Friday, February 27, 2015

Ask an International Guy of Mystery

Dear International Guy of Mystery,

I think you would have to admit that the greatest mystery in the world is man and woman love. Why do we act like fools in love? How can we be torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool? Who wrote the doggone Book of Love, anyway, for Pete's sake? These questions haunt me.
I value your advice, so please tell me what to do. I am in love with two men, John and George, but I can't decide which of them to marry. Please tell me who will be the lucky man.
Confused in Coburg, Oregon

Dear Confused in Coburg,

You will marry George.

John will be the lucky man.

International Guy of Mystery
Interview with Lorna and Larry Collins

While Lorna and Larry are a married couple who collaborate on books, each has published separately as well. Their shared experience helping to design the Universal Studios Japan Theme Park became the basis of their memoir, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park. They have since published numerous books in various fiction and nonfiction categories. The International Guy of Mystery interviewed them electronically while hiding in Pinocchio's nose in a crowded amusement park.



1. IGM:  If you had to give a quick, one-sentence description of  one of your novels to a Hollywood mogul, what would you say?


L&L: We have elevator pitches for all our books. Since we have twelve published and several more in the works, I can’t give you all of them. For Ghost Writer, for example, the pitch is this:
Nan Burton loses everything: job, boyfriend, apartment, car. Then she inherits a cottage with resident ghost. In time, they each learn what really matters.
Lorna wrote a recent blog on this subject: http://lornacollins-author.blogspot.com/2015/02/blurbs.html

2. IGM: What inspired you to write your books (personal experience, books you love, real people and events, etc.)?

L&L: Our first book, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park, is a memoir about living in Japan for nearly three years building the Universal Studios Japan theme park. Our mysteries (Murder…They Wrote and Murder in Paradise) came about by accident while attending a writers’ conference. The Aspen Grove romance anthologies, which Lorna co-wrote, evolved from friendships with other writers. Our historical novel, The Memory Keeper, was inspired by Mission San Juan Capistrano and the local Indians who were here before the Spanish arrived. Each book has its own inspiration.

3. IGM: What gives each of you the most joy as a writer?

L&L: This is an easy one. Last October a friend, whom we have both known since early childhood, called to tell us she had read The Memory Keeper. She spent over an hour carrying on about how much she loved the story and the characters. This is a person with severe dyslexia, who never before had read a book for pleasure. She was hooked. Between October and January, she read 97 books—including all of ours! To be able to give the gift of the pleasure of reading to that one person was worth all the effort.

IGM: What is the hardest thing about writing?

L&L: For both of us it’s concentrating on one story. We always have several in the works, so focusing on one becomes difficult.

5.   IGM: How did you come up with the titles?

L&L: The titles usually evolve from the stories themselves. Sometimes they are ironic. We have found ourselves a long way into a book before the final title emerges. With The Memory Keeper, we tried several working titles. Once we found this one, it became obvious it was correct for this book.

6.   IGM: Tell a little about your process. Do you know how a book should end before you start?

L&L: We usually write the first chapter and then the last chapter. Those define the story arc, and we always know where we have to go with the story. Larry is a plotter and Lorna is a ‘pantser’—that is, she writes by the seat of her pants. The only way we can collaborate is if we both have a good grasp on the overall story as we write it.

7.   IGM: Pretend you are fielding a baseball team with your favorite writers. List them by position. (If you dislike baseball, I just don't know what to say).
    
L&L: We hate sports, except surfing—and they don’t have teams…

9.   IGM: (faints and falls out of nose. Is revived when Skippy the Spy Dog licks his face) :Pretend your book is being made into a movie. What actors would play the lead characters? (Note: if your book is being optioned for a movie, you may wish to send several thousand dollars to the International Guy of Mystery Foundation as a tax write-off).


