Wednesday, August 28, 2019

FEATURED AUTHOR: DAVE CRAVENS



ABOUT THE BOOK

Dave Cravens’ debut mystery about a hard-nosed journalist turned PTA mom is a surprising thriller exposing the cutthroat and comical world of school politics!



Parker Monroe is a tough-talking investigative reporter used to writing headlines, not being the subject of them. When a key source vanishes on a politically toxic story, this single mother of three finds herself at the center of a media storm and out of a job. Ready to reset, Parker moves her family back to the rural town where she grew up. But a gossip-filled PTA, a tyrannical school principal and a gruesome murder make adjusting to the "simple life" anything but. Parker Monroe is about to chase the story of her lifetime...



Surprising, fun and packed with a ton of heart. Mayhem Murder and the PTA is just the book you need to rekindle your school spirit!


Book Details:


Author’s name: Dave Cravens


Genre: Mystery


Series: First of a new series


Publisher: Amazon (May 20, 2019)


Page count: 374 Kindle Pages

On tour with: iRead Book Tours







LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH DAVE CRAVENS


A few of your favorite things: my wife and kids, action movies, traveling and the color red on women (it’s not the same on guys.)
Things you need to throw out: just about everything in the garage including old cables, boxes, clothes that don’t fit anyone in the house, DVD’s and CD’s we bought again digitally. Also, paint we’ll never use again.


Things you need in order to write: a laptop, a chair to put my feet up, time and silence.
Things that hamper your writing: noise, and constant interruptions.


Things you love about writing:
creating something -- a world, a moment a character in its purest form.
Things you hate about writing: rereading my fifth draft for the tenth time and still not finding all the mistakes.

Easiest thing about being a writer: loving what I do.

Hardest thing about being a writer: marketing, advertising and PR.


Things you love about where you live: it’s gorgeous pretty much every day in Southern California.
Things that make you want to move: too many people; taxes; traffic.

Things you never want to run out of: ideas and time to implement them.
Things you wish you’d never bought: Facebook advertising.

Words that describe you: optimistic; creative; kind.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: “Fat Thor.”

Favorite foods: burgers; pasta. hot dogs; pretty much everything bad for me.
Things that make you want to throw up: snails.

Favorite music or song: I love all kinds of music. from Mozart to Metallica.
Music that make your ears bleed: rap about cop-killing is a bit hard to digest.

Favorite beverage: iced tea, no sweetener.

Something that gives you a pickle face: kale juice.

Favorite smell: a cool fall day in the country.

Something that makes you hold your nose: every ounce of kid vomit I’ve ever had to clean up.

Something you’re really good at: telling stories.

Something you’re really bad at: telling stories.


Something you wish you could do:
fly under my own power.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do:
I don’t regret learning to do anything.


Last best thing you ate: my own grilled hamburger.

Last thing you regret eating: those red onions off that Subway Salad.

Things you’d walk a mile for: I’d walk a mile to meet someone interesting for a good lunch.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: any reality show on TLC.

Things you always put in your books: inside jokes that only a handful of people might pick up on.

Things you never put in your books: anything that doesn’t serve the overall story.

Things to say to an author: “Hi! I hear you write stuff too.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “Have I read your stuff? No. But that guy over there told me it was horses—t. And he looks super trustworthy, so I believe him. So, do you write horses—t?”

Favorite places you’ve been: Paris. Stonehenge. Glowworm caves in New Zealand.

Places you never want to go to again: that Wendy’s off of Alicia Parkway.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: I’d have it be a weekly thing with different people each time. But to start I’d want to sit down with Sylvester Stallone, Elon Musk, JK Rowling, and Vera Wang.

People you’d cancel dinner on: anyone from Antifa.

Favorite things to do: spend time with my family; write; nap.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: go back to that Wendy’s off Alicia.

Things that make you happy: succeeding at something; anything; family.

Things that drive you crazy: politics.

Proudest moment: walking into our renovated home for the first time. And something with my kids. You know, family stuff. Just choose one.
Most embarrassing moment: I don’t even know that I’ve experienced it yet. It’s still out there – waiting to ambush me.


Biggest lie you’ve ever told: “Yeah, I can totally do that!”

A lie you wish you’d told: “Nope. I have no idea how to do that.”

Best thing you’ve ever done: cold call the young woman who would become my wife to ask her out on a date.

Biggest mistake: not buying a condo in Socal for 50K.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done:
skydiving.

Something you chickened out from doing: it probably involved dancing.

The last thing you did for the first time:
write an erotic novel under a fake name to complete a dare.

Something you’ll never do again: repeat my horrid performance at the work meeting I just had last Friday. Yowza.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Dave Cravens wanted to grow up to be a superhero, capture Bigfoot, fly experimental aircraft out of Area 51, develop cold fusion and star and direct in his own blockbuster movies.

That didn’t work out.

Instead, Dave got a degree in journalism, which he hasn't used at all other than to justify his incredibly insightful and valid complaints about the state of journalism. During his twenty-two years in the video game business, he's written for award winning franchises, directed TV commercials and movies, sprained his ankles numerous times in ultimate Frisbee games and published three original novels.

He also married the love of his life and is raising three amazing children who may one day capture Bigfoot, Nessie or a Yeti.

No pressure.

Connect with Dave:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon