Faith Mortimer

   

Interview of Faith Mortimer
Author of The Assassins' Village

Questions by R. Murry


Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Good morning Roy. May I take this opportunity to thank you for having me as your guest author this week.

Briefly, I live in an old stone-house in the foothills of the Troodos Mountains on Cyprus. It’s a beautiful Mediterranean island and known as Aphrodite’s own. I originally come from England. I began writing seriously around 2000, when I had completed a degree in Biology. The degree studying ensured I had the dedication, stamina and confidence to finally finish my first novel. Before then I had qualified as a Registered nurse (in my twenties) and latterly run my own business from home. I am a qualified Yachtmaster and before we settled in Cyprus, my husband and I explored the seas from as far north as New York down the east coast of the USA to the Caribbean and Venezuela and then back across the Atlantic into the Mediterranean where we finished our travels in Turkey – a fantastic eight years living on our sailing yacht – just the right place to write books!

Do you remember the first story you wrote?
I’ve always written stories ever since I can remember. The most serious was when I was about fourteen. It was a romance set in Borneo!

Were you inspired by someone or something?
I just liked playing around with words. I’ve already read masses of books and I wanted to write my own stories

What do you like about writing a story?
Oh that’s easy. It’s MY world. My people, my places, my feelings. I love drawing the characters from people/friends and then taking a bit from one person and adding another – a real mix and great fun.

Can you tell us about your book?
I’ve now written six books. Three are mystery suspense with a fourth lodged with my editor. The titles include, The Assassins’ Village, Children of the Plantation, The Surgeon’s Blade and COMING SOON, Camera, Action…Murder!
My others are romantic suspense/historical fiction/family drama; these are The Seeds of Time and Harvest. They are 2 in a series. I’m currently writing another romantic suspense set in France, ‘A Very French Affair.’ Lastly I have a short story collection entitled, The Bamboo Mirror.

How did you come up with the story?
Almost all my stories feature either something I’ve experienced, or they are set somewhere where I’ve lived. If I like an idea I’ll go with it and set it down as soon as I can find time.

Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Yes – never give up. It is often a lonely occupation and only you can write your story. Don’t let others put you off, or tell you what you’re doing and how you’re doing it is wrong…it is how you feel and think and more often than not you will be right. Stick to your plans!

Which authors inspire you?

MM Kaye. Tolkien. Dickens.  I can read a great novel and I then go around thinking about it for days – the author may have a style that I admire and it gives me the impetus to get down and begin to write a new book. No one writer or person inspires me though.

Where can people go to read your work?
Amazon US  http://amzn.to/oLQt8c
Amazon UK http://amzn.to/qe90Lf
The book depository (paperbacks) http://bit.ly/oCON7U
Snippets and chapters are often found on my website www.faithmortimerauthor.com

Where can people find you on the internet?
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/FaithMortimer.Author
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FaithMortimer
My website www.faithmortimerauthor.com

Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers?
Be yourself. Don’t judge others too harshly and always be there to give a helping hand – it could be you wanting that help some day. As I’ve already said it can be a hard slog. When you’re ready to publish make sure that the product you’re going to offer is as good as a paperback. Take time to edit and reedit, over and over. Be patient – it will take time to make any real progress. Be friendly and polite to everyone within the same market – you never know when you might need them and good manners never hurt. You can also learn lots from others as well.

Thank you so much for having me on here today!
                                               

Apart From Love

Apart From Love

By Uvi Poznansky

Reviewed by R. Murry

The family dynamic has been written about since the beginning of time: the Biblical story of Joseph, Macbeth, and in the 1930s, William Faulkner’s The Sound and The Fury.  Like Faulkner, Ms. Poznansky uses more than one person to tell the story of “Apart From Love.”  Faulkner used four.  Ms. Poznansky uses two: Ben and Anita.  Their voices are orchestrated close to perfection in a loving way.

Each chapter is told by one or the other, explaining their understanding of the events which leads to conflict within the family circle: Ben’s father and Anita’s twice her age husband, Lenny; Lenny’s first wife and Ben’s mother, Natasha; Anita’s mom; and three aunts round out the family Kaminsky.

Interwoven into the main characters' discourses are the normal family emotions: greed, sex, hatred, control, loneliness, procreation, legacy, and everything you may think of  “Apart From Love.”  No one ever uses the love word as in the phrase “I love you.” 

Anita and Ben are young and are thinking about each other.  Lenny is old and is thinking about Natasha and what could have been had she not gone into a vegetable state.  Lenny is recording his fictional novel as to what he believes is happening between his son and second wife.  The novel turns out to be his memoir.

