New interview with suspense author P.M. Terrell

I'm happy to welcome P.M. Terrell back to Reviews and Interviews. Her last interview focused on Vicki's Key. Today, is just one stop along her virtual book tour for Secrets of a Dangerous Woman. 

A lucky commenter during the tour will be awarded a $25 Amazon Gift Card. If you'd like to be entered to win, leave an e-mail with your comment. (Feel free to comment without an e-mail addy, too!) And if you'd like more chances to win, follow her tour and comment at other blog stops.  

Bio:

P.M. Terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 14 books, including the Black Swamp Mysteries series. Formerly the founder of two computer companies in the Washington, DC area, her specialty is in computer intelligence and white collar computer crime. Her clients included the U.S. Secret Service, Department of Defense and the CIA as well as local law enforcement. A full-time writer since 2002, she uses her expertise in plots that often involve computer crimes and cyberintelligence. She makes her home in Lumberton, North Carolina, which is the location of the Black Swamp Mysteries series.

Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews, PM.

Please tell us about your newest release.

In Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, Dylan Maguire is back and in his first role as a CIA operative: to interrogate recently captured Brenda Carnegie. But when she escapes again, it’s obvious she’s had help from within the CIA’s own ranks. With Vicki Boyd’s psychic assistance, he captures Brenda again—but this time his mission has changed. Now he must find out why some in the highest government offices want her killed—and others will risk everything to help her. And when he discovers her true identity, his mission has just become very personal.

What inspired you to write this book?

Brenda Carnegie first appeared in Exit 22, which was released about four years ago. Since then, my fans frequently asked when I was going to bring her back and what happened to her after she disappeared at the end of that book. Brenda is a computer hacker who prefers to operate on the wrong side of the law; she’s savvy, street-wise and as capable of navigating alligator-infested swamps as she is the cyberworld.

Dylan Maguire, the Irishman I introduced in Vicki’s Key earlier this year, was such a hit with readers that I also knew I had to bring him back. He is resourceful, an opportunist, good humored but with a secretive past. And I knew getting the two of them together would be explosive. They each have met their match in Secrets of a Dangerous Woman.

Excerpt from Secrets of a Dangerous Woman:

“Who are you running from?” Vicki asked.

Brenda took a deep breath. “I am in trouble. Big trouble.”

“What did you do?”

“Depends on who you ask.” She took a deep breath. “I’m tired, Vicki. Really tired. I need to get off the street. Stay inside for a day or two. Regroup.”

“I’m living in Lumberton now. The woman who owned the house where I’m staying passed away. Her nephew inherited it.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Yeah? Where’s he?”

“I live with him. Come home with me. It’s a big house, three stories.”

Brenda frowned as if she was deep in thought. “It’s just you and him there?”

“His name’s Dylan. I’ll tell you all about him on the way.”

She half nodded. “He won’t be taken aback by you bringing me home? I’m a bit more to handle than a stray cat.”

“He’d love to meet you. I promise. He’ll take care of you.”

“He will, will he?”

Vicki blushed. “He’s got a strong sense of family. Besides,” she said as she started to rise, “it’s suppertime and you need to eat. We’ll get something in your belly and you’ll get a good night’s sleep.”

Brenda hesitated only briefly before she rose from the table. “You sure you can handle the intrusion?”

“Positive.”

As they made their way toward the door, Brenda whispered, “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” 

What’s the next writing project?

I am currently working on the next book in the series, Dylan’s Song. Toward the end of Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, Vicki discovers that a CIA operative disappeared in Dublin while following the trail of a known terrorist. Dylan’s Song picks up there: Vicki must use her psychic abilities to pinpoint where the operative is being held and Dylan’s mission is to extract him and bring him back safely to the States. And when Dylan learns that his grandmother is on her deathbed, he returns to the place where he grew up—with Vicki in tow. While there, Vicki learns the real reason he left Ireland for the United States—while harboring a bigger secret of her own.

What is your biggest challenge when writing a new book?

I like to surprise my readers. The reason I resisted writing a series for so long is I didn’t want to become a formula writer where readers could easily guess the ending. The challenge for me is to keep each plot fresh, original and surprising. I love the characters I’ve assembled for this series so one challenge I used to have with stand-alone books no longer exists: I no longer need to introduce each character and complete their backstory in one book. I can make them more multi-dimensional, knowing the layers will be peeled away throughout the entire series.

If your novels require research – please talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while you’re writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?

