FEATURED AUTHOR: GARY McAVOY

ABOUT THE BOOK

Truman Capote’s bestselling book In Cold Blood has captivated worldwide audiences for over fifty years. It is a gripping story about the consequences of a trivial robbery gone terribly wrong in a remote village of western Kansas.

But what if robbery was not the motive at all, but something more sinister? And why would the Kansas Bureau of Investigation press the Attorney General to launch a ruthless four-year legal battle to prevent fresh details of the State’s most famous crime from being made public, so many years after the case had been solved?

Based on stunning new details discovered in the personal journals and archives of former KBI Director Harold Nye—and corroborated by letters written by Richard Hickock, one of the killers on Death Row—And Every Word Is True meticulously lays out a vivid and startling new view of the investigation, one that will keep readers on the edge of their seats as they pick up where Capote left off. Even readers new to the story will find themselves drawn into a spellbinding forensic investigation that reads like a thriller, adding new perspectives to the classic tale of an iconic American crime.

Book Details:


Title: And Every Word Is True

Author: Gary McAvoy

Genre: True crime/Memoir/Historical nonfiction

Publisher: Literati Editions (March 4, 2019)

Print length: 310 pages

On tour with: Partners in Crime Book Tours




INTERVIEW WITH GARY McAVOY

Gary, how long have you been writing, and how did you start?
Started writing when I was 10 years old, so a very long time now.

What inspired you to write this book?
While a lifelong writer, I am also a literary manuscript dealer. In 2012, I was approached by Ronald Nye, the son of former Kansas Bureau of Investigation Director Harold Nye (who was also the lead field investigator for the 1959 Clutter murders, on which Truman Capote based his book, In Cold Blood), who consigned to me several books and letters from Truman to his father during the 1959 murder investigation. Shortly afterward, the State of Kansas sued both Ron and me to prevent the material from being made public.

We prevailed in that litigation, but as I dug more deeply into the Nye archives, I found that Capote’s book didn’t tell the whole story—and there is much more to tell. It looks as if robbery was not the motive at all, but something more sinister. Based on stunning new details discovered in Nye's personal journals and archives—and corroborated by letters written by Richard Hickock, one of the killers on Death Row—my book, And Every Word Is True, meticulously lays out a vivid and startling new view of the investigation, one that will keep readers on the edge of their seats as they pick up where Capote left off.

What do you hope readers will get from this book?
That one of the most well-told stories in American literature has much more to it than was told by its author.

How did you come up with the title of your book?
It comes from a quote Truman Capote made in an interview, claiming his book was immaculately factual; but it isn’t.

Do you have a day job?
Yes, I am a professional dealer of historical manuscripts and literary memorabilia.

How would you describe your book in a tweet?
And Every Word Is True lays out a fresh, meticulously-researched perspective on the Clutter murder case made famous in In Cold Blood.

How did you come up with your cover art?
A good friend designed it for me, based on the actual documents used in my research.

Tell us about your favorite chapter in the book.
The suspicions voiced by so many people who questioned robbery as the motive for the Clutter murders.

Who are your favorite authors?
Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Robert Ludlum, Eckhart Tolle.

What was your favorite childhood book?
The Wizard of Oz.

What book are you currently reading and in what format?
A New Earth by Eckhard Tolle, on ebook.


Do you have a routine for writing?
First thing every single morning straight through to around 6PM.

Where do you prefer to do write?

At my desk in my lakeside home.



Name one thing you couldn’t live without.

My trusty Mac, Scrivener writing software, and the Oxford English Dictionary.

That's three, but since those are my three also, I won't be a stickler for details. Name five people with whom you would pick to be stranded in a bookstore.

Elaine Petrocelli (from Book Passage), Mark Bittman (NY Times), Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Bradley Cooper (director).

Where would your dream office be?

In a villa on Lake Como, Italy.

Where do you call home? 

The Pacific Northwest.

What’s one of your favorite quotes? 

"My tastes are simple. I’m easily satisfied with the very best." —Winston Churchill

For what would you like to be remembered?

This book: And Every Word Is True.

What scares you the most?

Running out of money and being homeless.

YouTube is . . .

At once entertaining and frightening.

Who would you want to narrate a film about your life?

Harrison Ford.

3D movies are . . .

A headache.

If you had a swear jar, would it be full?

Of course, I’m an Army veteran.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Introvert with brief periods of unforced leadership.

What's your relationship with your TV remote?

There are always too many to judge.

What's your favorite treat for movie night?

Sea-salt caramel chocolate bars.

What's the biggest lie you ever told?

I was a spy in the Army (only partially untrue).

What is the most daring thing you've done?

Getting drafted and not moving to Canada.

What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?
Bought a home I couldn’t afford, many years ago.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
Winning an award while chairman of the Awards Ceremony. Awkward.

What choices in life would you like to have a redo on?

I would have gone into filmmaking.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Read.



What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?

THIS BOOK! Nearly seven years of often excruciating challenges.


What is your favorite movie?

The Wizard of Oz.

Do you have a favorite book?
Not particularly, I have wide-ranging interests.


How about a favorite book that was turned into a movie? Did the movie stink?

Gerald Clarke’s Capote, with a great film by Bennett Miller.


Do you sweat the small stuff?

Nope.


How long is your to-do list?

Endless.


What are you working on now? 

