Cyber Cafe – Page 2 – M.H. Callway Thriller Writer

CYBER CAFE: Meet Rosemary McCracken

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Rosemary McCracken

Rosemary and I first became friends through our literary critique group which continues to thrive 15 years on. When we met, we'd each had one or two crime short stories published. Since then we've both published several more stories and been short-listed for the Unhanged Arthur and the Debut Dagger awards. And together we have broken through the barrier of traditional publication though Rosemary continues to set the pace!
 
This week Imajin Press released Raven Lake, the third book in Rosemary's popular Pat Tierney series. Rosemary draws on her work experience as a business journalist to create Pat, a tough, warm-hearted financial manager who runs her own business, deals with her family's many problems and solves crimes faster and better than the police! Jack Batten, the Toronto Star's crime fiction reviewer, has called Pat "a hugely attractive  sleuth figure". 

Subscribe to Rosemary's blog, Moving Target. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Check out her website, too.

The most successful novels are sparked by their authors’ passions. What passion did you follow in Raven Lake?

Gliding in my kayak over a quiet lake or creek, preferably one with no cottages, I feel completely plugged into nature. I come upon turtles sunning themselves on logs; loons teaching their chicks how to fish; herons blending in with marsh vegetation as they stalk their suppers; mink and bobcats drinking from the edge of the lake. One day, I rounded a bend in a creek and found a young bear fishing. Surprised to see me, he scrambled up the bank and disappeared into the woods.

So it was mandatory that I get Pat into a kayak—and, of course, she loves paddling as much as I do. And when Imajin Books asked me for suggestions for the Raven Lake book cover, I immediately thought of a figure in a kayak. I was thrilled with the cover that artistic director Ryan Doan came up with—complete with the shadow of a raven on the water. The back cover has a flock of ravens—an “unkindness” of ravens is, I believe, the collective noun.

I set Raven Lake in Ontario cottage country in the summertime to celebrate my many wonderful summers in the Haliburton Highlands north of Toronto—God’s country, it surely is! During those months, I spent a fair amount of time in my kayak exploring the lakes of the Leslie Frost Centre, a spectacular 32,000-hectare Crown land nature preserve that was accessible from my cottage.

Did you revisit any favourite topics in Raven Lake?

In Raven Lake, I took on a new financial crime based on a real scam that was plaguing Ontario cottage country two summers ago: cottage rental fraud. Con artists were posting photos of lakefront properties on legitimate internet vacation rental sites. Would-be renters would wire their money to the “property owner” – discounts were given for payment in full – and when they arrived for their vacations, they were told by the real owners that the property was not for rent.

A crime perfectly suited to cottage country.

Like Pat, I’m appalled by the financial exploitation of unsuspecting people that is rampant these days. Con artists are swindling their victims out of their savings through investment frauds, identity theft, telemarketing scams and loan schemes. The penalties for these crimes aren’t tough enough in Canada to deter these crooks.

Where can readers buy Raven Lake?

Click on the book cover image above. It will take you directly to the Amazon store in your country. And here’s the link, too: myBook.to/RavenLakeTierney

What do you like about the crime fiction genre?

Crime fiction gives me an opportunity to work with some great bad guys and gals, characters I can really love to hate. I believe the antagonist is the second most important character in a novel, after the protagonist. I avoid completely evil antagonists because I can’t believe in them. No one is bad all the time.

I like the sense of closure at the end of a mystery or thriller. Peace and order has returned to the world. It may only be a temporary state of order; the antagonist may still be out there. But it’s peace and order for a time.

Tell us about your readers. Where are they located? Which topics have proven to be the most popular with them?

Many of my readers are women, and judging from readers’ reviews, they seem to be taken with Pat Tierney’s ongoing family problems. They like the fact that she’s an Everywoman: a single mom who supports her family, does her very best for her clients, and has to deal with a whack of domestic problems. They can relate to a character like her.

The beauty of e-books is that authors can reach people who read English throughout the world. Safe Harbor, my first mystery, currently has 115 reader reviews on Amazon.com, and I think it’s safe to say that most are American readers. There are 15 reviews on Amazon.co.uk, so I know I have some British readers. And, of course, I have many readers in Ontario and I credit public librarians with bringing Ontario writers to the attention of library users.

