A Word Please

My guest today is author D.R. Haney. I know him as Duke and was fortunate to meet him through Goodreads. He’s a fascinating guy. I could talk to Duke for hours about his background, writing, books and music. I recently read his novel Banned for Life, which, like Duke, is many things wrapped up in one package. The book can’t be defined by one genre. Set against the backdrop of rock music and the pursuit or stardom, we also have romance, lust, friendship, mystery, suspense, deceit and a man finding his way through it all.

Duke is hanging out with us today to talk about his life and his writing. I’ve managed to keep my questions to a minimum, though that was a challenge! Before we go any further, I need to introduce my guest:

D. R. Haney was born in Virginia, where he spent much of his childhood on a farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In his teens, he moved to New York City to study acting, making his screen debut shortly afterward. A subsequent film role brought Haney to Los Angeles and the attention of legendary producer Roger Corman, who launched Haney’s side career as a screenwriter. While acting in a film in the former Yugoslavia, Haney began work on “Banned for Life,” a novel about the American underground music scene of the 1980s and 90s, which would take him nine years to complete. “Banned for Life” was published in 2009 by Vancouver’s And/Or Press, followed in 2010 by “Subversia,” a collection of Haney’s essays released by TNB Books, the print arm of The Nervous Breakdown, an online cultural magazine with Haney among its most popular contributors.

Here is a look at the book we’ll be discussing:

For almost two decades, rumors have swirled around Jim Cassady, the quasi-legendary punk-rock frontman who disappeared without a trace after his girlfriend’s apparent suicide. Though largely written off as dead, some claim to have had brushes with Cassady, now said to be homeless and bumming change on the streets of his native Los Angeles. Intrigued, Jason Maddox, a would-be filmmaker and Cassady fan, decides to investigate. But the man he eventually finds and befriends is damaged in ways he could never have imagined, and Jason’s own life begins to unravel as he tries to save the hapless Jim Cassady from himself.

Now on to the questions, where you’ll see for yourself why I call Duke – D.R. Haney – a fascinating guy.

You wrote “Banned for Life” in first person and I had to keep reminding myself that you were not Jason. The main character/narrator is incredibly well developed and your method of storytelling made me feel like you were sitting beside me, telling me your life story. Is this book a complete fabrication or do you sometimes blur the lines between fact and fiction?

I’ve been asked this question before, and it’s tricky to answer. If I say “Banned,” or any fiction I write, is a complete fabrication, I might disappoint those readers who want to believe it’s autobiographical, but if I say it’s autobiographical, it’s like admitting to a lack of imagination. I’m reminded, in the latter case, of actors criticized for playing themselves, but, having worked professionally as an actor, I don’t think anyone ever truly plays himself. Every performance is a version of the self, a character, even when there doesn’t seem to be much transformation. I personally don’t care about transformation. I just want to see that spark of life, and that’s how I appraise books and music and everything else. Not everyone does. If a work appears artless, meaning there’s not enough skill or craft on display, some people dismiss it.

I definitely have a lot in common with Jason, but we’re not identical. Even when I tried to conform, I could never pull it off, but Jason has an all-American quality that allows him to blend with bourgeois types. Then he finds himself in a subculture that’s usually hostile to small-town jocks like him, and I didn’t want to write about that subculture from the perspective of someone like his friend Peewee, who’s a natural fit. Jason, on the other hand, is almost akin to one of those half-breed characters in old Westerns: will he end up with the whites or the Indians? That’s a driving force throughout the book, that question, even though it’s never fully articulated, and if I’d made Jason a deliberate rebel, like Peewee, instead of the rebel by default he is, the answer would’ve been a foregone conclusion.

Thanks for what you say about feeling that the narrator was sitting beside you and telling you his life story. That’s exactly how I wanted the reader to feel, although I tried to arrive at a style that wasn’t overly colloquial, as per Holden Caulfield. That’s been done to death, I think, particularly in books that deal with youth, like mine.

The punk rock scene plays a big part in this story. Was it also a big part of your own life?

