Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Open House Sunday Interview – Author Joy Lennick

A chance to meet the wonderful author Joy Lennick in an interview about her fascinating life and publishing adventures

New Release: “Zyklon” by John Hazen

John Hazen is one of my favourite indie authors as my many previous blog posts on him should prove. I’m delighted to announce his new release in the Fava series: “Zyklon”, which I had th epleasure of reading ahead of its release.

“Zyklon” is a gripping thriller with depth and plenty of rather contemporary themes and issues in it. For that alone it is worth reading.
Remarkable here is the figure of Reverend McKenzie, a controversial, Islam hating outsider in the presidential candidate race.
Our main heroine, Fran, is a journalist who has become a news anchor, chosing an easier albeit somewhat more boring life over investigative journalism. Her predecessor is covering the campaign of presidential candidate Peter Kent. While the focus on the campaign trails, a sinister serial killer, the so-called Zyklon murder, grabs our attention by killing five descendants of Nazis with Zyklon gas.
Fran can’t resist to get involved in the investigation.
The story is complex with an inter-woven plot that links the murder and the campaigns, but it also links the present investigation with the previous thriller “Fava”, explaining some of the backstory and characters, which gives a rewarding sense of continuity and character development.

The themes are all very relevant to current affairs but this novel is far from a black and white scenario as one might expect. It’s fast paced with plenty of surprises and twists, character evolvement and character depth, humanity and morals.

Hazen has a knack for subtlety and nuances, unpredictable turns and a intelligent and sensitive writing style. I’m a big fan of all of his novels so far and cannot recommend this enough. A true gem.

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/suspensethriller/zyklon

Bio: John Hazen came to writing novels relatively late in life, but once he started he hasn’t looked back. He was born and raised in Massachusetts but has lived in the New York City/New Jersey area for the past forty years. Degrees from Rutgers, The New School and NYU buttress a lifelong passion for learning and a love of history. Inspired by Lynn, his wife of over thirty-five years, he pursued the dream of becoming an established author and is now working on his fifth book. John and Lynn love to travel, and the experiences of those travels find their way into his writing. John’s reading tastes are eclectic, ranging from histories to classic novels to an occasional piece of modern trash. His absolute “must reads” are Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potterseries and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s No Ordinary Time.

Website – www.johnwhazen.com

Twitter – @john_hazen

Facebook – john.hazen.92@facebook.com

Book links:

Aceldama – http://www.blackrosewriting.com/suspensethriller/aceldama or

http://amzn.to/1qWS97P

Fava – http://www.blackrosewriting.com/suspensethriller/fava?rq=fava or

http://amzn.to/1TCi1zH

Journey of an American Son – http://www.blackrosewriting.com/suspensethriller/journey-of-an-american-son?rq=journey or

http://amzn.to/1UY5lG3

Dear Dad – http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Dad-Novel-John-Hazen/dp/1466394757

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Author Spotlight: Geoff Le Pard

Sometimes a short article can say more about an author and their work than a page of great reviews and marketing slogans.
Geoff Le Pard is a gifted author (I featured him on my blog a few times), a fascinating and remarkable man (great cook, obscure beard colourer) and this is a lovely post he wrote about his departed mother who’s featured in his new book.

M J Mallon YA Author and Poet

I’m thrilled to welcome Geoff Le Pard to my blog home today. Anyone who writes about family gets my undivided attention. There’s nothing like family!

His new book Apprenticed To My Mother was released on Tuesday 12th June.

He’s written a lovely moving anecdote about his dear departed mother, Barbara’s funeral and her brother Ted especially for this Author Spotlight.

Read on:

When I came to write my memoir of the period between my father’s death and my mother’s, I started by focusing on the two funerals. My father’s was the first where I played any significant role, and mostly I wanted to make sure whatever happened, it met Mum’s approval. With Mum’s, since my brother and I were now orphaned I felt freer to let it reflect how I imagined it could be the best recognition and, in my judgement, celebration of a life well lived. My brother was…

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