Jonathan Kellerman's publishing history shows that he hit the ground running with his first novel, When the Bough Breaks, which won several awards and landed on the New York Times bestseller list. But just as in his books, there is a more complex web behind the scenes.

"Actually, When the Bough Breaks was my ninth or tenth novel," Kellerman explains. "I wrote a slew of unpublished 'masterpieces' over a thirteen year dry period. The process began in 1971 after I won a writing award in college, got an agent, and began to believe literary success was imminent. Alas, Bough wasn't bought until 1983 and publication was delayed to 1985 because the publisher, Atheneum, had no idea what to do with it."

Suffice to say, Kellerman did not have high hopes for his debut.

"The book was purchased as (what I now realize was) a small book destine for a quick death and an unceremonious burial. The advance came out to three bucks an hour and at the time I was making considerably more as a med school professor, clinical psychologist, and court consultant. So  I never really thought writing would be a job. It was just something I loved and I figured I'd continue seeing patients and turn out a book every few years, if I could afford the time."

Still, the fact of publication was "proof that I wasn't just a self-deluded neurotic typing away in an unheated garage without a speck of success."

But then the thing all authors hope for happened.

"Somehow--I still don't understand it--the book became a word-of-mouth bestseller. I said, Hmm, okay, let's try another. Same deal. Ditto for my third, fourth, fifth . . .twenty-five years and 30 or so bestsellers later, I still don't get it. But I sure love it and I'm deeply grateful to my readers."

How did Kellerman prepare for this? What foundation was laid down for ultimate bestsellerdom?

Mike Lawson's books chronicle the adventures of Joe DeMarco, an aide to the Speaker of the House.  The fourth in the series and newest, House Secrets, is his best yet.  Lawson talked to Big Thrill contributing editor Jeff Ayers about his work and DeMarco.

What was your life before you became a writer?  

I've been very fortunate in my life: my marriage, my family, and my careers - both of them.  Before I became a full-time writer, I worked for the navy for about thirty years as a nuclear engineer and as a manager maintaining the reactor plants in the navy's submarines and aircraft carriers − and I had a very successful career.   It was a good job, an interesting job, and one that dealt with vital issues related to national defense - but it wasn't fun.  The fact was, although I cared very much about what I did for the navy and worked very hard at it, I didn't really enjoy the work.  With writing it's different.  I love to write and I look forward to writing.  In my old job, I sometimes dreaded going to work in the morning knowing the tough issues that I'd have to face that day.  By contrast, I never dread sitting down and working on my novels even when I'm going through a phase where I'm stuck on the plot or the words aren't flowing as they should.  Like I said, I was fortunate to have an interesting job as an engineer and to make enough money to provide for my family, and I was particularly fortunate to be involved at a fairly high level in important issues that really mattered in terms of the country's security − but I consider myself even more fortunate to now be doing something I'm truly passionate about and look forward to doing each day.

What were the origins of your main character, DeMarco?

The origins of DeMarco came from two things:  First, I decided before I wrote my first novel that I wanted to write political thrillers.  I've always told people that for a writer, Washington, D.C. is a target rich environment.  What I mean by that is that you can pick up a paper any day of the week and read about something that happens in Washington - some blunder, some scandal, some intelligence coup, something related to the military or Congress or the president − that provides an endless supply of plot-ideas for novels.  So, I wanted my novels and the novels' protagonist to have a D.C. "link".   The next thing I thought was that the mystery/thriller world didn't need another detective or cop or lawyer as a protagonist for a series - and thus DeMarco was born − a guy who works for the Speaker of the House.   DeMarco's job gave me the "access" I needed to write stories involving all the shenanigans and serious, important things that occur in D.C.

In SHANGHAIED, Eric Stone's fourth in the Ray Sharp series of detective thrillers set in Asia--a series based on true stories and described by Lee Child as "bizarre but believable, tough but tender, and fast but considered. Highly recommended." -- Hong Kong's been handed back to the Chinese. Ray Sharp's whole world is changing. Carnivorous Tibetan monks are worried about what a Chinese bank is doing with their money. A murderous, sociopathic veteran of the U.S. invasion of Grenada, along with his twin comely kung-fu bodyguards, Floss and Betty, figure into it. As does a painful dumpling accident, drugs, sex and rock and roll, along with the usual coterie of business moguls, hookers, friends and foes. And the return of Ray's Chinese-Mexican colleague and pal, the diminutive Ms. Wen Lei Yue.

