Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Anthony Neil Smith & Brian Drake crime novels

Anthony Neil Smith is the author of PSYCHOSOMATIC, THE DRUMMER, YELLOW MEDICINE, and HOGDOGGIN'.  His fifth novel, CHOKE ON YOUR LIES, was recently published as an e-original.  He is the editor of PLOTS WITH GUNS (www.plotswithguns.com), and the Director of Creative Writing at Southwest Minnesota State University.
 

CHOKE ON YOUR LIES in a crime novel that pays homage to the Nero Wolfe mysteries, but written for the "internet porn" generation.  Octavia Vanderplatts is a large woman, rich and brilliant, but also scathingly mean.  When she offers to help her friend Mick--a lovelorn poet without much of a spine--with his impending divorce, he knows it can only mean trouble.  But when they begin to turn up secrets, cheating, lies, a forged signature, a swinger's club, and blackmail, Mick realizes that Octavia's way might be the only way, even if it burns every bridge in his life.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book? They'll like the naughtiness of it, if they're into that sort of thing, and Octavia's whiplash tongue.  Maybe she's highly unlikeable, but she's like a plane crash--you can't help but marvel at the scale of the awfulness.  Also, even though it pays tribute to Nero Wolfe, the dark comedy in the novel sets it apart from the usual old-style detective novels.

Q: Why did you go indie? I've published four novels on small presses, and I love that.  I'd recently uploaded my first novel PSYCHOSOMATIC to the e-reader market, and it's been fun.  So instead of another round of submissions for CHOKE ON YOUR LIES, I was too eager to get it into the hands of my readers, so I did it myself.  And it's been really a blast meeting all these great new indie authors.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? James Ellroy, George Pelecanos, James Crumley, Jo Nesbo, Victor Gischler, Sean Doolittle, Vicki Hendricks, Megan Abbot, Sara Gran, Allan Guthrie. Many more.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004K1F96A
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Brian Drake has been a writer of mystery, crime and adventure fiction since his first publication at age 25, and discusses important contributions to the hard-boiled canon at his blog, “Brian Drake Explains It All” (www.briandrake88.blogspot.com). In his spare time, Brian, a California native, can be found racing through the back canyon roads of the Central Valley in a bright red hot rod. Someday he may get a dog.

Product description:
Could you kill your father? CIA agent Michael Dodge owes Harry Ames, his surrogate father. But his mentor is accused of murdering a comrade and joining forces with an enemy planning to unleash a lethal biological weapon on the United States. Dodge may have to kill Harry, but can he do it? SHOW NO MERCY by Brian Drake. A heart-stopping international thrill-ride with a twist at every turn.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
SHOW NO MERCY is a fast-paced spy thriller that is pure escapist entertainment. I specifically set out to write a thriller that, whlie it takes place in contemporary time, does not refer to current events or any current issue that made your brain boil during the day. You can sit and read this book and not be reminded of any of that.

Q: Why did you go indie?
At first I went indie to build up an readership to show a New York publisher that I could sell books; however, I'm having so much doing the indie thing that I think I'm going to stay indie. It is truly a blast.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
Ian Fleming, Robert Ludlum, Jerry Ahern.


2 comments:

  1. A lot of talent out there waiting for new readers!

    Scott

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you very much, Scott! I would also like to point out that SHOW NO MERCY is currently on sale at .99 cents.

    ReplyDelete