There are family mishaps, joyous times, secrets, and torments.  Each narrator fullfills their duty by translating their opinion of the events based on their background: Ben, a worldly educated one and Anita with her street smarts’ schooling.  They each speak a different language, although are of the same generation.  The reader will enjoy their terminologies.

Ms. Poznansky pulls off a well written story of dependency.  Every one of the characters are dependent on one another and are looking for support right up to the end of this skillfully developed novel.   A very good read if you’re looking for something “Apart From Love."

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1IuRToq

           

Interview with Uvi Poznasky

Interview with Uvi Poznasky

Author of Apart From Love

Interviewed by R. Murry

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

I am an artist, a poet and a writer. In the past, my professional life has undergone several changes, as so many of us are experiencing in this day and age. I have a master of architecture from RPI in Troy NY. Later I have earned a Master of Computer Science from the University of Michigan. I love to extend my skills, reinvent myself and find out the common areas between different disciplines.

Can you tell us about your book? 

My novel, Apart From Love, is an intimate peek into the life of a uniquely strange family: Natasha, the accomplished pianist, has been stricken with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Her ex-husband Lenny has never told their son Ben, who left home ten years ago, about her situation. At the same time he, Lenny, has been carrying on a love affair with a young redhead, who bears a striking physical resemblance to his wife--but unlike her, is uneducated, direct and unrefined. This is how things stand at this moment, the moment of Ben’s return to his childhood home, and to a contentious relationship with his father. 

The story is told from two points of view, Ben’s and Anita’s, which gives me an opportunity to illustrate how the same events, seen from different angles and through difference experiences in life, are interpreted in an entirely different way.

How did you come up with the story?

Over a year ago I wrote a short story about a twelve years old boy coming face to face, for the first time in his life, with the sad spectacle of death in the family. Stunned, Ben watches his father trying to revive his frail grandma. Later, Ben attempts the same technique of mouth-to-mouth recessitation, on the fish tilting upside down, dying in his new aquarium.

I set the story aside, thinking I was done with it. But the character of the boy, Ben, wouldn’t go away. He started chatting incessantly in my head, keeping me awake at night. So I asked myself, what if I ‘aged’ him by fifteen years? Would he still admire his father for ‘blowing life’ into the old woman--or will he be disillusioned at that point? What secrets would come to light in the life of this family? How would it feel for Ben to come back to his childhood home after a long absence, and have his memories play tricks on him? 

What if I introduce a girl, Anita, a redhead who looks as beautiful as his mother used to be--but is extremely different from her in all other respects? And what if this girl were married to his father? What if the father were an author, attempting to capture the thoughts, the voices of Ben and Anita, in order to write his book? 

Just asking these questions had an immediate affect on Ben: as if a page has turned, he grew up into his new age—but then, somehow, he forgot to mature... So the process of writing became, for me, simply listening to him, and to Anita, and trying, as fast as I could, to capture their thoughts. They chatted with such intensity! I wish I could record everything they said. After a full day of writing nonstop, just before my eyes closed, I would hear Ben whisper something in my ear, and promise myself I would put it on paper next morning—only to find the phrase gone by the time I woke up.

So, to slow down the chatter I would throw some obstacle in my characters’ way, and let them ponder how to find their way around it. This, I found, was such a fun method of developing the story, and it allowed the plot to twist and turn in unexpected ways.

Are you working on something new at the moment?

I am currently working on a book that will include poems by my father, who passed away at the age of ninety-four, as well as my own poems and stories inspired by his life. Home. Here is a poem I wrote; it will be on the opening page of the book:

Sucked in by a force, I'm flying through a tunnel

The tunnel of memory that leads me back home

The past blurs my present, so my vision is double

Walls of my childhood curve into a dome

From here I can see that home, tilting

And falling from place, all the lamps are aflame

My father's empty chair is slowly ascending

Tipped by the light, outlining its frame

Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Read your work aloud, first of all to yourself, so your words will flow in the rhythms of your voice and breathing. You may even tape your reading, and listen to it afterwords. Then, read it in front of an audience. Listen not only to their comments, but during the read, listen if they gasp in the places you wanted them to gasp, if the laughed and cried where you intended the text to move them.

Then go back to the drawing table...

Which authors inspire you?

Surprisingly, I find poetry to be the greatest influence on my writing: I appreciate the nuances, the overloading of words, and the musical rhythms used in the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, the sonnets by Shakespeare, and the lyrical descriptions of Virginia Wolfe, to name but a few. I love The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky, and  Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, for their expressive use of ‘stream of consciousness’. I love reading the work of great playwrights like Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams.

Where can people go to read your work?

