Preparing To Front The Media.

So, things behind the scenes here are beginning to ramp up as my publisher Central Avenue and I look towards the May release date for my long awaited new novel "The Recipient".

As we do so, I've been updating my site here to begin showcasing the novel while we approach media outlets both here in Australia and in the United States in the hope we can gain some important pre-release exposure for the novel. The following content in this post is replicated from the media section of my site but I thought it was worth showing off here as well in this one off post. Most notable of the new additions is our press kit (see below) which provides the most comprehensive introduction to the The Recipient. If you're in the media - or connected to someone in the media - and you think they'd be interested, please do invite them to take a look at the press kit.

So...here goes...

Central Avenue Publishing is proud to present the forthcoming new novel "The Recipient" from Australian author Dean Mayes (The Hambledown Dream, Gifts Of The Peramangk).

A tense and pulse pounding psychological thriller, in the tradition of "Girl On A Train" & "Dark Places", The Recipient follows a young, troubled heart transplant recipient who, upon discovering a terrifying secret about her donor, is drawn into a deadly conspiracy that threatens her life all over again.

"The Recipient" by Dean Mayes will be released by Central Avenue Publishing and distributed globally by Independent Publishers Group in print and digital formats on May 1, 2016. 

Press Materials.

The Recipient official press kit here.

Dean Mayes author image (hi-res) here.

The Recipient cover image (hi-res) here.

"A riveting read! 

All you can think 

about is turning 

the next page!"

Georgina Penney, Author "Fly In, Fly Out", "Summer Harvest'.

Author Dean Mayes talks with ABC Adelaide's Sonya Feldhoff about his upcoming novel "The Recipient" (click image to download).

Listen to "Ride This Feeling" by Kate Miller-Heidke, the song that inspired the novel.

DFA.

Nothing Can Be Taken From The Death Of Phil Walsh. Except...

The city of Adelaide was thrust into a collective shock over the weekend, following the murder of AFL Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh, by his own son. 

Acres of page space and swathes of internet bandwidth has been taken up with the reporting of this tragic event so, for the sake of brevity, I won't reproduce the story in full here. A quick Google Search will yield all you need to know about the event and the circumstances of the murder.

image credit; Australian Football League.

In the collective grief that has followed, I have conversed with many people who are trying to come to grips with this heinous act. Clearly it is one in which many can't - and justifiably so. Here we have a son, coming home in the early hours of a Friday morning and, following a domestic dispute, has fatally knifed his own father. It is an unforgivable act. One which he will be tried and judged for. 

The ramifications are incomprehensible. A loving father, husband and family man has been taken from this earth and his family has, in one fell swoop, been utterly destroyed. 

In the immediate aftermath, through the white noise of incessant media analysis, I myself tried to get my head around it. I happened across one newspaper article which was moving and prescient. Penned by Herald Sun columnist Mark Robinson in April 2015, that very journalist embedded himself with Phil Walsh for a period of time and produced a insightful piece on the AFL Coach - both the professional man and the private man. 

image credit: News Limited / Sarah Reed.

In it, Phil Walsh is cast as a committed football coach, brilliant tactician, father figure to many young footballers and widely respected as an astute football mind. Walsh also reflects on himself as a family man and father and he admitted that all was not well between himself and his son. I should clarify here that nothing - Nothing - can excuse the behavior and the actions of Cy Walsh, nor can Phil Walsh be blamed in any degree for those actions. 

What does become clear is that the demands of his job and his obsession with it drove a wedge between father and son that was damaging. 

"...But have I been a good father? To my son, I had a disconnect because of footy.

“I just immersed myself, got consumed and was selfish with as much time I committed to footy. I’m basically talking about my 10 years at Port Adelaide, just the desperation to win a premiership and I thought it was all about me, when it’s all about the players.

“I lost that connection and I’m trying to reconnect with my son, which I have done."

- Phil Walsh, April 2015. 

Walsh goes on to reflect on the commitment he made to re-connect with his son, to remove that wedge and it would appear that he and his son were making strides in renewing their relationship. 

Apparently, it was not to be.

On Sunday morning, I was at my own son's local footy game and I fell into a conversation with one of the other dads. Inevitably the talk turned to the events of Friday and the shocking aftermath. Terms like utterly shocking, pointless, a waste came up. And then he asked the question, "What can be taken from this?" 

