Wednesday, April 5, 2017

My Tour Buddy, Nick Petrie


INGRID THOFT
I had lots of fun on my "Duplicity" tour in January, largely because of my tour buddy, Nick Petrie.  Some of you may be familiar with Nick from his debut novel "The Drifter," which is nominated for the Edgar and Barry Awards for Best First Novel and the Hammett Prize for Best Novel.  The second book in the series, "Burning Bright" was released in January, hence the shared tour dates.  Nick's main character, Peter Ash, has been likened to Jack Reacher, by Lee Child himself!  His books are critically acclaimed, thought-provoking thrillers, and I have nothing but acclaim for Nick as a travel companion and friend.  He was recently in Seattle, and we caught up,


INGRID: Tell me about your main character, Peter Ash?  What inspired you to write a character who is a veteran?

NICK: Peter Ash is a highly-trained Marine Corps veteran who signed up to help his country and make a difference.  After eight years of war, he returned home with an unwanted souvenir, what he calls the White Static – an intense claustrophobia caused by post-traumatic stress that makes it hard for him to be indoors for more than a few minutes.  Like many veterans I’ve met, Peter has a deep need to be useful and a profound sense of right and wrong, which combine into a powerful drive to help others out of trouble.

I’m not a veteran myself, and for many years I didn’t think I knew many people who’d served in the military.  But in my day job as a home inspector – I’m that guy you hire to tell you (hopefully) everything wrong with your dream house – I realized during the early stages of the Great Recession that many of my inspection clients were veterans just coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.  I’m a pretty curious guy, and I found myself having some truly fascinating conversations with my clients.  They really opened my eyes to the challenges our veterans face coming home from war.  I didn’t know I was researching a novel, but as it turned out, I’d already started writing “The Drifter” somewhere in the back of my mind.  Funny how that works.

Anyway, Peter is a lot of fun to write – he gets himself into some fairly crazy situations – and he’s a great excuse to keep learning more about the evolving lives of veterans and anything else that my oddball brain finds interesting.

INGRID: “The Drifter” takes place in Milwaukee, and “Burning Bright” is set on the West Coast, including some heart stopping scenes in a forest of giant redwoods.
  Why did you change locations, and can you tell us where the third book is set?
 

I love writing about place – I think of the setting of a novel almost as another character – and certain stories lend themselves to certain settings.  Milwaukee, a rust-belt city suffering hard in the Great Recession, was the perfect place for "The Drifter."  With "Burning Bright," I wanted to write about technology, and the west coast was the logical setting for that.  I also lived in Seattle for ten years, have travelled all over the west, and wanted to write about some of the places I truly love.

Another answer, to be completely honest, is that I’m deeply afraid of getting bored, and changing settings feels like a great way to keep a series fresh and evolving.  I can change the subject matter and the scale of the story easily just by dropping Peter in a new town with new characters.  Plus each new setting suggests a new plot – so the truest answer, I suppose, is that I’m kinda lazy.
My third Peter Ash book is called “Light It Up” and is set in Colorado.  Peter gets involved in the new cannabis industry – drugs, guns, and big money.  It was big fun to write, plus it gave me a great reason to go explore Denver and Boulder and spend a few days backpacking in the Rockies.  

INGRID: That's the first I've heard of the title!  Very apropos!  So what do readers think about Peter?
  What kind of feedback do you get from them?


NICK: I was really nervous, writing about a veteran when I’m not a veteran myself.  This is a subject I’ve grown to care deeply about, and it was important to me to get things right.  Since “The Drifter” came out, I’ve had many conversations, both in-person and online, with veterans and their family members, telling me how much they appreciate the care I took with the emotional details.  One of my favorite conversations was at a library event.  Two sisters, whose husbands both served in Vietnam, told me the book helped them understand their husbands better.  Honestly, I can’t think of a higher compliment. 

INGRID: What has surprised you most about becoming a published author? 

Frankly, I was surprised I’d ever become a published author to begin with!  I’d written three books I couldn’t get published, and I’d given up on ever publishing anything.  I wrote “The Drifter” just for myself, writing the book I most wanted to read.  To discover not only that a major publisher wanted the book, but that so many people would actually read it and enjoy it and tell their friends about it?  Pretty much blows my mind on a daily basis.   

Another great surprise is how welcoming the crime fiction community has been.  Who’d have thought that people who write about death and dismemberment would be so nice?  (I’m from Wisconsin, so I’m required to be nice.  Otherwise the authorities make you move to Illinois.) 