Eric's previous series books include Flight of the Hornbill, Grave Imports and The Living Room of the Dead. He is also the author of Wrong Side of the Wall, a true-crime / sports biography. Eric worked for many years as a journalist in the U.S. and Asia, covering everything from economics to crime; politics to sex, drugs and rock & roll. He once wrote an advice to the lovelorn column for a bi-lingual (English-Chinese) fashion magazine.

Eric sat down with Big Thrill contributing editor Megan Kelley Hall to discuss his intriguing writing career and his next novel, SHANGHAIED, from Bleak House books.

Eric, how has your career as a journalist helped you with your novel writing?

It has given me an appreciation for how truly strange the world is. My books are loosely based on stories that I covered, or am very familiar with, from my work in Asia, so I've had a chance to put  my experiences into play in plots, locales, characters, pretty much every element of my books. The hard part is that in my novels, everything needs to make sense - unlike in the real world. As a journalist, if I could back up what I reported with research, it didn't matter how bizarre or illogical something was. Truth really can be stranger than fiction. A novel requires more logic. If my readers feel that something doesn't make sense, they lose patience with it. And, on a technical level, I've got a lot of experience with deadlines and writing every day, so I don't agonize too much over the actual work involved in writing.

What happens when a message in a bottle washed ashore contains neither the typical proclamations of love nor charts or maps to shipwrecks and buried treasure, but instead, secrets, lies, betrayals and the most unspeakable of crimes - murder? In THE LAST RESORT, the second novel in her Wanderlust Mystery series, author April Star takes readers on a journey to answer that very question. THE LAST RESORT features newlyweds and amateur sleuths David and Laura Jennings, two RV enthusiasts who stumble upon murder and intrigue as soon as they arrive at the St. Augustine RV resort where they hope to enjoy a romantic honeymoon. Kirkus Review called THE LAST RESORT "a fine blend of mystery and romance." As she celebrates the novel's recent release, April took time to answer some questions for Big Thrill contributing editor, Julie Compton.

Your protagonist Laura Jennings is an RV enthusiast and former manager of a camping resort. You, too, are an RV enthusiast and former manager of an RV resort. In what other ways is Laura like you? Or do the similarities stop there?  

At the time I was writing Tropical Warnings, the first title in this series and when Laura Jennings was created, I was managing an RV resort. I'm now an Office Coordinator and reservationist. Laura is really a composite of the woman I'd always hoped to become. Serious-minded but fun loving; business and success oriented, and a woman who displays a strong and independent spirit.

You state in your bio that the stories and characters in the Wanderlust Mystery series emerged from your experiences as a manager at the camping resort. Can you elaborate? Are there any aspects of your plots that are based on real events or people? Have you ever found a message in a bottle?

My husband, who is very much the romantic, has sent me a number of "messages in a bottle." Some with personal and touching notes, others held diamonds and gold. When I stated that the characters and plots emerged from my experiences as a manager and my own adventures as a fulltime RVer, I was talking about the "happenings" and some of the quirky characters that find their way into campgrounds. We had one woman who tried to convince us that she was half alien and she wanted us to be sure to let her know if Jerry Springer called!

"From an early age," thriller author Eric Wilson said, "I wanted to be a writer. Although I was born in California and raised in Oregon, my more enduring memories start in Europe where my parents took Bibles behind the Iron Curtain. Life was an adventure, full of exotic cultures and peoples." It's been a wild ride for his self-described "preacher's kid" who has become a bestselling Christian author, producing not only a series of successful original novels such as The Best of Evil, Shred of Proof and Dark to Mortal Eyes, but also the novelizations of a series of films like the immensely popular "Fireproof." Eric's latest is Haunt of Jackals from Thomas Nelson, the second in his 'Jerusalem Undead' series that began with Field of Blood and features Gina Lazarescu, a Romanian girl trying to solve an occult mystery with dire repercussions for herself and the and all of mankind.
 
