Featured Author: George R. Hopkins

George R. Hopkins' mystery novel, Letters from the Dead, is a 2013 Readers Favorite International Book Contest Award Winner and 2013-2014 Reader View Literary Award Winner. Dr. Oliva Dsouza, of Readers' Favorite, says, “A thriller that entangles you in the web of intermingling story tracks and keeps you guessing till the end.” Michel Violante of Reader Views says the book is “An intriguing thriller that kept me glued to the pages. I was not able to put it down thanks to the combination of interesting characters, pacing and suspense, along with the humor.” George is here today with an excerpt and to chat about writing, himself, and his books.

       

About the book:    

What do you do when a killer comes after the people you love? Set against the background of the hunt for serial killer Lex Talionis, Letters from the Dead includes a cast of complex characters: hard-nosed, hot-headed NYC homicide detective Tom Cavanaugh; Cavanaugh’s half-brother, Jack Bennis, a Jesuit priest and former covert agent; 90 year-old Mary Jane McIntyre in a nursing home guarding deadly secrets in letters from her dead sister; and a ninja-like killer bent on revenge for the cyber-bullying suicide of his daughter. Together in this fast-paced mystery-thriller, they confront a wide array of physical, emotional, and psychological conflicts – including anger, aging, marriage, pregnancy, love … and murder.

Interview with George Hopkins

George, how long have you been writing, and how did you start? 

I’ve been writing on and off for over fifty years. I was Sports Editor of my weekly college newspaper for a while and majored in English. I taught English in high schools for over thirty years and had a number of essays published in our local newspaper. I wanted to try fiction, and for the last ten years I’ve been writing mystery/thrillers. 

What’s the story behind the title Letters from the Dead?  

A 90-year-old woman in a nursing home keeps a group of letters she received from her now dead sister.  The letters hold secrets that her two sons never knew. The letters could change the brothers, but they also put the elderly woman in danger as they also reveal things about another resident of the nursing home that could implicate him in a number of crimes.

Do you have another job outside of writing?   

I conduct a writing workshop at the John Noble Maritime Collection on Staten Island, New York. I also have been coordinating a Senior Poetry Contest and Festival for the Community Agency for Senior Citizens for the past fourteen years.

How did you create the plot for this book?
  
This is an interesting question I never thought about before. Actually, with this mystery, I started with the killer and worked backwards. I introduced a lot of cross-conflicts and an elderly aunt who holds letters written by the mother of the major characters. The letters reveal secrets the brothers do not know, but also put her life in danger.

What’s your favorite line from a book?
  
My favorite line is naming the serial killer. If I told you the line, however, it would give away the ending.

Talk about a hook! How do you get to know your characters?  

I put myself in their shoes. I’ve come to realize that there are usually no completely blacks or whites in life, but a series of grays. All of my characters face real problems.  How they deal with the problems and conflicts make up the story. No one is without blemishes or totally evil. We are what we are.

Which character did you most enjoy writing?  

All of my characters are a part of me. Choosing one would be like asking me which of my children do I love the most. I love them all – for better or worse.

What would your main character say about you?   

“He’s not really a bad guy. He means well. He gets a bit obsessed at times. He’s scrupulous, basically moral, has a sense of humor (maybe a little sick at times), and loves life. He’s not very aggressive, but with him – still waters definitely run deep – and I wouldn’t like to get on his wrong side. He loves his family, writing, and golf – in that order (although he is a horrible golfer).”

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?

My characters are a part of all the experiences I have had and the imagination of my sometimes fertile mind. No one is based on a real person. Rather they are all based on combinations and imagination.

Is your book based on real events?  

No.  Although there are elements in it that are real like the stories of Rwanda, Somalia, post-stress-traumatic syndrome, and ectopic pregnancies.

Are you like any of your characters?

Probably. We are all human beings, and we all have flaws as well as strengths.

One of your characters has just found out you’re about to kill him off. He/she decides to beat you to the punch. How would he kill you?    

He would probably have my wife come up to me and shoot me as she said, “I am sick and tired of calling you for dinner while you keep typing on that damn computer. How many times do I have to tell you dinner is ready? I’ve had it. Eat this!” BANG!

Yikes! I'd be on time to dinner, if I were you! If you could be one of your characters, which one would you choose?   

I’m a part of all my characters, but I would probably choose Cavanaugh because he appears resolute on the outside, but he tries to keep his true feelings to himself.

With which of your characters would you most like to be stuck in a bookstore?   

Father Jack Bennis. He is well-read and has had multiple experiences as a soldier, an assassin, and now a priest.


A father with experience as an assassin? Now that is intriguing. With what five real people would you most like to be stuck in a bookstore? 

My family.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book. 

This would be the rape scene where Fran’s ex-lover attacks her and she fights for the gun in her purse. Or it could be the scene where Cavanaugh encounters the serial killer in Fran’s apartment.

Who are your favorite authors? 

Michael Connelly, James Patterson (when he writes by himself), Pat Conroy, James Joyce, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Lawrence Sanders, Robert Parker – eclectic group!


Yes, and you have some of mine in there! What’s one pet peeve you have when you read?

Grammatical and spelling errors.


Do you have a routine for writing?   

I usually write at night when everyone else has gone to bed. The plan is to write one page a night so that at the end of the year I will have written 365 pages, but I tend to get on a roll at times which means I finish the book earlier (unless there are a lot of distractions in my life – which there usually are) and I go to bed much later.

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?   

I prefer to write at night so no one disturbs me, and I don’t disturb anyone else.  It seems sometimes when I am sitting at the computer typing I get the feeling my wife feels I am goofing off. It’s much better for both of us if I write alone.

Where’s home for you?   

I live in Staten Island, the “forgotten” borough of New York City.

If you could only keep one book, what would it be? 

The dictionary.

You’re leaving your country for a year. What’s the last meal (or food) you would want to have before leaving?   

A 24 oz. steak, medium-rare, smothered with onions and mushrooms or simply a quarter-pounder with cheese, onion rings, and French fries.

Would you rather work in a library or a bookstore?  

A bookstore because you can talk more freely to people.

Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?
  
The 42nd Street Library in Manhattan because it has everything a “normal” person would want or need.

You’re given the day off, and you can do anything but write. What would you do?   

Play golf with my friends or play with my grandchildren.

You can be any fictional character for one day. Who would you be?  

The Little Engine that Could.

I love that! What would your dream office look like?  

It would be lined with books. There would be a large, uncluttered (for a while at least) desk with a computer, a printer, a radio, and quiet.

Why did you decide to self-publish?

I could not find an agent, and I wanted to get my books “out there” before I died.  Publishing with the few remaining large publishers can take up to two or more years.
 
You published with OutskirtsPress, who caters to self-published authors. Are you happy with your decision?
 
I published Letters from the Dead with OutskirtsPress because it allowed me to keep the price of the book down for readers. I was disappointed, however, in their use of a small font in printing the book. I found Xlibris, who published my first two novels, Blood Brothers and Collateral Consequences, did an excellent job of printing, but the cost for readers, I felt, was too high.

