Don Pendleton's Joe Copp Mystery Series

Today I put up a Facebook page for Don Pendleton’s Joe Copp Private Eye Thriller series. It includes the covers to the books, designed by Judy. Judy and I have worked together now for ten years. She’s done my websites and my POD and ebook covers. If you have a need for Kindle, Smashwords, ebook covers, or POD covers, take a look at Judy's website. She does good work.

The first book in the Joe Copp series of six, Copp for Hire, is now on SALE for .99 Cents at Kindle and at Smashwords, with the five other novels $2.99 each. If you like hard-boiled, fast paced stories, check the books out. The popular novels were originally published in hardcover and then in paper.

They are also available in print with the new covers that we did recently. All six ebooks should be available very soon in Nook, Kobo, iPad and other formats. I believe three or four are currently available in those additional applications, but all six will soon be, if they are not already.

Many people do not know they can download the Kindle app for their PC, and other devices. You can then sample Kindle books at Amazon, in addition to buying ebooks in seconds.

Check out Don’s Author Page at Smashwords and the Joe Copp series Amazon Kindle.

And if you are on Facebook, visit “Don Pendleton’s Joe Copp, Private Eye Series” Page.

Linda

Interview With Author, Bill Craig

I’m pleased to have this interview with Bill Craig, who is author of the Jack Riley Adventure Series; the Sam Decker, Private Investigator Series; the Hardluck Hannigan Adventure Series; and a Joe Collins suspense thriller. His books are available in print and as Kindle e-books.

Welcome, Bill. You’ve been busy these last few years and have published now a number of books. Years ago, I know you corresponded with my husband, Don Pendleton. I believe you were just starting out with your writing career, at that time, or at least considering writing for publication, is that correct?

Bill: That is correct. I had been writing for awhile and reading everything I could but it was during that time that I actually began to seriously pursue writing. That was when the need to write really settled over me.

Linda: Bill, these are two of my favorite questions I like to ask of writers: Did you write as a kid? When did you know you wanted to write?

Bill: Oh yes, I can remember one of my first projects being a compilation of short stories for a third grade project titled: Things in the Night. I won an award for it. That was when I first realized I wanted to write.

Linda: If you would care to share, who has influenced you the most in your life? And why?

Bill: I was heavily influenced by my parents who introduced me to books at a young age. I taught myself to read at age four and have been doing so now for 47 years.

Linda: What books have most influenced your life and/or your world view? What books do you believe have influenced your writing? Favorite author/authors?

Bill: Well, when I was about ten years old when I was introduced to Doc Savage, which began a life-long love affair with pulp fiction. Then came The Shadow, The Phantom, and I picked up a copy of War Against the Mafia and was hooked all over again. Writers that have influenced me would Lester Dent, the author behind the Kenneth Robeson house name, Walter Gibson aka Maxwell Grant, Don Pendleton was a tremendous influence, as were Jerry Ahern, Robert B. Parker, and a comic book writer named Doug Moench.

Linda: I could ask if you have a favorite series of the three, or at least a character that you love more than one of the others, but I won’t ask that. I know how it is. We love all our characters, even the bad guys, huh? So, instead, tell us about your Hardluck Hannigan character and the series.

Bill: Hardluck Hannigan is just pure fun to write. It is a throw-back to the pulp novels of the thirties and forties with slam bang action and rollicking adventure. Hannigan is a bit of a soldier of fortune from the heartland and he is surrounded by friends that help him make it through his adventures due to the fact he has the worst luck imaginable.

Hannigan started his career when he left a tramp steamer in Africa and got involved in a race to recover the fabled Emerald of Eternity from the Priest King Prester John. He faced off against Nazis, the evil Dr. Ragnarok, and deadly River Pirates. Then he was captured by the Kondor Legion and battled the fabled Nazi pilots and their three flying saucers that had been recovered from a secret base in the Arctic circle. After that, Hannigan was sent to the Amazon to search for Colonel Percy Fawcett and a lost Atlantean outpost.

His fourth adventure began on an ocean liner that was sabotaged and set adrift in the Sargasso sea where he battled a several centuries old colony of pirates and a mad Russian Scientist that had set up a city beneath the sea and was plotting to destroy all life on the surface. A trip back to the States reunited Hannigan with his father and brought him face to face with a Nazi spy ring and a Demonic creature haunting Kill Devil Hills. Tragedy struck Hannigan during that adventure and sent him fleeing back to Africa where he was caught up in a search for yet another lost city and battling Nazis for the fabled Spear of Goliath.

