Interview with Mary Kubica

1. In Just the Nicest Couple a surgeon goes missing, and a friend of his wife holds a secret about the disappearance. What idea inspired the book, and why did the story of two couples (one happy, one not) resonate with you? 

As with most of my books, it starts with a tiny seed of an idea that grows during the writing process. With Just the Nicest Couple, I was first drawn to the concept of writing about a missing man, because we hear so often on the news and in the media about women who go missing. I wanted to flip the script and see what would happen if the roles were reversed. My books are always domestic in nature, which was the draw for having two couples involved in this book. Not only was I diving into the lives of one couple, but the lives of friends and co-workers as well, asking that all important question: How well do we really know the people closest to us? 

2. You began writing as a young girl, but what led you to the suspense genre? Why do you like it so much, and what authors influenced you?

My debut novel, The Good Girl, was the first manuscript I wrote that was in the suspense genre, though as a child, mysteries and suspense (such as books by Christopher Pike and Nancy Drew) were my favorites to read. Before The Good Girl, I wrote women’s fiction, though my manuscripts were only ever works-in-progress because I would get partway into the manuscript and then lose interest. With The Good Girl, I started adding suspense elements by accident and soon discovered how much I enjoyed writing in the genre. I knew I’d found my niche. I love watching a mystery develop over time and including things like unreliable narrators and red herrings. One of my favorite parts about the genre is slipping subtle clues into the text once I’ve discovered my twist. There are many talented authors in this genre, but a few who have set the bar incredibly high are Ruth Ware, Alice Feeney and Stacy Willingham.     

3. I’ve heard you don’t work from an outline, but prefer to be surprised by character interactions. What are the best and worst parts about working this way?

Yes, I am definitely a panster, or the type of writer who prefers to fly by the seat of her pants, than a plotter. The best part for me is the spontaneity of it and not knowing on any given day when I sit down to write what will happen in the lives of my characters. I always learn something new about them and am just as surprised by the twist as I hope my readers will be. The worst part is that there are many times I write myself into a dead end and discover that an idea I was excited about simply doesn’t have legs and I have to delete pages. That can be frustrating, but it’s still an important part of my process!

4. Of the two narrators in Just the Nicest Couple, which do you identify with, and why?

In Just the Nicest Couple, we hear from Christian, a man whose wife was the last to see Jake Hayes before he went missing, and Nina, Jake’s wife. Though Nina and I have quite a bit in common (she is a woman, like me, and is a teacher; I was a high school teacher before I turned to writing full time), I identified more with Christian. He’s a man deeply devoted to his wife and unborn child, who will do anything to protect his family. I appreciated that about him and found it easy to understand his motivations even when his actions were sometimes questionable. 

 

5. What is the most suspenseful thing that has happened to you? 

For someone who writes suspense novels, very few suspenseful things have happened to me, which is a good thing because I’m actually a scaredy cat in real life! That said, I’m always on the lookout for strange things that can work their way into my novels, like the time I stayed in a hotel, only to discover that mine was one of two rooms with the same room number, or when I stayed at a bed and breakfast with a crawl space door in the corner of the room, and spent the entire night wondering where it led and who might be on the other side of the door. 

Interview with Boyd Morrison

AT) You wrote The Noah’s Ark Quest, which became an indie bestseller, but your experience is in industrial engineering, sometimes for NASA. Then you worked on X-Box games for Microsoft. How did you discover writing?

Boyd) I’ve always been a big reader, but I’d never considered writing until I took a science fiction writing class from Hugo- and Nebula-award winning author Nancy Kress. I wrote a terrible short story for class, but I thought I might have better luck writing a full-length novel. That’s when I got the idea for a chemistry grad student being chased by killers who are after a formula he created, which eventually became my thriller THE CATALYST.

AT) There are four novels in the Tyler Locke series, and you also have two stand alone novels. Then you transitioned into writing with Clive Cussler on the Oregon Files series. How did you meet him and come to working with him?

Boyd) I didn’t even know I was in the running to write with Clive. He was looking for a new co-author for the Oregon Files and read a couple of my novels. He loved them and particularly enjoyed how I crafted my endings. He called me out of the blue one day and asked if I wanted to write with him. I’d been a big fan of his ever since I read RAISE THE TITANIC!, so of course I jumped at the chance. Two weeks later, I was sitting in his home office, where we brainstormed ideas that would turn into my first novel with him, PIRANHA.

AT)  Did you ever see his car museum or the Confederate submarine museum in Charleston?

Boyd) Unfortunately, I haven’t yet been able to visit the Hunley in Charleston, but I’ve been lucky enough to see his car museum in Denver. The cars have been lovingly restored, and they’re all masterpieces of design and craftsmanship. I could see why Clive loved to include them in his stories, and I got to feature a few of them in our collaborations.