What steps to publication did you personally do, and what did you hire someone to do? Is there anyone you’d recommend for a particular service?

I did the first book all on my own, but had the second and third novel covers designed by the publisher.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?  

“Things fade, alternatives exclude.”

What’s your favorite candy bar? And don’t tell me you don’t have one!  

Chuckles and jelly beans.

Tis the season for jelly beans. I get in trouble with those little bitty beans. What do you like to do when you’re not writing? 

Talk with my wife, visit my grandchildren, watch my favorite TV shows (NCIS, Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Castle), and play a lousy game of golf.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?  

Where I am. As a former student once told me, “No matter where you are, that’s the place to be.”

What are you working on now?  

Another mystery/thriller with the same characters tentatively called Random Acts of Malice, involving a plot to kill a judge.

Good luck with it, George, and please come back when it's released to tell us more!

Let's Talk Writing Interview

Excerpt from Letters from the Dead

We lay aside letters never to read them again,
and at last we destroy them out of discretion,
and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life,
irrecoverably for ourselves and for others.
--Goethe

Chapter 1

Mary Jane MacIntyre lay in her bed fingering her rosary beads. She looked down at her hands as she started the first decade of the Sorrowful Mysteries – the Agony in the Garden. Her fingers were bent and twisted by arthritis. She looked at the brown spots and wrinkled skin on the backs of her hands. And her mind began to wander.

    “Peggy, you’ve got to tell the police….”

     Tears rolled down Margaret’s cheeks. Her hands and voice trembled. “I can’t, Mary Jane. He’ll kill me. You don’t know what he’s like.”

    “You can’t let him do this to you, Peggy. You can’t let him get away with this.”

    Like a sheet of newspaper caught in the wind, the voices within her skipped from place to place as another voice within voiced a series of Hail Marys.    

She lifted her eyes to see the black and white picture of three young people framed in a faded leather frame on her night table. She didn’t need her reading glasses to recognize the three standing, smiling on the sandy beach of Coney Island. He stood in the middle with one arm around each girl. He was tall and thin, and his dark hair was ruffled. Both girls were laughing. One wore what looked like a short shirt with two thin bands running around the bust and the bottom. The other wore a sleeveless dark woolen jersey tank suit that clung tighter to her body with a light belt around the waist. The bathing suit was actually navy blue and the belt white rubber, Mary Jane remembered.

    The words of the prayer in the background peeped in again as she started the second Sorrowful Mystery. “… lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil….”

    She was the only one left now. They had gone. He first, then she. Mary Jane was the only one left now - the only one who knew.

    The door to her room opened a bit as a nurse looked in. Ms. MacIntyre was saying her rosary again as she did every day. The nurse decided not to interrupt her reverie. She would come back later.

Mary Jane heard the door open and close. Her ears had not lost what her legs, hands, and eyes had. She may be old, but she still could hear. Sometimes, as she continued to pray the rosary and try to concentrate on the second Sorrowful Mystery – the Scourging at the Pillar, the voices of her past were as clear as the opening of the door.

“Yeah, and what are you going to do about it?” The voice was gruff and loud with a slight touch of a coarse Irish brogue. She heard the thud again as he punched her in the chest and threw her against the car. “You mind your own bloody business, you little whore, or I’ll do the same to you.”

“I hope you die,” the young woman’s voice replied. She saw herself running down the street screaming, “I hope you die. I hope you die….”

She heard his laugh again. Its icy tone sent shivers through her body. Howling like a madman, he lifted his flask of Bushmills and shouted, “Not before I take your little sister with me.”

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners....” Mary Jane’s eyes moved to her end table where she kept the letters. No one seemed to write letters very much anymore. At least she never got any. But who was left to send her any? The letters in the drawer were sacred to her. They held a secret she had kept buried within her for a long time. Maybe too long. Soon it would be her time. Should she tell someone? What good would come of it now?

On the wall by the side of the window, the MacIntyre coat of arms hung, another remembrance of the past, a gift her father had given her on her twelfth birthday. She recalled his stories about the ancient MacIntyre clan and how one of its earliest lords cut off his thumb to plug a hole in a sinking ship. He regaled her with stories as she sat in his lap at the kitchen table in their fourth floor railroad apartment and he drank his Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and told her about how the MacIntyre family was a proud clan of warriors and poets that survived battles and adversity. How many times had he made her shout with him, the MacIntyre war cry, “Cruachan”?

Her eyes could just make out the two red eagles with outstretched wings, the ship with furled sails, the red fist clutching a cross, and the hand with a dagger protruding from a knight’s helmet on the family crest. She couldn’t see the family motto from where she lay, but she knew it by heart – “Per ardua” – through difficulties. Life had been a series of difficulties, yet here she was – the only one of the group left with a secret buried in the letters which pressed on her heart.

It was time to let go. But she had to tell someone before she left. “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”

About the author:

George Hopkins, a former United States Marine Corps sergeant, has worked as an assistant principal of English in the NYC public high schools and has taught at Columbia Teachers’ College, St. John’s University, Middlesex College, and the College of Staten Island, in addition to being an exchange teacher in Puerto Rico. Twice he was honored by the NY Association of Teachers as “Teacher of the Year.” This novel is his third mystery featuring Detective Cavanaugh and Fr. Bennis. Both previous novels, Blood Brothers and Collateral Consequences, are award-winners and are available online.

Connect with George:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads| Venture Galleries

Buy the book:
Amazon   

Featured Author: Peter Murphy

About the book:

Born & Bred is the first novel in the Life & Times Trilogy, a cycle of three books that will chart the course of one star-crossed life. It is a work of vibrant imagination from a poetic novelist of the first order.

Danny Boyle was a born angel.

At least that’s what his granny used to say, and she should know – she raised him after his parents proved incapable. When she becomes ill, Danny is reunited with his parents but they do not get to live happily ever after, as the ghosts of the past haunt their days. And when the old woman dies, all of her secrets come to light and shatter everything Danny believes in.

In the turmoil of 1970’s Ireland, an alienated Danny gets into drugs and is involved in a gangland killing. Duped by the killers into leaving his prints on the gun, Danny needs all the help his friends and family can muster. Calling in favors from bishops and priests, police and paramilitaries, God and the devil, the living and the dead, they do all that they can. But even that might not be enough.


Praise for Peter Murphy:

“The best books are not forgotten because you can never stop thinking beyond the story. This is true of Lagan Love. Murphy is a natural storyteller. I look forward to reading more.” 
- Examiner.com

“Peter Murphy spins an exciting story of romance and the problems with it, making Lagan Love a unique novel with plenty of twists and turns underneath it all.” 
- Midwest Book Review

Interview with Peter Murphy


Peter, how long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I grew up in a house where books and writing were treasured. For a while I dabbled in poetry and music, but on becoming a father, I had to get a real job. That went well for twenty years until the company I worked for was bought up and I got cashed out. With my kids packed off to university, I decided it was time to finally sit down and learn to write.



What’s the story behind the title Born & Bred?

The working title was Oh, Danny Boyle! But after a year of struggling to make shape and meaning out of the growing number of pages, it morphed into a trilogy and the first book had to be about all that shaped and made my primary character, Danny. Born & Bred is the type of term that he would use for all that.  