It depends on the book. I once spent two years researching the true historical adventure Songbirds are Free, which was published in 2008. But with this series, I’ve been able to research the general crime before I begin writing each book plus I continue to research the details as I am writing. I will often need to phone or email my technical advisors—police detectives, FBI Agents and others—while writing. And once the book is just about ready to go to the editors, I will send the manuscripts to those technical advisors so they can make sure I have procedures correct. I have a lot of law enforcement who follow my books and I don’t want to make mistakes that would cause me to lose credibility. Once lost, it’s very difficult to get it back.

What’s your writing space like? Do you have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us about it.

I have an office in a building that is separated from my main house and I enjoy writing there. But my days can become very long (often 12 hours or more) so I will sometimes take my laptop to my great room, where I am surrounded by aquariums containing angelfish (which also happens to be the front for Vicki and Dylan, who are both CIA operatives but pretend to be angelfish breeders.) I honestly feel my muse more when writing in the comfort of the great room; it’s more relaxed than sitting at my desk, where other duties often pop up.

What authors do you enjoy reading within or outside of your genre?

I love Erin Quinn’s Haunting series; I like the originality of the time travel and whether you can change your destiny—after it happened. I also love Anne Rice’s book Ramses and wish she had written more about Egypt and mummies. I enjoy David Pereda’s series about a female assassin and Carla Neggers’ books that take place in Ireland. I will often read outside my genre if the writing is good, whether it’s a fantasy, non-fiction or even erotica.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers today?

I love taking my readers on a roller coaster ride. I have so many pressing duties that it’s difficult for me to sit down and read—so the author has to grab my attention at the very beginning and hold it. I try to take that into consideration when I am writing for others; I know their time is valuable and they have many other things to do and other authors to read. So I try to pull them in as quickly as possible, take them outside of their own reality and into other worlds, and long after they put the book down, I hope the characters remain with them.

I also started an annual writers conference and book fair that takes place on the last Saturday of each February in Lumberton, NC. Called Book ‘Em North Carolina, we raise money to increase literacy in our communities. This coming year, we’ll bring together more than 75 authors, publishers, literary agents and book promoters—and one awesome Hollywood producer who will talk about making books into movies. Attendance is free and open to the public, so I hope your readers will be able to join us for panel discussions, one-on-one chats with their favorite authors and much more. More information is at www.bookemnc.net.

Other ways to connect with me:

Website: www.pmterrell.com

Blog: www.pmterrell.blogspot.com

Twitter: @pmterrell

Facebook: Patricia M. Terrell 

Thank you for coming back to Reviews and Interviews!

Readers, remember, a lucky commenter will be awarded a $25 Amazon Gift Card. If you'd like to be entered to win, leave an e-mail with your comment. (Feel free to comment without an e-mail addy, too!) And if you'd like more chances to win, follow her tour and comment at other blog stops.  

Interview with suspense author P.M. Terrell

Today's guest is multipublished suspense novelist P.M. Terrell. She's doing a virtual book tour with Goddess Fish. Today, we get to learn a bit about her newest novel,Vicki’s Key and about an organization she co-founded to battle illiteracy.

There's also a giveaway! For (US/Canadian) commentors who leave an e-mail address, you'll be entered to win a gift basket from the real town of Lumberton, where Vicki's adventure takes place. So leave your e-mail addy with your comment, and to increase your chances of winning visit other tour stops and comment there.

Bio:

Award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 17 books, including River Passage, which won the 2010 Best Fiction & Drama Award and Vicki’s Key, a 2012 International Book Awards finalist and 2012 USA Best Book Awards nominee. Also the co-founder of The Book ‘Em Foundation (www.bookemnc.org) whose slogan is “Buy a Book and Stop a Crook” and which raises money to increase literacy.

Welcome, P.M. Please tell us about your current release.

In Vicki’s Key, Vicki Boyd is a psychic spy who decides to leave the CIA after a botched mission. She takes a summer job assisting an elderly woman but when she arrives, she finds that Laurel Maguire has suffered a stroke and is confined to a third floor bedroom in an old, rambling house. And her nephew Dylan has arrived from Ireland to care for her. Vicki quickly falls in love with the charming Dylan Maguire. But when the house comes alive with secrets long hidden, she finds that everything is not as it seems. And when the CIA find her for “one last mission”, she finds that her past and her future are about to collide—in murder.

What inspired you to write this book?

