July Debuts

It's the first Thursday in July, which means debut releases. Please take a look and let’s celebrate their success!

M.P. Cooley - Ice Shear (William Morrow/HarperCollins) July 2014  

www.mpcooley.com

As a cop on the night shift in Hopewell Falls, New York, June Lyons drives drunks home and picks up the donuts. A former FBI agent, she ditched the Bureau when her husband died, and now she and her young daughter are back in upstate New York, living with her father, the town’s retired chief of police.

When June discovers a young woman’s body impaled on an ice shear in the frozen Mohawk River, news of the murder spreads fast; the dead girl was the daughter of a powerful local Congresswoman, and her troubled youth kept the gossips busy. Though June was born and raised in Hopewell Falls, the local police see her as an interloper—resentment that explodes in anger when the FBI arrive and deputize her to work on the murder investigation. But June may not find allies among the Feds. The agent heading the case is someone from her past—someone she isn’t sure she can trust.

As June digs deeper, an already fraught case turns red-hot when it leads to a notorious biker gang and a meth lab hidden in plain sight—and an unmistakable sign that the river murder won’t be the last.

Lori Rader Day -The Black Hour (Seventh Street Books) July 8, 2014

www.LoriRaderDay.com

For Chicago sociology professor Amelia Emmet, violence was a research topic--until a student she'd never met shot her. 

He also shot himself. Now he's dead and she's back on campus, trying to keep up with her class schedule, a growing problem with painkillers, and a question she can't let go: Why?

All she wants is for life to get back to normal, but normal is looking hard to come by. She's thirty-eight and hobbles with a cane. Her first student interaction ends in tears (hers). Her fellow faculty members seem uncomfortable with her, and her ex--whom she may or may not still love--has moved on.

Enter Nathaniel Barber, a graduate student obsessed with Chicago's violent history. Nath is a serious scholar, but also a serious mess about his first heartbreak, his mother's death, and his father's disapproval.  Assigned as Amelia's teaching assistant, Nath also takes on the investigative legwork that Amelia can't do. And meanwhile, he's hoping she'll approve his dissertation topic, the reason he came to grad school in the first place: the student attack on Amelia Emmet. 

Together and at cross-purposes, Amelia and Nathaniel stumble toward a truth that will explain the attack and take them both through the darkest hours of their lives.

Teri Anne Stanley - Deadly Chemistry (Entangled Ignite) June, 23, 2014

http://teriannestanley.com/

Some chemical reactions generate too much heat…

Former undercover cop Mike Gibson has been lying low, working as a maintenance man to put his troubled younger brother through college. But when a beautiful scientist enlists Mike’s help to repair the damage done to her lab by a group of vandals, Mike finds that his, and his brother's pasts, are about to be brought to light.

Laura Kane was happy having a secret crush on the hot maintenance man at Tucker University, but when the drug she was studying is stolen, Laura has a chance to get to know Mike in person. The problem is, he seems to know more about what's going on than any maintenance man should. But then the drug turns up in the wrong hands, and Mike and Laura have to decide if their own chemistry will help, or hinder, the race to save innocent lives.

Thomas Sweterlitsch - Tomorrow and Tomorrow (Putnam Adult) July 10, 2014

www.letterswitch.com

"Simultaneously trippy and hardboiled, Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a rich, absorbing, relentlessly inventive mindfuck, a smart, dark noir...Sweterlitsch's debut is a wild mashup of Raymond Chandler, Philip K. Dick and William S. Burroughs, and, like their work, utterly visionary." --Stewart O'Nan, author of "The Odds"

A decade has passed since the city of Pittsburgh was reduced to ash.  

While the rest of the world has moved on, losing itself in the noise of a media-glutted future, survivor John Dominic Blaxton remains obsessed with the past.  Grieving for his wife and unborn child who perished in the blast, Dominic relives his lost life by immersing in the Archive--a fully interactive digital reconstruction of Pittsburgh, accessible to anyone who wants to visit the places they remember and the people they loved.  

Dominic investigates deaths recorded in the Archive to help close cases long since grown cold, but when he discovers glitches in the code surrounding a crime scene--the body of a beautiful woman abandoned in a muddy park that he's convinced someone tried to delete from the Archive--his cycle of grief is shattered.

With nothing left to lose, Dominic tracks the murder through a web of deceit that takes him from the darkest corners of the Archive to the ruins of the city itself, leading him into the heart of a nightmare more horrific than anything he could have imagined.

Witness Impulse

by Nancy Allen

I’m a Witness Impulse author. I still get a surge of pride each time I say so. Witness released my debut novel, The Code of the Hills, as an e-book on April 15 of this year, and the paperback release followed on May 20; so at this point, I’ve had some time to espouse my association with the HarperCollins imprint. But “the new” hasn’t worn off yet (as we say in the Ozarks); and it’s still hard to believe my good fortune. When I signed with Witness, I landed in a fabulous environment.

My novel is a legal thriller set in the Missouri Ozarks, following the struggles of a young prosecutor as she fights to convict a man charged with the crime of incest. It was my first novel, and I wanted what all authors want: to see it published, to hold it in my hands, and to have my story reach as wide an audience as possible. Witness made all of my hopes for the book a reality.

My literary agent, Jill Marr with the Sandra Dijkstra Literary
Agency (a veritable angel with wings—but that’s another story), submitted it to Trish Daly, an editor at HarperCollins who was part of Witness, HC’s new mystery and suspense imprint. Trish loved the book, and had a feel for the characters and the setting, and an understanding of the themes, that blew me away. When Trish and I went to work on editorial changes, it was a pleasure, the most satisfying artistic collaboration you can imagine. We shared a vision.

