.) I find that far too many struggling novelists spend far too much time fantasizing about being a writer and not nearly enough actually writing and honing their craft.

• Do you outline your novels?

I used to outline more thoroughly than I do now--probably because I'm writing a series that has recurring characters. That said, I always know what the last scene of the book witll be before I start writing the first scene.

• Do you recommend any specific "how-to" writing books for mystery/thriller writers?

I've never read one, so I'm not the best judge of such things. Actually, that's not true. I read Stephen King's On Writing and enjoyed it a lot. I'm not sure I learned anything I didn't know about the craft, but I love King's writing style, and I found the biographical details to be very interesting. I'm of the school that writing is a craft, and like any craft, it has to be practiced. When I teach writing seminars, my very first slide says, "No one can teach you to write," and that pretty much sums it up for me. You can't learn a good golf swing by reading about it, either. You have to do it. Over and over and over again. If you don't get better over time, accept that this might not be your bag.

• What is the value of writing conferences -- do you attend, or have a favorite?

This is an interesting question, because the value of conferences is 100% dependent upon the attendees' expectations. Pitch sessions to agents can be a valuable experience, but only for those who come prepared with a well-rehearsed pitch, and who are prepared to process the feedback they receive. Outside of the very specific environment of the pitch session, attendees who think they can sell their book by pitching it at the bar are wasting their time and potentially alienating valuable contacts for the future. Conferences are great places to make contacts and hang out with current and future friends. My favorites are ThrillerFest, Bouchercon and Magna Cum Murder.

• You participate in a blog, The Kill Zone: is that for marketing purposes, to connect with other writers, or just 'cos?

It started out as a marketing thing, but it's evolved into a very nice little community. I feel as if I truly know the regular posters, and that's pretty cool.

• What do you think of the e-book debate - is the trend away from paper books it good for authors, readers, publishers, anyone, everyone?

I think the trend is most definitely away from paper, but that paper will be around for a long time. I believe that eBooks will send mass market paperbacks and hardcovers the way of the dinosaur in the next five years.