Definitely, although it happened later for me than it did for Jason. I knew practically nothing about punk when I was in high school. I would read mentions of it in magazines, but it wasn’t played on the radio, and there were no kids in my hometown who could mentor me in punk, as Peewee did for Jason. I think my first exposure to the hardcore scene was when I saw the band Fear on “Saturday Night Life”—a notorious performance that was cut short by NBC, and to this day I don’t think it’s ever been shown in syndication. But there were all these kids from the New York and D.C. hardcore scenes who were moshing by the stage—in fact, the term “moshing” hadn’t been coined yet—and I remember thinking, “Man, they’re scary,” which is funny, now that I’ve met a number of those kids. I’m good friends with one of them.

But I think I had the punk attitude long before I was familiar with the music, and I had a grasp of punk philosophy just from reading writers like Rimbaud, who was hugely influential for early punks like Richard Hell and Patti Smith. Also, the do-it-yourself idea that’s associated with punk—that was practiced all over New York when I moved there to study acting, and not just by bands; fringe theater companies would stage plays wherever they could, in bars and lofts and so on, and promote them with fliers. That kind of thing had been going on for years before punk came along. You can even see it in those Mickey Rooney musicals from the thirties and forties: “Let’s put on a show! Freddie has a barn, and Teddy can build the sets, and Betty can make the costumes!” To me, that’s punk: circumventing the authorities, and taking matters into your own hands, and making use of whatever’s available.

So I didn’t need the punk movement to introduce me to punk ideas. What was missing in my case was the music, and it took me a while to discover it, I was so busy being an actor. I lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and later in Williamsburg, and I had roommates who were musicians, and when they saw my record collection, they’d say, “Jesus Christ, man. Bruce Springsteen?” I’d say, “What do you mean? There’s nothing wrong with Bruce Springsteen.” Musically, I was a square, but at some point I transferred to cool school. I’m not really sure what led to it. It wasn’t peer pressure. I just suddenly wanted to hear everything, and I went four or five nights a week to see bands. I became kind of a face in the scene, and I felt a sense of belonging that I’d never felt with movie or theater people. I miss that time. It was very exciting.

You have some song lyrics included at various points in the book. Did you write these lyrics specifically for the book? Have you written music to go with them?

I wrote all of the lyrics specifically for the book, yes, and I wrote music for one of the songs. I considered collaborating on a CD to accompany the book. I know a lot of musicians, but it’s hard to get them to commit to a cheeseburger, let alone a CD, so that idea never advanced past the “What if?” stage.

I don’t have an easy time with lyrics. Almost all rock & roll lyrics are puerile, and the ones in “Banned” were allegedly written by brainiacs, so it took a lot of work to make them read even halfway intelligent. I can only hope I succeeded. I reached a point where I was like, “Fuck it. If they’re dumb, they’re dumb. I can’t take it anymore.”

You succeeded and they are far from dumb! I wish you’d been able to make the CD. I’d love to hear the soundtrack for the book!

What is your all-time favorite band or individual artist?

Well, I’m that rare person who thinks Sonic Youth never released a bad album, so I’ll go with them, recording-wise. In terms of live bands, I’d say my friends Die Princess Die. No matter how much I liked a band, there usually came a point when I lost interest in seeing them, but Die Princess Die was always compelling, even when they were bad. They were bad fairly often, in fact, but you couldn’t stop watching them. You never knew what would happen at a Die Princess Die show. People would end up at the hospital. But they weren’t just compelling because of all the havoc they wreaked; they were very charismatic, and they wrote great songs. Unfortunately, they were also lazy, which is one of the reasons they never broke out. Plus, people were afraid of them, with good cause.

I enjoyed the references to various literary work and Beat writers. Have you read all those authors you referenced? If so, which is your favorite?

If it’s in the book, I’ve read it, and for the most part, Jason’s taste can stand for my own.

