Tag: #authorinterview

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Lightening Rod by Brad Meltzer

Book Description

Zig and Nola are back in this follow-up to The Escape Artist.

Archie Mint has a secret that he is hiding from his friends and family. To the public, he looks like the perfect husband and father to his son and daughter and is known for his distinguished for his Military Career.

When Archie is shot in his own home things take a huge turn and we suddenly this man has been hiding military secrets nobody could have imagined.

Mortician Zig uncovers some things that were not meant to be found. He goes to the secret unit and uncovers things along with artist, Nola (who saved his life in the first book).

Following her trail, he finds a hidden military base that dates back to the cold war. He learns about a group of military people willing to hide things about the security and safety of the United States.

Zig is not sure who he can trust as many suspects seem to turn up dead. Will he and Nola be able to find and secure our safety of us?

Yes, we all know that Nola is in fact the actual lightning rod. You will not be able to put it down once you start. Surprises till the last page.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer mixes a suspenseful plot with unique characters. What starts off as a thriller whodunit, quickly transitions into a conspiracy theory. Meltzer’s been writing for 25 years but his books keep getting better and better.  This story has a game of cat and mouse, danger at every turn, and deep US government secrets.

The book opens with a car theft that quickly turns into a murder after Colonel Archie Mint is killed outside his suburban Pennsylvania home in a supposed home robbery. Jim “Zig” Zigarowski, a mortician who formerly worked at Dover Air Force Base, is called in to conceal Mint’s injuries for the sake of his family. But at the viewing, things happen that make him suspect that not everything is as it should be. When Zig spots Nola Brown at Mint’s funeral he becomes more suspicious. As a former military artist, Nola was called upon not only to paint historic events, but to spot critical things that others missed. Now, for unknown reasons, she’s hunting the people who killed Mint. During the investigation, it is discovered that Mint was connected to a hidden military facility known as Grandma’s Pantry, one of many US government top-secret warehouses across the country dealing with repercussions of a biological attack.

There is also the mystery of Rodney, Nola’s twin brother, who is looking for her. Although volatile, he wants to find her before some would-be-assassins known as the Reds.  Joining up with Zig is the only way he will find Nola, so he is also pulled into the investigation.

This story has it all, more plot twists, conspiracies, and action. Meltzer also writes children’s books that will include superheroes Superman and Batman.  But in The Lightning Rod, he has created his own superheroes that don’t have any super qualities but have super investigative skills that make for a super story.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: What gave you the vision to write this story?

Brad Meltzer: This idea started with my own fears. I hand my car keys to a valet. They take the car, hit the GPS button, and go to my house.  This is a robbery.  This is my fear every time I park my car. The story evolves from there, when it is not a robbery at all, but a trap. I really wanted to base the story on the characters, Nola, and Zig, who I am bringing back from the previous book, The Escape Artist. I have more to say about them including having Nola’s greatest secret come out.

EC: What is the theme of this book?

BM: It is a story about dysfunctional families.  Some of the new families we form can also be dysfunctional. Zig is someone who will never have what he wants most in the world, to have his daughter back.  Nola will never have her father, which is what she wants most. Neither will have what they want, but instead have each other.  Now each must build something in that space.

EC:  This is your twenty-fifth year as a writer?

BM:  Yes. Every day I think how I write things differently today.  When I was twenty-five, I used to write about those characters of that age.  When I got married, I started to write about married people.  When I had children, I stared to write kids’ books.  Now I am writing about someone who loves their daughter.  All I do as a writer is follow my own life and tell my own story. The reality is I never want to know the ending.  The best way to ruin a good story is to know the ending.

EC:  Do your characters take a journey with you?

BM:  I do not know if I am a better writer, but I am a more honest one. After I buried my parents, one of my heroes is a mortician. I cannot be more obsessed with death. I used to hide myself and hide from myself, and this book is about how the best secrets are ones that people hide from themselves.

EC:  How would you describe Nola?

BM:  Nola’s profession is based on a real job in the military.  Since WWI the army has a painter on staff who paints disasters when they happen, from Normandy to 9/11.  I love the idea that she is a strong thrill-seeking insane woman who races into disasters with paint brushes to tell a story.  She likes to fight back, does not play well with others, has a nobility about her, and fights for injustice. The psychological report on her is that she has RAD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, where she is incapable of attachments or loving relationships. The readers should challenge whether this evaluation is correct. She can handle murder and violence, but not kindness and personal tragedy.  This does not mean she can make a little progress.

EC:  Nola is a lightning rod?

BM:  There is a quote in the book that describes her as a gun and people must be careful around her because she will go off. Just as with a lightning rod, trouble does find her like a black cat.  I love that about her, and it makes it interesting.

EC:  Zig and Nola have different views?

BM:  She believes that to make sense of the world it should be grabbed by the throat and forced to make sense. Zig believes if there is more kindness and generosity in the world it will be a better place. They’re both completely right and both completely wrong.  It takes both things working together to make any real difference. Zig’s idea is completely naïve, but it is worth fighting for.  Nola’s idea is completely brutal, but it is worth fighting for. This is me, writing the two sides of myself, both the hopeful and cynical side of myself. Just like myself the characters need to do that job.

