Author Interview: Legal Thriller Author David Myles Robinson



David Myles Robinson was a trial attorney in Honolulu, HI for 38 years before retiring to the mountains of New Mexico, where he lives with his wife, a former Honolulu trial judge. In the days of yore, before becoming a lawyer, he was a freelance journalist and a staff reporter for a minority newspaper in Pasadena, CA. He is an award-winning author of six novels, three of which are Pancho McMartin legal thrillers set in Honolulu.

Having traveled to all seven continents, he has also published a travel memoir entitled CONGA LINE ON THE AMAZON, which includes two Solas Traveler’s Tales award winners.

He says he includes his middle name, Myles, in his authorial appellation because there are far too many other David Robinson’s running around.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: davidmylesrobinson.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DNRobinsonWrite
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidMylesRobinson/






As a book bloggin’ and book luvin’ Princess, I’m always curious to find out how authors got the ideas for their books.  Can you tell us how you got the idea to write your book?

Tropical Doubts is a legal thriller, so I tend to draw inspiration from real life cases when I can. In this instance, the protagonist, Pancho McMartin, is a criminal law attorney who is cajoled into representing an old family friend in a medical malpractice case. But when his client is charged with murdering one of the doctors he sued, Pancho is suddenly handling both a medical malpractice and a murder case for the same client. The medical malpractice case is based on a very tragic case I handled back when I was still practicing law in Honolulu. Luckily, there was no murder involved.

Can you tell us a little about the main characters of your book?

Pancho McMartin is the recurring principal character in my Tropical legal thriller series. He was born in Taos, New Mexico, where his parents had gone to live in a commune after dropping out of college in the late 60s. His parents claimed they named him Pancho so that he would get along better once he started school in the mostly Hispanic community. Pancho’s theory is that his parents dropped acid after he was born to celebrate and named him while stoned.

Pancho’s private investigator and best friend is Drew Tulafono, a large Samoan man who had played for the San Diego Chargers in the NFL before moving to Hawaii to become a PI. When Pancho and Drew aren’t working, they grab their surfboards and hit the waves.

Pancho’s current love interest is Padma Dasari, an American of Indian descent who was the chief medical examiner for the city and county of Honolulu. Now retired and working as a medical expert consultant, she proves to be instrumental in helping Pancho on both the medical malpractice and murder case.

The client in Tropical Doubts is Manny Delacruz, who is an old family friend. Manny’s beloved wife falls into a permanent vegetative state following what should have been a routine surgery, and Manny is later arrested for the murder of one of the doctors involved in the surgery.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would that be?

Avail yourself of the many excellent books on fiction writing. Read lots of books in the genre that interests you. And just write, write, and write.


What would you say is one of your interesting writing quirks?


I’m very undisciplined and do not have a set schedule to write. I don’t use an outline, so when I get an idea in my head, I start writing and can write all day if it is flowing well. I don’t mind writing myself into a corner and having to backtrack. It’s a fun part of the process.

Do you hear from your readers?  What do they say?

The most common comments are that I am very good at dialog. Luckily, most of the comments have been excellent. I was especially pleased to hear from one reviewer who is an attorney and who felt the legal depictions were very realistic.


What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author?

In my first novel, a golf related suspense story (Unplayable Lie), some readers felt that the descriptions of the golf games were boring to them, although all liked the overall story. That was to be expected. I also received some similar criticism from a few readers of one of my legal thrillers who felt I was too detailed in some of the legal maneuverings.

What has been your best accomplishment?

I assume you are talking about accomplishments in writing. Every time I complete a novel I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

Do you Google yourself?

I have, but rarely.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

I have another Pancho McMartin legal thriller, Tropical Deceptions, coming out this fall or winter and another completed manuscript, Tropical Scandal, which I’ve just sent off to my independent editor. And I have a mostly completed novel which I’ve been working on for the last several years which is not a legal thriller. Its story lines, which touch on racism, love, friendship, and historical events spanning five decades has suddenly become highly relevant, so I’m excited about finishing it.

Fun question – if you were princess or prince, what’s one thing you would do to make your kingdom a better place?

Encourage interracial and interethnic marriages so as to blur the lines people use to hate and discriminate.

Do you have anything specific that you would like to say to your readers?

