Interview with historical thriller author Roy E. Stolworthy

Author Roy E. Stolworthy joins me today to talk about his historical thriller, Echoes of Madness.

Bio:

Residing in central England I have written eight novels. Two traditionally published, the remainder self published, which I prefer. After nine years in the RAF as ground crew I worked in the Middle East as an engineer.

Welcome, Roy. Please tell us about your current release.

This book is not my current release. With the centenary of the end of WWI I thought this an apt time to promote my work. Something I rarely do.

What inspired you to write this book?

To show how men lost their minds in a mindless conflict.

What exciting story are you working on next?

An action story of men searching for and discovering a huge cache of Nazi treasure.

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?

Yes, I write full time but have slowed quite a bit. Other than writing, I like to read.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Sheer amazement when a book is finished. I wonder how I managed to do it.

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

Happy, and make others happy.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I am almost 77 years of age and would love to share my good health with others.

Links:

Website | Publisher | Goodreads | Kindle UK

Thanks for joining me today, Roy.

Interview with novelist Young-Im Lee

Novelist Young-Im Lee joins me today and we’re chatting about her historical thriller, Forgotten Reflections.

Bio:

Young-Im Lee was born in Mokpo, South Korea and relocated to Manila, Philippines at the age of one where she grew up in an international setting. She graduated with a BA in English Language and Literature from Seoul National University, and a MA in English Literary Studies from the University of York (UK). She currently resides in Seoul, South Korea.

Welcome, Young-Im. What inspired you to write this book?

This story is inspired by an actual event in my grandmother’s life. At around the age of seven, my grandmother stumbled on an underground bunker at her school where she found a particularly white sheet of paper. Without knowing the contents of the page, she had taken that peculiar sheet home. Her brother later discovered it to be a communist pamphlet and contacted the authorities, leading to the arrest and execution of over thirty communists, including my grandmother’s own teacher. For years after, my grandmother’s brother was on the run from family members of those executed that day.

Pieces of the plot have also been taken from my experience translating for U.S. and Filipino veterans of the Korean War who were visiting South Korea at the time. The little boy “Zion” in the story is dedicated to one Filipino soldier who had come back to Korea in search of a Korean boy who had been his “errand boy.” At the time, no newspaper or journalist was interested in an interview with a Filipino soldier. I am indebted to these nameless soldiers.

Excerpt from Forgotten Reflections:

Still to this day, the bright lights blind me. I often forget that there had once been a time when the only bright lights in this beautiful city were the bombs that blanketed the stars with ash and decimated the very ground I stand on. I rarely ever think of our brotherland still plunged in darkness just beyond the lights.

There are no landmarks to tell us what had happened other than a cemetery and museums that come in vogue once a year—a true testament of how our people tried our very best to forget the problems we cannot fix, as if the war isn’t still ongoing, marching to the rhythm of progress made in the past sixty years to eradicate all memories of our most recent trauma.

Make no mistake; the han still burns within us. We are reminded every so often of this unique brand of injustice by the rise in international tension from our non-compliant North Korean neighbors, only to momentarily reflect upon our past and relinquish our reflections as phantoms of a past that we hope will never return.

I miss my grandmother Iseul; I miss my grandfather with a deeper longing of never having known. Still, the bright lights taunt me; they command that I march forward, remember what must not be forgotten, lay to rest that which haunts us, and invent—imagine even—a world we must fight to create.

I promise, I will not forget.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I don’t know if I’ve ever considered myself a writer, although I remember feeling like I could become one when my first essay was published in a book.

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 am an English teacher here in Korea and feel very lucky to be a part of a child’s formative years! It is a pleasure to see the world as they see it, full of charm and optimism. My students have been my source of inspiration and a part of me writes for them because I know the struggles they will face in the coming years. I am very fortunate that I get to choose my working hours and the number of students I can take on, which has given me the time and space to get into the writing process.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I’m not sure if this is considered a quirk, but I am certainly a slow writer. Most of my writing is done is my head, meaning I spend a lot of time thinking of specific scenes and moments. Writing it down is just one part of the process where I try to connect these moments into a fluid narrative. If you watch me “write,” you’d likely see me on my bed with my eyes closed, or with a book in my hand or a movie playing in the background.

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

I grew up in the Philippines around the time pop was beginning to get very popular all over Southeast Asia. I remember singing and dancing to some of these songs, dreaming of being on stage. Now, being on stage terrifies me! Most of all, I remember being so enthralled with stories of all kind, including dramas, Hollywood films and American TV shows. I never thought writing a story could be someone’s job! I think I might have wanted to be a writer had I known.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I love connecting with readers. It has been a pleasure to get to know people from all over the world. Please feel free to connect with me through my social media sites. Most of all, I’d like to leave you with an encouragement to keep writing and to keep striving to create the world you want to be a part of.

Links:

Website | Amazon | Goodreads | Facebook

Thanks for being here today, Young-Im.

Interview with mystery author Glen Craney

Mystery author Glen Craney joins me today and we’re talking about his new dual-period historical thriller, The Virgin of the Wind Rose: A Christopher Columbus Mystery-Thriller.