Witness also provides publicity and marketing support. My publicist is Andrea Hackett; she sent out press releases, arranged national radio interviews, and set up a blog tour. But I wanted to be a part of the process; and as a team effort, we obtained book reviews in major Midwestern publications, local TV, a spot on NPR Morning Edition, and a piece in the Village Voice. Our marketing director will be doing retail promotions for The Code of the Hills this summer. All of this assistance has been golden; Witness has empowered me and my novel in ways I could never have achieved if I was going at it on my own.

In a recent visit to New York, I had the chance to meet these women face to face: my editor Trish, my publicist Andrea, the Marketing Magnate, Dana Trombley, and our editorial manager, Emily Krump. And though it was a bit daunting for a gray-haired hillbilly like me to encounter all that big-city flash and dash, they were just as nice as pie, and made me feel like one of the family. So: If I had it to do all over again, would I pick Witness Impulse as the home for my debut novel—my baby? Oh hell yeah. In a New York minute.

To uncover the truth, she'll have to break the code of the hills … In the Missouri Ozarks, some things aren't talked about … even abuse. But prosecutor Elsie Arnold is determined to change that. When she is assigned to prosecute a high-profile incest case in which a father is accused of abusing his three young daughters, Elsie is ready to become the Ozarks' avenging angel. But as Elsie sinks her teeth into the case, everything begins to turn sour. The star witness goes missing; the girls refuse to talk about their father, who terrorizes the courtroom from the moment he enters; and Elsie begins to suspect that their tough-as-nails mother has ulterior motives. To make matters worse, Elsie receives gruesome threats from local extremists, warning her to mind her own business. While Elsie swears not to let a sex offender walk, she realizes the odds—and maybe the town—are against her, and her life begins to crumble. But amidst all of the conflict, the safety of three young girls hangs in the balance ... A powerful debut, with the haunting atmosphere of Winter's Bone and the page-turning suspense of Alafair Burke's thrillers. 

Nancy Allen practiced law for 15 years as Assistant Missouri Attorney General and Assistant Prosecutor in her native Ozarks. She’s tried over 30 jury cases, including murder and sexual offenses, and is now a law instructor at Missouri State University. The Code of the Hills is her first novel.

Unveiling the Mystery of Marketing

By Pamela Crane

Been there, done that. I’ve been on all sides of the publishing coin—worked as an in-house editor for traditional houses, edited for self-published authors, self-published my own book, and traditionally published a book. So for you fellow writers, I know how grueling and frustrating the publishing industry can be!

If you can write a book in a week and hit the NYT best seller’s list the first week your book hits shelves, then this article isn’t for you. This message is for the feast-or-famine writers, the ones trying to make a living writing but can’t figure out what’s holding them back. Over the course of my editing and writing career, I’ve learned a few things and am here to share some insights based on my publishing venture with my psychological thriller The Admirer’s Secret.

My biggest word of advice is to consider your book an investment. You gotta give some to get some…I’m using that dirty word here: Money. I can imagine you flinching as I say that, but the worst thing that can cripple your book is poor editing and a mediocre cover. I’m an editor and even I paid another editor to edit The Admirer’s Secret. As the author, you’re too close to your work to do it justice. So do yourself a favor and save up the cash before you plan to publish and do it right, because the goal is to earn back what you’ve spent and then some. You can’t do that if critics spread the word about the low quality of your book. Set a budget for what you can spend and pay out to get a beautiful, quality book.

Assuming you have a good story, quality edit, and eye-catching cover, how do you spread the word? It’s the publishing world’s greatest mystery, like discovering the Ark of the Covenant. I remember when one publisher I worked for bought several thousand of their own books to manipulate sales needed to hit Publisher’s Weekly best-seller status. But not all of us can afford to spend $40,000 on our own books! So here’s some affordable ideas that have worked to sell The Admirer’s Secret:

1. Get reviews. I don’t care how embarrassing it is to beg for reviews—do it! And do it about 6 months before your book release.
2. Try Amazon’s KDP for three months. The gist is that you make your book exclusive to Amazon for 90 days and you get 5 “Free Days” where you give the book away for free to help boost your rankings. Spread out those free days over 3 months—2 free days one month, 2 another month, and 1 the third month. Publicize the hell out of those free days on your Facebook groups so that you get plenty of downloads. I hit #9 in my genre in actual income-producing sales after my first free day, so I can tell you it works.
3. Give BookBub a shot. It costs money, but they give your book coverage with their huge following.
4. Consider a book blog tour. While I didn’t see a significant number of sales from my blog tours, it got my name all over the Internet. A small price to pay to get exposure.
5. Autographed book giveaways are always a treat for fans. Goodreads hosts drawings for free print copies, and you’re sure to win a few new fans this way.
6. Enter contests for Indie publishing, such as Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Award and Los Angeles Book Festival Award (among countless others you can find online). The submission cost is minimal considering what winning an award could do for your book.

Before your eyes start to glaze over, I want to emphasize the biggest sales factor: Keep writing, keep publishing. Books sell books, and the cross-marketing gives you twice the chance of sales. I know it’s hard to justify writing and spending money on another book if one isn’t selling well, but remember—this is an investment. Keep investing and eventually you’ll see results.