Thank you for reading my books and, if you can, please post a review at whatever site you want. It is reviews and blogs by people like the book bloggin’ and book luvin’ Princess which help those of us lesser known authors find an audience.







When Honolulu’s flamboyant and quirky attorney, Pancho McMartin, agrees to step out of his normal role as a criminal defense lawyer, he thinks it will be a challenging but welcome change from his daily dose of criminal clients. His old friend and father-figure, Manny Delacruz, has beseeched Pancho to handle a medical malpractice claim against the physicians who botched what should have been a routine surgery, but which resulted in Manny’s beloved wife being in a permanent vegetative state. The case looks good, the damages enormous, but when Manny is arrested for the murder of one of the doctors, Pancho finds himself back in his old role. If Manny is convicted, it means he won’t be able to be at his wife’s bedside to hold her hand, caress her face, and read his poems to her. He will have lost his reason to live. The pressure on Pancho is enormous. While he and his team try to make sense out of one of the most sinister and complicated murder schemes he’s ever seen, the medical malpractice case chugs forward, in jeopardy of being worthless should Manny be convicted.


ORDER YOUR COPY

Amazon → https://amzn.to/2WJQSnx

 Barnes & Noble → https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tropical-doubts-david-myles-robinson/1128284518?ean=9781948749015

Free ebook: CHRISTIAN AUTHORS SELF-PUBLISHING SECRETS TO WHAT BESTSELLING AUTHORS USE TO SELL MORE BOOKS





CHRISTIAN AUTHORS SELF-PUBLISHING SECRETS TO WHAT BESTSELLING AUTHORS USE TO SELL MORE BOOKS
Yeral Ogando
Marketing/Publishing/Self-Publishing-

Have you been struggling to get your book (s) published? You have written a masterpiece, but you have been struggling to get is published.

Have you thought about self-publishing? Well, now is the correct time to start thinking about self-publishing your Christian book (s). You don’t know where to start…?

You do not know the steps you need to follow to get your book self-published. No need to worry about it anymore. I have created this Christian Authors Self – Publishing SECRETS to what best-selling authors use to sell more books, just for you.

No need to worry. I will show you the steps you need to follow. I will also tell you exactly what you need to do to have a successful Christian self-published book. All you have to do is get this e-book, follow the instructions and you will be on the right path to self-publishing and getting sales from your book (s).

Wait… but there is more… I am revealing the SECRETS for you not only to have your Christian books self-published, but also on how to get sales out of them. The SECRETS no one else is willing to tell you on how to make your book successful.

Discover the SECRETS best-selling authors are using to sell their books and turn it into your winning strategy. This is not a How to be millionaire guide; this is self-publishing guide with SECRETS tips already proven to be successful.

You will need to work hard in order to achieve your goals on becoming a best-seller or to sell many more books.

If you are a Christian Author and you want to have people know about your writing, well then, it is time for you to discover the SECRETS and steps to be successful.

There are many books out there showing you how to be a self-published author; but few of them really show you the SECRETS to sell more books. Discover today what you need to do and what your focus should be on… and start selling your story.

For a LIMITED TIME I will have this incredible book for free. Get your copy today. DO NOT waste more time and START GETTING SALES from your books.

Think about it… for free, you can start your learning experience towards getting more sales from your books.









Introduction
You know you have a wonderful story to share, a God’s given message that the world should know about it, BUT…
You just don't know what to do or how to start sharing your books with others. I am taking this opportunity to share with you some of the secrets or putting it into simpler words, key points, and strategies that you might use before and after releasing your book.

Maybe you are an experienced author. Maybe, you are just starting, BUT you definitely want and need to share your story with the world.
Wait! Nobody told you that it was going to be difficult. Everybody said to you that you just needed to write and nothing else.
Well, before getting to the STRATEGIES, allow me to share a few thoughts that might serve you well.
You are writing your story, and there are many things to consider when sharing your story with the world.

Are you going to be a self-published author (Indie author), or are you going for the big league and hire a publishing house?
The answer to this question will influence your strategy and outcome of your book's popularity. Therefore, this is something you need to think through.

In this guide, you will be able to find excellent tips that you will use before, during and after publishing. It is not a mere guide for self-publishing authors. Any expert author can benefit from this guide and all the expert tips in it; such as Search engine Optimization, Amazon optimization, marketing and promotion strategies and much more.

















