Racing the Dream by M.T. Bass

 

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Thank you for visiting It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I don’t read in only one genre, so why should I only write in one? That would be boring. What’s most important to me is the story and sometimes it’s an adventure tale (Somethin’ for Nothin’), and sometimes it’s a dark humor satire (In the Black). Sometimes it’s a Romance (like Lodging) and sometimes it’s a Sci-Fi Serial Killer Murder Mystery (Like the Murder by Munchausen). Scenes and characters just percolate up into my brain and I go with them—wherever they take me. And that keeps it interesting for me, too.

What research or world-building is required?

Whether it’s fantasy, Sci-Fi, or twentieth-century air racing, a writer needs to get the world-building right for the story. Although only small bits of it get into my stories, I do a ton of research for my books, whether it’s murder investigations and AI/Robotics for the Murder by Munchausen stories or air racing and wing-walking for Racing the Dream. I guess it would be easier if I only worked with things in my own wheelhouse, but that’s a pretty shallow pool. A good friend of mine, author Jay Spencer Green (Breakfast at Cannibal Joes), said that it’s not about writing what you know, but knowing what you are writing about.

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.

As a Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, I know a lot about what goes on in the cockpit of an airplane. But Allison taught me a whole bunch about what it means to step out from behind the stick and climb out up top to do a wing-walking routine. And it’s kind of crazy.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

I never finish a novel. I finally just abandon them into the eBook and print world, because I’m a constant re-writer. I’m always tweaking my manuscript—even five or ten years after a book’s been published. I just can’t stop.

Are you a plotter or pantser?

Definitely a pantser. I get started and never really know where the story is going to end up. I was eighty percent done with Somethin’ for Nothin’, but I didn’t have an ending. Then one morning it came to me and I think it’s the best ending in all my books. There was one time, because there were so many characters in my satire, In the Black, that a plot outline was definitely needed. So, I spent weeks and weeks working out all the timelines and actions in a spreadsheet. But when I started writing it out, the characters simply refused to cooperate and it was better that they had their own way. So I gave up altogether on the plotting thing.

Look to your left – what’s sitting there?

Anything new coming up from you? What?

I’m working on a sequel to Article 15, which follows ex-Navy SEAL and legal troubleshooter Griff as he helps Country-Western singer Samantha Cross deal with a stalker. I’ve also got an idea for Hawk and Allison going to Costa Rica to fly crop dusters in the war on drugs. With more to follow…

Do you have a question for our readers?

I’d like to know how many folks actually read paperback or printed books and how many readers use Kindle Unlimited. Thanks.

“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.” ~Mario Andretti

Strap down the 5-point harness in the cockpit of a Formula 1 air racing plane and join Hawk as he chases victory! First on their amateur make-shift course over Antelope Acres, then on the re-emerging pylon racing circuit in the early 1960s. And finally, as Hawk battles 7 other top-level pilots at the very first National Air Racing Championship event in Reno!

Abandoning the cloth and his African mission, Father Bob returns to his slide rule to design Hawk’s racer. Sparks, his loyal yet surly mechanic, built it and wrenching both on the engine—as well as on Hawk—keeps them at the front of the pack. Home again in Los Angeles from behind the stick of a T-6 Texan as a mercenary in the Congo civil war, air racing is a new aviation adventure for Hawk. Ride along as he tangles with fellow pilots in “uncooperative formation flying” at two-hundred miles per hour a mere fifty feet off the ground!

And then one day cruising home to Van Nuys airport, Hawk spies Allison, a beach-blonde surfer girl, insanely wing walking on the top wing of a Stearman PT-17 bi-plane. He quickly sets his sights on her.

Fly low…Fly fast…and Turn Left…

Read an Excerpt:

Allison kicked off her shoes and dropped them in the car. I stripped off my jacket and left it, then we wound our way around the Albatross to the waterfront where she skipped ahead and waded into the surf.

Staring out to sea, she took a deep breath. “You’ve got to love it. It’s the law.”