EC:  What about Nola’s brother Rodney?

BM: He is a walking question mark.  He was a bad kid but is he a bad adult?  Is he a villain or not?  For the first time I wanted to delve into the bad guy aspect. He is weird, socially awkward, with non-existent social skills, detailed, and on his own plane.  He has no filters, ferocious, and at times violent. The key part of him is that there is good Rodney and bad Rodney.

EC:  Rodney represents those who might consider themselves good but do bad things?

BM:  Sometimes people are in-between, not totally good, or bad. I put in this book quote, “We all have a person we were and a person we are. It’s never a straight line between the two – and its certainly never a predictable one.”  Every character in this book is designed around this quote and the quote in the beginning of the book by Carl Jung, “In each of us there is another, whom we do not know”.

EC:  What about the biological weapons?  You must have a crystal ball considering we learned about the US labs in the Ukraine?

BM:  The book has these secret warehouses across the country that deal with bioterrorist attacks. The US can bring these antidotes within hours to our doorstep.  The warehouses are hidden across the country, so nobody knows where they are. I want to go inside them.  I did not make up what is inside them. Grandma’s Pantry was one of those that has a national stockpile that would prepare us in case there’s a bio-terror attack, whether it’s smallpox or anthrax or anything else.”

EC:  Next book?

BM:  It will be a Nola, Zig, and Rodney book. It takes me a while to write, a couple of years at a minimum for sure. I will be writing children’s books, I Am IM Pei, I Am Dolly Parton, coming out in June.  Coming out in September I Am Superman, and I Am Batman. In January of 2023 will be a non- fiction book about a secret plot to kill Winston Churchill, Stalin, and FDR, a triple assassination.  It is titled, The Nazi Conspiracy.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Lana’s War and A Girl During the War by Anita Abriel

Elise’s Thoughts

Lana’s War and A Girl During the War by Anita Abriel are heartfelt reads.  The stories take place during World War II, the former in France and the latter in Italy.  Both books are filled with danger and romance. 

Lana’s War begins with a tragedy.  In Paris 1943 Lana Antanova is about to tell her husband, Frederick they are going to have a baby when she sees him brutally shot dead by a Gestapo agent.  To make matters worse, she loses the child. Knowing she can no longer sit idly by she accepts an offer to join the resistance. As the daughter of a Russian countess, Lana has the perfect background to infiltrate the émigré community of Russian aristocrats in the French Riviera, and socialize with German officers, including the man who killed her husband. Her cover story, being the mistress of Guy Pascal, a wealthy Swiss industrialist and fellow resistance member, allows her to move smoothly throughout the area.  Together they gather information on upcoming raids and help members of the Jewish community escape. She has grown attached to a young Jewish girl, Odette, who ends up losing her parents. Both Lana and Guy go to great lengths to protect Odette and protect each other.

A Girl During the War also has a young heroine risking her life to save others as well as valuable paintings. Taking place in Italy 1943, Marina Tozzi comes home to find her father brutally killed by the Nazis. Fearful of the consequences, Marina flees to Villa I Tatti, the Florence villa of her father’s American friend Bernard Berenson and his partner Belle da Costa Greene, the famed librarian who once curated J.P. Morgan’s library. Marina, an art expert, uses her expertise to save valuable pieces and uses her contacts to save a Jewish family. A neighbor, Carlos Adamo, uses his charm to sweep Marina off her feet. But after he disappears at the war ends, she must make a new life without him, traveling to Argentina to help an organization return paintings to their rightful owners.

Both books allow readers to take a journey with these heroic women. The tales of survival and second chances will have people feeling the same emotions as the characters: anxiety, fear, and even sometimes joy.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper:  You write World War II books?

Anita Abriel:  The Light After the War, which came out two years ago, is the one readers connected with.  It is my mother’s story. It is a moving book because my mother escaped from a train heading toward Auschwitz with her seventeen-year-old friend.  They ended up in Maples, tried to get to Ellis Island but were rejected, from there went to Venezuela, and ended up in Australia where I was born. It is all based on fact.  This is when I started to write historical fiction. My second book is Lana’s War and then in March my third book came out, A Girl During the War.

EC:  In these three books there is always something about the Jewish peril during the war?

AA:  I write these because of my background. I am Jewish. My parents who survived the Holocaust are Jewish.  My father’s parents died in a concentration camp. I grew up in Sydney Australia.  My mother was a little afraid because of everything that happened to her.  My father escaped by fighting in the Red Army.  He was extremely Jewish. 

EC: The idea for Lana’s War?

AA:  I wanted to write another story set during the Holocaust.  My mother always talked about the French Riviera.  As I was looking online, I saw a plaque in front of a hotel in Nice France saying, “this is where the Gestapo had its headquarters.”  For a long time, this was a safe place for Jews until the Nazis occupied it in the last years of the war.  Then they were sent to concentration camps. Gestapo Agent Alois Brunner is a real person.