Yeral E. Ogando was born on May 18th, 1977 in Las Matas de Farfán, Dominican Republic. Yeral is polyglot or a multilingual person.

He has been able to learn Spanish, English, French, Italian, Haitian Creole, German, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Modern & Biblical Greek and Biblical Hebrew.

Yeral E. Ogando has earned several degrees:

Master of Arts in Theological Studies
Master of Arts in Languages and Linguistics
Doctor of Philosophy in Theology

He has been a Bible professor for many years and teacher for several languages locally and internationally, such as Spanish, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole.

He has also been able to write the following books:

* The Hero Within – Power (Volume Two)
* The Hero Within – Nede Land (Volume Three)
* Teach Yourself Italian by Yeral E. Ogando.
* Teach Yourself Haitian Creole Conversation by Yeral E. Ogando.
* Teach Yourself Haitian Creole by Yeral E. Ogando.
* And many other books for language learning (English, Spanish, Creole and Italian)
* Coming Soon From The Hero Within Series (Volume Four – Volume Five – Volume Six)

His hobbies are reading and listening to music. He is passionate for teaching, learning and starting new ministries and businesses.

He is the founder and owner of the successful internet business www.christian-translation.com, thus reaching the world in more than 200 languages since 2004.


Website:
Twitter:
Facebook:




 

Book Blast: The Waves of Life & Our Mind Game by Say Thu Varadewa






  

Inside the Book:





Title: The Waves of Life & Our Mind Game
Author: Say Thu Varadewa
Publisher: Partridge Singapore
Genre: Self-Help/Self-Management
Format: Paperback/Hardcover

Life itself is very simple; we make life complicated as we going through the phases of life. But we have to constantly remind ourselves that every beginning is the hardest. And we cannot control anything whatever happens in our life. But we can train ourselves to be used to the waves of life as it moves up and down just to keep flowing. And we have to realize that nothing is in control, everything happens for a reason. Being contented in life looks impossible, but, we can train our mind to be grateful for what we have. Staying strong and positive is the key to face rough rides of life because we are unaware what might come next in life. I aimed to help people like me who are looking for who they are as a person. It is simple and yet difficult to figure out if there is no proper way to discover one self. Sometimes, you may have everything in life but you are still feeling that something is missing within you. Well, that is exactly the point in life when we need to find our life purpose through self-discovery process. Life is like a big ocean and the ups and downs moments in life are like the waves in the ocean. If there is no up and down moments in life, we will never know who we are, how strong we are and how capable we are. These life waves help us to discover who we are as a person. Keep your journey unique and worthy because it has its own limit. Before the life limit expires, be who you want to be and do what you want to do in life. Inspire people around you to be better version of themselves and encourage people to be kind towards each other to create a beautiful world for everyone to live in.


Purchase Here

Meet the Author:


Say was born in 1993 in Myanmar(Burmar). Say is currently staying in Singapore. Say is a person who loves to stay positive in all the circumstances and loves to help people without expecting anything in return. Say is a registered nurse in Singapore who graduated from Parkway College (Diploma in Nursing, Singapore) & Griffith University of Queensland(Bachelor of Nursing and Master of health service management, Australia), Nanyang Polytechnic school of health and social sciences ( Advanced Diploma in Nursing). Say likes to reflect herself everyday for self-improvement and she found out a good way to learn from own experiences. For Say,writing is a way of communicating with people through her thinking and a way of showing to individual how to dream high and nothing is impossible if you have a will to change.


Say is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

  
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins August 17 and ends on August 28.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on August 29.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone! 

ENTER TO WIN!a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule

Author Interview: YA / Coming of Age Author B.A. Bellec


Author of Someone’s Story and co-collaborator on the music it inspired, B.A. was born in Richmond, BC and raised in Langley, BC, before settling in Winnipeg, MB. His first adventure was a career in Finance, where he spent 15 years developing his business skills. His highest achievement was the Certified Payroll Manager designation. He currently still consults with businesses on their systems and processes. Over that period of time, he also attended film school where he started to nurture his early creative abilities.
A self-starter always interested in research, he taught himself many of the aspects of storytelling through reading books, screenplays and material online. Whenever he found an inspirational piece of art, he quickly went to the source to find the story behind the artist who created the work. It took many years after attending film school for him to finally combine his creative skills with his life experience and tell that story he had been holding back. Some of his favorite creative people: Lukas Rossi, Justin Furstenfeld, Peter Jackson, Stephen Chbosky, John Green, J.K. Rowling.
Currently he is pounding away on the keyboard writing his second novel, Pulse. This project is a change of pace and more details will come in a few months!
B.A. is also an avid jogger and walker, frequently using them as a way to work on those tough spots in life and his manuscripts. If you found it this far into his material, reach out to him on Twitter and make sure to like and subscribe to get updates on all his future endeavors.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: http://www.babellec.com
Blog: https://babellec.com/b-a-bellecs-blog/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/b_bellec
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/babellec/