Do you have another job outside of writing?

Not anymore. I miss the income, but I’m not sure if I could ever go back to doing anything else but write. 



How did you create the plot for this book?

I wanted to tell a story about a pious and innocent child who got blown off the path by the storms of the world around him. Initially, I thought the story would be best told, backwards. A hundred pages in, I realized the error of my ways. However, by then, I had figured out all that had to happen to lead back up to my one hundred pages.



What’s your favorite line from a book?

“On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on.” The opening line from Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez.

How do you get to know your characters?

As mentioned above, I began late in their lives and gave them something critical to deal with. Those who say you learn the truth about people when they are in some form of crisis were proved right. In trying to explain why they were reacting as they did, I had to study them from the beginning. 



Which character did you most enjoy writing?

Danny Boyle’s grandmother, Nora. At first, she was the most self-assured character I have written. Throughout her life she had done what had to be done and paid her penance in advance. A benign dictator in her own mind, she, too, had to learn to view things differently as Danny’s life begins to spiral down.



What would your main character say about you?

Probably something derogatory. Danny and I share some similarities but made very different life choices along the way, and sometimes that type of thing can cause animosities.



Are any of your characters inspired by real people?

Of course I will say that none of them are, but a few are a bit reminiscent of people I met along the way.



Is your book based on real events?

Yes, in that the background of the story is made up of the very real events that occurred in Ireland during the 1960’s and 70’s. I remember the impact these events had on the people around me; the attacks on the Civil Rights marchers, Bloody Sunday, the Dublin bombings, as well as the social and legal changes that washed over the country, I wanted the characters to live through that as it had enormous impact on the growing-up of the main character.



With which of your characters would you most like to be stuck in a bookstore?

Probably Fr. Patrick Reilly. He is a bookworm at heart and has a passion for antiquarian writings—a passion I share.



With what five real people would you most like to be stuck in a bookstore?

Giordano Bruno, Kurt Vonnegut, Amadeus Mozart, Eric Cantona, and Queen Elizabeth the first, just to see what sections they would browse in.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.

Nora’s funeral. I’ve been to many funerals in my life, and I prefer those that are about celebrating life rather than mourning death. In this scene I wanted to try to capture some of the flavour of the funerals I remember from childhood.



What song would you pick to go with Born & Bred?

"The Patriot Game" by Dominic Behan. The line: ‘For the love of one’s country is a terrible thing,’ is one of the themes running through the book.



You get to decide who would read your audiobook. Who would you choose?

The actor Gabriel Byrne from Miller’s Crossing and The Usual Suspects, among others. His soliloquy at the beginning of the movie Perrier’s Bounty strikes the exact tone that I think the book should be read in.


I don’t claim to be an expert on writing, but there are some writing techniques (or mistakes) that stand out to me when I read (e.g. when an author switches POV mid-scene). What’s one pet peeve you have when you read?

My pet peeve is minutia for the sake of minutia. Yes by all means set the scene and bring us into it, but describing the varied colors of the hair on the back of a werewolf’s hand can get tedious.


Do you have a routine for writing?

Yes. I get up early, make coffee, check email, and social media sites, check the state of the world through the lens of television and, after wasting a few hours, edit what I wrote the previous evening. 



Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?

Evenings are my best time for writing new material.



Where’s home for you?

Toronto, Canada, for now, but I am hoping to move to Portugal next year. I don’t think I can do another winter.



Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?

The library in Trinity College, Dublin. It’s like a cathedral for books.


You’re given the day off, and you can do anything but write. What would you do?

Get grumpy. I have become obsessed by writing and am unhappy (read, mopey, sulky, petulant) when I can’t.


That's a great answer. If you could be any fictional character for one day, who would you be?

Alice—in Wonderland.


What’s your favorite candy bar? And don’t tell me you don’t have one!

I haven’t met a candy bar I don’t like, except those with coconut, but I have become a huge fan of Lindt dark.



If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Lisbon, Portugal, for the sun and the great contradictions of its history.



What are you working on now?

I am working in the last few chapters of the third book in the Life & Times trilogy of which Born & Bred is the first. I find the end of a book harder to write and the end of the third book is proving to be three times harder!



Excerpt from Born & Bred

On the night of Aug 10th, nineteen seventy-seven, Daniel Bartholomew Boyle made the biggest mistake of his young life, one that was to have far-reaching consequences for him and those around him. He might have argued that the course of his life had already been determined by happenings that occurred before he was born but, poor Catholic that he was, riddled with guilt and shame, he believed that he, and he alone, was responsible. He had been dodging the inevitable since Scully got lifted but he knew it was only a matter of time before it caught up with him. Perhaps that was why he paused in front of the old cinema in Terenure after weeks of skulking in the shadows. Perhaps that was why he waited in the drizzle as the passing car turned back and pulled up beside him.

“Get in the car, Boyle.”

Danny wanted to make an excuse – to say that he was waiting for someone – but he knew better.

And it wouldn’t do to keep them waiting. They weren’t the patient sort, twitchy and nervous, and single-minded without a shred of compassion. He looked around but the streets were empty. There was no one to help him now, standing like a target in front of the art deco facade of the Classic.

The cinema had been closed for over a year, its light and projectors darkened, and now lingered in hope of new purpose. He had spent hours in there with Deirdre, exploring each other in the dark while watching the midnight film, stoned out of their minds, back when they first started doing the stuff. He used to do a lot of his dealing there, too, around the back where no one ever looked.

“Come on, Boyle. We haven’t got all f*%#in’ night.”

Danny’s bowels fluttered as he stooped to look inside the wet black car. Anthony Flanagan was sitting in the passenger’s seat, alongside a driver Danny had seen around. He was called “The Driller” and they said he was from Derry and was lying low in Dublin. They said he was an expert at knee-capping and had learned his trade from the best. Danny had no choice; things would only get worse if he didn’t go along with them.

“How are ya?” He tested the mood as he settled into the back seat beside a cowered and battered Scully. He had known Scully since he used to hang around the Dandelion Market. He was still at school then and spent his Saturday afternoons there, down the narrow covered lane that ran from Stephen’s Green into the Wonderland where the hip of Dublin could come together to imitate what was going on in the rest of the world – but in a particularly Dublin way.

Dave, the busker, always took the time to nod to him as he passed. Dave was black and played Dylan in a Hendrix way. He always wore an afghan coat and his guitar was covered with peace symbols. Danny would drop a few coins as he passed and moved on between the stalls as Dylan gave way to Horslips, Rory Gallagher, and Thin Lizzy.

The stalls were stacked with albums and tapes, josh sticks and tie-dyed t-shirts with messages like “Peace” and “Love,” pictures of green plants and yellow Happy Faces along with posters of Che, whose father’s people had come from Galway.

The stalls were run by Hippies from such far-out places as Blackrock and Sandyford, students from Belfield and Trinity, and a select few from Churchtown. They were all so aloof as they tried to mask their involvement in commercialism under a veneer of cool. Danny knew most of them by sight, and some by name. On occasion he’d watch over their stalls when they had to get lunch or relieve themselves. He was becoming a part of the scene.