Kerouac is the only Beat writer I truly love. I realize he’s sloppy, and he can be terribly sentimental, but there’s a sense of adventure I get from reading Kerouac that I’ve never gotten from another writer, a sense of being young and hitting the town and talking about ideas till the sun comes up. I don’t know that I would ever have become a writer if I hadn’t read “On the Road.” Of course, I was a kid when I read it; I don’t think so highly of it now. My favorite books by Kerouac are “The Subterraneans,” “Tristessa,” “Desolation Angels,” and “Big Sur.”

There’s also mention of Norman Mailer in “Banned,” and I’m a big Mailer fan. He may have been the last Romantic with a capital “R,” with his interest in the uncanny, in those areas that can’t entirely be explained rationally. He never gets credit for that. Where he’s now known at all, it’s for stabbing one of his wives, and of course that makes him persona non grata. When he died, every obituary I read, I think, referred to him as a misogynist, which I don’t think he was. On the contrary, there are many sympathetic portraits of women in Mailer’s work, which none of his detractors seem to have read.

You’ve got a lot of fascinating stuff in your background. I read that you had a run with fame with a movie you made in Belgrade. Tell us a little about that movie and the experience.

I actually made two movies in Belgrade. The first was a horrible experience. The director was a lunatic, and dealing with him turned me into a basket case. Then, years later, I was offered another movie in Belgrade, and I decided to do it as exposure therapy—you know, like getting back on the horse that throws you. Plus, a lot had happened in Belgrade since I’d been there—the Yugoslav civil wars and the NATO bombing and so on—and I was curious about all that. Even apart from the war, most Americans would never travel to Serbia, and for me that’s one of the best things about being an actor, that you’re sent to places you’d never think to go.

Anyway, I went, and I had a completely different experience that time, beginning with the day I arrived. I had to fly into Budapest, since NATO sanctions had made air travel to Belgrade impossible, and I was driven from Budapest to the Yugoslav border, where the car broke down. The engine cut maybe fifty feet from the border, and it refused to start again, so I had to help push the car over the border. Then the production company arranged for a tow to a nearby garage, and the garage was owned by the Serbian mafia, so all these gangsters showed up, and when they learned I was an American actor, they insisted on taking me out to a bar, and they called their gangster friends and invited them to join us. Finally, hours late, I made it to my hotel in Belgrade, where Arkan, the most notorious Serbian gangster of all, had recently been assassinated, and the next day I was interviewed on television. I was interviewed on television constantly during that movie. At one point I did a press conference at a McDonald’s, of all places, and I was literally mobbed by hordes of teenagers who’d seen an announcement on TV that I was doing this press conference, and they all came rushing in, tearing up place mats and shoving them at me, asking me to sign them. I realized then that celebrity has absolutely nothing to do with who you really are, which seems obvious, but it’s kind of abstract until you’ve had the experience. I find it baffling that anyone would seek celebrity. It’s gratifying to hear that your work has meant something to people, but that’s different.

Still, I had a great time in Belgrade on that second movie, so much so that I moved there after production wrapped. That’s where I wrote the first draft of “Banned,” and I returned to the States reluctantly, so I guess the exposure therapy worked. It took me a long time to readjust. It was as if part of my soul had been amputated, and even now I don’t know that I’ve fully, psychologically repatriated.

Wow. There’s a book, fictionalized or not, in that experience.

You’ve also worked as a screenwriter. Would we be familiar with anything you’ve worked on?

Unfortunately, you probably would be, but I hope you won’t mind if I don’t name the movie. I’ve had more than twenty feature-length screenplays turned into movies, but almost all of them were awful. I take no pride in my so-called film career. I tried to keep it hidden when “Banned” was published, but eventually I copped. These days, many novelists boast in their bios about their MFAs and teaching jobs and contributions to McSweeney’s. My background couldn’t be more dissimilar, so, you know, vive la difference.

Okay, now I’m even more intrigued!

Which do you find most personally satisfying – acting, screenwriting, nonfiction writing or fiction writing?

Well, I’d say I’m temperamentally more a performer than a writer, but I’m not interested in the kind of fantasy movies being made these days—I have the misfortune of possessing an adult mind—and I was never a fan of TV, so I no longer do much acting. I think I have more to contribute as a writer anyway, even though it’s torture for me to spend long stretches at a keyboard.