Q: What’s inside the mind of a YA fiction author?

I just want to give back. This book is for all the friends I saw struggling. I had my battles but ultimately the main character here is a combination of a few people. Telling their stories gives young readers a chance to learn from the mistakes and struggles I saw or went through. Gives them some advice and perspective.

Because the book is so new, not many people are aware it exists. My goal is to just get this book in front of as many readers as I can. The hard work pays off when a reader reaches out to me over social media to tell me how much the book connected with them. That means the world to me.

The other thing on my mind of late is my second project. It isn’t Young Adult. I am working on a Sci-Fi horror called Pulse. It is a total change of pace. It will be marketed to a different audience for sure. I am struggling with how to give back to my fans of Someone’s Story in Pulse. I’m always evolving but I don’t want to change my style so much that I lose my fans. There are some young characters in Pulse and I am trying to think up a few ways to reward a reader who picks up both books. A few subtle crossovers maybe and some stylistic choices.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy Someone's Story.

Someone’s Story is unique. The main character is never named. They simply go by “Someone” and it kind of reads almost like the character is streaming their thoughts unfiltered. A few people have described the book as very raw. The formatting is a hybrid between screenplay and novel. I attended film school for a little while. That is where I started writing so some of those techniques found their way into the book. I also wrote original songs and then had a musician partner with me to record them. Some of the song lyrics are in the book. It is a neat little aspect to the project that I have never seen. When you combine the music, the screenplay style and the unnamed main character, this is a unique and unforgettable experience.

It’s not a long book either. I packed a lot of stuff into something you can finish in a night. Ultimately the book is about mental health and doing grandiose things. This book is for people that struggle. This book is for people who wonder. This book is for anyone who wants to believe in themself but doesn’t know how.

Q: What makes a good YA / coming of age fiction story?

Character. My first draft had lots of me in it. The problem is I am boring. My life is boring. Not much drama happens to me. This book got so much better when I started to make it a work of fiction. I basically took my journal, cut it in half, and then re-wrote the main character from the perspective of a few people that lived a harder life than me. The book is good because I jammed three people into one character. There are layers to unpack. Lots of depth. Events and information have to give the reader an emotional response. 

Q: What is the best thing about being an author?

It is very emotionally satisfying work. Writing gives me a way to deal with all of life's stresses. I create characters and events that take the things happening around me and crank the dial up to 11. This gives me perspective. Going back to my first answer, when a reader reaches out to me to tell me they had an emotional reaction to my writing, that is why I do this. To give them that moment.

I also love a big project. Being self-published means I have many hats. I designed the cover myself, I did the Amazon Kindle formatting in Kindle Create. I designed my own website. I run my own social media. All the while I am outlining my future writing projects and trying to add about 1,000 words to my Pulse manuscript every day.

Being an author gives me a chance to draw on so many of the skills I already had from my years of working, while also developing all these new skills. I think the area I have been learning the most about of late is marketing. I don’t have any background in marketing and it took me a few months to start to understand how to pitch myself and put myself out there. If you publish something and do no marketing, no one will find it. I like the challenge of trying to get exposure for my work.

Q: Where can readers find out more about you and your work?

I have a website. I update the blog once per week with a creative journal. Besides that, I am on most of the major social media sites.  I try to respond to comments on Instagram and Twitter. I usually try and set aside an hour to two per day online, there are busy weeks though. Links are at the top of my webpage.






Two young men grow up in the south, become great friends and love the same woman. One moves north as the civil war nears and becomes Administrative Asst to Abraham Lincoln The one who remained in the south vacates his office of US Senator to become the south’s chief spy. Both men are pitted against each other during the war. As the war ends, they try to renew their friendship but will the presence of the one they both love be an impediment. 

