Check this out! Get a chance to win a free book!! I am running a contest on Goodreads.com to give away signed copies of my award-winning mystery FATAL POSE.
So give it a shot! You love to read, inflation’s out of control and everything’s insanely expensive, so put a free book on your summer reading list!!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61410573-fatal-pose
I still can't believe how time flies by when you're getting back to the real world after a literary conference. Last week I had the pleasure of taking part in the Left Coast Crime 2022 event in Albuquerque, New Mexico, not only listening to some of the top authors in crime fiction, but also fans, other debut authors in the genre, and the chance to discuss my work, FATAL POSE, and the writing process. For fans, authors, and aspiring authors - as fandom and writing really overlap since everyone writing in a specific genre must also really be a fan of such literature - events like this I would highly recommend. It is a fantastic way to discover and interact with very active and exciting communities.
Whoa! Where did the time go?
Well, life and the job and various other circumstances got in the way of updating the blog in a while, so I wanted to post this link to the latest interview I gave about FATAL POSE recently. Hermione Lee, the incredibly talented young author of the the young adult romantic fantasy IN THE NAME OF THE OTHERWORLD, recently interviewed me for her Facebook Blog, "Writers and Writing."
We discussed everything from my inspirations for the book to who I could see cast in the lead role if it would ever be made into a movie and what music would be ideal for the soundtrack.
The short answers are in the following order: the inverted mystery format from the classic TV detective show "Columbo," Henri Cavill in the lead role as Gunnar Marino, and classic Sammy Hagar-era music by Van Halen in the soundtrack.
So right now, you want to click on the link to Hermione's page. And right now you want to read FATAL POSE by going to its Amazon page. Just do it right here and now!
As I discuss in the article, FATAL POSE had originally started rattling around in my head way back...in college. So, that actually would be in the, well, let's say early 1990s. No, age is not making it slip my mind! But the point is that when you realize that the kernel of a good idea for a story exists, don't worry about needing to work with it, reshaping it, putting aside and coming back to it, or just taking it completely apart and rewriting it from word number one.
As I discuss in the article, I actually do outline all that I write very carefully and always know exactly where a story is supposed to end up. Except when the story is finished, I might realize that something - or a number of things - might still not work. Such was the case with FATAL POSE.
After a lot of life getting in the way, other books getting published, agents and editors coming and going, many of them passing on the book, FATAL POSE finally found life at World Castle Publishing.
So hang in there and keep punching away at that keyboard.
Very glad to have been recently given a Literary Titan Book Award for my bodybuilding murder mystery. With all the work and time that goes into producing a book, it's rewarding to receive an award "bestowed on books that expertly deliver complex characters, intricate worlds, and thought provoking themes."
I hope you check it out!
And how could I have been remiss to mention a very successful book-signing event recently at Saint Peter's University's O'Toole Library. And yes, I sold all those copies of FATAL POSE, raising money for our chapter of the National Communication Honor Society!
Seeing a story you had spent years crafting, polishing, rewriting, and just generally fussing over night and day until it's ready for publication connect with readers and critics is always fantastic. Very happy to have gotten this excellent review of FATAL POSE by Literary Titan.
It's always great to see your work recognized and I'm very excited to receive this 5-Star review from Reader's Favorite for FATAL POSE. Check it out right here.
In the world of LA's pro bodybuilding scene, health and fitness can be deadly!
With the release of my new novel, FATAL POSE, take a sneak peek at its entire first chapter!
CHAPTER 1
With a face like a homecoming queen, she had a body that must have been some one hundred and seventy pounds of lean muscle. At about five feet and six inches tall, her physique was flawlessly proportioned. She had a disarming smile, wore her hair in a well-styled pageboy, and sported a low-cut flowery summer dress. The wide neckline of her dress was snug atop the dense pectorals and reaching toward a pair of wide, hulking deltoids. The tight fit at the top, though, allowed for the dress to slacken at the waistline. There, her torso tapered from her hard-pumped lat muscles, creating the precision V look of her upper body .
“Perfect,” Laura Preston whispered as the flash bulbs strobed around their model.
They were snapping the final pictures for Muscle Quest magazine’s “Bodybuilding R&R” segment for next month’s issue. Laura was about to worry the shoot would run too late again. She had made a point of staying all the way until the end, but now she absolutely had to get going. Her mind was on the drive up to Big Bear Lake more than anything else. Well, the drive, the Smith and Wesson automatic handgun in her desk upstairs, and the meeting with Brad Holt.
“All right, and that’s a wrap,” Dave Sachs, the photographer, called and glanced at Laura.
She nodded her approval.
“We’ll have the proofs for you by tomorrow,” Dave told Laura. “My word on that.”
“I know,” Laura said.
