AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Tell us a bit about L.A. Bytes


L.A. Bytes came about through two events. One was the big Eastern blackout back in 2003 and my reading a book called Black: the Invisible Threat of Cyber-Terrorism by Dan Verton. In the book he discusses the possibility of something like the black out being caused by a terrorist attack, then followed by physical assaults on our power grids. He made a very chilling case for it and I became fascinated with the idea. But instead of doing it as a broader thriller, with global consequences, I decided to put it in L.A. with Chris and David the ones at risk. After L.A. Boneyard, where David was central to the book, I wanted one that gave Chris more focus. So in L.A. Bytes, he gets to use his computer skills to save the day and David.



What's your favorite part of writing this book? Why?

In some ways I like the revision best. I've done the hardest part, which is finishing it, now I get to play around, get some feedback from beta readers and sculpt a good story out of the bones that are already there.



What can we look forward in the future from you?

There will be at least 2 more L.A. stories. One is already in first draft. It's called Bermuda Heat and takes our lovers out of familiar territory and puts them in an alien world. The second one after that is barely in outline form. I want to return to L.A. next year for research. I'm also branching out into historical novels, some gay and some straight. I'm heavily involved in researching the 1920s and 30s. I have one novel finished set in L.A. and am writing another.

There may be a third Geography book with Alexander Spider and Jason Zachary. I haven't been hit with any ideas yet, but I like those 2 and I'd like to see more of them.

There is another book set in L.A. coming out this year. It's called Between Darkness & Light and puts an LAPD detective with a dark secret in his past with an up and coming fine artist to find out who's killing art critics.



If you could change one thing about your publishing career, what would it be? Why?



I wouldn't have waited so long to try to get published. I wrote for decades before L.A. Heat, but aside from one or two submissions I never worked very hard at getting published. I guess I didn't really believe in myself then. I would have like to have seen where I'd be now if I had put more effort into it even 30 years ago.

Where can we find your website?

My main site is: http://www.pabrown.ca/

My new historical site, which I write under my pen name GK Parker is here: http://gkparkerhistorynoir.blogspot.com/