A follow-up book to my current book, And Every Word Is True.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM AND EVERY WORD IS TRUE

Over a half century ago, Special Agent Harold R. Nye of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI)—who would later become that agency’s third director—was thrust into an investigation to help solve what would eventually become an iconic tale of true crime in America: the brutal slayings of a Kansas wheat farmer, Herbert Clutter, and his wife and two children in November 1959.
A little more than 50 years later—being a dealer of rare collectible letters, photographs, manuscripts, and books—I was contacted by Harold Nye’s son, Ronald, in March 2012, revealing who his father was and what materials he had to offer for sale. As an ardent collector of historical autograph memorabilia since the 1980s, with a particular appetite for literary manuscripts and signed first editions, I felt privileged to be handling the sale of the rarest books and letters by Truman Capote—presentation copies personally given by the author to one of the principal investigators, during the time history was being made.
The books, first editions of both In Cold Blood and Capote’s earlier work Selected Writings, were each warmly inscribed by Truman to Harold Nye and his wife Joyce. That alone would generate solid interest in the sale, but this particular copy of In Cold Blood was also signed by 12 other people, including Logan Sanford, Director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation; the other three principal investigators in the case, among them Special Agent Alvin Dewey (who fared remarkably well in the story); and the director, actors, and crew of the eponymous 1967 movie, which used the Clutter house and other area locations to produce on film a chillingly authentic portrayal of what appeared on the page. As of this writing, only three such books signed by all principal figures are known to exist.
But the two personal letters Truman had written to Agent Nye were the most tantalizing of the lot. Both were sent in 1962 from his villa in Spain, overlooking the Mediterranean on the Costa Brava, where he spent three springs and summers writing much of his book. In one letter, neatly composed on thin pages the color of wheat, Capote laments having to suffer yet another delay in finishing his book, the Kansas Supreme Court having issued a stay of execution for the killers. For the frustrated author, this meant he didn’t yet have an ending—one way or the other—and he was to endure another three years before realizing that goal, with the hanging of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith in April 1965. For a collector, this is the most vivid form of autograph correspondence: handwritten documents richly infused with direct historical impact and solid provenance.
The second letter, also in Capote’s cramped, childlike scrawl but this one on 3-holed, blue-lined composition paper, teasingly informs Nye how often he appears in the book and that “…my editor said: ‘Aren’t you making this Mr. Nye just a little too clever?’”
Along with the two signed books, then, these letters were to form the centerpiece of the auction. The rest of the material, though interesting on its own, held little tangible value to serious collectors. But it did contribute historical relevance and an in-person, chronicled authority to the auction as a whole, so we chose to offer all materials to the winning bidder—and only one bidder, since Ron Nye felt the material should stay together for historical continuity.
Sensing the gravity of the task ahead, like an eager historian I began educating myself more deeply in the Capote legacy. As I paged through Harold Nye's investigative notebooks and copies of actual case reports he had written—not digging deep, just skimming the material—I was reminded of key passages in Capote's masterwork—but they were hazy, since my first and last reading of it was the year it was published, in 1966. So I reread the book with new vigor—though now every word seemed to have fresh perspective, since I was privy to actual handwritten notes describing Nye’s interviews, his discovery of clues and gathering of evidence, his random thoughts, and a hastily penned transcript gleaned while extracting a confession from one of the killers—all of which made the experience as visceral as being on the scene in 1959.
I watched the indelible 1967 film In Cold Blood, as well as the 1996 TV production of the same name, followed by 2005’s film Capote and 2006’s Infamous. I absorbed Ralph Voss's skillful examination of Capote’s book, Gerald Clarke's rich biography, George Plimpton's interviews with Capote’s “friends, enemies, acquaintances and detractors,” Charles Shields’ portrait of Harper Lee, and anything else I could find that brought objective viewpoints to the table—along with many not so objective.
As prepared as one could be, then, I began assembling the material for an online catalog exhibiting the auction—excluding, ultimately, the crime scene photos, most of which were simply too gruesome to release “into the wild,” realizing well before the auction went live that we would have no control over how they might be used in the future. Not wishing that burden on our shoulders, we removed the photos from the auction, and instead voluntarily sent them to the KBI for archival disposition.
To our surprise and dismay, a few days later we were served with a cease and desist letter from the Kansas Attorney General at the instigation of the KBI, claiming among other things that Harold Nye’s personal journals were state property and were possessed of “highly confidential information.” On the face of it this was a farcical claim at best, since they had never even seen the notebooks, not to mention that it had been well over 50 years since the case was closed and those charged with the crime had been executed, as the Court itself would ultimately point out. Our position, obviously, couldn’t have been more at odds with Kansas’s reckoning, and believing we were on the right side of the law, we took on their challenge. After a grueling legal battle lasting years, it’s clear now that Kansas thought Ron and I would just roll over and be done with it. That was their first mistake.
Over the time we prepared our defense—all the while baffled as to why Kansas was so vigorously mounting an expensive, and unusually high-level campaign of suppression and intimidation—a new thesis emerged that seemed at odds with the State’s declared rationale. And the deeper we looked, the clearer that proposition became. To our thinking—not to mention the views of independent lawyers, journalists, forensic criminologists, and others who in some way touched our case—it looked more and more as if Kansas had something to hide. At the very least there was something more to this story, and I intended to find out what it was.
And therein lies their second mistake and the irony of this cautionary tale: Had the State of Kansas simply avoided such heavy-handed tactics as pressing the lawsuit against us, and publicly tarnishing Harold Nye’s good name, we might never have discovered the sensational “new” details of the Clutter case that time and opportunity revealed as our own investigation deepened. Had they not interfered in our legitimate business—to provide for the Nye family’s medical needs by selling the books, letters, and notes that rightfully belonged to his father—the KBI would not now be suffering under the weight of the embarrassing disclosures being made here.
Throughout his life Truman Capote maintained that his book was “immaculately factual,” as he told George Plimpton in a January 1966 interview. Shortly after In Cold Blood first appeared in print—in September 1965, when the story was serialized in four consecutive issues of The New Yorker magazine—critics, pundits, and others assessing the work were already taking Capote to task for inaccuracies found in his account, or as one reviewer put it, “reaching for pathos rather than realism.”  Not least among these was Harold Nye, who not only lived it, but whose prominent role in the book ultimately ensured a firsthand comparison of the known facts.
But for as much as Capote added to or reshaped the brilliant telling of his story, in analyzing Harold Nye’s notebooks I found that much had been omitted from In Cold Blood, and in many cases there were surprisingly crucial details that, at the time, would have appeared in the eyes of many to be of little value. It was only when other documents came into my possession that we were able to connect the dots, alluding to something very different than was passed on to readers of In Cold Blood.
In a striking coincidence, within a matter of weeks another new client—a grandson of Garden City Undersheriff Wendle Meier, one of the central characters in the story—consigned to me the Death Row diaries, family photos and correspondence, poetry, and a whole passel of riveting memorabilia given to Wendle Meier and his wife, Josephine, by one of the killers, Perry Edward Smith, on his way to the gallows. To be clear, I have no interest dealing in the so-called “murderabilia” market. But this was becoming more of a literary mystery the likes of which few people in my position could resist.
By this point any writer would feel grateful to have such an abundance of material to work with. But later, as a result of the media coverage our case had sparked, synchronicity struck again. I came into possession of copies of handwritten letters by the other killer, Richard Eugene Hickock, which had originally been sent to Wichita Eagle reporter Starling Mack Nations. Hickock had contracted with Nations to write his “life story” while he was on Death Row To the chagrin of both Hickock and Nations, though, no publisher showed interest in the book, High Road to Hell, at the time. But it’s clear from Hickock’s remarkable memory and his command of precise details, which both Capote and case investigators marveled over, that he did have compelling things to say.
As of this writing neither the Smith diaries nor the Hickock letters have been published, and only a handful of people have seen Hickock’s letters to Mack Nations. But at least one thing is clear from putting all this material together—it appears there was a good deal more to the foundations of Capote’s story than was originally told. And if there were any doubt as to whether Ron Nye and I would just give in to the bullying tactics of a well-funded state government—saving ourselves a lot of time and money fighting a senseless battle—the new evidence coming at us from all directions made it unambiguously clear that we were on to something. And we had to believe Kansas suspected it, too.
Presented here, then, are several new hypotheses—undoubtedly bound for controversy, while nonetheless supported by facts—including one in particular that would surely have given authorities in Kansas every reason to fight as hard as it did to keep this material from being published: that robbery may not have been the motive for the death of Herbert Clutter and his family.
Despite an abundance of leads pointing in this darker direction, it appears that the original KBI investigation overlooked this fundamental possibility, one that no responsible law enforcement agency would ever rule out, given the circumstances. Indeed, this was and remained for some time coordinating investigator Alvin Dewey’s strongest opinion, and he personally knew Herb Clutter very well.
Yet despite new information coming out years later, before the killers had even been executed, the Kansas attorney general at the time appears to have adopted a stance of letting sleeping dogs lie, without further investigation. But why? As is often the case with powerful institutions, could their keen drive for self-preservation have overshadowed a full accountability of justice?
Now, nearly six decades later, and with the passing away of nearly every involved character since 1959, it’s unlikely any final determination can be made, short of a “Deep Throat” insider emerging from the shadows of time. But much of what you find here will present compelling new arguments, and I leave it to readers to draw their own conclusions.
***
Excerpt from And Every Word Is True by Gary McAvoy.  Copyright © 2018 by Gary McAvoy. Reproduced with permission from Gary McAvoy. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