Screenwriting is superficial, compared to the other writing I do. There’s too much input from others, who are often concerned with whether the material is sufficiently commercial, and that translates into a lowest-common-denominator mentality—not an optimum situation for a writer who really cares about writing.

With fiction, I’m reminded of what I most like about acting: probing the psyches of characters and surprising myself with the discoveries. At the same time, writing fiction is, creatively, the most maddening experience I’ve ever had. I’ve been trying to make a proper start of my next novel for two years now, and it won’t come. I can’t find the form, which means there’s probably a problem with the content, since content and form are one. I wish I could identify the problem, but it’s elusive, and that’s what makes writing fiction so maddening.

With essays, I’m at least familiar with the content before I ever sit to write, but I’m working on a smaller canvas than I am with my novels, so the achievement doesn’t feel as significant. I definitely take the most pride in myself as a novelist, but are pride and satisfaction the same? I don’t know. I just like the act of creation, of firing on all cylinders and sharing the result with others, regardless of the medium.

Do you have a favorite book? Favorite movie?

I’ll go with Celine’s “Journey to the End of Night” as my favorite novel, and my favorite movie may be Tarkovsky’s “Solaris.” I have so many favorites, and I don’t list them in order as I used to do. There are things I love about one favorite that I can’t get from another, so I just kind of love them all equally.

What are you working on these days?

As I mentioned above, I’m trying to make a proper start of my next novel. I hope I eventually succeed. Otherwise, I’m just trying to survive, which is a full-time job these days. I’ve never had it as rough as I have since the economy went to hell two years ago. It’s been like clinging to a clothesline in the middle of a tornado. Well, my left hand has been clinging to a clothesline. My right hand has been writing.

Insane, huh? But that’s a writer’s lot. Yes, I’m afraid you have to check your sanity at the door when you determine to become a writer.

Well said!

Intrigued? If all that makes you want to know more about Duke, you can find him in the following places:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/subversia

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/2906968.D_R_Haney

Banned for Life on Facebook: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68734422628

Duke’s archive at The Nervous Breakdown: www.thenervousbreakdown.com/drhaney

Podcast interview on Fear and Loathing (includes reading from Subversia): www.alterati.com/blog/2010/10/fear-and-loathing-d-r-haney

Here’s a look at Duke’s books on Amazon:

Thanks for reading.

Today’s Tell Me One Thing… feature guest is Jackson Cavanaugh, from the novel Thalo Blue by Jason McIntyre. For those who are new around here, this is a regular Wednesday feature in which I ask my guest to Tell me one thing about yourself that is… Each guest receives 10 descriptive words, all beginning with the same letter. Oh, and my guests are characters from novels. But, trust me, they each have personalities all their own!

Today’s letter is ‘D’. Let’s see what kind of trouble Jackson Cavanaugh can get into:

Well, ahoy, kids and girl scouts, I’m Jackson Cavanaugh. My bud, Zeb Redfield calls me Jackie-O even though I don’t wear the pastel shades of polyester or the big round shades. We’ve known each other for quite a few years now, Zeb and me. Go way back. I probably know all his secrets. But I’m not tellin’.

So, you wanna dig on some personal deets about the J-man? Listen up then, cuz I’ve got places ta be, ya see. And I don’t like repeating m’self. Dig?

Tell me one thing about you that is:

Devious:
My grin. Caeli always used to tell me that I had a “Cheshire Cat” grin, like I’d just swallowed a large bird after telling him I’d watch is eggs. Got the eggs too, she’d say and then giggle. I always liked that Caels.

Diligent:
Despite my 51% average across the board, in my senior year at York University, I am the richest graduate of their distinguished business program. That’s diligence, baybee.

Disturbing:
This should count for two points, since I’ve never been found out — and it was effin’ coo-ell. When I was thirteen, I absconded with photos of Zeb’s mom. She was a total babe back in the day, y’know. I took them from Zeb’s dad’s place and got colour photo copies to keep as my own, then returned the originals. I never told him that. You better not either. If you know what’s good for you.

