Interview with Guy Morris, Author of Swarm

Good morning,

Today’s interview is with Guy Morris, author of Swarm.

Please enjoy!

Best,

Vincent Lowry

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Interview:

1) What is your author name and in what state do you live (or country if not in the US)?

Guy Morris lives in Washington with a view of the Puget Sound

2) What is the title of your newest book and what is the genre?

SWARM is an action -thriller with AI, conspiracy / espionage themes

3) What is the book about? 

               Swarm is an action-packed thriller with advanced artificial intelligence weapons set in a divided, post-pandemic country struggling to maintain social and national security. 

China has unleashed a devastating AI internet virus forcing antihero hacker Derek Taylor into a deadly conspiracy of digital identity control, and end-time prophecy. When a US AI weapon system goes rogue only a fugitive AI called SLVIA with a terrorist hacker group known only as SNO can prevent Armageddon.

Exploring the morality of artificial intelligence weapons while navigating church and political corruption, debut author Guy Morris’s sharp and frighteningly realistic storytelling will leave readers questioning what their future holds in this ambitious, edge-of-your-seat cyberthriller.

4) Where did you come up with the idea?

               SWARM was inspired by a true story of a program that escaped the Lawrence Livermore Labs at Sandia (NSA spy lab for cryptology/ signals) – and was never recaptured.  Not lost, not stolen, not corrupted, the AP article said it had escaped.

               I spent months working on what kind of program could escape a government lab, and why would it.  Then I created an award-winning fictional webisode series in 96’ called ‘Cracks in the Web’ featuring SLVIA, my imagined AI. Hugely popular, and optioned by AOL, until the FBI came to my home to ask me to take the site down.  Apparently, I had correctly interpreted much of the functionality of the lost program – and it was top secret. Secondary confirmation came in 2016 when the Russians hacked an older CIA cyber tool kit, and it contained nearly every one of the functions that I had assigned to my fictional AI named SLVIA. 

               The rest was a simple matter of bringing the characters forward into the current day, looking around at the interconnected problems that will be impacted by AI including cyber war, AI weapons, infrastructure, ID access, and asked the question – what would happen if. 

5) How long did it take you to write it?

               SWARM took years to fully research.  The story premise, at least the story world and key characters have existed since the 90s’. Once I decided to write with a new premise, I spent 2+ months outlining, six weeks on draft 1, and then 8 months editing, rewriting, polishing, refining with beta readers before hiring a professional editor and cover designer. 

6) Did you learn anything from the project?

Oh my gosh, where to begin?  Yes, starting with the extensive research into areas of advanced/experimental AI, quantum computing, DARPA AI weapon systems, cyber security and vulnerabilities, and then end time prophetic references to align with current events, plus location and culture research.  One of the reasons I love to write is that I love to explore, and to learn.

On the writing side, SWARM was my second book, but the first one where I started with a clear, detailed character profile, and outline. In other words, I started by knowing my characters, and a plan of what happens to them, and how they react.  Not too detailed, but enough to weave multiple threads together. Wow, what a difference. For a complex plot with lots of characters, places and timelines – an outline saved my sanity.  Now of course, I made numerous changes along the way, but I had a map to follow, and it made the trip easier, and more enjoyable.

Once I had a good first draft, I took a series of Master Classes from David Baldacci, James Patterson, Ron Howard, and Dan Brown.  I learned so much that I re-wrote SWARM yet again.  Beyond the course material, I took 12 pages of lessons. The changes super-charged the ‘thriller’ impact, and connected the threads to fit perfectly.  Working on the sequel now.

7) Do you have an author website and/or blog? How about a book video?

Yes to all.

My website Guy Morris Books -Contemporary Action-Thrillers includes a blog, plus direct links to Amazon, all of the consolidated SWARM reviews, and a recent article from Master Class featuring SWARM.   The site features tons of addition media on SWARM and my next book Curse of Cortes’. 

I also maintain a separate blog on Good Reads, but I don’t know how to connect the two together. 

On a book video, I have a Wix produced freebie promotional video, nothing fancy.  The video provides location images and reviewer quotes, but provides no story line. I have the video pinned to the top of my Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/officialguymorrisbooks . 

8) Do you have any success tips to pass on to fellow authors? How about any great editors/cover artists? 

As a debut author, I’m still learning and looking to others, but I do have a few thoughts.  

No amount of marketing, cover design, or promo will turn hum-drum writing into bone chilling. That takes polishing, editing, critique, editing again, and again until you have a story that resonates beginning to end. Take your time on the product before you spend a penny on publishing or promotion.  Let’s be real, it will cost to market and promote and you don’t want to do that for a mediocre book.

Finding good cover designers, editors and formatters can be really hard unless you know the business.  Each genre requires a different type of cover.  I needed a thriller cover that would grab you. For me, I found success on Reedsy.  That said, I am still a babe in the woods learning about promotion, marketing reviews, bloggers, and how to build sales.