***

“Hey Boyle!”

Danny had seen Scully around before but they had never spoken. Scully, everyone said, was the guy to see about hash and acid, and, on occasion, some opium.

“You go to school in Churchtown?”

Danny just nodded, not wanting to seem over-awed.

“Wanna make some bread?”

“Sure. What do I have to do?”

“Just deliver some stuff to a friend. He’ll meet up with you around the school and no one will know – if you’re cool.”

Danny thought about it for a moment but he couldn’t say no. He had been at the edge of everything that happened for so long. Now he was getting a chance to be connected – to be one of those guys that everybody spoke about in whispers. Sure it was a bit risky but he could use the money and, besides, no one would ever suspect him. Most people felt sorry for him and the rest thought he was a bit of a spaz.

“Could be a regular gig – if you don’t f*#k it up,” Scully smiled a shifty smile and melted back into the crowd, checking over each shoulder as he went.

***

As they drove off, Scully didn’t answer and just looked down at his hands. His fingers were bloody and distorted like they had been torn away from whatever he had been clinging onto.

Anto turned around and smiled as the street lights caught in the diamond beads on the windshield behind him. “We’re just f*%#in’ fine, Boyle. We’re taking Scully out for a little spin in the mountains.”

His cigarette dangled from his thin lips and the smoke wisped away ambiguously. He reached back and grabbed a handful of Scully’s hair, lifting his bruised and bloodied face. “Scully hasn’t been feeling too good lately and we thought that a bit of fresh air might sort him out, ya know?”

“Cool,” Danny agreed, trying to stay calm, trying not to let his fear show – Anto fed off it. He briefly considered asking them to drop him off when they got to Rathfarnham but there was no point. He knew what was about to go down. Scully had been busted a few weeks before and, after a few days in custody, had been released.

It was how the cops set them up. They lifted them and held them until they broke and spilled all that they knew. Then they let them back out while they waited for their court date. If they survived until then – well and good. And if they didn’t – it saved everybody a lot of time and bother.

Danny sat back and watched Rathfarnham Road glide by in the night. They crossed the Dodder and headed up the hill towards the quiet, tree-lined streets that he had grown up in. As they passed near his house he thought about it: if the car slowed enough he could risk it – just like they did in the pictures. He could jump out and roll away. He could be up and running before they got the car turned around and by then he would be cutting through the back gardens and could easily lose them.

“You live around here, don’t ya, Boyle?” Anto spoke to the windshield but Danny got the message. “And your girlfriend – she lives down that way?”

Danny thought about correcting him. He hadn’t seen Deirdre since the incident in the church but there was no point. They’d use anybody and anything to get to him. He was better off just going along with them for now.

He briefly thought about asking God to save him but there was no point in that, either. They had given up on each other a long time ago. He turned his head away as they approached the church where he had been confirmed into the Faith, so long ago and far away now.


About the author: 


Peter Murphy was born in Killarney where he spent his first three years before his family was deported to Dublin, the Strumpet City.

Growing up in the verdant braes of Templeogue, Peter was schooled by the De La Salle brothers in Churchtown where he played rugby for ‘The Wine and Gold.’ He also played football (soccer) in secret!

After that, he graduated and studied the Humanities in Grogan’s under the guidance of Scot’s corner and the bar staff; Paddy, Tommy and Sean.

Murphy financed his education by working summers on the building sites of London in such places as Cricklewood, Camden Town and Kilburn.

Murphy also tramped the roads of Europe playing music and living without a care in the world. But his move to Canada changed all of that. He only came over for a while – thirty years ago. He took a day job and played music in the bars at night until the demands of family life intervened. Having raised his children and packed them off to University, Murphy answered the long ignored internal voice and began to write.

He has no plans to make plans for the future and is happy to let things unfold as they do anyway.




Connect with Peter:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads 

Buy the book:
Amazon | 
Barnes & Noble | 
iBooks | Kobo | Indigo | Indiebound 

Featured Author: Traci Andrighetti

I'm happy to have Traci Andrighetti back today as part of her tour with CLP Blog Tours. She was here in February for an interview, and she's returned today to share an excerpt from Limoncello Yellow. Want to win a $35 Amazon gift card? Keep scrolling to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

About the book:

From debut author, Traci Andrighetti, comes a tale of murder, mayhem, and meddling Sicilian grandmas... 

Francesca "Franki" Amato is a tough-talking rookie cop in Austin, Texas—until an unfortunate 911 call involving her boyfriend, Vince, and a German female wrestler convinces her once and for all that she just isn't cut out for a life on the police force. So Franki makes the snap decision to move to New Orleans to work at her friend Veronica's detective agency, Private Chicks, Inc. But Franki's hopes for a more stable life are soon dashed when Private Chicks is hired by the prime suspect in a murder case to find out what really happened to a beautiful young boutique manager who was found strangled to death with a cheap yellow scarf. When she's not investigating, Franki is hoping to seduce handsome bank executive Bradley Hartmann, but most of her time is spent dodging date offers from a string of "good Italian boys"—make that not-so-good aging Italian men—that her meddlesome Sicilian grandma has recruited as marriage candidates. As Mardi Gras approaches and the mystery of the murdered shop girl gets more complicated, Franki must decipher the odd ramblings of a Voodoo priestess to solve both the murder and the mystery of her own love life.

Excerpt from Limoncello Yellow

I parked in front of my new home. Before I could get out of the car, Veronica was already walking out her front door, smiling and waving with Hercules in tow in a turquoise fuzzy sweater that matched hers perfectly. Despite her Sicilian father, Veronica looked Swedish like her ex-ballerina mother, with long blonde hair, cornflower blue eyes, and pale skin.  
    
"Franki!" Veronica yelled.

I bent over—at the waist—to hug her. I'd forgotten how tiny she was, and I wondered for at least the hundredth time how her internal organs could function in such a small frame.
She looked up at me and smiled. "How does it feel to be in New Orleans?"
I glanced over at the cemetery and then back at her. "At the moment, it feels fairly morbid."

"Oh, come on! You don't still have that weird cemetery issue, do you?"

"Yes, Veronica. And I can't believe you didn't tell me that there's one right across the street! You know, lots of people would find it disturbing to go to sleep at night with a cemetery basically in their front yard, especially a New Orleans cemetery."

Veronica shook her head in mock disgust as she grabbed a box from my back seat.

"Thank God there's a bar right next to it," I continued. "In case I need to drink myself to death from despair."

She smiled. "Well, if you do drink yourself to death, I wouldn't have to carry you very far for your burial."

I quickly made the customary scongiuri gesture that my nonna had taught me to do to ward off the threat of death, which Veronica had just so carelessly cast upon me. It looks like the University of Texas's hook 'em horns sign with the index and pinky fingers pointed up like horns, only you point the horns downward.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Do you still do that silly scongiuri thing too? God, Franki, you make me so glad my nonna stayed in Sicily. You're so superstitious!"

"I do it just in case," I snapped. "I mean, you never know..."

