Meet the Underground Authors

What makes your stories unique?

I would have to say the characters I create. I try to take a character that we all might recognize, and then give them something … unique, something that sets them apart from the people we know. And I want that “something” to become a key element in the plot. 

If you met one of your characters in person, who would it be, and what would you ask?

Perhaps Crystal from the Crystal Moore Suspense books. I would want to know how a candidate for a Ph.D. in Information Retrieval winds up in the jungles of Mexico trying to rescue two young girls she has never met. I’d also like to know how she captured a professional hit man, subduing him with her head.

Who or what has influenced your writing, and in what way?

Author Dick Francis, by example, encouraged me to write paragraphs that flow smoothly. Also, in each of his books, he exposed me to something I did not know.  I try to do that in my books, and sometimes I succeed.  

What is your secret guilty pleasure?

I’m afraid all my guilty pleasures are well known.  

They say ‘write what you know’. But do you reach a point where research is needed? 

Absolutely.  In fact, I think that axiom should be “Write what you know - or can learn.” I think every book I write causes me to stop writing and enter a research mode. It could be researching obscure poisons, or information on powered parachutes, or the Texas Rangers. Whatever I deal with in a book, I want it to be accurate.  Generally that means I must learn a lot more about the subject than will appear in the book. But what I learn will influence how I present things to the reader.

How do your family and/or friends feel about your books?

I believe I can say with certainty that family and friends are all very supportive of my books, read them (some even buy the books!) and like the books. Sometimes they have some questions.  And always, they ask when the next book will be available.

How do you choose the books you read? By genre? By author?

Yes.

What advice would you give a new author?

Read good authors. Write often. Don’t be afraid to throw away something you’ve written. Then, write it better.

How do you feel about rewrites? Describe your process after the first draft is complete.

When the first draft is finished, I like to put it aside for a few weeks. Ignore its call. Resist the impulse to “fix it.” Then, when I go back to it, I have fresh eyes for this story. It will look very different to me. I will be seeing it like a new reader sees it, not someone who has lived with it for months. Now I am able to improve it. 

What project are you working on next?

I’m trying to clear some of the trees in our forest that have died and …  Oops. You probably meant what writing project was in the works.  Sorry.  The next book will be a Crystal Moore Suspense book.  My last two books have been Father Frank mysteries. Crystal probably thinks I’ve abandoned her.  Not true.  She’s up next. 

On day one of Father Frank’s first vacation in four years, a man says to him, “I’m gonna kill you.”

Then suddenly, the threat of violence includes another person. Now, Father Frank knows something must be done. But since the threat came via the confessional, he can’t tell the police. He can’t even tell the other person who is in danger. Father Frank is pretty much on his own.

And to make matters worse, all this happens in Magnolia Bluff, a beautiful Texas Hill Country town, but a place Father Frank has just come to visit. He doesn’t know the people; he doesn’t know the town, and he certainly doesn’t have a clue who is issuing the threat.

His vacation hasn’t started well, and if he can’t stop this man from killing, it will end suddenly - and much worse.