L&L: For AgapĂ© Jones, the protagonist in our mysteries, we decided long ago we’d love to have Lawrence Fishburn play the role. We discussed this with the fellow who inspired the character, and it turns out, he grew up with ‘Larry’! Unfortunately, they haven’t seen each other since grammar school, but we continue to hope…


Monday, February 23, 2015

Ask an International Guy of Mystery

Dear International Guy of Mystery,
My favorite book is The Catcher in the Rye, and I've always wondered about its author, J.D. Salinger. Why is he such a recluse? How can he hide from the public so well? I heard rumors that he was a Hindu and a doughnut freak. Is this true? What ever happened to him?
Mystified in Merlin, Oregon

Dear Mystified,
He died.
But as it turns out, I can shed some light on your questions because I found him several years ago at a deli in Cornish, New Hampshire. Rumor had it that he would occasionally appear there, just long enough to get not doughnuts, but doughnut holes (which makes me think you are right about the Hinduism). For a few days I hung out at the deli, studying the faces of its patrons to compare with the photos I had of Salinger, when I suddenly spotted a man in disguise. This old fellow was wearing a fairly obvious fake nose and mustache attached to plastic eyeglasses. I decided to out him in a clever way by singing this lyric, to the tune of a song by the Eagles:
"You can't hide, you're lionized!"
The man stared at me in confusion over his salami sandwich. "It's a great day for bananafish," I added before singing my lyric again. Then the man's face creased in a huge smile as he sang, "And your smile is a thin disguise," in a thick Italian accent. When he said my name and stood to give me a hug, I realized that he wasn't Salinger. He was my third cousin, Ludovico.
"You're a goddamned prince," an old man muttered to me as he left the deli, and it took me a moment to realize that I had just seen one of America's greatest authors slink past with a bag of doughnut holes.
The salami, by the way, was thinly sliced but complex and intricately layered.
International Guy of Mystery


Thursday, February 19, 2015

Interview with Sunny Frazier


Navy Vet Sunny Frazier trained as a journalist and wrote for a city newspaper as well as military and law enforcement publications. After working 17 years with the Fresno Sheriff's Department, 11 spent as Girl Friday with an undercover narcotics team, it dawned on her that mystery writing was her real calling. Both “Fools Rush In” and “Where Angels Fear” are based on actual cases with a bit of astrology, a habit Frazier has developed over the past 42 years. The most recent novel, “A Snitch In Time” is based on one of the small towns in the Sierra Nevada foothills under the Sheriff's Department's jurisdiction.
The International Guy of Mystery owes Sunny a debt of gratitude for her encouragement and for never revealing the bizarre anomalies in his horoscope. He was able to interview her by Morse Code from a mountain hideout in the Sierra Nevada. 








IGM: If you had to give a quick, one-sentence description of your novel to a Hollywood mogul, what would you say?

SF: Sheriff's Department office assistant/astrologer Christy Bristol visits the Nevada foothills and is conscripted into working a multi-homicide case where everyone (even a detective) is a suspect. 

IGM: What inspired you to write it (personal experience, books you love, real people and events, etc.)?

SF: When I worked as a confidential secretary with an undercover narcotics team, the area I describe in the book was under our jurisdiction. The town is so unique, as were the crimes. I just felt I had to use the setting in a book. I also wanted to explore using astrology as a profiling tool. And, I wanted to explore the dynamics of female friendships using Christy and Lennie in this book.

IGM: What gives you the most joy as a writer?

SF: I sometimes forget the joy of spilling words on the page and just losing yourself in the story. It always seems insurmountable when I sit down yet somehow the words find me.

IGM: What is the hardest thing about writing?

SF: Self-doubt. It never goes away.

IGM: How did you come up with the title for this novel?

SF: I'm attracted to titles that are a play on words and still have meaning for the story. People remember the titles so much easier. If a title makes me smile, I'm probably going to buy the book.

IGM: Tell a little about your process. Did you know how it should end before you started?

SF: I wasn't clear on the ending of this book. I knew the direction I wanted it to go, but I was nearly finished before I realized how the climatic confrontation with the murderer would take place. I like it when my own plot surprises me!