I  have indeed asked myself this very same question. My eyes were inevitably drawn to my own son, out on the field. Reflecting on my own relationship with him, there have been plenty of times where I have placed other priorities ahead of that relationship - be it work commitments, writing commitments or any one of a number of other things. One can argue the merits of degrees of neglect in this but I do know that I have disappointed him and I have disappointed myself.

If anything can be taken from the tragedy of Phil Walsh's death - perhaps it will prompt fathers and sons to sit down with one another and talk...

...just talk.  

DFA.

For advice and support, visit Beyond Blue (click above).

The Recipient - Update No. 4: Cover Art Reveal - The Recipient by Dean Mayes.

(Originally posted at Central Avenue Publishing's official blog.)

Central Avenue Publishing and Dean Mayes are proud to reveal the cover art for Dean's highly anticipated new novel "The Recipient" which is scheduled for world wide release in October 2015.

A tense and pulse pounding thriller, in the tradition of Jeffrey Deaver and James Patterson, The Recipient promises to be a significant achievement for Dean Mayes (The Hambledown Dream, Gifts of the Peramangk). 

"Fans of Dean's work will not be disappointed. His flowing prose and ability to create engaging characters come through again – but this time they’re coupled with a scary, gripping story" - Michelle Halket, Creative Director, Central Avenue Publishing. 

The story follows Casey Schillinge, a young heart transplant recipient who undergoes not only a life-saving operation but upon recovery, a life changing transformation. 

Three years later, Casey has become a withdrawn shell of her former self: she is estranged from her loved ones, afraid of open spaces and rides the line between legitimate and criminal work as a computer software specialist. The worst of her troubles come in the form of violent night terrors; so frightening that she resorts to extreme measures to keep herself from sleeping. 

When she can take no more, she embarks on a desperate search for the source of her dreams. In so doing, she makes a shocking discovery surrounding the tragic fate of the donor whose heart now beats inside her chest. As she delves deeper into the mystery of her donor, she realizes her dreams are not a figment of her imagination, but a real life nightmare.

An exclusive excerpt from the novel is live now at Central Avenue Publishing's official site. 

The Recipient is scheduled for an October 25th, 2015 global release in print and digital formats.

DFA.

The Recipient - Update No. 3: Contract Day.

No matter how many times I've done it, putting the ink on a publishing contract remains a special moment for me.

It's a recognition of the work you have done so far, a nod that says "everything you have done is worth it." 

I wrote recently that we writers work in isolation. It's easy to lose perspective on what you are trying to achieve. You don't see things objectively. You often doubt yourself and the project. You fret that your effort is not enough.

Penning your signature on a document like this, gives so much reinforcement. It spurs you on.

While the hardest part of willing a story to life has been achieved, there is still more to do...

But you do it with a fresh sense of confidence.

DFA. 

Chase-ing Assassins - The Accidental Assassin by Nichole Chase.

The Accidental Assassin by Nichole Chase

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ava McKenzie is a creature of habit. Life is passing her by and she has nothing to show for it. She’s had the same job since she started college, she orders the same dish every time she goes to her favorite restaurant, and only reads books from authors she knows. There is nothing new or surprising in her life… until her best friend marries a man from London. When her newlywed friend asks her to house-sit while she honeymoons, Ava jumps at the chance. She thinks this could be the very thing she needs to shake up her life. Ava throws herself head first into her new lifestyle; she wants to try everything, go everywhere, and never get stuck in a rut again. Of course, offing a man in a car garage hadn’t been one of the things on her list to try.

Owen Walker spends every day in a new place with a new case. As one of the most renowned assassins in the world, he has his choice of marks—and he’s never failed in a mission. When a new hit takes him back to his hometown, he looks forward to spending time somewhere familiar. What he isn’t expecting is to help an attractive, confused American woman find out how she’s ended up on a hit man’s list. 

As Ava and Owen dodge bullets, will they be able to escape their undeniable attraction to each other? Or will all of that chemistry blow up in a shower of hot and dangerous sparks?

To me, Nichole Chase has become the literary equivalent of a sure thing. As a story teller, she has consistently delivered with each title she has added to her CV. You are guaranteed an engaging and entertaining tome and you can expect that Nichole will give you something new. She does not tread the safe path nor stick to the same formula. She is a risk taker, extending herself in both genre and style and it has been meteorically successful. Having earned the rare distinction of being a New York Times best seller is testament to that.

The Accidental Assassin is testament to that also and I think it is Chase's most accomplished work to date. Part action, part thriller, Assassin takes the fish out of water scenario and offers it up anew in a frenetic chase story that evolves masterfully through the dual protagonists, Owen and Ava. Chase's grasp of action and tension is confident from the get go. The mystery and conspiracy elements unfold beautifully and keep you guessing throughout and there is a sexual energy between the two leads that burns seductively towards a satisfyingly electric, erotic encounter later in the book.