Bio:

Glen Craney is a novelist, screenwriter, and journalist. He holds graduate degrees from Indiana University School of Law and Columbia University School of Journalism. He practiced trial law before joining the Washington, D.C. press corps to cover national politics and the Iran-contra trial for Congressional Quarterly magazine. The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences awarded him the Nicholl Fellowship prize for best new screenwriting. He is a Chaucer Awards First-Place Winner, a three-time indieBRAG Medallion Honoree, and a three-time Foreword Reviews Book-of-the-Year Award Finalist. His debut historical novel, The Fire and the Light, was honored as Best New Fiction by the National Indie Excellence Awards. His books have taken readers to Occitania during the Albigensian Crusade, to the Scotland of Robert Bruce, to Portugal during the Age of Discovery, to the trenches of France during World War I, and to the American Hoovervilles of the Great Depression.

Welcome, Glen. Please tell us about your current release.
While investigating the murder of an American missionary in Ethiopia, rookie State Department lawyer Jaqueline Quartermane stumbles upon the infamous Templar Word Square, an ancient Latin puzzle that has eluded scholars for centuries. To her horror, she soon discovers the palindrome has been embedded with a cryptographic time bomb. Separated by half a millennium, two global conspiracies dovetail in this historical mystery-thriller to expose the world's most explosive secret: The real identity and mission of Christopher Columbus.

Awards: indieBRAG Medallion and Books&Benches Sceal Award Finalist

What inspired you to write this book?

I often get my book ideas from dreams. One night, I kept hearing the word “SATOR” spoken in my ear. I had never heard of that word, so I was obviously baffled. When I researched it, I came across an ancient Latin palindrome called the SATOR, or Templar, Square. That launched me on a detective quest that resulted in the novel.

Excerpt from The Virgin of the Wind Rose: A Christopher Columbus Mystery-Thriller:
Sopped in sweat, the ten-year-old Ethiopian boy prayed to St. Georgis the

Dragonslayer for protection as he wormed his way toward the tomb of

the first man on Earth.

  The tunnel’s gritty sandstone, stained red from the blood of Satan’s serpents,

punished his hands and knees. To preserve the precious air, he slowed his breaths

as he crawled. The settling night had cooled the mountain village above him,

but here, sixty meters below the surface, the trapped midday heat could roast

a chicken. Faint from hunger, he stopped and pulled a crust of bread from his

pocket. He chewed the morsel slowly, taking care to muzzle its aroma with his

tunic’s sleeve to avoid being swarmed by the bees that hived in the crevices.

  His dizziness eased, and he resumed his quest, groping blindly on all fours

along the narrowing walls. At last, he came to the Armory of the Shining Ones,

the long notch in the floor where the angels had once stored their lances.

  “Mäqäraräb,” he whispered. Not far now.

  He knew every bend and cranny in this secret passage by memory, having

accompanied the priests on their daily inspections of the subterranean churches.

That was the only godsend from his miserable duties. His father, the High Priest

of Lalibela, had marked him at birth for religious service by tattooing a blue

cross on his right temple. As a result, he was forbidden to play football or chase

tourists for candy, and he would have to slave six more years carrying sandals

just to become a deacon. Everyone said he should be grateful for the honor,

but he had no desire to waste away his life mumbling incantations. Tomorrow

he planned to stow away in the cargo bin of the bus to Addis Ababa, where he

would find prosperous construction work and a beautiful girlfriend.

  Before leaving home, however, he craved an even more exciting escape,

one that promised a glimpse of Paradise. In a few hours, at dawn, his fellow villagers

would celebrate Timkat, the holiest of their many religious festivals.

The elders of the monastery had retired early to their cloisters to fast and prepare

themselves with chants. This night, the tenth of Terr, was the only time of the

year that Bet Golgota––the underground church of the Crucifixion––was left

unguarded. It would also be his last chance to pierce the veil that shrouded

Heaven’s wisdom and delights.

  He came hovering over the yawning trench that protected the entrance to

the nave, and ran a finger across an inscription on a stone carved in Ge’ez.

  The opening verse of Genesis.

  He kissed the ground that covered the bones of the biblical Adam. Then,

he reached up and inserted the stolen key into the lock just beyond the grave.

After several turns of the rusty tumbler, the pitted door squealed open.

  He slithered inside the trapezoidal cavern. Overhead, lit by ambient moonlight

from the fissures in the ceiling, faded frescoes of the martyred saints stared

down at him. Turning away from their accusing glares, he climbed to his feet

and approached the Selassie Chapel. The sanctuary was so sacred that for ages

only the head priest had been allowed to enter it. With a shaking hand, he drew

aside a ratty curtain that covered the burial vault of King Lalibela, the monarch

who had ruled Ethiopia during the time of the White Knights.

  Yes, it was here, in this very vault, where he had spied his father hide the

precious Leaves of Eden. How long he had dreamed of the ecstasy now so near

his grasp. He heard a whisper of warning from his soul: He who gazes upon the

hidden treasures of Lalibela will be struck blind and mute for eternity.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m in the midst of a historical novel set during the last days of the American Civil War.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I’ve always written for the jobs I’ve held, but I’ve taken a roundabout route to fiction. I went to law school and wrote legal opinions for appellate and federal district judges. Then, I worked as a reporter covering national politics for a magazine in Washington, D.C. After that, I wrote movie scripts for Hollywood, which led me to books and novels.

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 do write full-time. When not researching or traveling for my projects, I prefer to write in the mornings and edit in the afternoons.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I like to write in restaurants and cafes. To the amazement of the waiters, I’m able to concentrate better with the ambient noise and movement around me.

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

I’ve loved history and its mysteries since childhood, so I always knew I wanted to do something involving those subjects.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I always chase stories instead of historical eras. I blame my journalism experience.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iTunes | Kobo

Thanks for being here today, Glen!