AT) What is Tales of a Lawless Land about?

Boyd) Tales of the Lawless Land is a historical adventure series written with my sister Beth Morrison, who is the head curator of medieval manuscripts at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and a world authority on the Middle Ages. We wanted to create a fun thriller series that captures the spirit of classic adventures like Robin Hood and The Three Musketeers. In the two stories we’ve written so far, THE LAWLESS LAND and THE LAST TRUE TEMPLAR, knight errant Gerard Fox has been unjustly ex-communicated, losing his land and his title, and is forced to journey through Europe in the aftermath of the Black Death and during the Hundred Years War. He is accompanied by a fierce and resourceful lady, and together they are on a search for justice, both for themselves and the downtrodden souls they come across.

AT)  You’ve had a diverse background with a lot of successes. What interests you most, and how has that changed over the years?

Boyd) I love storytelling in all its forms. It’s a way for us to learn about the world, what our place is in it, and how we can relate to others. I also enjoy how stories can give us a sense of justice and closure when the world around is often senseless, cruel, or random. I’ve been writing for a long time, and I plan to continue to do so, but now I’m also moving into acting to tell stories. I’ve performed in many plays, but I’d like to expand into screen work to reach a broader audience.

AT)  Do you listen to audiobooks, and what do you think of your narrators?Boyd) Since I work at home, I don’t get to listen to audiobooks on a commute, but I do enjoy them. I’ve had a number of different narrators for my stories, and I love hearing their unique approaches to narration. Someday I may even narrate one of my own audiobooks!

AT) What’s next for you?

Boyd). Beth and I are currently working on book three in Tales of the Lawless Land, which will take our characters to medieval Croatia, where many of the King’s Landing scenes in Game of Thrones were filmed. I’m also working on a contemporary thriller novel as well as a screenplay, in addition to my acting. So I’m not bored!

Travels with Darley Newman

Darley Newman has been traveling the world for over a decade, using many adventurous means, ranging from horseback to surf board to skis. She hosts and produces “Travels with Darley” and “Equitrekking,” seen on PBS, Amazon Prime, AOL, MSN and on networks in over 85 countries. Recognized in Forbes for her PBS Travel Empire, she consistently innovates as a media entrepreneur, storyteller and adventurer. 

Jonathan Lowe) Many people would consider a travel show on PBS and CreateTV the ideal job. You get to experience new cultures and ideas, food, all kinds of hotels, and more. Not everyone knows what happens behind the scenes with bookings, transfers, editing, writing, etc. What was your attraction to this, after working  in other venues and shows, and what might readers most be surprised to hear about what you do?

Darley Newman) I worked on a variety of shows before I started my own series, including 48 Hours on CBS and the documentary series FRONTLINE. I love that with my own series, both Equitrekking and Travels with Darley, I get to do a diverse array of creative work, including hosting, writing, producing and even editing. I especially enjoy travel, so traveling the world for my career has been a dream. As an entrepreneur, you always have to juggle lots of different tasks and I find that exciting and fulfilling. People may be surprised to learn that I’ve personally edited over 70 half hours of our series or that I’ve not only surfed in Ireland, but been charged by an elephant while I was horseback riding in Botswana, Africa. 

JL) Can you name a few places you most enjoyed visiting, and why?

DN) Some of my favorite destinations have been France, Hong Kong and Botswana. All so different, but they all have great food, nature escapes, fascinating history and culture, and engaging locals who have guided me off the regular tourist path to discover authentic adventures that I enjoy sharing with our fans and friends. I love the food in Hong Kong, the cheese and wine in France and the amazing untouched nature and variety of wildlife in Botswana. We travel to film both in the USA and internationally for my series, which makes for lots of varied adventures and people. 

JL) The George Clooney movie “Up in the Air” described traveling light, both physically and emotionally. What do you put–or not put–in your baggage, and how might your travel differ from other travel journalists? 

DN) It’s hard to travel light when we’re filming, because we have a lot of gear. When I personally travel, I’m great at traveling light. I like to pack lots of layers, comfortable shoes and the essentials, like sunglasses, sunscreen and hats. Can you tell, I need sun protection? As a female traveler and travel host, I make sure to step out of my own comfort zone to show travelers of a variety of walks of life different adventures they can enjoy, no matter their age or skill level. I hear from lots of women who have been inspired to travel to new places and try adventures like mountain biking and horseback riding, after being inspired by Equitrekking and Travels with Darley. 

JL) That’s inspiring. Mountain biking and love of horses, too. Have you written articles, in addition to scripts, and do you have any favorite travel books or movies?

DN) I write our TV show scripts, video short scripts and also have written a travel book about Equitrekking published by Chronicle Books and lots of articles for CNN, True West, Equitrekking and beyond. I love to write and share stories. I also like reading travel books and watching movies. I’ve been inspired by the movie “The Way” with Martin Sheen to hike the Camino del Santiago and really like the movies Lost in Translation, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Eat Pray Love. 

