Interview with novelist A. Gavazzoni

I’m happy to host author A. Gavazzoni today. She’s here to chat about her new action and mystery placed in a historical background, Sketches of Life.

During her virtual book tour, A. will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too.

Also, the book will be $0.99 at Amazon during the tour.

Bio:

A. Gavazzoni is a Brazilian writer, a former professor of law and has been a practicing lawyer for 28 years. Her first series of self-published novels, Hidden Motives: Behind the Door, Lara’s Journal, and The Brilliant Game, won several writing contests, gathered five gold medals, one bronze medal, five honorable mentions and was finalist of many great contests: B.R.A.G. medallion (Gold Medal); Book Excellence Awards (Two Gold medals); e-lite awards (Gold medal), Golden Book Award (Gold Medal); IPPY AWARDS (Bronze Medal), Readers Favorite (three honorable mentions); Paris Book Festival (Three honorable mentions); Eric Hoffer Book Award (Finalist); American Fiction Awards (Finalist); Indie Excellence Awards (Finalist); Independent Author Network (Finalist); Indie Excellence (Finalist); The IAN book of the year awards (Finalist); The Kindle-book award (semi-finalist).

Adriana speaks Portuguese (her native language), English, French, and Spanish and she loves to travel. Adriana loves to cook for her friends, to dance the tango, to work out, she is a voracious reader and a proud dog's mom of two girls, Juno and Charlotte.

Please share a little bit about your current release.

Sketches of Life is an action-mystery-romance that takes place in an historical setting, and it tells the story of people trying their best to survive in a world in turmoil due to World War II. Facing unfamiliar circumstances and days filled with challenges, the characters need to learn to adapt or die. Inspired by spy stories I’ve read, the book is filled with mysteries the reader needs to decipher and deals with complicated matters such as losing people you love, dementia, and fulfilling your dreams.

What inspired you to write this book?
Sketches of Life is the story of the grandmother of one of my main characters in my trilogy Hidden Motives. When I created Emma, I knew I had to write about her life because she was the perfect grandmother, and it is clear she has a mysterious past. I simply needed to tell about her life. Also, I was inspired by spy stories I’d read, and by the Mossad, which is a subject I love to read and watch movies about.

Excerpt from Sketches of Life:

Having nobody else in the world and nothing to lose is terrifying, but it’s also liberating. No matter what I had to do, I would have the courage. I couldn´t disappoint anybody, nobody would cry over my actions, and I had nobody to please.

Things are as big as your proximity to them, and if you keep your distance, nothing can scare you or threaten you. Everything is just a matter of perspective, and the secret to surviving was to keep my heart safe and never expect anything from anyone. In the end, all feelings, good or bad, are only as powerful as you allow them to be.

I learned to live day by day, planning but not living for my plans, trying to solve just the problems I had in front of me and not worrying about things that hadn´t introduced themselves yet. As life had shown me, and Malena once told me, we had no control over the future, and it was as unpredictable as the ocean—it could drown a person if they thought they could tame it.

What exciting story are you working on next?
I’m working in the sequel to Sketches of Life and another book about life in Brazil.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

When my first novel was published, that was one of the best days of my life.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
No, I’m an active lawyer, and I have to divide my time between my clients, my legal profession, and writing. I organized my schedule in a way that allows me to write every day. I also have other hobbies, such as amateur astrology and dancing. I love to cook for my friends, and I love to socialize and share a good laugh. I think it’s possible to do many different things; it’s all a matter of staying organized.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
When I’m away from computer and have an idea, I send notes to myself. I’ll use my phone to send myself an email or text.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
So many things. A race car driver, a writer, an astronaut, a scientist, an engineer, a ballerina— all those things at once! But since I’m a writer, I can be all those things in my mind.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I’m a very positive person, and I try to see the bright side of everything. Life is much easier when you do that.

Links:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Book video

The book will be $0.99 at Amazon during the tour.

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!

