Текст книги "Slices of Night"

Автор книги: Alex Kava

Соавторы: J. T. Ellison,J. T. Ellison,Erica Spindler
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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 9 страниц)

Questions for Erica Spindler

What is your favorite indulgence, treat or reward?

I’m going to be completely honest with you, I believe in indulging myself. I have my favorite Starbucks drink everyday. I keep good, really dark chocolate in the pantry and break off a chunk daily. I also make time for Pilates because it just makes me feel so good. Oh, and did I mention red wine? I must because it’s my favorite way to reward myself after a productive day writing. Ahh . . . enjoy.

Do you watch TV and if so, what do you watch?

I do – and for the most part the shows I watch have nothing to do with crime and punishment. I adore Mad Men and True Blood. The Office and 30 Rock always make me laugh, and I watch them with the family. We’re also American Idol junkies and have a party every week during the season with equally addicted friends. And if I need a bit of dependable, brain-numbing, stare-at-the-tube time, HGTV is my go-to fave.

Is there something you can share that readers might not already know about you?

I’m sort of a klutz. Not the trip over myself while I’m walking kind, but the any kind of sports, mechanical device kind. Some illustrious examples from my past: First time I tried to ride a bicycle, I went careening into a ditch. Got on my brother’s mini bike, confused accelerating for braking. It wasn’t pretty. Tried horseback riding with grim results. The first time I drove after I got my license, I nearly caused a fifteen car pile-up. Most recently, I dropped a Kettlebell on my foot. I’d thought I’d outgrown it, but the Kettlebell incident made me realize I’ve only learned to compensate. The safest place for me, it seems, is sitting in front of my computer!

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

When I was about ten years old I wrote a story about a woman whose husband was trying to kill her. They lived in a big house at the top of a mountain. The husband’s dastardly plan for delivering death? A big rock placed under her brake pedal. When she started down that mountain and went to brake–careening over the side she would go! Even with that, I didn’t realize I wanted to be a writer until twenty years later. My killers have gotten a lot more clever since then, but their hearts are still in the same place. And so, apparently, is mine.

What inspires your muse?

Life. Being out among people. Sneaking off to a movie in the middle of the day. Eavesdropping on conversations. The quiet. A coming storm. Prayer. Being alone. Walking. Christmas lights. It may sound like a lot, but you should see the list of things that shuts her down! (Yes, my muse is a she.)

Do you ever scare yourself?

Absolutely. My pulse will race right along with my character's! I also find myself cringing, holding my breath and wincing. Since I do alot of my writing at a coffee house, I've caught people looking at me strangely. I'm sure they think I am a complete nut job.

Who is Detective Stacy Killian?

My readers first met Stacy Killian in SEE JANE DIE. Jane’s sister, a homicide detective with the Dallas, Texas police force, was tough and testy, loyal and smart, with a chip on her shoulder the size of a boulder.

As I wrote SEE JANE DIE, Stacy kept trying to take the story away from Jane. Finally, after I promised Stacy I’d write her story, she quieted down. I kept my promise, brought her to New Orleans and paired Spencer Malone, bringing back the Malone family who I’d created in BONE COLD.

Until Stacy, I’d only written stand alone novels. And although I still write stand alones, Stacy and the Malones pop up every few books, demanding their stories be continued.

More Titles from Erica Spindler

*indicates a Stacy Killian/Malone Series

2013 DON’T LOOK BACK* (coming June, 2013)

2011 WATCH ME DIE*

2007 LAST KNOWN VICTIM*

2005 KILLER TAKES ALL*

2004 SEE JANE DIE* (re-released 2009)

2001 BONE COLD* (re-released 2010)

Stand Alones Novels:

2010 BLOODVINES

2009 BREAKNECK

2006 COPYCAT

2003 IN SILENCE (re-released 2009)

2002 DEAD RUN (re-released 2011)

2000 ALL FALL DOWN

1999 CAUSE FOR ALARM

1998 SHOCKING PINK

1997 FORTUNE

1996 FORBIDDEN FRUIT

1995 RED (re-released 2008)

What They’re Saying About Erica Spindler

"Filled with more twisted, dark paths than an ancient cemetery, WATCH ME DIE is a thriller guaranteed to chill your blood and set your teeth on edge." ~Lisa Jackson, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author on WATCH ME DIE

"Get ready to stay up all night...The latest Erica Spindler has arrived and it's time for another pulse-pounding, page-turning, absolutely can't-put-it-down, roller-coaster ride of a read!" ~Lisa Gardner, New York Times Bestselling Author of LIVE TO TELL, on BLOOD VINES

"Filled with well-developed, multidimensional characters, Spindler's latest boasts fast-paced action and emotional tension...the intricately woven plot makes this novel a sure winner for readers who like to keep guessing all the way to the end." ~Romantic Times on BREAKNECK

J.T. ELLISON – Blood Sugar Baby

(Metro Nashville Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson)

An "Occupy Nashville" protester is found dead on the sidewalk, but this isn't an ordinary victim, and Taylor Jackson must contain the story and identify the killer before he strikes again.