Dull:
I don’t like going out. I’d rather stay in. I know, I know. Zeb and Caels both think I’m this big ladies man. And I will admit, I love the girls. They give me such sweet, sweet attention. But I’d rather find that one perfect gal, stay in with her on the couch and watch “Shawshank Redemption” or something.

Definite:
My friendship with Zeb is the most definite thing in my life. We’ve had our ups and downs but he knows he can count on me. Even when we’re ten thousand miles apart (like right now) and haven’t spoken in years (like right now). He is the most steady, definite thing in the world of old Jackie-O Cavanaugh, The Prince of Cheese.

Distinct:
I have a mole in the small of my back shaped, coincidentally enough, like Salman Rushdie. He’s an author that Zeb likes. That Zeb, he gets out his Rushdie books at house parties and coffee shops, then quotes them — like anybody listening has an effin’ clue what he’s talkin’ bout or who the frig Salman Rushdie is. It doesn’t get him laid, though. I tell Zeb to put his books away and start buying drinks but he never listens.

Dazzling:
I was the model for the little boy on packaging for a line of soft, spreadable cheese products my family introduced in the early eighties. It was the “Prince” brand from the Cavanaugh Cheese plant. The name stuck. The dazzling part was that the Prince brand had gold flecks embossed on the crown perched on the head of the little bare-bottomed boy on the package. Cavanaugh Cheese has since discontinued the “Prince” brand and I’m bloody thankful of that.

Doubtless:
Doubtless? People in my undergrad classes would say this is more of the patented “Jackie-O Jack-EGO” talking but…well…there is absolutely nothing doubtless about me. Nothing. Mark it down, kids.

Determined:
I’m an incredible driver but I disobey the rules of the road like a son of a bitch. It took me seventeen times but I finally passed my driver’s exam. Not cool to be “The Prince of Cheese” on the bus at Seventh and Yonge Street. Not cool at all.

Devoted:
You will never find a better friend than me. Despite my foibles, my blowups, the fact that I might disappear into the back room with a beautiful gal on my arm, I will never let you down if you’re one of my tribe. Once, Sebastion knew that. I hope, somewhere, somehow, he still does.

Jackson is quite the entertaining guy! You can find him in the pages of Thalo Blue. Here it is on Amazon, in Kindle format:

Some of you might not have met Jackson’s author, the multi-talented Jason McIntyre. Here’s a brief introduction:

Jason has figured out a way to harness kinetic energy, then release it onto the pages of the books he writes. He does this with such ease that the world is convinced his characters are real people trapped and forever sealed within the confines of the pages. Readers should proceed with caution. Occasionally these characters seep into your mind and take up residence.

For the authorized biography and information on Jason’s writing, you can go to his website: www.thefarthestreaches.com

Here are Jason’s books on Kindle:

You can also find his books in multiple ebook formats on Smashwords:

Thalo Blue
On The Gathering Storm
Shed

And you’ll find two free short stories there as well:

Road Markers
The Night Walk Men

I hope you’ll take a look at Jason’s work. He’s got a captivating writing style that will keep you coming back for more.

In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to share you thoughts, questions, and your love for authors with smoldering blue eyes.

Today’s post was brought to you by the letter ‘D’.

Thanks for reading!

My guest today is author C.J. West. I recently read his book The End of Marking Time. Love it (I did) or hate it, this book will make you think. Most of you know how I am with questions. I read the book, then have to ask. C.J. will answer those questions for us but, first, let’s get to know a little about him:

C.J. West’s latest thriller, The End of Marking Time, pits a gifted housebreaker against a futuristic prison system then asks you to decide his fate. Sin and Vengeance, the first book in C.J.’s Randy Black series, is currently in development for film with Beantown Productions, LLC (screenplay by Marla Cukor).

C.J. hosts a Blog Talk Radio show which features interviews of contemporary thriller and suspense writers. CJ also hosts creative book tour events. Past events include an advanced driving course, firearms training for women, winery tours, and murder mystery events both online and in person.