9) What genres do you like to read? Are you open to reading new authors and reviewing their work?

I write thrillers because I love thrillers.  Dan Brown, Steve Berry, Michael Crichton, James Rollins and others of that caliber excite me.  Why?  Because they will always write from deep research to present an interesting premise based on science, archaeology, history or technology.  You learn something on the thrill ride. The biggest challenge with being an author is that it cuts into good reading time. Find me a book that will take me on a thrilling adventure, and teach me something interesting, and challenge my morals or perceptions along the journey.

That said, when I am working on a new manuscript (like now), most of my reading revolves around research, and can vary widely from Graham Hancock pre-history to Welcome to Leningrad, a book on Putin and his criminal empire, a book on the Copper Scroll, or the Illuminati. Sometimes interesting, sometimes weird, but you need to read  a TON looking for that gem of information, that flaw, that mystery or quirk, or little known fact that can be leveraged into a credible, imminent crisis.

I welcome reviews of SWARM, and open to reviewing other thriller authors.  My only caveat is that I have several books in the queue while I am currently eye balls deep in the research mode for my next manuscript. Patience.

10) What is your favorite book of all time and why? 

Seriously? Is this a trick question?  I would say, impossible to say.

It would be easier to say who are my top five favorite authors. I fell in love with reading in college. Classics from Mark Twain, Hemingway, Poe, and Shakespeare to my favorite authors Dan Brown, James Rollins, Michael Crichton, Steve Berry, Dan Silva and a dozen others. 

But a book? Seriously? I could never pick just one book with a straight face.  Da Vinci Code, Timeline, Jurassic Park, Pelican Brief, Sherlock Holmes, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Amazonia are perhaps top in the top ten percent, but that would be a seat-of-the-pants ranking.  

11) Fun Question: Do you have any pets? If so, what kind?

I married an angel with five cats, but we are now down to one exceptionally spoiled, demanding, neurotic and psycho prince of purrrrrsia.  Seriously, our cat Raven needs an entourage to keep him entertained.  We understand each other, which is to say that he has me trained. Speaking of which, mien FUR-er calls – gotta go. 

12) Fun Question 2: Do you own an electronic reading device? If so, what kind and how do you like it?

No sir!  This conspiracy writer is strictly old school, pages in hand, bookmarks in yellowed print, and probably a little dusty. Besides, the FBI may still have an eye on me, and in the end, don’t we all deserve a little privacy.  

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Interview with Symone Dashell, Author of Stigmata

Hello,

I’m pleased to bring you this interview with Symone Dashell, author of Stigmata.

Please enjoy!

Best,

-Vincent Lowry

Interview:

1) What is your author name and in what state do you live (or country if not in the US)?    

My author name is Symone Dashell. I live in Atlanta, Georgia.

2) What is the title of your newest book and what is the genre?    

The title of my book is “Stigmata”. It is a psychological thriller and Christian fiction.

3) What is the book about?     

When Mya experiences a traumatic event that results in a fatality, she enters a whirlwind of a psychological nightmare that requires her to live her life with a dark and disorienting secret. Her existence in two different lives, two different eras, and with two different personas, begins to expand until, finally, it explodes.

4) Where did you come up with the idea?   

My interests in mental health grew through my formal education. I came to understand the importance of it as I moved forward and even went through bouts of depression which pushed me into advocacy. I also have found myself researching the more severe mental disorders. I decided that my interests in mental health and my faith in God should come together in a novel.

5) How long did it take you to write it?    

It took me almost a year to write this book.

6) Did you learn anything from the project?   

I learned quite a bit from this project. I learned about my persistence, resilience, and patience. I learned that writing would be my lifelong hobby and career. I also came to understand the way that God interacts with me and confirms those things that I need to do in my life. 

7) Do you have an author website and/or blog? How about a book video?    

I do. Symonedashell.com is my website. Included on my website is a blog and a video under “works”.

8) Do you have any success tips to pass on to fellow authors? How about any great editors/cover artists?    

I would say to not allow fear to stop your from following through with your work or from those things that you want. 
    I worked with an Australian artist by the name of Loui Jover for my book cover art. He was extremely nice and did an amazing job. I would recommend him to anyone.

9) What genres do you like to read? Are you open to reading new authors and reviewing their work?    

I like to read psychological thrillers. I am open to reading new authors and reviewing their work. 

10) What is your favorite book of all time and why?     

Supermarket by Bobby Hall (Logic). This book appears to be something totally different on the surface. Once you get to the core of what is actually taking place, it draws you in and opens up your mind to the impacts of mental illness. It also incorporates humor.

11) Fun Question: Do you have any pets? If so, what kind?    

