Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Rix Roundtree ~ an interview and his novel ~ Nicolas Thimes: The End of My World


I AM PLEASED TO WELCOME AUTHOR
Rix Roundtree




TITLE: “Nikolas Thime: The End of My World”
RELEASE DATE: September 15, 2016
AUTHOR: Rix Roundtree
KEYWORDS: mystery, suspense, lgbt, courtroom drama, fantasy, gambling, organized crime
CATEGORIES: Science Fiction/Action Adventure
PAGE COUNT: 450
ISBN: 978-1535443302
IMPRINT: Devil’s Tower


AUTHOR BIO:  
A former member of the United States Coast Guard and a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University Rix Roundtree has lived in Virginia, North Carolina, Washington DC, New York City, Miami and San Francisco. A lover of the arts, ancestry and history Rix has worked as a Washington DC tour guide and a tour guide for the Historic Berkeley Plantation located in Charles City County Virginia. Rix worked for the prestigious history, patriotism, and preservation organization the Daughters of the American Revolution as a member of the DAR Museum staff. Rix was a member of the film crew for the 2011 blockbuster film Transformers 3: Dark Of The Moon. In 2003 Rix began writing music reviews and a blog called “Life Is Music” for the entertainment website The Electrogarden Network. He became a published author in 2013 with the released of his non-fiction self-help book titled “The Older You Get, The Dumber You Get: Stories for my Daughters.”



BANTER – STUFF ABOUT YOU

Q: Are you a morning person, or a midnight candle burner?
A: I definitely a morning person. I wake in the morning between 4 am and 5 am to begin my writing day at my desktop computer. At 10 am I’m at the public library with my laptop, simply because I want to get away from the house and all the distractions that can occur there during the day. I work at the library for about 3 hours. I’m back home by 2 pm and I’m finished writing for the day as I'm mentally exhausted and my mind can’t handle anymore writing. I do not write after 2 pm because I’ve learned that anything I write after that time is rubbish and I end up discarding it the following morning.

Q: If you could morph into any creature what would it be?
 A: I love being a human being. There is no other creature I would rather be. I’ve never even dreamed about being another creature.
            If you don’t mind me asking, why?   
A: Being a human is fun. The list of things we as humans can possibly achieve is endless. That’s why I love being the human, the endless possibilities.

Q: Bedtime, relaxing so you can sleep sounds. Is your preference, white noise, TV, soft music, ocean waves, forest or meadow sounds, babbling brook, or something else?
 A: I like the sound of falling rain. It lulls me into a deep relaxing sleep.

Q: What kind of music do you listen to? Do you have an all time favorite song?
A: I don’t have a favorite song as I listen to everything. I put on my headphones and listen to music while I write and I listen to pop,  country, soul, rap, r&b, heavy metal, punk, disco/dance, jazz, classical, rock ‘n roll, vocalist, electronic, ska/reggae but my absolute favorite is Italo. This means that as I write I’m listening to (just to name a few) Modern Talking, Dick Haymes, Betty Everett, Lady Gaga, the Five Satins, Ganymede, Louis Prima, the Smiths, Gloria Gaynor, Def Leppard, the Flirts, Hank Williams, Ultravox, the Ink Spots, Technotronic and Wagner.

Q: Did you like school when you were a child?
A: I hated public school, but I loved college. College was fun.

Q: Snack of choice – chips, pretzels, popcorn, or cookies, cake, candy? Or maybe you’re a healthy snacker - fruit, yogurt, nuts, raisins?
A: Chips and raisins are my favorite snacks. I eat them every day (I’m not kidding).

Q: Coffee or Tea?
A: I prefer coffee

Q: How do you feel about exercise?
A: Huh? What? I didn’t understand the questionJ.

Q: Texting, love it or hate it?
A: I love texting and because of texting I love the smart phone. I used to hate the phone, but I love it now. Did you know that Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, the man who invented the telephone came to hate his own invention? Why? People kept calling him on it. The callers didn’t want anything important. They just called to chat. This annoyed Mr. Bell. I can relate. But today you can put your phone on vibrate or silence and you don’t have to talk to anyone. To stay connected today, you don’t have to call or talk, just sent a text. It’s wonderful!

BOOKS – ABOUT THE CRAFT

Q: When did you start writing and why?
A: I started writing in 1997 because for years I’d been told by others that I possessed a natural ability to write (I didn’t believe this). I started and I never stopped.