J.T. Ellison is the international award-winning author of seven critically acclaimed novels, multiple short stories and has been published in over twenty countries.

Ellison grew up in Colorado and moved to Northern Virginia during high school. She is a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College and received her master's degree from George Washington University. She was a presidential appointee and worked in The White House and the Department of Commerce before moving into the private sector. As a financial analyst and marketing director, she worked for several defense and aerospace contractors.

After moving to Nashville, Ellison began research on a passion: forensics and crime. She has worked with the Metro Nashville Police Department, the FBI, and various other law enforcement organizations to research her books.

Her short stories have been widely published, including her award winning story "Prodigal Me" in the anthology Killer Year: Stories to Die For, edited by Lee Child, "Gray Lady, Lady Gray" in the anthology Surreal South '11, edited by Pinckney Benedict and Laura Benedict, "Killing Carol Ann" in First Thrills, edited by Lee Child, and "The Number of Man" in the forthcoming anthology Thriller 3, edited by Sandra Brown. Her novel The Cold Room won the Thriller award for Best Paperback Original of 2010 from the International Thriller Writers (ITW).

Ellison is a member of several professional writing organizations, including International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America and Romance Writers of America. She has an active following on Twitter under the name @Thrillerchick, and a robust Facebook community.

She lives in Nashville with her husband and a poorly trained cat, and is hard at work on her next novel. To learn more about her please visit http://www.jtellison.com or follow her on Facebook at Facebook/JTEllison.

Questions for J.T. Ellison

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

The first female firefighter in Denver. Someone else beat me to it. I was crushed. Crushed. When that dream was taken away, I learned to never, ever plan for the future. I made my first five-year plan last year.

Do you ever scare yourself?

I totally scare myself. All the time. But I figure if it scares me, it will scare the reader. I’m very, very careful to make sure there isn’t anything gratuitous in my work. But when I look at what people are capable of, how they hurt one another, I can’t help myself. I want to find out why. I want to dig into their minds. And doing that leads me to some very frightening places. The funny thing is, I hate to be scared. Hate it. I won’t watch scary movies or read scary books. The last horror novel I read was Peter Straub’s GHOST STORY, and that was when I was 10. I knew then and there I could never read another book like that again.

What is your favorite indulgence, treat or reward?

People who know me know I’m not much of a girly girl. But without a doubt, the reward I enjoy the most are facials. It is a wonderful place to meditate on story. If I could, I’d do it every day. Instead, I save them to celebrate milestones – books finished, on sale, contracts signed, etc. Going to the symphony is another, I adore classical music. The great masters most of all – Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Beethoven, Liszt, Bach, Berlioz. Mahler is growing on me.

Do you watch TV and if so, what do you watch?

I do – I love shows that relate to my work. Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, Prime Suspect, Justified, Dexter, Castle, Mad Men and Californication all rank high on my list. I also love Weeds, Game of Thrones, the new show Once Upon a Time, and (cough) Gossip Girl. My editor got me hooked back in season one and now it’s just my dirty little indulgence. Perfect for folding laundry.

Is there something you can share that readers might not already know about you?

I learned to golf and to ski the same year, when I was five. I did both voraciously until we moved from Colorado to Virginia, where I was the only girl on my high school’s all male golf team. I was pretty good, actually, my father offered to let me skip my first year of college if I wanted to try out for the LPGA Q School. I sadly chose to go to college instead – what a dummy I was. I could have played golf for a living! I also threw shot put and discus, and had scholarship opportunities in both. But that kind of pressure wasn’t for me. So I played on my college golf team, and focused on school instead. I do enjoy an afternoon out on the links, though. That’s another indulgence reward.

