AN INTERVIEW WITH ROMANCE, MYSTERY, AND SUSPENSE AUTHOR KRIS BOCK

Today we sit down for a chat with romance, mystery, suspense, and nonfiction author Kris Bock, who also writes books for young people as Chris Eboch.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

I wrote my first novel, The Well of Sacrifice, shortly after finishing grad school. I was looking for work as a magazine editor and wanted to write something other than cover letters. I loved books such as Julie of the Wolves and Island of the Blue Dolphins growing up and imagined a similar young adventure story. The  middle grade (ages 9+) novel is set in Mayan times, inspired by a summer I spent traveling through Mexico and Central America. 

 

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

Astonishingly, I sold the first book I wrote! This gave me the mistaken impression that having a writing career wasn't so hard. I have since written many novels that I haven't sold, but I've managed to make a career of writing for over twenty years.

 

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

I now have more than eighty published books. That includes fiction and nonfiction, for children and adults, traditional trade books, work for hire educational books, and indie books. The variety keeps me interested!

 

Where do you write?

I live in New Mexico with my husband and our ferrets, and I have a home office. My window looks out on nature, complete with distracting wildlife such as roadrunners, quail, hummingbirds, and foxes.

 

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

I use voice recognition software, so I have to keep the office quiet.

 

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

In my treasure hunting series, I drew on personal experiences hiking in the desert for the characters’ adventures – though fortunately, I’ve never stumbled on a rattlesnake nest or gotten caught in a flash flood!

 

Another book, What We Found, was inspired by finding the body of a murder victim while hiking in the woods. This blog post shares more about my Southwest Inspiration.

 

Describe your process for naming your character?

It’s less of a process and more like trial and error.

 

Real settings or fictional towns?

Most of my novels include real places in the Southwestern United States, although I might fictionalize the names. For example, in my treasure hunting adventure, Desert Gold, the heroine and her best friend live in a fictionalized version of Socorro, New Mexico. They hunt for the lost Victorio Peak treasure, a real Southwest legend about a heretic Spanish priest’s gold mine, made richer by the spoils of bandits and an Apache raider.

 

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

I have a sweet romance series set around a cat café. Merlin appeared in the first book as one of many cats named. He quickly developed a distinct personality and became a reader (and author) favorite. In book 2, Merlin literally jumps in to help foster five struggling kittens. The kittens see him as their surrogate mama.

 

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

I’m perfectly normal, thank you very much. Just ask my ferrets, Princess Pandemonium and Teddy Black Bear.

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

People who dismiss romance novels without ever having read any, usually basing their opinions on cover art from the eighties. In fact, people who dismiss any type of literature, whether comic books or fantasy or erotica. We shouldn’t judge people’s reading habits. 

 

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

A potable water source, an endless supply of food, and a way to contact rescuers. Wait, does pragmatism count as a quirk?

 

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

I had a one-day temp job stuffing envelopes, and it was the most tedious day of my life. I also worked as a glacier guide in Alaska for two summers. That was much more interesting, although occasionally wet and cold, not to mention terrifying when the bored helicopter pilots decide to give the guides a thrill on the trip back at the end of the day.

 

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It’s especially fun when you get a group and read it out loud, although now you can just watch the TV show.

 

Ocean or mountains?

Mountains. I’d rather hike than swim or sit on a beach.

 

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

These days, definitely a small town/desert gal. I can walk out my back door and keep walking for miles without running into other people – which has been especially nice during the pandemic.

 

What’s on the horizon for you?

I have a mystery series launching next year.

 

Something Shady at Sunshine Haven: Injured in a bombing, war correspondent Kate Tessler returns to her hometown in Arizona to recuperate. When patients are mysteriously dying at an Alzheimer's unit where her mother lives, Kate must use her investigative skills to uncover the killer and save her mother. Kate has followed the most dangerous news stories around the world. But can she survive going home? Something Shady at Sunshine Haven is the first in a humorous traditional mystery series.

 

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

I am also writing a young adult comedy series with my brother, scriptwriter Douglas J Eboch, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie Sweet Home Alabama. Now you can follow the crazy antics of teenagers Melanie, Jake, and their friends a decade before the events of the movie. Sign up for our Rom-Com newsletterand get a free preview, or Visit the Amazon series page for Felony Melanie: Sweet Home Alabama romantic comedy novels.

