[Today we have a treat, an interview with author John Hohn.  He has an interesting background that probably influenced his first work, Deadly Portfolio: A Killing in Hedge Funds, more than his second, Breached (reviewed last Wednesday), but both books are intricate and excellent mysteries that will entertain you a lot more than the usual drivel you’ll find on TV.  Without further ado, here’s John.]

Some bio information…

Steve: Tell us a bit about yourself, John.

John: I’m technically retired, but I like to say I’ve embarked on a new career, writing. I am a Midwestern by birth, born and raised in Yankton, SD where I graduated from high school. I married after my freshman year in college at St. John’s University (MN) where I majored in English, graduating in 1961. I taught high school English for four years before entering the world of business. My career spans more than 40 years in the financial services industry. I retired in 2007 after 15 years at the head of my own financial advisory group with Merrill Lynch in Winston-Salem, NC.

I have always loved to write. I have published poetry in literary quarterlies, garnering a few awards along the way. In 2000, I published as small volume of poetry. In 2011, I published my first novel, Deadly Portfolio: A Killing in Hedge Funds. A sequel followed in 2014 titled Breached.

I am the father of five children and stepfather to one.  My wife and I have been married 29 years. We divide our time between a cottage in Southport, NC and a small house in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northwestern corner of the state.

Steve: Why, how, and when did you start writing?

John: I started writing when I was a boy. I wrote because I enjoyed it. My stories were short pieces, usually about going fishing with my dad or exploring around the neighborhood. Both of my parents were very encouraging. My mother read my stories to guests. I enjoyed the praise and affirmation I received. I have been writing all of my life.

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Item: A kinder, gentler Hachette?  BS.  Last Monday, Nov. 10, the NY Times published a front-page article about how homey Hachette is now with its CEO in a cubicle just like the other worker bees.  First, it wasn’t Hachette, but a subsidiary, although the Times insisted on using Hachette; and second, why is the Times doing this?  If you take the totality of Times articles about the Amazon v. Hachette war-of-words (more words from Hachette and its sycophants than from Amazon), it’s clear that the Times is biased and has a Paul Bunyan-size axe to grind.  This article is the most egregious, though.  I put it in the same category as the Monsanto commercial where the most notorious chemical company in the U.S. tries to present itself as looking out for food safety in American households (?), or BP’s Alaskan commercial about how they’re providing new energy solutions for America (the Gulf spill?).  Does the Times think anyone buys this outrageous double-speak they call “reporting”?

Item: Grammar experts.  I’ve had exchanges with a few.  Most are very helpful and much more accessible than any HS English teacher I’ve had (generally only slightly better than HS math teachers in knowing what they’re talking about).  Most of these experts recognize the difference between fiction and non-fiction and their grammar requirements (one can argue that the latter should pay closer attention to “the rules”).  I have two grammar rules: (1) Never believe what MS Word tells me (I’ve had Bill Gates correct me, wanting to replace it’s with its, or vice versa, for example, and be completely wrong); and (2) in my fiction, natural speech, especially in dialogue, trumps the grammar rules every time (if not ending a sentence with a preposition becomes too stilted, don’t fix it—of course, this isn’t even a rule).

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(John Hohn, Breached, 2014, ASIN B00OEXEK0K, ISBN 978-0692250921)

I started reading this author’s new book with great expectations.  I wasn’t disappointed.  While his first book, Deadly Portfolio: A Killing in Hedge Funds, was good, this one is better.  Breached is more an example of mixed genres, both psychological thriller and mystery.  Here I use the first differently than what tradition dictates.  It isn’t that the protagonist, a character from the first book, Detective James Raker (ex-Detective in this book), is suffering a psychological attack; it’s that two secondary victims, friends of Raker, have deep psychological problems.  Of course, to make this a mystery, there’s a real victim a la Madame Christie (and more are added as the story continues).  Raker and his girlfriend are visiting his old male friend in the North Carolina boonies when a dam inspector is shot.  The mystery revolves around why, or even if it was an improbable accident, but, in the process, the ex-detective has to deal with both the girlfriend and old friend’s psychological problems (more on this below).

I won’t throw out any spoilers about why the dam inspector was murdered except to say that someone wants to declare the dam unsafe.  Delving into the psychological problems of Raker’s friends is a related but almost independent story, making this book a study of two characters with ubiquitous problems that we tend to avoid talking about in our society.  This study makes Mr. Hohn’s book almost unique, because too many crime stories or police procedurals focus on the forensics and the sleuthing, treating the next literary serial killer or evil corporation, instead of examining real problems our society faces.

