Dog's Green Earth. 23 mystery novels, 22 full-length M/M romances, and 2 additional novels.
For a review of Dog's Green Earth, click here.
What was the most recent book you read?
Right now I am reading and loving Bitter Legacy, a contemporary gay mystery set in London by Dal McLean
How did you develop your character and choose your location?
I wanted to write about a character who lived in the same small town where he'd grown up,
and since that kind of place doesn't really exist in Florida, where I live now, I decided to set In Dog We Trust, the first golden retriever mystery, in a version of my own home town in Pennsylvania. I was besotted by my original golden retriever, Samwise, and I wanted to write about a guy who starts out as NOT a dog lover, but gets won over by the golden's generous heart and gregarious nature. I also wanted to write about a human character who had lost everything and hard to start over again-- and that led to the specifics of Steve Levitan's background. The wife of one of my colleagues had suffered a miscarriage, and through him, I learned that prospective fathers suffer this kind of loss as well.
What books did you read as a child?
I read everything I could get my hands on! My parents always had books for me, from those Little Golden Books to the kind you could buy at the Scholastic book fairs in elementary school. As I got older I devoured my mother's crime fiction (Agatha Christie, Perry Mason) and my father's adventure and science fiction books. I'd go to the library and ask the librarian what to read next, and found many wonderful books that way.
What drew you to writing?
In tenth grade, we read A Separate Peace by John Knowles and, to teach us about point of view, our teacher had us rewrite the book from Finny's point of view. It was amazing to me how I could delve into a story that way.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
That someday all the work I put into writing would pay off, and I would discover genres where I could put in my heart and soul
What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
I start with a basic idea-- in the case of Dog's Green Earth it was based on all the negative opinions I heard about the gated community where my husband and I live. With all that anger, I knew there had to be a murder in there somewhere! I researched bits and pieces as I needed to -- online homeowner communities like NextDoor, wheelchair widths and knife wounds.
Who is your favorite author?
I have three favorites who have all influenced me in some way. Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac and Jimmy Buffett.
If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be?
The above three, of course! Then a pioneer from gay history like Harvey Milk or someone involved in the fight to legalize same-sex marriage. And a woman to balance things out -- maybe Meryl Streep or Cher!
If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career?
I have a parallel career as a college English professor. My MBA is in operations management, and I'm sorry that I was trained too early too get into the computer-based fields of logistics and efficiency.
What was the most recent book you read?
Right now I am reading and loving Bitter Legacy, a contemporary gay mystery set in London by Dal McLean
How did you develop your character and choose your location?
I wanted to write about a character who lived in the same small town where he'd grown up,
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| Neil Plakcy |
What books did you read as a child?
I read everything I could get my hands on! My parents always had books for me, from those Little Golden Books to the kind you could buy at the Scholastic book fairs in elementary school. As I got older I devoured my mother's crime fiction (Agatha Christie, Perry Mason) and my father's adventure and science fiction books. I'd go to the library and ask the librarian what to read next, and found many wonderful books that way.
What drew you to writing?
In tenth grade, we read A Separate Peace by John Knowles and, to teach us about point of view, our teacher had us rewrite the book from Finny's point of view. It was amazing to me how I could delve into a story that way.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
That someday all the work I put into writing would pay off, and I would discover genres where I could put in my heart and soul
What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
I start with a basic idea-- in the case of Dog's Green Earth it was based on all the negative opinions I heard about the gated community where my husband and I live. With all that anger, I knew there had to be a murder in there somewhere! I researched bits and pieces as I needed to -- online homeowner communities like NextDoor, wheelchair widths and knife wounds.
Who is your favorite author?
I have three favorites who have all influenced me in some way. Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac and Jimmy Buffett.
If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be?
The above three, of course! Then a pioneer from gay history like Harvey Milk or someone involved in the fight to legalize same-sex marriage. And a woman to balance things out -- maybe Meryl Streep or Cher!
If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career?
I have a parallel career as a college English professor. My MBA is in operations management, and I'm sorry that I was trained too early too get into the computer-based fields of logistics and efficiency.
1 comment:
Thanks for hosting me!
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