OTHER WORKS BY GARY McAVOY

Co-author with Dr. Jane Goodall, Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating

Editor: Cracking the New E-conomy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 


Gary McAvoy is a veteran technology executive, entrepreneur, and lifelong writer. For several years he was also a literary media escort in Seattle, during which time he worked with hundreds of authors promoting their books—most notably Dr. Jane Goodall, with whom Gary later collaborated on Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating (Hachette, 2005).

Gary is also a professional collector of rare literary manuscripts and historical letters and books, a passion that sparked the intriguing discoveries leading up to his latest book, And Every Word Is True (Literati Editions, March 2019), a revealing look at startling new disclosures about the investigation surrounding the 1959 Clutter family murders, heinous crimes chillingly portrayed in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. And Every Word Is True pulls back the curtain for a suspenseful encore to Capote’s classic tale, adding new perspectives to an iconic American crime.

Connect with Gary:
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Amazon  | 
Instagram

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Bookbub 

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FEATURED AUTHOR: PAUL HOLLIS

ABOUT THE BOOK  

A terrorist’s plot, the assassination of a prime minister, holds the key to an apocalyptic plan to destroy Europe’s economy. It’s impossible to stop, but one man doesn’t know enough to think the world can’t be saved. He’s no hero; not clever or capable, talented or tested. The Hollow Man is just trying to survive in an uncertain climate where terrorism is changing the rules of how we live.

INTERVIEW WITH PAUL HOLLIS

Paul, how did you get started writing and when did you become an “author?”
After retiring early from my day job, I used to sit with friends on the porch of my country home to reminisce. We spat tobacco juice into the yard as we took turns telling old stories. Okay, it was the local pub and none of us dipped or smoked. Curiously though, the group was always interested in my stories. One encouraged me to write a book about a few of my early exploits. She asked, “Do you have something better to do?” Apparently, I didn’t.

It was more fun than I imagined. The manuscript took a year to draft, rewrite several times, professionally edit, and publish. But I didn’t feel like a real author until I held a copy of the paperback in my hand.

That is an awesome feeling. What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
I love writing dialogue. This is where characters come to life. We can describe their idiosyncrasies and characteristics. We can position them with thoughts and feelings. We can thrust them into circumstances to watch them squirm. But what comes out of their mouths immediately adds a third dimension to their being and the character jumps off the page.

How long is your to-be-read list?
My to-be-read list is down to about twenty. It contains the latest from Michael Connelly, James Patterson, Jonathan Kellerman, Kathy Reichs, and Lee Child. I learn something about plotting, characters or building suspense every time I read their books.

What books do you currently have published?
To date, I have published one book called The Hollow Man.

The Hollow Man traces some of my experiences traveling through Europe as a young man. At the time, terrorism was on the rise and I had been assigned to learn as much as I could about it. Most early acts of terror were specific, personal and damage was focused on a distinct, definable enemy. But terrorism was beginning to change its strategy to the familiar, senseless chaos we recognize today. The death of political figures no longer seemed to bother us as much as these new, random attacks against our children. Targets of innocence became preferable for these people because this kind of shock and hurt hit closer to our hearts and the fear inside us grew larger with each incident.

How long have you been a writer?
My early life showed no signs of literary talent; in fact, I paid a girl to write a required poem for me in high school. But as they say, circumstances change. I entered university at the end of 1967 and fell into a blossoming subculture that reshaped my reality, figuratively and perhaps a little too literally. My majors became physiology and English literature so I could better understand people and maybe someday write about it. I began writing my own poetry and short subjects, but life happened soon after graduation. I placed all aspirations on hold and jumped into the world head first.