ORDER YOUR COPY 

https://amzn.to/2ZulevO

New Celebrity Memoir! Five Minutes, Mr. Byner! A Lifetime of Laughter by Comedian John Byner (with Douglas Wellman)



FIVE MINUTES, MR. BYNER: A LIFETIME OF LAUGHTER
John Byner (with Douglas Wellman)
Celebrity Memoir

Veteran entertainer John Byner, a man of many voices and characters, from impersonating the slow, rolling gait and speech of John Wayne, to lending his voice to The Ant and the Aardvark cartoons has penned (with Douglas Wellman) his biography FIVE MINUTES, MR. BYNER! published by Boutique of Quality Books. His dead-on impersonations, as well as his unique talents as a character actor, have put him on the small screen in peoples' homes, the big screen in theaters, and no screen on Broadway.

“. . . John has had a remarkable career spanning decades, from doing comedy in small clubs in Greenwich Village to The Ed Sullivan Show. . . Ed loved him. . . to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, to Steve Allen, who basically invented the talk show, to The Carol Burnett Show, to just about every major variety show or situation comedy there was on the air, to hosting his own variety show and introducing Bob Einstein as Super Dave Osborne, and on and on. . . . And he’s still going strong, as funny and as kind as ever.” – Nathan Lane

Growing up in a big family on Long Island, John discovered his uncanny ability to mimic voices as a child when he returned home from a Bing Crosby movie and repeated Bing’s performance for his family in their living room. He discovered his talent made him the focus of everyone’s attention, and allowed him to make friends wherever he went, from elementary school to the U.S. Navy. John started his career in nightclubs in New York, but soon found himself getting national acclaim on The Ed Sullivan Show. With that he was on his way. This memoir is the best and funniest moments of his life, career, and relationships with some of the biggest names in entertainment, both on and
off the screen. “I thought of doing a memoir a year before I began writing it. My friend (co-author), Doug Wellman, suggested years before that if I wanted to write a book he would assist me,” remarked Mr.Byner.

ORDER YOUR COPY

Amazon → https://amzn.to/3iZzrbT






 Some people call it fate; others call it luck. Whatever you call it, you've probably been somewhere by chance at exactly the right moment and ended up getting a welcome surprise. I had one of those moments early in my career and it changed my life.

My ability to mimic voices opened up some special opportunities for me. Initially it was just a hobby. I entertained family members, school mates, buddies in the navy, and my coworkers in a myriad of blue-collar jobs, and one white-collar one. I had no idea my future would be in the spotlight in night clubs, television, cartoons, movies, variety shows, and a host of other exciting places. And maybe it wouldn't have been except for fate, luck, or whatever you want to call it. My world opened up one night because I happened to be on a little stage in New York at just the right moment. It was an unplanned event. Had it not occurred, I don't know where I'd be today.







John Byner’s TV career break happened in New York City on Merv Griffin’s Talent Scouts Show in 1964. After great exposure on both Gary Moore and Steve Allen’s variety shows in 1966 and 1967, he clowned around on Ed Sullivan’s showcase program over two dozen times and Johnny Carson’s late-night haunt over three dozen times.
He has lent his vocal library of voices to hundreds of cartoons and animated films. To find out more about John and his book, visit http://johnbyner.com.
Douglas Wellman was born in Minneapolis but moved to Los Angeles where he became a television producer-director for 35 years, as well as the assistant dean of the film school at the University of Southern California. He currently lives in Southern Utah with his wife, Deborah, where he works as a chaplain at a local hospital when not busy writing books.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: https://johnbyner.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/johnbynercom
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.byner.1

Author Interview:Historical Adventure Authors Michael & Kathleen McMenamin




Michael McMenamin is the co-author with his son Patrick of the first five of the six award winning 1930s era historical novels featuring Winston Churchill and his fictional Scottish goddaughter, the adventure-seeking Hearst photojournalist Mattie McGary. He is the co-author with his daughter Kathleen McMenamin of the sixth Mattie + Winston novel The Liebold Protocol and the novella Appointment in Prague. The first six novels in the series—The DeValera Deception, The Parsifal Pursuit, The Gemini Agenda, The Berghof Betrayal, The Silver Mosaic and The Liebold Protocol—received a total of 15 literary awards. He is currently at work with his daughter on the ninth Mattie + Winston historical adventure, The Phoenix Progression.