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While I’ve tried to portray something about what awaits a veteran when he returns home in some of my books (the homeless man Walter Jones in The Midas Bomb, my detectives Chen and Castilblanco, and, more recently, Mary Jo Melendez of Muddlin Through, are some examples of characters who are veterans—Walter and Mary Jo both talk about a wounded vet’s problems with homecoming, for example), my personal experience with veterans has been via what they tell me, my relatives and friends.  For example, one life experience I will always treasure is tutoring a blind veteran in Spanish so he could finish his psych degree—he wanted to help other vets.  I probably learned much more from Richard than he learned from me.

Just from Richard, two uncles—one Navy man and one Marine in World War II—and from a nephew who served in the Army in Iraq, I was able to determine that (1) the horrors of war they experienced are hard for anyone to imagine who hasn’t experienced them, and (2) physical wounds are all too often trumped by mental ones.  I can’t remember ever hearing the acronym PTSD in relation to Vietnam vets while that war was going on, but Richard’s blindness wasn’t his worst affliction, which is why he wanted a degree in psychology.  Back then, and even going farther back in time to WW I and II and the Korean War, the official attitude respect to mental problems from the Defense Department was pretty much, “Man up and get on with your life,” but, like Walter’s case, this isn’t a slam dunk.

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Dear Readers,

My blog message for today is simple: VOTE!

Too many countries in this world are sham democracies, despotic states, theocracies, and so forth.  We are privileged to live in a country where regular elections and voting are a great tradition.  Study the candidates and issues and exercise your right to vote.

Yours in reading and writing,

Steve

Get some “mind candy” for yourself. Raised eyebrows and big eyes, as you wonder if I’m some kind of scalper, dealer, or seller of Super Storm Sandy pre-owned cars, aren’t appropriate. This is a PG-13 website. I’m an introvert who writes books, not a scam artist. “Mind candy” here means “interesting books,” no more no less.

Running through Nov. 5, three of my 2014 ebooks are on sale, each one for $1.99. That’s a $3 savings on each book! The books will revert to the usual prices of $4.99 on Nov. 6. I realize you’re very good about your diet and avoid all the sugary and/or salty treats you hand out and your kids bring home. This promo allows you to indulge and brag to everyone how healthy you are (no one needs to know about the Snickers or Reese’s Pieces you sneak from your kids’ haul, right?).

The three books are: Soldiers of God (second ed.), Aristocrats and Assassins, and Muddlin’ Through. The first ebook is the bridge between the “Clones and Mutants Series” and the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy.” It was available previously only as an expensive Infinity trade paperback. The second book is the last entry in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.” A new release in that series is coming up soon, so you can hit the ground running and build to the new release (there’s even a contest with rules specified at the end of A&A that will allow you to snatch up the new release for free!). The final ebook is the first in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries”; the second book in that series will appear early next year.
Of course, this “mind candy” isn’t completely healthy. There’s a chance you will lose sleep and be breathless as you read each book—that’s why they’re also called thrillers, although all three are crossovers, that is, mystery/suspense/thriller. Maybe you should check your BP while you read, but you won’t have to worry about the sugar intake (leave the kids’ bags alone!).

This is a great opportunity to purchase three recent books at a bargain price. Tell your friends and relatives. Remember, you don’t even need a Kindle because Amazon sells a Kindle app that allows you to read an ebook formatted for a Kindle on most any device. Note that lending is enabled for these ebooks—you only need to buy one per family (or book club, if yours works that way).

There are other new bargain ebooks that might interest you too. World Enough and Crime, a new crime anthology, contains my short story “The Case of the Carriageless Horse,” a tale about Detective Castilblanco’s first homicide case. And The Collector, the next Chen and Castilblanco tale, will be out soon, at $4.99, still a bargain compared to the ebooks from major publishers that are generally start at twice this price—I run my writing business on a shoestring budget and pass the savings on to you, dear reader.

Happy Spooky, Freaky, Scary, and Weird Halloween!

