Love, Lies, and Bad Guys by Bill Blodgett

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Thank you for having me here today.

Today I’d like to share five things people would never guess about me, but that’s a tough one. My life to those people close to me is an open book, but for readers maybe not so much. I’m not going to label myself as a Renaissance Man because that implies a level of understanding that I may not have in most of my interests, but I have a variety of interests and I’m not afraid to try anything at least once. I really love jumping into unknown territory and trying to do something I’ve never done before. Say like Bee Keeping. What a thrill it is when you’re covered with honey bees for the first time or restoring an antique vehicle without ever having any experience, or scuba diving. These and so many other things caught my interest over the years and it’s been a fun ride. One thing that caught my interest and has never waned is writing. This interest is a lifelong love affair.

Most people, even my best of friends, don’t understand how shy I can be when it comes to my creative side. I’ve lectured to a hall of 200+ people without breaking a sweat, but ask me to play the piano, sing, or act in front of five people I get all nervous and break into a very sweaty meltdown almost instantly. Once I was asked to pretend to play the saxophone in a local small theater group and even that was so difficult for me that I had to drop out. I preferred the backstage prep rather than the acting part of theater.

I’m kind of compulsive. I tend to do things too much. Like smoking – three packs a day until I realized that if I kept going I’d never see my kids grow up. Now I’m smoke free and watching my grandkids grow. I was a sugarholic. I had just a little coffee with my sugar every morning, A candy bar every time I left a store that sold them. Snickers was my choice of poison. Then the doc said I’d have to start taking diabetes medication if I didn’t change my ways so I haven’t had any sugar and only a few carbs in four years, but I am medication free. A fair trade.

I like to sew. My dad ran a dry-cleaning and tailoring shop when I was young and when I worked with him he taught me how to sew on one of those old treadle sewing machines. I still sew from time to time if the need presents itself.

Lastly, I’m not very highbrow at all. Most people think because I’m a writer that I’m an intellectual sort of person. Nope not the case. I love people and what makes them tick and that’s why I write. Nothing brainy about caring for people that makes you an intellectual at all. All you need is a little heart.

When US Marshal Jay Stonewalker sees a possible terrorist comment in a chatroom frequented by anti-government radicals suggesting a nuclear threat to New York City, specifically the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, he can’t get it out of his mind. Against his boss’s orders he heads off to NYC to investigate on his own time. While there he follows a suspicious character into a secluded recess of the New York Subway system and foils what he believes is the terrorist event. In a shoot-out with his suspect he’s wounded and calls the NYC PD for backup. When he sees NYPD Detective KC Daviau and other uniformed officers slipping into the darkness from the subway platform he’s relieved, but to his surprise he’s met with resistance and disrespect by Detective Daviau. Against his objections, KC takes custody of the evidence and leaves the scene. When Jay asks an officer if she is always that way he’s told that, “Since her parents died, she’s been… let’s say… a little cold.” When they are assigned to work the case together, KC’s icy exterior soon begins to melt away as they begin to fall for each other, but KC has to hold back. She has a dark secret and knows he can’t ever know her truths because if he did he would hate her just as she hates herself for what she’s about to do.

Read an Excerpt

Because the Waldorf Astoria in New York is their flagship and it’s the symbol of everything that is America. They tried to bring the towers and the World Trade Center down in an unsuccessful attempt in nineteen ninety-three, but managed on September eleventh, two thousand one. What makes you think they won’t try something again? Their hate runs deep.”

“Jay, let it go. Maybe it’s just a disgruntled guest that had a bad experience after spending oodles of money there. Please let it go for your own sanity.” She pleaded and hated herself at the same time. How can I make such beautiful love with this man yet still lie to him? There must be something drastically wrong with me, but it’s too late to turn back now. She knew it wasn’t a terrorist’s threat. It was just her and her merry band of anti-nuclear activists making the world safe. She began to lather up his chest with a loofa body puff and watched as he closed his eyes.

“Just let it go, Jay,” she repeated.

He opened his eyes slowly. “I can’t just let it go. Maybe Gary wasn’t involved with the original chatter I found, but maybe he was. Maybe it’s a whole other source of crazies wanting to take a shot at the Big Apple. Maybe it’s the Russians….” Her heart skipped a beat while she tried to rationalize that Sergei and what Jay was alluding to was just a coincidence. Sergei was fighting the good fight. She was sure of that.

About the Author:

I still live in the community where I met and married my lovely wife, Janice. Actually, she lived around the corner from me and we both ignored each other until our teen years when the hormone thing kicked in and we suddenly realized that the cute little girl skipping rope and that goofy boy riding a bike had both grown up.

We are the proud parents of April and Lindsay; both of whom are now married. April married Darren and they have two beautiful boys, Brian and Owen. Lindsay married Tim and they have two beautiful children: Kailyn and Evan.

I enjoy hiking, kayaking, camping with my family, golfing, making candles, and restoring my antique European sports car, a 1972 MGB.

They say to write from what you know, so I do. I write of love, life and relationships. In addition to the romantic plot we all expect from a Romance novel all of my books deal with a real-world issue as a sub-plot that we all have had to deal in some manner in life, but not in a preachy way. I find that including this sort of theme helps me identify with my characters on a personal level. My hope is that the reader will also feel that connection with my characters.

I have four other published novels. Dead Or A Lie and Saint’s Sword are vampire Romances. Unrequited is a contemporary novel with romantic elements and received 4 stars from Romantic Times Book Review magazine. The Last Prejudice is a family saga that deals with the issues a family must address when a family member comes out.

I have been a member of the RWA and the Central New York Romance Writers since 2004 and have held various posts in my local group. By day I am a construction inspector for an engineering company.

Website: http://www.billblodgett.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorbillblodgett
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bill_blodgett

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Lies-Bad-Guys-Connection/dp/B084DFQWWB/
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