Author Interview & Giveaway - Courage Resurrected by R. Scott Mackey

Courage Resurrected

by R. Scott Mackey

 

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BLURB: 

Ray Courage’s wife Pam died thirteen years before in a car accident. Or did she? Ray’s world is turned upside down when he receives a series of e-mails from someone claiming to be his dead wife, accusing him of attempting to kill her and vowing revenge. Ray sets out to find the identity of the e-mailer only to discover the circumstances of his wife’s apparent death appear to be all but accidental.  

Soon Police Detective Carla Thurber comes to suspect Ray of killing his wife, and of a subsequent murder of Pam’s confidant. Meanwhile, a murderous predator who does not want the facts of Pam’s death to surface aims to stop Ray. In the greatest challenge of his life, Ray must outrun the police and elude those who are out to kill him as he seeks the truth about his wife’s death. 

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EXCERPT:

 

Walter Heffner told police that night that he thought an airliner had crashed on the road in front of his house, the sound so deafening, the eruption of flames so huge that only an object that large moving that fast could explain it. By the time he put on his shoes and coat he saw what was left of a car straddling the center stripe of the two-lane country road, the heat from the fire so great that he could not get within a hundred feet.  

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Talking with R. Scott Mackey:

What is your writing environment?

I work in a home office that is the occasional bedroom to my grown son when he returns home for visits. I work on a Macbook Pro on a variable height desk, which is more or less permanently set so that I work standing up.  It’s a nice arrangement. The office itself has plenty of natural light. I’m kept company by my dog and cat.

Who is your perfect hero/heroine and why?

I’ve become sort of addicted to the Hunger Games movies, and hope to read the books as well.  I really do like the Katniss Everdeen character, the reluctant heroine, flawed but courageous in the face of immense challenge. Of course, Jennifer Lawrence is terrific so that may be part of the allure.

What authors have caught your interest lately and why?

I’m such a scattershot reader that this one is hard to answer.  I read the usual suspects like Stephen King, Dean Koonz, Elmore Leonard and Michael Connelly, as well as a lot of non-fiction, where I like the authors mentioned below.  Richard Russo and Tobias Wolff are two of my favorites.  They both are wonderful stylists with deep insights into the human condition.  More recently, I really liked Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  The he-said she-said structure at the beginning, coupled with Amy’s character reveal midway through was brilliant.  I also liked Where’d You Go, Bernadette? By Maria Semple, which was laugh out loud funny. Oh, and Jess Walter. I thought the narrative style and structure of Beautiful Ruins was amazingly creative.

What type of book have you always wanted to write?

I really enjoy writing in-depth non-fiction.  I like doing the research and the idea of making sense out of events by weaving them together in a way that is enlightening and entertaining for readers. I admire the work of Laura Hillenbrand, Erik Larson and Daniel James Brown. I have a non-fiction book in the works, but is on the back burner until I complete a few more of the Ray Courage books, which I also love writing. 

Top 3 things on your bucket list?

I don’t really have a bucket list, per se. I want to travel with my family to countries that we’ve yet to visit. I’d like to break 80 in golf some day. And, I’d like to be a bestselling author. Not that becoming a bestseller is validation in and of itself, but I would like to achieve that kind of reach so that my work can be enjoyed by a larger readership. 

How did you get the idea for this particular novel?

Courage Resurrected follows the first book in the series, Courage Matters.  I wanted to build on the character and intensity of the first book in a fresh way.  I had already established that Ray’s wife had died in book one, so I wanted to explore that some more by asking the question, “What if his wife actually didn’t die?”  Exploring that question enabled me to introduce more of Ray’s backstory in the context of a very fast-paced plot told from multiple viewpoints.

What is your favorite scene in your new release?

I’d have to say the scene between Ray and Dr. Ernest Gray, the psychologist, who has a bit of a hard time connecting with Ray. I’ve had readers tell me that they cracked up so hard they had tears in their eyes. One reader blamed me for spitting out her coffee and staining her shirt.  It was a fun scene to write. 

What are you working on now and when can we expect it to be available?

I’ve got a lot in the pipeline. I just finished the Ray Courage No-Nonsense Cookbook, which features recipes from the novels. The fourth novel in the Ray Courage Series, Courage Lies Beneath, will be released this fall.  I’ve already started working on the fifth book in the series, which I hope to release in early 2016. 

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I walk my dog every day. I read a lot. And I do a lot of book marketing.  I wish I had more time to play golf and travel, though I hope to do a bit more of both in the coming months.  My wife and I are talking about going to Copenhagen later this summer.

What is one interesting fact about you that readers don’t know?

I’m a California native and have lived in 10 different cities and towns in California during my life:  Mt. View, Palo Alto, Davis, Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Huntington Beach, Huntington Harbor, and Maxwell.  We have our quirks here in California, but I still like it.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

R. Scott Mackey lives in Northern California, where he writes both fiction and non-fiction. His first book, Barbary Baseball, achieved critical acclaim from baseball historians for its quality research and writing. He followed that with two young adult novels. His popular Ray Courage Mystery Series includes Courage Begins, Courage Matters, and Courage Resurrected. The fourth book in the series, Courage Lies Beneath, is scheduled for release later in 2015. 

Scott's career arc has included stints as a corporate communications manager, college professor, copywriter, bartender, and youth sports coach. In addition to obsessing over punctuation and grammar, he cares about his family (including his dog and cat), the San Francisco Giants, and his rather sad golf game.


 

Follow him: 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/smackey17 

Facebook: www.http://www.Facebook.com/rscottmackey 


Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1tMtfF8


Web: http://www.rscottmackey.com  

 

 

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GIVEAWAY:  

R. Scott Mackey will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway