February 22 – 28: “Is juggling multiple points of view more, or less, challenging?”

Thrillers and other forms of fiction, too, increasingly rely on multiple characters to present a narrative. This week ITW Members Suzanne Redfearn, Paul McGoran, Elizabeth Noble, Mark Alpert, Justin Bog, Bernard Maestas, Bill Schweigart, Johnny Shaw and Mike Dellosso discuss whether juggling multiple points of view is more, or less, challenging?

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Suzanne Redfearn lives in Laguna Beach, where she and her husband own a restaurant called Lumberyard. Her debut novel Hush Little Baby was a Target Recommends selection, and RT Book Reviews nominated it as Best Mainstream Fiction for 2013. Suzanne’s second novel No Ordinary Life was chosen as a Target Emerging Author selection and was chosen by RT Book Reviews as a Top Pick. Prior to becoming an author, Suzanne was an architect.

Paul McGoran lives and works in Newport, Rhode Island. His first novel was the noir thriller MADE FOR MURDER. He began writing crime fiction after a long career in marketing. His favorite thing about writing is disappearing into the mind and thoughts of his characters. He is convinced that writers like him have a form of multiple personality disorder–without the alarming clinical symptoms.

Bernard Maestas lives in paradise. A police officer patrolling the mean streets of Hawaii, he has a background in contract security and military and civilian law enforcement. When not saving the world, one speeding ticket at a time, and not distracted by video games or the internet, he is usually hard at work on his next book.

Bill Schweigart revives a bit of forgotten lore from the shadow of Washington, D.C. in his last novel, THE BEAST OF BARCROFT, which finds a devilish creature stalking the residents of Arlington. Its sequel, NORTHWOODS, will be available February 16, 2016. Bill is a former Coast Guard officer who drew from his experiences at sea to write the taut nautical thriller, SLIPPING THE CABLE. Bill currently resides in Arlington, VA.

Elizabeth Noble is the author of over a dozen novels including her mystery/thriller/suspense series Circles. Gone Away is the fourth novel in the series. Several of her thrillers take place remote wilderness locations. When she’s not spinning tales of murder and mayhem she’s a veterinary nurse who lives in Cleveland, Ohio with a very spoiled dog and cat. The comment she hears most often from readers is “I didn’t see that coming!”

Mark Alpert, a contributing editor at Scientific American, writes thrillers that weave real science and technologies into the story. His first novel, Final Theory (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2008), was published in 23 languages and became an international bestseller. His next three science thrillers were The Omega Theory (Touchstone, 2011), Extinction (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2013) and The Furies (Thomas Dunne, 2014). His first Young Adult novel, The Six, was published in 2015, and its sequel, The Surge, will come out in July 2016. Mark lives with his wife and two teenage kids in New York City. He’s a proud member of Scientific American’s softball team, The Big Bangers.

Johnny Shaw’s debut, Dove Season (2011), won the Spotted Owl Award for Debut Mystery, was nominated for a Spinetingler Award, and earned multiple yearend “Best of” mentions. His next book, Big Maria (2012), was awarded an Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original, and 2014’s Plaster City was an Amazon Best Book of the Month and a Kindle bestseller. With FLOODGATE (Thomas & Mercer | Feb. 16, 2016), Shaw turns from California’s Imperial Valley, setting of his previous adventures, to the utterly corrupt fictional metropolis of Auction City and the one man who might be able to bring it back from the brink of destruction.

Mike Dellosso is the author of several novels of suspense, an adjunct professor of creative writing and popular conference teacher, a husband, and a father. Born in Baltimore, Mike now resides in southern Pennsylvania with his wife and four daughters. Kill Devil is a Jed Patrick
novel.

Justin Bog is the critically acclaimed author of two short fiction collections, including the Suspense Magazine award-winning anthology Sandcastle and Other Stories, which was also a Finalist for the Ohioana Book Award. Wake Me Up is his first literary crime novel. Please visit him at www.justinbog.com or find his author page on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.