Amazon Kindle:

US: http://www.amazon.com/Apart-From-Love-ebook/dp/B006WPITP0/

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apart-From-Love-ebook/dp/B006WPITP0/

Amazon paperback:

US: http://www.amazon.com/Apart-Love-Uvi-Poznansky/dp/0984993207/

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apart-Love-Uvi-Poznansky/dp/0984993207/

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/apart-from-love-uvi-poznansky/1108228346?ean=9780984993208&itm=1&usri=uvi+poznansky

Where can people find you on the internet?

I invite you to visit my website, which is organized like an art gallery, with bronze and ceramic sculptures, paper sculptures, oil paintings, watercolor paintings, poems and short stories: http://uviart.com/ 

Also, stop by my blog, which is organized like a diary where I post almost daily, discussing anything that goes through my mind that morning--be it a poem, a story, a paper engineering project, a birthday cake designed as a chess board, advice on publishing and writing, and the latest news and reviews of Apart From Love:http://uviart.blogspot.com/

Review of Jennison-Smith's KENDRA

Review of Kendra

Written by S Jennison-Smith

Review by R. Murry

Kendra at first sight is a normal man with a loving wife, children, and family to deal with on a daily basis.  Like many a man he is bored with his day to day routine, living it for the sake of his family.  He lives in a world that is peaceful, fruitful, and complete – no worries other than appeasing the spirits around him.  It’s called The Bosom.

Mr. Jennison-Smith’s Kendra is not of the ordinary spirit.  We find out in the first chapter that he is a half angel who can move from one place to another in a blink of an eye, using his concentrated thought – a father’s gift.  He moves from his peaceful place to earth at will.

On earth, he is a general and champion of a king during the biblical genesis period where Abraham walks the streets with his wife Sarah - One encounter Kendra has on a journey there.  Having read the Bible, I understood the reference.  A non-reader of the Bible may get a little lost. 

However, the author brings us back to the main story after these historical trips, that being Kendra’s human need for adventure and loyalty to his earthly king.  His heavenly spirit side, in this case his Bosom existence, is put on hold to fulfill his human need for escapades.  This is against his wife’s wishes – another sub plot.

The bad guys, an earthly cult is out to kill Kendra, because of his powers and the damage he has inflicted on their kind.  These evil ones have brought war against Kendra’s king and earthly subjects. 

Kendra with his powers can go back and forth to the Bosom, and does make many trips to see his loved ones and rest from his self-proclaimed earthly duties.  The war begins.  At the request of his king, Kendra devises a plan to defeat the overwhelming enemy.   To what end, you’ll have to read the novel.

Mr. Jennison-Smith slowly feeds us information of simple and clear prose.  The reader will not get lost in the names or who’s an angel and who’s not.  He carefully and cautiously involves the reader and brings him to a somewhat anticipated conclusion.

All in all, I’d say the read was enjoyable given the biblical references.     

Purchase at Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/cm9f5l5

      

Interview with Stephen Jennison-Smith

Interview with Stephen Jennison-Smith

author of Kendra

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

I have been married for 24 years and we have three children and two grandchildren so far.  I have written 12 books, 9 of them published on the Kindle. I like science fiction and used to be a big fan of fantasy.

Do you remember the first story you wrote?

The one I remember is when I was in junior school at the age of nine or ten. We had to write a descriptive story based on a Famous Five tale we had heard previously. The teacher commended me for saying that Timmy the dog walked with, ‘padded footsteps.’

Were you inspired by someone or something?

I had a dream.

What do you like about writing a story?

Being able to finish it and tie up all the loose ends. Or to leave the readers with enough of a mystery to make their heads hurt. It depends what I am writing.

Can you tell us about your book?

Kendra, the Nephilim, is a good half angel who lives in the Bosom of Abraham and teleports to  earth and  befriends  the descendants of Shem and fight in their battles.

How did you come up with the story?

I had a dream, which I wrote in a diary, of a half angel, who looked a bit like Jonathan Creek, who lived on a chunk of rock suspended between heaven and earth. The story has developed from there for the past five years.

What genre best fits for the book?

I call it dark Christian fantasy but it doesn’t sit well in a few of those genres. It is Old Testament at the minute and only dark because it describes the violence and evil in a kind of OT way.

Are you working on something new at the moment?

The seventh book in the Arth series and the second book of Kendra called ‘The Twenty Four’. I also have two other projects that need proof reading and/or illustrating.

Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Write. Right?

Which authors inspire you?

I have read ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ as well as Asimov, Michael Moorcock, C.S.Lewis and Alan Moore graphic novels.

Where can people go to read your work?

Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/cm9f5l5

or samples and some shorter finished work on Wattpad http://www.wattpad.com/user/StephenJennisonSmith

Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/SJennisonSmith

Where can people find you on the internet?

stephenjennisonsmith.blogspot.com

Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers?

