About the Author:
Interview:
What inspired you to start writing?
It was the one thing I enjoyed doing that I was also genuinely good at. There was really nothing else that filled that niche. I enjoyed skiing and tennis but I really sucked at both of them. I can’t sing on tune. Or play the guitar. The idea of being a corporate lawyer makes me break out in a cold sweat. I do enjoy cooking and am also pretty good at that so being a world class chef might have been fun. But when I left college I was offered a job writing copy for one of the world’s best and biggest ad agencies. I took it and had a ball writing and producing big budget television commercials for more than 25 years.
But all that time I always had an itch to try writing fiction. So I finally did. And it worked.
What inspired the setting and plot in this particular book in this series?
I set my first two books, The Cutting and The Chill of Night, in Portland and wanted to try something different.
I’d read a couple of newspaper articles about the horrendous levels of addiction to prescription painkillers, particularly oxycontin (AKA hillbilly heroin), in Washington County, Maine. It’s the poorest county in the state with a 2010 average per capita income of only $9,000 per year. I read one estimate suggested nearly half the teenagers in the county had had problems with the drug.
When an agent with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency told me one of his worst nightmare scenarios would be the smuggling of a large amount of the drug by boat from Canada into Maine, I had my premise.
How if any does Darkness First relate to any aspects of your life?
It doesn’t really, except in the very broad sense that the attitudes and experiences of many of the characters reflect my own attitudes and experiences. That’s what makes the characters in the book seem like real, multi-dimensional people instead of cardboard cutouts. A number of reviewers have called Darkness First a character driven thriller. I take that as a compliment.
What made you want to write crime and mystery novels as appose to other genres?
Mysteries and crime stories are what I mostly read for pleasure. My favorite authors include writers like James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Harlan Coben and Ian Rankin. So when I decided to try my hand at fiction it seemed only natural to go that route.
I loved the characters in this book, especially your leads. Do you have a character that you relate to most in this series?
I like them too. I have a huge crush on Maggie and I think it shows in the writing. I also like Tabitha. It was fun trying to capture the voice of a very nerdy, but very determined eleven-year-old girl. Finally, there’s McCabe. He’s my alter-ego. We’re alike in very many ways.
How long did it take you to write Darkness First?What inspired you to start writing?
It was the one thing I enjoyed doing that I was also genuinely good at. There was really nothing else that filled that niche. I enjoyed skiing and tennis but I really sucked at both of them. I can’t sing on tune. Or play the guitar. The idea of being a corporate lawyer makes me break out in a cold sweat. I do enjoy cooking and am also pretty good at that so being a world class chef might have been fun. But when I left college I was offered a job writing copy for one of the world’s best and biggest ad agencies. I took it and had a ball writing and producing big budget television commercials for more than 25 years.
But all that time I always had an itch to try writing fiction. So I finally did. And it worked.
What inspired the setting and plot in this particular book in this series?
I set my first two books, The Cutting and The Chill of Night, in Portland and wanted to try something different.
I’d read a couple of newspaper articles about the horrendous levels of addiction to prescription painkillers, particularly oxycontin (AKA hillbilly heroin), in Washington County, Maine. It’s the poorest county in the state with a 2010 average per capita income of only $9,000 per year. I read one estimate suggested nearly half the teenagers in the county had had problems with the drug.
When an agent with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency told me one of his worst nightmare scenarios would be the smuggling of a large amount of the drug by boat from Canada into Maine, I had my premise.
How if any does Darkness First relate to any aspects of your life?
It doesn’t really, except in the very broad sense that the attitudes and experiences of many of the characters reflect my own attitudes and experiences. That’s what makes the characters in the book seem like real, multi-dimensional people instead of cardboard cutouts. A number of reviewers have called Darkness First a character driven thriller. I take that as a compliment.
What made you want to write crime and mystery novels as appose to other genres?
Mysteries and crime stories are what I mostly read for pleasure. My favorite authors include writers like James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Harlan Coben and Ian Rankin. So when I decided to try my hand at fiction it seemed only natural to go that route.
Longer than it should have because I basically wrote it twice. First time out, after about 150 pages, I realized I was making Emily Kaplan the key protagonist of the book. Since I knew it had to be Maggie, I went back and essentially started over. All in all it took about eighteen months.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Read a lot. Write every day. And silence your inner critic (all writers have one) who keeps telling you that what you’re writing is crap. If it really is crap you can depend on agents and editors to let you know.
When will your next novel come out?
If all goes well, in about a year.
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