I do! I have a yorkie named Bentley.

12) Fun Question 2: Do you own an electronic reading device? If so, what kind and how do you like it?    

I really don’t. I have my phone and my computer where I downloaded the kindle app. I would like suggestions for the best one, though. 

Interview with LA Starks, author of The Second Law: Lynn Dayton

Hello,

Today we have an interview with LA Starks, author of The Second Law: Lynn Dayton.

Please enjoy!

Best,

-Vincent Lowry

Interview:

1) What is your author name and in what state do you live (or country if not in the US)? L. A. Starks/Texas

2) What is the title of your newest book and what is the genre? The Second Law: Lynn Dayton Thriller #3/thriller

3) What is the book about? Cyber-sabotage of the country’s energy “spine” via its internet-connected industrial control systems. The characters and the action:

 

TriCoast Energy executive Lynn Dayton is visiting the company’s San Francisco refinery when it comes under attack. Saddened by the fiery deaths of several workers, she traces the explosion to software malfunctions and contacts cybersecurity chief Kanak Singh to track it back to the source. The second law refers to the second law of thermodynamics: it means that in an isolated system everything tends towards chaos.

Lynn is still reeling when a TriCoast lease bidding manager is killed in New Orleans. The seeming motive is the theft of his computer containing billion-dollar secret offshore bid plans. Then her long-time mentor and good friend is gunned down in front of her in a Louisiana swamp. What terrible plan lies behind all these crimes? Lynn races against time to uncover a complex plot that stretches from murder in Vienna to a natural gas terminal attack in the Baltic to a major Caribbean oil installation off U.S. shores. Lynn is baffled as she learns of a high-stakes takeover bid by a mysterious group called the Second Law. Who are these people? Worse, who is the mole inside TriCoast that is feeding them so much deadly information? Unless she can find out, thousands more are scheduled to die.

4) Where did you come up with the idea? Despite a love of writing and reading that was in full force by the time I graduated from high school, I needed to be very certain I could support myself financially. I became an engineer; this path was not unusual for men or women in my science-focused hometown. So, creating the technical parts of the plot was straightforward. More generally, most of us have experienced hacking, identity theft, machines gone wrong, cyber-sabotage, or theft of intellectual property. I drew on that and developed it further. And finally, to be honest, the high-dollar worldwide stakes of rogue players in the energy biz, including threats of massive, fiery explosions, intrigues me way more than it probably should.

5) How long did it take you to write it? The time from publication of the second book in the series until publication of THE SECOND LAW was four years. During that time, I also juggled family responsibilities and publisher changes for the first two books with writing THE SECOND LAW. If measured on a compressed, full-time basis: two years.

6) Did you learn anything from the project? I write books to be prescient and reality-based entertainment for readers, but I can still be surprised when I accomplish just that. A simple example: since the time I began writing THE SECOND LAW five years ago, our understanding of the huge importance of China has grown to be the size China is in the book’s plot.

7) Do you have an author website and/or blog? How about a book video? For your U.S. readers, the Kindle edition of the first book in the series, 13 DAYS THE PYTHAGORAS CONSPIRACY, LYNN DAYTON THRILLER #1, normally priced at $7.99, will be on sale in the U.S. for $0.99 between January 30, 2020 and February 5, 2020.

 

My author website is lastarksbooks.com. Book videos for the first two books in the series, 13 DAYS: THE PYTHAGORAS CONSPIRACY and STRIKE PRICE, are available there and on YouTube.

 

I write an occasional blog at Goodreads and use social media (Facebook & Hootsuite for Twitter and LinkedIn) for special announcements, like the upcoming Kindle discount.

8) Do you have any success tips to pass on to fellow authors? How about any great editors/cover artists? Beta readers and professional editors help you tell your story to your audience. For first-time authors, using a professional editor is a particularly important kindness to both your readers and your own career.

 

I have been fortunate to work with New Zealander Jeroen ten Berge for my most recent book covers. For those interested, he can be reached via e-mail at jeroenslimited AT gmail.com

9) What genres do you like to read? Are you open to reading new authors and reviewing their work? Thrillers, mysteries, suspense, some science fiction, and current-events non-fiction.

 

I read and review (mainly on Goodreads) only 50-70 books/year, including the latest from my favorite authors. For books by new authors, I consider published reviews, take recommendations from two of my family members who read widely, and occasionally check what other Goodreads readers like. 

10) What is your favorite book of all time and why? We read, and need, books that speak to our own experiences. In my case that book was SISTER: A NOVEL, by Rosamund Lupton. While it would be painful to call it my favorite, reading it was breathtaking because at the time I had just lost my own sister to cancer.