Veronica walked up to my new front door, which was right next to hers, and pulled a key from the front right pocket of her AG jeans. "Glenda—our landlady—told me to let you in. She'll come downstairs to meet you in a few minutes."

With the box balanced on her left hip, Veronica unlocked my front door with her right hand. She gave the door a shove with her shoulder, and it swung open. She turned to me and bowed. "Welcome to your humble abode."

I excitedly entered the apartment with Napoleon at my heels. As I surveyed the living room, a number of adjectives came to mind, but humble was not one of them. The room could only be described as the home decor equivalent of Amsterdam's Red Light District. The walls were covered in fuzzy, blood-red wallpaper with shiny gold fleurs-de-lis, and hanging from the ceiling was a baroque red-and-black crystal chandelier. The couch was a rococo chaise lounge in velvet zebra print, and next to it was a lilac velour armchair with gold fringe that matched the drapery to perfection. On the opposite wall there was a mahogany wood fireplace with a hearth covered in white candles of various sizes and shapes. In front of the fireplace, a bearskin rug replete with a bear head covered the hardwood floors. The only thing that was missing was the red fluorescent light in the living room window announcing my availability for prospective clients.

I realized that my mouth was hanging open. "Wow. So...this Glenda...is she a prostitute?" I joked.

"Former stripper, actually," Veronica replied. "And she's really touchy about the difference, so don't use the word prostitute in front of her."

I gaped at my best friend. "You're serious?"

Veronica just blinked innocently, as if renting me an apartment from a former stripper across from a cemetery were perfectly normal. "You know, I was reading that the brothel look is really in right now. I believe it's called 'bordello chic.'" She began to pace back and forth as she tried to reconcile her unusually conflicted sense of fashion. "But now that I think about it, Lenny Kravitz redecorated his house here in New Orleans, and designers call his style 'bordello modern.'"

"Something tells me that Lenny didn't decorate this place. And I wouldn't exactly call this 'bordello modern.' It's more like 'bordello seventies.'"

"Well, at least you won't have to add any touches of color," Veronica said.

About the author:

Traci Andrighetti is the author of the Franki Amato mystery series. In her previous life, she was an award-winning literary translator and a lecturer of Italian at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a PhD in Applied Linguistics. But then she got wise and ditched that academic stuff for a life of crime—-writing, that is.

If she's not hard at work on her next novel, Traci is probably watching her favorite Italian soap opera, eating Tex Mex, or sampling fruity cocktails, and maybe all at the same time. She lives in Austin with her husband, young son (who desperately wants to be in one of her books), and three treat-addicted dogs.



Connect with Traci:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Smashwords

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal: Gold-Diggers, Gamblers and Guns

I'm happy to welcome back Ellen Mansoor Collier to reveal the cover art for the third book in her Jazz Age Mystery series. Read my interview with Ellen and an excerpt from Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets (book #2) here, and find an excerpt from Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play (book #1) here. Want a chance to win a copy of Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets? Enter Ellen's Goodreads giveaway here. But hurry...the giveaway ends April 1. And now, the wait is over! I'm excited to show you the cover art for book #3 of Ellen's cozy mystery series, Gold-Diggers, Gamblers and Guns.

Gold-diggers, Gamblers and Guns,
A Jazz Age Mystery #3

Ta da...

Artist: George Barbier (French Deco Artist)

About the book:

Gold-diggers, Gamblers and Guns A Jazz Age Mystery #3

After Downtown Gang leader Johnny Jack Nounes is released from jail, all hell breaks loose: Prohibition Agent James Burton’s life is threatened and he must go into hiding for his own safety. But when he’s framed for murder, he and Jazz must work together to prove his innocence. Johnny Jack blames Jasmine’s half-brother Sammy Cook, owner of the Oasis speakeasy, for his arrest and forces him to work overtime in a variety of dangerous mob jobs as punishment. A second murder heats up the turf battle between real-life rival gangs, the Downtown and Beach gangs. Meanwhile, Jazz tries to keep both Burton and her brother safe, and alive, while they face off against a common enemy.

Other books in the Jazz Age Mystery series:

Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play, A Jazz Age Mystery, #1

Boardwalk Empire meets The Great Gatsby in this soft-boiled Jazz Age Mystery, inspired by actual events. Prohibition is in full swing in 1920s Galveston, Texas: the "Sin City of the Southwest." Jasmine Cross, a young society reporter, feels caught between two clashing cultures: the seedy speakeasy underworld and the snooty social circles she covers in the Galveston Gazette. 

During a night out with her best friend, Jazz witnesses a bar fight at the Oasis--a speakeasy secretly owned by her black-sheep half-brother, Sammy Cook. But when a big-shot banker with a hidden past collapses there and later dies, she suspects foul play. Was it an accident or murder?



Soon new Prohibition Agent James Burton raids the Oasis, threatening to shut it down if Sammy doesn't talk. Suspicious, he pursues Jazz, but she refuses to rat on Sammy. As turf wars escalate between two real-life rival gangs, Sammy is accused of murder. To find the killer, Jazz must risk her life and career, exposing the dark side of Galveston's glittering society.

Buy Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play

Bathing Beauties, Booze & Bullets, A Jazz Age Mystery #2


It’s 1927 in Galveston, Texas—the “Sin City of the Southwest.” Jasmine (“Jazz”) Cross is an ambitious 21-year-old society reporter for the Galveston Gazette who tries to be taken seriously by the good-old-boy staff, but the editors only assign her fluffy puff pieces, like writing profiles of bathing beauties. The last thing Jazz wants to do is compare make-up tips with ditzy dames competing in the Miss Universe contest, known as the “International Pageant of Pulchritude and Bathing Girl Revue.”

She’d rather help solve the murders of young prostitutes who turn up all over town, but city officials insist on burying the stories during Splash Day festivities. After Jazz gets to know the bathing beauties, she realizes there’s a lot more to them than just pretty faces and figures. Jazz becomes suspicious when she finds out the contest is also sponsored by the Maceos, aspiring Beach Gang leaders and co-owners of the Hollywood Dinner Club, where the girls will perform before the parade and pageant.

Worse, her half-brother Sammy Cook, owner of the Oasis, a speakeasy on a rival gang’s turf, asks her to call in a favor from handsome Prohibition Agent James Burton—-an impossible request that could compromise both of their jobs and budding romance. While Agent Burton gives her the cold shoulder, she fends off advances from Colin Ferris, an attractive but dangerous gangster who threatens Sammy as well as Burton. In the end, she must risk it all to save her friends from a violent killer hell-bent on revenge. Inspired by actual events.

Buy Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets

About the author:

Ellen Mansoor Collier is a Houston-based freelance writer and editor whose articles and essays have been published in several national magazines including: Family Circle, Modern Bride, Glamour, Biography, Cosmo, Playgirl, etc. Several of her short stories have appeared in Woman's World.
 A flapper at heart, she's the owner of DECODAME, specializing in Deco to retro vintage items.


Formerly, she's worked as a magazine editor, and in advertising/marketing and public relations. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Magazine Journalism. Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets is the sequel to Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play, her first novel.


