Interview with writer, actor, & mystery novelist David Flynn

Today's guest wears many hats, but we'll get to know him as mystery novelist, David Flynn, as he tells us a bit about his debut novel, The Whisper Man.

During his tour, David will be giving away a DVD of THE UNDYING, a movie he wrote and produced, to a lucky commenter. To be entered for a chance to win use the form below.

Bio:

David Flynn has worked as a writer and actor (under the screen name Patrick Flynne) and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG/AFTRA).

He’s appeared in numerous motion pictures, both studio and independent productions, and in the daytime series, All My Children, Another World, Guiding Light, and Loving and as the ongoing character Representative Ingersoll in videos for The Onion.

He has also performed as a spokesperson in numerous industrial films and television commercials, as a voiceover artist in radio broadcast commercials and as an English language narrator, editor and writer for several series on Ebru-TV, a Turkish company currently broadcasting on the Internet.

David has written 18 screenplays, including THE WAR CHANNEL, a Bronze Award Winner for Best Dramatic Screenplay at the Worldfest/Houston International Film Festival. This script was optioned by the Auerbach Company at Columbia TriStar Television. He has also co-authored two screenplays, one a Silver Award Winner for Best Dramatic Screenplay at Worldfest.

His recently produced screenplay, the supernatural thriller THE UNDYING (www.theundyingfilm.com) starring Robin Weigert, Wes Studi and Jay. O. Sanders is now in distribution domestically by MTI and internationally by Inferno Films. Under its original title, THE BRIDE OF DREAMS, the screenplay was one of fifteen semifinalists (out of a total of 3900 entrants) for a Nicholl Fellowship, a screenwriting competition sponsored by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). The Nicholl is considered to be the most prestigious screenwriting competition in the industry.

His novel The Whisper Man is the first in a series of mysteries that focus on unusual crimes and criminals in New York City.

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

Sex, vanity, and psychology are the weapons a sociopath named David Barry uses as he kills for money in The Whisper Man.

David's prey - and profit - are the wealthy of New York City, with each murder crafted to look like a suicide, an accident or the work of another, but always with the goal of increasing David's balance sheet. When a close friend of Manhattan ADA Joseph Kane dies at the apparent hand of his wife, Kane refuses to believe in her guilt. He investigates the recent deaths of several prominent and wealthy New Yorkers and decides there may be an undiscovered killer behind them.

Kane develops a prime suspect and triggers a battle of wits with the brilliant and arrogant David Barry who must kill again, not for profit this time but to protect his identity. The jealousy of Kane's insecure wife and conflicts with his boss become the tools David will use to destroy his adversary.

What inspired you to write this book?

I worked in luxury real estate development in Manhattan for a number of years and came across a wide cross section of well-to-do New Yorkers both in business and in social settings. The wealthy can hire bodyguards and forensic accountants but it occurred to me that the more wealth one might have the more vulnerable one’s life and fortune might be to a totally unimagined threat.

Excerpt:

Later, witnesses at the scene would describe the young Latino with the greasy hair under the tightly tied “do-rag” who ran from the scene of the accident. They would describe the puffy jacket and hoodie he was wearing, the baggy jeans and the large Nikes with the shoelaces loosely tied in the street fashion of the day.They would point north on Eleventh Avenue and east on 29th Street where they saw him run. It all happened so quickly and so unexpectedly. That was all the Police would have to go on.

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            The driver of the Cadillac stopped running as he turned onto 30th Street after crossing Ninth Avenue. He slowed his pace to a street swagger until he reached the narrow opening between two buildings. He glanced around quickly before slipping into the alley. Sure that he was not being observed, he stripped off the jacket and the hoodie and threw them on top of a garbage can. Next he slipped off the oversize sneakers and the baggy jeans, and they followed the jacket onto the garbage can. He was confident that within a couple of hours they would be found by a bum or an addict and sold to someone else for the price of a few hours of diminished consciousness. Recycled into the city’s economy, they would never be identified as the clothes of a hit and run driver.

Underneath the Nikes he wore slender white tennis shoes. Finally, he slipped the do-rag from his head and used it to wipe the grease from his face and ditched it in a different trash can. David Barry, wearing a buttoned down shirt, crew neck sweater, khakis and an attitude of innocence, walked out of the alley and over toward Eighth Avenue.

            David decided that his plan had gone so well that he would take a leisurely stroll back to the scene of the accident and look over his handiwork before going out for dinner. By the time he reached 26th Street, a considerable crowd had gathered and was being held back on the south side of 27th Street. He joined the crowd and slowly worked his way to the front of the group. He watched the actions of the Police and the EMT team for about ten minutes before finally deciding on Thai food.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m now working on The Mischief Man, the second story in a series about unusual New Yorkers involved in crime.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

This might sound corny, but it was right after I kissed the Blarney Stone. Up ‘til then the only writing I had done was business related. When I returned from Ireland my young daughter brought home a story about the Jersey Devil, a folk myth set in the Pine Barrens of South Jersey. I thought it would make an interesting movie so I wrote a screenplay that was rejected by agents and producers alike. Reading it over I realized it was bad and I needed to educate myself in the art of writing for the screen. The next story I wrote was the supernatural romantic thriller, The Undying. It did so well in the Nicholl Fellowship that I started writing and writing and writing. Most stories felt right for the screen, but THE WHISPER MAN just felt like a story that needed to be told in print.

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 write when I’m not working as an actor or voiceover artist. A typical writing day usually begins by reviewing what I’d written the day before, using that as a springboard for the day’s efforts.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I most enjoy making sure that every character has his or her own voice. I draw on my stage experience to think about each character’s actions and motivations and try to make sure that comes out in their words and actions on the page.

