Please welcome guest author DV
Berkom to our question and answer session today. She’s a fellow member of the Guppy
Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She describes herself as impatient, determined, involved,
passionate, and kind. Her writing is action-packed, kickass, contemporary,
exciting, and about truth. I’m wondering how she’s going to decide her third
guest, have the contenders shoot rock, paper, scissors?
You
have a table for four at your favorite restaurant and can invite any three
people, living, dead or fictional. Who are your guests (and why) and where are
you eating (and why)?
Only 3? Ack. Okay, how about war
correspondent Martha Gellhorn for
advice on writing and to hear some great war stories, Dorothy Parker for her wit and sarcasm, and, although I’m not
particularly religious, either Jesus or
the Buddha for their insight into spirituality and modern life. The
restaurant would be outside of a crumbling villa in Umbria on a warm spring
day, with copious amounts of fabulous Italian food and wine…because Italy.
What
makes a great short story?
Pacing, and the ability to cut out
everything except the most essential information and still have a complete
story with character arc and a compelling narrative.
What
is your most productive time of the day (and do you need caffeine)?
Morning, and yes, I most definitely
require caffeine. Lots of caffeine.
How
many books do you read in a typical month? Do you read in your genre while you
are writing? What’s your most recent “great” book?
I usually read 3 or 4 thrillers a
month, combined with a non-fiction and maybe a historical, so about 5-6. It’s
been a long while since I’ve read a book that knocked my socks off, although I thoroughly enjoyed Tim Hallinan’s Poke Rafferty character
and plan to read more of his work. I have become quite a bit more circumspect
in my praise since becoming a writer. I’ve tried reading the big bestsellers
and have been underwhelmed, especially the more recent novels incorporating
unreliable narrators. Just not my type of main character, I guess.
What
themes do you regularly employ in your writing?
Redemption, empowerment, fighting
injustice, and family. The main theme that keeps cropping up for me deals with
empowering women to take care of themselves, to stop allowing anyone to
victimize them. I feel strongly about people (not just women) taking the reins
in their lives and making choices that empower, rather than diminish them. That
being said, I also strongly advocate an action-packed, kickass read where good
almost always triumphs over evil J
What
motivates you to write?
What doesn’t? Seriously, though, all
I have to do is read the headlines and something will piss me off enough to
want to write a book. If I’m passionate about an issue, then I know my interest
will be sustained over the course of writing the novel. If I get bored writing
about something, then I assume it will bore the reader, and that’s never good.
Cargo
is the result of reading an article about ivory poaching in Tanzania, and how
several groups are working to stop it. Anywhere from 25-65 elephants are killed
per day for their ivory, and it’s
conceivable that at that rate, elephants
could be extinct in this century. As if that wasn’t enough to piss a person
off, during the course of researching the book I also discovered several other practices
that exploit wildlife, such as tiger and lion bone wine (apparently it’s used
for medicinal purposes), and canned lion hunts (where a human-habituated lion
is stuck in a pen with anywhere from 2-5 “hunters” with rifles who have paid
upwards of $40k for the opportunity).
Another shocker was learning that
the body parts of albino children are thought to be “magical” and have, among
other properties, the ability to ensure a successful election for the purchaser.
There are documented cases of albino children being murdered in Tanzania for
just that reason.
Pissed off yet?
What
motivates your protagonist (if not a series, then use the protagonist of your
most recent novel)? What influenced who they are today?
Leine Basso is a former assassin who
decided to quit the life after her boss used her for a job he shouldn’t have.
Although she was an assassin who only took out the bad guys, throughout the
series the guilt from killing so many drives her to find a way to make up for
her past profession and become the mother she wants to be in the eyes of her
daughter. In Bad Traffick, the second
novel in the series, she finds herself working for an anti-trafficking agency,
which ticks all the boxes for her—she’s able to use her considerable talents to
look for the victims of human trafficking, as well as fight bad guys when they
get in the way.
To find out more about DV Berkom and
her writing, check out her website: http://www.dvberkom.com. And while you are at it, here’s a teaser for Cargo:
Money—the
universal merchant. Anyone can be bought, anyone can be sold.
Anyone.
Haunted by memories of an op gone
bad, former assassin Leine Basso travels to Bangkok in search of a missing
backpacker. With help from an old contact, she discovers the man responsible for
the girl’s disappearance is connected to a violent Hong Kong triad and is the
linchpin of an extensive trafficking network—both animal and human. Making
enemies isn’t new for Leine, but making one in the triad is—she soon finds
herself a prisoner onboard a cargo ship headed for sub-Saharan Africa. To
ensure her survival and to continue her hunt for the missing girl, she must
join forces with Derek, an ivory poacher who promises to help her.
For a price.