The Reading Bud

Welcome to TRB’s Author Interview Lounge. Today, I’d like to welcome author, Kenneth Eade, author of Traffick Stop.

About the author:

Described by critics as “one of our strongest thriller writers on the scene,” author Kenneth Eade, best known for his legal and political thrillers, practiced law for 30 years before publishing his first novel, “An Involuntary Spy.” Eade, an award-winning, best-selling Top 100 thriller author, has been described by his peers as “one of the up-and-coming legal thriller writers of this generation.” He is the 2015 winner of Best Legal Thriller from Beverly Hills Book Awards and the 2016 winner of a bronze medal in the category of Fiction, Mystery and Murder from the Reader’s Favorite International Book Awards. His latest novel, “Paladine” is currently a quarter-finalist in Publisher’s Weekly’s BookLife Prize for Fiction. Eade has authored three fiction series: The “Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series”, the “Involuntary Spy Espionage Series” and the “Paladine Anti-Terrorism Series.” He has written sixteen novels which have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

Hello, Robert. Thank you for being here today.

Can you please tell my readers about your ambitions for your writing career?

It’s difficult to speak about ambitions without appearing egotistical, but I will flat out say it – I want to be recognized as a best-selling author, along with the most popular mainstream authors of today. It’s not so much about ego as I think I have a powerful and important message in my writing that needs to get to as many people as possible. And, of course, there’s those pesky bills that need to be paid.

Which writers inspire you?

The classic authors like Dickens and Steinbeck come to mind right away. Our history will be told in literature. No matter how the politicians decide to rewrite it to suit their needs, the greatest literary works of our time will be what people will be looking at in a hundred or two hundred years from now to really see how we “ticked.”

Tell us about your book?

“Traffick Stop” is the third in a series of books about Robert Garcia, a military-trained assassin who has, since his retirement, turned to the private sector and is doing what he does best – killing terrorists. In the first installment, he inherited the moniker “Paladine” from a blogger who witnessed his first kill. But he’s really more of an anti-hero than a hero.

 How long did it take you to write it?

The bulk of the work was done in three months, and it spent a month in editing and rewriting to hone it to its present state.

Are you working on any other project(s) right now? If yes, what are they?

I’m currently working on the 11^th installment of my Brent Marks Legal Thriller series called “And Justice?”

Why have you chosen this genre?

I actually got into this genre by chance. A reader of my legal thriller series suggested this character, who appeared for the first time in Book 9 of that series. Since then, he has reappeared as the main character in three completed books. This is a popular genre, to be sure, but terrorism is something people are interested in now. It’s a hot topic, mainly because we feel powerless to do anything about it. People are relating to this character, who would otherwise be a pretty repulsive guy, because he is giving them an outlet to express their frustration against terrorism vicariously.

When did you decide to become a writer?

It’s not a decision I made, really. I’ve been a writer since I’ve been able to pick up a pen. I’m glad I finally decided to take it seriously.

Why do you write?

That’s like asking why I breathe. How could I not? It’s not something I had to learn. It just came naturally. I’ve always been a storyteller, but I guess I didn’t find my medium until later in life.

Where do your ideas come from?

Since my stories all revolve around real social issues, all I really have to do is look at the news. It seems every day there is something going on in our world that inspires me to “right a wrong” or to at least point it out.

How do you prefer to write? On computer/laptop, typewriter, dictation or longhand with a pen?

I have to use a computer. Because my thoughts go faster than I can speak, writing longhand became futile a long time ago. I wrote my final exams in law school with an electric typewriter – same with the bar exam. In the days when we had typewriters, the keys used to stick together. That hasn’t happened with the computer keyboard yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

What are your 5 favorite books and 5 favorite authors?

I like “A Tale of Two Cities” by Dickens, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde, “Of Mice and Men” by Steinbeck, and “Farenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury. That’s not five, is it? I also love the Tom Sawyers books by Mark Twain, who is one of my favorite authors.

How do you deal with Writer’s Block?

What’s that? No, seriously, I do suffer from lack of inspiration. My assistant (my dog, Misha) offers a solution to writer’s block. She’s always ready to go for a walk and never refuses me. Out in the fresh air, I think about the character and where he is in the story and ideas will usually come, or at least I’ll find out what happens next in the story.

What advice would you give to new aspiring authors?

Well, the business right now is kind of like “Field of Dreams.” You could spend a lot of time trying to get an agent or a publisher, but it won’t do you any good unless you have a body of work. So, build those books and it will come.

THANK YOU, KENNETH, FOR ALL YOUR INSIGHTFUL ANSWERS!

About The Book:

From the best-selling & award winning author critics hail as “one of the strongest thriller writers on our scene” comes the continuation of the unforgettable story of an unlikely “anti-hero,” Robert Garcia, a dangerous and unfeeling assassin of jihadist terrorists, exalted by social media as “Paladine”, a living paladin whose mission is to rid the earth of evil for the betterment of mankind, is an assassin working covert black ops for the CIA. In this installment of the series, Paladine seeks to retire from the assassination business and finds himself fighting a band of Syrian sex traffickers.

Please Note: This book is on sale till 13th March 2017 on US and UK Kindle for 99 cents and all royalties will be going to Prajwala (http://www.prajwalaindia.com/) to benefit victims of human trafficking.

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