For a change of pace, I’ve interviewed two authors this week, Al Lane and Mark O-Brien.  Al lives in England and Mark lives in Germany. One writes and performs poetry, the other pens spy thrillers. Enjoy.

Al Lane

I met Al a couple years ago when I took part in the A-Z blog challenge, which involves posting every day of the month on one theme, with titles going A-Z. He wrote hilarious post-apocalyptic zombie haiku while I wrote about mythological beasts.

Show Notes

• Al got hooked on rhyming poetry, reading stories to his first son
• started writing picture books, loved the writing and the people
• moved onto poetry from there, and on to performing poetry
• has two books published: The Lane Less Travelled, a small anthology of this work that he hands out at gigs, and Haiku of the Dead, which is available on Amazon (see below)
• he writes prose, poetry, flash fiction and screenplays

Top Piece of Advice

Just go out and try things. Never be afraid of trying something new.

Bio

“I’ve no agenda to push, unless you count a belief that poetry should be a universal communicator and not confined to elites full of smug self-congratulation. Poetry should be fun, as well as have a heart… that is what I strive for. Uplifting nonsense that makes you think…” (from his website)

 

 

 

Haiku of the Dead

Haiku of the Dead, the essential guide to surviving the rise of the zombies in glorious technicolor haiku with dollops of humour, is available globally from Amazon – just amend the specific Amazon bit of the web address in the links below if you’re not in the UK or US, or search for Alistair Lane (there’s only one of me, it seems!):

 

 

 

UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07K1Q8MKY
US – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K1Q8MKY

Pictures of Al Performing

Contacts

A Certain Point of View (his website and blog) https://www.facebook.com/AlistairLaneWrites/
https://twitter.com/AlistairLane
https://www.instagram.com/lane.alistair/
Or on youtube

Mark O’Neill

• loves writing spy thrillers
• connects with several Facebook writing groups
• started off publishing exclusively on Amazon, but has gone wide and is growing sales around the world
• eclectic reader

One Piece of Advice

…from Hemingway,

“Write drunk, edit sober.”

The Renegade Spy

A Deadly Assassin Is After The German ChancellorGerman Intelligence officer Captain Sophie Decker has a reputation for refusing to play by the rules. This has made her enemies in her own service. But when an informant reveals a plot to assassinate the German Chancellor, Decker is assigned to protect the chancellor and kill the assassin.

She seems perfect, someone who will do whatever it takes to get the job done. But Decker has never had an opponent like the legendary Scorpion. He is relentless and ruthless, a faceless killer with an almost superhuman ability to disappear without a trace. Wherever he goes, he leaves a trail of dead bodies in his wake.

Bringing down the Scorpion will require precision, teamwork, and an ability to finesse the system – skills that a maverick like Decker don’t normally use. This time though, Decker’s rebelliousness could cost the Chancellor her life.

Bio

Mark O’Neill is a British award-winning fiction author now living in Würzburg, Germany. He is the creator of the acclaimed Department 89 spy thriller series and the Scorpion novels. He has won Bookworks’ “Book Of The Week” and the Readers Choice Awards 2018. His book “Operation Eternal Vengeance” has been nominated for the Readers Choice Awards 2019.

Contact Info

https://www.markoneill.org/books/ – links are there to each book and each sales platform.
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/markoneill
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markoneill_author

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markoneillonline

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