When we first meet Owen and Ava, a mutual attraction is evident but as their arcs evolve, we find a pair of characters who feel trapped in their respective existences - playing it safe by sticking to what they know. This is used as a primer that draws them towards each other and though it is a subtle thread, I found it really appealing.

One of the most effective devices Chase uses throughout the story is the first person narrative which she shares equally between Owen and Ava. By switching between the two chapter by chapter, Chase builds the narrative and drives the plot forward in a way that I found engaging. I felt invested in both of them. One could argue that this type of switching has the potential to be confusing but Chase handles it beautifully.

The Accidental Assassin ticks all the boxes for me. It's a smart and sexy thrill ride that is signature Nichole Chase and it was a pleasure to delve into.

DFA.

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The Recipient - Update No. 2: Revision 6.

After a while, it becomes apparent how treacherous revising and editing can be for an author. Looking at the same words on the same page in the same document over and over again can lead one towards losing perspective. The words blur into one another - as does the plot, the characters and their motivations - and you can't look at the document objectively anymore. And yet, as I've said before, this is the one part of the writing process that I profess to enjoying the most.

Draft 5 of The Recipient - the draft that went into my publisher - was returned to me a little over a fortnight ago, and I was excited (I know, right!) to see digital "sticky notes" plastered all over it from my Vancouver based publisher, Central Avenue. In short, while there was a lot of work to do on the manuscript structurally, the core story was sound and the characters were well cast. 

Over a couple of video conferences, Michelle and I discussed the notes, numerous minor tweaks to the manuscript and a couple of more significant ones and in the course of those discussions, she really helped to defragment my objective software and reboot my system. The subsequent round of revisions - which I've dubbed Revision 6 - allowed me to approach the manuscript with fresh eyes.

image credit alittlepieceofeverything.

So often, we write in isolation, without anyone to bounce ideas off. The first stage of my edits involving my beta readers was a great first step in getting a feel from a set of readers who came to the story cold. Their individual suggestions and comments helped me to refine the story, address glaring plot holes and gauge their reaction. But it was only the first step in the journey. Before long, I found myself back in the place where I was struggling with my objectivity. The process I am in now with my publisher Michelle has been my savior. With Michelle's astute eye for both the technical and literary aspects of story telling, I am in a space that is much more focused and I am relishing it. 

Late last week, Revision 6 went in for review by Michelle and the editing team. I feel confident that the story is pretty much perfect. Now, the polishing process begins. We'll go line by line, ensuring that we've eliminated any and all grammatical errors and we'll review the document after that to make sure that there isn't anything else to add or subtract. 

We've also begun to discuss the cover art for the novel. While these discussions are at their very early stages, we've already hit upon some ideas that really excite us. The eventual design will help guide the marketing effort we plan for the book.

So there is a lot happening, even if it doesn't seem like a lot is happening.

Stay tuned. 

DFA.

The Recipient - Update No. 1: Submission - The Recipient Is With My Publisher.

I've neglected the site here for a while and, for regular visitors here, I am sorry. 

In the couple of months since my last post, I have been hard at work, putting the final chapters on my new novel "The Recipient" together, before diving head-long into a series of arduous edits on the manuscript.

So what is The Recipient exactly? 

Well, without revealing too much at this point, I can say that The Recipient is a wholesale departure from my previous works. I can best describe it as a murder/mystery with a twist. It is most definitely a thriller which features action and suspense. It also features quite a nasty conspiracy which was quite a challenge putting together. As we go forward, I'll trickle out plenty of information, so just sit tight for now and know that you'll get plenty to whet your appetite.

   

Just after Christmas, I assembled a group of trusted friends and asked them if they would review the very - Very - rough draft and offer up their thoughts on it. Having slaved away in isolation for so many long months, I was losing my objectivity and desperately needed fresh sets of eyes on the project - if for nothing else than to reassure me that I hadn't gone completely off the rails with this story. 

Thankfully, the feedback was hugely constructive and helpful and I approached the editing phase eager to incorporate as much of it as I could. From a rather bloated and repetitious first draft, I have made the story much leaner and have eliminated a lot of superfluous exposition. I received some really great plot ideas that I hadn't previously considered and which enabled me to address some difficulties I had in making sense of a few points. The most important feedback I received was that the story works. Having struggled with self doubt over that very question for so long, that was the greatest relief. 