That is, until I retired from IBM in 2009. For forty years, something Ben Franklin said had bounced around my brain. “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.” I thought I might cover both bases by writing about something I did as a young man. I’ve been a full-time writer since 2011.

How often do you tweet?
On average, I tweet about ten new and unique messages per day spread out more or less evenly over a sixteen hour period. With book marketing messages, I intersperse writing tips designed to help other writers with our craft.

I also retweet several hundred or more messages per day for followers. As important as my own tweets are to me, retweets demonstrate a real support of fellow authors and other followers.  Retweets tell Twitter followers you have read and liked their tweet and believe it is valuable information more people should read. As a result of this mutual respect, my own tweets are retweeted dozens of time and reach as many as a half million viewers.

Many of my strongest relationships over the years have been cultivated via mutual support. The followers who help get your message out to potential customers are key to selling books. Along with an author website/page and the type of visibility coming only from wonderful bloggers and reviewers like you, Twitter should be considered another cornerstone of any author’s social media platform.

How do you feel about Facebook?
Facebook is great for connecting with old friends and virtual friends, watching animal videos, pretending you’re an amateur psychiatrist, making fun of what everyone is eating, and being glad you ate what you did. A Facebook poster also has the option to send posts directly to other forms of social media like Twitter in case anyone missed their misery, attempt at humor, or this morning’s waffle special at Denny’s.

But it also has its downside. This form of social media is very time-consuming and a total distraction from writing. Every time I login, Facebook is like the worst movie I’ve ever watched but for some reason only a neurologist can answer, I must see the end to feel complete. There is no easier way for me to crawl under the covers with procrastination.

For what would you like to be remembered?
I want readers to remember I was a decent writer who entertained them for a while.

What scares you the most?
The dead. Here’s the true story of how I got my nickname, Doc:
When I was in high school, I took a job as a clean-up guy in a very busy mortuary owned by twin brothers. A few days into the first week, I was sweeping the basement where bodies were kept for embalming prep. A scratching noise broke into the music in my head. I glanced up through the dim light and dust to see a body slowly rising from a metal gurney. Strange sounds were coming from beneath the sheet. The thing was between me and the door.
As I sprinted by, I used the end of the broom as a jousting pole, knocking the body backward off the table. A thunk and a moan reached after me, but I kept running; up the stairs, past the chapel, through the main office, and out the front door. I was two blocks away by the time one of the brothers caught me in his car. He had to cut off my path to get me to stop.

“Hey,” he yelled out the window. “That was just my brother Bob having a little fun with you.”

“I quit,” I said.

“Sorry. All right then, come on by and pick up the money we owe you.”

“You can keep it.”

He sat looking at me a long time before speaking again.

“Can I have my broom back,” he finally said.

That's a great story. What five things would you never want to live without?
I thought a lot about this question. The five things I couldn’t live without are indoor plumbing, hammers, automatic weapons, a third grade education, and Wal-Mart Super Centers for all my hunting and gathering needs. Life would be good.

Who would you want to narrate a film about your life?
Chris Rock because life should be a comedy, not a tragedy.

If you had a swear jar, would it be full?
Hell, yeah!

Great answer. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
I’m a little of both in a passive aggressive sort of way. I’m an extrovert until my mouth gets me into trouble, then I turn introvert fueled by indirect resistance to the demands of others and an avoidance of direct confrontation.

What is the most daring thing you've done?
The most daring thing I’ve ever done was imagining I had a story to tell that people might want to read. I hadn’t written anything of this magnitude before and knew being an author was no easy job. To succeed, I had to see it as simply another of my first-time adventures like Woodstock, living in Paris without a word of French in my pocket, or jumping from an airplane then wondering if my chute was going to open.

In writing and publishing The Hollow Man, there were remembered experiences to sort through. Bits of which I never imagined would ever come to light. Yet there were the events, the people, and the stress, neatly packaged into a strange sequence of words called a novel. And I hoped no one would run away.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” -Oscar Wilde Authors take note. Even a bad review is still a review. 

True. 
What’s the worst thing someone has said about your writing? How did you deal with it?
A gentleman from County Cork, Ireland gave me my worst review, a two star slapping across the face. “I gave up on this novel after chapter 11. I kept waiting for the story to ignite and engage my attention but it failed to do so. I am at a loss to account for the rave reviews it has on Amazon.”

My first reaction was, he’s really not going to like the sequel to The Hollow Man. London Bridge Is Falling Down chronicles the ‘Troubles’ between England and Ireland during the 1970’s. But honestly, a writer should remember your book isn’t macaroni and cheese. It will never please everyone, every time. Listen to criticism and extract meaningful thoughts. Examine the critic’s statements from all sides then apply what needs to be applied. Be honest with yourself and you’ll know what should be done.

You're right. You can be the ripest, juiciest, sweetest peach, but there will always be people who don't like peaches. 
Do you have a favorite book?
More than any book I can read over and over, I continue to be drawn back to my favorite twentieth-century poets. The poetry of T.S. Elliot, W.H. Auden, and Dylan Thomas has done more to shape who I am as a writer than any other. An American, an Englishman, and a Welshman have taught me in my writing to search for the exact word needed by its sound, its meaning, its shape, and its feel to create my own form of poetry in my prose. At the very least, their words never fail to lift me above whatever sea bottom I may be roaming at the moment.


How about a favorite book that was turned into a movie? Did the movie stink?
One of my favorite books is The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. The book is an early classic thriller from John Le Carre portraying Western espionage methods as morally inconsistent with democratic values. Though movies must represent the details of a full length novel in an hour-and-a-half slice across the top of the iceberg, I thought the original movie version generally kept the author’s feel and intent intact. Scenes had an air of authenticity throughout, helped by the black and white photography.


