Interview: Jim Nesbitt, Author of 'The Right Wrong Number'

For more than 30 years, Jim Nesbitt roved the American Outback as a correspondent for newspapers and wire services in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington, D.C. He chased hurricanes, earthquakes, plane wrecks, presidential candidates, wildfires, rodeo cowboys, ranchers, miners, loggers, farmers, migrant field hands, doctors, neo-Nazis and nuns with an eye for the telling detail and an ear for the voice of the people who give life to a story. He is a lapsed horseman, pilot, hunter and saloon sport with a keen appreciation for old guns, vintage cars and trucks, good cigars, aged whiskey and a well-told story. He now lives in Athens, Alabama and writes hard-boiled detective thrillers set in Texas.

Find out more about the book: www.amazon.com/author/jimnesbitt

Website: www.jimnesbitthardboiledbooks.com

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/edearlburchbooks/

Blog: https://spottedmule.wordpress.com/

Interview:

Tell us about your book! What is it about and what inspired you to write it?

The Right Wrong Number is a hard-boiled tale of revenge and redemption set in Texas and northern Mexico. It’s more of a thriller than a whodunit and features Ed Earl Burch, a cashiered Dallas homicide detective eking out a living as a private eye. He’s an ex-jock gone to seed, a guy who’s been smacked around by life and has the bad knees, wounded liver and empty bank account to prove it. In this story, he’s been hired to protect an old flame threatened by the partners ripped off by her husband, a high-flying Houston financial consultant who has disappeared. These partners include some mobsters from New Orleans who send a pair of hitmen to get back their money, drugs and jewels and kill anybody involved in the score. Ed Earl finds himself in locked in a deadly contest where nobody can be trusted and he’s tempted to forget his own rules by the money and sex offered up by the old flame, who has a lethal knack for larceny and betrayal. When his best friend is killed in Dallas by hired muscle, Ed Earl blames himself and sets out for revenge that winds up being a bloody form of redemption.

Tell us about your publishing process. What was it like? Did you go indie or the traditional way?

I tried the traditional route, but ran into the typical roadblocks and shell games with agents who kept wanting me to turn my book into something it wasn’t—a pale version of the last book they successfully sold to a publisher. I knew my book was as good as what I saw on the market and decided to go the indie route and publish myself, using the Spotted Mule Press imprint.

How did you choose the title for your book? Did it come to you right away, before you started writing the story, or did it come later?

My novels are set in Texas, which was a land of second chances for guys like Sam Houston and William Travis. People who blew it badly elsewhere came to Texas to start over. Still do. My main character, Ed Earl Burch, is a guy who has burned up one too many second chances. So, the title of my first novel is The Last Second Chance. I knew the action in the next book would start with a phone call after midnight from one of his old flames, a treacherous woman named Savannah Crowe. Seemed appropriate to call this latest book The Right Wrong Number. I’ve even got a title for the third Ed Earl Burch book, The Best Lousy Choice. Sense a pattern here?

Tell us about the cover design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book cover would be like?

I love the stark, arid beauty of West Texas and the border with northern Mexico so I wanted a cover that included a striking photo of that place, which is land that makes you feel like you’re looking at the bones of the earth. I found a wonderful photo by a guy named Andrew Palochko of the train tracks that run through Marathon, Texas with the jagged mountains in the distance and storm clouds with the waning sunlight of the day peaking through, giving it a nice tension between hope and menace. I knew I wanted big type and bold colors to create a look and feel for all my books. I think it’s important to have covers that not only catch the reader’s eye and are bold and unique, but that signal to the reader that here’s a Jim Nesbitt hard-boiled thriller, here’s an Ed Earl Burch novel. The covers of my first two books aren’t duplicative, but they use common elements that achieve the look I want.

Who is your cover designer and how did you find him/her?

The designer for my first book gave me four killer cover options and I planned to use one of his also-rans for the second book. However, he went AWOL on me—he just disappeared and wouldn’t respond to repeated attempts to contact him. This was very frustrating because I had a strong relationship with this designer and enjoyed the creative back and forth with him. I was really struggling to find another designer who could turn my vision into reality until an author buddy of mine, Owen Parr, suggested an outfit called SelfPubBookCovers.com. They’re an online broker for graphic artists. They hooked me up with a designer called Island. And then the magic happened.

How was your experience working with the designer?

An absolute delight. I can’t heap enough praise on Rob XXXX and his team at SelfPubBookCovers. The designer they set me up with, Island, understood exactly what I was looking for, didn’t object to my detailed instructions and really knocked it out of the park. They’re top flight professionals and responded quickly to e-mails, phone calls and requests for revisions.

What has been the readers’ response to your cover?

