Interview & Giveaway with M.L. Buchman

Books-n-Kisses is pleased to welcome 1st time guest ML Buchman to the blog today to talk about his new release “I Own the Dawn”

ML, can you please share with us a little about yourself
MB: I love to eat. Italian, Chinese and Mexican especially. Food carts, cheap restaurants, good ones, don’t care, I love them all. I love to cook, see same 3 above. I love mushy movies, I cry before my wife does, and also crappy science fiction ones. When I’m not writing, I’m probably talking about writing. And when I’m doing neither, I’m either out walking with my lady, teasing my step-kid, or riding around on the bicycle that I traveled around the world on many years ago during a mid-life crisis on wheels.

Have you always wanted to be an author?
MB: I came late to writing. I started my first piece of fiction at 35 while on a plane with my bicycle from South Korea to ride across the Australian Outback. By the time I hit the Great Barrier Reef, I was totally hooked and haven’t looked back since.

Who are some of your favorite writers? Who do you feel has influenced your writing?
MB: The authors who I’ve gone out of my way to read cover to cover (book 1 to book latest) include: Arthur C. Clarke, James Clavell, Herman Hesse, Ayn Rand, Anne McCaffrey, and a whole mess of Nora Roberts, Kristine Grayson (Rusch), Susan Wiggs, Stephen King & Robert A. Heinlein. Who influenced me? That’s easy, every single author I’ve had the good fortune to read since I first discovered the novel at age

How did you get into writing in this specific genre?  Have you ever thought about writing in a different genre?
MB: My first fiction effort was a short story about a freshman roommate who killed alarm clocks. He really did. I meant it to be a little non-fiction vignette. It turned into my first fantasy novel which I sold 3 years later. I love science fiction and fantasy, I’ve written a foodie thriller, and a half-dozen romances. I’ll always write in all three. It keeps my thoughts and my writing fresh and fun.

What are some of your writing rituals?
MB: Rock ‘n’ roll, usually loud (except opera on Sundays for reasons I still can’t quite ascertain). Anywhere. Anytime. I’m a night owl who will write until 2 or 3, get woken up by the book, and write more from 5:30 to 6:30, when I need to get headed out to work. I like a good piece of chocolate and a lot of water. I don’t get out of my chair often enough. When I get the time, I’ll write until my bladder’s screaming and my joints hurt (but just let me finish this scene, then I’ll go).

Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)?
MB: I Own the Dawn, Book II of “The Night Stalkers.” (No, not vampires.) They’re a real-life, U.S. Army secret helicopter regiment called SOAR. Their fliers are all men. So, my series takes the nastiest helicopter of them all, the DAP Black Hawk, and I started putting women in the seats. One per book. Book II is about Kee (don’t be callin’ me Keiko) Smith from the streets of L.A. She’s learned that the only thing that serves her well is a fighting attitude and an exceptional sniper rifle. She runs over men who never knew what hit them, until she runs headlong into Bostonian copilot Archibald “Archie” Stevenson III (can’t believe they let people with names like that into the army). The one man she can’t get around may turn out to be the one man she needs, if they don’t kill each first. Only after they’ve faced death side-by-side can they finally confront life together.

How did you come with the idea for this story?
MB: My stories start from any number of places, a title, a scene, an image, or even a final scene and then I have to build it backwards. I started this book with a secret helicopter outfit and a tough, feisty woman like I’d never written before. I saw her clear as could be and I just started writing. Some books I just start and it is as much a voyage of discovery for me as for the character. It makes it immensely fun to write… and often immensely frustrating.

Can you share with us your current work(s) in progress?
MB: “The Night Stalkers” is a series, and that takes some doing. About three weeks ago I: finished the first draft of book IV, did the copyedits for book III, and got to hold the first copy of book II all in a one week period! Made my head spin being in 3 different books so closely together. I’m working on a “Night Stalkers Christmas Story” that will be out this fall and the second book of my contemporary romance series “Angelo’s Hearth” (book I, Where Dreams are Born, is already available.) And there’s this SF series that I’m just dying to get to. (Day jobs so get in the way of life sometimes.)

What would you be if you were not an author?
MB: A pilot. I always wanted to fly. Got my private pilot’s license and was well on my way to an instrument rating before it was discovered I was partially red-green colorblind. Not too bad to fly, but not good enough to ever make a career of it. Would I trade it? Not a chance!

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?
MB: Manuscript by a friend of mine, two more helicopter memoirs as part of research, a Lee Child thriller (great stories and a wonderful place to study character and pacing), the latest Susan Wiggs (because she’s just so fun).

Is there anything else you would like to add?
MB: Thanks for having me. Thanks for letting me talk about something I love doing so much. So tell me, what makes you stay up late and wake up early. (Not talking about the newborn, I’m talking about the thing you love to do.) I’ve showed you mine, c’mon, show me yours. 🙂 And please check out the contest page on my website: by following along my blog tour for the month of August, you will have multiple chances to win a signed copy of I Own the Dawn: http://www.matthewlieberbuchman.com/?p=294

I OWN THE DAWN BY M.L. BUCHMAN – IN STORES AUGUST 2012

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Name: Archibald Jeffrey Stevenson III

Rank: First Lieutenant, Dap Hawk Copilot

Mission: Strategy and execution of special ops maneuvers

Name: Kee Smith

Rank: Sergeant, Night Stalker Gunner and Sharpshooter

Mission: Whatever it takes to get the job done

You Wouldn’t Think It Could Get Worse, Until It Does…

When a special mission slowly unravels, it is up to Kee and Archie to get their team out of an impossible situation with international implications. With her weaponry knowledge and his strategic thinking, plus the explosive attraction that puts them into exact synchrony, together they might just have a fighting chance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M. L. Buchman has worked in fast food, theater, computers, publishing, and light manufacturing. It’s amazing what you can do with a degree in geophysics. At one point he sold everything and spent 18-months riding a bicycle around the world. In 11,000 miles, he touched 15 countries and hundreds of amazing people. Since then, he has acquired a loving lady, the coolest kid on the planet, and lives in Portland, Oregon. For more information, please visit http://www.matthewlieberbuchman.com/.

Be sure to check the Contest page for a chance to win a free, signed copy of I Own the Dawn.

Sourcebooks has given me one paper copy of I Own the Dawn to give away. To enter please fill out the Rafflecopter from below.
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