 

Learn more about me and my books at my website, where you can find links to my social media and sign up for my newsletter.

 

Desert Gold

The Southwest Treasure Hunters Series, Book 1

 

A legendary treasure hunt in the dramatic–and deadly–New Mexico desert is “Smart romance with an Indiana Jones feel.”

 

When Erin, a quiet history professor, uncovers a clue that may pinpoint the lost treasure cave, she prepares for adventure. But when a hit and run driver nearly kills her, she realizes she’s not the only one after the treasure. And is Drew, the handsome helicopter pilot who found her bleeding in a ditch, really a hero, or one of the enemy? Just how far will Erin go to find the treasure and discover what she’s really made of?

 

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AN INTERVIEW WITH COZY MYSTERY AUTHOR LORENA McCOURTNEY

Today we sit down for a chat with former romance and current cozy mystery author Lorena McCourtney. Learn more about Lorena and her books at her website. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

I’d been writing short stories for children and teenagers for quite some time (about 250 of them altogether) plus confessions (anyone remember confessions? I wrote some 150 of them). Even for a short story, a writer must create a “world” for it to exist in, and I decided I wanted to make larger use of those small worlds I was creating.

 

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

It took from the time I was in elementary school until I was a young mother to see my first fiction published. (Although I did sell a nonfiction article to an Alaskan magazine while I was in high school.) After I decided I wanted to do book length fiction, I think it took a year or two. A friend introduced me to her agent, which speeded up the process considerably.

 

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

I was traditionally published for quite a few years, but I decided I didn’t want to be tied to the deadlines necessary when working with a publisher. So now I’m totally Indie. That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles is my 50^th published book, a kind of “golden anniversary” for me. The first 24 books were all secular romances, but the other 26 have been Christian-based romances and mysteries.

 

Where do you write?

Except for the earliest children’s short stories, I’ve always been blessed with a separate room to use as an office. I admire writers who can go to a coffee shop or some public place to write, but I just can’t do it. I need to have this space of my own, no people around. I like to be able to leave papers and notes and files scattered all over. Even if this does look like a disaster zone, it works for me.

 

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

I always have the radio on, but it’s in the other room so I can hear it but not be distracted by it. Just background music. I like knowing there’s still a world running outside my office. Always country and western music.

 

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

I think there’s a little of me in many of my characters, although more of me in my Ivy character than any others I’ve written. We’re both LOLs (little old ladies) so it’s a world I know well. I may use bits and pieces of other people in my characters, but never a character lifted totally from life. Plots usually start from a real-life incident (although probably not my own life), but I build on the incident rather than stick to it totally as it happened.

 

Describe your process for naming your character.

Names are so important! For minor characters, I often use whatever appropriate name happens to pop into my head. But for major characters it may take trying out several names before hitting on one that just “fits.” Although I have to admit that I’ve looked back at some of my early books and wondered – how and why did I ever pick that name?

 

Real settings or fictional towns?

I most often use a fictional town but set in a real area with real town names around it. I once created a fictional Oregon coast town, basing it on a combination of several actual towns, and it was apparently realistic because a reader wrote me that her mother used to work there.

 

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

I don’t know that it’s actually a quirk, but my Ivy character feels she has aged into invisibility. A good many people simply don’t seem to see her anymore. (Which can sometimes be a handy asset.)  

 

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

My own quirkiest quirk? Oh my. If I have one, apparently I don’t recognize it! If I have quirks of my own, they just look normal to me.

 

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

Hmm. I read many books I like, and I sometimes wish I could use similar sharp dialogue or plot twists in my own books, but I don’t ever wish I could have written someone else’s actual book.

 

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

A do-over. That’s a big area! As far as writing goes, my do-over would mean writing novels earlier than I did, and switching to Christian fiction much earlier than I did.

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

That’s another big area! In writing, I’ve never thought of myself as having a strong, individual “voice,” but a definite peeve has been when editors or copy-editors edited out whatever voice I have. Another reason I enjoy being an Indie!

 

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

I need my Bible, some sun-protection lotion, and definitely my husband. He’s quite handy, a good “fixer.” He’ll rig us up a covering from storms and find something to eat and probably build a boat to get us off the island).