Thanks.

Neil Low's Thick as Thieves Reviewed

Review of Thick As Thieves

By Neil Low

Reviewed by R. Murry

Mr. Low’s writing of Alan Stewart’s becoming an adult is persuading, where you cannot feel for the character and his plight.   Moving through each fast pace chapter after chapter, the reader is involved and can emphasize with the illegal decisions Alan makes through happenstance – one primary choice after another.

His father, a union detective in Seattle, Washington, is murdered.  This is the starting point of Alan’s self-imposed resolution to avenge his father’s brutal killing by local thugs.  In his quest, he investigates the comings and goings of his father, leading him to the union’s door.

He resolves that they are not the culprits, after kind, honest encounters with Mr. Brinkman, the union’s boss, who turns out to be a critical key in Alan’s development into adulthood.  And here is where he meets Vic, his father’s ex-partner, who becomes Alan’s mentor in street smarts, sex, crime, and murder – all on a higher moral standard than the real criminals that are out to get them.

Of course, there is money involved.  Greed and power are the motivators of the thugs’ leader, who is one of Seattle’s finest and can’t shake his Prohibition persona.  In those days, the moral ground was falsely taken by the police.   He is after thousands of gold certificates that he believes Alan’s father McAlister and Vic have – an another subplot that brings about the clashes of the law against the union.

How does this unravel?  Does Alan avenge his father’s murder?  Well, I’ll let you read the exciting collision of good vs. evil – not legal vs. illegal. 

                                      

Mr. Low does leave you hanging in a right way on a couple of minor points so you’ll read this sequel.  It’s on my book-to-read list.  Alan Stewart’s transition from young man to a young detective is a story that is a must-read for Law and Order lovers.  

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1IuSWVl 

Interview of Neil Low, 
author of THICK AS THIEVES

Interviewed by R. Murry

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

I’m a career police officer, having joined the Seattle Police Department as a cadet at age nineteen, forty-five years ago. I’ve risen through the ranks, making captain about eleven years ago. I still love police work, figure I’m contributing to society, and I currently serve as the Night Commander, which means I’m in charge of all police emergency services when all the other brass are in bed—like being a battalion chief at a fire department. I’ve been interested in writing since reading Joe Wambaugh’s New Centurions, when I returned from Naval Service in Vietnam. After reading Wambaugh’sa stories, I vowed that I would write someday, but first I had to go out and gather experience and then learn to write. I did just that. I went back to college in 1995 and graduated cum laude from the University of Washington Bothell in 2003.

Do you remember the first story you wrote?

While in Vietnam I lost my lucky hat, when it fell overboard, off the ship I was on. I dramatized the telling of this non-event to my mother, implying that it was a best friend who had died at sea. She was completely taken-in by the story and didn’t find out until the very end of the letter that it was just my blue cap I was missing. She told me I had a writing talent worth pursuing.

Were you inspired by someone or something?

When I first read Joe Wambaugh’s New Centurions and The Blue Knight, I was impressed that here was someone who understood police officers and could tell our story, something people wanted to hear, if told well. Joe was an active L.A. police sergeant at that time, with a Masters degree in English. I had read detective novels before this, but I think Wambaugh was the first to capture what real police officers dealt with when working the street. It was much grittier and true to life than Adam 12 or Dragnet had ever been. Later, when I went back to college, a professor encouraged me to write a paper on Raymond Chandler and his crime fiction novels, and that was the spark that changed my whole perspective on what and how I wanted to write. I had been a police detective for several years by then, and I was very impressed with Chandler’s style and his craftsmanship in telling stories. I decided to emulate him while telling my own stories. He continues to be my inspiration. I think I’ve read or own everything he’s ever written.

What do you like about writing a story?

When I first started writing, I enjoyed the storytelling process. I write organically, meaning I do not use an outline; I let my characters tell me their story. But as I say this, I know that I have a built-in boiler plate, knowing what is necessary for a criminal case to go to trial. For a novel to be complete enough for publication, it has to meet the same standards as a case for prosecution. All the leads must be followed, and the facts have to logically point to a satisfactory conclusion.  I love sitting down at the computer with the hint of an idea and then typing out what I’ve learned by paying attention to my characters interacting with each other. BUT—this is only part of the fun. I have since learned that there is a lot of pleasure to be had in the rewriting and polishing of the novel, if you are into craftsmanship. I appreciate the creation of a well-turned phrase, and I love adding foreshadowing and alliterations, as well as metaphors and similes. I love the feedback I get when a fan/reader tells me how much they liked my story, and they quote a passage back to me. Makes me feel like Raymond Chandler. This is probably a good point to mention that I have an art background and am a very visual person. I try to write so my readers see what I see, appreciating the detail that makes a story feel real to them and me.