EC:  How would you describe Lana?

AA:  She is very brave, caring, and gave up a soft life in Paris to join the resistance to put herself in great danger. It is unfathomable about what she went through.  While she was grieving, at the same time, she was fearless.

EC:  Lana’s first husband, Frederick.  Can you describe him?

AA:  Frederick is very straight-forward, honest, courageous, and wanted to get involved.

EC:  How would you describe the resistance member, Guy?

AA:  Guy wanted revenge, very noble, courageous, and sophisticated. His relationship with her was complicated. Lana was not very fond of his manners.  He was very authoritarian, bossy, opinionated, and initially did not give her any respect. 

EC:  How would you describe Lana’s relationship with Frederick versus Guy?

AA:  With Guy she was more of an equal. She also wanted revenge. They were very focused on their mission. Their relationship was complicated. Frederick always tried to protect her until he was killed. He was Lana’s first great love, very sweet and innocent, a gentleman.

EC:  The role of Odette?

AA:  She was a twelve-year-old who represented all those children that were incredibly harmed and scarred by the war.  As a child, Odette wanted to return to normalcy, instead of having to hide all the time. She saw her father killed by the Nazis and then she was told about the Nazis killing her mother. Odette had a quote in the book, “If all the Jews ran away the Germans would succeed, what Hitler tried to accomplish.  I am French.  This is where I belong.”  She said this because she wanted to hang on to her identity and not lose it. Very common among the children was that they were wiser than their years and had to grow up too fast.

EC: You also refer to real-life figures such as Coco Chanel?

AA:  Some people felt she had to work with the Nazis, while others felt she could have left.  Now people think she was a collaborator. 

EC:  A Girl During the War changes the setting from France to Italy?

AA:  A lot of this book is true. I stumbled on the story because I really love Florence Italy.  The Ponte Vecchio was the only bridge that was not blown up during the war because it was saved by the German council. I wondered why he did it.  I found out information about certain characters such as Ludwig who was a head art historian in Italy. During my research I found out about the Villa I Tatti, where scholars now go to learn about Renaissance art.  Bernard and Belle da Costa are also real people and were lovers.

EC:  How would you describe Marina?

AA:  She is the heroine of the story. Younger and less sophisticated than Lana. She was very protected and attached to her father who was killed by the Nazis. She travels and stays with Bernard.  This book is her journey in the middle of a war. I think she probably had PTSD because she found her father’s body and knew had she arrived home a few minutes earlier she could have also been killed. She is also serious, lonely, angry, guarded, and trying to make sense of the war. 

EC:  How would you describe Carlos versus Luc?

AA:  I do not like Carlos.  He is despicable. He knows he is good looking and does not love anyone like he loves himself. He is self-centered. He has a magnetic personality and confidant. Luc is the direct opposite, a sweet and a caring person. After the war he tried to return the art to their rightful owners.

EC:  Relationship?

AA:  Carlos, her lover, is attractive, interesting, and edgy.  He does not give her what she needs, to fill her emptiness.

EC:  In both books you have children angry at the situation they are placed in?

AA: In this one it is Eli and in the other one is Odette.  I cannot imagine how they can be anything other than angry.  Eli is a good-looking young Italian male who had a promising life.  Instead, he sees death and is held prisoner having to hide in a barn.  His little sister cannot even go outside.

EC:  In both books’ art plays a role?

AA:  I had a quote in this book, “Art is not always about the painting itself, it’s about the joy of sharing important pieces with others.” Art lasts centuries and brings people together. Everybody has their own opinions and ideas. It takes on a life of its own.  Therefore, it is horrible to think of what was lost or could have been lost during the war. Bernard and Marina in both books risked their lives because they saw the value of art.

EC:  What was real and what was made up?

AA:  There were some real artists, such as Giorgione.  But I did make up that famous picture by Verrocchio who was a real artist. There are very few of his paintings left.  As far as copies I made it up, but I am sure it happened.

EC:  What about your next books?

AA: My next book will be historical fiction, out next year sometime.  I am not ready to talk about it yet. I also write Christmas books under the name Anita Hughes, with the latest coming out in September, titled Christmas at The Ranch. It is about a heroine who rarely leaves her neighborhood, but her editor has her go to Jackson Hole Wyoming.

THANK YOU!!

***

Elise’s Author Interview

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Dangerous Amish Showdown and Snowbound Amish Survival by Mary Alford

Elise’s Thoughts

Dangerous Amish Showdown and Snowbound Amish Survival by Mary Alford are suspenseful action-packed mysteries involving Amish characters. Love, dedication to family, trust, and faith are prevalent themes in both books. Danger, thrill rides, and romance will leave readers on the edge of their seats.

Snowbound Amish Survival begins with an intense scene after armed men burst into a house.  They are looking for Amish midwife Hope Christner who is tending to her best friend, Naomi, because of her numerous miscarriages. After realizing that Naomi’s husband has been shot, Hope and her friend barely escape the bad men and must contend with the weather, barely making it to Hunter Shetler’s home.  He is her ex-fiancé who Hope broke up with after their fathers’ family feud.  But after the bad men arrive at Hunter’s house all three escape into the woods. Now they must stay two steps ahead of the men determined to find and kill them, while facing barriers at every turn.