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Interview with novelist Hawk MacKinney

Novelist Hawk MacKinney joins me today and we’re chatting about Deal Gold, Book 4 in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series. It’s a mix of action thriller and love story.

During his virtual book tour, Hawk will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Hawk MacKinney served in the US Navy for over 20 years. While serving as a Navy Commander, he also had a career as a full-time faculty member at several major state medical facilities. He earned two postgraduate degrees with studies in languages and history. He has taught postgraduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem, Israel.

In addition to professional articles and texts on chordate neuroembryology, Hawk has authored several works of fiction—historical love stories, science fiction and mystery-thrillers. His titles are not genre-centered, but plot-character driven. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award, details the family bloodlines of his serial protagonist in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series—murder and mayhem with a touch of romance. Hidden Chamber of Death, the first book in the mystery series, was followed by Book 2, Westobou Gold and his latest, Book 3, Curse of the Ancients. All have received national attention. The Bleikovat Event was Vol I in The Cairns of Sainctuarie Science Fiction Series followed by Vol II, The Missing Planets. Vol III, Inanna Phantom is in final galleys.

Please share a little bit about your current release and what inspired you to write this book.

During a Rocky Mountain ski vacation in Aspen, CO, I came across the documented killing of a wild-living hard-partying Olympic skier chasing gold with the other underhanded goings-on, and no one went to jail. Skin and money and payoffs, and all the inspirations of the slugs of humanity fell into my lap and onto my keyboard.

Excerpt from Deal Gold:

Lust, greed and body parts await Craige Ingram when he leaves the comforts of his South Carolina home to visit his former SEAL buddy, Detective Spinner Krespinak. Set in the Colorado underbelly of a sable and faux glitz ski mecca, the instincts of retired Navy SEAL, Detective Spinner Krespinak suspect drugs have become a lucrative industry amid unrestrained wild sex parties in the snowy sordid playground that is Aspen. An Olympic ski hopeful is brutally murdered, Spinner vanishes, and Craige Ingram is shot as events spin out of control with a Catch-22 no one anticipates.

What exciting story are you working on next?

Vol III in the Cairns of Sainctuarie Science Fiction Series is in galley proof edit.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

In the 6^th grade writing serial mysteries for my class newsletter.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

You make/budget time to write full-time. Up 4-4:30 a.m. for two hours with a raw quadruple steamed espresso, black as Marine Corps bilge water. Another hour+, then lunch and to-do lists that have nothing to do with writing… and all the while keeping my eyes and ears on RECORD. When I take a break, it is with a good non-fiction…quantum physics or biographies.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I find it fun doing in no-good SOBs that hurt for no reason other than being lazy. They provide endless stories for my imagination to plunder.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Probably a cowboy…

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Feed and care for the 12-year old and the dreams that still live inside you—the child in us needs TLC and daily encouragement. After that, it’s ALL uphill.

Links:

Website | YouTube

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!

…and thank you for hosting me and Dead Gold, my latest title in the MOCCASIN HOLLOW MYSTERY SERIES.

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Interview with children's author Carey Fessler

Children’s writer Jeff Bolinger, aka Carey Fessler, joins me today to chat about his new middle-grade historical suspense book, Foiled.

Welcome, Jeff. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in a military family and moved around more often than a gypsy. My favorite smell is green, favorite flavor is mist, and favorite day of the week is Funday. I wonder if fish wish they could wink and trees wish they could walk. I think it’s bizarre that your belly button harbors more bacteria than there are birds in Borneo. I believe biographies are boring and think it’s fun to speak in silly-sounding sentences with wacky words that start with the same letters. I live in the city of rain and thunder in the land Down Under, which is home to koalas, kangaroos, and kookaburras—a kingfisher. Finally, I believe in exercising your imagination and secretly staying up past your bedtime.

Please tell us about your current release.

Foiled is a Middle Grade pacey, page-turning novel set in 1947, featuring the famed Roswell UFO crash incident near Roswell, New Mexico.