Can you tell us about your book?

THICK AS THIEVES is at its heart a revenge story. Young Alan Stewart has lost his private detective father, who dies in his arms, following a beating, and Alan vows revenge for the murder, even though he’s not yet sure who did it, why they did it, or how he will possibly achieve his goal. As fate would have it, Alan gets hired by his dad’s former employer when he turns twenty-one, and he starts uncovering details of his father’s shadowy life and then learns who killed him. Fate intervenes again, and Alan has a chance to exact revenge on the same men who killed his father--at the exact place where they dealt their death blows to him, while he also protects a friend and mentor, who has helped him become a detective. There is also a factually accurate tie to the Lindbergh kidnapping, which drives this plot forward, and there is a very angry corrupt police official who desperately wants what Alan has found. Blackjacks, beatings, machine guns, pistols, secret passages, ransom money, dark secrets, car chases, and lust.

How did you come up with the story?

While working on another story, involving a vault burglary, I started doing the back story on two of the main characters, which took me away from the outline I was working with. While fleshing in Alan Stewart, I added information a friend had told me about concerning the death of his dad in the 40s, dying of injuries suffered from a beating at a union meeting. When I asked him if the police caught whoever killed his father, he said, “I think it was the police who killed him.” Since we were both police sergeants at this time on the same department, I asked how that could be, and he told me, “It was a different era back then. We had corruption like we’ve never seen in our careers!” Before long, Alan’s back story stretched to eight chapters, and of course it begged the questions: Who killed Mackie Stewart and why? So I followed my instincts and went with the story, letting my characters explain what happened to them. I felt like I was merely the recording secretary of a story being told by ghosts.

What genre best fits for the book?

I write noir murder/mystery.

Are you working on something new at the moment?

THICK AS THIEVES led to a sequel, SIGN OF THE DRAGON, and I’ve followed that with UNREASONABLE PERSUASION, and UNHOLY ALLIANCE. My fifth in the Alan Stewart series is DEADLY ATTRACTION, and it’s due for release mid-November.  All five have been published by Kristen Morris of Tigress Publishing (Seattle and L.A.) who has been a joy to work with. She’s been very active in the book designs, promotions, editing, and concept development.

Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Learn as much as you can about writing. Read Stephens King’s On Writing, Robert McKee’s Story, and everything else you can find on your craft. I started reading Writer’s Digest, and now read blogs on writing. And as Ray Bradbury has already said, I urge would-be writers to start writing and make it a habit. Bradbury suggests starting with short-stories, completing one a week, which is what he did, and it’s also how Stephen King honed his skills. I also took every college class I could find on writing or literature, because it is all about learning your craft. I’ll also reiterate what other authors have said: If you want to write, you need to read. Read everything you can and expand your taste in reading. Educate yourself.

Which authors inspire you?

I started with literature and read that before popular fiction, so let’s start with that: Mark Twain, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Toni Morrison, and O. Henry. Moving to crime fiction, I started with The Hardy Boys as a kid, reading every one of their mysteries. And since then, it has been Joe Wambaugh, James Elroy, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler, among others. Currently, I’m on a Michael Connelly jag, reading everything I can of his. He does a particularly great job of capturing courtroom drama. Having spent a lot of time in court as a detective, I’m impressed how an outsider can gain such keen insight into how the “system” works/doesn’t work, while explaining it in an entertaining manner.

Where can people go to read your work?

My novels are available in print, and all bookstores can order them through Partner’s West Distributing. Or, they can order them at discount through my website: http://neillow.com/  I’m also available on Kindle at: http://www.amazon.com/Thieves-Detectives-Stewart-Deward-ebook/dp/B004XQWQVS/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1345782046&sr=8-3

Where can people find you on the internet?

http://neillow.com/ 

Face book, under Neil Low, and

Twitter: @TheMasterThief

Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers?

For would-be writers, I would encourage them to make their stories as perfect as they can before trying to submit their work. There really is no such thing as a perfect first draft that comes as a gift from the gods. Everything authors write can and should be improved upon. A writer has an implicit duty to do this before submission. Make it as tight as possible, and if they’re still serious about submitting their work or publishing it electronically, hire a professional editor to go over it first. I would also urge authors to search out the right publishing arrangement that works for them, helping them create something they will be proud to see on a book shelf. Personally, I’d be concerned about a company that just wanted to slap a cover on the first draft they saw, having no marketing plan, and leaving the writer disappointed with a garage full of books s/he can’t sell. If your followers have technical questions on writing, detective work, or publishing, they can contact me through my website, or message me at Twitter, providing contact information. As long as I’m not overwhelmed, time permitting, I’d be glad to answer their questions.

