Guest Blogger: Paul Christopher

Please join me in welcoming author Paul Christopher as the special guest blogger here at Thoughts in Progress today.

Paul’s latest release is (978-0-451-23190-1), the fourth book in the New York Times Bestselling Templar series. Here’s a brief synopsis of the book: THE TEMPLAR CONSPIRACY“In this suspenseful thriller, only former army ranger John Holliday has the ability to solve a modern Templar conspiracy. In Rome, a pope is assassinated by an unknown sniper on Christmas day which unleashes a massive investigation and Holliday’s skills are put to test when he uncovers the real motif behind the pontiff’s murder. When a private confession leads to the discovery of a grisly murder under a D.C. parkway, Holliday must unravel the Templar’s deadly plot to extend their influence to the highest power.”

Thanks to Paul and Alexandra with Berkley, I have one copy of THE TEMPLAR CONSPIRACY to giveaway to a lucky visitor to this post. The giveaway, however, is only open to U.S. residents. Be sure to include your e-mail in your comment, if it’s not included in your profile. The deadline for the giveaway is 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 11. Now, Paul has stopped by today to talk about his writing.

I have a confession to make—I’m an older type geezer with a ten-year-old grandson who knows more about computers than I do and a thirty-something son who has a block about classic vinyl with the dubious name of She Likes Eight Inches. Com ( the size of an old LP record album) so in an effort to get a grip on what a guest ‘blogger’ was supposed to do I typed in Mason’s site and  Alakazam-Shazam! I was reading all about Talli Roland, her debut novel and her efforts to somehow ‘fool’ the Amazon bestseller list into thinking she was the heiress to Dan Brown. Now, admittedly, Talli is way, way, way, prettier than I am; in fact she’s a knockout but in the end I’m not quite sure if her ideas about marketing and sales have much to do with people who read a lot of books.

Having written and published thirty-odd novels and produced slightly more than seventy five really bad exploitation movies in my time I’ve learned that the one thing that people want in a book, e-book or otherwise is a good story. Period A REALLY  BIG PERIOD.

My latest novel, THE TEMPLAR CONSPIRACY is number 5 in a series about the adventures and misadventures  of an aging ex-soldier, West Point professor and adventurer named Doc Holliday. I could write about Doc forever—he’s got an interesting past and he and his photographer cousin, Peggy Blackstock have a real knack for getting themselves involved in adventures that hopefully take the armchair  adventurer out of his or her armchair and into a world of suspense and derring-do.

Stephen King—a fellow flying phobic just like yours truly said once that he writes what’s he’s afraid of. In the same way I write about the kind of things I’d never have the courage to do myself, sine when you get right down to it, all writers are cowards—a good thing or we never would have all those books and movies about gung ho adventurous heroes.

Anyway, I’m rattling on here; but my advice to anyone out there interested in writing and selling books  it to concentrate on telling a good story, and as soon as your finished  that one, starting another.

Paul, thanks so much for guest blogging here today. Good advice.