Today, as I write this, I have submitted the manuscript to my publisher Central Avenue Publishing, where we will now work together on the next phase of editing. Having completed four passes so far, I imagine there will be at least another four, though they will be a lot more focused on specific aspects of the story.

In the meantime, check back here for more frequent updates as the final stages of my journey with The Recipient unfold (subscribe to my blog in the left hand sidebar to receive updates).

The Recipient Is Coming.

DFA.  

The Dark Heart Of The Prairie - A Look At Dark Prairies by R.S. Guthrie

Dark Prairies by R.S. Guthrie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the taming of the West, the prairies, they bled. There was war between the white man and the Native American, the outlaw against the honorable, the harsh elements against anything that crawled or thirsted—yet as scurrilous and unforgiving as bloodletting always is, much still represented a kind of progress toward the future. Not always fair; not always judicious; not always kind.

But it is 2012, and though we call ourselves more civilized, little has changed. The greedy still steal the land, the rich still get richer, murder still happens. Dark Prairies is set in the prime of the twenty-first century Wyoming gas boom, when some landowners become rich and others get nothing but ruined roads; fortunes are made or lost on what some would call a toss of the legal dice.

When a terrible murder rocks a small town—when Sheriff James Pruett himself loses his beloved---the prairies, they WILL bleed again. How many will die this time, in honor and in vain?

In this, his third novel, R.S. Guthrie has delivered his magnum opus. Dark Prairies carves into the raw, twenty-first century West at both its worst and its finest hours and does so in the depths of an ocean of both loyalty and greed.

Disclosure - I was supplied an advanced copy by the author in exchange for an honest review.

My grandfather on my father's side had a deep and abiding love for the classic Western and indeed, my father grew up immersed in the graphic novel digests of the 50's and 60's - some of which I myself still own.

In terms of their individual quality, well some of them were debatable but I have always held an affection for them, their stories were always told with a sense of gusto.

Approaching Dark Prairies as I did last week, I knew that I was going to be in for a literary experience that sat on a whole other level entirely to those Western's of yesteryear. And, in the hands of a seasoned story teller - R.S. Guthrie - I was not disappointed.

R.S. Guthrie's 3rd novel is a master stroke of gritty story telling, fully realized characters and a sort of genre cross over where the stage is the American West and the act is a compelling tale of murder and mystery that is breath taking in it's execution.

So compelling was Dark Prairies, that I completed it in a couple of sittings over the course of a weekend, which - for me - is unprecedented. Guthrie immerses the reader into a thinking persons Western, a tragic murder that involves the protagonist intimately.

Guthrie's Sheriff Pruett is a quintessential every-man, a quiet and methodical investigator who has to take on perhaps the most heart wrenching investigation of his life - and we feel it, viscerally. The cast of characters around Pruett are equally vivid in their presence and their motivations and machinations are a delight to unfold as the story progresses.
The story flows slowly - not too slowly - but in such a way that it allows us to reflect on the situations Guthrie presents to us, before he ramps up the tension and action that thrills, horrifies and excites all at once.

The setting of rural Wyoming was another stand out that I will take away from my first reading and return to enthusiastically in subsequent readings. Guthrie has probably portrayed a place in the most tactile and visual fashion of any author I have read in recent memory. I could feel and smell Wyoming in all it's unadorned beauty and, as I described similarly, earlier it was a masterful example of penmanship.

Dark Prairies is important addition to the classic Western and Murder/Mystery genres and fans of both should consider this novel as a priority for their reading device.

R.S. Guthrie grew up in Iowa and Wyoming and now lives in Colorado. He has been writing fiction, essays, short stories, and lyrics since college.

"Black Beast: A Clan of MacAulay Novel" marked Guthrie's first major release and it heralded the first in a series of Detective Bobby Macaulay (Bobby Mac) books. The second in the series (Lost) hit the Kindle shelves December of 2011.

Guthrie's "Dark Prairies" represents a project that is close to his heart: it is set in a fictional town in the same county where he spent much of his childhood and still visits.
Guthrie lives in Colorado with his wife, Amy, two young Australian Shepherds, and a Chihuahua who thinks she is a 40-pound Aussie! 

Readers can catch up with Guthrie's discussions related to writing at his Official Site.

DFA.