Review of Space Orville

Review of: Space Orville

Reviewer: R. Murry

Jeff’s imagination took possession of my mind from the start of this space odyssey.  He invents characters, places, words, and scenes that could only have been produced with much time and effort.

Colors will pulse, turn into a glowballs, become liquid blankets, and smooch to name a few ways they are used.  Objects exist but you can’t see them; and they chuffled, wheebling, and merbled.  As you can see, he makes up words that flow well in the situation they're put, and make you laugh, because of their usage.

 

Space Orville, a sixteen year old, is out to catch the bad guy Bizmo while a host of characters are after the Weezle Bums.  They come together to search for the villains.

For me to try to describe the characters would do discredit to Mr. Whelan’s superb effort.  There’s NeutroFuzz, Space Orville’s side-kick who performs what Orville describes as amazing tricks, and then there are the General, Commander, and Ivan.  Lidweena and her Spoonies, Zabooka, and Miles are also contributors in trying to find the universal criminals.

We visit the land of the Reality Free Zone, Andorica, Narvosis and Selador to name a few.  I know I missed one or two, because there are many interesting places in Mr. Whelan’s universe of conscious,

subconscious, and dreams that we as humans traverse.  Examples are: Miles hands Space Orville the Fog Napkin, an instrument of life or death, saying, “Remember, that’s a lot of time you’ve got on your hands.”  Zabooka says to Space Orville’s group, “…You may not know which way you’re going, but that won’ stop you from getting somewhere.”

There are gadgets that are mind boggling.  And again, for me to describe them would be fruitless.  I’ll just say you will enjoy seeing hearing, and watching what they do through Mr. Whelan’s colorful and descriptive prose.

Purchase at http://amzn.to/1txiZQa .     

     

Review of The Desolate Garden

               The Desolate Garden         

By Danny Kemp

Reviewed by R. Murry

“Me, being the irrepressible confident soul that I am, I figuratively dived into the ruck and went searching for the ball.” is a quote of the Honourable Harry Paterson at the beginning of this character-driven suspense who-done-it novel.  Moreover, it was not the butler who did it, as in many an English murder story alludes.  As you can see by the spelling of honorable, I had to use an Oxford dictionary to read this book. Just kidding, the story is written that any non-Englishman could follow without trouble.

For those Americans, like myself, “Diving into the ruck” is a rugby term meaning getting down and dirty, taking the ball and running with it, which Harry attempts to do in the investigation into the murder of his father.  However, he is sidetracked by his chauvinistic ways.

The other main character in this novel interwoven with killings, espionage, money laundering, family lineages, is Judith Meadows.  She is the unlikely government investigator brought in to solve the central crime, which turns into unraveling a book of offenses that crisscrosses international boundaries.  So it may seem.

Who is the instigator of the crime?  That is what Judy and H. are spending their brain power on trying to figure out.  They become familiar with their communications to the point that H. thinks he is falling in love.  Mr. Kemp’s dialog between these two leads one to believe that we have a love story in the making.  His characters fit well together – their wit and sarcasm have you expecting a marriage in the making.

Things are more complicated in Mr. Kemp’s tales of the haves against the have-nots in politics, money, power, and greed. You have to be quick of mind to follow the plot and all the intriguing individuals that make up this journey through a world of decadence and corruption.  The effort is well worth spent.

The novel ends with a surprise that not even Lord Harry Peterson or Judith Meadows would have conjured up.  The enemy is closer than you think.

Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2Y4D0EP

 

Legacy Forgotten by Nicole Hill

Review of Nicole Hill's

Legacy Forgotten

Reviewed by Author R. Murry

“Relax,” Camelita told her (Ailis,) “The answer will come to you.  Most of the time the answer we see most is the one we cannot find.”

This is the premise of Legacy Forgotten.  Kenneth, a vampire, is looking for his place in life, even though he has live hundreds of them.  Monolo is destroying the world is the center of.  Ailis is coming of age in strength and wisdom as a women leader.  All these main characters are looking for something that is right in front of them, but they can’t grasp it.

They are all interwoven into finding what is important to them.  And that turns out to be a Legacy Forgotten, which is found through conflict that is foiled by sanity of women’s love for an ideal – somewhat a love story.

Vampire lore and legacy, I have little knowledge of.  Ms. Hill makes it clear in an entertaining way to a novice like me through her literary descriptions.