Here’s a little about his book The End of Marking Time:

In 2011, the Supreme Court declares long term incarceration cruel and unusual punishment and releases two million felons. Chaos reigns while Michael O’Connor is unconscious in a prison infirmary. When he wakes, the world has drastically changed. Felons enter reeducation programs where they live freely among the population. At least that’s what they think. They are enslaved to an army of counselors and a black box that teaches them everything they failed to learn from kindergarten through adulthood. Michael believes he’s being tested by the black box, but what he slowly begins to realize is that everything he does is evaluated to determine whether he lives or dies.
***

As you have gathered, The End of Marking Time takes on our justice system, asking the ultimate What if? Let’s take a look at what C.J. had to say:

The End of Marking Time is based on the premise that our justice system here in the U.S. is a mess and needs a complete overhaul. Do you believe that’s true?>

My research for The End of Marking Time was all based within the Massachusetts criminal justice community. There were a number of problems that were related to me over and over. The most troubling was that the system isn’t effective at either rehabilitating criminals or punishing them. The only protection the system offers is taking criminals away from the public for a short time. The other problem I heard over and over was that troubled young people are identified early by policemen and teachers, but they can do nothing to help. To answer your question, yes, the system is broken and needs serious attention.

Some of the changes in the new justice system you created had me nodding in agreement. Others made me grimace. Regardless of my reaction, the entire concept had me thinking, What if? Did you write this book with the intent to create conversations and controversy regarding our justice system?

The justice system does two things really well. It puts a focus on rehabilitation and it punishes those who are beyond help. While my methods work in fiction it is unlikely that a system so extreme would survive public scrutiny, but the goals of the system are based in real needs. Yes, I wanted to stir conversation and build interest in helping those who can be helped.

Michael, the main character, is a career criminal. He is someone that most people would want to dislike. I thought you did a great job of showing another side of him and how he got to where he was. Did you want him to be a character that readers would eventually sympathize with?

Choosing Michael as a protagonist was a big risk. If people hated him, many would stop reading, but the story needed him. I wanted people to have a view to how he came to be who he is and the huge undertaking necessary to truly help him. I have been surprised by how many people are on Michael’s side by the end of the book.

What type of research did you do for this book?

I spoke with police officers, court officers, toured a local prison and interviewed people connected with the Massachusetts Correction System. The work was eye opening.

You also write a series based on a character by the name of Randy Black. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Randy Black is another character I took a huge risk on. In Sin & Vengeance, Randy Black is out for revenge and we see him doing evil things to a winemaking family from a small New England town. Most people hate Randy after reading Sin & Vengeance. Friends thought I was crazy to write a book from Randy’s perspective, but by the end of A Demon Awaits, people are in Randy’s corner. The transformation in people’s attitudes is amazing and it is something that I’m really proud of.

What are your favorite genres to read?

I primarily read suspense. I host a Blog Talk Radio show each month and conduct author interviews. This takes most of my leisure reading time. I do enjoy non-fiction and will read about any subject that catches my interest.

When you’re not writing or reading, what might you be doing?

Lately I have been writing and directing live murder mystery events. That’s technically writing, but it is huge fun for me.

What are you working on now in your writing?

I’m writing a book titled Addicted To Love. It is a thriller about the essence of love and I’m really excited about it.
***

C.J. is a busy guy! Trust me, you don’t want to miss his books! You can learn more about C.J. and his work in the following places:

Thanks for reading.

Author Roy McConnell joins us today to talk about his novel Mind Walker, Pink Floyd, and telepathic communication.