INGRID: It is an amazingly supportive community.  Is there a wannabe book lurking in the back of your brain, something you would write if you didn’t have to consider agents, editors, and fans?  A romance?  Sci-fi?

Oh, I have a few ticklers in the dark recesses of my demented brain.  I’d like to write about Milwaukee again – it’s a fascinating place, with a lot of layers.  The book would be something gritty and weird and maybe internet-y.  I’d like to try my hand at writing for young adults – maybe Peter Ash’s teenage years?  I’m so impressed by good YA writers.  Those books have to be extremely tight, and I think it must be really difficult to make them look so damn easy.  But those two ideas actually seem fairly reasonable.  The true leap would be some science fiction space opera – I’m a sci-fi geek from waaaay back, so that would be loads of fun.  If I could pull it off. 

If you haven't read "The Drifter" or "Burning Bright," you're missing out on a terrific series.  Nick will be here today to answer your questions, and he's giving away a signed copy of "Burning Bright."  Be sure to include your email in your comment!





BURNING BRIGHT

In the new novel featuring war veteran Peter Ash, “an action hero of the likes of Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne” (Lincoln Journal-Star), Ash has a woman’s life in his hands—and her mystery is stranger than he could ever imagine.

War veteran Peter Ash sought peace and quiet among the towering redwoods of northern California, but the trip isn’t quite the balm he’d hoped for. The dense forest and close fog cause his claustrophobia to buzz and spark, and then he stumbles upon a grizzly, long thought to have vanished from this part of the country. In a fight of man against bear, Peter doesn’t favor his odds, so he makes a strategic retreat up a nearby sapling.

There, he finds something strange: a climbing rope, affixed to a distant branch above. It leads to another, and another, up through the giant tree canopy, and ending at a hanging platform. On the platform is a woman on the run. From below them come the sounds of men and gunshots.

Just days ago, investigative journalist June Cassidy escaped a kidnapping by the men who are still on her trail. She suspects they’re after something belonging to her mother, a prominent software designer who recently died in an accident. June needs time to figure out what’s going on, and help from someone with Peter’s particular set of skills.

Only one step ahead of their pursuers, Peter and June must race to unravel this peculiar mystery. What they find leads them to an eccentric recluse, a shadowy pseudo-military organization, and an extraordinary tool that may change the modern world forever.


 


Nick Petrie received his MFA in fiction from the University of Washington and won a Hopwood Award for short fiction while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan.  His story “At the Laundromat” won the 2006 Short Story Contest in The Seattle Review, a national literary journal.  His first novel, "The Drifter," was nominated for 2016 Edgar and Barry awards for Best First Novel, and the 2016 Hammett Prize for Best Novel. A husband and father, he has worked as a carpenter, remodeling contractor, and building inspector.  He lives in Milwaukee.  "Burning Bright" is his second novel, and the sequel to "The Drifter."







59 comments:

  1. What an interesting and informative interview, Ingrid. Thank you . . . .

    Nick, I was surprised to learn that you haven’t served in the military since your depiction of Peter as a veteran in “The Drifter” is perfect. I’m curious to know if there was any particular reason you chose to make him a Marine?

    I enjoyed reading “The Drifter” and I’m looking forward to reading both “Burning Bright” and “Light It Up” . . . .
    [AE215jfe@aol.com]

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    1. Peter is a Marine for several reasons -- historical bad-assery, for one -- but mostly because a friend of my parents is a Marine who served in Vietnam. He's got a huge amount of energy, and he's funny and thoughtful and more than a little goofy sometimes, but there's something beneath it that peeks out once in a while -- something very serious. I'm always curious about all those layers that people have.

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  2. Nick, I am looking forward to reading your books...your protagonist Peter Ash sounds like an interesting, complex character, and I love the change in setting with each book!

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    1. Hope you like them! Let me know what you think!

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  3. Fabulous interview, Ingrid and Nick! I bet you had a lot to talk about on the tour. And really, it's so much more fun to have a friend along--to share great events and the ones where no one shows up:). Good luck on the Edgar--I have not read this book yet, but look forward to it--and then will pass it on to my brother, who is also a Marine.

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    1. We had SO much fun -- Ingrid is very good company, and we didn't have to bore our spouses with all that book talk. Plus Ingrid is a few books farther along than I am, so I was eager to get her POV on the book world.