Dangerous Amish Showdown also begins with a shooting scene.  US Marshal Mason Shelter, his partner Erik Timmons, and a precocious six-year-old named Samantha under their care are running for their lives. The little girl is a member of the witness protection program after seeing the murder of her parents. The bad guys are after her since she can identify Lucian Bartelli, a drug kingpin as the killer. His people are doing everything possible to find Mason’s young witness and silence her permanently. Running from them leads Mason, his partner, and Samantha to West Kootenai, the Amish community of his youth and the place that he fled thirteen years earlier. Specifically, he flees to the home of his childhood friend, Willa Lambright. Both Willa and her mother Beth agree to keep all safe, while risking their lives as all face overwhelming odds.

Both books have vivid scenes where readers feel they are on the journey with the hero and heroine. There is a non-stop roller coaster ride of danger.

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Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Can you tell us a little about the series?

Mary Alford:  There are five books in the series.  These are the third and fourth books. I like that it is set in a very remote community in Montana. The West Kootena community does exist, but the town of Eagle’s Nest is fictional.   There are five brothers that have had issues come up in their lives including some that lost their wives. There is a lot of conflict and tension. I want to build and build the suspense where it looks like the bad guy might win until the last stand-off. They end up falling in love after meeting the right heroine.

EC: How did you blend danger with the Amish?

MA: The Amish are very simple and very “pure.” As we learned there can be bad things that happen in an Amish community. There are bad influences that can cause danger.  I want to put the Amish characters into circumstances where they do have to deal with danger and situations that they are not used to. In this innocent and simple setting, after peril comes, it disrupts everything. Although the Amish are pacifists, if the community is put in danger, they would do anything to support their loved ones. Family and loved ones would go beyond faith, doing what they must do to help those they love.

EC:  In both books you found weapons other than guns?

MA:  Yes. I wanted to use other instruments as weapons beyond guns. I used fires as a weapon, seeing it as a living thing. They happen and spread quickly. I also used cars that attempt to ram someone off the road.

EC:  Weather also played a role in the plot?

MA:  Yes.  In Dangerous Amish Survival the fog helped to hide the hero and heroine.  In Snowbound Amish Survival it was the snow, the cold, and the visibility. I think it increased the suspense. It helps to add to the atmosphere.  

EC:  In Snowbound Amish Survival how would you describe the heroine Hope?

MA:  She is a mid-wife that gives her a purpose in life.  Hope is very strong, yet heart-broken because of the father family feud.  She can stand on her own two feet. Hope is loyal, stubborn, headstrong, determined, caring, and optimistic. She is not meek and mild like most Amish women.

EC:  How would you describe Hunter?

MA:  Supportive, loyal, and caring. He is strong emotionally, a hard worker, protective, and generous.

EC:  How would you describe the relationship?

MA: Both are young, in their mid-twenties.  They both have a perception of being betrayed by the other.  As the story progresses, they come to realize they are still in love. In the beginning Hunter was resentful and angry that she sided with her dad over him.

EC:  What about Huntington’s Disease that was in the book, Dangerous Amish Showdownl?

MA: In researching I knew I wanted to have it in the story.  It can be hereditary, and it does not skip generations. I hope this makes a little bit of an awareness. It affects the brain, motor skills, and thinking process.  It is a serious degenerative disease that I gave Willa’s mother, Beth.

EC:  How would you describe Willa?

MA: She is very strong and a caregiver for her mother. Willa is considerate, kind, and loves animals. She has gentle strength and a tender heart.

EC:  How would you describe Mason?

MA:  He left the faith when he was younger.  He had issues he had to resolve including his friend Chandler’s death and the fact the girl he thought he was in love with chose his brother, Eli. Mason became a US Marshal but was haunted by his past. He is strong, protective, a fixer, and courageous.

EC:  How about the relationship?

MA: Willa and Mason were friends and grew up together. He never saw how close he and Willa were when they were younger. After seeing her again all his feelings about Willa come to the surface. There were barriers in the relationship including Mason leaving the Amish faith, Willa thought he loved her sister, not her, and Willa was afraid she would get Huntington Disease.

EC:  Role of the little girl Samantha?

MA:  She is a six-year-old girl who saw her parents murdered.  She lives in fear, terrified, and brave, but a sweet girl. She becomes attached to Mason, Willa, and Beth who try to protect her and show Samantha love. She brought Mason and Willa together.  There are little moments when readers see her personality come out, especially when she interacts with Golden Boy, Willa, and Beth’s Golden Retriever.

EC:  What about your next book?

MA: I just signed a four-book contract.  I will be writing Fletcher and Ethan Connors’s stories.  Probably they will come out mid-summer next year. I will explain the military angle in Ethan’s story because that is so important to who he is.  I will be writing a new book, Among The Innocence coming out this June. It is an Amish story, but the main characters are not Amish.  A murder happened ten years earlier and now haunts the heroine.

THANK YOU!!

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Sierra Six by Mark Greaney

Book Description

It’s been years since the Gray Man’s first mission, but the trouble’s just getting started in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Before he was the Gray Man, Court Gentry was Sierra Six, the junior member of a CIA action team.

In their first mission they took out a terrorist leader, but at a terrible price–the life of a woman Court cared for. Years have passed and now The Gray Man is on a simple mission when he sees a ghost: the long-dead terrorist, but he’s remarkably energetic for a dead man.

A decade may have gone by but the Gray Man hasn’t changed. He isn’t one to leave a job unfinished or a blood debt unpaid.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Sierra Six by Mark Greaney is not one story but two stories in one book.  Readers are treated to a double helping of the Gray Man, told from a dual point of view, today and 12 years ago. Both stories per usual are compelling and dramatic where readers are treated to a rollercoaster ride of vivid action, a lot of intrigue, and fantastic dialogue.

Twelve years ago, after the Special Activities Division of the CIA loses a man on an assignment, Court Gentry (The Gray Man) is called in as a replacement and given the designation Gulf Sierra Six. Because he had no military background and always worked alone, the members of the team resented him at first.  But overtime he proved himself and gained the respect of the team and its leader, Zach Hightower.

Twelve years later Court is hired as a freelance intelligence operator to infiltrate the Turkish embassy property in Algiers and plant a listening device. There he comes face to face with Murad Khan, the head of KRF who is responsible for death and destruction years earlier. This terrorist had been reported killed at the time. Now Court is once again on the hunt to stop Khan as he plans another major attack involving dirty bombs in India.

The story and ending are typical Gray Man, a lot of action, suspense, and tension. As with all his books there are scenes that put the reader in the middle of the intense fight. This book shows why Greaney is one of the best thriller writers today.

***

Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper:  Netflix series?

Mark Greaney: What I hear is that it’s coming out in July.  They already have done a test screening in LA, last week.  They bring in those who sign up for it and have them fill out a questionnaire of what they liked and did not like.  I have only seen fifteen seconds of footage, but I did read the script.  I thought it was terrific.  It is based on the first book, The Gray Man, but bring in elements that were in later books. 

EC:  How did you get the idea for the story for this book?

MG: I had talked to my editor for years about writing an origin story where readers could see Court Gentry as he develops.  I decided to write something that relates in the past and present. Readers can see Court as a younger man and then twelve years later.  The stories have two different timelines, two different objectives for the hero, and two different ticking clocks.

EC:  How would you describe the young Court versus the older Court?

MG:  The young Court is 25 years old. He has been trained his entire life to operate firearms and move tactically, without any other skills.  He has no people skills and is not James Bond with the ladies. At this stage of his life, he does not have a lot of world experience, yet comes across cocky and sure of himself. He gets brought down a few pegs in this story. He does missions he is told to do by the CIA. He is a soldier and a spy.

In the present Court is older, wiser, a little laid back, but not as sure of himself.  He seeks justice.  Now he will go against the wishes of his bosses.  He will break away if necessary, playing to his own tune. He has expanded his skill levels with a lot more years and tradecraft behind him. He is much better at what he does.

EC:  Zach was in the past story, but not the present story?

MG:  I do not want to ever be tied to having to bring all the secondary characters into every story.  There are some books that will not have Zoya, and some not to have Zach.  In the present Court is very much on a solo mission although he does call Hanley and Brewer for some help. I do not want to get into a trap into designing my story surrounded by a cast of characters.  Instead, I want to pick and choose.

EC:  How would you describe Julie Martinez, part of Court’s team as a CIA analyst?

MG:  Chatty, nerdlike, direct, attentive, persistent, has integrity.  She feels like an outsider. She is focused and has attention to detail.  Like Court, she does what she feels is right.

EC: Julie, his first love versus Zoya, his recent love?

MG:  I think these two characters are so different. Julie is a young CIA officer analyst who is incredibly intelligent.  She is also on the Autism spectrum.  She and Court become friends and then more than friends throughout the course of the novel.  His naivety and her directness were interesting aspects to put together.  Zoya on the other hand is in the same profession as Court, an operative. She is older and a rougher personality.  Because he has changed in the past twelve years Julie and present-day Court would not have worked out so well. Both women and Court feel like outsiders. Zoya has integrity but gets there only at the end.  She and Court both live lives where they must be distrustful, paranoid.  She is a different version of Court, but both are attracted to one another.

EC:  Why the War on Terror returning?

MG: I wanted to showcase how different things are today than twelve years ago.  Many Gray Man books did not deal with Middle East terrorism.  This was a conscious decision because almost all other thriller writers wrote about the ticking timebomb.  Now I feel we are removed from it. I wanted to take a recent pass and see how my hero deals with it.

EC:  How would you describe the bad guy, Murad Khan?

MG: He is a Kashmirian who went against his own country. He is a member of their intelligence agency but has also created his own organization to fight. Now he is fighting India, his true passion. When I write a villain I must get into their head.  He is against humanity and very cruel, a terrible person.