JL) Your show is on Amazon Prime, which also produces many other TV series in all genres. How has technology changed travel, and what’s next for you? 

DN) Technology has changed both travel and filmmaking in so many great ways. I definitely use my smart phone on the road. It’s helpful when mapping locations, finding restaurants on the fly or for google translate. I’ve had full conversations in Japan with google translate, which was handy. With social media, I’ve connected with lots of other great travelers and new friends and discovered new places to go through their dynamic photos and videos. I’m looking forward to seeing what technology comes next.

Taylor Jenkins Reid

Determination and raw talent and rarely come into alignment, but when they do the results speak for themselves. Take the case of Taylor Jenkins Reid, the 39 year old author of eight novels, several making it to screen. Raised in Boston, Taylor attended Emerson College before moving to Los Angeles to become a casting assistant, where she married a screenwriter and began writing novels. With Alex Reid’s support, she steadily grew her audience as she found her voice, and the result can now be seen on the Amazon Prime show Daisy Jones and the Six, co-produced by Reese Witherspoon. Her latest book, CARRIE SOTO IS BACK, tells the story of a 37 year old tennis star coming out of retirement determined to establish her record against a formidable opponent.

Lowe) One doesn’t have to be a tennis fan to enjoy this book, but I wonder what inspired you to write such a thrilling tennis story? Do you play the game?

REID) I have played tennis once or twice, but the real inspiration came from wanting to write about ambition and human excellence — to write about those few people in any given generation who stand above the rest. What does it mean to be the greatest in the world? And what does it feel like?

Lowe) The father-daughter relationship is strong here. Did your dad inspire you to excel?

REID) Despite having never been an athlete myself, I was very drawn to the specifics of the father/daughter coach/player relationship. It's a complicated one for Carrie and Javier. And I wanted to render something that didn't gloss over the complexity of what can happen when your father is your coach, but also showed the beauty of their connection as father and daughter. 

Lowe) You’ve said your own goals were “embarrassingly big.” What did you mean by that, and what famous women have inspired you to write about people like them in fiction?

REID) I think I've always found my belief in myself to be a little embarrassing. After all, when I was starting out, that's all it was. Belief with no real evidence. But I've read a lot of success stories over the years. Naturally, their themes find their way into my work. Whether it's an actress mid-century like Rita Hayworth, or a 70s rock star like Linda Rondstadt, or an 80s model like Brooke Shields, I'm always reading their stories and trying to glean what I can as both a writer and a person. For Carrie Soto, I looked to women like the Williams sisters and Steffi Graf and Naomi Osaka.

Uneasy Lies the Crown by Tasha Alaxander

The year is 1901 and the death of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch has sent all of the Empire into mourning. But for Lady Emily and her dashing husband Colin, the grieving is cut short as another royal death takes center stage. A body has been found in the Tower of London, posed to look like the murdered medieval king Henry VI. Soon after a second dead man turns up in London’s exclusive Berkeley Square, his mutilated remains staged to evoke the violent demise of Edward II, it becomes evident that the individual behind the crimes plans to kill again and again. The race to find him takes Emily deep into the capital’s underbelly, with its secret gangs, street children, and sleazy brothels. But the clues aren’t adding up, and even more puzzling are the anonymous letters Colin has been receiving since Victoria’s death. Is someone threatening her successor, Edward VII?

Jonathan Lowe) What is your background, and how did you turn to writing?

Tasha Alexander) I am the daughter of two philosophy professors, I grew up surrounded by books. I was convinced from an early age that I was born in the wrong century and spent much of my childhood under the dining room table pretending it was a covered wagon. Even there, I was never without a book in hand and loved reading and history more than anything. I studied English Literature and Medieval History at the University of Notre Dame. Writing is a natural offshoot of reading, and my first novel, And Only to Deceive, was published in 2005. I’m the author of the long-running Lady Emily Series as well as the novel Elizabeth: The Golden Age. One of the best parts of being an author is seeing your books translated, and I’m currently in love with the Japanese editions of the Emily books.

Q) You’re a travel buff, and love to pack light. Where have you lived and traveled?

A) I played nomad for a long time, living in Indiana, Amsterdam, London, Wyoming, Vermont, Connecticut, and Tennessee before settling down. My husband, the brilliant British novelist Andrew Grant. I may be biased but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong! I live in southeastern Wyoming, but still don’t have a covered wagon, yet a log house goes a long way toward fulfilling my pioneer fantasies. Andrew makes sure I get my English characters right, and I make sure his American ones sound American.

Q) What do you like to read?