 

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

My one and only (and very brief) job as a reporter with a small weekly newspaper while I was still in high school. They gave me an “office” but said to be sure not to close the door. They didn’t say why, but it turned out that the building had been a bank long ago and my office had been their safe. The door couldn’t be opened from the inside. It was enough to awaken any tendency toward claustrophobia!

 

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

The Bible, of course.

 

Ocean or mountains?

I love walking on the beach and picking up treasures or trash. I love the beauty and serenity of the mountains. This just isn’t a choice I can make!

 

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

We live in town now (although it’s definitely not a city), but at heart I’m a country gal. Growing up, I was one of those “horse crazy” girls, which carried me through a college degree in animal husbandry, living in the country for many years, and owning various livestock. (Including mid-wifing a pig named Belinda.) We lived on that country place with animals for some 49 years, but health and age meant a move to town.

 

What’s on the horizon for you?

I want to finish up my Mac ‘n’ Ivy Mysteries series, although I’m not sure how many books that will be. Also, I want to get the last book in my earlier Ivy Malone Mysteries series, “Go, Ivy, Go!”  into print. It’s available only as an e-book now.

 

That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles

A Mac ‘n’ Ivy Mystery, Book 4

 

What comes after the honeymoon for Mac and Ivy? Looking for a quiet, comfortable pace to settle down and leave the nomadic motorhome life behind. No more dead bodies. No more killers.

 

What do they find instead? You guessed it. Murder!

 

Beginning with a runaway Miranda and a fiancée in a ruffled red bikini, continuing with a missing gun, a woman who believes in the prophetic power of a crumbled cookie, and a dead body with a bullet hole in the chest. Was he the sweet guy the fiancée claims he was, with not an enemy in the world? Or was he a bank robbing con man, with any number of people . . . including the fiancée . . . eager to put that bullet in his chest?

 

The easiest and probably most sensible action for Mac and Ivy would be to head down the road in their motorhome and look for a different place to settle down. But they both have a strong concern for someone in trouble, and then there’s also Ivy’s persistent mutant curiosity gene . . .

 

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR J.L. REGEN'S HEROINE MARGO SIMMONS

Today we sit down for a chat with Margo Simmons, heroine of author J.L. Regen’s Secret Desires. 

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

Before my author started pulling my strings, I was living with my Mom in a protector role, afraid to go out on my own for fear of what my stepfather would do to her. I will always love my mother, but I need my own life and space.

 

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

The one trait I like most about myself is being able to reinvent myself. I see change as growth, and I want to grow into a woman of independent means with a purpose.

 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

I decided to adopt a young girl whose Mom died. I don't know if it's strange, but I think it was a gutsy thing to do when I'd just started in a full-time teaching job right out of college. 

 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I don't argue with my author. Sometimes she knows me better than I know myself.

 

What is your greatest fear?

My greatest fear is never having a place of my own and never finding a man who isn't insensitive and uncaring like my stepfather.

 

What makes you happy?

Children make me happy. Seeing the smiles on their faces when I help them solve a problem and the way their eyes light up when they see me in class in the morning. It makes my world richer.

 

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

If I could rewrite a part of my story, I'd eliminate the pain my Mom had in raising me, and my struggles with Edward to make him see how much I love him.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

The characters who bug me the most are people who feel they possess all the knowledge in their world and only their way is the right way.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Before I met Edward, I wanted to trade places with my girlfriend because she had a warm, caring family life and found a man who adores her to share her life.

 

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

My author is an elementary school teacher and Adjunct professor of English as a Second Language, an award-winning photographer, she was runner up for the 2019 Readers Choice Award for best Contemporary Romance Novel, and she has opened her own enterprise to train people in the nuances of going out on their own. Her students are her pride and joy.

 

What's next for you?

For me? You’d have to ask my author What's next for her? A family saga with intrigue set in WWII and then a Middle Grade novel that deals with bullying and keeping a friendship.

 

Secret Desires

Nothing in Margo Simmons’s life comes easy. She can’t claim the inheritance on a condo apartment her uncle has left to her until she is gainfully employed in a job for a year. She meets the man of her dreams but anguishes over a loving relationship because he is still emotionally tied to his deceased wife. With great difficulty, she becomes the guardian to a recently orphaned child she had been tutoring.   Margo evolves from an insecure, newbie elementary teacher into a woman determined to fulfill the secret desires locked in her heart. My story speaks to anyone who has suffered a loss and had to start over.