Will there be a fourth Pat Tierney mystery?

I certainly hope so, although I’m not sure where Pat will take me next. I need to spend some quiet time this coming summer listening to her.

Where can readers buy the first two Pat Tierney novels?

Click on the images below or use these links: Safe Harbor can be purchased at myBook.to/SafeHarborTierney. And Black Water at myBook.to/BlackWaterTierney. These are universal links that will take you to the Amazon store in your country.

CYBER CAFE: Meet Pat Flewwelling!

Pat Flewwelling

Pat and I are cyber-friends. We have yet to meet in “meat space”. We first became friends when my debut novel, Windigo Fire, was published by Seraphim Editions. Pat invited me to be a guest on her blog and I was delighted to accept. Pat’s passion, in addition to her busy life as an author, is to promote Canadian authors and Canadian culture through her blog, Nine Day Wonder. Visit her blog by clicking on the above link. Follow her on Twitter and on her Facebook fan page here.

How did you start blogging?

The purpose of www.ninedaywonder.com has always been to spotlight authors and introduce them to a brand new audience. My blog has undergone some facelifts over the years, but has been in operation since about 2010, with interviews starting in 2012. I focus on authors, editors, and other artists from small presses, because I’ve never felt like they had enough exposure (and I can only buy so many books on my own). I wish I could write more consistently, but for the last few months – and for the next few months – I’ll be updating the blog at random. It’s all good news – two editing contracts, a new book being published this fall and another to be written on deadline, plus two short stories accepted for publication, and a horror movie script, all while moving from Ontario to Quebec, and while starting up a travelling bookstore. These days, I post when I can!

What passions keep you going?

I love introducing new authors to an audience, and making those authors shine. I feel like I’m really doing something for authors and for our national culture at large.

Almost all of my interviewed guests have been writers, so we typically talk about the latest book they’re launching, as well as what personal interests help them strike a balance between their writing career and their lives at large. There was, however, one interview that stands out as one of my most challenging: I interviewed a reader who set the record straight on what a “strong female character” really means, and how I’d been wrong all along.

I especially love it when I toss out a bonus question, and the author throws back a wild and hilarious response. For example, I’d been interviewing Alison Sinclair, who writes science fiction and has four science degrees to back it up. At the end of the interview, I asked: “Ada Lovelace, Hedy Lamarr, and Marie Curie are sitting down to tea, and there’s only one piece of cake left. Only the craftiest of minds may take the cake. Who wins?” And she replied: “Nobody. They’d forget all about it because the conversation would be so absorbing, and the cake and all the silverware would wind up incorporated into a model of a device they’d invent between them.”

Tell us about your followers.

The majority of my followers are Canadian, which is all right. I spend a lot of time focusing on Canadian authors, Canadian content, and Canadian small press, so a Canadian audience seems pretty inevitable. But Canadians only represent about 65% of the following. After that come the Americans at about 20%, and the remaining 15% are scattered all over the world. I have one particular favourite blog visitor from Italy – an independently published author herself – and she ended up being on the blog as a guest as well. But I’ve also had regular visitors from Russia, Germany, and India.

What feedback have you had from your followers?

My followers really like the fact that the questions I pose in interviews are thought-provoking, none of the “where do you get your ideas from” sort. I spend upwards of 2-3 hours researching a guest’s work, their own blogs and websites, etc., and then I read through any other interviews they might have participated in before. This way, I tailor the questions to the author, to their work, to their particular interests, and I make sure the questions haven’t been asked before.

I’ve been fortunate when it comes to feedback. Those who leave a comment are genuinely interested in what they’ve been reading, and they respond positively. The rest end up trapped in my spam filter. I don’t mind. Those comments rarely make grammatical sense, and they always tell me to buy Gucci handbags or Ray-Ban sunglasses or something.

Which blog is your personal favorite?