The title Foiled has three meanings:

1.    Foil: noun- referring to the ‘magic foil,’ (piece of thin metal sheet) in the story, which is a piece of alien technology from the crash site of a UFO. On the front cover, you can spot the girl holding it in her hand. ;)

2.    Foil: noun- The two MCs contrast each other and so emphasize and enhance the qualities of the other.

3.    Foil: verb- prevent (antagonists) from succeeding.

What inspired you to write this book?

The idea for the book came after seeing three photographs of a UFO near Roswell, New Mexico that my brother in-law had showed me. As an author I didn’t care if the photos were real or not. I just asked myself, “What happens if … in 1947, two Roswell kids obtain a piece of alien technology and become fugitives?” And that was the seed for the story.

Excerpt from Foiled:

“You’re the first real Indian I ever met,” Billy said. “I was kind of hoping you lived in a tepee.”

“My goat ate it.”

“Where’s your goat?”

“I ate him.”

“Oh.”

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’ve just finished the last book in my sea-island adventure trilogy:

Shanghaied: Escape from the Blackwolf

Shipwrecked: Dragon Island

Sea Raiders

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

The first time I came out of the closet and told someone other than my wife.

Do you write full-time? Yes.

If so, what's your work day like? Up at dawn, walk the dog, eat breakie, and write until noon. Walk the dog, eat lunch, re-write/revise the previous day’s work until 3pm. Walk the dog, do errands, housework and make supper. Rinse and repeat.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I listen to music while I write, either Classical or New Age.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? An oceanographer so I took scuba diving lessons in college and then joined the Navy and served in nuclear submarines, so I came close.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

1. I use the pen name Carey Fessler to honor the two people who encouraged me to read as a kid—my grandparents: My G’ma’s maiden name is Carey and my G’pa’s last name is Fessler … Carey Fessler worked perfectly.

2. Adults are constantly telling children what they can and can’t do.

I set out to write a story about an eleven year old stumbling over endless physical and mental pits, picking herself up, and pushing herself on to discover for herself what she can do. I also wanted to ask, “Would an eleven-year-old stop at the established limits set by the grown-up world to save her friend and family, or would she break those limits?”

3. I’m hoping to turn kids onto reading by sparking their imagination. Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is intelligence having fun.”

Thanks for being here today, Jeff.

Interview with novelist James Vella-Bardon

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Author James Vella-Bardon helps me wrap up the week by chatting with me about his new novel, The Sheriff’s Catch.

Bio:

James was born and raised in Malta, an island nation steeped in the millennia of history. As a boy he often caught a rickety old bus to the capital of Valletta, where he would hover around the English bookshops to check out the latest titles in fiction.

Growing up he was an avid reader and a relentless day-dreamer, with his standout subject at school being English composition. He also won a couple of national essay competitions. Although he spent seven years studying and obtaining a doctor of laws degree, this did not cure him of his urge to write stories. So, after emigrating to Sydney in 2007 he resolved to have a proper stab at writing his first novel.

The result of this decision is an epic, sprawling five-part historical fiction series called The Sassana Stone Pentalogy. It is the product of nine years of intense rewriting and research, and tells the story of a Spanish Armada survivor who is shipwrecked in Ireland.

The first instalment in the series is a rip-roaring, myth-busting page-turner called The Sheriff’s Catch. Its anti-hero protagonist Abel de Santiago is an Armada survivor who finds himself on the run across Connacht, whilst being pursued by English troopers who want him tortured and killed.

Please tell us about your current release.

It’s very cross-genre: thriller, mystery, horror, action, adventure, suspense, and historical. It’s got a pinch of black humour in it and one reviewer even said that it contains romance!