About Roy:

Roy grew up in Trenton, a small town in south-eastern Ontario, Canada. He loved reading and writing from as early as he can remember. Roy recalls at three years old, scribbling endless squiggles in a note book and proudly showing it to his mom. Of course his mother told him how wonderful it was. In his pre-teen years one his best chums was an avid reader and writer as well. The two of them competed at writing poetry, always trying to outdo each other. This was the period when Roy really fell in love with writing. Over the years Roy continued to write poetry but he never really took his writing too seriously, his family and work commitments were his top priority. However, about ten years ago, his passion for writing refused to be relegated to the backseat any longer. Roy delved into writing as if it was a new romance, taking workshops, courses, entering contests, submitting to magazines and ezines. In the last ten years Roy’s short stories have appeared in many print and on-line magazines and in September of last year he published his debut novel, Mind Walker.

About Mind Walker:

For more than four hundred years, the males of the Ostermann family have unleashed their secret power on the world, destroying lives and amassing
great fortunes. But five centuries prior, the first woman to inherit the identical gene as the males foretold that another female would be born with the same power. It was she who would stand against the madness of the
Ostermann reign. No one knew when she would come…until now.

In present-day British Columbia, Wolf Ostermann rules his exotic estate with an iron fist. Ostermann has no son to continue his family legacy, so if he and his family are to maintain their economic grip on the world, Wolf must indoctrinate his reluctant daughter, Tara. Unfortunately for Wolf, Tara will have nothing to do with him anymore, and that doesn’t bode well for the tyrannical megalomaniac.

Now on the run, Tara and ex-CIA operative Chris Landry must battle for their lives as they ultimately realize the tenacious reach of her father’s powerful mind-and the evil it unleashes on all of humanity. Bursting with raw emotion, Mind Walker combines action and suspense in a non-stop ride from the landscapes of British Columbia to the Caribbean
Islands, and ends in a chilling climax in New York City.
***

A Chat With Roy:

Q) How did you come up with the plot for Mind Walker?

A) Music is my major inspiration. Once I had decided that I wanted to write a novel, I poured a tall glass of Southern Comfort with cranberry juice, my favourite summertime drink. I put a Pink Floyd CD into the player, sat back, closed my eyes, and waited for the ideas to come. A number of ideas came and went, but when the song “Shine on you Crazy Diamond” started playing the concept of Mind Walking came to me. The plot for Mind Walker went through many evolutions. The hardest part was figuring out how someone could get an ability like mind walking. Because this is not something humans are born with, I decided to go extraterrestrial thus the small amount of sci-fi in the book. I’ve always been a fan of edge-of-your-seat thrillers whether they be horror, suspense, action, or sci-fi and I wanted to write a tight, action packed, entertaining thrill ride.

Q) Do you plan on extending Tara’s story with a sequel?

A) Yes. I am currently in the process of writing the sequel to Mind Walker. It picks up six months after the finish of Mind Walker.

Q) Do you believe it’s possible for someone to read minds?

A) My wife can read mine or maybe I’ve just become predictable over the years. Joking aside, I believe that the human spirit is boundless. Even though we have advanced so far with technology, we’ve forgotten our spirit. I think that we will discover someday, if we don’t destroy ourselves first, that we are all part of one whole and at that point we will be able to communicate telepathically, hearing each other’s thoughts as if they were radio waves, tuning in and out at will.

Q) About how long did it take you to write Mind Walker?

A) The first draft of Mind Walker took about two years to write. However, I spent about two more years editing and re-writing. I also had Mind Walker critiqued by a professional editor which caused me to make more changes, before I published it. I should say at this point that I also work at a full-time day job or I could probably have finished it sooner.

Q) What are you reading now?

A) I am currently reading two books, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Bourne Sanction by Eric Van Lustbader.

Q) Tell us one crazy, quirky, or interesting fact about yourself.

A) I am a very eclectic person in all aspects of my life. I am just as comfortable at a party of fifty or more people as I am wandering by myself through some old ruins contemplating on the citizens of the past. I love good music and books of all genres. I love Toronto because of all the different cultures, particularly because of the many types of cuisine and
entertainment. Last but not least, I love being around and learning about people of all races.
***

You can learn more about Roy and his work in the following places:
His Website: www.roymcconnell.com
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rjmc100

Would you want to read someone’s mind? How about having someone wandering through yours?
That gives new meaning to lack of privacy!