A) I’ll read pretty much anything I can get my hands on, but some of my favorite authors (in no particular order) are Jane Austen, David Mitchell, Leo Tolstoy, Vikram Seth, Meg Wolitzer, Haruki Murakami, Elizabeth Peters, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Anthony Trollope, William Thackeray, Naguib Mahfouz, Arthur Phillips, Pablo Neruda, Homer, Dorothy L. Sayers, Carol Shields, David Lodge, William Boyd, James Thurber, Margaret George, Pauline Gedge, Mika Waltari, Robert Harris, Jeannette Winterson, Henry James, Evelyn Waugh, Orhan Pamuk, Saki (H.H. Munro)  

Q) In Uneasy Lies the Crown, a thrilling mystery in your bestselling series, Lady Emily and her husband Colin must stop a serial killer whose sights may be set on the new king, Edward VII.  Anecdote?

A) On her deathbed, Queen Victoria asks to speak privately with trusted agent of the Crown Colin Hargreaves, slipping him a letter with her last, parting command: Une sanz pluis. Sapere aude. “One and no more. Dare to know.”

Note: Scott Brick narrates the new Reacher novels which Andrew has taken over. What comes next for Tasha is The Dark Heart of Florence. Since this interview she has done a short story Upon the Midnight Clear, and In the Shadow of Vesuvius. She loves Italy, where I visited just once. She lives on a ranch in the beautiful backcountry of Wyoming where Lee Child is also building a ranch TOO CLOSE TO HOME.

Interview with Kristoffer Tabori

 

Kristoffer Tabori is known for his movie roles, his directing of Hallmark movies like “Murder, She Baked” and TV series all over the world, but especially in LA. He has narrated many audiobooks, including my own “Fame Island,” for Blackstone Audio, and has won an Audie award for MIDDLESEX, plus Earphones awards for at least four others. See Audible.com. His dad directed the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and he narrated an audiobook about that. I spoke to him via Zoom, and we talked for over an hour. To summarize, he is in a good place in his life now, looking back at where he’s been, teaches a Shakespeare class, and is ready to start narrating more audiobooks. He has a channel on YouTube with acting reels and movies like Family Flight, where he flies a small plane in distress onto an aircraft carrier. You can watch his role on The Twilight Zone, and two episodes of The Rockford Files, plus an interview with gaming aficionados about his playing HK-47 (and other video game voices.) In the video below a tiny bit of that is included, plus talk about Rod Taylor, an actor he loved, and James Garner. It was a pleasure to speak to him, and he will no doubt be busy again in this newer audiobook chapter of his life. I met him once at the Audie awards with the late Yuri Rasovsky, a Grammy winning audio producer and columnist for Audiofile, who was married to narrator Lorna Raver, who also starred in a horror movie I recommend highly, “Drag Me To Hell.” That was a 2009 production directed by Sam Raimi with a 92% rating by Rotten Tomatoes. There was just today a story on it by journalist Jamie Duncan! Kristoffer narrated an audiobook with her and Yuri, who gave my first novel “Postmarked for Death” an Earphones award as narrated by the late Frank Muller as “Postal,” (2000), now an ebook again. Yuri directed Kristoffer in Fame Island, out of print from 2004 but coming back in 2023.

Fame Island novel produced by Grammy winner Yuri Rasovsky for Blackstone Audio 2004, narrated by Emmy winner Kristoffer Tabori (Star Wars games, TV from The Rockford Files to Law & Order, Hallmark movie director.) Currently rewritten for Blackstone distribution as Lottery Island, with two Powerball wins, narrated by Tom Lennon. Based on the true story of John Caldwell, developer of Palm Island in the Grenadines. (His book “Desperate Voyage” was once optioned for film before he died in 1999. Trump tried to buy property, and Caldwell showed Barbra Streisand around. All this in letters on his stationery in my possession. Have slides and photo release. Caldwell purchased Palm at $1 a year for 99 years from the government of St. Vincent, plus 12% of future profits. It was called “Prune” at the time, and was overrun by swamps and mosquitos. He planted 8000 coconut palms by hand, got the name “Coconut Johnny,” and employed native islanders from Union. He also fought off renegades with .22 rifles, aided the Marines during the Grenada invasion, which prompted my turning articles into a novel.  A travel writer and his photographer side-kick are hired by a “disappeared” lottery winner to finance a coup against a corrupt Caribbean island governor so that he can emerge a hero, famous for more than just 15 minutes. With twists. And sharks. (George Clooney and Jimmy Buffett have cameos. Mentions Dolph Lundgren lookalike. Dolph currently appears in ads attacking on heavy equipment for Volvo, just as he does in the book.)