When did you start writing? Did you write stories as a child?

My childhood love of books spurred me to write. By age seven or eight, I was writing stories. By age sixteen, I'd completed a 300 page novel.
 
You followed a really unique path to representation and getting published - can you tell us about that?

After publishing articles in college, I got married and had to get a "real" job. With the advent of the Internet, I began reviewing novels on Amazon, and it was there that an established agent noticed me while reading one of my reviews of a book he had represented. He saw in my bio that I was working on a novel and he asked to see it. I thought he was a scam artist, but soon learned he was the real deal. Eight months later, I had a contract with a division of Random House.

Karin Slaughter, the #1 internationally bestselling author of FRACTURED, has sold over 17 million copies worldwide. Publishers Weekly lauded her newest book, UNDONE, in a starred review: "Bestseller Slaughter brings together characters from her two series for the first time with electrifying results...[she] ups the emotional ante with every twist and turn in this disturbing thriller."

What's was the most difficult part of writing UNDONE?

BEYOND REACH, my last Grant County book had a pretty explosive ending.  My next book was FRACTURED, which is about Will Trent's world, so I didn't really have time to sit down and consider the emotional fall-out of what had happened in the previous book.  I'm being very cryptic here so as not to spoil things, but those who already read the book will know what I'm talking about.  The ending of BEYOND REACH was the hardest thing I've ever written.  As difficult as that was, talking about Sara in UNDONE was even harder.

What's your writing routine like?

I'm very lazy most of the time, but when it's time to write, I'm crazy busy.  I block out some time and go up to my cabin in the North Georgia mountains where it's just me and the bears and work for weeks at a time.  Usually, I'm pulling twelve to fifteen hour days.  It's really rough, and I would not recommend my writing routine to anyone.   
I suppose it comes from having such a finite amount of time to work on writing way back in the day when I was struggling to get published.  I had a full-time job, and then I had to block out time on nights and weekends to write.  Even though my only job now is to write, I still write on the same schedule as I did before.

The image of that wedding dress stays in mind. "FOR SALE: WEDDING DRESS. NEVER WORN," is the ad that television journalist Riley Spartz sees. Her news sense is strong: to her, the ad tells a story. "Mystery and emotion, all in one line." Exactly. And we're away.

It is unsurprising that Julie Kramer, author of Missing Mark, never misses hers. Kramer knows this world; walks this walk. Kramer is a freelance news producer for NBC's Today Show, Nightly News and Dateline. Before that she was an award-winning investigative producer for WCCO-TV in Minneapolis. If Kramer's depiction of Riley seems dead-on, this is the reason why: a lifelong lover of thriller and mystery fiction, the novels featuring Riley Spartz are the books Kramer looked for but could never find.

Kramer says she got "tired of fictional TV reporters always being portrayed as obnoxious secondary characters who could be killed off whenever the plot started dragging." Kramer wanted more for Riley and her wish -- and her work -- came true with the 2008 publication of Stalking Susan (the paperback debuts this month). Stalking Susan was published to wide critical and fan acclaim. It was awarded the Minnesota Book Award, Best First Mystery for the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, was a finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark Award and was recently short listed for both the Anthony and Barry Awards for Best First Novel.

The signs are good that Kramer's sophomore effort is a fitting successor to her debut. Publishers Weekly said Missing Mark was a "slick sequel to 2008's Stalking Susan while Booklist proclaimed that "Kramer has a winning series here."

John Gilstrap's terrific new book, No Mercy, is the first in a new series introducing Jonathan Grave. He's not an assassin and he's not a vigilante; he's a freelance specialist in covert rescues, and he will work outside the law to get things done--especially in highly sensitive hostage situations. In No Mercy when an Indiana college student is abducted and Jonathan's meticulous plan explodes into a deadly shooting spree, the local authorities are out for blood--and they're not alone. Someone wants to control a devastating secret... someone rich and powerful... someone willing to capture, torture, and kill anyone to get it. Even the people he loves most...

What can your fans expect in No Mercy - how is it different to your other thrillers?