If you had to choose a cliché about life, what would it be?
A rolling stone gathers no moss.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on a sequel to The Hollow Man called London Bridge is Falling Down.  By the early 1970’s, animosities between England and Ireland had become razor sharp. Mass bombings and cross border clashes were constant reminders of Ireland’s struggle to be united and free. The media had dubbed these conflicts “The Troubles” which had already claimed almost a thousand lives and there was no end in sight. Militant activities were spiking amid rumors the IRA had developed a list of targets designed to bring England to her knees. Like The Hollow Man, London Bridge is Falling Down is based on true events and includes some of the same, unforgettable characters. Surviving Prague is the third installment.

Lightning round:
Cake or frosting? Frosting
Laptop or desktop? Laptop
Chevy Chase or Bill Murray? Bill Murray
Emailing or texting? Both
Indoors or outdoors? Indoors
Tea: sweet or unsweet? Unsweet (diabetic)
Plane, train, or automobile? Any, as long as it’s going somewhere.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Hollis always had wanderlust, living in twelve states and eventually working in all fifty, luring him with the idea of touring the world at someone else’s expense. He has lived and worked in forty-eight countries across five continents while teaching companies about growing global implications.

Paul’s travel experiences inspire the novels in The Hollow Man series, bringing the streets and villages of Europe to life and offering a unique viewpoint to his mesmerizing thrillers.

Connect with Paul:

Website  |  
Blog  |  
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads 

   

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Excerpt from Life Minus 3 1/2

Life Minus 3 1/2 is the true story of a man with a deep-seated need to please his family and friends, and how he became addicted to gambling, which led to the embezzlement of over eleven million dollars. In the book, Dennis recounts this time in his life that included bookies, the mob, and trouble. He describes, with brutal honesty, the bad decisions he made and how they affected his life. This book is dramatic, suspenseful, poignant, exciting, sad, and hilarious. Kirkus recommends it "as both a suspenseful story and a cautionary tale of yielding to temptation." 

In yesterday's interview with Dennis Hart, we talked about the tomato scene in the book and Dennis's trouble and bad luck magnets. This excerpt is one of my favorite scenes in the book. I think it shows Hart's gift of combining suspense and humor to show the reader the fear he lived with on a daily basis. I hope you enjoy this excerpt from Life Minus 3 1/2 by Dennis Hart.


Hide and Seek

I was two days back from Arizona when the first of several confrontations took place. As I was leaving on my lunch hour from AESAR to get cash for the bookies, I found a young man leaning on the tail end of my truck. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties. I had no reason to suspect anything other than a guy taking a break, but because I lived my life constantly on edge, I thought about doubling back into my office to retrieve my gun. But then I remembered the one in my truck. I just needed to unlock the door and get in. Before I could do that, the guy started walking toward me.

“Excuse me, sir. Do you know if Kelly is inside?”

I put the key in the lock. “There’s no Kelly inside.” The door locks popped up.

“How do you know? Do you own this place?” he asked, his tone suddenly changing.

I should have suspected the worst, climbed into my truck, and driven away, but I didn’t. My trouble magnet, in need of some attention, gave me a thumbs-up. I turned to the guy and said, “Yeah, I own this place, and I don’t employ anyone named Kelly.”

I opened the truck and started to get in, but the guy maneuvered his way between me and the open door. He was a little taller than me with slim features. He had a scar on his left jaw and some tats peeking out from his short-sleeved t-shirt.

“We need to talk,” he said, getting in my face.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked.

“I’m a messenger, a tax collector, a civil f#^@*in’servant. It don’t matter who I am. It matters that you listen.”

I rolled my eyes. I should have been nervous, but my fear tank was running on fumes. I just didn’t care anymore.

“I’m listening, chief,” I replied.

“Good. My people want some money, plain and simple. I meet you here every week, and you give me an envelope of cash. This buys you protection—like an insurance policy. Am I explaining this clearly?”

A shakedown? I couldn’t believe it, but then again, I was getting used to the incredible which was my life. I wanted to slam the truck door into the guy and break every bone in his face, but instead I started to laugh. When I laughed, he laughed. We looked like two good buddies sharing a joke.

“Who put you up to this?” I asked, smiling.

The guy grabbed my shirt with both fists and got so close our noses briefly touched. His eyes were ablaze. I hoped my coworkers weren’t looking.

“Five thousand each week or the shit hits the fan for you. It starts right here next week. You’ll be hearing back from me.”

Without waiting for a reply, he released his grip on my shirt, stepped away, and started walking toward Route 1. I followed his movements for a few seconds. He had trouble crossing with the traffic. It gave me enough time to open the glove compartment and grab my gun. I jammed it into my pocket and followed his path across the busy two-lane street. I watched from a distance as he walked through the parking lot of several small one-story offices anchored by a family-owned fruit and vegetable stand. He never looked back. Too confident, I thought. He paused in front of the farm stand, examined the offerings displayed in several bushel baskets, and then walked inside the market. This guy threatens me and then goes food shopping?

I followed Scarface into the market. He was examining something in aisle two as I walked parallel to him down aisle one. I could see him over the tops of the fruit and vegetable racks. A woman walked in behind me with two young boys in tow. In aisle two, several people were shopping casually. Once I got past the highest stack of produce, Scarface came into full view, blocked only by a hanging scale. On his arm was a plastic shopping basket with handles. I stared at him as he massaged a melon. In front of me were open containers of cherries. I lifted one by the stem and threw it at him.

The cherry whizzed past his right ear. Scarface sensed it. He quickly looked to his right, then turned and looked behind him. I picked another cherry and threw it. My second toss was dead on, hitting Scarface on the cheek, startling him momentarily before he regained his focus. One of the little boys near me howled with laughter. Scarface looked across the aisles, first at the boy, then at me. He seemed surprised to see me at first, then gave me his I’m- the-toughest-bastard-in-the-world look before mouthing the word, “Outside.” I nodded, inviting him to join me immediately. I had banks to visit and checks to cash, so I couldn’t spend all day playing with this thug.

