Sunday Wrap Up: Week ending July 13, 2014

***Please see below for a book giveaway!***

Louise E. Rule Interviews David Procter for The Review's Author Interview

Welcome to The Review's Author Interview, David, thank you for taking the time to chat with me today.

It is a pleasure.

You say in your biography, quoted above, that a customer's words had given you the incentive to write. Had you felt, like so many people do, that you had a book in you waiting to be written?

Oh yes definitely. Mine had been forming for more years than I care to remember. I jotted down scenarios and characters' names, plot lines and twists, until almost the entire book was simply waiting to be written.

It is always interesting to know what an author's inspiration is when it comes to the subject of a book. Could you tell the readers what your inspiration was for writing Dead Men Lie?

Family history, pure and simple. What you have to realise is that until I began my research I knew nothing of the family beyond my parents' generation. So what I uncovered, the people, their stories, opened up this untapped source of inspiration.

Could you tell us about your character, Abigail Wood, please? For example, what are her weaknesses and her strengths?

Dearest Abigail, she has become more like a sister to me rather than simply a character. Her strengths are pugnaciousness, a determination to be heard, the realisation that she has been wronged and the ability to see both good and bad in each of her new friends. She is fallible, perhaps a little naïve, certainly a woman of her time. Yet she is not one to be treated as a skivvy. She has intelligence, the ability to speak with both men and women from all social levels. She is inherently kind and considerate, has the ability to forgive almost anything except what others do to her family. Above all she is no one's fool.

Characterisation is key to a story. Could you tell our readers how you go about building your characters' personalities?

To be honest, I cannot have a character until I have their name. it perhaps seems strange, but I can stare at a page for hours simply deliberating about the title of the story. Until I have that my mind cannot begin to work. Even if that name changes, I have to have something that relates to what I desire to write, the same with the characters. I knew I needed a particularly nasty man, I could see him in my mind, but the name alluded me until Tom Gasson was born; it was as if once the name fell into place he came to life. I could see him, hear him, smell and touch him. I saw the way he walked and the way he twitched, like the rats he caught twitched. When he spoke it was as if we were in conversation, in my head we argued, I heard every word he uttered, his tone, the way his breath hissed through his teeth. I did the same with every character. Each one is the embodiment of how I saw them as they lived their lives in Stormouth.

To check out the rest of Louise's interview with David Procter, click here. 

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Book review: The Light Never Lies by Francis Guenette

Review by Anna Belfrage

Please see below for giveaway details!

In this the second of the Crater Lake series, Ms. Guenette returns to the small community that hugs the shore of Crater Lake. Approximately nine months have passed since the events described in the first book, Disappearing in Plain Sight, and it has not been easy for several of the characters.

Ms. Guenette presents us with a varied cast. First and foremost, there is Lisa-Marie, not yet seventeen and an explosive combination of attitude and vulnerability. Pretty, intelligent and wise beyond her years, Lisa Marie returns to Crater Lake for the summer, causing a major shock when she appears heavily pregnant.
Lisa-Marie’s aunt, Bethany, is an ethereal, waiflike woman who has for years surrendered her independence for protection, allowing her partner Beulah to make all relevant decisions. But when Bethany develops a sudden and desperate need for a child, when Bethany’s neediness drives Beulah to adultery, their previously so-stable relationship starts to crumble at the edges. Having Lisa-Marie show up big-bellied doesn’t exactly make things easier.

When Bethany and Beulah can offer little or no support, Lisa-Marie is fobbed off onto Izzy, her aunt’s closest neighbour, and Liam, Izzy’s partner. Lisa-Marie and Izzy have an edgy relationship. Izzy is too beautiful, too perfect, too likeable, not to grate on Lisa Marie’s nerves, and besides, there’s the infected matter of Justin, the young man Lisa-Marie is in love with, but who spent all of last summer adoring Izzy. Will things have changed, Lisa-Marie wonders, hating that she is bloated and ugly like a beached whale when Justin is all golden hair, golden skin and soft smiles.

Izzy is a caring adult who somehow rises to the challenge of welcoming Lisa-Marie to her home.  Liam is not quite as thrilled: the pregnant teenager is volatile and difficult, and the entire situation is made even more complicated by the identity of the child’s father – it’s like lobbing a stick of dynamite into a fish-pool and watching the consequences come floating up to the surface.

