Getting to know Lorna and Larry Collins

This week my guests are mystery authors, Lorna and Larry Collins, a married couple who write together and separately. Let’s get to know them.

Patricia: Where did you grow up?

L&L: We both grew up in Alhambra, California, just a few blocks from each other. Larry’s mother was the Avon Lady, so Lorna knew her from age five. Our mothers were very close friends. In fact, if there had been arranged marriages, we’d have married each other. And we still don’t know how they pulled it off.

Patricia: Did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a writer?

L&L: We had some of the best teachers on the planet, so we learned to write well. Lorna was an English major. In high school, Larry had a real taskmaster as a teacher. Every Monday morning he had to turn in a story of at least two pages on any subject. At first it was a real challenge, but he grew to enjoy it. He became so proficient that he was published twice in the school’s literary magazine.

Patricia: Where do you live now?

L&L: We live in Dana Point, California, about halfway between L. A. and San Diego. We’re about a mile from the ocean. Since Larry’s a surfer, he can go out nearly every morning.

Patricia: Do you use that locale for settings in your novels?

L&L: We use the ocean in our mysteries. They’re set in Hawaii. In Murder in Paradise, we used surfing as a subtext for the plot. Lorna’s latest fantasy/romance/mystery, Ghost Writer, is set just up the coast in and around Laguna Beach.

Patricia: What inspired you to write your most recent novel?

L&L: Lorna’s book, Ghost Writer, was inspired by the title itself. We were carpooling, and started talking about a ghost writer. Lorna suddenly said, “What if the writer WAS a ghost?” And the story was born.

Our most recent mystery together, Murder in Paradise, was inspired by a conflict currently happening on Oahu. Developers want to change the character of the North Shore, and preservationists want to keep the status quo. As a surfer, Larry was quite interested in this. We also had a friend who had taken up competitive outrigger canoe racing, so that also featured in the book.

Patricia: Did you plan to write a series before or after you wrote the first book?

L&L: No. We never even planned on writing mysteries! But we found our protagonist, Agapé Jones on Maui and wrote the first one, Murder… They Wrote. But he refused to stay retired. And he’s clamoring for us to finish the next two adventures, currently in the works.

Patricia: Name three of your favorite authors in the mystery genre.

L&L: Marilyn Meredith writes wonderful contemporary mysteries. Conan Doyle is classic, of course, and Janet Evanovich just for laughs.

Patricia: What are your favorite things to do when you’re not reading or writing?

L&L: Larry surfs. Lorna enjoys spending time with family and friends. But mostly we read and write.

Patricia: Do you like to travel? If so, what are some of your favorite places to go?

L&L: We set our books in locations we love to visit. We’ve been to Hawaii dozens of times and never grow tired of it. We’ve been all over the world, including spending nearly three years in Japan. Our first published work, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park, is a memoir of that experience. We’ve also been to Europe, other places in Asia and the Pacific. And our bucket list for travel is long. Each time we visit someplace new, other locations beckon.

Patricia: How would you describe yourself personality wise?

L&L: Larry’s a classic engineer: logical, linear thinking, introverted, most interested in the facts. Lorna is the extrovert who loves people and collects friends like others collect postage stamps. She writes the emotions and feelings. Somehow, we’ve been able to marry these two styles into a format that works well for us.

Patricia: What’s your favorite color? Why?

Larry: Blue because the ocean is blue and it’s cool.

Lorna: I like the whole teal/aqua/peacock/blue-green spectrum. Our house is decorated in blues and greens, except for the hospital-white walls to accent our artwork. We both gravitate toward the cooler colors.

Patricia: How would you finish this sentence? If I won a million dollars, I would…

L&L: tithe ten percent, then buy a condo in Hawaii, travel a lot, and help others. (We did separate ones, but they were exactly the same. You think we’ve been married too long?)

Getting to know William Doonan

I’m pleased to welcome author, William Doonan, as my guest today.  My blog is one stop on his tour to promote the recent release of his archeological mystery,  American Caliphate, which was published by Oak Tree Press.

William, let’s start with the basics.  Where did you grow up and did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a writer?

I grew up in New Jersey, but when I was nine, my family moved to Puerto Rico for three years.  It was a great experience.  When you’re young, languages load easily, so it wasn’t long before I was speaking Spanish with my new friends.  That fluency would help me a great deal later in life when I became an archaeologist working in Central America.

Both my parents are teachers, so we always had books in the house.  We had a coffee table so cluttered with books that you couldn’t even see the table.  Years later I would learn that there never was a table there to begin with, just the books.

That’s hilarious! Your parents sound like my kind of people. I love books! So, where do you live now and do you use that locale for settings in your novels?  If not, how do you choose your settings?

I live in Sacramento, CA, and so far, I have not set anything locally.  I travel a lot, so I’m more likely to pick a locale from my wanderings.  My first two mysteries, Grave Passage and Mediterranean Grave recount the adventures of Henry Grave, an octogenarian detective who solves crimes on cruise ships.  As such, those books are set at sea.  I’m a college professor, and during the summers, I lecture on board cruise ships, so that gave me the idea for that setting.

