Monday, January 16, 2017

Blog Tour: Change of Heart by @daniel_side with a #interview



Suspense
Date Published: Release date: February 6, 2017


 Patrick Corman, loner, ex muscle for a call girl service, struggles to stay alive and care for his institutionalized daughter. But now the danger isn’t coming from the streets. He needs a heart transplant. Shocked when, with only months to live, a mysterious benefactor offers him ‘the deal of a lifetime’, he sees it as a solution, even after reading the fine print.
When his former crime boss suspects that he is revealing information about her, and a young newspaper reporter sees him as her chance to get her own by-line, Patrick’s life and death struggle escalates. For her part, reporter Katherine Alderson keeps secret what she knows about his transplant, unaware that Patrick has his own secret, hidden in the fine print of the deal he agreed to.
Patrick’s new heart draws them together and into a conflict neither could have imagined when they discover someone has delved into their lives, using them as pawns in his own political game.  Fighting to stay alive, one shocking revelation follows another, exposing the best and worst in both of them.


Purchase Links



Interview


Where do you get your inspiration for your stories?
I will try to be specific.
The inspiration for my first story, written at the tender age of eighteen with my cousin, was money. An English mystery novel, he wrote one chapter, I wrote the next. It was a sure fire scheme (one of many) to make us a lot of money. Surprisingly, the offers didn’t roll in and to this day you won’t find it on a shelf. But I guess it was the first feeble start of my writing career. 
The motivation for book two was a long time in development. As a youngster, I was a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Andre Norton, Tolkien and later Terry Brooks. Twenty years later, unable to find a science fantasy adventure I liked, to the encouragement of my wife, I wrote my own. I had tired of gnomes and dwarfs and was never a big ‘magic’ fan. By now I had family, and the theme of family, caring and protecting it, became central for The Reedsmith of Zendar, an adventure fantasy quest. It turned out, as many first books do, to be very much a personal novel.
The inspiration for the next novel, A Lesson in Revenge, was about wanting to write something more mainstream. Everyone was familiar with schooling and I was a teacher. I had taught in two old schools that had excellent architecture and they were large enough to develop a cat and mouse scenario – much like the original Die Hard
Change of Heart was inspired to a great extent by my family’s health history. Six of my mother’s brothers and sisters died of heart attacks or heart related illnesses, my mother as well. It was a starting point into which I mixed my passion for suspense that culminates in a thriller ending. A romantic relation always seems to wend its way into the fray of things.

How did you do research for your books?
Even before the research, when I get that germ idea, I usually spend a year or two (while I am working on the present book) developing the idea in a notebook. The story and characters constantly change (Change of Heart was much darker when I first envisioned it) but, when I am ready to tackle it, the research starts with the computer. So much easier than scouring the library (which I did for my earliest books). Obviously, depending on the nature of the book, some require more research than others. In the case of Change of Heart much research was needed because of the central issue of heart transplants. Again most information was culled from the internet but a retired doctor friend was instrumental in finding those final details from a heart surgeon that was difficult to find by myself.

Do you have another profession besides writing?
At present I do not, nor am I looking for one. Between looking after my darling wife Lynda, my three sons and four grandchildren, I sometimes have a difficult time getting the time to write. Hence it takes a while to produce that next book. Just for interest sake, besides teaching at the elementary level, as a youngster I worked in a department and liquor store. After building our log house I formed a Log House building company with another fellow whose house I helped build. I taught a course on log house construction at a local college and also ran the office of a manufacturing company.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?
Interesting question. When I was younger I would have answered much differently, but age and experience has a habit of tempering our decisions. The first time I went canoe tripping in northern Ontario with a friend, I think it was 1974, we took what we could carry on our back and portaged from lake to lake. I have been camping in Algonquin most summers since then. Went through taking the guys up one at a time as they grew until all five of us were going. Then as they dropped off, just Lynda and I continued. The point? I’m getting to it. Now Lynda and I take pads – for the sleeping cots, fold up chairs, a two burner little stove – well you get the point.  The medieval era, the wild west, to name two, can be very romantic – on film and in books, but just like the reality of the hard ground on a rainy day up north can be brutal – so can the past. I quite happy right here right now, thank you very much.

What is your next project?

I currently have three project ideas that are in the development stage. (ie. The notebook stage) One has to do with using the north as a setting for a suspense novel involving some historical events. Another is a dual story, present and past, involving the old west (the past) and present day. The third is a modern day, brutal thriller –which I think I probably won’t write because it would have to be just too dark. But I could change my mind, you never know. 


 Daniel is a retired school teacher who has written and produced many school plays, built his log home, restored a classic car, and spent many summers canoeing with his family in northern Ontario. Daniel’s other novels are A Lesson in Revenge and The Reedsmith of Zendar.  All three novels are available on Amazon.


Contact Information



For February, heart month, the money raised through the sale of CHANGE OF HEART will go to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

  “We are delighted that Daniel has chosen the Heart and Stroke Foundation as the charity ofchoice,” says Avril Goffredo, VP, Community Engagement, Heart and Stroke Foundation. The funds raised from this event will help us invest in research and continue our programs in prevention and survivor support, allowing us to save lives and create more survivors.”

Visit Daniel’s personal fundraising page.

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