Lisa- Marie – and the baby’s paternity – are not Izzy’s only concerns. Her father, Edward, has come home to die, some of her patients at the youth camp at which she counsels are having some very serious problems,  and as icing on the cake Liam’s long-lost father shows up, bringing Liam’s unknown half-brother, little Robbie, in his wake.

The author has generously offered a free copy of The Light Never Lies to gift one lucky winner: in the US hardcopy, e-book for all other locations. To enter your name in the draw, simply comment at the review or at this review's associated Facebook thread. 

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Book Review: Gimme Shelter by Louis Spirito
Review by Emma Powell

Note: 10% of book proceeds go to animal charities.

‘It’s The Sopranos meets Marley & Me when a volatile, chronically ticked-off writer struggles to help an abused, timid, big-hearted shelter dog'.

That blurb alone grabbed me immediately. A lover of dogs, films and anything thriller related can only be a winner as far as I’m concerned. And I was not disappointed.

This book is, in the author’s own words, a book born ‘ ... Out of a very unstructured, rambling diary’  and took the best part of two years to write. The quality of this input is apparent in the way the author opens each paragraph with a short snapshot of his tough upbringing during the 1950s and 60s. The reader travels through the author’s rather lively, raucous and high-octane lifestyle and you are more than aware you are reading someone’s journal, a very private journey that goes some way to explaining the anger issues that the author has learned to deal with on his journey with his rescued dog. And that is what this book is really about.

Tanner is the rescued pitbull dog that this whole personal journey centres around. The reader is introduced to the author’s early lifestyle that starts with Rebel, an Irish Setter dog that obviously meant the world to him and ends with Tanner. When one thinks of an Irish Setter one doesn’t conjure images of snarling, aggressive dog attacks. But I defy anyone to deny this is what enters their heads, even if only for a second, when the word ‘pitbull’ is mentioned. No dog is born aggressive and no dog is 100% domesticated but the journey in between is up to us. And Tanner shows in this book how pitbulls are malinged, much to media hype, and how dogs can truly help us, teach us in our lives. Tanner is actually a nervous wreck, terrified of anything out of the ordinary and hides a lot!

You don’t have to be a dog lover to appreciate this book. I was happy to review it as I have always had German Shepherds, my latest one a rescue with problems, so can empathise with judgemental attitudes that surround certain breeds. But this book is so much more than dogs; it’s a person’s story of how he developed coping mechanisms, life-changing attitudes and how hard it is to work at changing lifestyles.  By having to work with a dog that had issues, such as fearing everything, surrounded by people with preconceived ideas of the dog, the author cleverly shows how this path forced him to take his own issues to hand. The author is very honest and open that he has anger management problems stemming from childhood and through his 20s and I think this is a very difficult and brave thing to do.

Click here to see the rest of this fab review and the link for updates on Tanner!

Last week's Wrap Up!

Louise E. Rule Interviews David Procter for The Review's Author Interview

From David Procter's Author Page on amazon.co.uk

Hello my name is David T. Procter, and I am the author of Dead Men Lie.

David Procter

So who am I? Well until recently I was a self-employed plumber. A trade I had been involved in since leaving school at the venerable age of 16. Circumstances made me leave without any qualifications, but that didn't hold me back; the school of life taught me all I needed to know. In fact my writing career began during this period. A customer looked at an estimate I had produced and said, "Are you a writer because this is a work of fiction", or words to that effect. That gave me the incentive to try my hand.

I went back to school to hone my long-forgotten skills and eventually produced my first book. Forgotten Souls, while being a good story, was printed at least three edits too early. My vanity took over and eventually I realised my error and took it out of production. It will return in another guise, but until then I went on to write The Ties That Bind and a short family history. Until eventually Dead Men Lie came along.

Product Detail of Dead Men Lie

["I] curse you once, twice, thric[e!"]

The malevolent spectre of death had been unleashed upon the unsuspecting souls of Stormouth. Those destined to become its disciples waited in fear to taste its foul breath. Reverent Bayles had been seduced by the devil, had tasted its vileness and had a victim of his own in mind. Who then would feel the dark angels touch next? Could anyone avoid its progress?

Stormouth hid many secrets, which men like Joseph Wood desired to keep hidden. Secrets though have a tendency of becoming common knowledge. Burdened by her own desperation Abigail Wood discovers the immoralities hidden beneath the aura of respectability. A story of myriad twists and turns sees Abigail discover, hidden in the depths of depravity, the truth behind the towns success.

