St Martin’s Press

Interview with RONAN FROST

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SavileS-AuthorPicLet’s start with an introduction: Who is Ronan Frost?

Well the official bio would tell you he’s a Brit living overseas, who has worked for the MoD and done some fairly interesting stuff. What it wouldn’t tell you is sure, he did all that, but he’s also a name I made up. It’s not a huge secret, given the decision was made to put my real name on the back cover with the quotes ‘Writing as Steven Savile…’ which kinda gives it away. How Ronan came to be, well, my editor wanted me to write a book like my bestselling novel, Silver, which just so happened to feature one Irish gent, Ronan Frost as one of the lead characters. So when we needed a name for the contract it seemed only right to give my editor what he’d asked for. Ahem.

So, instead we’ll tweak this one and say ‘Who is Steve…’ to give you a fairer idea who is on the other end of this. 49 year old ex-pat, living in the wilds of Sweden surrounded by trees, more trees and err, more trees. I swear there must be a few thousand for each living soul. More than that. I emigrated 22 years ago. I spent the early days over here teaching English and History, but turned full time as a writer back in 2006 when I signed to do a trilogy of fantasy novels for the popular game world Warhammer. I’ve done all sorts of weird and wonderful jobs, including writing the storyline for the massive computer game Battlefield 3, and most recently writing adventures and monster manuals for a couple of popular roleplaying games. Continue reading →

Review: CITY OF WINDOWS by Robert Pobi (Minotaur Books)

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PobiR-LP1-CityOfWindowsUSA fantastic new thriller, and hopefully the start of a long series

During the worst blizzard in memory, an FBI agent in a moving SUV in New York City is killed by a nearly impossible sniper shot. Unable to pinpoint where the shot came from, as the storm rapidly wipes out evidence, the agent-in-charge Brett Kehoe turns to the one man who might be able to help them — former FBI agent Lucas Page.

Page, a university professor and bestselling author, left the FBI years ago after a tragic event robbed him of a leg, an arm, an eye, and the willingness to continue. But he has an amazing ability to read a crime scene, figure out angles and trajectories in his head, and he might be the only one to be able to find the sniper’s nest. With a new wife and family, Lucas Page has no interest in helping the FBI — except for the fact that the victim was his former partner.

Agreeing to help for his partner’s sake, Page finds himself hunting a killer with an unknown agenda and amazing sniper skills in the worst of conditions. And his partner’s murder is only the first in a series of meticulously planned murders carried out with all-but-impossible sniper shots. The only thing connecting the deaths is that the victims are all with law enforcement — that is until Page’s own family becomes a target.

To identify and hunt down this ruthless, seemingly unstoppable killer, Page must discover what hidden past connects the victims before he himself loses all that is dear to him.

This is the first of Pobi’s novels that I’ve read, and I was intrigued by the premise. Very quickly, it became clear that this is a very good novel by an excellent writer. I really enjoyed this, and I’ll definitely be reading more of Pobi’s work in the future. Continue reading →

Interview with HOWARD ANDREW JONES

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JonesHA-AuthorPicWelcome back to CR! It’s been quite some time since we last interviewed you (2011!), so let’s start with an introduction for new readers: Who is Howard Andrew Jones?

When I’m not writing, I’m editing, and if I’m not editing I might be feeding our horses or repairing the horse fence, or reading, or playing solitaire tactical board games, or running a tabletop role-playing game, or cleaning the house, which unfortunately seems to be the spare time activity that gets the most spare time! I’ve been happily married to the same wonderful lady since 1991, and we have two kids in college, one about ready to graduate. I’ve been a TV cameraman and a recycling consultant and a technical book editor and a magazine editor and an adjunct professor of English. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed teaching, and if I hadn’t gotten that first publishing contract I might have gone back to school for my Ph.D.