“Well, I’m kind of a desperado.”

Allison spun around to kick water at me, then started walking north.

I followed along just outside the retreating waves.

“Sure, sure—a desperado. Well, don’t make me walk out here all by myself.”

“But—”

“But nothing.”

So I slipped off my shoes and socks, then rolled up my pants legs. She didn’t stop. “Hey, wait for me.”

Allison ran ahead, stopped, then turned to face me.

“I’m beginning to think that you’re the one who’s an outlaw,” I said walking up to her. “A real Black Rebel.”

“Maybe…”

“So, what are you rebelling against?” I asked.

“Whadda ya got?”

I looked her in the eyes and smiled.

“Well, then, don’t wait too long.”

I leaned in and we kissed, softly. Then more passionately as I took her in my arms.

“Mmmm…” she moaned sweetly, then put her head against my chest. “Come on.”

She took my hand and we walked north through the moonlit surf.

I watched her looking out to sea. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, nothing,” she sighed. “Just counting waves.”

“Why?”

“Force of habit. It’s what you do in the lineup.”

“The lineup?” I asked.

“Uh-huh. When you’re surfing.”

“Oh, no. Don’t tell me you’re a surfer girl.”

Allison began to sing The Beach Boys song: “Do you love me, do you, surfer girl? Surfer girl surfer girl.”

“Seriously?”

I stopped walking, but she pulled me along. “Everything’s a song.”

“Aye-Yi-Yi,” I moaned.

“And, you know, it does make sense—considering my job and all.”

I thought about it a bit. “Yeah…I suppose. A surfboard is kind of like a wing. And how long have you been doing that?”

“Before I started flying. I learned in Hawaii when Dad was based at Hickam. I think I might have been twelve. And, of course, there are great waves up north when I went to Stanford. It gets in your blood. You’re not fighting gravity, you know? You are riding a wall of green that some storm has thrown at you from way out at sea. And some of them get pretty big and mean and, man, you are racing for your life with the wind blasting in your face as the wave crests over your head. You’re scared, but your juices are flowing like crazy, too.”

“Sounds wild.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it is. Some say it’s better than sex.”

“You?”

She smiled at me. “Haven’t decided, yet.”

“Right…and you surf here?”

“Up north past the Malibu pier, at Surf Rider Beach. And Zuma Beach and County Line.”

“Well, what do you know: flying, philosophy, and surfing.”

“I do lead a full life.”

I looked out at the waves, then back at her. “So you do.”

We walked another half-mile north, then turned back south towards the Albatross, got in the car, and drove back to Hollywood.

When I walked her to her apartment door, we kissed again.

“Don’t wait so long to call, again,” Allison said as she slipped inside. Before she closed the door, she looked back at me. “Who knows, one of these days you just might get lucky.”

About the Author: M.T. Bass is a scribbler of fiction who holds fast to the notion that while victors may get to write history, novelists get to write/right reality. He lives, writes, flies and makes music in Mudcat Falls, USA.

Born in Athens, Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in the private sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace & Defense manufacturing market. He is the author of twelve novels, two novellas, and a book of verse. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories. Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.

Website: https://www.mtbass.net
Blog: https://www.owl-works.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/owlworks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Owlworks
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/mtbass
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5270962.M_T_Bass

Racing the Dream Purchase Links

Author Web Site Info Page: https://mtbassauthor.wordpress.com/racing-the-dream-white-hawk-aviation-stories-3/
Amazon (Kindle Unlimited): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CCSVMSQV

Stories by M.T. Bass

White Hawk Aviation Adventure Stories
My Brother's Keeper
Jungleland
Racing the Dream

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Murder by Munchausen Sci-Fi Thriller Series
Murder by Munchausen
The Darknet
The Invisible Mind
Motherless Children
Murder by Munchausen Trilogy: Books 1-3

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Article 15
Somethin' for Nothin'
In the Black
Crossroads
Lodging
Untethered

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