What
genre do you write and why?
I generally write thrillers,
for the most part. For one thing, it’s easier to generate conflict when people
are actively shooting at one another. Whether it’s science fiction espionage,
like my novel Codename:
Winterborn,
or my anti-DaVinci Code novel A Pius Man,
I like having my characters threatened on both a physical level and a personal
one…
That didn’t come out clearly,
did it? With my books, I like to push my
characters mentally as well as physically. For Codename: Winterborn, my main character has his
entire life falling apart around him, and it leads to some interesting
results. For A Pius Man, I have a
team that looks like the Fellowship of the Ring, and everyone has a personal
stake in the outcome.
In short, I write books where
people get shot at a lot, and pushed to their physical and mental limits. And
why? Because they're fun to write.
Tell us about your latest book.
The latest (by about a month) is A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller.
It starts with a simple murder of an academic who had been researching
the Vatican archives ... and then his assassin is blown up, and out a
window, falling onto the car of the head of Papal security. From there, we’re off to the races. Soon, it
becomes apparent that there’s Something Up, and it seems to be around the pope
of World War II, Pope Pius XII – popularly known as “Hitler’s Pope.” It’s a
decades-old mystery that has to be solved soon, or else everyone in Rome will
pay the price.
What marketing methods are you using to promote your book?
Let’s see – I’ve tried virtual book
tours, Google ads (when they’re dumb enough to have a sale, or freebies),
reviews copies sent out via Bostick communications, twitter, Facebook ... I
think the next step is to start jumping up and down, waving my arms in the
air. I’ve talked to book stores, and various
and sundry groups just to read sections of my novel, but that hasn’t panned out
thus far.
Who are your favourite authors? That’s
a bit of a list. I read constantly, and
I read practically everything that isn't nailed down, and some of what is. But
the books I have to read as soon as I they come out, are: Jeffery
Deaver, James Rollins, Jim Butcher, Lee Child, Tom Clancy, Bernard Cornwell,
Brian Haig (especially his Sean Drummond Series), and Kim Harrison thrown in.
What advice do you have for other writers? Get a good editor... or a boatload of beta
readers.
What's your favourite quote about writing/for writers? “Fiction is different from reality; fiction has to make sense.” I’ve seen a citation on that one from Tom
Clancy to Mark Twain.
What's the best thing about being a writer? Making your
own hours.
Where can people find out more about you and your writing?
I’ve got a nice little Facebook page that has everything ever written
about my various and sundry projects. My blog is apiusman.blogspot.com …and a
twitter that's @apiusmannovel, and a website that's declanfinn.webs.com
Who
is you favorite character in your book and why? Scott “Mossad” Murphy – he’s an American
expatriate who decided that if he wanted to be on the front lines of the war on
terrorism, Israel would be the place to go.
Unlike everyone else, he’s not a fighter, he’s a thinker, and a perfect
spy – no one ever sees him coming, and rarely even knows that he’s there.
Why
do you think readers are going to enjoy your book? Because I have a
cast of colorful, vibrant characters investigating a real mystery (that of Pope
Pius XII) to solve the fictional mystery in the novel. It’s more history than Dan Brown could wrap
his brain around, with characters who are so real, some of them wrote the book.
How long did it take
you to write your book? That depends on how you want to count it. The first draft took me about 4 months … but
the first draft was also 800 pages long, and sucked in every character I’ve
ever created. There’s a reason that this
is book one of a trilogy. Don’t worry, A Pius Man has no To Be Continued at the end.
Who designed
the cover? Sarah-Jane
Lehoux. Believe it or not, she had
premade the cover. I thought it was cool and James Bond-esque. And the price
was right. Her covers and prices are the
most reasonable I've ever seen. Yes, I'm deliberately advertizing for her,
she's just that good.
Did you learn
anything from writing your book that was unexpected?
Did I learn anything?
Well, I learned, once again, that my characters can take the novel away
from me. When I started the book, I didn’t expect it to turn into a trilogy.
I figured I’d have a good, solid novel, and move on. Then there was
one character who wouldn’t die, and he kept extending the plot. And
then there was a small war by book three. So that was fun.
How do you
research your books? Usually the books require very little research that I start for that book. My interests and hobbies are so eclectic and
strange that I have yet to run out of material.
For A Pius
Man, it
started out of a graduate paper I wrote on Pope Pius XII, so the historical
research was always there. The weapons I
used came out of a Time Magazine article I had read and remembered from 2000,
as well as several conference panels I had attended with DARPA employees.
Occasionally, I’ll need to do an
internet search for half-remembered bits and pieces of data I collected along
the way.
What is your
work in progress? Tell us about it.
I’m working on two right now. I’m editing A Pius Legacy, sequel to A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller, though real life has been getting in
the way of that right now. The second
book is a sequel to Codename: Winterborn,
entitled Codename: Unsub.
What are your
thoughts on self-publishing verses traditional publishing? I don’t think traditional publishing is going
away anytime soon, but it needs to get its act together. The employment in the publishing industry is
starting to look like a revolving door.
Back when I had an agent, he pitched my books to Doubleday every other
month, and always to a different editor – usually, a replacement for the last
one he pitched to. At the moment, publishing looks like a great big monolith
that’s slow to adapt to change. For
example, why are the publishing houses still in New York? There’s no reason for
it. I live there, and we have some of the highest taxes in the United States,
not to mention the most expensive real estate. With current technology – as
used by Publish on Demand, e.g. – the publishing houses could move their
offices practically anywhere, and still get their books out.
Traditional publishing needs to shape
up, unless they want to lose more and more writers to the self publishing
world. They’ve already lost thriller
writer Barry Eisler, and even Terry Goodkind has started to move in that
direction as well. Maybe if they stopped
putting out a James Patterson novel every five minutes….
Who or what inspired
you to become a writer? Writer J. Michael Straczynski, and his tv show Babylon 5. I followed most
of his writing advice online, and all of his articles about the craft. After a while, I tried my hand at it. It soon took over every waking moment, and
some where I should have been asleep.
Does your
family support you in your writing career? How?
Yes, they do. They’re my beta
readers, my editors, and sometimes my creative consultants. Before you think
“oh, that must mean unrestrained praise,” these are readers who devour books,
and read newspapers with a blue pen in hand. If my books sucked, they’d tell
me. And sometimes they have. I’ve spiked one or two novels along the way
due to their feedback.
What books or
authors have most influenced your life?
Straczynski has been a major one for
the fundamentals of writing. John Ringo
has helped me put character, politics and action together in a nice neat
package, and Timothy Zahn taught me how to have characters think their way around
battles.
When
you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?
What is this time you call
“not writing?” When I'm reading books or
watching television, I think “that's an idea. But I'd do it this way.”
When I play video games (yes, I do play them), I will occasionally steal an
element and warp beyond recognition it to fit another project I'm working
on. I also take Krav Maga lessons … Krav
Maga is the self defense system of the Israeli military. It’s very practical, based around real-world
threats. It’s not a martial art, mostly
because martial arts have rules... welcome to my fight scenes.
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