EC:  The setting also dealt with CIA bases in Khost and Chapman?

MG:  I did some research on where we were twelve years ago regarding the War on Terror. The geography was important.  Camp Chapman was a place where very terrible things happened.  The other bases including Bagram, Jalalabad, and Salerno are all close to the Pakistani border. I wanted to show how Pakistan is not a real ally of the US. 

EC:  The Indian Mafia?

MG:  The biggest one is D company, which I changed to B company.  The real head lives in Pakistan, not India.  He has a real chip on his shoulders, bombing government buildings and airlines.  They did most of their stuff twenty years ago. I thought that my mafia would form an alliance with a Muslim group. I saw the movie “Hotel Mumbai” and read some books about the terrorist attack there. It played into my story, where a terrorist attack happens at a shopping mall in India.

EC:  How would you describe Priya Bandari?

MG:  She is someone Court teams up with, out of necessity. She is very wet behind the ears as an intelligence specialist and reconnaissance technician on Court’s freelance job.  She is directly out of college.  She is motivated for personal reasons to stay in the fight. I hope readers begin to understand her and see her point of view.  I hope to use her character in other books. She is brave, somewhat defiant, and daring.  None of this comes naturally to her but Priya does rise to the occasion.

EC:  Next book?

MG:  I am currently plotting out the story. It will come out this time next year.  Court, Zoya, Zach, and Brewer will be back along with Hanley to some degree. In July I have another book coming out based on an audio play that was released in December. It is titled Armored. It is about military contractors in Mexico fighting the drug cartel. Josh Duffy is a wounded veteran whose job is to protect a UN delegation that is trying to negotiate a peace deal with a drug lord. There will be a second book, but I do not know what happens after that.  Duffy’s wife, Nicole, is a former army officer and a helicopter pilot.  I could see Duffy and Nicole taking a lead in another book.

THANK YOU!!

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Good Things Come Series by Linda Shantz

Elise’s Thoughts

Meet Linda Shantz, extraordinary artist and author of the Good Things Come series. All the books’ details are authentic with characters and events realistic and engaging. The author uses her own experiences to write captivating stories. She currently manages a small herd of retired racehorses, with enough time off to paint and write. She lives on a small farm in Southern Ontario with horses and her Border Collie. To view her artwork and all six books plus a novella, Merry Little Thing go to her website, www.lindashantz.com

The main characters Liv, Nate, Faye, Will, Emilie, Dean, and the horses Chique, Claire, and John Jay will tug at the readers’ hearts. They will fall in love with the characters, both horse and human. Schantz takes people on a journey throughout each story. It is not only a horse racing drama but also a story about family, friendship, and relationships. All the books will conjure up feelings from sadness to anger to laughter. People do not have to enjoy horses or horse racing to read this page-turner. 

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Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the series?

Linda Shantz:  For me, it is somewhat embarrassing. When I was a child, my mother read to me The Black Stallion.  At the age of eight I started to write my own book. I did not get the idea from the “Heartland” series about horses since I developed this series before Heartland ever happened.

EC: Were you ever involved with horses?

LS:  Yes, most of my adult life.  I started working with them at the age of thirteen.  At eighteen I galloped them.  I also spent some time on a farm.  The last fifteen years I have my own farm where I have a breeding operation with clients and help raise the babies.  I have delivered horses.  It is a combination of excitement and stress.

EC:  What if the breeding goes wrong?

LS:  There is a lot of money involved with racing horses. In Book 3 of Good Things Come one of the young horses, Feste, died of heart problems during a race.  I think it is less than 1%, but every now and then it does happen. A lot of times during post-mortem they cannot determine the cause of death. There is no pattern to figure out what causes it. There is no correlation between the way the horse is bred and the young ones dying.  A dog has a litter with many puppies where a horse has one foal, once a year. It is harder to get feedback on the breeding than dogs.

EC:  In your later books you discuss ovarian cancer and abuse.  Why?

LS:  Ovarian cancer is directly related to a friend of mine.  She was diagnosed and has survived. Those scenes in the book are a tribute to her. With the abuse I wanted to explain why the female lead, Liv, is an introvert. 

EC:  How much of you are in your characters?

LS:  I am an introvert like Liv. Part of me is Liv and part of me is Nate who has my humor.  They are both horse people like me. I put in these characters some of my personality and some of my experiences. I am not so lucky to have found a new Nate yet.

EC:  How would you describe Liv?

LS:  Very serious and responsible. Horses is something she understands. She is reserved, aloof, prefers animals to people, sarcastic, guarded, compartmentalizes, sometimes lacks confidence, and has a sly sense of humor.

EC:  How would you describe Nate?

LS:  He feels too much.  He tries to hold himself back.  He has a case of imposter syndrome because he has lost his confidence and direction. He is a gentleman because he is willing to wait for Liv.  Nate is also steady, reliable, friendly, and loyal.

EC:  Interesting quote by Liv about women jockeys?