11) Fun Question: Do you have any pets? If so, what kind? Yes, a Sheltie (dog)

12) Fun Question 2: Do you own an electronic reading device? If so, what kind and how do you like it? Yes, I like reading from a Kindle when I travel—though I previously published in Nook & Kobo editions also. With all the screen time required now, I do find reading print editions relaxing.

Interview with Judy Nedry, Author of Blackthorn

Hello, here is an interview with Judy Nedry, author of Blackthorn!

Please enjoy!

Best,

-Vincent Lowry

Interview:

1) What is your author name and in what state do you live (or country if not in the US)?

Judy Nedry, Lake Oswego, OR

2) What is the title of your newest book and what is the genre?

BLACKTHORN   Mystery genre, traditional gothic in the style of Rebecca or Jane Eyre

3) What is the book about?

Unlike my previous mystery novels, the Emma Golden Mystery Series, BLACKTHORN is a stand alone. It is the story of Sage Blackthorn, 30, a travel editor living in New York City who after high school left her family’s crumbling resort hotel on the Washington side of the Columbia River hoping never to return. Her life is upended when her older brother Ross, an unemployed alcoholic who lives at the Blackthorn Hotel and takes care of their senile grandmother, is found dead. Almost concurrently, Sage gets herself into terrible trouble in New York and takes a needed leave of absence from her job. Sage needs to find out what happened to Ross and reset her life. But when she returns to her former home she finds the situation there is much worse than she expected. And, in the gothic style, mysterious and creepy things begin to happen around her. She is haunted by her own demons and nightmares. A boat appears at the family moorage in the middle of the night…or did she imagine it? And that’s only the beginning.

4) Where did you come up with the idea?

I’ve loved gothics (the Bronte sisters, Victoria Holt, Daphne DuMaurier) since I was very young and always wanted to write one. The setting–the mysterious, moody Columbia River Gorge–seemed the ideal place, especially after I visited an old resort/spa there many years ago for a soak, wrap, and massage. The old building possessed the requisite creepiness. Then it was only a matter of finding the characters and the story to insert into this milieu. Not an easy thing to do. But for me, the setting has to be absolutely right, and then I can build the story around it.

5) How long did it take you to write it?

There were many changes in my life during the writing of BLACKTHORN. It took nearly four years to complete.

6) Did you learn anything from the project?

This was a big project for me, and I learned to keep working on it even through some very difficult times in my life. I trusted that this would be my best book to date, and that has proven true. I learned a lot more about character development and expanding scenes–lots of writerly things that the reader doesn’t necessarily plug into. And I learned even more about the importance of place in a novel.

7) Do you have an author website and/or blog?.

Yes, https://www.judynedry.com   The website is where readers can learn more about my novels, read first chapters, order books…the usual things on a writer’s website. You can sign up for my monthly newsletter there and read past newsletters. I also review live theatre in the greater Portland area, and am just starting a regular feature where I review other mystery novels.

8) Do you have any success tips to pass on to fellow authors? How about any great editors/cover artists?

It’s up to the author to promote her work. In a market flooded with books it’s difficult to be seen and heard. I am always on the lookout for opportunities to interact with serious readers–people who actually will buy a print book or ebook. I love talking to readers and going to events. So I would say, promote, promote, promote. Learn how to discern between events that will benefit and those that will suck the life out of you. 

It’s important to network. I am a member of Northwest Independent Writers Association, Sisters in Crime (national plus local chapter), and several online networking sites. Get your name out. Blog. Find a good designer for books (if your indie) and for your website. A local writers group such as Willamette Writers has plenty of names on file for designers, editors, etc.

 Write every day. I journal each morning, whether or not I will find time to work on my books. Many of my ideas and observations and pithy comments are born on those pages to be used later.

Read the kind of books you want to write.

9) What genres do you like to read? Are you open to reading new authors and reviewing their work?

I devour mystery/suspense/thriller, and gravitate toward those by female authors. I like literary fiction when it’s not gimmicky or overwritten, and biography, and history. Yes, I will read and review new authors if they catch me with a good story.

10) What is your favorite book of all time and why?

GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell because it is an epic of American history that still resonates today. I’ve read it four times, and will probably read it again. Margaret Mitchell was an Atlanta native who grew up on the laps of people who lived through the Civil War and experienced the siege of Atlanta. Her journalistic skill and firsthand knowledge enabled her to depict the hubris and foolish eagerness with which the South embraced the Civil War, and its utter and complete fall. The breadth and depth of the book’s historical perspective still amaze me. And the lead character, Scarlett O’Hara, is a piece of work. She has many unlikable traits, but she is unforgettable for her strength, toughness, resourcefulness. Need a dress? Pull down some curtains. Man in the house? Shoot the bastard. Need a husband? Wiggle your finger. Scarlett is the original steel magnolia. And yet, because she is flawed, she brings about her own ruin: a tragic heroine, an indelible portrait of someone entirely wrapped up in herself. 

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