Pamela Crane is a North Carolinian writer of the psychological thriller The Admirer’s Secret and wannabe psychologist, though most people just think she needs to see one. She’s a member of the ITW, ACFW, and EFA, and has been involved in the ECPA, Christy Awards, and Romance Writers of America. Along with delving into people’s minds—or being the subject of their research—she enjoys being a mom and riding her proud Arabian horse, when he lets her. She has a passion for adventure, and her hopes are to keep earning enough from her writing to travel the world in search of some good story material. Visit her at http://www.pamelacrane.com or follow her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pamela.crane.52 .

The Admirer’s Secret :

Westfield, New York—both home and prison to Haley Montgomery, a woman crippled by the death that hovers over her. After the loss of her father and best friend, Haley grapples with the loneliness of her small-town existence. But when her solitary life is upended by the man of her fantasies—the handsome, charming Marc Vincetti—her dreams quickly twist into a nightmare. A secret admirer’s eerie love letters threaten to uncover Haley’s dark past, unraveling a haunting childhood secret that consumes her. Soon the quest for the letters’ source sends her on a dangerous personal journey that could cost her life. As the layers of her troubled existence peel away, everything Haley thought she knew about love, and herself, testifies to the brokenness that lurks within the human psyche. A “masterfully written, raw psychological suspense novel.”

Three Not-So-Thrilling Debut Surprises

by Robert Rotstein

Writing my debut novel? Exhilarating. It’s what I’d wanted to do for years. Navigating the byzantine world of the publishing business? Not exhilarating, but I’ve practiced entertainment law for some time, so those arcane agency and publishing contracts weren’t all that daunting. Trolling for blurbs? Scary, but eventually some generous, talented authors said yes.
Only when my book was actually launched into that vast sea of published print did I discover that I’d harbored some misconceptions.

Surprise No. 1: Not everyone you know is going to want to buy your book, even your friends. Because I’ve always loved books and admired authors, I assumed that everyone else does, too—or at least that they’d admire me for writing one. Not necessarily. There are the nonreaders—more and more lately—who simply aren’t so impressed with your accomplishment. Others think they’re doing you a favor by reading your novel—not buying it, reading it. I heard this more than once (and I’m not talking family or close friends): “You wrote a book? Cool. Send me a copy.” Depending on my mood, I’d either smile or say, “It’s available at Barnes & Noble and on Amazon.” Then there was the friend, an aspiring writer himself, who graciously bought my book, but later reported, “I’ve lent my copy to five friends, and they all loved it.” “How nice,” I replied, while clenching my jaw and thinking, Why didn’t you tell them it’s available at Barnes & Noble and on Amazon?

Surprise No. 2: Posting on social media doesn’t automatically mean massive sales. My social-media-savvy son warned me. Maybe it was an age thing, but I’d hoped that all my Facebook friends would share my release date, that they’d tell their friends, and they’d tell their friends, and … Corrupt Practices goes viral. Nope. Many Facebook friends and Twitter followers are also authors, hawking their own books. And those friends and followers who aren’t writers didn’t necessarily buy my book (see Surprise No. 1).

Surprise No. 3: You might not draw big crowds at your book signings. You will if you’re the next Lee Child or Gillian Flynn, but most of us aren’t. Bookstores expect you to bring your own crowd. My first reading was well attended, but not by strangers—kind of a second Bar Mitzvah (“Friends and family, today I am an author.”) Another reading/signing took place on a Sunday afternoon so sweltering that the city streets were empty. At the tiny bookstore were my then wife, my son, my sister, my niece, and my eighty-eighty-year-old mother. In answer to my question about their most successful events, the bookstore manager said, “Michael Connelly. Lines out the door and down the block.”

I asked for it.

I drank wine, bought books, and read to my family. Strangely, it was relaxed, serene, all about the words and not about impressing an audience—ultimately, my most gratifying appearance. That wonderful day was a reminder of why I became a writer in the first place.

Attorney Parker Stern, still crippled by courtroom stage fright, takes on a dicey case for an elusive video-game designer known only as “Poniard.” In Poniard's blockbuster online video game, Abduction!, a real-life movie mogul is charged with murdering a beautiful actress who disappeared in the 1980s. The mogul—William "the Conqueror" Bishop—has sued for libel. Now it's up to Parker to defend Poniard in the suit. When key potential witnesses die prematurely, Parker begins to feel as if he's merely a character in a violent video game himself.

Robert Rotstein is a writer and attorney who’s represented many celebrities and all the major motion picture studios. He’s the author of Reckless Disregard (Seventh Street Books, June 3, 2014), about Parker Stern, an L.A.-based attorney, who takes on a dangerous case for a mysterious video game designer against a powerful movie mogul. Reckless Disregard has received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist. His debut novel, Corrupt Practices (Seventh Street Books), was published in 2013. Visit Robert at www.robertrotstein.com

June Debut Releases

It's the first Thursday in June, which means debut releases. Please take a look and let’s celebrate their success!

Kym Brunner - Wanted: Dead or In Love (Merit Press)  June 15, 2014
http://www.kymbrunner.com

Impulsive high school senior Monroe Baker is on probation for a recent crime, but strives to stay out of trouble by working as a flapper at her father's Roaring 20's dinner show theater. When she cuts herself on one of the spent bullets from her father's gangster memorabilia collection, she unwittingly awakens Bonnie Parker's spirit, who begins speaking to Monroe from inside her head.