"When you grow up in Houston, Galveston becomes like a second home. I had no idea this sleepy beach town had such a wild and colorful past, and I became fascinated by the legends and stories of the 1920s."

Connect with Ellen:
Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Giveaway* | Amazon

*Giveaway ends April 1. 

Featured: Music Audio Stories

Music Audio Stories publishes original music-based children's audio stories created by Anna-Christina and Adie Hardy. Their stories involve original classical music, actors and musicians, and sound effects. They're based on animals and their adventures. Steven Brandt of Audiobook-Heaven says, "March of the Ants is not quite like any other audio production I have listened to." And Alice Berger of Bergers Book Reviews says, "March of the Ants is a fun story that kids will love to hear over and over again." Today I'm talking with Anna-Christina about their stories and Busy Bees Publishing.


Interview with Anna-Christina

Anna-Christina, please tell us about Busy Bees Publishing and Music Audio Stories.

Busy Bees Publishing was set up in 2012 by Anna-Christina and Adie Hardy, and we recruited a few friends to help us create the world of Music Audio Stories. They include Lee Tonkins, our creative web designer and Nick Hudson, our graphic designer who has designed all of our wonderfully colourful story covers. Whilst working on our first audio story March of The Ants, we searched online for other audio stories similar to ours, yet could find nobody combining original classical music with original children's stories and sound effects. So we decided to invent our own genre and call our creations "Music Audio Stories."


What kinds of stories do you publish?

We publish ground breaking, original, new music audio stories. These stories are a great way to allow children to use their own imagination, acting out the stories, drawing how they imagine the characters to be, singing, dancing and joining in, stimulating their creative senses. One of the things that makes our audio stories special from others you may have heard, is the strong themed original classical music behind the narration. Unlike other audio books, the music continues throughout and is an essential part of the stories. We combine cartoon style voices with sound effects to create a lot of movement in the sound. Not only are these audio books fantastic fun, they are great for giving you a short break in your busy schedule. They help long car journeys fly by and aid bonding with your child through acting out the stories together.


For what age range are your stories intended?

They can be enjoyed by children aged 3 to 7. They can also be a useful learning tool and great enjoyment for children with impaired vision, vision disabilities and the blind.


What actors have you brought on board? How do you pair them to a particular story?

We have worked with actors and musicians including the Olivier nominated actor Paul Kaye -The original Mr. Wormwood in the award winning West End hit musical Matilda, as well as appearing in many TV and film roles such as Franky Wilde in the award-winning It's All Gone Pete Tong  and is currently in the new series of Game of Thrones, and Susie Lewis, Harriet in the Play Colder Than Here. We have also been very lucky to have been able to work with some great singers from bands: David Ryder Prangley, (Rachel Stamp), Kiria LePink (Viva Le Pink) and Rob Stitch (Buffalo Fish) as well as two fantastic drummers, Belle Star - drummer/percussionist for a large number of bands and artistes and Tom Meadows - who can be found touring the world drumming for some of today's biggest artists such as Kylie Minogue. We usually have an idea as we’re creating the stories for the kind of voice we need for each character, and it’s a great help that many of the artists we have worked with can do several different voices. We do many of the voices ourselves too!

Anna-Christina, where do you get your ideas for stories?

I’ve always had a very creative mind and the stories and music just seem to flow out of me very naturally. I like the idea of unlikely heroes and characters overcoming obstacles. I also like to instill positive messages in each story and a few educational elements.


Tell us more about Busy Bees TV.

It’s an idea we came up with to show behind the scenes video footage of the artists and actors recording their voice-overs. As far as we know, no other audio book makers have done this so it’s a very unique part of our world and much fun to watch. We also have an introduction to Music Audio Stories video. All our videos can be seen on our website and YouTube Channel.


Can you tell us the process for creating a Music Audio Story?

In the beginning, the music for the first two stories we made were already written and then made to fit around the story, but now I write the stories first and then write the music around the story which makes more sense. Adie has written music sections in the last two stories crossing music genres, which is fun. We record a scratch track and then do the narration, character’s voices, and sound effects. We then mix, which can take some time as there’s so much involved, and Adie masters the stories.


Is there anything else you'd like us to know?

We have a free download of our first story, March of The Ants available from our website for everyone to enjoy, and all of our other stories are available on Amazon and iTunes for an affordable price.

 

Stories Available:
•    March of The Ants FREE download 
•    Chris the Caterpillar  Amazon | 
iTunes
•    Johnny No Cash  Amazon | 
iTunes 
•    Jimi & his friend Joe  Amazon | 
iTunes 
•    The Big Apple  Amazon | 
iTunes

Featured Author: David Marlett

I am...ahem...fortunate to be a part of The Story Plant's virtual book tour for Fortunate Son, by David Marlett. A novel about the greatest trial in Irish history, David carefully researched this incredible story. Today he talks about his first book, his writing, and a little bit about himself.

About the book:

Combining elements of a historical odyssey, a courtroom drama, and an epic adventure, Fortunate Son is based on the true story of the greatest trial in British history.

-A tale that spans Ireland, England, Scotland, and the American Colonies in the early 1700s
-The story which loosely inspired Robert Louis Stevenson in writing his novel, Kidnapped
-A narrative that involves the iconic Kennedy family, generations before they emigrated from Ireland

Meet James Annesley, son of 18th Century Ireland. Though you may have never heard his name before, his story has already touched you in profound ways. Now, for the first time, novelist David Marlett brings that incredible story to life.


Stretching from the dirty streets of Ireland to the endless possibilities of Colonial America, from drama on the high seas with the Royal Navy to a life-and-death race across England and up the Scottish Highlands, from the prospect of a hangman’s noose to a fate decided in the halls of justice, Fortunate Son is a powerful, relentless epic. Here nobility, duels, love, courage, revenge, honor, and treachery among family, friends and ancient enemies abound. And at its center is the most momentous trial in Irish history – the trial of Annesley v. Anglesea from which our modern “attorney/client privilege” was forged, and our concept of a “jury of one's peers” was put to the test.

Carefully researched, vividly evoked, and lovingly brought to the page, Fortunate Son is an unforgettable work of fiction based on fact, one that will resonate deep within you long after you finish it.

Interview with David Marlett

David, Fortunate Son is your first published novel. How long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I've been writing stories since I first started writing. Some of my first were when I was 5 or 6. I wrote my own adventures for Stewart Little, after having falling in love with the original book. I filled a journal with further adventures for the mouse. 

What’s the story behind the title Fortunate Son?

It seemed to fit the narrative arc and the outcome of the story. I toyed with a number of other titles through the years that this manuscript gestated, but always found myself back to Fortunate Son.

Do you have another job outside of writing?

Yes. I am an attorney consulting in crowdfunding, and I am a Research Fellow in an Arts & Sciences lab at the University of Texas (Dallas) where I am also earning a PhD in Story Design.

Fortunate Son is based on a true story. How did you create the plot for it?