 

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AUTHOR DONNA B. McNICOL SETS A MYSTERY SERIES IN THE OTHER KLONDIKE

Donna B. McNicol is a retired IT professional who started writing fiction after retirement. Her preferred genre is small town mysteries with a dash of romance, but she has also tackled children's stories, fantasy and smalltown romance. In addition, her short stories have been included in several anthologies. Learn more about Donna and her books at her website.

Klondike, PA Mystery Series

Why are my Klondike books not set in Alaska? That’s a good question and one that frequently comes up. In the late 1990s, my husband and I left our high pay but high stress jobs, sold our home, and hit the road in our motorhome. We went to work as contractors for a company installing part of the internet backbone. Our biggest contract was in middle Pennsylvania, and we fell in love with the state. We started looking at property and bought a small cabin in the north-central part of the state. 

 

We made some amazing friends during our time there and they encouraged me to write a book set in the area.

 

Several years went by, my husband passed from cancer, and I eventually remarried. I never forgot that little place in the woods and my friends there. In 2012, I started dabbling with fiction writing. I took a dream I had written down some years earlier and made it the prologue of my first mystery novel in the Klondike Mystery Series, Not a Whisper. 

 

Wikipedia: “Klondike is an unincorporated community in Corydon Township in McKean County, Pennsylvania, United States. Klondike is located along Pennsylvania Route 59/Pennsylvania Route 321 east of the Allegheny Reservoir.” 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike,_Pennsylvania

 

Set in Klondike, the books in the series are small town, traditional mysteries. I class them as police procedurals. Nothing overly graphic, but there is some language. A dash of romance but it stops at the bedroom door. There is a wide cast of characters, some are in all the books, others come and go.

 

You can get a free download of the short story prequel, Just a Stranger, for signing up for my newsletter. You can also download a set of interviews with several of the main characters at the same time.

 

These books hold a special place in my heart, and I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

 

Not a Whisper
A Klondike Mystery, Book 1

 

When a retreat becomes a nightmare...

 

When Cherie Marshall catches her fiancé and best friend in a compromising position, she cancels her upcoming wedding and jumps at the chance to escape to quiet Klondike, Pennsylvania to care for her elderly aunt. She thought her biggest issue would be adapting to life in the middle of a National Forest, so very different from her upbringing in the deserts of Arizona.

 

But that was before she met State Trooper Fire Marshall Jamison "Jazz" Maddox at the scene of a mysterious fire. As they both become acquainted with the close-knit Klondike residents, things get complicated as Cherie and Jazz find themselves in the middle of a local crime wave where arson, kidnapping, embezzlement and a decades-old murder are just the tip of the iceberg.

 

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SCREENWRITER AND MYSTERY AUTHOR SKIP PRESS ASKS IF CHARACTERS CAN LIVE FOREVER?

Do you remember reading You-Solve-It Mysteries or buying them for your kids? Today we welcome screenwriter and author Skip Press, who wrote some of the original books in the series. Learn how they came about and what the characters’ next iteration might be. He’d love your input. Learn more about Skip and his books at his website. 

Can a Character Live Forever? 

From the title of this article, you may have thought of great fiction characters from history. Maybe a Shakespearean character like King Lear, a play made into a movie many times but also contemporized as A Thousand Acres in 1987, or Sherlock Holmes. How many movies have been made starring the Baker Street detective, even as a youth in Young Sherlock Holmes in 1985? Mark Twain kept Tom Sawyer going with novels like Tom Sawyer, Detective. How often have the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew been adapted to movies or TV? I did a book with Flint Dille, who with his sister owns the Buck Rogers franchise. Recently, there was a new series announced in a Hollywood trade paper about a new Buck series. Hope it happens – I love the character. 

 

I have a similar situation, and so solicit any and all opinions about it. In 1987, my then agent Larry Sternig suggested I create a series character for the new spy magazine, Espionage. I ended up with a deal and a poster of the first cover with my name on it displayed in the New York City subways. The magazine only lasted a few issues, but my character Alexander Cloud stayed in my mind. An employee of the National Security Agency, he was unique with his psychic abilities that included a knack for finding anyone.