All I all, I enjoyed the adventure into yore, but give Ms. Hill’s effort Three Stars, because the story was somewhat difficult for me to follow for one who has limited knowledge in Vampire oddities.  However, I believe the book would be a welcome addition to a blood sucker’s library. 

Purchase at Amazon.com:  Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Forgotten-1-Nicole-Hill/dp/1477460853/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343914329&sr=1-1&keywords=legacy+forgotten

Review of R, Murry's book The Audubon Caper

The Audubon Caper: Untold Story of the Theft of an American Treasure

Written by R. Murry

Guest Reviewer: Theresa Braun

R. Murry’s The Audubon Caper was a fast-paced story.  There are so many things going on in this creative non-fiction tale.  One of the greatest things about this book is that it’s based on a true story.  I kept thinking about that as I read, noting that definitely truth can be stranger than fiction.  Murry’s writing lets us really get to know him.  He’s frequently very open about his thoughts and feelings throughout the tale, something I really enjoyed.  We see him get caught up in drugs, booze, and sex, very fitting for the 70s scene—yet he graduates from college and accomplishes a lot, such as surviving Viet Nam and a number of other military feats.  Some other adventures include running drugs and flying off to Haiti.

            The story keeps us on our toes, shifting from the present and going into the past, and around again.  Murry tells us one of the reasons he gets involved in stealing the Audubon paintings is because of being loosened up by cocaine and scotch.  His rich college buddy van Zandt ends up roping Murry into the theft by using the powers of friendship.  In addition, Murry has vowed to van Zandt’s father to keep an eye on him, keeping him out of prison.  We see Murry getting in way over his head and that’s before we learn about the big named mafia guys who are connected to van Zandt.    

            Much of the story takes place in Key West, where the theft and the trial take place.  Murry’s colorful description of Key West is well done, as are his noting of details of his characters, giving us a rundown of what they wear and drink.  We get a really good historical sense of the significance of the Audubon paintings, something Murry does well.  It’s also fascinating how easily these artistic treasures are taken.  

Dancing with the FBI is one of the best parts of the story.  Murry explains his complex feelings about having already served his country in war and then having to serve his country to help catch the mob.  The trial where Murry testifies about his involvement in the Audubon Caper is really intense.  We see his having to think about himself and his new wife he hopes to be reunited with at the end of the story.  Murry has to outsmart van Zandt’s lawyer and many other players in the whole legal debacle.  We want to see him succeed and make it into the witness protection program as he is promised by the FBI.  Murry builds effective suspense at the end of his tale and we get a satisfying conclusion—partly because we know he lives to write about it. 

Review of Theresa Braun's Groom and Doom

Review of Theresa Braun's Groom and Doom

Reviewed by R. Murry

Ms. Braun writes very well about the love story of Angela and her Greek god Stavros.  One statement, in the Pre-Wedding part of the tale, says a lot about what will follow.  Angela gets a psychic reading that basically states the love affair won’t work.  She gets upset and cries – she cries many times in the story.  Her friend consoles her by saying, “Forget him (His reading.) There’re always Whackos out there.”

Well, I’m not saying Whacko is a word I would use for all the characters in this novella, but I would say that the main characters lack mental fortitude.  Angela is living in a fantasy world when it comes to her love for Stavros.  She loves the mystic of the Greek world he’s from.  To her, he is not like any other man she knows, meaning he is not endowed with the masculine side she sees in others she has dated.

What Angela doesn’t see is that he is not the man, who stands up for his own - his lover – first.  It’s not in his character.  He is lovey-dovey though.  This character flaw doesn’t come out until the Wedding Trip, where his father, Georgius, is the main “Axe hole,” as Theresa states towards the end of her story.  She doesn’t even stand up for herself or her family.  Fools and whackos fall in love for stupid reasons.  Who am I to judge?

The Love Birds are in Greece for their marriage.  All doesn’t go the way Angela or Stavros cared for, because his father presents problems every chance he can against the wedding proceedings.  A non-excuse in my mind is his wife died eleven months ago; and the family must mourn her death for twelve.  A Greek tradition is not properly revered and stains the whole wedding celebrations – end of world.

Everything else in this novella is secondary but important to the characters development: family members fight over who gets what – cars, rooms, places at dinner, background, setting, etc., while preparing for the wedding.  All could have been avoided if Angela asked Stavros one question when he said he loved her and asked her “Will you marry me?”  That question should have been, “Which is it, me or your family?”  A harsh question, but it’s a realistic one before getting married. 

I know what the answer to that question would have been and so does Angela.  Then there wouldn’t have been a Greek Wedding in Greece.  The wedding would have been in the USA or there would not have been one.