Interview with Lawrence Block

 

LAWRENCE BLOCK was born in Buffalo, New York in 1938. He attended Antioch College in Ohio then went to work in the mailroom of a New York publisher. His first story was published in 1957 and he has gone on to write more than thirty novels and countless stories and articles, not just under his own name but also as Paul Kavanagh. Indeed Lawrence Block has had several pseudonyms having learned his writer's art crafting erotic literature as Andrew Shaw, Sheldon Lord and Jill Emerson! In 1994 Lawrence Block won the Mystery Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and has also won Edgar, Shamus, and Maltese Falcon awards for his work. In 2004 Lawrence Block was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for a lifetime's achievement in crime writing. I interviewed him once before, long ago. This is new, and I’ve awarded Block an Audiobooks Today INFLUENCER AWARD for 2022 in the category of Mystery.

Jonathan Lowe) What is the takeaway from your new book?

Lawrence Block) Perhaps that there's nothing more dangerous—to himself and others—than a Writer with an Idea. I was sure I was done writing about Bernie Rhodenbarr, a burglar and bookseller who'd been put out of both businesses by the twin forces of modern surveillance cameras and online booksellers. Then I asked myself a question that started with What if, and I thought of a WHAT MAD UNIVERSE, a novel by Fredric Brown, a book I'd read sixty-plus years ago. I refreshed my memory and knew I'd found a way for Bernie to keep doing what he does best. And then I had no choice but to put my shoulder to the wheel, and the result is The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown.

Q) How many series now?

A) It depends how you count. I've written eighteen books about Matthew Scudder, an ex-cop and unlicensed private detective; eight with Evan Tanner, an international adventurer and permanent insomniac; half a dozen with Keller, a professional hit man and enthusiastic philatelist; four with Chip Harrison, a sort of Lecher in the Rye; and the new book is the thirteenth with Bernie Rhodenbarr. But there's also Martin H. Ehrengraf, the criminous criminal lawyer who's been in around a dozen short stories. And I could make the case that THE SPECIALISTS, while only a single novel, can be labeled a one-book series.

What pleases me most, beyond the numbers, is that all of these series, and all of my other books, way back to my beginnings in the genre of Midcentury Erotica, are available today—as ebooks and paperbacks. And almost all of them are also presently available in audio. 

Q) Do you listen to your audiobooks, and what do you think of your new narrators?

A) I'm glad you asked, although the question does make me the least bit uncomfortable. On the one hand, I'm a big fan of audio as a publishing medium. I've watched it grow from botched abridgements that were hard to find outside of truck stops to the phenomenon it is today, and I'm confident this growth is nowhere near complete. That's led me to embrace audio self-publishing, which I've been doing for several years now in partnership with a number of fine narrators; that's how I've managed to have so much of my extensive backlist in audio.

But at the same time, I have to confess that I'm not a consumer when it comes to audio. Just as audiobooks are a godsend for people who have difficulty absorbing information from the printed page, so are they no fun at all for someone like me, who is not at all good at absorbing and retaining information that comes in through my ears. When I try to listen to audiobooks, my mind inevitably wanders—andmore often than not I pick up something to read.

Of course I listen to my own narrators, not at great length but to get a sense of what they bring to the material. The commercial publishers I work with—Recorded Books, Tantor, Blackstone—always choose talented and professional voice artists, and I've had the further good fortune to connect with some superb narrators for my self-publishing ventures.

Right now I'm still reeling from the shock of the very recent death of Richard Ferrone, the long-serving Voice of Bernie Rhodenbarr; he lived only two or three weeks after a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown must have been one of his very last audiobooks. I've already heard from fans who'd listened to it, and they all agree it's superb—which is no surprise. He'll be missed.

Lowe) I didn't know that! Met him once at the Audie awards. Sorry to hear it.

Tea Krulos on Bunker Mentality

Tea Krulos’s latest non-fiction book is titled Apocalypse Any Day Now: Deep Underground with America’s Doomsday Preppers. He has also been published in a wide variety of other publications including the New York Press, The Guardian, Boston Phoenix, Scandinavian Traveler, Doctor Who Magazine, The Onion, and Pop Mythology. Some of his favorite subjects to explore and write about include unique subcultures, people, and places, as well as art, music, and pop culture.

Jonathan Lowe) In The Purge, on one night anyone can "even the score" with those they hate as a group or individually. Is there a desire for revenge among preppers and monster hunters, or is it mostly defensive fear?

Tea Krulos) I think for preppers it's really a defensive fear, a fear of mankind gone mad because they haven't properly prepared and so they will attack people for food and supplies. "The haves and the have nots" is how one prepper described the breakdown of society in an catastrophic event. Most monster hunters and paranormal investigators are mostly in it because they are curious and hoping to prove that a mystery exists. 

JL) Have never understood zombies. The books are usually better than the movies and TV series. The movie Z was ridiculous from a credible standpoint, although visually stunning as escapism. Thoughts on the metaphors at work at Zombie Con and Zombie Squad, and why the pop attraction to animated brain dead flesh? What was your involvement like?