Q: How did you come to write your genre of choice?
A: I wanted to create a new type of American detective. I looked at our murder mystery literature (book) to film heroes and discovered that they are all British. They are Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007, and here in the 21st century, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. The only American mystery/murder/action-adventure book to film hero that we (the USA) have is Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason, who’s last theatrical film came out in the 1930’s. I hope to create a uniquely American mystery/murder hero and Nikolas Thime is that creation.

Q: What do you think is the hardest part of writing a book?
A: As far as I’m concerned, there is no hard part in writing.

Q: What is your favorite part of writing?
A: The entire process of writing a book is thrilling and exciting for me.

Q; Now your least favorite part?
A: I have no least favorite part of writing. It’s all wonderful.

Q: Describe your favorite heroine?
A: My favorite heroine is Star Trek’s Captain Katherine Janeway of the starship Voyager. I love her because she’s tough, intelligent, self-sacrificing, no nonsense, humorous, cunning, dangerous and deceptive.


Q: Describe your favorite hero?
A: My favorite is Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007. He’s my favorite because he’s tough, intelligent, self-sacrificing, no nonsense, humorous, cunning, dangerous and deceptive.

Q: Who's your favorite author?
A: Agatha Christie is my favorite author.

Q: Your favorite title?
A: My favorite Agatha Christie book is “4.50 from Paddington.”

Q: Would you ever consider a joint project?
A: I’m talking with my publisher about this right now actually, so yes.

Q: How do you handle a writer's block?
A: I’ve never encountered writer’s block.

Q: Do you write long hand first, or does it go straight into the computer?
A: When I’ve fleshed out my ideas by hand in my notebook and have done all of the required research and have a starting point (which is not necessarily the beginning of the story), I begin writing at my desktop computer.

Q: When crafting the story do you go from beginning to end, or do you jump around writing the scenes that are pushing themselves forward in your brain?
A: I write in segments (not necessarily in order). After each of the segments are completed I then arrange them in the order in with they need to be placed for clear concise storytelling. I then break the segments into paragraphs. I stitch the paragraphs together with connecting sentences at the beginning and end of each of them. Then I separate these paragraphs into chapters.

Q: Do you always know how a story will end when you begin writing it?
A: I begin knowing how the story will end, but as the characters develop they take over the storytelling and change things. The end turns out differently from the one I’d planned. But in every instance, the character driven ending turns out to be better than my original ending.

Q: Have your characters ever taken the story in a different direction than you had originally planned? Do you have a for instance, for us?
A: Yes. This happened when two characters (involved in a murder) revealed to me that they were actually related. This is not something that I’d planned.

Q: What geographical locations are your favorite and why?
A: The locales I choose for my stories are all in the United States because with its diverse geography (and diverse people), the USA has a variety of beautiful settings for stories to take place. The USA has mountains, beaches, deserts, tropics, cities, snow, everything. Just like with its vast geography, the USA has many types of beautiful people such as African Americans, Asians, Caucasians, Native Americans and Hispanics. You name it, the USA has it. It all makes the USA a great country for exciting locales.

Q: How long does it take you to create a novel?
A: It takes me a year to complete a book.

BOOKS - NOW LETS PROMOTE – STRUT YOUR STUFF

Q: What are you working on now? Would you like to share anything about it?
A: I’m now working on a book titled “Nikolas Thime: The Car Of Tomorrow.” It’s about a murder with within an automobile company family dynasty.

Q: Do you have a new book coming out soon? Tell us about it.
A: My new book “Nikolas Thime: The End Of My World” was just released September 15th2016. Nikolas Thime: The End Of My World. An engaging, exciting, suspenseful, humorous, intricate, character driven, stimulating, sci-fi, mystery, thriller, whodunit, courtroom drama, time travel adventure. It is many genres including thriller and science fiction, but at its core it is a simple murder mystery. It’s the story of the murder of the Native American presidential candidate Henry “Hank” Ironhorse and Linda Wetzel, cosmetics company owner and President of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who is accused of his murder. Linda Wetzel’s arrest leads her to Nikolas Thime, the best criminal defense attorney in Washington DC. Proving his client Linda Wetzel innocent of the Hank Ironhorse murder becomes a very difficult task for Nick as his client harbors dark secrets. Nick Thime must navigate his client’s sea of secrets to expose the true killer of Hank Ironhorse, for if he doesn’t, not only will Linda Wetzel’s world come to an end, but quite possibly his own, as his past present and future could be obliterated from the timeline.