It’s been great. I’m getting strong, positive feedback from readers, reviewers and my trusted kitchen cabinet of fellow writers. I’ve got the shared look and feel I was gunning for and another strong cover that grabs the eye of potential readers of The Right Wrong Number. 

What tips would you give to authors who are looking for a cover designer?

It’s a crapshoot because there are an awful lot of designers out there cranking out cookie-cutter covers that look either amateurish and scream ‘here’s a self-published book, don’t buy it’ or have the same templated look of everybody else’s book. You wrote your book and have the clearest and strongest knowledge of what it’s about. You’ve told your story your way the best you can. You owe it to yourself to have just as strong and clear an idea of what you want your cover to look like. Study the best selling books of your genre. Look at the reprinted books of the old masters. Find examples with a style and graphic elements that you think suitable for your book. And use those examples in your hunt for a graphic designer who will work with you and turn your vision into reality. Stick to your guns and don’t accept anything less.

Anything else you’d like to say about your book?

It’s a helluva read. Buy it and see.

Dominion: Fire and Ice by D.A. Hewitt

 

Title: DOMINION: FIRE AND ICE
Author: D.A. Hewitt
Publisher: Double Dragon eBooks
Pages: 372
Genre: Science Fiction

It’s the year 2075. Lunar mining and processing facilities have prospered near the lunar south pole, where the Moon’s largest city, Valhalla, rests on the rim of the Shackleton Crater.

Dominion Off-Earth Resources has beaten the competition into space and is ready to establish its monopoly with the opening of the orbiting space resort Dominion. But Pettit Space Industries has a secret plan to emerge as a major contender in the commercialization of space. The upstart company is training the first space rescue squad at a secluded off-grid site in Barrow, Alaska.

The rescue squad gets nearly more than it can handle when its first mission involves the Pope, who’s traveling to the Moon to establish the Lunar See. During the rescue attempt, they discover Earth is imperiled by an asteroid large enough to cause mass extinction. Using the unique skills taught during their training, skills emphasized by the great psychoanalyst Carl Jung, these Jungi Knights must elevate their game if they are to save both the Earth and the Pope—while not getting killed in the process.

Purchase at Amazon

Book Excerpt:

The girl shook her head impatiently, the ponytail swaying back and forth. “You don’t recognize me?” she asked.

I looked closer. “I’m not up on the latest supermodel scene,” I told her, “and I haven’t seen many movies lately.”

“Supermodel? Movies? What on Earth are you talking about?”

“You seem to think I should recognize you. I assume you’re a model or an actress, someone who would be easily recognized.”

She whispered something under her breath, and having a modest ability to read lips, thought she’d said, What an idiot. “I’m Jessica Thibideau.”

I thought Julia was going to leap out of her chair and try to strangle the girl. I reached over and laid my hand on her forearm with as much reassurance as I could muster.

Julia reached over, grabbed the back of my neck, pulled my head down, leaned in, and whispered, “She runs the science departments in DOER’s space program. She’s the daughter of Benjamin Thibideau.”

“Oh,” I whispered. “Yes, of course I’ve heard of her. Never seen a picture, though. Why would she assume I’d recognize her?”

“Even in the Ural Mountains, I’ve seen news pics of the famous Jessica Thibideau. Her spaceship designs incorporate integrated shielding generators. She’s responsible for the explosion of industry in space.”

“And on the Moon,” I added. “Maybe I have seen her picture. She looks different in person.”

Jessica Thibideau began tapping her toe. “If you don’t mind, I have things to do.” She waved her arm in a wide sweeping movement. “And in case you haven’t noticed, we have a problem here.”

I began straightening myself but Julia grabbed my wrist. “Be careful,” she whispered. “Her company practically buried yours. Some say the stress is what killed your father.”

“Yeah, well, my dad worked too hard.”

I pulled away and straightened myself in my chair and folded my hands in front of me on the table. “Are you referring to the street music?”

She snorted. “Of course. What are you, some kind of joker?”

“Just trying to communicate.”

She reached up and pinched her nose, equalizing pressure. “You stole my asteroid retrieval drone.”

My reaction caught me by surprise. I jerked back as though jolted by a cattle prod such was my surprise at being accused of something so off my radar that she may very well have accused me of being an alien in disguise. “What?” I managed to eke out.

“You must’ve sanctioned it, at least. There are only two players in space—DOER and PSI. And DOER wouldn’t steal from itself.”

“Are you accusing me of something?”

“A DOER asteroid interceptor-collector drone has gone missing. Not only that, a dummy drone was left in its place to camouflage the theft. Now tell me, Mr. Pettit, how many companies have the capacity to handle what an interceptor-collector drone can deliver?”

I held up two fingers, eyebrows raised with uncertainty.