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    2. We did have tons of fun. I hope we get to do it again. I knew I liked Nick early on: We were being served lunch by a young woman (who would have to run around in the shower to get wet), and he asked me "when did it become fashionable for young women to be cadaverously thin?"

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  4. So happy to have you here, Nick. Sounds like a terrific hook for a series. An Edgar nom! Kudoes! And Milwaukee is one of my all-time favorite cities.

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    1. Thanks, Hallie! I'm having a lot of fun with it. Milwaukee is a great town, small enough to get around easily (and not wait in line too long when you go out to breakfast) but big enough to still discover new places all the time.

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  5. I hear so much buzz about you and your books! Congratulations. I love you saying that The Drifter was in the back of your mind… What was it that made you sit down and write it? Did it turn out to be much different than you thought? And yes, changing the setting … Very Jack Reacher, right ?
    Speaking of which: What do you think about that comparison? And from Lee himself!
    And yes, congratulations! Very very wonderful.

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    1. Thanks, Hank! I'd written three books I couldn't get published -- the last one got pretty close, until the economic crash freaked out all the publishing houses and they announced they weren't buying anything from anyone new for a while. Then the interested editor changed jobs and that was that. My business is directly connected to home sales, and that really slowed down, too -- so I decided I was done writing and switched to sledgehammer therapy and tore out my kitchen.

      But the renovation only took me 6 months, and apparently (according to a certain spouse, Margret Petrie) when I don't have a writing project, I'm kind of a pain in the ass to live with. I think it was during the renovation that the book started to grow in the back of my mind. I'd given up hope of publication -- I just wrote it for myself.

      As for the comparison to Lee Child -- from Lee himself, no less -- I'm very flattered. I've been a fan of his Jack Reacher books for years and years, I love not only his stories and characters but also his prose -- he's a real craftsman, I think, especially when it comes to economy and clarity of language.

      The truly crazy part is that we didn't ask him to say anything about the book -- he started mentioning The Drifter in interviews as something he'd read and enjoyed. Then he put it on his Amazon Celebrity Reads list. I think that's my favorite part of the story.

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    2. Wow--that is wonderful! He is so generous. (And honest.)

      Have you read Reacher Said Noting, by Andy Martin? Remind me to tell you about it when see each other.. Really worthwhile, and really ..unique.

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    3. He is very generous, and not just to me. I heard him say in an interview that he tries to help new writers because he's always looking for something good to read. I'll try to pay it forward when I can.

      I have Andy Martin's book on my TBR but haven't gotten to it -- we'll talk in NYC!

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  6. Humor me, Nick -- did it drive you crazy growing up with that last name, or had no one heard of Rob and Laura?

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    1. Ha! It gets worse. My dad's name is Robert, and my mom is Lucia. Mostly the (non) problem is that people pronounce my last name like they do in the show -- Peh-tree -- but my name is actually pronounced like the dish.

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  7. Your books sound marvelous, Nick. I look forward to reading them, and the setting for Burning Bright particularly intrigues me. I usually love to be out in the woods, and the redwoods made my heart soar, but then I happened upon this one spot that was just . . . creepy. Even now, years later, I can't pinpoint any one particular thing that made me want to get out of that place pronto, but it would have made a great setting for a thriller. How do you select your next setting? Is it a place you've always wanted to explore? A place you find in the news, like Colorado? Or a place you stumble onto that simply begs for something nasty to happen?

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    1. Thanks, Gigi. I've spent a lot of time in the woods and had both experiences myself. Finding the setting is part of finding the story. Burning Bright started, in a way, because I wanted to put Peter in the mountains. The upcoming book, Light It Up, is set in Colorado, in part, because of a news story. The book I'm working on now is set in Memphis because...I'll let you know when I figure it out!

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    2. I can think of lots of reasons to set a book in Memphis. I just ordered The Drifter. Can't wait to get started. In the meantime, Ingrid, I'll be deep into Identity. I loved Loyalty so much I bought the other three. Thanks to both of you for a good read!

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    3. Thank you, Gigi! And I loved your dulcimer cake story yesterday!

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  8. We were just in the redwoods this past September, and I can easily see how that setting would lend itself to a thriller situation. All those tree knots with eerily realistic animal faces!

    My cousin served in Vietnam, and up until recently never spoke about what he did there. I'm just starting to understand some of the deprivation and horror he went through. In that era they also had the challenges of feeling as if they were traitors for having served at all, despite being drafted, for the most part. Nick, have you found any of the more recent veterans feeling that way?
    k maslowski at fuse dot net

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    1. Vietnam vets had it hardest, in a way. Not just the draft and war, but what they faced when they got home, as if the entire war was their doing, their fault. At least we're treating our newer veterans better.