IGM: Pretend you are fielding a baseball team with your favorite writers. List them by position. (If you dislike baseball, I just don’t know).

SF: Okay, this was a curve ball you've thrown me. Let's see: Robert Crais, pitcher; Michael Connelly, catcher; J.A. Jance, first base; Sue Grafton 2nd base; Daniel Silva 3rd base. Left field, Chuck Palahniuk; Right field, Christopher Moore; Centerfield, Dean Koontz; Short stop, Edward Rutherfurd. That's the dream team.

IGM: (Good idea to have Connelly behind the plate to keep Crais's head in the game.) OK, pretend your book is being made into a movie. What actors would play the lead characters? (Note: if your book is being optioned for a movie, you may wish to send several thousand dollars to the International Guy of Mystery Foundation as a tax write-off).

SF: Jennifer Lawrence would be Christy. Lennie might be played by the really tall actress from Game of Thrones. Trace Malin would be James Franco. Rodrigo would be the hottest Lantino actor around. The killer can be Bradley Cooper. The snitch would be played by Emma Stone. The forest ranger role would go to Channing Tatum. 







Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Ask an International Guy of Mystery

Dear International Guy of Mystery,
I was reading Martin Cruz Smith late the other night and sipping vodka to help with my concentration when it hit me like a ton of bricks: Arkady Renko is modeled after Vladimir Putin! I mean, they're both around the same age, moody, virile, and Russian! It seems uncanny. Am I onto something?
Dave of Dufur, Oregon

Dear Dave of Dufur,
You are onto something, in a kind of roundabout way. My sources say that Vladimir Putin is actually modeled after Vlad the Impaler of Transylvania, for whom another fictional character is also modeled, However, there is a significant character in Martin Cruz Smith's novels, a KGB goon named Colonel Pribluda, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Putin, especially when his sun-baked and inflated body is found on an inner tube in Havana Bay.
You are also on vodka and might consider quitting to help your little town out. I would say to you, ask not what Dufur can do for you, ask what you can do for Dufur.
IGM


Tuesday, February 10, 2015







Interview with Elaine Faber

 The International Guy of Mystery interviewed Elaine and her cat (Boots) by conference call from his underground lair. Elaine is the author of a series of Black Cat Mysteries, and she is a very nice person. Married 53 years, with two kids and four grand-kids, she's a member of Inspire Christian Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Cat Writer's Association. In her spare time she volunteers at the Elk Grove Library and the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop. If you are a cat lover, I guarantee you will love her series, available at Amazon in print and e-book.
(Boots was unable or unwilling to answer questions; it had something to do with legal counsel).







 IGM: If you had to give a quick, one-sentence description of your novel series to a Hollywood mogul, what would you say?

 EF: My stories are reminiscent of the 60’s movies that combine love, mystery, fantasy, thrills and chills, without explicit sex, violence or profanity. With the aid of his ancestor’s memories, Thumper’s wisdom and charm add feline qualities that will assure MGM of another box office hit! Oops, that was two sentences.(Never mind. I pushed the stop button on the elevator. I shared the whole story plot and the mogul is blown away.)

IGM: What inspired you to write it (personal experience, books you love, real people and events, etc.)?

EF: The story started as a short story where Kimberlee and her child return to her home town where she gets mixed up in solving a crime. Not too far into the tale, Thumper took over and became the character and plot that pulled the story together. What can you do when the ‘story characters’ take over and you’re just along for the ride?

IGM: What gives you the most joy as a writer?

EF: My greatest joy is when readers tells me how much they enjoyed Black Cat’s Legacy, or Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer and their second sentence is, “When is the sequel coming out?” I wish I could share that experience with more readers.

IGM:  What is the hardest thing about writing?

EF: Nothing is hard about writing (the process). It’s as natural to me as breathing. The hard part; knowing I have a great book and people are too overwhelmed by the gazillions of other books to choose mine. (No brag… just fact! Somebody important said that but I can’t remember who.) One day, the world will discover my books and I’ll be famous. Probably posthumously.