She stared as though trying to melt me with her glare. After a few moments, she made a sound that resembled harrumph and placed her hands on her hips. “Anibal Sanchez is your stooge, right?”

She throws out big tomatoes and observes your reaction.

I realized that this woman believed she possessed the skill to discern changes in blood pressure, eye dilation, and other change indicators that revealed when a person was lying.

Interesting.

“Never heard the name before,” I told her. “And now that I’ve answered your question, Miss Thibideau, I’ll tell you that you’re in no position to judge me. You don’t know me, and I doubt you have the depth of field to see clear enough for me to even want to have a conversation with you.”

“We all make judgments constantly,” she shot back. “You’re judging me right now.”

“You’re the one who barged in on us.”

She took a step to her left, then to her right. She placed her hand on her chin, opened her mouth, then finger-tapped the side of her head. She looked like a frenzied shopper who’d lost her shopping list and was trying to recall each item in the order in which they appeared.

She reached up and pinched her nose. Instead of finding it annoying, I found myself attracted to it.

Here, let me help …

Finally she stopped fidgeting and looked at me. “Mr. Pettit, allow me to apologize, please. I just got back from Valhalla, and I’ve got a bit of the jitters. I’m jumping at conclusions.”

“I hear jitters can be a common problem for space-goers,” I said. I reached over and nudged a chair away from the table. “Have a seat.”

Julia jabbed me with her elbow. I leaned over and whispered, “Let’s see how much information we can get.” Then I kissed her neck and this seemed to appease her.

Jessica Thibideau glanced back at her sedan. “All right. I am starving.” She sat and whispered a command that brought up a translucent eight-panel octagonal grid interface that encircled her.

Impressive. But where’s the projector? An implant? No—more likely embedded in clothing.

Signorina Thibideau twirled her finger and jabbed at one of the displays on the panel to her left. She glanced at me. “How’s the pizza here?”

“Out of this world,” I said, trying to suppress the corner of my mouth from rising slightly. I failed.

Jessica closed her eyes, sighed, then placed her order.

Julia leaned in and whispered, “She seems flighty to me.”

“Jitters is typically temporary.”

“Permanent jitters, in her case, if you ask me,” Julia commented.

About the Author

D.A. Hewitt is an award-winning author of four novels and over a hundred short stories. One novel was awarded a gold medal from the Independent Publishers Book Awards for best regional fiction. He attributes his success to hard work, honing a skill and providing an outlet for his passion for writing.

Born in Michigan, he lived for 25 years in North Carolina before returning to live in his home state. In addition to enjoying sky diving and mountain climbing, he is a proud veteran of the US Marine Corps and has earned a degree in mathematics.

Mr. Hewitt admits to a fascination with the work of Carl Jung and of the Gnostic religion. He’d always thought intertwining these topics in a science fiction novel was a stretch, but one day the storyline of Dominion came to him. He wrote the novel in a stream of consciousness. “It makes sense, tapping into the collective unconscious,” Mr. Hewitt says, “very much like Carl Jung might have predicted.”

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Book Cover Junkie with Mystery Bestselling Author Tom Carter

Bestselling author Tom Carter is a longtime Nashville who lives with his wife, Janie, a few miles from Nashville’s legendary Music Row. 

Connect with the author on the Web:

http://www.authortomcarter.com/

https://www.facebook.com/authortomcarter

https://www.instagram.com/authortomcarter/

Tell us about your book!  What is it about and what inspired

you to write it?

Nashville: Music and Murder is my first novel among 18 books within my body of work, including seven New York Times and two USA Today best-sellers. I wrote my fiction intentionally set in Music Row, Nashville's commercially creative arts neighborhood that boasts recording studios, music publishing houses and celebrity offices.  Music Row is to Nashville what Hollywood is to Los Angeles.  One difference?  Eighty-seven novels have been set in Hollywood, while not one "significant" novel has been set in Music Row.  So I set my novel there. 

Tell us about your publishing process. What was it like?  Did

you go indie or the traditional way?

For the first time during twenty-nine years of writing non-fiction, I opted to self publish.  The incentives were attractive, as my self-publisher distributes to tens of thousands of worldwide retailers and eBook distribution from more than 70 online partners serving reader across the globe.  

How did you choose the title for your book?   Did it come to 

you right away, before you started writing it, or did it come

later?

I invented the title after writing the book.  I wanted the title

to be a miniature overview of the storyline.

Tell us about the cover design process.  Did you have a basic

idea of what your book cover would be like?

I retained an artist who’s also a designer and illustrator. 

How was your experience working with the designer?

It was great.

What has been the readers' response to your cover?

Everyone has said nice things.

What tips would you give to authors who are looking for a

cover designer?

Contact a book publicist.

Anything else you'd like to say about your book?

Not at this time.