Ms. Braun weaves a good story that shows the naiveté and flawed traits of her characters to their fullest.  This novella is geared towards women and is not the type of book I would normally read, but I must say it’s a tear jerker that soap opera fans would love.

Therefore, I give this endeavor FOUR STARS.

You may purchase:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Groom+and+Doom%3A+A+Greek+Love+Story  OR http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/groom-and-doom-theresa-braun/1111638850?ean=2940014695541

          

Interview with Theresa Braun, Author of Groom and Doom: A Greek Love Story

Interviewed by R. Murry.  A Review of Groom and Doom is forth coming.

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

I grew up in Minnesota and now live in South Florida.  I’m a recovering English teacher, having taught for about fourteen years.  Every minute I can get, I’m writing or doing research for my next project.  I would love to read more.  Finding symbolic or thematic meaning in a writer’s work is so much fun, which is one of the reasons I became an English teacher.  Also, I’m very interested in psychology and how people think and act.  Every day is a great lesson in character studies.  I’m also very fascinated by the unexplained, whether that be the possibility of past lives or the paranormal.  Ghosts, angels, demons, all interest me very much.

Do you remember the first story you wrote?

I’ve always been writing and creating things.  As a child I would write my own greeting cards for my parents and relatives.  I then started keeping a diary or journal.  There are notebooks upon notebooks of stories that I’ve started writing that are sitting in my closet right now.  I had the most fun in school when it came to creative writing—whether it be a poem or short story.

Were you inspired by someone or something?

Groom and Doom was inspired by my wedding in Greece.  The experience was so unbelievable, I knew that truth was stranger than fiction and I had to write the story.  Things are fictionalized and exaggerated, but there are definitely some real truths in it.  The whole process of writing it and making parts of it even more ridiculous was very cathartic for me.   

What do you like about writing a story?

I love the process of writing and getting in touch with the deepest part of myself.  I’d like to think that comes out in my work.  It’s also such a thrill to write a sentence and wonder, did I really write that?  I really believe that we often can tap into the collective unconscious.  That’s really what bonds us as human beings—we’re all somehow connected and can respond to universal truths.  Shakespeare is proof of that—it’s why he’s still relevant today.

Can you tell us about your book?

The main character tries to make sense of tragedy in her life and search for spiritual answers/meaning.  She tries to look at what happens to her as a way to find self-empowerment and be a stronger person.  One of the themes is "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger."  The book covers a wide range of life questions like can we live happily ever after with a soul mate, or is it more complicated than that?  I also try to get the reader to wonder why things really happen to us.  How can we learn from life experiences?  Although there are some tragic moments, I also make an effort to make situations and reactions to them humorous.  I feel we need to laugh at life and its circumstances as much as possible.  If we don’t laugh, we cry.  Laughing is always better.

How did you come up with the story?

During the wedding in Greece, I found myself taking notes and knew I would use them in a book.  To me, that was a sign I had to write the story.

What genre best fits for the book?

I’m not really sure how to answer that.  It’s part family drama, part romantic tragi-comedy; it’s spiritual, and so many other things.  I would probably say it falls most closely under chicklit, partly because my target audience is women.  

Are you working on something new at the moment?

I've already begun writing another novel set in Renaissance England.  It will have more sex and violence in it and will be part of a series.  The main character struggles to find herself and her personal empowerment in a time period when women had little power.  Gender roles and issues of self-esteem really fascinate me.

Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Write, write, and write some more.  Set aside a specific time to write and always carry a little notepad to take down thoughts.  What really helped me was to join a writers’ group.  I found great ones on Meetup.com.  It’s a way to get feedback and to network.  I also found that it would make me write something every week to bring to the meetings—it’s a fabulous way to have a deadline.  Twitter has also been an incredible way to network.  There are so many writers who post tips or have blogs on writing. 

Which authors inspire you?

The list is endless and it really depends on my mood.  Vonnegut is one of my favorites because he took so many risks in his writing and because he often surprised me with his subject matter.  I love gothic literature—Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  I also enjoy great satire—Catch-22 was an amazing read for me.  Books sometimes find me when I need them.  Eat, Pray, Love was given to me by a friend when I was going through a tough time.  It was the right book at the right time.  I really could go on all day about my favorite books or authors.  David Sedaris is such a superb comedic author—and I’ve met him personally.  He takes the time to talk to all of his fans and is very gracious.  That truly inspires me.

Where can people go to read your work?

The book is on Amazon and on Barnes and Noble.  Sample chapters are available on my website.

Where can people find you on the internet?

http://www.theresabraunauthor.com

Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers?

I just hope that my readers will not only enjoy my books, but be able to gain something meaningful.  A successful book leaves us with something—an inspirational thought or discussion.  That is my wish for my readers.