I’m a fairly competent piano player, but don’t get much time to play anymore. I used to gig around in rock bands in high school and college, and picked up a little guitar skill as well, although I’m only good enough to strum accompaniment for singalongs. I hold a second degree black belt in Shotokan karate and am studying for my third. I have a deep love of ancient history and have long been fascinated with the Abbasid Caliphate and Hannibal of Carthage. Continue reading →

Quick Review: THE MAN BETWEEN by Charles Cumming (Harper Collins)

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CummingC-ManBetweenUKA spy novelist finds himself recruited into the world of espionage…

He risked it all to become a spy. Now he must pay the price.

One simple task for British Intelligence takes him into a world of danger.

Successful novelist Kit Carradine has grown restless. So when British Intelligence invites him to enter the secret world of espionage, he willingly takes a leap into the unknown.

But the glamour of being a spy is soon tainted by fear and betrayal, as Carradine finds himself in Morocco on the trail of Lara Bartok a mysterious fugitive with links to international terrorism.

Bartok is a leading figure in Resurrection, a violent revolutionary movement whose brutal attacks on prominent right-wing politicians have spread hatred and violence throughout the West.

As the coils of a ruthless plot tighten around him, Carradine finds himself drawn to Lara. Caught between competing intelligence services who want her dead, he soon faces an awful choice: to abandon Lara to her fate or to risk everything trying to save her.

Charles Cumming is one of my favourite thriller authors. It’s becoming almost cliché to compare him to le Carré, but he remains the best comparator. Cumming writes intelligent, engaging and interesting espionage thrillers. In his latest novel — The Man Between in the UK, and The Moroccan Girl in North America — he takes a premise that is very interesting and possibly something many thriller authors think/fantasize about frequently: what if an author of the genre was recruited by a secret service to aid them in an investigation? I really enjoyed this novel. Continue reading →

Upcoming: WHITE PEAK by Ronan Frost (St. Martin’s Press)

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FrostR-WhitePeakUSI was browsing through a Macmillan catalogue, when I stumbled across this title. I rather like the cover, even though it’s not the most eye-catching. Then I saw the tag, “A new adventure book in the tradition of Matthew Reilly and James Rollins”. Well, I like both Reilly and Rollins (I’m a sucker for action-adventure fiction), so I read the rest of the synopsis. It sounds pretty interesting:

Greg Rask, a dying tech billionaire, has invested millions chasing miracle cures. None of them are worth a damn, but he refuses to give up. Now, he’s gathering a team willing to go to the ends of the earth chasing life.

Each of Rask’s crew has beaten incredible odds to rise from the ashes of their old lives to where they are now. Together, their next task is to retrieve a painting that is believed to hide a map which, if genuine, marks it as a treasure of the Ahnenerbe, the occult wing of the SS, who had devoted dozens of expeditions in search of the three cintamani stones for their combined properties, and the lost city where they were rumored to lay hidden: Shambhala. But a mystical brotherhood sworn to protect the secrets of the ancients — the same secrets that allow its members to defy death — will stop at nothing to ensure that Rask’s crew fail.

In an adrenalin-pumping quest through some of the most savage terrains known to man, the crew will be pushed to the limits of endurance and beyond.

Ronan Frost‘s White Peak is due to be published by St. Martin’s Press on April 9th, 2019, and will be available in the UK. I’m really looking forward to giving it a try.

Follow the Author: Goodreads

Upcoming: GIGGED by Sarah Kessler (St. Martin’s Press)

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KesslerS-GiggedUSSarah Kessler‘s upcoming book looks really interesting. The gig economy has come to dominate a few sectors, and seems to be spreading. To someone who is an accidental freelancer (I didn’t expect to be one so soon in my career), Gigged therefore looks really interesting and relevant. Even though the book is focused on the gig economy in the United States, I think it will resonate with readers in other countries, where gigging is fast becoming a wider experience of life and work. Here’s the synopsis:

The full-time job is disappearing—is landing the right gig the new American Dream?