Later that evening, Monroe shows the slugs to Jack, a boy she meets at a party. He unknowingly becomes infected by Clyde, who soon commits a crime using Jack's body. The teens learn that they have less than twenty-four hours to ditch the criminals or they'll share their bodies with the deadly outlaws indefinitely. 

Dennis Hetzel (with Rick Robinson) - Killing The Curse (Headline Books)  May 8, 2014
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDennisHetzel

The Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series for more than 100 years or even played in one since 1945. Now they’re positioned to win the Series for the first time since 1908 – if only curses and bad luck don’t haunt them as usual. That’s what happens when a swarm of gnats helps the Boston Red Sox tie the Series at three games each. To kill the curse, the Cubs must win Game 7 in Chicago. 

No one wants the Cubs to win more than Luke Murphy, President of the United States and lifelong fan. Leading the chorus of disbelievers is Murphy’s boyhood friend, Bob Walters, a sports radio talk-show host with a beautiful daughter and a big ego who built ratings by being “the man Cub fans love to hate."

The Cubs have someone else on their side—a brilliant, crazed fan who will do anything to make sure they win. Anything. It starts with an attack on the father of Boston’s best pitcher and grows into an escalating threat that could destroy Murphy’s career, expose childhood secrets, and kill hundreds of innocent people.

Everything comes to a head as Game Seven unfolds---a game the Cubs must win no matter what. 

Graeme Shimmin - A Kill in the Morning (Bantam Press) 19 Jun 2014

http://graemeshimmin.com

I don't like killing, but I'm good at it. Murder isn't so bad from a distance, just shapes popping up in my scope. Close-up work though - a garrotte around a target's neck or a knife in their heart - it's not for me. Too much empathy, that's my problem. Usually. But not today. Today is different...

The year is 1955 and something is very wrong with the world. It is fourteen years since Churchill died and the Second World War ended. In occupied Europe, Britain fights a cold war against a nuclear-armed Nazi Germany.

In Berlin the Gestapo is on the trail of a beautiful young resistance fighter, and the head of the SS is plotting to dispose of an ailing Adolf Hitler and restart the war against Britain and her empire. Meanwhile, in a secret bunker hidden deep beneath the German countryside, scientists are experimenting with a force far beyond their understanding.

Into this arena steps a nameless British assassin, on the run from a sinister cabal within his own government, and planning a private war against the Nazis. And now the fate of the world rests on a single kill in the morning...

Tom Wither - The Inheritor (Turner Publishing Company)  May 16, 2014

www.tomwither.com

America’s Most Deadly Enemy is still loose . . . and he’s ready to move.

On the eve of the takedown of the world’s leading terrorist, his protégé eluded U.S. forces . . . and now he’s racing across four countries in a scenario that could happen tomorrow.

Following his dead mentor’s desire to reestablish the Islamic Caliphate, Aziz Abdul Muhammad, hand-picked by bin Laden himself, masterminds a series of attacks on the U.S. energy infrastructure that will reignite the war against the West. As his initial series of attacks creates mass panic, leaving the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states in terrified darkness, the manhunt is on.

In a unique special operations force, veteran intelligence officer David Cain, along with Air Force Sergeant Emily Thompson and rookie FBI Agent Dave Johnson, leads the U.S. effort to find Aziz and his operations expert. From Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay to Chicago and the outskirts of Tehran, the force must halt Al Qaeda’s attempt to rise from the ashes of its former self—and stop the Inheritor before the rest of his terrifying plan unfolds.

Erica Wright - The Red Chameleon (Pegasus)  June 8, 2014

www.ericawright.org

As a private investigator, Kathleen Stone relies on her ability to blend into the background. With a little help from the best wigmaker on the Atlantic seaboard, Kathleen Stone can take on a variety of personas, from a posh real estate agent to a petulant teenage boy. She was once a valuable undercover cop for the New York Police Department, but since her early retirement following a botched case, she has gone a little soft. These days, with the assistance of a street-smart drag queen, she mostly catches cheating spouses in flagrante. When one husband ends up not so much adulterous as dead, Kat must tune up her rusty skills to catch a killer.

She begins investigating the upper echelons of New York, a city that can swing from glamorous to lethal in an instant. She soon finds herself stepping on the toes of her former best friend, Detective Ellis Dekker, as well as a sadistic kingpin she hoped to never see again. Not only do memories of Salvatore Magrelli’s knife-friendly tendencies give her the heebie-jeebies, but his connection to the case makes Kat a possible suspect, too. She needs to move fast . . . if she is to avoid becoming the next victim.

STORY IDEAS

by David Heilwagen

Story ideas, it seems, can pop into your head when you least expect them. Think back for a moment. How many times have you been riding in a crowded subway, or driving along the freeway in the middle of rush hour traffic, when a burst of inspiration picks that exact moment to dance through your brain? It’s more than likely happened to all of us at one time or another.

More than once I have woken-up in the middle of the night from a dream, my subconscious having just mapped-out a plotline for my next great novel. Regrettably, I rolled over and went back to sleep, thinking I would remember it in the morning. That never happened. Although I could recall having the dream, for the life of me I couldn’t recollect the nuts and bolts of what had taken place inside my head. Another great story forever vanished.

Unfortunately, great storylines are oftentimes fleeting, and if you don’t capture them at the exact moment they appear, or soon thereafter, there’s a strong chance they will be forever lost.