It’s a breakneck action thriller set in 16^th Century Ireland. An edge-of-your-seat page turner which will leave readers white-knuckled so that it has drawn comparisons in terms of its pace to ‘The Da Vinci Code’. The protagonist is a deadly sniper named Abel de Santiago, a Spanish solider who is stationed to the Spanish Netherlands. When his treacherous army comrades kill his pregnant Dutch wife, Santiago deserts the army and hunts them down to Seville. Before he can achieve his revenge he is captured by the men he hunts who sell him as a galley slave, leaving him to row aboard one of the ships forming part of the Spanish Armada. Yet his real troubles start following the Armada’s defeat at the famous Battle of Gravelines, when he finds himself shipwrecked upon the coast of Ireland. For Ireland is a country terrorized by mounted English troopers called Sassenachs, who have orders to find, torture and kill all Spanish castaways. Santiago’s fate appears sealed, so that the reader is instantly confronted with a pressing, life or death question: can Santiago outrun his own fate? I should also add that The Sheriff’s Catch has earned incredible reviews to date on Goodreads and Amazon, and is also the first instalment in a five-novel series called The Sassana Stone Pentalogy.

What inspired you to write this book?

I read Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code when I was 23, and it was the first novel I could not put down until I finished reading it. Henri Charriere’s Papillon was another novel which greatly inspired me, a highly intriguing thriller which is recounted in the first person. I wanted to write something as addictive as those two books, and when I read the first chapter of Q by Luther Blissett, I knew that I could do it in an original and largely unexploited setting like 16^th Century Europe.

The spark of inspiration occurred a year later when I read a small non-fiction book called Ireland: The Graveyard of the Spanish Armada by T.P. Kilfeather yet another book which I could not put down until I had finished reading it cover to cover. The adventures of the Spanish castaways in 16^th C Ireland blew my mind, and I knew I finally had a setting to write an incredible novel to rival my favourite historical thrillers which have been a great inspiration to me like Arturo Perez-Reverte’s The Adventures of Captain Alatriste, Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe’s Tiger, Tim Willocks’ Tannhauser Trilogy, Q and Altai by Luther Blissett / Wu Ming, J.B. Pick’s The Last Valley, Robert E. Howard’s The Adventures of Solomon’s Kane and Robert Low’s The Whale Road. I was definitely also inspired by fantasy series like Tolkien’s and Stephen Donaldson’s trilogies and David Eddings’ pentalogies, which were part of the reason I wanted to write a lengthy yet pacey epic that a reader could be happily lost in.

Excerpt from The Sheriff’s Catch:

‘Take his keys!’ I yelled out in Sabir, feeling like I spoke the thoughts of most present. ‘Take his bloody keys!’

Dimas’s eyes widened as I stood off the bench and pointed at him, still shouting at the other slaves to act. As the overseer made to speak, a brawny arm suddenly curled about his throat, which belonged to a hefty Berber strokesman. The enormous slave nodded at me once, before he spoke to the rowers alongside him.

‘Get the keys.’

He then bent over sideways and shoved the stunned Dimas underwater. The crazed overseer kicked with his feet and twisted and turned, yet it was all in vain as the bulging muscles rippled in the arm of his victim turned aggressor. Meanwhile another slave had already reached Dimas’s side and undone his huge belt, with the heavy clanking keys passing through many hands even before the overseer had stopped kicking. The large Berber then pulled Dimas’s head from the bilge water and wrung his neck for good measure.

‘Be silent,’ he boomed across the benches, ‘and let none escape without my command!’

Having declared himself the leader of the slave revolt, the giant then turned his tattooed face towards our side of the deck, waiting for us all to be freed. When the last shackle was undone he strode towards the steps before us, crying out to the surviving rowers who already milled behind him.

‘Whosoever craves freedom, join with us now!’

A roar was returned as most hurried after him, with only a handful still clinging to their benches in fear. I flung Esteban away as Maerten and I hurried out, scarcely believing our luck as we ran after the fleeing rows of slaves. A swish of bilge water was heard at our feet before we ran towards the steps. As we hurried through the infirmary I could see that it was choked with countless wounded men, who groaned aloud at our passing while the physicians and surgeons stared at us in disbelief.