TK) Zombie Squad is a fun organization that uses a zombie apocalypse as a metaphor to prepare for disasters. The idea is if you can train to survive zombies, you'll learn basic survival skills. They also like to watch zombie movies and have an annual camping trip called Zombie Con. I joined them for Zombie Con a couple years ago in Missouri. It was a fun and interesting weekend. I think the attraction to zombies is that they're classic and often a metaphor for a braindead consumer culture. 

JL) What states and areas have the largest numbers of Supernatural, Big Foot, UFO, and survivalist fans, and why do you think that is?

TK) I’ve found that there's quite a wide spanning interest in these topics, and I've been all over the country to meet people involved. Many survivalists are more rural, but not all, there are urban preppers. Bigfoot sightings have happened in every state but Hawaii and UFOs are seen around the globe. 

JL) Wondering about Hawaii. Over three and a half million of these people in the United States. They spend a lot of money on surviving, yet are worried about money becoming worthless, and hoard gold instead to barter? Seems like the sales industry loves survivalists. Booming business?

TK) Some preppers do stockpile things like gold, silver, and items to barter like bottles of liquor. The idea is that if society crashes and cash becomes worthless, these items will be useful to barter. The prepper business is booming and has been for some time. It's a niche market, but one that caters to people that are willing to spend money on gear, food, books, and classes. They view it as a sort of insurance policy against disaster. 

JL) It's both sad and amusing that politics plays a role in gun sales and shelter building. Do the stats swing the both ends of the spectrum?

TK) Traditionally speaking, preppers have leaned conservative, and the prepping industry boomed under the Obama administration. The election of Trump, though, led to a growing number of liberal preppers. I didn't see them represented at the expos I went to, it may be that they'll need to get their own expo going. And I should mention that a good number of preppers probably would identify as Libertarian or no political affiliation. 

JL) What exactly defines a "society-ending event?" Are UFOs ever involved, like the “Heaven's Gate” group? 

TK) There's many ideas of what a society ending event might be, including extra-terrestrial invasion, nuclear annihilation, extreme weather, an electro-magnetic pulse attack, angry God, out of control technology, or a pandemic, just to list a few of the major ideas.
 
JL) Raven Ridge or Raven Rock survival bunker for politicians... Missile silos interest me because I once explored one for a story I wrote for an article. People may not realize how many there are, and also how many are live, not just abandoned, with antique equipment and lax safety standards. Many accidents and near catastrophes have happened, chronicled in books. What has your experience been like? How much does a survival condo cost?

TK) I was fortunate enough to get a tour of the Survival Condos, which were built in a former Atlas missile silo in Kansas. It was an interesting and surreal experience. The former control room for the missile silo is now a hydroponic center and there's several levels that include a swimming pool, classrooms, a movie theater, and then half or full size condo units priced between 1.5-3 million dollars. 

JL) Why not just stock a boat and sail the ocean like a ghost ship, or set up camp on a garbage island? Will they be playing Pacman or Space Invaders when the big one hits, like it almost did in North Carolina with an H-Bomb?

TK) I think a boat would not be as confining as a bunker, but might be more vulnerable to attack on the open water. I think both Pac-Man and Space Invaders are good for survival skill reflex training!

JL) I’ve been to Biosphere 2, too, and the movie made there was a comedy. Thoughts on movies related to these subjects?

TK) It just goes to show you how popular the idea of the end days is in pop culture. In addition to thrillers and dramas, there's popular video games, and quite a few comedic takes on the concept-- Biodome and TV shows like The Last Man on Earth. I also attended a fun festival called Wasteland Weekend, where people party like it's the end of the world out in the Mojave Desert. 

JL) Final thoughts on fear of the "other guy" coming for our guns, our food, like brain dead zombies? 

TK) Our American society is filled with paranoia, fear, anger, distrust, and hatred. I'm not saying that's what preppers are all about-- many of them simply want to be able to survive a disaster. But that level of fear about society and how dangerous it is certainly is a factor. 

(Note: My book Postmarked for Death features an abandoned Titan missile base in the climax. I actually went down into one south of Tucson in order to get the ending right. The ending occurred to me first, so I worked backward from that. The novel was endorsed by Clive Cussler and John Lutz.)

Andrew Grant Interview

Andrew Grant was born in Birmingham, England in May 1968. He went to school in St Albans, Hertfordshire and later attended the University of Sheffield where he studied English Literature and Drama. After graduation Andrew set up and ran a small independent theatre company which showcased a range of original material to local, regional and national audiences. Following a critically successful but financially challenging appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Andrew moved into the telecommunications industry as a 'temporary' solution to a short-term cash crisis. Fifteen years later, after carrying out a variety of roles including several which were covered by the UK's Official Secrets Act, Andrew became the victim / beneficiary of a widespread redundancy programme. Freed once again from the straight jacket of corporate life, he took the opportunity to answer the question, what if ... ?