As a writer, it’s always a good idea to have a way of recording these thoughts close at hand. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or high tech. For example, it can be as simple as a yellow legal pad and a pencil next to your bed, or a small recording device stuck in your pocket. With today’s advances in electronic technology, you can easily document ideas, dialogue, scenes, characters, etc, onto an iPhone or any other device, and then store it for later use. I’ve even typed-out the idea into text message and then sent it to my email address. That way I can pull up the email once I’m back in the confines of my writing workspace.

In the days before cell phones and iPads, how many times did you see famed writer, David E. Kelly, walking the red carpet at the Oscars with a pen and yellow legal pad in hand. That’s dedication to your craft, folks. Ernest Hemingway, for example, used tiny notebooks bound with elastic bands called Moleskines. They were small enough that he could keep one in his pocket while out on the ocean in his fishing boat, Pilar. You can still purchase these handy little notebooks at almost any office supply outlet or college bookstore. If modern technology is your thing, there is an app available for your phone called, A Novel Idea.

Whatever method works best for you, make sure you get those ideas down as soon as you can. Who knows, you may just be mapping-out your next bestseller.

Fleeing a violent husband and a dying marriage, Amanda Brougher abandons her life in Nashville. Driving through the night, she eventually lands in Key West, Florida. It’s here Amanda hopes to find the tranquility needed to restart her life managing a small island inn. But Amanda’s plans begin to unravel almost as soon as she arrives. 
Paul Brougher isn’t about to let his wife leave so easily. As soon as he discovers she’s left, Paul embarks on a deluded quest to hunt her down. Plus, the inn’s elderly owner has died unexpectedly, leaving Amanda now without a job or a place to live. Her son, Brock Hamilton, is putting the inn up for sale. A veteran U.S. Coast Guard Officer, Brock is trying to come to terms with his own shattered past. Now, with a major hurricane barreling towards Key West, and a deranged ex-husband quickly closing-in, two lost souls turn to each other for comfort and security. A spark ignites and the flames of romance quickly consume them, setting into motion a chain of events that takes both of them on a life-changing journey of danger, intrigue, and self-discovery.

David Heilwagen survived nearly 30 years as a police officer on the streets of Indianapolis. He retired in 2008 with the rank of Sergeant. Out of his love of reading and writing fiction came his first book, Cone of Uncertainty. David grew up in the Indianapolis suburbs of Lawrence, Indiana; graduating from Lawrence Central High School. He studied at Vincennes University and the Indiana University School of Journalism. He has written and published several travel articles on the Florida Keys, as well as hiking and snowshoeing in Colorado. David lives on the Southside of Indianapolis with his wife, Julie, and daughter, Tara. When Indiana turns cold, David can be found on his sailing vessel, Wind Bandit, cruising somewhere in the Florida Keys. 

You can reach David at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cone-of-Uncertainty-A-Key-West-Romantic-Thriller/265218636915029

Seven Years to the Bookshelf

In 2007, I finally decided to sit down and begin writing a novel. I had been a voracious reader since I was a teenager, enjoying the terrific stories penned by James Clavell, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, and Robert Ludlum. In fact, I lost count of how many times during my high school years I re-read some of the books in Clavell’s Asian Saga (Tai-Pan & Noble House) in English class, rather than listen to another lecture on diagramming sentence structure or a discussion of a Shakespeare comedy.

During those years, my mother introduced me to Robert Ludlum’s books, and I particularly enjoyed his Bourne Identity and Parsifal Mosiac, which initially fueled my interest in espionage thrillers. Following closely on the heels of that discovery, I began to read Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt adventures.  My first exposure to the techno-thriller came from the man who founded the genre.  I found Tom Clancy’s Hunt for Red October on the shelf in my high school library, and by the time I’d finished his second book, Red Storm Rising, I was hooked.

Looking back on all those terrific stories, I was impressed not just by the story telling abilities of all those great authors, but also by the magnificent imaginations and sense of ‘world control’ that being an author conveys. You create a world or a universe, populate it with interesting characters, bring them into conflict, and determine how it will work out. Then you write a story that you hope others will enjoy and identify with.

Following the 9/11 attacks, I took note (and great exception) to some of the mischaracterizations and misinformation thrown around in the media about modern military capabilities and the professionalism of the members of the intelligence community. Being a veteran of the modern military and an experienced intelligence professional, my understanding was admittedly not shared by the larger public.

After due consideration, I decided it was time to put my fingers on the home row, and begin crafting a novel to give the reader a sense of being an intelligence professional and be in the field and ‘on the trigger’ with the special operations forces. It took me nearly a year to complete it, and as I worked, I also began to read everything I could find about writing novels to improve my technical skills (since I had only taken one creative writing class in college).  The books on writing also covered an overview of the book acquisition and publishing process; so I branched out, buying more books to learn about the business of publishing so I could interact effectively with my future agent and editor.

While I enjoyed building my ‘world’ within the novel and crafting what I hoped would be an enjoyable thrill ride, I also made a conscious choice to follow the traditional publishing route – find an agent to represent my work, and let my agent find a publisher.  At the time, self-publishing seemed a very murky prospect (and still does to my mind), and e-books were not yet the healthy chunk of sales they are now.

Once the manuscript was complete, I began querying agents for my genre. I did so with the same hope I suspect all writers share – I’ll get one after the first few queries. After a few months, I had experienced the first six of many rejections. Persistence, diligent searches for agents representing my genre, and the submission of effective queries (and, I think some luck) finally resulted in an offer of representation from a publishing professional just starting his own agency.