 

I wrote enough stories with Alex that it impressed a filmmaker I knew, and I was paid to write a screenplay starring Alex, who was half-Hopi and based in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. The worldwide scope of the script – something dictated by the producers – was apparently too wide, and they didn’t get the money to make it. So, the option on the screenplay expired and I got the rights back. 

 

Fast forward a few years. I was a member of Poets, Essayists, and Novelists (PEN. A new friend I met there, Aram Saroyan, told me that a publisher was looking for a series character for their new You-Solve-It Mystery young adult line. All I had to do was write a sample chapter and outline. What to do? I was by that time married and a Mr. Mom, writing at home and watching our son Haley Alexander while his mother worked a 9-to-5 job. I needed this deal. I figured Alexander Cloud must have been an interesting teenager, so I made him one. He was on the basketball team at Albuquerque North High School, and in his spare time he kept getting pulled into solving mysteries with his constant pal and maybe someday girlfriend, blonde-haired spunky, cute computer geek Jilly Adams.

 

No matter how much he tried to stay out of trouble and not upset his Scottish mother and Hopi computer executive father, Jilly always dragged Alex into solving crimes. 

 

I got a three-book deal. The first one, A Rave of Snakes, was the lead series title. I used family holiday season trips (her family in West Virginia, mine in Texas) to research the second  novel. For A Web of Ya-Yas, I took us up Highway 666 in New Mexico and wove some things I saw into the story. With the next one, A Shift of Coyotes, I used information from my friend David Ayer, who was fluent in Spanish and managing a maquiladora across the border in El Paso. This was long before he wrote Training Day or made movies. 

 

The novels did well. In the mid-90s, they were optioned by the production company owned by Ed Gaylord, who at that time owned The Nashville Network (which became TNT). Then, the executive running the company got in a fight with Gaylord, and my planned series never happened. Later, the novels were optioned by Moctesuma Esparza, who made many movies including Selena. He had a deal at Disney, but after he asked me to change Alex to a Mexican-American, the whole thing fell apart. I felt Native Americans were under-represented and Alex should maintain his native charm. 

 

Now we’re at today. It has occurred to me that Alex and Jilly are all grown-up, may still be friends, and might even be married. They would both be about forty years old. I have a complete story worked out that takes place in San Francisco and has a “natural world” type of title. It’s a better story than any I’ve ever come up with for Alexander Cloud. 

 

I wonder – should I try to weave in excerpts/memories from the old young adult stories? Should I just write the new novel and maybe touch up the old novels, publish them myself, and sell those as a set? Should I also put the old Alex Cloud NSA agent stories into a book? How about novelizing the screenplay I wrote? 

 

I own the rights to all of these, so I could do everything. Still, it’s a bit of a puzzle to me, thus I welcome your opinion. It’s my own you-solve-it mystery, and I value your advice! The End, or a New Beginning?

 

Screenplay to Novel: Real Money from Used Pages

Screenplay to Novel: Real Money from Used Pages is a ten-step guide to turning any screenplay into an excellent novel that you can sell, whether the script sold or not, by the author of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Screenwritng, who has had more than fifty books and novels published and with publications and classes has taught half a million writers to be more profitable. 

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--ESSAYS ON LIFE BY COZY AND NOFICTION AUTHOR SUE VIDERS

Cozy mystery and nonfiction author Sue Viders has a B.F.A. degree and is a teacher and an artist. She began writing for national art magazines to help artists market their works but switched to teaching writers how to better organize and write more effectively. Her most well-known nonfiction book, often called the Bible of building characters, is The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines, Sixteen Master Archetypes.

Now approaching the big Nine-0, and having survived numerous bouts with cancer and other interesting medical problems, along with raising five children and assisting her attorney husband in his law practice, Sue Viders says she is proud to present her latest endeavor, which, according to Sue, all began at a lunch. Learn more about Sue and her books at her Amazon author page.

 

There were four of us, all over the age of 65, enjoying a writing-lunch get-together. We all had several books under our belts and were gathered to bemoan the fact that we all wanted to write something but didn’t quite know what.

 

As we tossed around various ideas of what we might write together we came up with the idea of writing short articles for senior-oriented magazines, and maybe a newspaper or two. We came up with the name, “Roads Well Traveled,” where we would take turns reflecting on our life’s journey.

