Hobnobbing at an Author Event and other news

Because I am an incredibly fast typist on the draw and subscribe to numerous ezines and newsletters, I managed to nab tickets to an event held by Legend Press at the Phoenix Arts Club in London earlier this evening. I had a chance to meet new upcoming author Mark Liam Piggott and got him to sign my review copy of Fire Horses. I also got to meet the incredibly charming and lovely Candi Miller who wrote Salt & Honey. I will get a copy to read and review shortly, I think. It sounds an amazing book!

Kevin Chandler, a very dashing gentleman with a George Clooney chocolate-coated voice read a part of his short story which appears in the 8 Hours anthology and I was smitten. I then had to go and nag him too and managed to corner him into a bit of a chat and as luck would have it, I had my copy of 8 Hours handy which I made him autograph.

Yes, I am a happy booknerd with signed books.

It was a fantastic venue and for £50 a year you can become a member. I am, to be honest, very tempted to join. I also realised that I need to get business cards for the site...everyone I spoke with handed me their cards and I had to scribble the site's details down furiously in my Moleskine and tear pages out and hand it out - which is not ideal.

I also met a top-secret literary agent who will - I hope! - be making a guest appearance on here shortly. I'm not saying anything more as things are currently a bit up in the air for her so once she's settled in, we will get to chat to her about her life as a lit agent.

And that's me for now. I've got three books on the go and some studying to do this coming weekend. I also have an interview lined up with Scott Mariani which should go live during the course of tomorrow (Friday), if I can get blogger to format things properly. And because the girls over at Avon are the absolute best, I'm being given the opportunity to run a competition for The Alchemist's Secret by Scott Mariani, to celebrate his newest book being published in July. Yay! So keep a beady eye out for that.

Remember, three days to go for the Steve Berry competition! I have 2 books left, people! I have received some answers but again, no snail mail addresses...so check again! If you are stuck with the questions, go seek the answers over at Steve's site. Honestly, it's all there for you to find...

**Steve Berry Competition**

I'm happy to announce my next competition: FOUR copies of Steve Berry's newest book, The Venetian Betrayal published by Hodder, to give away to the first four people to answer these questions correctly.

Please note, the usual competition rules apply!

UK residents only

Make sure you email me your name and postal address. Use the email on the right hand side of the post. Duplicate emails will be ignored.

Questions:

Referring to the history behind Steve Berry’s book, The Amber Room, the magnificent amber room was discovered by Hitler and he ordered it dismantled. How many men did it take to do this, over how many hours and how much did it all weigh? (3 part question).

Name the two men (one geologist and one Russian filmmaker) who managed to figure out where the Romanov burial site was located. (refer to the Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry).

Name the last master of the Templars to be burned to death in 1314. (refer to The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry).

Good Luck!

I'll run the competition until Monday, 16th June or until all the copies have been allocated. All winners will be contacted and informed that they will be receiving the books in the post.

Steve Berry Interview

Steve Berry is an American author with several chunky adventure thrillers under his belt. His most recent, The Venetian Betrayal is currently out and I’ve had the pleasure of reading during the course of last week and boy, he only gets better the more he writes!

Steve made a flying visit to the UK two weeks ago and I managed to get an email interview with him through his publishers, Hodder.

1. Describe your writing day for us - are you a "I have to write 2000 words a day" kind of guy or do you write until you can't focus anymore?

I work about 6 hours on and off throughout the day and try and do 1000 words or so. No pressure to do that, just work and let it come. Some days there are more, others less but, on average, 1000 words is a good day. I start early, around six a.m. and go till 11, break for awhile then work till around 3. On and off I still practice a little law and I'm a local county commissioner, so my day is full.

2. Are you a tidy writer or do you thrive in chaos?

I'm a tidy guy. I like order and I try to keep it all times. Chaos only breeds chaos.

3. Have you ever attended any writing courses or conference?

I attended a writers workshop every Wednesday night for 6 years. That's where I learned the craft of writing, through a tough critical process and I would recommend it to every writer.

4. I really like the Cotton Malone character, finding him honest, with a strong moral compass and a wry sense of humour. Have you based any of his character traits on anyone you know?

There's a lot of me in Cotton. I knew I was going to be living with this fellow for a few years so I decided to use myself. It's the only time I've ever done that..

5. I admire the amount of research you do for your books and your clear passion for history and those enigmas you use so wonderfully as plot-bunnies - which of the books was the most challenging to write from a research perspective?

The Amber Room was the toughest since, when I first wrote it in 1995 there was little or no research materials in English. So I went to Russia and did my research at the Catherine's Palace where the Russians were working to recreate the room. On all of the other books the problem was different. There was too much material and my task was to go through it all and try and find the consistencies, which is difficult.

6. What motivates you on those awful days when you struggle to get the words out?

That little voice in my head that tells me the writer, the same voice that first sent me to the keyboard.

7. What is the best thing you like about writing for a living?

That I get to do it. My goal is simple. To keep doing it, so I work hard everyday to make sure that happens.

8. Something I have noticed in your work is that you create a lot of interesting antagonists for your main characters to deal with. Do you enjoy creating them and how do you keep them believable?

I do like to create the villains. They're a lot of fun. They get to do things that most of us are never able to do. I try to make sure that each one is different and unique, but also right for the story. I also take a lot of time with their names, finding just the right label that conveys their personality.

9. Do you ever struggle to write from any of your characters' point of view?

Not once I decide that the character is going to be a point of view character. I have between 3-6 point of view characters in any one book. Those are quite precious, so I'm peculiar about who I choose. The story drives that decision and I have selected the wrong one before. The solution there is simple. Eliminate the character and find another one.

10. What are your plans for the future with regards to Cotton? More of his adventures or will you walk away and do a standalone adventure thriller or change tack on us completely?

Cotton will be back next year in The Charlemagne Pursuit, a story about what happened to Cotton's father 38 years ago. Then there will be three more adventures after that. What's next then? We'll have to see, but I imagine he's not going anywhere.

11. Who are your literary heroes?

James Michener was a writer I greatly admired. But David Morrell is the finest craftsman of thrillers alive today. I learned a lot from his novels.

12. Can you name five (or more) books on writing that you have found invaluable in your work?

How To Write Bestselling Fiction, Dean Koontz
On Becoming a Novelist, John Gardner
On Writing Well, William Zinsser
Self Editing For Fiction Writers, Renni Browne and Dave King
The Art of Fiction, John Gardner
On Writing, Stephen King


13. Any advice to struggling writers out there?

Write, write, write. There is no other way to learn the craft except by doing it.

Keep an eye out in the next day or two for both the review and the competition in which four lucky readers can each win a copy of The Venetian Betrayal.

Quick note - competition announcement!

My Friday finished on a high note...got a parcel from Hodder Publishers...yep, FOUR (count them!) copies of Steve Berry's newest book, The Venetian Code arrived today for me to give away in a competition next week.

So the review should be online soon. AND I've got the interview lined up and ready to go live shortly after the review's gone up...and then the competition.

Do visit back and make sure you enter the comp. I'll work up some questions about Steve and his other books, so go do your research over at his site here and over at Hodder here to answer those pesky questions.