IGM: How did you come up with the titles?

EF: A title should be ‘catchy’ and give a clue as to what the story is about. In Black Cat’s Legacy, generations of Fern Lake Black cats waited for Kimberlee to return to solve her father’s murder. As the memories of the murder passed to each generation, it was the cats’ legacy to help her solve the crime. We claim that cats all have their ancestors ‘memories.’  In Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer, I like the alliteration of the LL. When the family and Thumper visit grandmother’s Texas horse ranch, they find her lawyer has embezzled much of her money through a fake children’s charity. Can murder be far behind when she plans to change her will and leave her money to her granddaughter? (The next in the series, due out this spring, is Black Cat and the Accidental Angel.)
    
IGM:  Tell a little about your process. Did you know how it should end before you started?

EF: When I started Black Cat’s Legacy, I had a vague concept of the story line. What if a child buried something that 25 years later became the catalyst that solved a crime? From that bare idea, I started writing and the story began to tell itself.  No one was more surprised than I, when the cat took over as one of the main characters. I had no idea how it would end until much later in the process.

IGM;  Pretend you are fielding a baseball team with your favorite writers. List them by position. (If you dislike baseball, I just don't know).

IEF: Im sorry. I’m not really into sports. I was on the high school drill team eons ago, but went to the games to look at the boys, not to follow the game. I love the classic mystery writers, Ellery Queen, Agatha Christie, and of course, John Steinbeck. I read a lot of modern-day cozy mysteries by various authors, but can’t imagine any of them on a baseball team.

IGM:  Pretend your book is being made into a movie. What actors would play the lead characters? (Note: if your book is being optioned for a movie, you may wish to send several thousand dollars to the International Guy of Mystery Foundation as a tax write-off).

EF: Okay. After careful thought and intensive interviews with these actors, we will ‘contract’ Jennifer Anniston as Kimberlee; David Boreanaz (Bones) as Brett and Hillary Duff as Dorian. My characters are not teenagers and I think these experienced actors could bring them to life.
 My cats Boots and Amber insist on playing Thumper and Noe-Noe. What can I do? I just work for them.


Friday, February 6, 2015

Ask an International Guy of Mystery

Dear International Guy of Mystery,
I just heard that Ellery Queen was not a real person and was actually written by two guys!! That makes absolutely no sense! Is there any truth to this?
Betrayed in Beaverton, Oregon

Dear Betrayed,
I feel your pain. When I first learned this inconvenient truth I was so furious I threw my slippers at the autographed portrait that I foolishly believed Ellery himself had sent me years ago. Now I'm left wondering who is this dreamy-looking man in the photo? Some dumb actor?
Those perfectly-crafted Queen mysteries were indeed written by two guys who collaborated. My sources tell me that they lived together in a brownstone flat in New York City. Apparently one guy would write one word on a piece of paper, and the other guy would write the next word, back and forth for days until they had a finished novel. Afterwards they would collapse from exhaustion while their houseboy typed the manuscript and delivered it to their publisher.
I know it makes no sense, but there you are!
International Guy of Mystery

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

My newest book!!! Coming soon from Oak Tree Press!!!


Ask an International Guy of Mystery

Dear International Guy of Mystery,
If Hemingway were alive today, and especially since the US is beginning a new relationship with Cuba, what would he be writing about?
Xavier Onassis, Wren, Oregon

Dear Xavier,
Hemingway's heroes suffered from wounded genitalia, for which they drank Pernod, ate olives, and sometimes wore tight matador pants. If Papa H were alive today he would be convinced that, in addition to Erectile Dysfunction, he had Irritable Bowel Syndrome and that breathing problem with the elephant. He might consider friends like Scott Fitzgerald to have Irritable Erection Syndrome (AKA Annoying Prick Syndrome). Friends learning of his injuries would still cry, "Que mala fortuna! Que mala fortuna!" To which he might reply, "Tuna? I thought I ordered marlin."