I have created a new niche: historical trial fiction, focusing on the characters and events leading up to and surrounding historical trials that were major at the time, but have faded from our cultural memory. Fortunate Son revolves around the largest trial in Irish history, Annesley v. Anglesea (1743), and the extraordinary story leading up to it. Thus, that trial, the trial transcript, and all the research I do surrounding it... those all greatly inform the plot.

What’s your favorite line from a book?

"Are ye noble yet?" she pressed on. In Chapter 33, the main character, James Annesley, is confronted by an elderly blind woman who presses him on the point. The question goes to the heart of the novel, one in which the true nature of 'nobility' is examined, and not in the objective ethnographic way, but in the subjective sense as to James himself, as a solitary man. A joy for me occurred in the early reviews of Fortunate Son when one reader titled her review, "Are Ye Noble Yet?" It was highly satisfying that that one short sentence, buried deep in the book, was noted by that reader (and hopefully others) as the pivotal question of the novel, and perhaps the pivotal question put to all of us.

Are you an evangelist for any book in particular?

Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It impacted me heavily as a teenager and then throughout my adult life. It is required reading for my children. That simple, yet infinitely complex story is masterfully told. It not only serves as a basis for spiritual examination, but for story design itself.

How do you get to know your characters?

Research, research, imagination, research, observation of others, research, imagination, and the more research!

But what about research? Kidding. Which character did you most enjoy writing?

Daniel Mackercher. He is such a powerful character. Imagining how he might behave was a delight. Of course the main character was enjoyable too, but Mackercher had a particular pleasure to his construction.

What would your main character say about you?

That I have deep admiration for the journey of discovery into ourselves. Not only does he seek the true answer to the question, "Who am I?," but he is put to the moral dilemma of how to respond once the answer comes.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?

The personality of Fynn Kennedy was not known, so I created much of him in my father's image, with such iconic characteristics as: protective, strong, warm, self-sacrificial.

Are you like any of your characters?

I see myself in most all of the main characters of Fortunate Son, for better or worse.

If you could be one of your characters, which one would you choose?

I would be the main one, James Annesley. His journey was extraordinary.

With what five real people would you most like to be stuck in a bookstore?

My father, mother, and my four children (ok, that's six).

That's okay, I'll allow it. How could you cut any from that list? Tell us about your favorite scene in Fortunate Son.

This is very difficult. There are so many true scenes that are amazing, one after another. All fun to write, some made me laugh aloud while writing them, some made me have to stop and literally weep. But perhaps my favorite one is the major trial the book builds toward. I say that only because it is from a small excerpt from that trial transcript that I discovered the entire story. So when I came to the point of writing it, it was a peerless pleasure.

You get to decide who would read your audiobook. Who would you choose?

Anthony Hopkins or Liam Neeson.

Excellent choices. What book are you currently reading and in what format (e-book/paperback/hardcover)?

I am reading a number of books simultaneously, some for my PhD studies, and some for research for my next novel American Red. I read everything in print. I eschew e-books.

I don’t claim to be an expert on writing, but there are some writing techniques (or mistakes) that stand out to me when I read (e.g. when an author switches POV mid-scene). What’s one pet peeve you have when you read?

Obvious use of strained dialogue to inform the reader of something. I am reminded of a scene in Ken Follett's book, A Place Called Freedom, where two main characters who have already been established to be TWINS are talking and one says to the other, "Next week is my birthday." Uhmmmm... yeah, I think your twin brother knows that.


Do you have a routine for writing?

As often as I can, for as long as I can.

Ditto! Where and when do you prefer to write?

At home, with just my cat there (no kids), and with no interruptions for hours. Now, that is my preferred writing environment, that doesn't mean it happens often!

Where’s home for you?

Rockwall, Texas (a suburb of Dallas, on a very large lake).

If you could only keep one book, what would it be?

The Complete Works of Shakespeare, in one volume.

Would you rather work in a library or a bookstore?

Bookstore. I couldn't be as quiet as a library requires.

You’re given the day off, and you can do anything but write. What would you do?
Hang out with my kids.

If you could be a fictional character for one day, who would you be?

Captain Jack Aubrey.

What’s your favorite candy bar? And don’t tell me you don’t have one!

Almond Joy.
 
Excellent choice. Let's pretend you get to live anywhere in the world. Where would it be?

Mountains of Colorado.

What are you working on now?

My next historical trial novel, American Red.

Good luck with it, David. Please come back and tell us more about it when it's released.

About the author:

David Marlett is an attorney, artist, and self-trained historian who grew up in a storytelling Texas family. He attended Texas Tech University where he earned multiple degrees in finance, economics and accounting. Subsequently, he earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.

David has created and written stories and screenplays since childhood, and is particularly interested in richly textured history and the drama behind major courtroom battles, such as in his first novel, Fortunate Son. His second novel, American Red, another historical courtroom drama, is due to be published in late 2014.

He is a serial entrepreneur focused primarily on the arts. (He once owned eight bookstores across the United States.) David currently speaks and lectures at conferences and universities on transmedia, storytelling, entrepreneurship in the arts, and crowdfunding. He has been a featured contributor to MovieMaker magazine, Digital Book World, and many other publications.

He has developed and sold a number of film scripts and has directed/ acted in many regional theatrical performances. David is also a photo artist whose work has appeared in several galleries across the United States, and can be also seen at www.MarlettPhotoArt.com. He lives outside Dallas, Texas and has four children.


Connect with David:
Website | Like David on Facebook | Friend David on Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | David's PhotoArt

Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Preorder American Red on Amazon

Featured Author: A.E. Kirk

A.E. Kirk, author of the romance/sci-fi novel, Loving In Time

, published by Vanguard Press, is on tour with Pump Up Your Book Tours. Today, Abi talks a little bit about her book, herself, and writing, and she treats us to an excerpt from the book.

 

About the book:

High-school student Helen Xenakis becomes instantly swept up into a love heptagon, where seven strikingly handsome boys have sworn to protect her from a group of soldiers, who have come from the past to kill her. Yet the boys hold an ancient information that will unlock Helen's past, for she is Helen of Troy, the Princess of Sparta. When given a life altering decision, Helen leaves her modern present and goes back into the past and tries to stop a vicious cycle involving the boys, herself and someone who is very close to her. But when the time comes to break that cycle, will Helen come to terms with what must be done? 



Interview with Abi Kirk:

Abi, do you have another job outside of writing?

I currently have one, I'm a Care and Support Assistant, but I'm aiming for 3 jobs this year. Sadly, the UK doesn't pay in money, it pays in tax.



How do you get to know your characters?

The only way I know how, I act them out, out loud. As weird as that sounds, I think of an incident in my head, and while driving and making myself look like some loon that's escaped from bedlam, I talk out loud how they'd react in that situation and the more I do this, the more I understand how they would speak to other characters. I'm not sure if other writers do this, but this is how I get to know my characters.



Which character did you most enjoy writing?

I enjoyed writing Marcus. He's so sarcastic and bossy and doesn't take crap. And although has a soft spot for Helen, as all the boys do, he's the only one who hates to love her.



Is Loving In Time based on real events?

Oh another tricky question, yes and no. Yes in the sense that archaeologists believe that the War of Troy existed, and no because the way that Homer incorporated's mythology into his events isn't true, sadly.