      Recent veterans I've talked to are all over the board. Some feel like the war was a necessary one, some feel like it was all for nothing. Some feel like it was the right idea but badly executed. Some feel all of the above. But I've never met a vet who saw a lot of combat who was still pro-war -- they know what it's really like. But all the vets I've spoken with feel like their service really shaped who they are. It's hard to compare anything I've done in my life with the experiences of someone who served a single tour of duty in a oombat zone.

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    2. I so agree about Vietnam vets. We've known several struggling (and since dying) with aftereffects from Agent Orange, too. So horrible.

      However, the government has had a spotty record of taking care of vets, including a friend who has had physical disabilities now for years, since he was injured parajumping in the first Gulf War. We could do better, I think.

      In a way, your hero is helping to empower those vets, at least in fantasy. Thank you.

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    3. Yes, Uncle Sam has a crappy track record, especially for Vietnam vets, but I've heard some horror stories from Afghanistan and Iraq vets too -- especially with post-traumatic stress and brain-blast trauma. If I've helped with some understanding of those issues in any way, I'm glad. The good news is that there's actually some decent research about PTS causes and effects and what works to help vets get better. I've posted some stuff on my Facebook page about it -- mostly from the New York Times, which does some very good reporting on these issues.

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  9. Hey, Hallie--remember. I was Harriet. In the era of Ozzie and Harriet.

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  10. Hi Nick! I just bought The Drifter. I'm looking forward to reading the work of a fellow Wolverine. :)

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  11. I read THE DRIFTER after it was nominated for the Edgar Award - I try to read all the best first fiction nominees - and was blown away by Nick's command of language and story. As usual, I'm a day late about new releases, so I didn't realize the next Peter Ash book was out! I'm looking forward to BURNING BRIGHT.

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    1. Thanks, Julia! I always try to read all the Edgar nominees for Best First -- and so far this year they are all REALLY good. And all so different! It's truly an honor just to be nominated in this great company.

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  12. Nick, the books sound fantastic and I love the title LIGHT IT UP. As the daughter, granddaughter, and wife of veterans, I'm always interested in characters with a military background - provided the author has done his homework and it sounds like you have.

    Yet more for the TBR pile.

    Mary/Liz (mary@summaria.net)

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    1. Let me know what you think! Find me on Facebook, we can continue the conversation there. I'm @nick.petrie.writer.

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  13. Completely forgot to mention -- thanks so much for having me on! Jungle Red is a great group of writers, and I'm thrilled (bad pun intended) to be included!

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  14. I'm definitely intrigued. I enjoy a good thriller every so often, and this is definitely going on my TBR list. carstairs38 at gmail

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  15. Never knew that about Wisconsin. Hum...... Burning Bright sounds fantastic and the setting makes it more irresistible. Love that the success finally happened when you relaxed and wrote for yourself. Congratulations!

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  16. Well darn it! Now I have to read The Drifter. My TBR pile is really dangerous. Folks from Wisconsin are nice. While we lived in Minnesota we loved to poke fun at the cheese heads but it was done lovingly. I have two combat vets living here with me. My husband's war was Vietnam, my son's was Iraq. You couldn't imagine two more different experiences. Husband is well over his problems, although a sudden loud noise will make him duck. But he's not flat on the floor anymore. Progress! As for my son, he is more social now that he's returned to college. He may still have issues with being in crowds sometimes. I don't know. I see a much more relaxed man than ten years or so ago.

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    1. Actually Minnesotans are nicer than Wisconsinites. There's actually a term for it -- Minnesota Nice.

      As to your husband and son, I'm glad they both made it home and are living the next chapters in their lives. I've never talked to any combat vet who's had it easy coming home. I've also noticed that military service tends to run in the family -- either as a family tradition or, for longer terms of service, a family trade. If your guys are interested, I'd love their take on the book -- anyone can find me on Facebook.

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  17. Hi, Nick,
    I was lucky enough to see you at the Pen in January with Ingrid and Brad Taylor. That was a terrific talk - I really enjoyed hearing all three of you speak about your work. If I remember right, you said you had kid(s) and I'm wondering how they'd feel about you writing YA? Or are they completely oblivious to Dad as author? Thanks for visiting us today. I loved The Drifter and have Burning Bright in my TBR. Peter Ash is a terrific hero!