“Worms on a Train” was my all-time favourite post, even though it was the hardest one I ever had to write. In it, I had to come out and admit that I was struggling with my own internalized systemic prejudice, while at the same time witnessing overt racism in action. It’s not an interview, it’s not fun, it’s not funny, but for a few hundred words, I was more painfully honest and clear than I’d ever been before. Here’s the link: http://www.ninedaywonder.com/2015/worms-on-a-train

Thank you, Pat! It was a pleasure to be a guest on your blog. Thanks for all you do to promote Canadian authors and best of luck in getting all your writing projects done in good time!

CYBER CAFE: Meet Gail Hamilton

Gail Hamilton and I first became friends through the Canadian Authors Association. I was in total awe of her because Gail was a published author - and she earned her living through her writing! To this day, I remain in awe of Gail and her accomplishments. She has had an extensive career as a copywriter and produced nonfiction reference books. Altogether she has written 24 books, including several romance novels for Harlequin and adaptations of the critically acclaimed TV series, Road to Avonlea for Harper Collins.  

These days Gail lives on a farm in Prince Edward County, Ontario and has ventured into historical fiction with The Tomorrow Country.  A talented nature photographer, she shares a few of her pics today at Cyber Cafe. Visit and learn more about Gail here.

Madeleine has asked me to chat about my blog so here goes.

I started the blog back in 2010 but didn’t take it seriously until a couple of years ago when told all authors need blogs for promotion and I better get busy. I did try but seem constitutionally averse to flogging my work. First it was difficult to think of something new. Second, a blog about writing ends up aimed at writers who already know everything I could talk about and don’t need more about conversations with the cat when stuck. I won’t even mention the constant battles with WordPress.

My next bright idea was to rustle up curious lore from the era of my book, THE TOMORROW COUNTRY, set in Victorian London. Only that dragged me back into a time and place I had long ago left behind. I started avoiding it. The blog, which I had committed to publish every week, suffered yawning gaps. I found so many other things to do on blog day.

The only things I wanted to write about were the rural everyday happenings around me, backed by photos from my trusty little camera. So the blog has evolved into snapshots of country life interspersed with periodic rants on things I feel strongly about: banning bottled water, solving male violence, chronic bad temper in movie monsters.

This worried me until I stumbled upon the concept of relationship marketing. Yes, I cried, that’s what I’m doing. People get to know fascinating me and then rush to read my equally fascinating works. Love the idea!

However, by far the majority of my blog readers are from, of all places, China. Next comes the United States, Ukraine, France and Canada, followed by the Russian Federation, Germany, Poland and a whole raft of other countries that include Sweden, Japan, Turkey, Brazil, Romania, Israel, Viet Nam, Thailand and Hong Kong.

I am at a loss to explain my appeal to the Chinese even as I picture some Beijing urbanite riveted by pioneer plowing in rural Ontario. Nor can I explain my most enduringly popular post, entitled Old Friend Crashes to Earth, about an oak that blew down across the lane. It runs neck on neck with another favourite about the Victorian corset and Waking the Fire Goddess, describing the first lighting of my wood stove in the fall. Titles surely help. A post called Beaver Balls, attracts lots of hits from folks who may even stay to read after finding it’s about mud ball towers marking beaver territory. My theory is that so much of the world’s population is now urbanized and run ragged that there is a hidden thirst for simple messages from the natural world.

Does this blog impact book sales or make more savvy marketers shake their heads? I don’t know. I do know it is the only blog that is going to actually get written because it is so much fun to do.

Currently, I am working on a sequel to THE TOMORROW COUNTRY set in Canada.

Cyber Central: The Joli Pantry

Today, my daughter and her husband launched their new blog, The Joli Pantry, where they share cooking tips and enjoying life in Canada’s food capital, Montreal!

First recipe, Jul Glogg, or a very spirited warm Christmas drink from Sweden. I grew up on it so I can guarantee it’s a panacea for winter chills and blahs!

Second recipe, Spaghetti Carbonara, which they made for us and it’s excellent though Montreal has better cremini mushrooms so I’ll leave the cooking to Mitch.

Category: Cyber Cafe

CYBER CAFE: Meet Rosemary McCracken

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CYBER CAFE: Meet Pat Flewwelling!

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CYBER CAFE: Meet Gail Hamilton

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Cyber Central: The Joli Pantry

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