Q: How can we find you? Do you have a web page, FaceBook page or any buy links?
A:  Yes, I do. Here are the links.   
AUTHOR LINKS:

ONE LINER:  
Nikolas Thime: The End Of My World; an engaging, exciting,  suspenseful, humorous, intricate, character driven, stimulating, sci-fi, mystery, thriller, whodunit, courtroom drama, time travel adventure.

SYNOPSIS: 
 Nikolas Thime: The End Of My World, is many genres including thriller and science fiction, but at its core it is a simple murder mystery. It’s the story of the murder of the Native American presidential candidate Henry “Hank” Ironhorse and Linda Wetzel, cosmetics company owner and President of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who is accused of his murder. Linda Wetzel’s arrest leads her to Nikolas Thime, the best criminal defense attorney in Washington DC.  Proving his client Linda Wetzel innocent of the Hank Ironhorse murder becomes a very difficult task for Nick as his client harbors dark secrets. Nick Thime must navigate his client’s sea of secrets to expose the true killer of Hank Ironhorse, for if he doesn’t, not only will Linda Wetzel’s world come to an end, but quite possibly his as well, as his past present and future could be obliterated from the timeline.


EXCERPT:                                                                                                 
A story is a complex entity. Exclusive to no one individual your story is uniquely your own. Everyone has a story. They are stories within stories that parallel entwine and merge, creating a plethora of storytellers. Storytellers and stories collide crafting a story, comprised of stories, within the story, of a murder. Picture this . . .

The electric blue sky is piled high with mountainous islands of cottony cumulus clouds. Through the cloud heaps streak swarms of swift military fighter jets emitting weapons fire. A sleek black fighter jet fires on the gray enemy jet. The targeted fighter jet erupts into flame and begins its spiraling smoking descent to the earth below. As the disabled plane falls through the sky, around it massive bomber planes drop their payload of explosives. Falling amidst the raining bombs, the destroyed fighter jet violently crashes into the sea. The bombs released by the warplanes strike warships that burst into hellish floating infernos until ship and flame are swallowed by the churning sea. Other warships in the armada fire their large guns at targets on the shore. The targeted facilities explode outward as brick mortar and metal become dangerous deadly shrapnel to the flesh and blood bodies of the camouflaged soldiers they strike. The blood soaked ground is littered with dead bodies. Soldiers run for cover as shells from massive tanks strike buildings, literally disintegrating them. Above the tanks, airborne drones fire inexhaustible rounds of ammunition at people on the ground. All the while, combat troops fire their rifles and rocket propelled grenade launchers at their opposing forces, effectively obliterating them.

Superimposed over the carnage of war, a Washington Post newspaper appears. The newspaper’s headline reads, “World At War! Over 60 Million People Dead.”

The newspaper and war images slowly fade as a curtain silently slides over the large projection screen. The darkness is dispelled as light fills a courtroom.

At the center of the courtroom is a tall imposing judges’ bench. At the bench sit three grim-faced, black robed judges. In the center sits a Latina judge flanked on each side by male judges, one a Caucasian, the other an African American.

Standing before the intimidating judges’ bench is a solemn thirty-something Caucasian male. Beneath his black hair is a face that possesses that perfectly symmetrical screen star handsomeness. Deep-set intense eyes, rugged square jaws, a strong straight nose, a slash of a mouth beneath which sits a deep clef that is cut into his granite like chin. The well-tailored, dark, conservative suit he wears accentuates his broad shoulders and trim fit body.

The expressionless face of the female judge is unreadable when she says to the man standing before them, “60 million lives extinguished because of you, Nikolas Thime.”

“Nikolas Thime,” adds the stern looking black judge, “your reckless stubborn impetuousness nearly brought about the end of the world.”

With a solemn look upon his face, the white judge states, “Nikolas Thime, you yourself know that the Tribunal’s penalty for an infraction of this magnitude is, death.”

Nick seems not to hear the judges’ sentencing. He says nothing as he gazes up at the three judges. His eyes are filled not with sorrow, anger or regret, but remembrance of . . .

Buy Links:

AMAZON US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J3BMI8I
AMAZON UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01J3BMI8I
AMAZON CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01J3BMI8I
BARNES & NOBLE: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1124195866;jsessionid=2B7928FF6B0B08B5C6F53B2E9C66238F.prodny_store02-atgap09?ean=2940153360867
KOBO: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/nikolas-thime-the-end-of-my-world
iBOOKS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1138018725
CREATESPACE: https://www.createspace.com/6442929


I’m happy you could join me on Books and Banter.  I hope you had fun with the Q & A’s


I had a great deal of fun. Thank you.  Rix
 
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