I’ve been asked for a long time to write a series but I wanted to make sure I would not be resorting to a predictable formula. When I discovered recently declassified information about the CIA’s and Defense Department’s psychic spy programs, I knew that was what I needed. By having a main character as a psychic spy, it allows me to place her missions anywhere in the world. She can even travel back and forth through time. The possibilities are endless. And I discovered while writing the book that other characters captured my readers’ imagination and attention, so the series will have about five main characters. Depending on the plot, one character may come more to the forefront than the others.

Excerpt:

Vicki continued into the bathroom and groggily brushed her teeth. Grabbing a washcloth and splashing water over her face, she leaned into the sink to soak up the cool water as it poured from the tap.

She turned off the tap and tried to fully awaken as the water dripped off her face. Rising, she reached for the hand towel along the wall, catching a glimpse of her profile in the bathroom mirror.

Her eyes caught a shadow rippling in the mirror and she froze, her arm suspended in mid-air as she watched the shadowy figure undulating against the shower curtain just behind her. It was thin—far thinner than a human being; perhaps only four feet tall and just inches wide. Yet, two arms extended past the body, moving jerkily like a creature walking and yet it remained fixed in the center of the tub. The torso parted into two legs that were stick-like and lurching.

Then the shadow stopped and turned toward her, as though just realizing she was watching. The head emerged from the body like a person jutting his neck forward, growing as it neared the shower curtain. It swelled in a black intensity while two pits where eyes should have been grew more prominent.

She whipped around to face the shower curtain, her heart pounding, and her breath shallow.

There was nothing there.

She swung back toward the mirror. Her own face stared back at her, her eyes wide and chest heaving. The curtain hung behind her, motionless.

What exciting story are you working on next?

The next book in the series is Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, in which the Irishman, Dylan Maguire, returns to work for the CIA. In his first mission, he must interrogate recently captured Brenda Carnegie. But when she escapes again, it’s clear she had help from within the CIA’s own ranks. With Vicki’s help, Dylan captures her again. Now he must find out what she knows and why some in our government want her dead while others are willing to risk all to help her. And when he finds out Brenda’s true identity, his mission has just become very personal.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I began writing in the 4^th grade and when I walked across the stage to receive an award I won for a writing contest at the age of 9, I knew that’s what I wanted to be! But Life has a way of throwing things into it that we didn’t expect so I fell into the computer industry, where my specialty became white collar computer crime and computer intelligence. I began writing books about the use of computers in the 1980s. But I decided in 1999 that I had always wanted to write suspense so I began to concentrate on leaving the computer industry behind and writing full-time.

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 have been writing full-time since 2002. I generally spend my mornings answering e-mails and doing research for my books. Then I spend my afternoons and evenings writing. I follow this routine 6 days a week and often 7 days a week. It helps that I have definite due dates for each of my upcoming books (usually 2 or 3 are in various stages of production at a time) and I know if I don’t make my deadlines, it throws a lot of people off schedule. I always marvel at the perception some people have of writers and how they only write when inspiration strikes them! I work harder at this career than I’ve ever worked in my life.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I always dream every scene before I write it. I trained myself to think about the next part of my book before I go to bed, especially if there is some element that is lacking that I know I will need to address. By morning, it’s all there. As a result, I never have writer’s block.

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

I always wanted to be a writer, from the time I was 9 years old. Before that, I wanted to be a teacher. I have, fortunately, been able to do both. I’ve taught writing classes and classes about the publishing industry and the way it works. But my real love has always been writing.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I also co-founded The Book ‘Em Foundation to raise awareness of the link between high illiteracy rates and high crime rates. We have an annual event called Book ‘Em North Carolina the last Saturday in February in which we bring together more than 75 authors, publishers, literary agents, and book promoters. The event is free and open to the public and includes a writer’s conference and book fair. For each book sold at the event, the authors or publishers agree to donate at least 40% to literacy campaigns in the area. Our next event is February 23, 2013 and our website is www.bookemnc.org. We have New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe headlining the event along with Hollywood producer Chuck Williams, who will be discussing how books are made into movies. I hope your readers will join us!

Thanks, P.M.!

Readers, don't forget about the giveaway! For (US/Canadian) commentors who leave an e-mail address, you'll be entered to win a gift basket from the real town of Lumberton, where Vicki's adventure takes place. So leave your e-mail addy with your comment, and to increase your chances of winning visit other tour stops and comment there.