One in three American workers is now a freelancer. This “gig economy” — one that provides neither the guarantee of steady hours nor benefits — emerged out of the digital era and has revolutionized the way we do business. High-profile tech start-ups such as Uber and Airbnb are constantly making headlines for the disruption they cause to the industries they overturn. But what are the effects of this disruption, from Wall Street down to Main Street? What challenges do employees and job-seekers face at every level of professional experience?

In the tradition of the great business narratives of our time, Gigged offers deeply-sourced, up-close-and-personal accounts of our new economy. From the computer programmer who chooses exactly which hours he works each week, to the Uber driver who starts a union, to the charity worker who believes freelance gigs might just transform a declining rural town, journalist Sarah Kessler follows a wide range of individuals from across the country to provide a nuanced look at how the gig economy is playing out in real-time.

Kessler wades through the hype and hyperbole to tackle the big questions: What does the future of work look like? Will the millennial generation do as well their parents? How can we all find meaningful, well-paid work?

Gigged is due to be published by St. Martin’s Press on June 12th, 2018.

Follow the Author: Goodreads, Twitter

Interview with MICHAEL MORECI

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MoreciM-AuthorPicLet’s start with an introduction: Who is Michael Moreci?

I am the man behind the curtain, the eye in the sky watching us all.

Kidding, kidding. First and foremost, I’m a dad. I stay at home with my two boys, and they are my life to a very profound degree. After that, I’m a writer. I’ve been writing professionally (or at least close to professionally) for a few years now; I got my start in comics, creating/writing books like Roche Limit, Burning Fields, Hoax Hunters, Curse, and more. I’ve also been lucky enough to write for established characters like Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Conan the Barbarian, The Shadow, to name a few. Now, I’ve written a novel. Writing books has always been my passion; I’ve been writing prose since I was a teenage and followed that all through college and graduate school. Finally, around two years ago, I got my break and, viola, Black Star Renegades was born. Continue reading →

Quick Chat with JOSEPH HELMREICH

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Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Joseph Helmreich?

I’m a New York-based writer and this is my second book and first novel. I also play in a band called Honeybrick and I’m a ventriloquist, though I never mention that last part except at the start of interviews.

Your debut novel, The Return, will be published by this year by St. Martin’s Press. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s a sci-fi thriller about a physicist who gets abducted by an alien ship during a live TV broadcast and then turns up years later and claims it never happened. It wasn’t planned to be part of a series, though I’d certainly be open to doing a sequel. Continue reading →

Upcoming in 2017… St. Martin’s Press, Flatiron Books, Minotaur (Macmillan)

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upcoming2017-macmillanus

Here is a small selection of anticipated novels coming from St. Martin’s Press, Thomas Dunne Books, Flatiron Books, and a couple other Macmillan imprints. (I’d recommend checking out their non-fiction lists, too. They have a great, broad range of books on the way.)

Featuring: Brad Abraham, Charles Cumming, Anthony Franze, Grant Ginder, Lee Matthew Goldberg, Christopher Golden, Jack Grimwood, Joseph Helmreich, Jay Hosking, Robert Kroese, Liza Palmer, Sarah Pinborough, M.L. Rio, Ben Sanders, Graeme Simsion, Kimberley Tait, Rio Youers

Continue reading →

Interview with ROBERT KROESE

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KroeseR-AuthorPicLet’s start with an introduction: Who is Robert Kroese?

I relate strongly to a character in my Mercury books, Ederatz. Ederatz is an angel who has been assigned by the Heavenly bureaucracy to observe and report on human civilization. That’s me: an oddball from another plane of existence doing my best to make sense of humanity.

Your new novel, The Big Sheep, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in June. It looks rather interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

I describe The Big Sheep as “Sherlock meets Blade Runner.” The book is near future scifi mystery that centers on a brilliant but unconventional detective’s search for a genetically altered sheep that’s on the loose in Los Angeles. And yes, it’s (hopefully) as bizarre and unpredictable as it sounds. Continue reading →