Photo Content from Martin Niewood
I've seen stories everywhere I've been lucky enough to travel in Europe and through many of the states. I have found that everyone has a story to tell and I hope you enjoy mine.
Where were you born and where do you call home?
I was born in Philadelphia PA and I still live just outside the city.
Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
A few years ago, I was in the San Diego airport and I saw a young man reading The Wilted Flower District. It was the first time I had seen anyone reading my book in public.
What inspired you to pen your first novel?
I wrote my first novel after experiencing a night terror about a dark mysterious figure lurking inside my home. That figure would become the inspiration for one of the central characters in my first novel, Forgotten Violets, the prequel to my current The Garden of Elysn series.
Tell us your latest news.
I’m currently working on my next novel in The Garden of Elsyn series and I can’t wait to share it with everyone. Also, the hardback and audiobook of Beneath the Crimson Willow are due to be released within the next few weeks.
Can you tell us when you started BENEATH THE CRIMSON WILLOW, how that came about?
When I finished writing The Wilted Flower District, the first book in the Garden of Elsyn series, the characters I had created still had much to say about their world.
What do you hope for readers to be thinking when they read your novel?
I hope that my book allows people to think about their own lives and explore their own beliefs.
What was the most surprising thing you learned in creating characters?
Much like young children, sometimes the characters you create, don’t behave the way you want them to.
If you could introduce one of your characters to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
I would introduce Violet Noone to Hercule Poirot, Agatha Cristy’s famous detective. Poirot could have pointed out various issues throughout the story that would have helped Violet to see things more clearly. Violet makes the mistakes of youth and relies on emotion more than intellect to resolve issues. Mr. Poirot is more mature and depends upon his little gray cells to solve problems.
What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
The problem is that there isn’t just one distraction -- social media, sports, books, video games, movies -- they all divert my attention and my propensity for procrastination doesn’t help.
What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?
I think everyone should write a story.
Best date you’ve ever had?
The best date I ever had was standing on the beach by the Santa Monica pier on the 4th of July. I was with someone I really cared about. Fireworks over the Pacific Ocean lite up the sky and were reflected on the water below. It was exotic and romantic.
If you could go back in time to one point in your life, where would you go?
I would go back to the year I worked in LA at a talent agency and everything that came with it including the interesting people that I met.
Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew?
Coming home from baseball practice, I saw a kid from my school get jumped by some kids from a rival school. I ran to help him, and realized I was outmatched. Luckily, some of my teammates came to rescue us and we all made it home in one piece.
First Heartbreak?
The first heartbreak that I ever experienced was in high school. I thought my world had ended but over time the pain went away. I look back now and smile. In fact, the experience was helpful to me as a writer because it’s an emotion that I can draw upon.
What is your most memorable travel experience?
My most memorable trip was England, a county with thousands of years of history. My mother was born in England and after touring London, we traveled up to coast to a small fishing village, Aldebrorough, where she lived as a small child.
Which would you choose, true love with a guarantee of a heart break or have never loved before?
To quote Tennyson, “Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.”
TEN REASONS TO READ BENEATH THE CRIMSON WILLOW
- 1. Thought provoking about the afterlife.
- 2. It’s fun mystery with twists and turns.
- 3. You may identify with the character more than you think.
- 4. It’s set in the Domain where fantasy and technology intersect.
- 5. Nothing is as you expect it to be.
- 6. It’s got romance, magic, and intrigue.
- 7. It’s fast paced.
- 8. The characters evolve physically and emotionally.
- 9. It’s a coming-of-age novel.
- 10. Interesting political landscape.
VIOLET
Attractive, 17-year-old with pale skin, dark shoulder length hair and violet eyes. Naive but kind and concerned about her family. Since fleeing Fairhaven, she tries to keep everyone safe. Devoted to her adopted mother and siblings.
NOAH GRIFFEN
Attractive, well groomed, athletic build, well mannered. 6-foot, 1-inch tall, dark hair, brown eyes. He has cheekbones, flawless skin. In his prior life in Fairhaven, he was wealthy and did charity work with children. He is Violet’s boyfriend.
LEONARD GIVENS
We meet Leonard at a diner. He’s wearing a dark green suit, ill-fitting and wrinkled, dingy gray shirt, shabby felt hat, thin lips, dirty hair. He’s a thief who need help to solve a murder.
Life on the run has been hard for Violet Noone and her family, and it's about to get harder. While pursued by the authorities and the Marked, a secret organization focused on revenge, Violet is approached by a mysterious stranger. She is blackmailed into solving the brutal murder of Georgina Givens, a victim of the poisonous compound, Unelse. The investigation reveals that religious, political, and corporate forces might be at play, although Violet can't rule out the possibility that Georgina's husband, Leonard, may be the murderer.
Georgina and her husband were no strangers to criminal schemes and Violet quickly uncovers the connection between the theft of valuable intelligence and Georgina's death. Pursuing each lead, Violet slips deeper into a world of conspiracy and lies and learns she can trust no one. Beset by their own demons, her family is unable to support her, forcing a seventeen-year-old Violet to accept unwelcomed truths about herself and face challenges well beyond her years.
This time, Violet is on her own. With her enemies closing in, she must unravel the mystery, retrieve the intelligence, and solve the murder. But can she do it before the Marked find her?
You can purchase Beneath The Crimson Willow at the following Links Below.
And now, The Giveaways.
Thank you MARTIN NIEWOOD for making this giveaway possible.
1 Winner will receive a Copy of Beneath The Crimson Willow by Martin Niewood.
jbnpastinterviews
A weekend getaway across the border to celebrate my birthday.
ReplyDeleteI met a boy at camp which followed into the local county fair. Then sadly, school started, and that was that.
ReplyDeleteI can’t remember.
ReplyDeleteI had a summer fling with a guy from Toronto and he would come to visit me by train. Then fall came and we both moved half a world away from each other.
ReplyDeletelindacfast@hotmail.com
When I turned twenty-six in Austin.
ReplyDelete