Jonathan Lowe) Your wife is prolific as an author too. How did you come to meet her in Chicago, and did she really write a novel at Starbucks? 

Andrew Grant) She is prolific! Far more so than me – she’s currently working on her fifteenth full-length novel, while I’m on my ninth. We actually met at Bouchercon – the World Mystery Convention – the year it was held in Baltimore. I was living in the UK at the time, but soon moved to Chicago where we got married. And yes – she really did write her second novel – A Poisoned Season – in the Starbucks in Franklin, TN. She started her third there, too.

JL) It sounds like something J.K. Rowling did. Historical vs suspense. What do you have in common with Tasha, and what do you like to read that's similar or different? 

AG) You’re right – J.K. Rowling started out writing in a coffee shop in Edinburgh, Scotland. My elder daughter went to university there, so when I visited her I couldn’t resist going to see the place where Harry Potter was born. The main similarity Tasha and I share is our love of reading. We both devour all kinds of books in almost every genre. The main difference when it comes to our writing stems from Tasha setting her novels in the Victorian era while mine are all contemporary. This places very different demands on our research – Tasha is a trained historian who fully immerses herself in the period by drawing on a wide array of primary and secondary sources, visiting every location she writes about and even cooking food from the places she describes, while my focus tends to be more involved with current day details such as the inner workings of the world’s financial markets, the flaws in the criminal justice system, and the quirks of our various law enforcement agencies. 

JL) Talk about False Witness vs More Harm than Good. Different lead characters. Royal Navy intelligence vs Detective. Trilogies? 

AG) The thing those books have in common is that they’re both the third in their respective series – I wouldn’t necessarily say trilogies because I’d love to revisit both characters and still have plenty of ideas for future adventures for them. The main differences arise from what the heroes do for a living. David Trevellyan is a Royal Navy Intelligence agent, and as such he’s able to travel the globe and become involved in all kinds of espionage and political intrigue. Cooper Devereaux on the other hand is a homicide detective in Birmingham, AL and while the locations of the crimes he investigates are necessarily more fixed I take the opportunity to explore the inner psychological world of his adversaries in much greater depth.

JL) You were in drama and telecommunications. I have done everything from selling paint and later postal stamps to writing and acting in radio dramas. Is there anything more precarious and yet thrilling than writing, and do you have advice for writers? 

AG) You’re right about writing! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced higher highs or lower lows in anything else I’ve ever done for a living. Or done anything as precarious! My advice for the new writers would be – ignore all advice. Write your own story in your own way. It’s impossible to chase a trend – it will have changed by the time you’ve finished your book – but for me the biggest danger is listening to all kinds of contradictory feedback and ending up with something that reads like it was written by a committee. Your work might have sharp corners and rough edges, but that’s what’ll make it stand out.

JL) How do you like Chicago? Was there once on my own for a hardware convention, and took a singles cruise with a Japanese guy to Italy, later, just to save on the single supplement fee who was from there. I wrote and read while he danced with the ladies. Funny but obsessed with ballroom dancing!

AG) We were in Chicago for almost ten years, and absolutely loved it (despite not meeting any ballroom dancing Italians!) It’s a wonderful, vibrant city full of every kind of food and entertainment and gallery and attraction you can think of. And its architecture is magnificent, too. I’m a huge mid-century fan, and Chicago has more van der Rohe’s, for example, than anywhere else. However, we eventually decided it was time for a change so went for about as big a contrast as you can possibly get and now live on a nature preserve in Wyoming where we’re surrounded by moose and elk and deer and antelope – and hardly any people.

JL) UNEASY LIES THE CROWN? 

AG) This is the book where the inevitable finally caught up with Tasha, and Queen Victoria eventually died. Her passing sent shockwaves throughout the empire, and brought with it a particularly perilous problem for Lady Emily and her husband Colin to navigate their way through.

JL) Do you listen to audiobooks? Stephen King is a big fan. I like them because it extends reading time to forever, plus some great voice acting. I knew Frank Muller, who was King's fav, and read some of his books. A pioneer in the business going back quite a long time now.

AG) I like the idea of extended reading time! I haven’t quite made the leap to audio books yet, though. Perhaps it’s time I find some recorded by Frank Muller and give them a try…

JL) What's next for you and Tasha? 

AG) Tasha finished up her next Lady Emily mystery which is set in Pompeii – and it’s wonderful! Meanwhile I’m working on the second in my current series which features Paul ‘The Janitor’ McGrath, who fights for justice on the streets and in the boardrooms of New York City.

Reacher is on PRIME. Andrew has recently taken over the Reacher dies since Lee Child’s retirement. They both now live on PRIME real estate in Wyoming, while Scott Brick, narrator of NARRATOR and the Reacher series is busier than ever! 