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Prayer for the Children - "Children Of The Street" by Kwei Quartey

Children of the Street by Kwei Quartey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"In the slums of Accra, Ghana’s fast-moving, cosmopolitan capital, teenagers are turning up dead. Inspector Darko Dawson has seen many crimes, but this latest string of murders—in which all the young victims bear a chilling signature—is the most unsettling of his career. Are these heinous acts a form of ritual killing or the work of a lone, cold-blooded monster? With time running out, Dawson embarks on a harrowing journey through the city’s underbelly and confronts the brutal world of the urban poor, where street children are forced to fight for their very survival—and a cunning killer seems just out of reach."


The West African nation of Ghana is the setting for this second entry in Kwei Quartey's signature protagonist Inspector Darko Dawson.


"Children Of The Street" is a meticulous and compelling detective yarn, wherein a series of murders among children of the slums of Accra - Ghana's capital - presents an almost impossible case for the determined Darko Dawson. But the novel transcends the genre by opening the shutters on a nation and a culture that is complex & nuanced, where crushing poverty is a way of life and the chasm between the haves and the have nots is just that - and a yawning one at that. Additionally, Quartey writes for the senses. He encourages us through sight and sound, smell and taste and touch, to enter the world of West Africa and Accra and live it completely. You can truly experience the streets through Quartey's writing. He brings all these denominators into his narrative and plot effortlessly and one finds themselves receiving a valuable education as well as being thoroughly entertained.


I was immediately struck by the challenge Quartey had set for himself in crafting a compelling detective thriller given the geopolitical circumstance in that country. But I also found from Quartey's style an intimate knowledge of Ghana through experience and research. Child homelessness is rife. On doing some further reading, I note that Ghana rates of homelessness among children stand in between sixty to one hundred thousand at any one time. The young converge on the capital - Accra - in search of work, a means of earning an income and a faltering hope that they might be able to pull themselves out of poverty towards a notion of a better life. It is into this potent melting pot that Quartey inserts a malevolent killer, who begins a cold and clinical pattern of murder that incites fear amongst the slums and renders Dawson and his colleagues baffled in the opening pages.


I arrived at this novel having not had the opportunity to read Quartey's "Wife Of The Gods" but I need not have worried as Quartey introduces Dawson comprehensively through thought, action and life. Dawson is a dogged and meticulous investigator, operating in a severely under resourced police department and thus he employs some unique techniques in his pursuit of the killer. He cultivates working relationships across all walks of life in Accra that bear fruit when it counts. Dawson is a loving, compassionate husband and father and it is within the scenes of family and life after hours that we are given a fully rounded view of an attractive and heroic man. Dawson is not without his failings either and Quartey adds a layer to Dawson that reveals a weakness in character that serves only to make Darko Dawson a more interesting protagonist. I did in fact enjoy this aspect of the novel the most.


Quartey's writing style is attractive, well paced and gripping. There are confronting moments within the narrative that are appropriately gut wrenching. Quartey juxtaposes fear and tension beautifully and human interactions are convincing and real. The dialogue had a particularly genuine quality about it which at times was a challenge for me - but I must stress here that it wasn't a failing of the author. Quartey has captured the 'speak of the street' beautifully. Quartey's attention to procedure is an additional stand out - another aspect of the novel that I found extremely satisfying. Whether it be police procedure, the scenes of autopsy or the more nebulous analysis of the psychology of the killer, Quartey handles each of these deftly, working them into the narrative seamlessly, without heaviness.


I left the novel and the world of Accra reluctantly but totally satisfied.


"Children of the Street" represents a considerable achievement for Kwei Quartey who taken the the murder mystery/detective thriller genre in a refreshing direction. It is at once engaging, suspenseful, atmospheric and very human.


I urge all fans of the genre to add "Children of the Street" to your shelves as soon as you can.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kwei Quartey is a physician practicing in the Los Angeles area, but he cites writing as being his first love. At the age eight, he wrote three short novels that he bound with colourful cardboard covers. They were mystery stories, and Quartey has retained his preference for that genre into adulthood. His novel WIFE OF THE GODS is a murder mystery set in Ghana, West Africa. Quartey is able to set his story in that country because he grew up there until his late teens. He is the son of an African American mother and Ghanaian father.

While in medical school and during his training as a physician, Quartey found little to no time to write, but once he began his practice, he was able to return to his very early ambition to be an author. The arc of his career began with a UCLA extension class in creative writing, then about three years of belonging to a writing group. Thereafter, Quartey settled down to writing on his own. One novel, KAMILA, was subsidy published, which gained him no traction in the publishing world.


(Kwei Quartey kindly supplied me with a copy of "Children of the Street" for review).


DFA.


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