But instead of meeting me outside, he continued to shop. I moved a few feet down to the tomato crates and selected a bright red one. I tossed it across the aisle, and it bounced off Scarface’s chest. The kid behind me howled again. I turned and smiled at the astute young man. His mother was asking him what was so funny. In the meantime, I had Scarface’s full attention. He dropped his basket and came around the end of the aisle toward me.
When he was close enough, he grabbed me with one hand around the back of my neck and guided me out of the store like an insolent child. I went limp, like the pathetic target he thought I was. Outside of the farm stand, he gripped my neck harder and directed me along the storefronts toward a cemetery that bordered the parking lot. When we were close to the graveyard and clear of shoppers, I pulled out my gun and jammed it into his side. Scarface stopped in his tracks. He released his grip on me.

“What are you driving, tough guy?” I asked. He pointed to a Ford Taurus.

We walked over to his car. I instructed him to get inside and place his hands on the wheel. As he got in, he said, “You’re making a big f#*^in’mistake, Mister Businessman.”
I pointed the gun at his head. I thought for a second about what he said and agreed with a nod. “I’ve been making big f#%^*ng mistakes all my life, tough guy. Tell me, have you or someone you know been sitting in a pick-up truck over in my parking lot, checking me out the past few months?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He sounded convincing. Plus, he didn’t look like the guy I had seen. The thought of being stalked by one guy and threatened by another infuriated me. That, on top of the bookies applying more pressure, the embezzlement I couldn’t stop, and the future that offered nothing more than a ruinous finale, pushed me to the edge of my sanity. I pushed the gun against his neck.

“You don’t want to find out how screwed up I am, OK? Just drive back to whatever asshole of a life farted you out, and I’ll forget you tried to extort money from me. Don’t come back. Tell your people you don’t want to mess with someone as f#%^*d up as me.” I withdrew the gun. Scarface started his engine, left the parking lot and headed south on Route 1.
I stood alone trying to figure out what just happened. Who was that guy and who was he working for? Was it random, a tout service from Vegas, or some bookie trying to extort from me? I couldn’t imagine what else could go wrong in my life, but my trouble magnet opened a book that held pages of possibilities.

I spent the next several weeks in a heightened state of paranoia. I confronted each bookie and asked if they had eyes on me; none admitted to it, but I didn’t believe any of them. I spent too much time looking out my office window to see if someone was watching me from the parking lot. On two occasions I spotted the pick-up truck, but when I ran out of my office to confront the driver, he sped off. I wrote down the license plate, but it would do me no good since I had no connections at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and I certainly couldn’t call the police. I thought about a private investigator, but that might open up a can of worms with regards to my embezzlement. Scarface hadn’t returned, but I figured it was only a matter of time.

Essentially, I came to accept the fact I needed to live my life in a constant state of awareness, to have eyes in the back of my head. I had to be suspicious of strangers and fearful of figures lurking in the shadows. I had to carry my gun with me twenty-four, seven.

About the author:

Dennis Hart is the owner of an environmental equipment rental company in Massachusetts. He is married, with four children and four grandchildren. An active member of a writer’s forum since 2010 called “The Next Big Writer,” his work has been well received and critiqued by other authors. His memoir, Life Minus 3½, was ranked number one for several weeks out of hundreds of submissions. In a separate writing contest judged by published authors, the memoir was selected third best out of 427 entries. It has also received a recommended review by KIRKUS.

His full-length novels include Gulf Boulevard, which is currently under representation, Pictures of Children, Flight of the Owl, and his short stories include Storms, Bandits, and Heat Wave. He is currently working on the sequel to Gulf Boulevard titled Gulf Boulevard-Postcards from the World.


Where to find Dennis:
email: writingsbyhart@yahoo.com
Blog
Facebook page
Goodreads
Amazon

Writings By Hart

KIRKUS Review for Life Minus 3 1/2:

A habitual gambler recounts a life of bad decisions in sports books and corporate embezzlement, and the effect it had on his family.

No one’s saying Dennis Hart had it easy. A father at 17 with an unstable girlfriend and bills to pay, he shelved his nascent college career to begin life in the working world. There—facing dire straits that many of us have encountered at one time or another—Hart gave in to the first of many opportunities to bend the law and profit while doing so. From there, despite his lack of formal training, Hart was skilled enough as an accountant to land jobs in numerous financial departments at mid-sized companies. When he and two colleagues began their own precious-metals company (and Hart began a separate travel agency), he developed the means and the structure to begin cashing illegal checks to support his gambling habit. His sports bets—and the Hollywood-named hustlers who are on his tail—continue to multiply while he draws money from his companies and conceals the misdeeds on the balance sheet. As Hart juggles this downward-spiraling mélange of family, lawyers, hustlers and hit men, Hart’s readers will feel the stress once corporate managers finally notice the balance sheet irregularities. The inherent suspense throughout contrasts well with Hart’s candid and effortless writing style; he recounts every mistake from a refreshingly honest and self-effacing perspective. What may strike readers most is the ultimately tragic nature of Hart’s story. A handsome, intelligent, charismatic man, he seemed to have the world at his feet. But a series of bad decisions and weakened resistance to temptation sent him down a path that twisted toward lifelong infamy. In a moment of bleak anguish, Hart describes his future wife agreeing to a first date with him: “It would prove to be the worst decision she ever made.” In the end, perhaps Hart’s greatest victory is keeping his wife, his dream of Florida and his readers on his side.

Recommended both as a suspenseful story and a cautionary tale of yielding to temptation.

Interview with Dennis Hart

Today I’m happy to introduce Dennis Hart, author of a true crime novel that tells the story surrounding his gambling addiction and the embezzlement of millions of dollars. I met Dennis several years ago on a writer’s critique site, where I had the pleasure of first reading Life Minus 3 1/2. I loved it then, and I’m so excited it’s finally in print. 

Dennis figures he wagered in the neighborhood of thirty-five million dollars over seven years with up to six bookies. He says he won somewhere around twelve million and lost around twenty-three million. If that boggles your mind, wait until you read the rest of the story. It’s truly a gripping novel that you won’t want to put down.

Dennis, I know you’re a social media virgin, so let’s try to get you started. On Twitter, each post has to be under 140 characters, including spaces. So…how would you describe Life Minus 3 1/2 in a tweet?

