Friday, July 6, 2012

Deadly Eyes Book Tour Stop



Happy Friday! Today as part of a virtual book tour, I have Michael Meyer guest blogging today.  I hope you enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!



 On March 8, 2012, I published DEADLY EYES, my fourth novel, my second thriller, and I am still not entirely thrilled about it. In fact, I am sad. I feel like a father whose baby has now matured to adulthood and who had to leave the nest and venture off into the world on his own. I have so much advice still to impart, but everything of importance that I can possibly say to him has already been said. It is now his life to live, and on his own terms. He has to stand on his own two feet, just as his siblings have. He has moved out of my house and has taken up his place beside his sisters and brothers at Amazon Kindle, a very nice place to live. He no longer lives at home, under his father’s protective wings, but, the doting father that I am, I will visit him often. I hope he reciprocates.
I miss creating the repartee between my two main characters, Cuff and Rosie, a couple in love, but both of whom harbor doubts about their relationship. They have not known one another that long, and, human as they are, they possess the very traits that sometimes lead to miscommunication between two people, even between two people very much in love with each other. I miss jogging home from my daily morning walk so that I can run upstairs to my computer and draft the few lines that popped into my head as I worked out. I miss seeing Cuff and Rosie grow right there before my own eyes. They are both people I like to be with. In fact, I literally fell in love with Rosie, a strong and independent woman, and as feisty as Cuff. She reminds me of Maureen O’Hara, the only actress able to stand up to John Wayne on the big screen. I love to hear Cuff and Rosie wisecrack back and forth. I marvel at their way with words. Sometimes I find myself chuckling at what they say, even involuntarily at times. It is disheartening to see the doubts they sometimes have about their partner’s commitment to their relationship, but I am so happy when they make up, when their innermost feelings about each other are expressed. Yes, I am the proud father. I admit it.
When I first gave birth to the book, I had no idea how it would end, let alone what would take place along the road to that end. There were so many possibilities. I wanted only the best for my baby, so I took my time, making sure that nothing would go wrong. It took literally years, not months, for me to finally see the novel come to full fruition. I miss the everyday experience of seeing the story evolve. I was a reader the whole way as I wrote the novel, never quite knowing what would happen next. As happens with any good book I read, I am sad that it has now ended.
My father used to say that people die in stages. I believe him. Now that DEADLY EYES is gone from the nest, one more stage of my life has died. And, as happens in life, my newly born novel must now live its own life. As its father, I can only wish him well.


Title: Deadly Eyes
Author: Michael Meyer
Publisher: Self/Amazon Kindle
Length: 225 Pages
Genres: Mystery/Thrillers/Suspense (Non-Romance)

Available at:

DEADLY EYES” is a semifinalist for The Kindle Book Review Best Indie Books of 2012!!

Blurb:
A HAUNTING CARIBBEAN MYSTERY
James Cuffy, better known as Cuff, is living in paradise with his girlfriend, on the small Caribbean island of St. Croix, where the sky is as blue as Cuff's eyes, the ocean as pretty as Rosie's cheeks, where the gentle lapping of the waves is a lullaby, and the swaying of the palm trees is a dance. The sandy beaches are as white as sugar, and the horizon is a world away. St. Croix indeed is paradise, the perfect place for living, laughing, and loving.

But the sandy beaches and the turquoise sea can provide no cover from the deadly eyes of the unknown stalker pursuing Cuff. Murder leads to murder as he attempts to untangle the terrible web in which he has suddenly become entangled.

The twists and turns are relentless, the roads of the fast action leading in all directions, but time is running out, and Cuff, his faithful Rosie at his side, knows it.

Excerpt:
These were not naked eyes, for the distance between these eyes and the beach bar at Cathy’s Fancy was too great for the naked eye to discern who was who. No, these eyes had planned meticulously. The eyes were glued to a pair of terribly expensive and unbelievably powerful Swarovski Optik binoculars. The balcony on which they now worked, taking in the scene before them, was the perfect place to see but not be seen. The powerful binoculars saw to that.

The distance, the palm trees, and the rays of the sun all helped. The position had been hand picked, after careful consideration. Every angle had been considered, and, one by one, they had all been discarded for one reason or another until this very spot, the perfect place to observe while not being observed, had been selected.

Yes, the eyes had seen it all. The eyes had seen precisely what they had hoped to see. They were like a master puppeteer. They planned, controlled, and observed, but from a safe distance. They did not miss a trick.
The eyes. The deadly eyes of St. Croix.


About the Author:
I have resided in and have visited many places in the world, all of which have contributed in some way to my own published writing. I have literally traveled throughout the world, on numerous occasions. I have lived in Finland, Germany, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, on the island of St. Croix, where DEADLY EYES is set. I gained the wanderlust to see the world, to experience other cultures, at an early age, and this desire has never left me. If anything, it has only gained in intensity as I have aged. I try to travel internationally at least once a year. In the interim, I spend lots of time traveling around both my home state of California and other nearby states.

I spent my early years in the small town of Lone Pine, California, the home of almost every western movie, in addition to a wide variety of other genres, made in the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. In fact, Hollywood still films parts of big-time movies there today. My dad, the town’s lifeguard at the time, personally knew John Wayne, Lloyd Bridges, and Lee Marvin, all of whom came to the town’s pool, the Memorial Plunge, at times to cool off after a hectic day of working in the sun. I was even an extra in a movie filmed there in 1957, MONOLITH MONSTERS, a B-cult favorite even today. I was ten years old at the time. Even though I resided in a small town hours from the big city, I was exposed to the excitement of action and heroes at a formative age, and, thus, my interest in writing novels of suspense such as DEADLY EYES was born.

As a recent retiree from a forty-year career as a professor of writing, I now live in Southern California wine country with my wife, Kitty, and our two other cats.

Pinterest writer’s site: http://pinterest.com/temmike/#



5 comments:

  1. Great guest post! I think the comparison of a book as a writer's "child" is perfect:)
    Deadly Eyes sounds like a very interesting mystery - adding it to my Kindle list

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    1. Thank you, Maria. I hope you enjoy my little guy.
      Mike

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  2. Storm Goddess, you did it again. You brought to my attention yet another book I HAVE to read. This book sounds amazing! The excerpt grabbed me!

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  3. I am following you, here is mine: http://dawnandwinniebookreviews.blogspot.com/

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  4. Nice post! The book sounds interesting. Thanks!

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