The current book I am working on finds him in Egypt fighting desert nomads, a Chinese villain, and being a pawn in a battle between two ancient Egyptian goddesses. The Golden Scorpion will hopefully be out by spring.

Linda: I always like to ask writers how they receive their inspiration. Many writers feel the inspiration comes from beyond them at times as they are working with their characters. Do you experience that in your writing?

Bill: I would have to agree that it does come from beyond. Many times the characters just take over and I feel like I am just channeling them to get the story on paper. There have been times when I sit down to write and totally lose time, yet when I stop I have 5-10 pages written that are completely new to me.

Linda: Do you visualize your scenes as you write? Do you “walk” in your character’s shoes?

Bill: Very much so. For the most part I tend to write in a very visual style, but I love to do a lot with dialog as well. And yeah I am in there every step of the way. One of the more fun pieces I have done lately was an old west werewolf story for Six-guns Straight from Hell, an anthology put together by Laura Givens and David Riley.

Linda: I believe you have chosen to do what many of us are now doing—publishing e-books. What encouraged you to do so?

Bill: The potential to build my fan base with the advent of the multiple e-reader systems out there. And so far word is spreading and sales are picking up.

Linda: Tell us about your other series and about your next project?

Bill: I have about seven or eight books in the works at the moment, the next book out will be either The Golden Scorpion from the Hardluck Hannigan series of Smuggler’s Blues, the fourth Decker P.I. title. I have several more Hannigans plotted out, a fifth Sam Decker, and three more books featuring Joe Collins the hero of The Butterfly Tattoo which has been my best selling title both in print and on kindle. The Decker books follow an ex-DEA agent turned Private Investigator in the Florida Keys. Joe Collins is a cop on the Gulf side of South Florida who gave up part of his soul to find and stop the infamous Butterfly Killer who he suspected was behind the death of his wife. The subsequent books are about his journey back to being what he is: A good and dedicated cop.

I am also working on some stuff for Airship27 which includes a Masked Rider Western, and the lead off story for a south sea series I created called Tales of the Hanging Monkey. Plus I have a western novel in the works.

Linda: And my last question, Bill. What is your favorite quote?

Bill: My favorite quote. There are so many, however the one that carries the most important lesson for me comes from a western character I am working on named Hannibal Tucker. The Quote: “The most trouble I ever got into was because of a woman,”—Hannibal Tucker, from an upcoming western novel that is as of yet untitled.

Thanks so much, Bill, for taking time for this interview. Good luck with your books.

To read more about Bill Craig’s book, visit his Amazon Author Page.


~Linda

A Line Crossed--and No Way Back?

"I think the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business and what (we) see on TV and how our youngsters are being raised, that this has not become the nice United States of America that most of us grew up in. And I think it's time that we do the soul-searching," ~Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, Saturday, January 8, 2011, following the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford; the killing of U.S. District Judge John Roll, 63; 9 year old, Christina Greene; Dorwin Stoddard, 76, pastor at Mountain Ave. Church of Christ; Dorthy Murray, 76; Phyllis Scheck, 79; Gabe Zimmerman, 30, Giffords' director of community outreach; and twelve others wounded by gunshot from the Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol of Jared Lee Loughner.

On Sunday, today, the Sheriff also said, "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government--the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous” He also added in response to a question, “And I think that people who are unbalanced are especially susceptible to vitriol."

I agree with him and I have been saying that for a long time now that the hate, bigotry, and inciteful political comments being made in recent time, including Palin's cross-hairs target, are dangerous. Actions like this massacre are likely the result of someone grabbing on to the too- common vitriolic rhetoric in our country, much of it by people in positions that used to generate respect, such as those in politics, those running for political office, such as Palin, or media personalities who most often distort truth. All it takes is for someone who may be angry or a little unstable to find a reason to commit murder.

Palin took her map down from her site, I understand. Maybe feeling a little guilty? And what about Giffords' opponent using this line: Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly and Palin backing him, "Getting on Target," and phrases like that. That is dangerous stuff, and intelligent people in the limelight of the political or media arena should know that.