Chris Pavone and Boo Walker

THE TRAVELERS by Chris Pavone: It’s 3:00 a.m. Do you know where your husband is? Meet Will Rhodes: travel writer, recently married, barely solvent, his idealism rapidly giving way to disillusionment and the worry that he’s living the wrong life. Then one night, on assignment for the award-winning Travelers magazine in the wine region of Argentina, a beautiful woman makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Soon Will’s bad choices—and dark secrets—take him across Europe, from a chateau in Bordeaux to a midnight raid on a Paris mansion, from a dive bar in Dublin to a mega-yacht in the Mediterranean and an isolated cabin perched on the rugged cliffs of Iceland. As he’s drawn further into a tangled web of international intrigue, it becomes clear that nothing about Will Rhodes was ever ordinary, that the network of deception ensnaring him is part of an immense and deadly conspiracy with terrifying global implications—and that the people closest to him may pose the greatest threat of all. It’s 3:00 a.m. Your husband has just become a spy. Read by Paul Michael, who is always great in this genre due to his ability to guide an air of intrigue with a steady and not overly dramatic tone. Michael is a veteran stage and TV actor who also narrated what is the most viral mystery novel of all: The DaVinci Code.

RED MOUNTAIN in eastern Washington is home to a community of eccentrics. Otis Till, the area's visionary winemaker, has been known to howl at the moon--fully nude. Single mother Margot Pierce moved across the country to build an inn, but so far all she does is binge on gelato, the Hallmark Channel, and fantasies of murdering her ex. High school senior Emilia Forester, daughter of celebrity parents, is struggling to build her own life outside of their shadow. And Brooks Baker is a man haunted by his past spent living on the streets as an orphan. Somehow, everyone lives together harmoniously, their lives intertwined like the vines in Red Mountain's beautiful and renowned vineyards in the novel by Boo Walker, narrated with the resonate voice and acting skill of Armen Taylor.  
Jonathan Lowe) You’ve always wanted to write, but you’re involved in the winery business. Did you start with articles or fiction? 
Boo Walker) I used to play music in Nashville for a living with a band called the Biscuit Boys. My first taste of the creative process and putting words together was writing songs. When I left that career, I had to fill the void. Being a voracious reader, I always wanted to try my hand writing fiction. So I went from songs to full-length fiction.
JL) Anything happen at the winery itself that could be described as “mysterious” or “suspenseful?”
BW) There’s always things that happen at the winery with a sense of suspense or mystery. Our winemaker was nearly killed by the press one year. A year before that, someone stole our neighbor’s grapes, picking them at midnight during harvest. I’ve seen wars waged between humans that may not resolve themselves for generations. Eastern Washington is desert country, the wild west. We have coyotes that will track you, we have badgers that will maul you, and we have rattlesnakes that linger in the grass. Even though Red Mountain is a tiny blip on the map, the potential stories are endless!
JL) Drinking a bit helped me with live interviews, and many writers have been aided by wine in loosening up the free flow of ideas. Red or white for this?
BW) Ha! The best interviews always begin with a glass of white. But I have a steadfast rule… no drinking while writing. Even Hemingway stuck to that.
TR) Favorite authors? Influences?
BW) My favorite author for many years has been Pat Conroy. We share pasts in Charleston together. If I could emulate one writer, it would be him. But I read Plum Island by Nelson Demille while traveling through Ireland after high school, and it gave me the thirst. I was in Waterville on the west coast, and I remember thinking that I had to write a book. Not that I could or should, but that I had to. So I owe him a lot. My favorite book right now though, one that has utterly blown me away, is A Gentleman in Moscow. I’ve never felt so motivated as a writer. Amor Towles puts words together in ways that make my eyes water. The way his mind works is pure art and genius. And most importantly, he’s reminded me to be free in my writing. I don’t need to subscribe to any particular way of doing things. I need to write from the heart and let my voice shine.
TR) Your wine is carried at Whole Foods, bought by Amazon. Some of your characters are in wineries, too. Ever thought about sending a case to Jeff Bezos? He might buy movie rights.
BW) I love the idea of sending wine to Bezos! I sent him an email one time; he never responded. Perhaps a box of wine would do the trick!
TR) Hobbies? What’s next for you?
BW) I’ve got a sequel to Red Mountain. Next I’ll be writing a few books from my new home in St. Pete, Florida. After many years in Washington, my wife and I decided to take a new adventure. So I’m getting out and about in St. Pete, learning the history, the culture, the people. And then I’m going to throw it all in a blender and see what kind of fiction comes out. I always tell my new friends that they better be careful what they tell me, because I’m always looking for new material. Other than writing, I still play some music and absolutely thrilled to be buying my son his first guitar this Christmas. My newest hobby will be teaching him everything I know!