At the end of ABC World News one evening last week, Kip Thorne made an appearance.  Seems he was a consultant for the new movie Interstellar.  The subject, of course, was FTL (faster-than-light) travel, what you need to visit other star systems in subjective times less than several hundreds of human generations.  Seemed Thorne was proposing wormholes (Deep Space Nine, anyone?).  While most sci-fi authors (including myself) just write a few words of pseudo-scientific technobabble and then get on with the story, I guess the director of Interstellar wanted to put some fancy ribbon around the technobabble.  I’m sure Prof. Thorne did a good job.

Generations of grad students have struggled with Einstein’s general theory of relativity.  The “classic texts” are Weinberg’s more experimentally grounded tome and the much longer differential geometry-oriented tome written by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler (yes, that same Thorne).  Both were creatively and simply titled Gravitation.  Between the two, you had more than enough information to solve any problem on a PhD qualifying exam related to that subject, assuming you had learned the material well, of course.  Feynman’s simpler and less mathematical introduction in some of the first editions of the second volume of his famous lectures could be used to get in the mood, so to speak (Feynman did the same with his introduction to quantum mechanics in Vol. 3; with a bit more material, it’s a better introduction than any you’ll find elsewhere).

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Item: Attacking Amazon.  OK, I said I wouldn’t weigh in on the Amazon v. Hachette kerfuffle anymore, but I must say here that the one-sidedness continues.  Paul Krugman, NY Times columnist and ex-economist, wrote in his column last Monday, “Amazon has too much power and uses that power to hurt America.”  Holy Jumpin’ Jokers, Batman, they must be worse than ISIS!  Do we need boots-on-the-ground, Paul, to invade the Amazon warehouses that are hurting America?  Is Bezos going to terrorize Patterson and the other 899 one-percent authors throwing their financial weight around and wringing their hands about the evil man?

Should we ask the Secret Service, as bad as it is, to start guarding these irreplaceable, fearful, and unhappy “best selling” authors, faithful disciples of the Big Five, or have SWAT teams move in on all the thousands of indie authors who follow the teachings of Iman Bezos?  Or, Paul, are you just suffering early dementia but aren’t willing to admit it?  If not, you should stick to your usual modus operandi of bloviating about economics and politics and such, i.e. things where you can better pretend that you have something intelligent to offer to your readers.

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[Note from Steve: We have a real treat today.  Readers are probably tired of my pushing thriller, mystery, and sci-fi novels, so Callie Norse, romance writer from the great Midwest, has kindly subjected herself to my interview questions.  She’s the author of the 4-book Carrington series, a series of romance/mystery/paranormal novels; the corresponding titles are For the Love of Lisa, A Love Too Soon, The Anniversary…not to be forgotten, and Flashes from the Past, available in both paperback and eBook formats.  She’s also written the short sci-fi story “Taken,” a story of alien abduction, available as an eBook.  Without further ado, here’s Callie.]

About Callie…

Steve: First, let’s get some bio information about you.

Callie:  I’m married. My husband and I live in Northern Illinois, and have three grown sons, and six grandchildren. I worked in banking for seven years, then became a stay-at-home mom. I have always been an avid reader. My love for writing was inspired by my eighth grade teacher, when she asked that we write short stories for class. I dedicated Flashes from the Past to her.

Callie on writing…

Steve: Why, how, and when did you start writing?

Callie: I began writing short stories when my children were young. My first manuscript was after the loss of my parents, only 16 days apart, in 1991. I wrote the story of their illnesses and how my siblings and I dealt with their illnesses and eventual loss. The first book of my series was developed out of one of those first short stories.

Steve: Did you publish the first book you wrote? (more…)

I still have a copy of Benoit B. Mandelbrot’s The Fractal Geometry of Nature sitting on my shelf.  That 1982 hardcover edition is $31.90 on Amazon now.  Surprisingly, there is a 2010 Kindle edition, priced at $45.06, technically an eTextbook.  I say surprisingly because the original had many graphics pages.  I guess you’d better have a Kindle Fire or some other color tablet; you won’t see much on the Kindle paper white.  The coffee-table size of the original must have made the Kindle edition difficult too.

That said, I wonder how many millennials know what a fractal is.  Computer science types of all ages might, because displaying fractals is often a programming exercise (best seen on the high-res monitors found with graphics workstations).  However, even for them, fractals might seem akin to the much simpler Lissajous figures—very intriguing graphics, but so what?  Graphics artists might be familiar with fractals as an option when portraying landscapes like mountains and so forth.  The origins of these computer applications can be found as wow-content in Mandelbrot’s book.

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