I’m not currently in the tweetersphere because I’m sure people don’t give a crap what I’m doing every second of the day. But if you were to dangle a bag of M&M’s for an answer, I’d say: Life is one man’s plunge from obscurity to ignominy by way of a need to gain acceptance from family & friends & a whole lot in between.    

140 exactly. Woohoo. See? You can tweet with the best of them. Life Minus 3 1/2 is the true story of someone you know very well. Do you plan to identify who the main character is?
I’m not sure I know the main character very well, but I can tell you (spoiler alert) his name and my name are the same. 

What a coincidence. I heard your daughter encouraged you to write this book. What are your feelings now that it’s out there in the world?

When I finished the first draft, I decided it would make an excellent booster seat for my grandchildren. It was only after I joined a writer’s forum and offered my work for critique that I realized writing was becoming a passion for me. Life Minus 3 1/2 leaves me naked to the reader and allows people to judge me for good or bad. That doesn’t quite reconcile with my introverted personality. However, the driving force was always simple: Would my story help someone traveling a similar path or highlight the warning signs to a spouse or other family member? I hope it does and that alone trumps whatever uneasiness I feel about leaving my dirty laundry out there for all to read.      

Naked? My copy didn't come with pictures. Never mind. I believe you cut a lot from your original manuscript. Was it like cutting off an appendage to trim your word count?

Sorry…Life is not a picture book. You’ll have to use your fifty-shades-of-gray imagination. I did cut a lot, Amy, and yes partially to keep the word count down so the eventual book could be lifted. In writing a memoir, I fell into the trap of telling the story from the beginning, which for me was conception. A literary agent suggested I dispense of my childhood activities and get right to the meat of the story. Originally, I thought it best to lay the groundwork to answer the eventual question, “Why did he end up like that?” However, I learned I would better serve the reader by jumping right into the action instead of building a foundation.   

Maybe you can write a prequel after Life becomes a bestseller. Tell us about one scene you cut that you wish you could have left in.

That’s interesting, Amy, because I did research on my parents and grandparents to see if I had inherited any compulsive behaviors. While doing the research, I learned about my grandparents’ escape from Armenia during the Ottoman Holocaust that killed a million Armenians. It was a compelling scene, but in the end it was deemed irrelevant to my story.  

I smell not only a prequel but a spin off. What do you think? But back to this book: it has drama, action, suspense, and humor. A lot of humor. Was the humor therapeutic when writing the book, included to lighten the story, or is it just indicative of how you think?

A shrink might answer yes, but the truth is no, it wasn’t therapeutic. The reason is simple—even in my darkest hours I created humor. Now you may think I probably laugh at funerals too, but I feel my inner defensive mechanisms rummaged for the absurd to offset the effects of my bad luck and trouble magnets.

You gotta either laugh or cry, and I admire your ability to laugh under the darkest of circumstances. Your personality really comes out in your writing. I think it’s one of the things that make this book such a compelling read. Life involves the mob, the FBI, gambling addiction, near-death scenes, disappointing your family, divorce, embezzlement, and prison. Which was the hardest to write about?

I’d say disappointing my family. The mob, the FBI, the gambling etc was all noise—loud noise, no doubt. But being a failure was the hardest to admit and write about. It is a prominent scar that lingers long after the other noises dissipate.

I’m one of those who believes everything happens for a reason. It can be said that the events in Life led to you becoming a writer. Do you agree? Does that make all you went through worth it?

Well, that would be one heck of a practical joke to go through the events in Life just to end up on the other side as a writer. I tend to agree with you though, and in several instances in the book it actually comes into play. I often ask myself, if I hadn’t left behind Santa’s bells, would we even be having this conversation? So yes, some things happen for a reason, but in the overall picture, I caused too much pain to my family for it ever to be considered worth it.   

What advice would you give to someone struggling with a gambling addiction right now?

Read Life Minus 3 1/2. I can only show by example. My situation was unique in that my life was constantly in a vice. But if I had a mentor or a guide early on before it became too late, who knows what might have happened. If you read Life, you will walk with me as I unravel, but you will also see the light of redemption. If I had the foresight to see the results of my actions years before they happened, I question whether the outcome would’ve been the same. So Life is the foresight I wish I had, and hopefully it can serve others.      

That’s a noble and brave motivation for writing the book. And I think it’s the proverbial turning lemons into lemonade. Your own experience was horrible, but by writing about it, you will help other people. That’s not too shabby, Dennis. Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.

I have many favorite scenes, but because my life lists toward the insane side, I like the chapter Good Cop, Bad Cop...Same Cop. I wanted so badly to mess with the polygraph that my magnets were on a sugar-high to get me in trouble.

Can you tell us a little bit about your bad luck and trouble magnets?

I can’t speak for them, they won’t let me. But I can reveal that these inherent dweebs, trouble and bad luck, have loitered in my head since childhood. They’ve consistently found mischief to tempt me, or hailed a bully to challenge. 

They certainly hailed a lot in Life. What song would you pick to go with your book?

I’m sure there are a few tunes out there that would capture the essence of a man circling the drain. My preference would be something from Sesame Street.


You mean, like The Rubber Ducky Song?
No, maybe: Will.i.am’s “What I Am?”
"Everyone Makes Mistakes", sung by Big Bird?
Oh! I know! Because of your ex-wife and ex-in-laws:"Martian Cutie", sung/written/animated, appropriately enough, by Bud Luckey!
Maybe Bert’s "In My Book" would be appropriate.
Any of those?

Okay, enough of this foolishness. On to more foolishness. Who would you pick to play the main character in a movie version of Life?

Mark Wahlberg.

Hmmm…I can see Mark Wahlberg. Say, you’ve written an action/adventure book about a private citizen out to stop some very bad people, a humorous book about a man who only wants to be a hermit but gets mixed up with a hit man, and a true crime novel. Which is your favorite genre to write?

I’m being pushed toward humor. Every time I try to write something serious, I find something humorous tagging along. It’s a curse because I don’t think I’m funny. It’s those magnets messing with me.

Oh good grief. Magnets, or no magnets, you’re one of the funniest people I know. And I know a lot of funny people. Well, at least a few. If we were to have dinner together, I doubt I’d eat because I’d be too busy laughing. Which author would you most like to invite to dinner, and what would you fix me? I mean, him. Or her.