Welcome to The Review's Author Interview, David, thank you for taking the time to chat with me today.

It is a pleasure.

You say in your biography, quoted above, that a customer's words had given you the incentive to write. Had you felt, like so many people do, that you had a book in you waiting to be written?

Oh yes definitely. Mine had been forming for more years than I care to remember. I jotted down scenarios and characters' names, plot lines and twists, until almost the entire book was simply waiting to be written.

It is always interesting to know what an author's inspiration is when it comes to the subject of a book. Could you tell the readers what your inspiration was for writing Dead Men Lie?

Family history, pure and simple. What you have to realise is that until I began my research I knew nothing of the family beyond my parents' generation. So what I uncovered, the people, their stories, opened up this untapped source of inspiration.

Could you tell us about your character, Abigail Wood, please? For example, what are her weaknesses and her strengths?

Dearest Abigail, she has become more like a sister to me rather than simply a character. Her strengths are pugnaciousness, a determination to be heard, the realisation that she has been wronged and the ability to see both good and bad in each of her new friends. She is fallible, perhaps a little naïve, certainly a woman of her time. Yet she is not one to be treated as a skivvy. She has intelligence, the ability to speak with both men and women from all social levels. She is inherently kind and considerate, has the ability to forgive almost anything except what others do to her family. Above all she is no one's fool.

Characterisation is key to a story. Could you tell our readers how you go about building your characters' personalities?

To be honest, I cannot have a character until I have their name. it perhaps seems strange, but I can stare at a page for hours simply deliberating about the title of the story. Until I have that my mind cannot begin to work. Even if that name changes, I have to have something that relates to what I desire to write, the same with the characters. I knew I needed a particularly nasty man, I could see him in my mind, but the name alluded me until Tom Gasson was born; it was as if once the name fell into place he came to life. I could see him, hear him, smell and touch him. I saw the way he walked and the way he twitched, like the rats he caught twitched. When he spoke it was as if we were in conversation, in my head we argued, I heard every word he uttered, his tone, the way his breath hissed through his teeth. I did the same with every character. Each one is the embodiment of how I saw them as they lived their lives in Stormouth.

Some authors have a storyline which they follow. Did you have a plan for your story already set out to follow, or did you just let it flow in an organic fashion?

Very organic. That said, Dead Men Lie started with a specific space in time; from there I developed and embellished the rest of the story around it. As each twist emerged I laid it down on paper so I could remember that if Tom Gasson was in the 'Butts' he couldn't be killing rats somewhere else at the same time. However, mistakes did occur and that is where my photographic-memory-editor in Canada came in. She, in fact, can tell you more about the story than I can, especially each character.

I know many authors prefer to write long hand, and then edit their work as they type it onto the computer. What is your preference David, writing long hand, or straight onto the computer?

Straight onto the computer. Those who witnessed my signature at the launch recently will testify my hand writing isn't perfect.

When it comes to the editing process, how do you approach this? Do you edit as you go, or do you find waiting until the manuscript is finished works for you?

I write until the story ends warts and all. Dead Men Lie opened with about 290,000 words, until eventually it ended up at about 200,000. Once it is complete I begin to edit it down chapter by chapter, then it goes to Canada where Lisa begins her magic. She checks initially for errors in time line and so forth, and suggests corrections. That done, we look at spelling, comprehension and grammar. Then we start all over and hone it still further, perhaps removing whole sections or adding new chapters as we see fit. It's a long process. Dead Men Lie underwent, I think, 38 different read-throughs before we ended up with what you see today. Some people will say that's long winded, but it works for us, and if it's not broke we won't fix it.

Trilogies are very popular. With that in mind, do you think that you will write sequels to Dead Men Lie, or do you have something else in mind?

I intend to rewrite Forgotten Souls, and complete a family history so that my granddaughter will know what a rich heritage she has. After that, then yes, I do intend to write a prequel to Dead Men Lie. I have made a start but failed to find the right vehicle in which to set it, so I am taking a short break. I will return and write, perhaps another two or three episodes to Dead Men Lie, simply to explain what happened to various characters and how they all end up.

I would like to thank you for talking with me today, David, it's been really interesting.

Thank you for being very kind with your questions, it's been a pleasure.


David Procter can be found at his Facebook Page.

Louise E. Rule is author of Future Confronted. Louise can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.