Then it was time for more rejections. My agent and I spoke monthly. He updated me on his queries to publishers, and their ‘it’s not right for our list’ vanilla rejections as the bad economy and the advent of e-books made impacts on the decision to invest in launching a new author. Patience became the watchword as the years crawled by.

Then, in late 2012, I received an early Christmas present – an offer from Turner Publishing for not just my first novel, but my second as well. Interacting with the staff at the publishing house is another exercise in patience.  Throughout the months leading up to the street date, it’s important to remember two things - your book isn’t the only one the staff is working on; and that the editing process requires that your ‘pride of authorship’ be throttled back - alot.  In the end, the editorial staff wants to make your book the best possible saleable property, from cover art to story, and that benefits you as much as the publisher.

With a street date set for the first novel in June of 2014, and the second in September, most of 2013 was another year to practice being patient, and finally, in October, a late birthday present – the cover art for THE INHERITOR and the first really tangible evidence that I would finally be a published writer.  Since then, the months have slid by in story edits, copyedits, marketing and publicity discussions, and plans for the first book signing.

Overall, while it has been long in coming, it has been an adventure so far.  Looking out over what will be my debut year, I’m sure it will be interesting and exciting in many ways.  Hopefully, the stories I’ve written will be enjoyed by my readers. After all, that is what matters most to a writer.

* * * 

Tom Wither served his country for more than 25 years as a member of the Air Force's Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency and its predecessor organizations, the Air Intelligence Agency, the Air Force Intelligence Command, and the Electronic Security Command. He has served as an intelligence analyst at various locations, including Japan and Saudi Arabia, and is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War. During Operation DESERT SHIELD, he was selected to brief HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales; the Commanders of British and French in theater forces; and the U.S. Army's VII Corps Commander on the integration of Air Force intelligence capabilities within the Tactical Air Operations Center. During Operation DESERT STORM, he provided time critical information to the Joint Rescue Coordination Center resulting in the safe extraction of downed allied airborne personnel and the provision of location data to the USCENTCOM targeting cell that culminated in the destruction of 25 strategic targets. He has received the Meritorious Service Medal, three Air Force Commendation Medals, and three Air Force Achievement Medals. In addition to his MS in Computer Systems Management, Tom holds professional certifications from the National Security Agency as an Intelligence Analyst, and the Director of National Intelligence as an Intelligence Community Officer (now the Joint Duty program). He lives near Baltimore.
You can contact Tom via:  www.TomWither.com; or on Facebook: Tom Wither - Writer

America’s Most Deadly Enemy is still loose . . . and he’s ready to move. Following his dead mentor’s desire to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate, Aziz Abdul Muhammad, hand-picked by bin Laden himself, masterminds a series of attacks on the U.S. energy infrastructure that will reignite the war against the West. As his initial series of attacks creates mass panic, leaving the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states in terrified darkness, the manhunt is on.  In a unique special operations force, veteran intelligence officer David Cain, along with Air Force Sergeant Emily Thompson and rookie FBI Agent Dave Johnson, leads the U.S. effort to find Aziz and his operations expert. From Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay to Chicago and the outskirts of Tehran, the force must halt Al Qaeda’s attempt to rise from the ashes of its former self—and stop The Inheritor before the rest of his terrifying plan unfolds. Wither blends his extensive military intelligence experience with fast-paced storytelling to create a gripping thriller that spans six weeks and four countries. 

Confessions of a Writer

by Terry Irving


When I graduated from college, I was certain of a few things about my future.

* I was never going to live long enough to get Social Security.
* I was never going to live in Washington DC.
* I’d just escaped a family helmed by an alcoholic so I was never going to be tied down by marriage and kids.
* I was going to travel the world on my own—probably by tramp steamer--and
* I was never going to be a writer.

So what happened?

* I’m now 62 and taking early benefits,
* I’ve always lived near Washington because I keep marrying women who refuse to leave.
* I spent two weeks all alone in France with money in my pocket and complete freedom. I was miserable.
* In the year I turned 33, we had a baby, paid cash to put a kid through college, and bought a house out in the suburbs. I learned how to scream right back at debt collectors.
* It's all a story of broken dreams but the worst thing is that I'm becoming a writer.

How did this happen? When I was a young kid running around ABC News, I told one producer that I couldn't be a writer because then I'd have to compete with my father. He looked at me and said, "My old man was known to write a thing or two and I still manage to pound out copy." His name was Tom Capra. Yeah. Frank Capra of A Wonderful Life and Why We Fight was his dad.

I managed to avoid writing for about 20 years. I was a television producer and that meant solving problems—anything from waking a drunken cameraman to carrying $77,000 in cash into Beirut. I edited scripts, organized them, did the interviews, and found the video but I always had the reporter write it.

So, how did I begin to write?

After I ventured out of ABC and into the real world, I realized that most people will do anything to get out of writing. Drawn by higher freelance rates, I fell into the wretched habit. First, it was light stuff like documentaries on Croatia and instructional videos on the proper storage of explosives, but I soon worked up to hard core--the first (and only) History of the World on CD-ROM and users manuals for video editors and pay-per-view software.

I knew it was too late when I began writing for anchors and correspondents, pounding out heartfelt obituaries for people I didn't know, and creating dramatic descriptions of wars a world away. Most of my teachers used the CBS Method (they would throw the copy at me and scream, "You call this a script?") so I learned quickly. The day I knew I was doomed was when I had ten minutes to knock out something dramatic and there wasn't a word in my head. I just sat down put my fingers on the keys.