Okay, we’ll grab a bite after this interview, and I promise you won’t laugh once. As far as other famous people, I’d invite Carl Hiaasen to talk crazy humor and fix him some American Chop Suey. Then I’d invite Nelson DeMille and talk about the art of sarcastic interaction within a thriller and serve him Prime Rib. Then I’d invite Amy Metz and tell her what I’ve learned over a bowl of Haagen-Daz.

Wait. DeMille gets prime rib, and I get ice cream? Is that just because he’s a bestselling author, or do you really like his books best? No, don’t answer that. I’ll take what I can get. What book are you currently reading and in what format (e-book/paperback/hardcover)?
It’s more fun to have ice cream with me than to have prime rib.
I'm reading The Panther by Nelson DeMille (hardcover)

I thought maybe you’d say you were re-reading Murder & Mayhem In Goose Pimple Junction. Oh well. I’m used to rejection. Critiques, reviews, criticism: all part of a writer’s life. How do you handle criticism of your work?

I did re-read Murder and Mayhem, and I love how you ended up hiding the key. I await the sequel.
It depends on the criticism. I’m always open to constructive advice, and I welcome it with open arms. It is a great way to learn. Nasty criticism angers me, and I start looking for blunt objects. 

Or the cherry tomatoes. Gosh, I love that scene in Life. You live near Boston. Tell us one weird thing, one nice thing, and one fact about where you live.
Or cherry tomatoes, yes. A lot of tomatoes are thrown in my books. Poor Jason in Gulf Boulevard is throwing them too. I guess I need to consult my shrink about this.
Weird: I live in Massachusetts-a one party state.
Nice: Cape Cod.
Fact: The Big Dig was the biggest rip-off ever to the American taxpayer. 

Good to know.  Do you ever get writer’s block?
I never get writer’s block. If I get writer’s pause, I simply read over the chapter I’m in and for some reason it inspires new ideas or scenes which carries me forward. In addition, I never sleep. Most of my scenes are developed while I’m trying to sleep, so I’m forced to get up and write down stuff. My best material presents itself when head meets pillow. 

It’s that trouble magnet at work again, no doubt. What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“Never miss a good chance to shut up.” ~ Will Rogers

I love it! Going to remember that one. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I have a vegetable garden that serves a multitude of animals at harvest time. I consider it a success if I get one ear of corn without squirrel scratches, a head of lettuce that the rabbits haven’t nibbled on, or a handful of grape tomatoes without chipmunk bites. Aside from that, I run my own business; ride my Can Am Roadster; read a lot and dream of books I will write that people will never read.

Don’t be so sure. And thank you for being so good to the wildlife of Massachusetts. I hear your novel, Gulf Boulevard, was recently picked up by an agent. Congratulations. Last question: What are you working on now?

The sequel to Gulf Boulevard titled, Gulf Boulevard-Postcards from the World.
Okay, I lied. This is the last question: Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Postcards picks up with our hero Jason continuing the story in first person, present tense, after the murder of his obnoxious neighbor, Sal the hitman, on his beach by Fiona, the hitwoman, Jason’s ex-love interest. Convoluted? Of course. In the sequel, the other mafia types come after Jason for information, a drug cartel invades Sand Key where Jason is trying his best to become a hermit, and a whole bunch of other crazy characters turn Jason’s idyllic paradise into a humorous adventure.

I have read Gulf Boulevard and loved it, so I can’t wait to read the sequel. I hope you'll come back when it's published. Thank you, Dennis, for answering all of my annoying questions. You’re a patient man. Go treat yourself to a bag of M&Ms. And best wishes with Life Minus 3 1/2.


Find Dennis:
email: writingsbyhart@yahoo.com
Blog
Facebook page
Goodreads
Amazon

Author Bio:
Dennis Hart is the owner of an environmental equipment rental company in Massachusetts. He is married, with four children and four grandchildren. An active member of a writer’s forum since 2010 called “The Next Big Writer,” his work has been well received and critiqued by other authors. His memoir, Life Minus 3½, was ranked number one for several weeks out of hundreds of submissions. In a separate writing contest judged by published authors, the memoir was selected third best out of 427 entries. It has also received a recommended review by KIRKUS.

His full-length novels include Gulf Boulevard, which is currently under representation, Pictures of Children, Flight of the Owl, and his short stories include Storms, Bandits, and Heat Wave. He is currently working on the sequel to Gulf Boulevard titled Gulf Boulevard-Postcards from the World. 

Review

Life Minus 3 1/2 by Dennis Hart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Life Minus 3 1/2 is one of my favorite books. Ever. This true story of a man in the grips of a gambling addiction, who embezzles over eleven million dollars, and gets mixed up with the mob and the FBI, is a fascinating tale told with honesty, grit, and humor. Dennis Hart does not attempt to glorify what happened. He simply narrates a time in his life that started out of a need to please his family and friends. Time and time again, he's sure he can gamble and win enough to pay thousands of dollars back to his bookie. The thousands turn into hundreds of thousands, eventually millions, and to cover the bets, Dennis embezzles from his workplace, fully intending to pay the money back once he scores that big win.

Add a teenage marriage (which he likens to an alien abduction,) crazy parents-in law (the mothership,) a failed marriage (it dissolved faster than an ice cube on an open fire pit,) a crazy ex-wife (the alien,) an early career mistake (a result of his trouble and bad luck magnets,) and you get a tired, dejected young father of two (and eventually four) who is desperately trying to prove himself.

Through Hart's narration, the reader sees how easy it is to get sucked into a gambling addiction. We see the stress of his keeping his addiction and theft from his family and his workplace. We see him getting further and further buried under debt and fear. But what makes this story such a compelling read is Hart's innate humor. He relays danger, drama, melodrama, and suspense, but he peppers all of it with his wonderful sense of humor. The man is flat out funny. He doesn't make light of the situations, but he shows us there is humor in everything, even the darkest of moments.

This book sucked me in. It's a nail biting, pound your chair, laugh out loud story of one man's mistakes and his redemption. I couldn't put it down.

View all my reviews