Michael is also the author of the critically acclaimed Becoming Winston Churchill, The Untold Story of Young Winston and His American Mentor [Hardcover, Greenwood 2007; Paperback, Enigma 2009] and the co-author of Milking the Public, Political Scandals of the Dairy Lobby from LBJ to Jimmy Carter [Nelson Hall, 1980]. He is a contributing editor for Finest Hour, the quarterly journal of the International Churchill Society and for the libertarian magazine Reason. His work also has appeared in The Churchills in Ireland, 1660-1965, [Irish Academic Press, 2012] as well as two Reason anthologies, Free Minds & Free Markets, Twenty Five Years of Reason [Pacific Research Institute, 1993] and Choice, the Best of Reason [BenBella Books, 2004]. A full-time writer, he was formerly a First Amendment and Media Defense lawyer and a U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent. 
Kathleen McMenamin

Kathleen McMenamin, the other half of the father-daughter writing team, has been editing her father’s writing for longer than she cares to remember. She is the co-author with her father of the 2018 Mattie + Winston novella, Appointment in Prague, A Mattie McGary + Winston Churchill World War II Adventure and the sixth Mattie + Winston novel, The Liebold Protocol. She also is the co-author with her sister Kelly of the critically acclaimed Organize Your Way: Simple Strategies for Every Personality [Sterling, 2017]. The two sisters are professional organizers, personality-type experts and the founders of PixiesDidIt! a home and life organization business, www.pixiesdidit.com.
Kathleen is an honors graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and received an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University while she was with The Wendy Weill Agency. Prior to starting her own business, she was Senior Advertising and Promotion Coordinator for Bedford/St. Martin’s. The novella Appointment in Prague was her second joint writing project with her father; The Liebold Protocol was her third; and The Prussian Memoradum is her fourth. Their first father-daughter writing project was “Bringing Home the First Amendment”, a review of Nat Hentoff’s The Day They Came to Arrest the Book in the August 1984 Reason magazine. While a teen-ager, she and her father would often take runs together, creating plots for adventure stories as they ran.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: www.winstonchurchillthrillers.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WinstonChurchillThrillers





 
As a book bloggin’ and book luvin’ Princess, I’m always curious to find out how authors got the ideas for their books.  Can you tell us what your book is about?

Short answer: The Prussian Memorandum is an adventure novel set in 1934 about exposing the shameful US Government involvement in creating the “Prussian Memorandum”.

Longer answer: Our idea came from the 2017 book Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law by James Whitman. In 1934, 30 of the 48 American states had laws prohibiting marriage and sexual relations between whites and a variety of other races like African-Americans, Japanese, Chinese and other Asians.
That hit us close to home as Michael has three Chinese-American grandsons and two Jewish grandsons, meaning Aunt Katie has five nephews like that.

As Whitman wrote:

In the early 1930s, Nazi lawyers were engaged in creating a race law [primarily against Jews] founded on anti-miscegenation law and race-based immigration, naturalization and second-class citizenship law. They went looking for foreign models and found them—in the United States of America.

The Prussian Memorandum was a real document on American state laws that the Nazis used to create their infamous 1935 Nuremberg laws rendering German Jews 2nd class citizens forbidden to marry or have sexual relations with “Aryans”. The Nazis actually used one of their own, an American trained German lawyer, to do the legal research in America that became the “Prussian Memoradnum”.

But what if the Nazis had engaged a notoriously anti-Semitic branch of the US government, the US Army’s Military Intelligence Division (MID), to do the research. And what if two determined women—an intrepid Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and a courageous German lawyer—set out to expose this shameful secret? And, finally, what if agents of both the Nazis and US Government were out to stop them at all costs?

That is what the book is about.

Can you tell us a little about the main characters of your book?

Mattie McGary is the fictional Scottish goddaughter of Winston Churchill and a photojournalist and foreign correspondent for William Randolph Hearst. She hates the Nazis, but she has been Hitler’s favorite foreign journalist ever since she first interviewed him on the eve of his ill-fated “Beer Hall putsch in 1923. She can’t shake that no matter how many negative, but factually accurate, stories she writes about the Nazis, two of which have won Pulitzer Prizes. So her godfather Churchill keeps feeding her leads on potential stories about Nazi wrongdoing and Hearst keeps sending her back to Germany to follow up. She regrets being fluent in German and keeps hoping her next story will take her off Hitler’s Christmas card list.