LS:  You are referring to this one, “The constant security by the trainers, the owners, the horseplayers in the grandstand…all of them sure they could ride a horse better than her.” I wanted to be a jockey but at twelve years old I was 5’6 and 120 pounds. This option was not one for me. Everyone tends to be a Monday Morning quarterback. Women jockeys have it better in Canada than in the US.  I just finished a biography about one of the very first women jockeys, Diane Crump, and the hell she went through in the sixties. It is better than it was but there is still attitude and push back.

EC:  It is great how you put tidbits about horses in the books, blending the facts into the story.

Horse care versus the sport?

LS:  It is sad because I have been involved with racehorses for forty years.  There are still people out there who care more about the money.  It is part of why I am not so involved anymore. Those directly involved with the horses are the ones who care versus the big trainers who want to win at all costs. Liv would put the horses before the sport.

EC:  The horses Claire versus Chique?

LS:  Claire is the horse that was not to be special, not well bred.  Her personality is like my favorite horse.  She is laid-back.  She is Liv’s extra special horse.  She is big and gentle. Physically Claire is like the horse a friend of mine trained and has the personality of a horse I raised. While Chique is a little bit C-C-Crazy, temperamental, unpredictable, a wild card, gutsy, brave, and erratic.

ES:  Relationship between Liv and Nate?

LS:  Liv is not aware of her physical attraction and spent a lot of time in denial.  There is a long burn. They both spend a lot of time fighting the attraction. He comes to the realization a lot sooner than she does about their feelings.  He is willing to give her space.  She has a hard time expressing her feelings and trusting. They have this bond around horses, the common ground. They have the same passion for the horses. The starter point for their meeting in the first place was horses.

EC:  How would you describe Faye, Liv’s best friend?

LS: She likes to protect her heart and comes across as a girl who just wants to have fun. She had a rough past when she lost her parents and brother. She appreciates a horse but is also afraid of them. She is little lost because everyone she knows are horse people including her older brother.  She is bitter, resentful, outspoken, protective, direct, and has fears about tying down. She is pretty much the direct opposite of Liv. Faye might have found her soulmate in Will.  They work together with a restaurant. 

EC:  How would you describe Will?

LS:  A nice guy, reliable, funny, caring, and a music person.

EC:  How would you describe Liv’s sister, Emilie?

LS: Liv is the one who runs the farm while Emilie is the entrepreneur.  Her major is physiotherapy, and she applies it to the horses. She is more stable and had a clearer picture of life than Faye and Liv. She is direct, self-sufficient. 

EC:  Why the Labrador retriever in the novella?

LS:  Emilie latched on to a rescued lab. There were characters in the first books who had labs.  I think they are amazing dogs. I did train dogs. They are the best dogs. I have had border collies, but I do want to have a lab, a black lab. I guess I live vicariously through Emilie.

EC:  You have a lot of songs in the book?

LS:  Will and Nate have a band.  I put in the songs I like and make song lists as I write.  Here is the first one (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fVFw7Rf9ayf8vbjMxHPkL?si=60925a884e2240cd)

My music taste can be blamed on my brother.  When I was about fifteen, I heard the songs he listened to. The music I like is now called Alternative. I have never been a country fan. Some of the groups I enjoy are Panic at the Disco, Counting Grows, and Killers.

EC:  Painting versus writing?

LS:  I do both.  They are different and I use a different part of my brain.  When I write I do not paint. I started painting when I was four. When I was eight, I started writing stories.  Professionally painting is easier, and I have more confidence in doing it. I feel more vulnerable when I write. I operate a small thoroughbred lay-up time, and when I’m not busy with the kids in the barn, I’m in my studio painting them or writing about them. I like to use my artwork, when I can, to support the retirement group in my area:  LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement. In my books and paintings, I hope to capture the part of the horses and dogs that touches our souls. My paintings are in oil, oil pastel and pencil, where I strive to capture not only accurate anatomy, but the spirit of the horse as well. When I write and paint, I want to show how horses are not the workhorses and war horses of the past, but are confidantes, teachers, comedians and much more. It is my goal to share these traits with the viewer.

​EC:  Next book?

LS:  It will be more of Emilie’s story where she will get a romance of her own.  Her passion is re-training horses, which will be in the plot. I am also thinking of writing a prequel to bring readers into the story, maybe late spring.

THANK YOU!!

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Olive Bright, Pigeoneer and A Valiant Deceit by Stephanie Graves

Elise’s Thoughts

Olive Bright Pigeoneer and A Valiant Deceit by Stephanie Graves are the latest books in her new historical mystery series. It features Olive Bright, a spirited young pigeon fancier who finds herself working for a secret British intelligence agency, while in her spare time solving mysteries. These books are set in England during World War II where the reader gets a close look at life in a small English town.

The first book has twenty-two-year-old Olive Bright helping at her father’s veterinary practice and tending to her beloved racing pigeons. Desperate to do her bit, Olive hopes that the National Pigeon Service will enlist Bright Lofts’ expertise, and use their highly trained birds to deliver critical, coded messages for His Majesty’s Forces. But it was not the National Pigeon Service that recruits her but a secret intelligence organization, Baker Street. Captain Jameson Aldridge and his associate are tied to this covert British intelligence organization. If Olive wants her pigeons to help the war effort, she must do so in complete secrecy, which includes using the cover story of a fake romance with the captain as she prepares her birds to help with covert operations.