When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve always been a writer. I think it chooses you. I wrote stories and poems when I was a kid – I have a bound book that I wrote when I was ten, “The Samaritan, Part II” about a spaceman whose ship is destroyed during landing, and he’s stuck on this lonely planet all by himself. It’s hysterically bad, but there is a distinct voice to the piece, one I “hear” even now. No idea why it was part two – I don’t recall ever writing part one. I was a poet and short fiction writer through college, and that’s when my professor told me I wouldn’t ever be good enough to actually publish, and I went into politics instead, and stopped all my creative writing. But story always lived at the edges of my mind, and I read everything I could get my hands on – Tami Hoag, Patricia Cornwell, Catherine Coulter, Lisa Gardner, J.D. Robb, Erica Spindler, Alex Kava, James Patterson, Diana Gabaldon. Ten years after that fateful indictment, I found John Sandford and suddenly, the world I’d been mentally lounging in opened before me, a massive fissure, and my muse crawled back out and demanded to be put to work immediately.

What inspires your muse?

First and foremost, reading other fabulous writers. I can be reading something completely unrelated to crime fiction and the words, the meter, the concept will strike me and one of my own plot or character issues will suddenly come clear. But music plays a large role too, as do nightmares I have. I try to avoid them, but sometimes, a horrifying act leaks into my subconscious and manifests itself in a bad dream, and I wake with a story on my mind. I do try to treat my Muse delicately, nurturing her (plying?) with a multi-fold approach of intellectual nourishment, travel, adequate sleep and dedicated playtimes, and of course, a nice bottle of red wine rarely goes amiss.

Who is J.T. Ellison’s Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson

Taylor is an offshoot of my own hero complex. She is uncompromising in her moral code, never hesitates if there is a person in trouble, and works hard to keep the people around her, strangers and friends alike, safe. I admire her tenacity and her ability to see the world in black and white. There’s good, and there’s evil. She knows which side of the fence she’s on. She’s a female Lucas Davenport, half cop, half rock star. Personally, I see her as Athena, the warrior goddess of Nashville.

More Titles from J.T. Ellison

Taylor Jackson novels:

2007 All the Pretty Girls

2008 14

2009 Judas Kiss

2010 The Cold Room

2010 The Immortals

2011 So Close the Hand of Death

2011 Where All the Dead Lie

Sam Owens novels

2012 A Deeper Darkness (April)

2012 Edge of Black (November)

What They're Saying about J.T. Ellison

"Shocking suspense, compelling characters and fascinating forensic details. When it comes to fast-paced thrillers, J.T. Ellison always has her game on." ~Lisa Gardner, #1 NYT bestselling author of CATCH ME

"A DEEPER DARKNESS has everything I love in a thriller: stunning twists and shocks, fascinating forensics, and heroines I deeply cared about. JT Ellison is one of the best writers in the game."~Tess Gerritsen, NYT bestselling author of THE SILENT GIRL

"Ellison is a genius and should be mandatory reading for any thriller aficionado".~Romantic Times

ALEX KAVA – Cold Metal Night

(FBI Profiler Maggie O’Dell)

A homeless man is found dead in a bloody snowdrift outside a downtown Omaha office building. Maggie O'Dell believes he's just one victim of a killer who crisscrosses the country. She knows she has less than twenty-four hours to catch him in Omaha before he moves on to another city and another victim.

Alex Kava grew up in the country outside Silver Creek, Nebraska. She earned a bachelor’s degree in art and English from College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska. She has done a variety of jobs, from working as a hospital tech, cleaning and sterilizing utensils from surgery, pathology and the morgue, to running her own graphic design firm, designing national food labels and directing television and radio commercials.

In 1996 she quit her job as a public relations director to dedicate herself to writing a novel and getting published. To pay the bills, she refinanced her home, maxed out her credit cards and even took on a newspaper delivery route.

Today, Alex is a New York Times bestselling author of psychological suspense novels. Her Maggie O’Dell series, comprised of A Perfect Evil, Split Second, The Soul Catcher, At the Stroke of Madness, A Necessary Evil, Exposed, Black Friday, Damaged and Hotwire along with her stand-alone novels, One False Move and Whitewash, have been widely praised by critics and fans. They have appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Her books have been published in twenty-six countries and have hit the bestseller lists in Australia, Germany, Poland, Italy and the UK.

One False Move was selected as Nebraska’s 2006 One Book One Nebraska. In 2007 Alex was awarded the Mari Sandoz Award by the Nebraska Library Association. Whitewash made January Magazine’s list of best thrillers for 2007. Exposed, Black Friday and Hotwire received starred reviews by Publishers Weekly.

