Saturday, March 28, 2015

RED DIRT WHITE BONES by GREG FIELD: Book Review



In the twenty plus years I've lived in Honolulu, Hawai'i, I have visited many areas of O’ahu. But this author’s familiarity with many “nooks and crannies” still unknown to me heightened the enjoyment of reading author Greg Field's RED DIRT WHITE BONES.

Police Procedural set in Hawai'i
Red Dirt White Bones by Greg Field
The mystery of a cold-case murder, brought home to roost in present day Hawai'i, added a double dose of interest. This Police Procedural takes the reader around the island and to vividly-described inner island residential areas, always with specific purpose and plenty of conflict. The reason this book is such a quick read is because exciting action tends to heighten the reader’s awareness and makes the scenes fly by. 

Protagonist, Detective Kai, battles demons in his personal life and in his career with the Honolulu Police Department. When a teenaged girl pleads with him to learn who killed her “perfect” older sister, he faces a new set of dilemmas that could cost him his job, earn him a prison sentence, or get him killed. If the bad guys aren’t the death of him, maybe the fourteen-year-old younger sister will be. He’s not sure which is the worse option. Lots of high-octane action, several whiplash plotline twists, and a climax well worth the journey. Even the short denouement is unpredictable.


Greg Field's Red Dirt White Bones (The Replacement Girl Mysteries Book 1) [Kindle Edition] is available at Amazon.com

 
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Monday, March 23, 2015

FAST FORWARD Interview with Author Ravi Bedi

Please join me in welcoming today’s guest, author Ravi Bedi. Ravi and I met on the Internet site, Critique Circle, and critiqued each others’ early chapters of Work-In-Progress novels. It was exciting for me to hear that Ravi had published his novel, Lovers’ Rock. 

Ravi Bedi honestly believes he could have done better in life in the field of music, but he became a Chemical Engineer by default and joined the Air Force more for the lure of the blue uniform than any patriotic fervor. There was nothing chemical about it. His heart was in the creative world.


To quench his artistic thirst, he became a self-taught painter and, once in a long while, earned some pocket money, which allowed him to buy a bottle or two of scotch. After dumping all his paintings in his basement, he decided to try his hand at writing, even though he learned more abuses in school than English prose! With his first book, “Lovers’ Rock”, (thanks to Rupa) he has earned a pass to join the party.
Ravi Bedi runs a hotel in town to put meat on the table--just in case he runs out of the ‘royalty’. He lives with his wife of 50 years in Jodhpur, and enjoys his golf. 

Congratulations on having your book in print, Ravi, and for participating in this Fast Forward author interview. Can you please tell us where the idea for Lovers’ Rock came from? 

RAVI BEDI: I got this outrageous idea way back in 1966, sitting on an isolated beach, with not a soul in sight for miles. The ocean was so vast… it could swallow a jumbo aircraft without anybody knowing.  And that gave me the beginning of a diabolical plot, which remained in the back of my mind for many years, until I got fed up with painting and decided to try my hand at writing.

 

FAST FORWARD: What genre does your book fall under? 

RAVI BEDI: That’s a tough one. ‘Romantic thriller’ I guess.
 

FAST FORWARD: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

RAVI BEDI: A high octane story of obsessive love, passion, betrayal and retribution, which will take you through interesting twists and turns, culminating into disastrous results.
 

FAST FORWARD: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

RAVI BEDI: It is being launched by Rupa Publishing Company (No agents).
 

FAST FORWARD: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 

RAVI BEDI: I learned more abuses in school than English prose. That should give you a fair idea of how long it took. Well, two years for the first draft (a bad copy), and another two for the final one that took another two-and-a-half for the publishers to send it to the printers.

 
FAST FORWARD: What other books would you compare your story to within your genre? 

RAVI BEDI: I can’t honestly answer this question. Most of the books I buy are lined up with bookmarks midway, waiting to be opened on a rainy day. (We don’t get much rain in these parts).

 
FAST FORWARD: Who or What inspired you to write this book? 

RAVI BEDI: My honest answer may sound boastful and conceited, but frankly, I thought I could do better than some of the famous ones that I read in full. My fertile mind is loaded with creative juices, which is helpful.

 
FAST FORWARD: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? 

RAVI BEDI: Fiction, in my humble opinion, is all about entertaining … taking a reader through a long journey of interesting twists and turns … to surprise and to keep him or her invested in the story until the last word is read. I should like to think, that in some measure, I’ve succeeded in doing this with Lovers’ Rock.  

Thank you for your time.
CHEERS
Ravi
 
Look for Ravi at:
 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lovers-Rock-Ravi-Bedi/dp/8129124793/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395867331&sr=1-1