To protect the secrecy of their work Olive and Aldridge continue their ruse of being romantically involved, a task made difficult when both realize they have feelings for the other.  Neither will admit their desires. Olive is intelligent, spunky, brave, at times reckless, and energetic. Aldridge is gruff, enigmatic, at times condescending, prickly, and brash.

The second book has Olive continuing her adventures in helping the war effort and solving mysteries.  She is a FANY, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, hoping she can step up her involvement in the war effort.  Her pigeons are being conscripted to aid the Belgian resistance, and it’s up to Olive to choose the best birds for the mission, even looking for some in her dovecote that have Belgian heritage.

The first book is more of mystery where Olive must solve the killing of a community busybody Miss Husselbee in the small town of Pipley in Hertfordshire Bustles. She resolves to use the skills she’s learned from reading Agatha Christie novels to solve the crime.

The second book is more of a thriller after Lt. Jeremy Beckett, an instructor at Station XVII, the top-secret training school, housed at Brickendonbury Manor, is found dead. Even though the police determine his death to be an accident, Olive feels there are suspicious circumstances considering Beckett was carrying a coded message in his pocket and a map of Germany clutched in one hand. In both books she stops at nothing to find the truth, including risking her own life.  Olive is becoming a very good investigator as she uses the tools of Hercule Poirot, her literary hero.

These books are great reads with the witty dialogue, responses, one-liners, and banter between the two characters. The mystery storyline had plenty of suspects, suspicious behavior, clues, and red herrings. A bonus were the fascinating tidbits about the role of the pigeons during World War II as part of the British spy operations.  These books show why Graves did not have a sophomore jinx.

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Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper:  How did you get the idea for the series?

Stephanie Graves:  A long time ago, when my kids were little, I took them to see “Valiant,” The Disney movie, loosely based on the contributions of pigeons during WWII.  The blurb at the end of the movie captivated me.  After writing romance novels, I decided to try writing historical fiction set in WWII.  It was waiting in the wings at the back of my brain and took off from there.  My research was very interesting and helped me develop the story.

EC:  How would you describe Olive?

SG:  A tomboy, optimistic, determined, impulsive, and helpful.  She wants to do her bit for the war effort.  She always wants to see justice done.  She has a fighting spirit, resourceful, intuitive, at times argumentative.

EC:  The role of the pigeons?

SG:  I hope readers get a glimpse through the facts provided. Olive did name the pigeons after children’s literature characters, including Mary Poppins. They have a significant role in the book considering they are the reason Olive gets involved with the British intelligence organization.  From her perspective the birds are doing the work while she selects them, trains them, and feeds them. The birds are the ones taking all the risks:  getting killed by snipers or eaten by other animals.  In book one it was a letdown for her.  In book two it is a way to do more for the war effort to be in the thick of it all.

EC:  How would you describe Captain Jamie Aldridge?

SG:  A sort of by the book person.  He is a bit resentful because of his injury and must be at a desk job.  He is serious, cautious, at times disagreeable, condescending, and sarcastic. He is uncomfortable around cats.

EC:  How about the relationship?

SG:  At first Aldridge is resentful of Olive and does not appreciate her being so argumentative. He tries to reign her impulsiveness in because he is worried about her safety. They know how to push each other’s buttons. In book one it was very prickly where she did not like him at all, felt he had no need to interact with her, and was very irritated with her.  He was grumpy and she was exasperated with him.  At the end of book two they are coming to understand and respect each other with a connection. There is a subtle affection. He has a soft spot for her but does not want to acknowledge it, while she is frustrated.

EC:  What about the role of WWII and the mystery?

SG:  In the first book the mystery aspect is detached from what is going on in the war. It is more about the killing of a villager. In the second book, that murder is on the war side. I also explain in the second book how the Germans confiscated and killed pigeons, which played a role in the mystery. They were aware of how the Allies used pigeons. They trained Falcons to intercept as the pigeons were flying home across the channel.

EC:  Please explain a FANY?

SG:  FANY stands for First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.  It started before the First World War.  Originally, they were like combat medics working between the field hospitals and the front line. Into WWII they expanded a lot including mechanics, driving ambulances, and nursing.  They really did everything.  Some of them became actual secret agents themselves.  Whatever was necessary the FANY would do it.

EC:  In the first book Olive was acting like Miss Marple but in the second book acted like Poirot?

SG:  Poirot was a character of Christie. Most of her books are Miss Marple or Poirot, Olive’s favorite.  Poirot likes to make lists, asks questions, and feels the murderer must be found at all costs. She wanted to take a page from him.

EC:  Next book?

SG:  The working title is A Courage Undimmed and will be out in a year.  It is another Olive book, still working as a FANY and unofficially training to be an agent. There is also a village mystery with a visit from the actual Ian Fleming.

THANK YOU!!

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.