She also has co-authored two short stories in the anthologies: First Thrills, edited by Lee Child (After Dark, co-authored with Deb Carlin) and Florida Heat Wave, edited by Michael Lister. A Breath of Hot Air, co-authored with Patricia Bremmer is now on KINDLE and NOOK.

Alex writes full-time and lives in Omaha, Nebraska and Pensacola, Florida. She is a member of International Thrillers Writers. Become a V.I.R. Member (Very Important Reader) at Alex's website: http://www.alexkava.com to win prizes or follow her on Facebook at Facebook/AlexKava.books

Questions for Alex Kava

What is your favorite indulgence, treat, reward?

Reading thrillers. I know that might sound odd, but for a long time I didn’t allow myself to read fiction, especially other thrillers, while I was writing.

I read constantly for research: on-line articles, magazines, newspapers, instruction manuals, loads of non-fiction books and even food labels. (Yes, for HOTWIRE I became obsessed with reading food packages). But I didn’t always allow myself to read fiction, only because I was more interested in finding out what happened in the book I’m reading instead of the one I was writing. Now, I allow myself a chapter or two or three before bedtime each night.

Do you watch TV and if so, what do you watch?

People always seem surprised that I don’t watch CSI, Law & Order, or Criminal Minds. After spending the day with killers and the evidence to catch them, I’m usually looking for something to make me laugh. I watch THE OFFICE, MODERN FAMILY, PARKS & RECREATION, and THE MIDDLE. Those are my favorites.

I also watch HELL’S KITCHEN, MASTER CHEF, PROPERTY VIRGINS with Sandra Rinomato, re-runs of THE X-FILES and of course, I love watching college football. When I’m looking for something a bit more thought provoking I go to cable news. I confess I’m a bit of a news junkie.

Is there something you can share that readers might not already know about you?

Both my parents were children of Polish immigrants. I grew up surrounded by all sorts of Polish traditions like having borscht on Easter morning and dancing the polka at weddings.

My dad played violin in the Kava Orchestra. He was a farmer and a welder by trade, but what a musical talent he was. He could pick up almost any instrument, listen to a song once–maybe twice on rare occasion and play it beautifully without being able to read a single note. I don’t have anywhere near his musical talent but back in my younger days I did win a few singing contests and actually sang at several of my friends’ weddings.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

In six grade. Mrs. Powers read to us after lunch every day. Wonderful stories like HARRIET THE SPY and CHARLIE THE LONESOME COUGAR. Listening to how Harriet wrote all sorts of things in her notebook was probably when I first realized I wanted to be a writer.

What inspires your muse?

Silence. A clear mind and a clear schedule with no appointments, errands or business that needs to be attended to. However, the best inspiration still appears to be that magical thing called “a deadline.”

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

Up until eighth grade I really wanted to be a veterinarian. Then someone told me I’d also have to put animals to sleep. Being a vet quickly dropped off my list.

Do you ever scare yourself?

Always. I like to tell my readers that I don’t need to know what their individual fears are, I just need to know how to trigger them . . . over and over again.

Who is FBI Special Agent Maggie O'Dell?

I never intended to write a series, so I feel like I’ve been getting to know Maggie O’Dell right along side my readers. I confess it’s been challenging and sometimes a bit annoying, but mostly it’s been a fun journey.

Maggie O’Dell is an expert FBI profiler. Recently I realized that Maggie’s biggest flaw is probably one of the things I admire most about her. She does what she believes is the right thing, despite the consequences and despite the risks including her own physical harm. Sometimes she bends – even breaks – the rules. I suppose you could say she’s stubbornly independent, but I prefer to call her brave.

I think what readers find endearing about Maggie is that even though she’s very capable of going up against killers she still has vulnerabilities and personal challenges. She hates flying and is claustrophobic. She’s divorced, has a suicidal alcoholic mother, and a half-brother she’s only now getting to know. She’s slow to trust, not good at relationships and has very few people she counts on.

One of the best things about writing the series is that every time I think I really know Maggie, I find yet another side of her to explore. She continues to surprise me and I hope that’s true for my readers as well.

More Titles from Alex Kava

Maggie O'Dell series:

2000 A Perfect Evil

2001 Split Second

2002 The Soul Catcher

2003 At The Stroke of Madness

2006 A Necessary Evil

2008 Exposed

2009 Black Friday

2010 Damaged

2011 Hotwire

2012 FireProof (July)

2013 Stranded (July)

Stand Alone novels:

2004 One False Move

2007 Whitewash