Upon reaching the main deck we were greeted by a flash of lightning, which streaked the nightly heavens. The sight left us startled before our ears were deafened by a roar of thunder. Our galley continued to lurch leeward as the end of great waves spattered our decks. The scent of the open ocean left me feeling half-revived, as I took in the chaos which Costa had mentioned. Ahead of us, guards beat back mutineers before they too were set upon by the Berber and his freed cohorts. We all swayed to the growing throes of the ocean, and at the prow a despairing nobleman flung gold doubloons overboard and cried out in despair.

What exciting story are you working on next?

My next story will be ‘A Rebel North’, the second instalment in ‘The Sassana Stone Pentalogy’ and sequel to The Sheriff’s Catch. People have asked me to describe it to them, and my reply has always been that while ‘The Sheriff’s Catch’ is more of a rollicking ‘man on the run’ story like Mel Gibson’s movie ‘Apocalypto’, ‘A Rebel North’ is more about a stranger in a strange land trying to assimilate into a different society. So it’s more like Kevin Costner’s ‘Dances With Wolves’ or Richard Harris’ ‘A Man Called Horse’. I’ll stop there because I don’t want to give much more away, except to say that 16^th C Gaelic culture is staggeringly interesting, especially when it comes to the status which was afforded to women!

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

When experienced structural editors Jessica Hatch and Craig Taylor told me that I could write. And especially a couple of weeks ago when legendary New York literary agent Albert Zuckerman told me that I had talent and lots of energy.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I’ve only written full-time once in my life, back in 2010 when I took eight months out to rewrite my first draft of The Sassana Stone Pentalogy, during which time I was financially supported by my then partner (now my wife). Otherwise it’s always been free time. I estimate that part-time writing is 6 months of a full-time year and that free-time writing is 3 months of a full-time year. All of which makes my final wordcount north of 450k words at the end of 2016 quite silly. I don’t know how I managed it.

My Monday is as follows: drop kids off at school, commute to work, commute home back from work, do homework with kids and put them to bed. Then I crumple on the sofa for five minutes, playing this silly computer game on my iPhone to clear my brain. If there’s any drops of energy left in the rag I then peel myself off the couch and plonk myself on the kitchen table, open my laptop and start to write.

I try to write at least two lines, which most days leads to writing until midnight or 1am. I then pass out on the bed and it’s Groundhog Day again for the following four working days of the week. On weekends I’m sometimes too shattered after a whole day with young kids to do anything at night, but it’s getting easier as my younger one grows older. Needless to say that given this highly busy routine (sometimes my evenings get taken up by admin etc.) I write and read a lot on my iPhone on the train and during the lunch break. Although I hate smart phones which are such an intrusion on our lives, without the iPhone I’d not have been able to do what I’ve done, that’s for sure.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

When short of time I record ideas on my video app on the iPhone, then email the recordings to my author email. I type them out later on at night. I’m a big believer in writing down your idea there and then, which sometimes leads to awkward situations during the day.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

An Australian author. Tick, tick.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Check out the ratings and reviews of The Sheriff’s Catch by real (and I mean real) readers on Goodreads and don’t be put off by the ‘historical fiction’ tag. I hate calling my novel ‘historical fiction’, because it’s not - it’s actually a thriller set 500 years ago. So much love and attention to detail has gone into this novel, it’s definitely not your usual airport quick-flick, although it’s as pacey – one reviewer aptly described it as ‘a blockbuster with depth.’ It is a really authentic and original piece of work.

I also wanted to add that the novel trailer for The Sheriff’s Catch (which I created) has been recently nominated in the ‘Best trailer for a book or novel category’ at the 19^th Golden Trailer Awards to be held in Los Angeles on 31 May 2018! Still pinching myself and can’t wait to attend this prestigious ceremony.

Links:

Website | Publisher | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram

Thanks for stopping by today, James.