Interview with mystery author Edita A. Petrick

Mystery author Edita A. Petrick joins me today to talk about her thriller-suspense series, the Peacetaker. The premise (ancient myth of the Peacetaker) is established in Book 1.

Book 1 – Ribbons of Death is a suspense thriller;

Book 2 – The Harmony Scroll is action-adventure thriller;

Book 3 – The Byzantine Connection is a thriller;

Book 4 – Arachne’s Challenge is once again more of adventure-techno-thriller

Book 5 - Doomsday Hand is an adventure-suspense thriller

Bio:

I have been writing all my life and other than those couple of family members who occasionally look over my shoulder, no one knows I’m an author of 15+ books. Or that these are listed on Amazon.com, B&N, Kobo, iApple and a dozen other distribution outlets. One of my books is also being translated into Cantonese and Mandarin. These last few years, I’ve kept my ‘writing’ life and my other self totally separate because it is safer that way. I can be ‘me’ when I’m out there in the world, working, socializing, etc.

Please tell us about your current release.

Doomsday Hand – Book 5 of the Peacetaker Series has been on pre-order these last few weeks. Like the others in the series, it centers on a little known ancient charming myth that has a potential to doom the world. I’ve had great response from my readers to the series itself, and hoping this book will appeal to my readership as well. However, like all my books, the story is about people, their interactions, their problems and threats; the myths and legends merely serve as a vehicle for human stories that are in my books.

What inspired you to write this book?

I wanted to craft a story where the male character, Carter, will be in mortal danger for a change. At the same time, I like to weave adventure through my stories and that involves travel and foreign locales.

Excerpt from Doomsday Hand:

            The man took out something from the inner pocket of his coat and flipped it open then held it out to him, across the glass strip.

            “I’m Inspector Dhaloub, Scotland Yard.”

            “Well, that’s certainly an honor and I can’t even reciprocate because you already know my name and probably everything else there is to know about me,” he said, wondering whether the French Sûreté was not far behind. Years ago, when he first met Greg in Cairo, the man had already acquired a crowd of followers, the humorless kind.

            “Not quite everything,” the Inspector said. “May I see some form of identification, please—a passport, perhaps?”

            Carter smiled, hoping the policeman saw nothing else but amity. “I don’t have it on me, inspector,” he said.

            “Then perhaps a driver’s license?”

            “I took the subway…tube, as you say here.”

            “Do you have any form of identification, Mr. Tanner?”

            He did, but not as Tanner. Well, there was no way to get out of the trap. If he insisted that he had no identification whatsoever, he’d quickly find himself at the New Scotland Yard, being fingerprinted because these days the British police were utterly humorless when it came to foreigners who couldn’t vouch for their identity with some form of official picture-bearing card. The King’s College issued a formal coded ID security card for all members of Stella’s family to assure them entry into the administrative building if they wished to visit their wife and mother. The card was three months old, certainly very recent, and would make any British policeman happy…except it was for Timothy J. Carter, resident of 21 Baxter Walk, Soho. Stella’s full name and academic title featured in brackets underneath his.

            “Mr. Tanner, may I see some form of identification?” the inspector asked, his voice still even but much colder.

            Carter nodded, and then fished out the college ID from the breast pocket in his windbreaker, handing it to the inspector who took it and stared at it for a long time.

            “You’re Dr. Stella Hunter’s husband then,” the inspector finally commented, his expression like his voice—inscrutable.

            “Yes.”

            “Welcome to London, Mr. Carter. Please give my best regards to Dr. Hunter. I have read quite a few of her academic papers, as well as her book with great interest. You could say that I’m a fan. Now, what is your relationship with Mr. Gregory Semple?”

            In his forty-seven years of life, quite a few of them spent avoiding people like this policeman, he’d learned one thing that served man best when dealing with the law: Make your answers brief and don’t volunteer what they don’t have to know.

            “We’re friends,” he said, smiling just right not to read anything into it.

            “Good friends?”

            “Good enough to spend some time together, having lunch.”

            “However, during your lunch he would no doubt address you—his good friend—as Ross Tanner. Interesting. When did you first meet Mr. Semple?”

            “About ten, eleven years ago.”

            “Where, if I may ask?”

            “Africa.”

            “An interesting continent. It’s the cradle of life and yet still full of mysteries.”

            He wondered what the Inspector was after, other than to draw from him the ‘mystery’ he already knew, so it would become a confession.

            “The world is full of mysteries, Inspector. Africa’s just one of the global continents that has what England obviously doesn’t.”

What exciting story are you working on next?

Three new books, actually. Book 6 of the Peacetaker series – Seals of Eternity. Book 2 of the Bree-Ann Carver Suspense Blog series, and Rimworld Legends, Book 2 of my sci-fi space-opera, Lords of the Winter Stars series. I’m one of those writers who doesn’t make notes or outlines or plot-sketches of any kind. I live with the story in my head. Eventually, times comes to start writing it.

Mostly it works for me…except when it doesn’t and I get ‘stuck’ in the story. It’s why I need to work on at least 3 books at any given time.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I don’t know about other authors, but I never consciously thought or considered myself as a writer. I write because I love it. It relaxes me. It gives me a sense of purpose. I like to ‘create’ characters through observation of people around me.

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 WORK full time. I write whenever I’m not exhausted by living, working and taking care of family. However, since I work for a school board, I have summers off so that’s my ‘writing’ time – whether I feel like it or not. Any free time – holidays, vacations and such, I ‘push’ myself to work on something ‘in the drawer.’

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I talk to my characters as I write (it let’s me feel the ideas and dialogue) and basically ‘talk’ my way through the story. It works really well for me when I write ‘arguments and controversies.’ I get to be…everyone.

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

Archeologist. And I went into it at university but then my father persevered and ‘yanked’ me out of the ‘empty’ education and presto, I was enrolled in engineering. Practical, puts bread on the table. Has future. I spent 25 years working as an engineer, in mostly male-dominated field, and honestly, I don’t think it ‘built character’ or toughened me. I was already tough when I went into it and struggling at every turn of the career…would not be my first choice again, let’s just say that.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Thank you for your time reading my books.

Links:

Website | Twitter | Amazon

Thanks for being here today!