Sunday, May 18, 2014

INTERVIEW and GIVEAWAY
With Author Mike Martin

Mike is giving away a copy of his book 
THE WALKER ON THE CAPE
Winner will have their choice of ebook or a signed copy of the print version.
Please enter using RaffleCopter at the end of this interview


LKBR: Hi Mike. Thank you for being here.

MM: Thank you for having me Lisa. It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you for all the work you do here to help promote books and authors. We all appreciate it!!

LKBR: Aww. Thanks, Mike. I love doing it!


 LKBR: You write the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. Would you please tell us a little about it?

MM: The Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series takes place in Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada. It features Sgt. Winston Windflower, an RCMP officer and a Cree from Northern Alberta, who is stationed in the small town of Grand Bank. It is about history and mystery but it is also about food and fun and friends.


LKBR: What was your inspiration for the Windflower series?

MM: I was born in Newfoundland but haven’t lived there for twenty-five years but still have family and like to visit. I started to visit some of the small communities, like Grand Bank, on the island, because my partner’s father was born there and I just loved the place!! One of the things that inspired me was the light house in Grand Bank, I don’t know why but it just did. And as soon as I saw it I knew where my story would be set. That was the beginning and that lighthouse became the cover of the first book, The Walker on the Cape.

 
I didn’t know at the time that it was going to be a series. I just knew at the end of The Walker on the Cape that there was more to tell about Windflower. And that’s where the second book came in. Once again I was inspired by a scene. This time it was a boardwalk in Burin, Newfoundland that stretched all the way out into the ocean. It became the cover shot for The Body on the T.


LKBR: Do you do much traveling for research on your books?

MMI travel each year to Newfoundland and spend a month wandering around. I am inspired by the ocean and the scenery and always find something to write about. Sometimes it is a short story or a poem but now I am also looking for inspiration for the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. Here are the kind of scenes that inspire me:


LKBR: Are you working on a fourth book in the series?

MM: I am thinking about the fourth book. I think I know where it begins but I have no idea where it might end up. I won’t start the physical writing process until the current book, Beneath the Surface, is through the first wave of promotion.

LKBR: What is your favorite thing about writing? Your least favorite?

MM:
My favorite thing about writing is almost everything. I love the feel of connecting to the creative current and I love writing the beginning, the middle and the end of a book. The beginning is great because you get the feeling that you starting a great adventure, the middle is where you have fun and explore the themes and characters that emerge. And the end of a book is so satisfying, although you never really know if it’s the end, or if there just might be another chapter.

My least favorite thing is probably the editing and rewriting. Ten, twelve or twenty edits later it gets to be a bit much. You just want it to be over.

                                               

LKBR: You're only allowed to have three books. (scary thought I know!) What books would you own? And sorry, they can't be books you have written.

MM:
That’s very hard. But I pick The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien (that way I get a trilogy), Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda, and anything by Charles Dickens, probably A Tale of Two Cities.



LKBR: Please share three things you would like your readers to know about you.

MM:
I am very grateful to have the privilege of writing. I am very grateful that people will actually read what I write. And if I could afford to I would gladly write for free and give away all of my books to anyone who would commit to reading them and passing them along to someone else.

LKBR: Thank you so much, Mike. Before you go, please share any links where readers can learn more about you. (Website, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

MMThe first book in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series was The Walker on the Cape

The second book was The Body on the T

The third book, just out, is Beneath the Surface:

In the third installment of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, Sgt. Windflower is back on the scene of the crime. He is joined again by his trusted ally Eddie Tizzard, his rock-steady girl, Sheila, and a wide cast of supporters. Together they face down an international crime syndicate operating on the East Coast, and help Windflower deal with the modern challenges of sexual harassment and corruption while re-discovering his roots and inner strength.

You can order Beneath the Surface from:
Chapters.ca
BookLocker.com
Amazon.com
And follow Sgt. Windflower on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore
a Rafflecopter giveaway

11 comments:

  1. This sounds great. I love the scenery and would love to read this book, thanks!

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  2. I'm always looking for a new mystery series to read and I think I'd really like to try this one.
    suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com

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  3. Thanks Lisa for yet another great interview! Mr. Martin seems like a very congenial and interesting man. His source of inspiration and description of same leaves me the desire to travel to Newfoundland via his writings.
    Sandy in So. Cali sxygrndma48(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  4. We have been to Newfoundland several times and enjoy the area. The books sound similar to Inspector Erlander's travails in Iceland :) Start to worry when the water disappears!

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  5. I'm always looking for new books to read, especially mystery series.

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  6. I love that you mentioned passing the books along to someone else. I do pass books along, even autographed ones. Those go to family and close friends, but others go to the library.

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  7. My grandmother was born in Newfoundland, so I love to read books set there. Visiting would be great, but unlikely. Your books sound great.

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  8. Never been to Newfoundland, so reading about it would be great.
    rjprazak6@gmail.com
    Becky Prazak

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  9. been to PEI and Nova Scotia only. but i have met several people from Newfoundland. they called themselves Newfies. Lisa nice interview. it is always cool to know more about an author.

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  10. I have always been fascinated by lighthouses. Hubby gave me a print of one several years ago. I love looking at it.
    Your Sgt. Windflower sounds like a character I might like to meet -- and if I can't meet a real life 'Sgt. Windflower'. I'd like to do it in print.

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