First and foremost, No Mercy is the start of a series.  All my other thrillers have been stand-alones.  To be perfectly honest, I had never thought of doing a series before I conceived of the character who became Jonathan Grave.

 From the beginning of this project, I knew that I wanted to write a number of books around Jonathan, so my storytelling outlook was different from the very first paragraph.  The pacing is all there, and the character development is as strong as ever, but the story told in No Mercy plays out in the midst of a much larger story arc.  I've never had this much fun writing a book.

I hope that I always give my readers a thrilling ride, but in this one, even though I think they'll find the ending very satisfying, I hope that they'll close the book and mark their calendars for the release of the next Grave book in 2010.

Kathleen George chats with Big Thrill contributing editor Janice Gable Bashman about The Odds, George's fourth thriller that has focused on Pittsburgh homicide detectives.

Entertainment Weekly states, "If anyone's writing better police thrillers than George, I don't know who is."

Give us a quick run-down on The Odds and what makes it such a fascinating read.

I show what the police are doing, how they are working a case, but I also track the criminals and the victims. The reader is in the cat-bird seat, seeing everything, making the connections, and it can get very tense when the reader watches the police almost catching up to something or a victim making a bad decision. I love those big tapestries in which you see many stories unfolding. In this novel I have several versions of "motherless children" - which is one of my themes throughout all my work. I'm interested in people who missed out on nurturing and in children who become adults before their time.

My police characters have that in their history. Commander Christie had to be the support for his mother when she was abandoned by his father. As a result, he takes on a paternal role with almost everyone. The effect at the office and with the families of victims is that almost everyone ends up with a crush on him. His novice detective Colleen Greer has that particular form of magic too. She had unattentive parents. She made up for it with charm and will, so people get crushes on her, too.

But I think the main ingredient the EW reviewer refers to is the tension between the stories - the police working hard but the worlds of characters unraveling at the same time.

Four abandoned kids are at the center of your story. Tell us about them and why we want to know them.

I fell in love with these characters as I wrote them. They've had really rough breaks - they're orphans abandoned by their step-mother, but they're extremely smart in a number of ways. They're alert, well-read, and at the top of their classes in school. So this smartness and sense of responsibility both help and harm them. They are able to get away with being on their own. They're so good at it that people don't notice. That's frightening. Because they still need things - food, clothes, basic things. And they need adult attention. But a tricky thing I discovered about them as I wrote them was that they still had a capacity for love. For each other, for others. They're immensely generous kids.

BREAKPOINT is New York Times bestselling author, JoAnn Ross' ninety-ninth novel. She comes with terrific blurbs, like:

"Ross returns to her extra-sexy, extra-Special Forces teams and the special women in their lives in a winning mix of action and romance." ~ Patty Engelmann, Booklist

"If action, adventure and suspense are your drugs, prepare to be hooked." ~ Austin Camacho, The Big Thrill

And with a launch date of July 7, 2009, expect to see BREAKPOINT climbing the charts.

Protagonist Dallas O'Halloran is a hottie Air Force Combat Controller, who first appeared in Ross' novel, CROSSFIRE. As she puts it, "I knew Dallas was the babe magnet of the High Risk group.  But I had no idea what a charmer he was going to turn out to be!"

Fans adored him! Now he's back.

In BREAKPOINT, O'Halloran is none too pleased to find himself teamed up with the icy blond JAG officer who nearly court-martialed his friends. Julianne Decatur is tough and tenacious. Driven by her belief in military law, she has zero patience for hot shot Spec Ops cowboys who think the rules don't apply to them. But when she and Dallas are assigned to investigate a Navy flyer's death, they discover the trail of a ruthless killer with a secret to hide. And when their prey turns the tables on them, Julianne will have to depend on the one man daring and reckless enough to keep them both alive.

As a seven-years-old, Ross had no doubt whatsoever that she'd grow up to play center field for the New York Yankees. Writing would be her backup occupation, something she planned to do after retiring from baseball. Those were, in her mind, her only options. So, while waiting for the Yankees management to call, she wrote her first novella--a tragic romance about two star-crossed mallard ducks--for a second grade writing assignment. The rest is history.