 

After a lot of query letters and networking, a large newspaper loved our idea and my short essay on ‘Mother, you really need a new phone’ was the first one published. And lo and behold, I got fan letters. I was thrilled. My thoughts were hitting home with the over 65 crowd. So, I reasoned, maybe I should jot down more of my personal thoughts and observations on living.

 

After much soul searching, I realized I was not alone in my thoughts and how I approached life. And that other people played as much solitaire as I did … so that observation became my essay “The World without Solitaire.”  

 

I decided writing essays was very soul satisfying and that I would write about all the little things that both bothered or irritated me. A sample of her essay titles include:

 

Scamming the Scammer

Adverbs — Game Changers, because I was tired of listening to the so-called expert talking heads who never seemed to tell the truth.

Ketchup and Pickles, which is not about food.

Why do we Swear? Which came about when my kids accused meof swearing too much.

The Trouble with Tissues, which wrote itself after watching an old Star Trek episode.

Chutzpah Needs a Partner … My favorite.

 

And so these newspaper articles gradually morphed into Out-of-the-Box Essays, containing forty-four short thought-provoking and humorous comments on my life and living.

 

Out of the Box Essays

A Young at Heart Writer Explores the Complexities of Everyday Life

 

Why do writers write these short essays?

 

Are my thoughts, ideas or random bits of observation any better than yours?

 

Will my words change the world somehow? Will they change or somehow inspire you in some way?

 

Probably not, but I do believe writers write these “pearls of wisdom” and “gems of observation” because we’ve been around the block a few times and want to share what we have learned—so you, the reader will have a few laughs, a few “that’s exactly right” or “that’s exactly what I thought” comments.

 

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AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID TAYLOR FROM AUTHOR M. ELLE KELSO'S CYBER COWBOYS SERIES

Today we sit down for a chat with David Taylor from author M. Elle Kelso’s Cyber Cowboys series. 

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

I was probably best described as an over-educated computer nerd/minor adrenaline junkie, which I know is a contradiction if there ever was one. I flew helicopters, rode horses without benefit of anything except a halter and a couple of lead shanks as reins – all while searching for black hat hackers, stalkers, and computer fraud artists in my day job. 

 

It was when Blake Corbin, Jared Wynn, and I formed our partnership that I found out there were people out there who needed our help who weren’t suffering problems related to computers.

 

In our first documented case, a dog breeder, Kaycee Morgan, was being stalked by someone who seemed to want her dead. Kaycee ended up married to Blake. 

 

The second case involved a woman, Annie Bolton, whose dead husband was trying to rob her of everything she owned, not to mention her life. Figure that one out! Annie Bolton ends up married to Jared.

 

The third case is my book, and yeah, I end up married to the woman of my dreams. It was a bit of a disaster there, for a while, when I lost my head along with the use of my legs. Why C.J. ever put up with me I will never know, but thank God she did. 

 

Maybe I should warn Will Carter, the star of the fourth documented case, or he’ll find himself hitched to our client, Mercy Brittain, by the time he’s done.

 

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

That I could finally grow a pair, as the saying goes, and get over the lemon life handed me and quit being a complete jerk to the woman who loved me and stood by me for months after the accident that left me in a wheelchair. She did everything she could to make my life livable, and I took endless swipes at her, then booted her out of my life completely. Only after I got over feeling sorry for myself, thanks to my partners, did I realize that I still wanted and needed her in my life. 

 

I eventually got my life in order and knew that without her, I was nothing. What she gave me was my love of life and her love. Without her, I had nothing, but she took the chance and gave me back my life. For that I am hers for eternity and owe her everything. I’d guess you’d call that trait perseverance because I finally got my life back to my new normal.

 

What do you like least about yourself?

My short temper, my ability to block out and ignore others, and to feel sorry for myself. I’m not sure which is the worst. I don’t know where those traits came from because I used to be this giving sort of guy and would help anyone, however when it came to helping myself, I failed miserably.

 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

Trying to crash-land my brand new helicopter on the side of an old rock slide site, big rocks everywhere, no place to set down, after a rustler shot me down. I mean, really! My life had just hit the pinnacle, I had everything; a great wife whom I loved, a horse I had a very strange, almost human bond with, an enjoyable job, and that brand new Bell JetRanger. Then she goes and shoots me down, crashes the helo into little bits of wreckage that come back to injure me, and then, as if that isn’t enough, she takes my legs. Who wouldn’t think that was strange? Or maybe evil? Or at least downright unfriendly. I didn’t know she had it in her to be so nasty, but considering the other books she’s written, maybe I should have at least had a small clue.