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

A diplomat. It took me a few years to realize I would be terrible at it and I’m glad I came to my senses before college.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Play golf and ride a motorcycle – two of God’s greatest gifts to the human spirit.

Thank you, David!

Readers, don't forget to use the form to enter for a chance to win the DVD!

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Interview with mystery author Michael Meyer

Today's guest is suspense, thriller, and mystery writer Michael Meyer. He's currently touring his novel Covert Dreams and is here to give us a little peek behind the covers.

  

Welcome, Michael. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am a retired English professor. I literally taught at universities throughout the world: Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the Virgin Islands, and I spent the last twenty-five years of my forty-year career at a California community college. I live in Southern California wine country with my wife, Kitty, and our two other cats. I love to write, read, and travel the world. I am delighted that I now have the luxury of time to devote to all three of my lifelong passions.

Please tell us about your current release.

Imagine waking up remembering intimate details about a country in which you have never traveled and fluently speaking a language that you have never spoken. B.J. is living the ideal life. He has a great wife, a wonderful job. And yet he is experiencing life-like vivid dreams of Munich, a city he has never visited.

Stan Halsey is a professor in Saudi Arabia, who sends for his wife to join him. She arrives, and, in the blink of an eye, she vanishes, leaving no trace of ever being alive in either the United States or in Saudi Arabia.

Covert Dreams is a fast-paced international suspense thriller that moves from Munich to the burning sands of Saudi Arabia. What is real, and who is responsible for the terrifying nightmare?

What inspired you to write this book?

I have always been intrigued by the relationship the United States has had with Saudi Arabia, one of the most restrictive societies in the world. As a college professor in Saudi Arabia, I was witness to the fact that life here and life there is as different as being on two separate planets. What we take here for a given is nearly always a no-no there.

The area of parapsychology has always intrigued me, and where better to deal with something such as this than in a very hidden-from-the-rest-of-the-world location. The mixture of live and let live as practiced in Bavarian Munich, coupled with the fervent zeal of Arabia, enhanced by American involvement—and the plot just seemed to thicken, drawing me into it as I wrote, without my ever knowing precisely where or how it would end, but loving every minute of it.

Excerpt:

The Munich all around her was bustling with activity. She could hear it from all directions. Munich was a wonderful city, a fun-loving place, the live and let live ebullience of the city emanating from its every nook and cranny. She had had a lovely stay here. All of it had been so adventurous, so new, so unlike life back home in Arizona. She could vividly recall the first time she had ventured into a Munich beer garden, where the liter mugs had been so huge that she had had to lift hers with both hands, and the giggles, from him, until he too had had to use both hands.

The fumbling noises he had been making came to an abrupt halt. He began stroking her cheek again. Gus looked so happy, so young, so full of life. It was so hard to imagine that he could be so heavily involved in all this horror.

Gus smiled at her once more. His eyes were soft, so gentle, so caring, so loving.

Maybe this was some kind of huge mistake. Maybe he wasn't going to kill her after all. Maybe everything would turn out happily ever after. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

But then suddenly she saw it clearly. It was no fairy tale. There would be no maybe. This was real, as real as the mixture of sadness and fear that now flooded her brain.

And then she died, with her eyes wide open, challenging, piercing his to the end.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I am currently working on something quite different from anything that I have ever written before. It is a memoir of my journey from grieving widower to the once-again happily married man I am today. It is entitled The Three Kitties that Saved My Life, dedicated to my rescued stray cat, my inspirational three-legged cat, and my wonderful new wife, Kitty.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I became fascinated with books at a very young age. I must have read every Curious George book out there. At the age of ten, I self-published my first book, a short synopsis of California history. My parents bought the only copy, but I was a published author, and I was hooked. I have always been good at writing. In fact, all through the school system, my teachers would compliment me on my writing. I have written stories, essays, poems, novellas, and novels, but it wasn’t until I retired, in December of 2010, that I gave my writing itch a good scratch. I am not out for money. As a retired college professor, I have a nice pension. Rather, I want to write until I die. I love creating characters and plots. Writing to me is like reading. I never know precisely where things will lead. I am in good health, and my doctor told me that writing is a very healthy avocation for someone in my situation: a retiree. I love his advice.

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 retired English professor. I devote my time now to my family, to my writing, to reading, and to travel, both nationally and internationally. I love to travel. I have lived abroad many times, and there are few countries in the world that I have not had the privilege to visit. My international travels have helped me become a better person and a better writer. When I decide to write, I do so. I am not out to make a lot of profit. I want to have fun, and creating plots and characters in the exotic places I have lived is very enjoyable. The minute my mind has to struggle with what is to come next, I promptly get up from my computer and do something else. I want to ensure that writing is always pleasurable for me instead of being hard work.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I come up with my greatest ideas when I jog in the morning for my daily exercise. I will often find myself running home as fast as I can, so that I can jot down a great idea that popped into my mind before I lose it. I look forward to my daily walks. They are healthy for me, and they also provide me with new ideas for my writing,

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

I always wanted to be just like my father, a college professor, and that is precisely what I became, for over forty years. I loved every minute of it.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

The locales I write about are real. For instance, Covert Dreams is set primarily in Munich and in Saudi Arabia. I have lived and studied in Germany, and I know Munich as well as I know the back of my own hands. Also, I was a college professor at the University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. I have traveled extensively throughout the Middle East. In addition, my Caribbean murder mystery, Deadly Eyes, is set on the island of St. Croix, where I was a professor at the University of the Virgin Islands. The Famous Union is a humorous look at college life, and I was a professor for forty years, so I know the territory well. The Survival of Marvin Baines is a semi-humorous look at midlife, something that I personally have lived through.

Thanks, Michael. Happy touring!

Readers, here are some ways you can connect with Michael:

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