It worked.

I've always been fired a lot—it's a package deal with my personality—so I wasn't very surprised to find myself at home in 2010. What was different was that I was old. I swear it snuck up on me when I wasn't looking. After 9 months of futile phone calls and lunch dates, I decided to write a book that had been in the back of my mind since 1976.

The nice thing about the way I was trained is that you learn to write really fast. The first 70,000-word draft was done in 12 weeks—and several of those weeks, I was writing for Retirement Living Television during the day. The soul-deadening experience of writing promos ("Watch tonight's show or your children will die,") made those begging letters to agents a snap. I got an agent and then a new job came along and I forgot the book. I felt bad about that but these people were actually paying me.

When, inevitably, I was fired from that job, I knew it was crunch time. Not only was I far too old to hire but most people in Washington now knew I was a "difficult" person to work with.

Sadly, I agree with them on both points.

After I was sent home from Lyft.com for failing the mandatory fist-bump, writing was all that was left. I picked up that first manuscript, completely rewrote it, and my agent managed to sell it to an insane Englishman who was clearly drunk at the time. Encouraged by this "instant" success, I knocked out an eBook about unemployment and instantly lost all faith in the low-cost, high-profit world of online publishing. I managed to get some real money for editing someone else's book, then it was turning the first novel into a screenplay just in case Hollywood calls (it hasn't,) and wrapping up the sequel seven months early. Then I knocked out a paranormal detective thriller. Why? Because I can't quite bring myself to write Women Who Love Werewolves and the Vampires Who Love Them.

That was my first year as a writer.

I have a series about a Greek-American private eye in 1930s Manila on the back burner, the third book in the Freelancer Series to work out and, oh yeah, a publicity tour to try and sell the first book. I just went to a writer's conference where the entire panel agreed that no one should quit their day job in the hope of making it as a writer.

I wish I had that luxury.

On the other hand, I've known times where I had less money and more debts; I like sitting around in jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, and a few of the people I trust have said that my work doesn't actually suck. So what if the situation is basically "Write or Die"? It just makes it a bit more challenging.

All the tramp steamers have been replaced by container ships anyway.

In his debut novel, Courier, Emmy award-winning journalist and  writer  Terry Irving paints a gritty picture of a Washington DC that today has completely disappeared under new parks and high-rise office buildings. In the middle of the scandal and drama of Watergate,  Rick, a motorcycle courier, unsuspectingly picks up a roll of news film and—after the correspondent  and crew are killed—finds that he is next on the killer’s to-do list. With the help of friends—and a  woman who threatens to crack the shell he's built to defend his heart—Rick must discover what's on the  film and why officials are willing to kill to keep it from the front pages.

Author and long-time journalist  Terry Irving  moved to Washington D.C. in 1973 to kick around for a few weeks and never looked back. In the nation’s capital, Irving started out riding a classic BMW for ABC News during Watergate. Carrying that news film was the beginning of a  40-year career  that has included producing Emmy Award-winning television news, writing everything from magazine articles to standup comedy and developing early forms of online media. He has traveled and worked in all 50 states plus parts of Europe, Africa and Asia.  Irving is the winner of four National Emmy Awards, multiple Peabody, DuPont and Telly awards, plus an honor at the Columbus Film Festival. He has produced stories around the world from the fall of the Berlin Wall to Tiananmen Square. He worked as a senior live control room producer at  CNN, Fox, ABC and MSNBC He has written and edited copy for some of the top anchors and journalists in television news including Diane Sawyer, Wolf Blitzer, and Ted Koppel.

Second Novel-itis

by Jenny Milchman

The Thrill Begins and the Debut Authors Program is all about that first magical book release, something many of us labor towards for five, ten, fifteen years. (It took me thirteen…and my debut novel was the eighth one I had written).

But what gets focused on less is what happens after that. There is no Sophomore Authors Program (though maybe there should be). Is it true that the only thing harder than getting a first novel published is building a lasting career as an author? How do we stay in this game? And how do things differ between year one and year two?

I thought I would present some of the events and activities that surround a book release, and the differences I’ve seen between my first time and this one.

Day before pub:
*First Novel: I sit cross-legged on my bed and chew my nails. What is tomorrow going to be like? Make that, what the %@#!! is tomorrow going to be like?
*Second Novel: I have a hometown book party. My publisher is willing to release books a day early so I can fit this in. Would they have done this last year with my debut? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know I wouldn’t have had the courage (or knowledge) to ask.

Pub Day:
*First Novel: I celebrate with a launch party at New York City’s last and greatest mystery bookstore, The Mysterious Bookshop in Soho. Before going downtown, I stop off at my publisher to sign books, which they will send all over the country. I routinely pinch myself and think, I am a real author at last. (Sometimes I even say this out loud). The store is packed. People eat and drink. I say words I can’t remember, though I do know I thanked a famous author who was kind enough to give me a blurb. I read a section out loud. It’s the first time I’ve ever read aloud when I am not tucking a child into bed.
*Second Novel: I am lucky enough to celebrate pub day with a launch party at The Mysterious Bookshop again. This time around, I am joined by an author who just happens to be an ITW member, MJ Rose, making for an even more vibrant, fun event. And guess what? The author I thanked so heartily last year around this time? He is out there in the crowd, mingling with his many adoring peeps.