Are you like any of your characters?

I'm very much like Dom. I tell the truth, I'm annoyingly honest. 



Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.

I think the dodgeball scene. I have a very strange sense of humour and had to stop and leave the laptop because I was laughing so hard when I was writing it. If truth be told, if I had the power to stop time, I would have done exactly the same thing. That's the only bit where my personality springs into Helen- and also it would be Sod's Law that the ball smacks into her face as that would definitely happen to me. 



What song would you pick to go with your book?

"The Moment I Said It" by Imogen Heap.



Who are your favorite authors?

What a question! Gosh um, JK Rowling, Andy McDermott, Brandon Sanderson, Steig Larsson, L.M Alcott, John Connelly, P.V Brett, Pittacus Lore. Steven Gould, Jean Auel, to name a few.

That's quite a list. 

You get to decide who would read your audiobook. Who would you choose?

Ooh, a tricky question. There are so many people with sexy voices. I think it would have to be... Johnny Depp.



I don’t claim to be an expert on writing, but there are some writing techniques (or mistakes) that stand out to me when I read (e.g. when an author switches POV mid-scene). What’s one pet peeve you have when you read?

I hate it when people write "Okay" in an historical novel. The word didn't exist until 1940's so, why would people be saying it during the Tudor times?




Good point. Let's say you’re leaving your country for a year. What’s the last meal (or food) you would want to have before leaving?

Strangely, I left the UK in 2012 and was South Korea bound for a year, and the last meal I had at home was a large family roast. Capon (which is an extra large chicken), sage and onion stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, and roast potatoes, roasted parsnips, pork stuffing, cabbage, cauliflower and brussel sprouts with white sauce. Heaven!


Would you rather work in a library or a bookstore?

I've worked in a bookstore, in Waterstones in Newton Abbot, and I loved it there. When new books came out it was lovely seeing people's faces light up in awe that they've got hold of something they've been waiting for, for months, even years. I was working there during the time The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini came out, and some girls were screaming when they got hold of the book. That type of fandom and love of books, really comes from a bookstore.


Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?

The library at Lampeter University in Wales. It was my favourite place to escape to. Be engrossed in arhcaeology books and ignore everyone around me. It was bliss.


You’re given the day off, and you can do anything but write. What would you do?

Go to a new forest or a lake up country and just go for a walk, on my own.


What would your dream office look like?

It would have three white walls and one that would be a pastel orange with Egyptian hieroglyphs, Celtic designs and Nordic runes decorating it. The other walls would have pictures of landscapes from around the world, and on the desk I'd have my laptop, a calendar of Harry Potter, a multi-coloured beanbag in the corner, a comfy swivel chair, a huge funky-looking bookshelf with all my favourite fiction books, up-to date thesaurus and dictionary, and a research cabinet full of mythology, witchcraft and pirate books. And I'd also have a heater because England is always cold.



What’s your favorite candy bar? And don’t tell me you don’t have one!

Damn, I have too many. I'm a Cadbury fan, always have been. I think I actually eat my weight in chocolate several times over a month- no joke. Currently I'm obsessed with Mikado, they are also called Poki, or Peppero- chocolate covered biscuit sticks. I don't usually have bars of chocolate, I have slabs of it.



What three books have you read recently and would recommend?

Andy McDermott's new book, The Valhalla Prophecy, Brandon Sanderon's Mistborn series, and Stieg Larsson's The Millennium Trilogy. All amazing, can't-put-down books from start to finish.



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

When I'm not writing, sadly I'm working. There's no rest for the wicked. I read a few hours before I go to sleep and play.



What are you working on now?

Currently I am working on a horror story called The Cursed Hill at the moment in time. I got the inspiration from watching Ghost Adventures, which I absolutely adore. The story is based lightly on the Pendle Witch Trials, which are similar to the Salem Witch Trials. I'm taking it very slowly, but I hope to go on a writer's retreat in June to see if I can punch through several more chapters.



Good luck! And thanks for being here today!

Excerpt from Loving In Time

Deciding that fourth and fifth period would be just as boring as the rest of the day, I called it quits and thought it was a good idea to go home. I had a damn good excuse for not going to the annoying classes of gym and crappy French. First off, gym was crap. If I had to hear that pathetic threat of ‘If you don’t pass this class I’ll keep you back a year,’ from Mr. Ash who is the nastiest man I had ever known, I would up and leave then and there. Secondly watching the guys playing up in French because they were head over heels in love with Madame Celion who seemed to adore the attention was enough to make you vomit. How the hell I was passing these crappy classes was a mystery. Plus what I found stupid was that they weren’t going to help me in my career, so I didn’t see the point in them.

As I got out of the front entrance and back into the sunshine, I came across a few rather attractive guys that I hadn’t met before. They were huddled together by the bush at the bottom of the steps that smells like wet dog. I walked past them only to be stopped by one who smoothly stepped out in front of me. For a few seconds the guy took my breath away. With messy brown hair and piercing brown eyes to match. a strange little girl screamed inside my head, ‘HE’S THE PERFECT GUY TO MARRY!’ Trying to inwardly beat her with a stick to shut her up, I regained my composure and acted aloof.

‘What?’ I asked, not in the mood for pleasantries.

‘Oh ho! And here I thought all you girls were nice,’ he said with a strange accent. It was American but there was a slight twinge of Greek in there.

‘Wrong girl,’ I said with a smarmy smile and ducked past him, but with a running-jog he caught up with me, blocking my path again. Sighing, I stood there waiting for him to say something.

Smiling like a freak he copied me by sighing heavily and remained mute.

‘Marcus, you going to tell her or what?’ called one of the other boys from behind me.

‘No, I don’t think I will,’ he smiled then moved aside. ‘But I will be speaking to you again, Wrong Girl,’ he named me and then with a cheeky wink of his right eye, walked past me and headed back to his friends.

For what seemed like an age, I stood there trying to understand what the hell had just happened. A cute guy stops me to tell me something, then gives me a weird name and walks off. ‘Ignore it and go home,’ I finally ordered myself. Somehow my feet listened and began to move; my head on the other hand was full of freaked out fuzzy crap. ‘Marcus was cute though,’ I told myself as I walked down the driveway, barely noticing that my parents cars weren’t there. ‘Weird but very cute,’ I smiled.


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About the author:

Abi Kirk is a writer of sorts. Mostly she writes about fantasy or science-fiction for young adults and or horror for adults. After teaching and traveling most of Asia in 2012 and early 2013, Abi now lives in Devon, UK and is constantly inspired by the views of the sloping, idyllic landscapes around her.



She got her inspiration to write this book while competing for a Writers Competition on Wattpad in 2011, and after coming in joint-second, Abi was guided by her fans and readers to seek out publishers.


Her first published book, Loving In Time, can be found on Amazon.co.uk and Pegasus Publishers website for those who live outside of the UK.


Connect with Abi:

Website |  
Blog | Facebook | 
Twitter | Goodreads |   


Buy the book:

Amazon (UK) | Amazon (US) | 

Blackwell's | Pegasus Publishers (US buyers)