 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I did once and learned my lesson. I tried to convince her the helo shouldn’t crash, that it was a waste of a perfectly good bird, and that she could have had me find a place to land. The rest of the time, she was pretty good to me, but that? That really hurt. But as you can see, she was right. It had to happen just the way she wrote it. I finally learned my lesson. 

 

What is your greatest fear?

Failure. Failure to live life to its fullest. Failure to love like there’s no tomorrow. Failure to be the best I can.

 

What makes you happy?

Oh, darlin’ that’s an easy one. My wife, my horses, my friends, but especially a black Arabian stallion named Mirage. The bond we have is almost as great as the bond I finally achieved with my wife.

 

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? 

Well I think I’d tell my author not to have me crash that helicopter after getting shot, so I wouldn’t act like a complete jerk and lose the love of my life and the ability to walk. That’s rather demeaning, don’t you think?

 

Why?

Because I could never get back the months I lost putting up a fight against everyone in my life who tried to help and used cruelty I didn’t know I had in me to make my wife leave. When I told her to get out, I meant it; until she was gone and I finally realized what I’d done.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? 

There are two - one is Mike, the guy who sold me the helicopter that caused all my problems, and the other is Annie Wynn - because there was a woman who’d been beaten down by life but good and she came back time and again with nothing but love and generosity to everyone around her. 

Why?

About Mike, I think it’s obvious. The guy cost me my legs and nearly cost me the love of my life. As for Annie, dear, sweet Annie, I mean, who could be that good a person? Really? Turns out, she was.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? 

Mirage - I’d love to be able to fly over the ground, with the barest of efforts, feel the wind in my face and know I was one of God’s creatures. 

 

Why?

Come on, darlin’, wouldn’t you like to trade places with a horse? Think of the life. No worries except maybe when the next meal is coming, getting in out of the rain, standing in the sunshine and having people fawn over you. Maybe an hour’s work each day, if that.

 

But most of all, the freedom of being one of God’s creatures.

 

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

My author is a Canadian who lives in the same province that hosts the Calgary Stampede, and she assures me she doesn’t live in an igloo or walk the streets with moose and caribou. She told me that she loved the great outdoors, knew the Pacific Northwest fairly well having lived there, on the Canadian side of the border and an island, no less, but hadn’t been lucky enough to live where we live in Wyoming. But, her knowledge of things ranching, farming and veterinary care of horses and dogs comes from a family history as well as incredibly deep research. Check her out at mellekelso.com

 

In Eagle Down, my book, I’m injured in a helicopter crash while investigating a large scale rustling operation and when I wake from my coma, I don’t remember my wife, C.J. or our recent wedding, and I go ballistic when I finds she’s been at my bedside since the accident and knows I’m permanently paralyzed but doesn’t tell me. I throw her out of my hospital room and my life. I don’t have to rescue C.J.—I need to win her back.

 

What's next for you?

Trying to help my author find a new title for Will’s story. She had one that worked, I thought, then she changed it, or tried to. Since she probably won’t listen to me on that one, I’ll just be there when Will Carter needs help with his case. 

 

Her next book in the Cyber Cowboy series is called Mercy Rule and releases March 18th, if she finishes it on time.

 

Eagle Down

The Cyber Cowboys Series, Book 3

 

Meet the Cyber Cowboys—a tough bunch of private eyes who know computers and the law inside out and backward. Every time they step out of their computer-P.I. boots—answer a call that doesn’t include black-hat hackers, online hustlers and fraudulent con artists—they meet nothing but trouble. Attempted murder, arson, rustling, and abduction they can handle. Falling in love sends them looking for the ‘help’ button. Computers? Artificial intelligence has nothing to do with it! In every case, these laidback investigators have to get down and dirty to save the women they love.  

 

In Eagle Down, David Taylor is injured in a helicopter crash while investigating a large scale rustling operation and when he wakes from his coma, doesn’t remember his wife, C.J. or his recent wedding, and goes ballistic when he finds she’s been at his bedside since the accident and knows he’s permanently paralyzed but hasn’t told him. He throws her out of his hospital room and his life. David doesn’t have to rescue C.J.—he needs to win her back.

 

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