American Caliphate is set on the north coast of Peru, where I worked for several years excavating a pre-Inca pyramid complex.  It’s a perfect setting for a novel; it has pyramids, mummies, skeletons everywhere (really old ones). 

You definitely choose intriguing settings for your novels. I enjoyed reading Mediterranean Grave and I’m looking forward to reading American Caliphate. Did the inspiration for your characters/or plot come from people you know, a specific place, or personal experience?

Working on an archaeological excavation is about as much fun as I can imagine.  So I definitely try to bring that across in the book.  Each excavation is different, and each is life-changing.  I learned so much down there, working on those pyramids, and I became positive that I was only getting at about 10% of the secrets they held.  I decided I would invent the other 90%, and that’s where my story comes from.

As for the people, they are wholly invented, though some are composites of characters I’ve run across.  Here’s a blurb about American Caliphate: 

Archaeologists Jila Wells and Ben Juarez are not thrilled at the prospect of returning to Peru; the ambush that nearly cost Jila her life still haunts her.  But the ruined pyramids at Santiago de Paz hide an important document that would shock the Islamic world.  Professor Sandy Beckham is assembling a distinguished team to dig quickly through the pyramid complex, following clues found in the diary of a wealthy Muslim woman who lived in Spain five centuries ago. 

In the diary are details of an illegal expedition to Spanish Peru in three well-armed ships.  Convinced that Spain was forever lost to Islam, Diego Ibanez intended to bring the word of Allah to the pagan Americans.  Landing on Peru’s north coast, he learned that the fires of the Inquisition burned even hotter there than they did in Spain.

As the archaeologists brace for the ravaging storms of El Niño, Jila and Ben hurry to complete their excavations.  But they’re not the only ones interested in this project.  Other forces are determined that the document remain hidden.  Should it be discovered, a challenge could be made under Islamic testamentary law to the throne of Saudi Arabia.  And the House of Saud has no interest in sharing power with an American caliphate that might now awaken from a five hundred year slumber.

William, your book sounds wonderful. Thank you for being with us today.

If you’d like to check out William’s novel, it’s available now at some of the larger archaeology-themed bookstores near you, and on Amazon.com -  http://www.amazon.com/American-Caliphate-William-Doonan/dp/1610090438/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333558968&sr=8-1

Also, for more reading, William blogs about undead conquistador mummies at www.themummiesofblogspace9.com

The Countdown

I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter. I also want to let you know that I’ve altered my blog schedule for the month of April. (I’m counting the days until the release date for Mixed Messages.) Normally, I post once a week, usually on Sunday, and write a “Getting to know you” post the fourth Sunday of the month. This month will be an exception. Here’s the calendar of events:

Monday, April 9 - Marja McGraw is interviewing me on her blog.

http://blog.marjamcgraw.com/

Wednesday, April 11 - William Doonan will be my guest. My Writers Forum is one stop on the blog tour to promote his new novel, American Caliphate, an archaeological mystery.

Saturday, April 14 - Susan Whitfield has scheduled me for an interview.

http://susanwhitfield.blogspot.com/

Sunday, April 15 - I will host the local book launch event for Mixed Messages, the first novel in my Malone mystery series. I’m looking forward to seeing many of my friends and, hopefully, meeting some new people.

Tuesday, April 17 - Mixed Messages will be released, available at amazon.com and postmortem-press.com. Needless to say, I’m very excited!

Tuesday, April 24 – Award winning author, Marilyn Meredith, will be joining us as part of her blog tour for No Bells; she will be my featured guest for April’s “Getting to know you” post.

Saturday, April 28 - Morgen Bailey will post my “Author Spotlight” on her blog.

http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/

Happy Easter!

A Dream Come True

I’ve wanted to be a published author since I was a little girl. Like most girls my age, I read every Judy Bolton and Nancy Drew mystery; as a child, they were among my most prized possessions. When I was ten years old, I submitted a poem I’d written to my Sunday school magazine. I can still remember how thrilled I was when I saw my name printed under the title. My first byline! Now, many years later (no need to tell how many), I feel the same way!

My novel, Mixed Messages, the first in my Malone mystery series, will be released April 17^th! When I received my author’s copy and held it in my hands, it was truly a dream come true! I felt like that ten-year-old girl again; it was magical and surreal. It still is. To say I’m thrilled is an understatement. I spent years working on Mixed Messages. Creating the characters, giving them life, has been the single most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. To have the opportunity now to share them with readers is beyond incredible to me. And, it amazes me how things sometimes happen.

Ten years ago this month, I had the privilege of meeting my favorite author, Mary Higgins Clark, at a book signing of Daddy’s Little Girl. I own a copy of every book Mary’s ever written; as an adult, they’re among my most prized possessions. Mary’s not only a gifted writer; she’s a very nice person. She took the time to listen to me talk about the novel I “planned” to write and to encourage me to “write that novel.”

 I have a framed copy of this photo on my desk. Seeing it every day when I sit down at my computer has been and is a great source of inspiration. Every April, I eagerly await Mary’s newest release. I’m looking forward to reading The Lost Years. It’s still hard for me to believe that this year, (she says with a big smile on her face), I eagerly await the release of my novel, Mixed Messages, too!