Hanna Raeder is a German criminal defense lawyer and the younger fictional second wife of Erich Raeder, the Grand Admiral of the German Navy. Raeder was not a Nazi and his real second wife, Erica, was not either. Raeder resisted Nazi demands that he dismiss Jewish naval officers and he and Erica even took their son out of the Hitler Youth. We thought he would be a good husband for our fictional Hanna who hates the Nazis every bit as much as Mattie. As Hanna is serving as a member of the German Commission ON Criminal Law Reform, she is Mattie’s primary source in her investigation.

Both women end up in a concentration camp where waterboarding precedes their beheading.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would that be?

Write every day.

What would you say is one of your interesting writing quirks?

We wouldn’t. We prefer not to bore people. By definition, the actual act of writing is not especially interesting to anyone but the writer. It’s boring to anyone else.

Do you hear from your readers?  What do they say?

We read all of our unsolicited reader reviews and then put the better ones, i.e., the ones we like, at the beginning of all our books. Here are a few:

“Mattie McGary was easily my favorite character and I loved how the authors made her into a strong female character with a very real personality. So many times strong female characters end up feeling almost unrealistic and that was not the case with Mattie.” [Books for Books review]

“Mattie McGary is what every woman wants to be: strong-willed, the ability to take care of herself, and who doesn’t take crap from anyone.” [Goodreads review]


“I’ve read and enjoyed all of the books in this series and I vote this one as the most exciting yet, full of twists and turns and I really cared about what happened to the characters. It was a most believable page-turner right to the very end. I can’t wait for their next book. “[Amazon review]

“This series of books is fantastic—as good as any New York Times Best Seller. Anyone who likes a thriller but appreciates an accurate historical background would like this book. I look forward to the next in the series.” [Amazon review]

“One of the best thrillers I’ve read in a long time. It’s detailed, nuanced and beautifully written. Historical fact and fiction were so seamlessly woven together that I wasn’t sure which was which!” [Amazon review].

“This is a well-written historical novel that stays true to the time period and keeps its historic facts accurate. I really liked how the authors immersed me in the time period right from the first page.” [Amazon review].

“Historical fiction which excels. I immediately became involved with both the characters and plot which took on a life of their own. I have read much shorter books that have seemed far longer than The Silver Mosaic.” [Goodreads review].

“An action-packed and intriguing look at the world leading to WWII that will be enjoyed by all those who like suspenseful political stories. The authors bring to life multiple historical figures and create a narrative filled with interesting anecdotes and asides even as the race to stay alive is vividly depicted.” [Amazon review]


What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author?

Well, this occurred when my co-author on the first five Mattie + Winston adventures was my son Patrick. His older sister and my current co-author Kathleen points out that nothing similar has happened in the next three books we wrote on her watch.

Apart from things that make a good novel like character development and plot, historical novelists have to pay attention more than most to verisimilitude. If you get a fact or two wrong that your readers know to be wrong, you destroy their willing suspension of disbelief. We did that in a novel set in 1933 when we referred to something as being in the Guinness Book of World Records. A helpful reader pointed out in a less than friendly way that the Guinness Book of World Record did not appear until the early 1950s. Sigh. We were lazy. A quick Google search would have shown that, but we assumed since Guinness was around long before 1933, its world record book was as well.

We appreciated the criticism because we had made the same mistake in the next book in the series that we were able to promptly correct before publication. It really is important to get those historical details right. I read a lot of historical fiction set in the 20th century, especially ones set in Germany. If ever I come across Hitler’s first name spelled “Adolph” rather than the correct “Adolf”, I throw the book away. If you don’t even know how to spell his name correctly, how many other things about the period don’t you know?

What has been your best accomplishment?

We both believe in what the famous film maker Billy Wilder once said: “You’re as good as the best thing you’ve ever done.” Aside from marrying our spouses and having our children, here’s the best thing we’ve each ever done:

Michael: Becoming Winston Churchill, the Untold Story of Young Winston and His American Mentor [Greenwood Publishing, Oxford 2007, Enigma Books, New York 2009) with Curt Zoller.

