A Great New Book
Author Guest Post
Mailbox Monday
New On My Shelf

My thanks once again, go out to the lovely Kelsey, representing Book Publicity Services, who very kindly supplied the download for this book, in return for a fair and unbiased review.

I read the first book in the ‘Pigeon – Blood Red’ series some time ago and the second instalment, The Last Straw (Review scheduled for 26th July 2020), crossed my desk just a couple of weeks back, so the idea is to read #2 & 3 back to back, although the general consensus is that each story works fine as a stand alone, a claim endorsed by the author.

Ed Duncan, has also kindly written an updated Guest Post for me to share with you all, although as always, there is the dilemma of the most appropriate time and place to feature it! As I approach reading the last book in the original ‘Pigeon-Blood Red’ trilogy, now seems as good a time as any, although I am sincerely hoping that the series is going to continue, as it just gets better as time goes on!

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RICO STAYS – (Pigeon – Blood Red – Book #3)

After enforcer Richard “Rico” Sanders stepped in to protect his girlfriend from a local mob boss’s hot-headed nephew, all hell broke loose.

When the smoke cleared, the nephew had vanished, but three goons who had tried to help him lay dying where they’d stood. Fighting for his life, Rico was alive but gravely wounded.

Out of the hospital but not fully recovered, he needed a place to crash – a place where he wouldn’t be found by men who surely would be looking. A place like the cabin owned by lawyer Paul Elliott, whose life Rico had saved more than once. Trouble was, Paul’s girlfriend hadn’t forgotten Rico’s dark history. Or Paul’s fascination with him.

Using Rico’s girlfriend as bait, vengeful killers soon would be coming for him. The only question was whether he would face them alone or with help from Paul.

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ED DUNCAN

Ed is a graduate of Oberlin College and Northwestern University Law School. For more than 37 years, he was a partner and practicing trial lawyer, with a national law firm in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to an occasional trial, he wrote reams of briefs and opinion letters. He specialized in something called “insurance coverage,” which in general meant it was his job to evaluate whether or not a particular accident or loss was, or was not, covered by an insurance policy. In 2008 he wrote an original, highly regarded legal treatise, called “Ohio Insurance Coverage,” but he didn’t count that text as fulfilling his quest to become a published author, since it isn’t fiction, and what he really wanted to do was to write fiction, especially crime fiction.

Originally from Gary, Indiana, Ed now lives outside Cleveland, Ohio

Visit Ed at his website

Follow Ed on Twitter

Connect with Ed on Facebook

“It’s always been said that you should write what you know. I may not have been on the run from an underworld hitman, but I do know law and I’m excited to be able to use that knowledge creatively as well as professionally.”

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Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share links to the books that came into their house during the last week. This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well, after all you never know where that next “must read” book will come from.

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MEET THE AUTHOR / GUEST POST

“NOVELS or SCREENPLAYS” by ED DUNCAN

“After I wrote my first novel, Pigeon-Blood Red, I immediately set about looking for an agent, since most traditional publishers do not accept manuscripts directly from authors. The search was long and ultimately fruitless, but before I gave up, I was buoyed by the countless stories I had read by well known authors who had accumulated mountains of rejection letters before finally landing an agent. In fact, my growing stack of rejections became for me something akin to a badge of honor. In the meantime, following advice I had seen in more than one how-to book for aspiring writers, I started my second novel while I waited for that golden acceptance letter from that one discerning agent. (By then I had decided that I would write a trilogy, and the second instalment became The Last Straw..) While some agents requested the first ten pages, others asked to see the first three chapters, and a few requested the entire manuscript, then a magical acceptance letter never materialized.

I was at a crossroads. I didn’t want to start the third novel without an agent and despite, the earlier inspiration I had received from successful writers who in retrospect looked on their piles of rejections triumphantly, I had just about reached the point of giving up. Then something happened that caused me to change course. By chance I was listening to a late night interview with David Baldaccio. I believe he was appearing on the old Charlie Rose show. He was explaining how he got started writing novels and he mentioned almost in passing that he had been “messing around trying to write screenplays” – a phrase that stuck in my mind – before he realized that his talent lay in writing novels. I don’t know whether he gave any other details about how many scripts he had written, what kinds of scripts they were, or how close he had come to having one sold. I only heard that he had been unsuccessful writing screenplays while, obviously, he had later become a very successful novelist. A proverbial light bulb went off in my head. I had been “messing around” trying to write novels when maybe my true calling was writing screenplays. Brilliant!

Literally, the next day I bought a copy of The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trotter and a couple of similar books (Trotter’s was the best for hands on writing). I put my search for an agent on hold and doggedly converted my two novels into screenplays. I then started entering the scripts in various screenwriting contests, of which, there are many. Both scripts consistently received at least honorable mentions, and sometimes they placed as semi-finalists. Once, The Last Straw  was a top ten finalist. While waiting to see whether my scripts would attract the attention of Hollywood, I did the same thing I had done while waiting to hear from an agent. But instead of writing the third novel while I waited, I wrote a third screenplay, Rico Stays, from which I would eventually adapt the third novel in my trilogy. So now I had a trilogy of novels and a trilogy of screenplays. The first two scripts were adapted from the first two novels, and the third novel was adapted from the third script.

As the internet matured, it became easier to find publishers (though not traditional ones) that would accept manuscripts from writers who are not represented by agents. All three of my novels have now been published by such publishers. (The original publisher of my first novel, however, ceased operations a year after that novel was published.) Also, my trilogy has finally attracted the attention of a producer. Although these days there are many more companies seeking content than in the past, it continues to be very difficult to get a movie or a series actually produced. However, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, I find myself once again at a crossroads. While I wait to hear from Hollywood, I have not made up my mind whether to write another novel or another screenplay. At this stage of my life, perhaps I will write neither. But if I do write one or the other, I suspect I will end up writing both, with the second being adapted from the first.”

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