Blog Tour & Online Presence:
*First Novel: I have some FB friends and have just arrived on Twitter. My presence on social media is sporadic, although I am always happy to read other people’s status updates and thank them for noticing mine. Twitter I don’t get at all. I write novels. What can be said in 140 characters? The independent publicity firm I hired put together a dense and exciting blog tour, front-loaded to saturate the web (as much as such a thing is possible) around the time of release. I am frantically writing and commenting and completing interviews during this time.
*Second novel: My FB friends are up to 3000 and I have 2000 Twitter followers. I now see what can be done in 140 characters. (Not much, but still somehow I feel compelled to do it). I spend two or three hours per day on these sites, and the world feels like a smaller, friendlier place. This time around, I spread out the blog appearances so that they keep time with my face-to-face appearances (more on this to come). I’m no less frantic as I write and fill out and answer interview questions—just how are we supposed to do this all again?—but the posts appear with more time between, giving me a chance to catch up on comments. Hopefully they will also keep news of the book and my travels out there in cyber space, but I’ll have to let you know about that next year.

Other media:
*First novel: My fantastic independent publicity firm (shout out—JKS Communications!) got me onto local TV morning segments and multiple interesting radio shows. I spent the first 6 weeks after release feeling a little like a movie star.
*Second Novel: I’m focusing on radio shows where I really connect with the host (shout out—Pam Stack and Authors on the Air) and which air in cities and states where I’ll be doing events (shout out—the Culture Buzz in Des Moines, Iowa). I won’t be doing TV segments because the early hour makes them difficult to schedule—unless your brilliant independent publicists take care of this—and also, I’m not convinced that TV really helps authors connect with readers until the author is very well established.

Book Tour:
*First novel: My debut released in January, and my family and I went out on a 7 month/35,000 mile book tour. I’ve written about this a lot elsewhere, so right now I will just say that the trip was magical enough—and hopefully successful enough—that this time around…
*Second Novel: My publisher has put together a tour for me as far west as Chicago. After that I’ll continue on for 4 months/20,000 miles with my family (the shorter length is an artifact of pub date, not because the first was too long). Also another ITW author will come along for the first 2000 miles. (Shout out—Carla Buckley!) How did that happen? Stay tuned. I just may write about it. Hey, you can always cram in another blog post during the busy first months after release…

                                                              

Liz Daniels has just set off on what should be a long-awaited vacation, but when the family stops for the night, she wakes to find a terrifying reality. Her children are missing, and the hours tick by without anyone finding a trace of them. But in a sudden, gut-wrenching instant, Liz realizes that no stranger invaded their hotel room. Instead, someone she trusted completely has betrayed her. Now Liz will stop at nothing to get her children back. From her guarded in-laws’ farmhouse to the woods of her hometown, Liz follows the threads of a terrible secret to uncover a hidden world created from dreams and haunted by nightmares.

Jenny Milchman's journey to publication took thirteen years, after which she hit the road for seven months with her family on what Shelf Awareness called "the world's longest book tour". Her debut novel, Cover of Snow, was chosen as an Indie Next and Target Pick, praised by the New York Times and San Francisco Journal of Books, given the Mary Higgins Clark award, and nominated for a Barry. Jenny is also the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day and chair of International Thriller Writers' Debut Authors Program. Jenny's second novel, Ruin Falls, just came out, and she and her family are back on the road.

May Debut Releases

It's the first Thursday in May, which means debut releases. Please take a look and let’s celebrate their success!

Janie Chodosh - Death Spiral (The Poisoned Pencil) April 1, 2014
www.janiechodosh.com

When loner Faith Flores finds her mother dead of an apparent overdose, she refuses to believe that’s the case. Sure, her mom made some bad decisions, but leaving her daughter would never be one of them. Unfortunately, the cops are all too eager to close the case and move on, sending a distraught and unsatisfied Faith to live with her Aunt T in the suburbs of Philadelphia. 

But a note from Melinda, her mom’s junkie friend, prompts Faith to begin digging, igniting her passion in science and her need for answers. Faith soon discovers Melinda and her mother had participated in an experimental clinical trial to treat heroin addiction. Then Melinda also turns up dead from an apparent overdose. Now Faith is pulling out all the stops in her search for truth, cutting school, lying to her aunt, her best friend, even the police. The only person she can’t lie to is new boy Jesse, whose brutal honesty is a welcome respite from the mountain of misinformation uncovered by her investigation. 

Faith’s investigation takes her through the myriad back alleys and laboratories of Philly, all the way to one of the most powerful scientists in town. But when the medical examiner’s body is found in the Schuylkill River, Faith realizes if she doesn’t find who’s behind the sinister science and its cover-up, she could be next.

Dennis Hetzel - Killing the Curse May 2014

facebook.com/authordennishetzel

Even the President must try to stop a fan bent on making sure the Cubs win the Series.

Gary Kriss -The Zodiac Deception ( Forge Books) May 6, 2014

www.garykriss.com

Summer, 1942: The con man known as David Walker didn't exactly volunteer, but OSS chief Wild Bill Donovan convinced him that serving his country and the cause of freedom by posing as German astrologer Peter Kepler was a better use of his time than going to prison for impersonating a Princeton University professor. His mission: use his skills in illusion, sleight of hand and deception to gain Heinrich Himmler’s trust and persuade him to assassinate Adolph Hitler.

In a plot that involves German resistance members in high places, Walker walks a tightrope of deceit, playing on the high command's fascination with the occult to penetrate the highest levels of Nazi power in a daring plan to eliminate the Nazi Führer.