Kathleen: Organize Your Way: Simple Strategies for Every Personality (Sterling, New York 2017) with Kelly McMenamin.

 Do you Google yourself?

Sometimes, but neither of us can recall the last time we did.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

Michael: None, except the first three chapters of our next book that my co-author hasn’t seen yet.

Kathleen: One, my first novel, but I’m going to change that next year.

Optional: Fun question – if you were princess or prince, what’s one thing you would do to make your kingdom a better place?

Michael: Where to start? We’re both libertarians who have written for Reason [Free Minds & Free Markets] so go to www.reason.com and take your pick.

Kathleen: Repeal all the damn drug laws! They’re funding foreign terrorists and imprisoning a disproportionate number of American poor people!

Michael: OK, I could have guessed that would be her answer and it would be a good place to start because you wouldn’t need to be a libertarian to think that was a good idea.
Why would anyone want to keep a law on the books that finances terrorists who oppose everything we stand for and want to kill us?

Do you have anything specific that you would like to say to your readers?

We appreciate all your kind words. Stay tuned.  We’ve already started on the next Mattie+Winston adventure.




Winston Churchill’s adventure-seeking goddaughter, the intrepid Hearst journalist Mattie McGary, sets out in 1934 to expose a major political scandal—a conspiracy between the US Army’s Military Intelligence Division (MID) and Hitler’s Praetorian, the SS, to help the Nazis persecute German Jews.
Churchill alerts Mattie to what he learns from a confidential German source: that the Nazis are working on a new law to strip Jews of their citizenship and forbid them to marry or have sex with Aryans. The year before, Heinrich Himmler’s SS secretly engaged the MID to research racist laws in thirty American states that prohibit sex and marriage between whites and other races. Known as “The Prussian Memorandum”—an actual historic document—radical SS anti-Semites plan to use these racist American laws as a model for their treatment of the Jews
Aided by a courageous German lawyer, Hanna Raeder, Mattie’s efforts to document the conspiracy take her from Churchill’s country home in England to the corridors of power in Berlin and, along with Churchill, to the canals of Amsterdam where his German source is to provide them with conclusive proof of the conspiracy. Pursued by both agents of Himmler’s Gestapo and American MID agents determined to stop them at all costs, Mattie and Hanna race to expose the shameful secret of The Prussian Memorandum.
In a chilling climax, Mattie and Hanna are arrested and taken to a Gestapo-run concentration camp where they are charged with crimes against the state—Hanna for treason, Mattie for espionage— and scheduled for show trials the next day before The People’s Court. If convicted, the penalty is death by beheading.
Literary Awards and Praise for Mattie McGary’s Adventures with Winston Churchill
Three-Time Grand Prize Winner Fiction, Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Three-Time Thriller/Suspense Book of the Year, ForeWord Reviews
Two-Time Historical Fiction Book of the Year, ForeWord Reviews
Appointment in Prague
“A thrilling historical novel with a no-nonsense heroine is what you’ll find… Wow! This is an action-packed, intense story that brings the reader right into the world of WW II espionage. Well-developed characters, a tough heroine, and great attention to detail.” [The Book Connection review]
“Mattie McGary was easily my favorite character and I loved how the authors made her into a strong female character with a very real personality. So many times strong female characters end up feeling almost unrealistic and that was not the case with Mattie.” [Books for Books review]
The Berghof Betrayal
“Mattie McGary is what every woman wants to be: strong-willed, the ability to take care of herself, and who doesn’t take crap from anyone.” [Goodreads review]
“I’ve read and enjoyed all of the books in this series and I vote this one as the most exciting yet, full of twists and turns and I really cared about what happened to the characters. It was a most believable page-turner right to the very end. I can’t wait for their next book. “[Amazon review]
The Silver Mosaic
“This is a well-written historical novel that stays true to the time period and keeps its historic facts accurate. I really liked how the authors immersed me in the time period right from the first page.” [Amazon review].
“Historical fiction that excels. I immediately became involved with both the characters and plot, which took on a life of their own. I have read much shorter books that seemed far longer than The Silver Mosaic.” [Goodreads review].
The Gemini Agenda
“A thick and rich tale that is impossible to put down, So many twists and turns and the ending is gripping…This book holds its own with the best historical fiction.” [Goodreads review]

ORDER YOUR COPY OF THE PRUSSIAN MEMORANDUM

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