A Muse from an Unlikely Source
Since its December 31st, 2017, Happy New Year. And, to all of you who read this blog, I wish you a healthy and prosperous 2018.
For me, that means getting more books published and writing news ones. Moscow Airlift is on track to come out in March 2018 and as soon as I can finish the last book in the Josh Haman series – The Simushir Island Incident, it will go off to Penmore Press and hopefully be out by the end of the 2018.
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of being interviewed on Dear Texas Radio. And, over the half hour, we got talking about some of the characters in my books, and the question was, “tell me about the most interesting character you created?” My immediate answer was Janet Pulaski in Forgotten.
Over the next few minutes, he asked questions about Janet and then fired the one that got me thinking, “Is she going to appear in another book?” The front lobes of my brain gave the answer as “no.” However, the question haunted me and started my brain thinking there was another book there.
When Forgotten was in the editing process, the publisher asked me would I consider turning it into two books with the second one titled The Assassin. We decided not to do it because one of the reasons behind creating Janet in the first place was to tell the story of the wives of POWs. To make her really interesting as a character, the Janet that I love became what one reviewer wrote – a badass, nymphomaniac lesbian assassin. All this took place in the summer of 2015.
Fast forward to a few days after the radio interview. The creative part of my brain was working overtime thinking of ways to bring Janet back. Questions like timing, i.e. when would the book take place? Answer, probably in 2002 or 2003. What happens to Karin? She dies of an aggressive form of breast cancer that metastasizes into uterine cancer?
The questions and answers keep coming. Does Janet keep the ranch after Karin’s death? No, she sells it after Monika dies. Where does she live? Janet buys a house in Dallas along with a bunch of property along a lake near Dallas. What happened to her next egg? It was invested well and she’s now worth north of $150M. Is Janet going to become sexually active again? Of course.
All of which brings me back to the three most important questions. One, does she resume her career as an assassin? Yes. Two, how is she be recruited and why? This is the hardest part because it drives the plot. I’ve figured it out, sort of. Three, who are the antagonists? If I started writing today, there will be a Russian, a Cuban and maybe a due gooder in the CIA.More I can’t tell you because a lot will evolve as I start write.
Can you tell I’m excited? Again, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. And thank you Dear Texas Radio!
Marc Liebman
December 2017