“I’m sorry we had to reshoot.”
“At least we’ll make the deadline. That’s what matters.”
“Hey, Laura,” called Christy Gilmore, the model with the spectacular physique. “I think it’s a good thing we had to do a second shoot, you know.” “How’s that?” Laura asked.
“I got a full circuit in since last time. Chest, legs, back, everything. This morning it was biceps and triceps.”
She quickly raised her right arm and contracted her bicep. The fresh pump in the gym had the athlete’s muscles gorged with blood, looking as if the hypertrophied hunks of muscle were straining to explode right through her skin.
Back when she used to compete, Laura was merely a shadow of the enormous musculature on Christy Gilmore.
Christy flashed one of the winning smiles that helped propel her to victory three times in a row over the past year and a half. Winning the Ms. California Invitational, the National Physique Association’s All-National pro-qualifiers and the Muscle Extravaganza women’s championship had earned her the photo spread in the next issue of Muscle Quest.
The “Bodybuilding R&R” column was the human-interest section of each issue. It profiled what normal lives the physique competitors really lived outside the gym. Fighting the ongoing battle to mainstream the sport, Laura had conceived of the column three years ago. The R&R feature alternated between male and female athletes from month to month, and Laura knew most of the attention had to go into the women’s version. In the twenty-first century, she still had to fight wars to get the female athletes the respect they deserved. Someone like Christy Gilmore making it to the pro ranks was a godsend, Laura realized. Not only did Christy have an otherworldly physique, but her dimpled, girl-next- door smile might just generate a renewed interest in the floundering women’s division of the World Body Building Federation. Or maybe one day, Christy could start making movies and get herself elected governor of California.
That’s when Laura felt something like a spear of pure, solid ice ramming into the middle of her chest again. The blast of adrenaline flooding her body felt as if someone was deliberately tearing into her soul.
Because they were, Laura knew and fought to keep a convincing smile on her face as she said goodbye to Christy. Laura knew how precisely, how deliberately, her life and her career were targeted for complete destruction.
Brad Holt.
No, it was more than her career, Laura knew. Brad Holt would not be satisfied with that. He wanted to step on, to defile everything she believed in, everything she stood for in the WBBF organization, everything she wanted this sport to represent.
Except she would not give him that chance.
September 14 is the date! My new novel, the murder mystery FATAL POSE is dropping from World Castle Publishing and Gunnar Marino and Erika Lindstad are investigating the deadly side of professional bodybuilding! And check out this sneak peek at the plot...
Venice, California: Where you’ll find the hottest beaches, hottest gyms, and hottest bodies. This is where ex-bodybuilder turned private investigator, Gunnar Marino, runs his business.
The World BodyBuilding Federation: The most successful health and fitness empire in the world. But WBBF President of Operations, Laura Preston, suddenly finds herself in the middle of a blackmail scheme, with bodybuilder Brad Holt threatening to expose a shattering secret from her past.
Where two adversaries meet: After Holt dies at a contest from what appears to be a dangerously unhealthy dieting regimen, Marino is hired to look into whether or not his demise might have been the perfect act of murder. But the deeper Marino digs into the case—pressed by a personal obligation to Holt's sister—the more unsettled he is by Holt’s background, questioning the morality of seeking justice for a corrupt murder victim and pursuing a prime suspect who might have been a victim herself.
A showdown no one might walk away from: Finding himself in an escalating battle of wills and wits with Laura Preston, Marino is aided by a group of athletes he employs as an investigative staff, and Dr. Erika Lindstad, his former lover and ex-bodybuilder in her own right. But the more troubled Marino gets by the case, he realizes that he has no choice but to see the investigation to its conclusion...because suddenly he and everyone he cares for are targeted for death.
A murder mystery in the world of professional bodybuilding.
In the city of Los Angeles, where fitness is almost a religion...
One of the most muscular...will soon fall!
Well, since I don't like to stop while I'm ahead, in the midst of all the preparations for the "From 9/11 to Covid-19" conference, I'd still like to make a new book announcement. My publisher, World Castle Publishing, will be releasing my third novel, FATAL POSE, in 2021. I'm excited to have gotten the chance to work in a new genre, too: the mystery. So here's a sneak peak at the plot:
Imagine "Pumping Iron meets Columbo." In Venice, California, you'll find the hottest beaches, the hottest gyms, and the hottest bodies. This is where ex-bodybuilder turned private investigator, Gunnar Marino, runs his business. But when a murder and blackmail scheme reaches to the top of the high-powered World BodyBuilding Federation, Marino finds himself in a battle of wits with a clever adversary that could end in mayhem no one might be able to contain.
But while you wait for FATAL POSE, I hope you'll give my newest book, THE CEDAR VALLEY COVENANT, a read!
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