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    1. So glad you came -- fun, wasn't it? So glad you like Peter Ash and The Drifter. I'll be back at The Poisoned Pen grilling Steve Hamilton on May 24, would love to see you there.

      We just have one child -- our son is 16, so he's really a young man at this point. Mostly I think he's amused at both his parents, but his father is generally more ridiculous than his mother. He's a huge reader, but he seems to have skipped most YA almost entirely, gone straight from Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

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  18. Welcome Nick, was going to ask how you researched the book about the cannabis trade, but then I see you are a U of W grad. 'Nuff said..
    Ann in Rochester.

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    1. LOL, Ann!! How did the cake turn out?

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    2. Actually I met a guy in the Phoenix airport who was on his way to Portland to set up a cannabis grow facility -- his first LEGAL grow, he said.... That and a New York Times article got me rolling.

      I'm actually a pretty clean-living guy these days -- a few beers a week, an occasional bourbon. I'm a middle-aged guy, so it's all about coffee to wake me up and exercise to keep me sane.

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  19. For the record, the tree top chase scene in "Burning Bright" is one of the best chase scenes I've ever read. It's so well written and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Love it, Nick!

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    1. Thanks, Ingrid -- I'm glad it's a fun to read as it was to write!

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    2. Ingrid, I must be suffering from the same "breast debut novel" confusion as you. I read the beginning of your post here as "the tree top cheese scene." In my defense, Wisconsin has been mentioned here a lot.

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  20. And now I need to interject that Nick was just nominated (this minute)for "Best Debut Novel" from the International Thriller Writers for "The Drifter"!! I was so excited, I just texted him that he was nominated for Breast Debut Novel!

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    1. Folks should check out the other great nominees -- so many good writers in there! It's a great way to find new writers to add to your towering TBR piles.

      I don't believe I write in the genre that has a Breast Debut category....

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    2. Breast debut category? Now that's probably a definite underserved market genre. Ahhh the joys of autocorrect, or lack thereof? :D

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    1. Thanks for checking in today! I don't know how the book giveaway thing works -- I'll let Ingrid be the decider on that.

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  22. Nick, first let me congratulate you on your Edgar nomination and now on your International Thriller Writers nomination. You must indeed be doing something right. Peter Ash sounds like quite an interesting character, and I'm glad he's a veteran and that you're exploring the problems encountered by the brave men and women who serve our country and return to "normal" life. My husband is a veteran, and although he only served six months in a non-combative situation in Afghanistan, he had to have his gun strapped to him 24/7, as there were snipers and enemy always trying to infiltrate Bagram Air Force Base. Just last fall there was a suicide bomb attack there.

    Your locations and story lines, along with Peter, make this a series that I have to jump on board with. Oh, and that rope path through the trees is fascinating.

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    1. Thanks Kathy! Not sure there is any such thing as "non-combat" when deployed in a war zone overseas. I think the issues faced by our returning vets will be with us for a long time. Hope your husband is doing well.

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  23. I love discovering new authors....especially ones that are suggested by other authors.

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    1. This is the other unexpected benefit of becoming a published author -- I've discovered a whole world of new-to-me writers whose work is so wonderful. Now, of course, my book pile(s) are getting so tall that they're starting to teeter a bit...

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  24. Nick,

    I just picked up "The Drifter" in MMPB last week after seeing Ingrid tweeting about it a few times. I'm looking forward to diving into the story once I get some other books that I'm reviewing out of the way. (Unless of course I get ambitious and try to read two books at the same time.)

    I enjoyed the interview and to put my name in the running for "Burning Bright", my email is jbacoachjay@yahoo.com

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    1. Glad it got your interest -- would love to hear what you think.

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  25. Sorry you weren't there when I saw Ingrid earlier! I'll be looking for Burning Bright, but first I need to go read The Drifter. jimcollins@nc.rr.com

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  26. I enjoyed your interview, and the comments section with questions and your answers were just as enjoyable and interesting. Living in Colorado, I'll be interested to read Light It Up. I think that it is interesting that all the trade has to be in cash -- I'm surprised I'm not reading in the papers about robberies at the dispensaries to get all of that cash.

    I'm glad you're giving Veterans a voice in your books -- if anyone needs to be heard or understood, it's them ~ bobandcelia@sbcglobal.net

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  27. Nick,

    Welcome to Jungle Reds! And Congratulations! Your name is easy to remember. Putting your book on my TBR list! I enjoyed your interview.

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