Welcome to The Saturday Spotlight, a weekly feature showcasing debut, Indie, self-published and authors who specialize in Ebook publishing. This week I have the pleasure introducing readers to:
Mike Faricy
~author of Russian Roulette ~
A Writing Journey
by Mike Faricy - Sept 2011
Hi Tina, thanks for having me in your Saturday Spotlight. I’m relatively recent to the Indie publishing ranks. I've written for years, submitted the standard query letters to publishers and agents alike, and always received the same polite form rejections. Once in a while there would be a hand written note, some remotely encouraging line like ‘No thanks’. You’d better have a thick skin or develop one quickly in the submission game. I would dutifully write another book, send out another forty to sixty queries, enclose self addressed stamped envelopes so I would receive my rejections quickly and pay for the privilege.
I think I was on book four or five when one of my query letters was returned. Crookedly stamped across the front of my envelope, in a reddish purple ink, all capital letters, were the words RETURN TO SENDER. Hand written on the back of my unopened envelope was a note which read ‘This does not fit out needs at this time’. The unopened query had been sent to one of the top ten publishing houses in New York. It suddenly dawned on me that Mike Faricy, from St. Paul, Minnesota, doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance with these guys. I haven’t looked back since.
That note forced me to take a side entrance into the publishing world, through the gate marked electronic publishing. I have eight eBooks out there, all stand alone. They can be read in any order. I’m currently working on number nine. My books are crime fiction, theoretically written with a sense of humor. They do not deal with large issues, like saving the world, nuclear war, plague, or international plots. Rather, they deal with the sort of individual we may find interesting but prefer to keep at a distance. My characters usually have a foot on either side of the law. The circumstances they find themselves in are due to bad decisions they have made, but then, bad decisions make for interesting stories.
In Russian Roulette, I introduce my first recurring character, Dev Haskell. Dev can best be described as a dysfunctional PI. He guesses a lot, is usually wrong. Has a bit of a lazy streak. Not the best judge of women. Occasionally a good woman sees some glimmer of hope and takes him on as a project, but invariably throws up her hands in disgust. In Russian Roulette he’s just been paid by a client and after covering overdrafts has barely enough left for a small celebration. While celebrating, a new client hires him and by morning he’s suddenly in over his head with the Russian mob.
I should mention that’s my son on the cover of Russian Roulette. His fiancee is holding the gun to his head. While we were taking the photo he told the assembled bar patrons, this is at 10:30 on a Sunday morning, the photo was for their ‘Save the Date’ card. Dev is also the main character in Mr. Softee. The two Dev Haskell novels can be read in any order. I’m currently working on a third Dev tale, Bite Me, due out this fall.
I write what I know, all my books have a Minnesota reference, and yes, I do know characters like the ones in my books. See my line above about keeping them at a distance.
Mr. Softee is now available in paperback. Russian Roulette should be available in paperback in just a couple of weeks. I’m hoping to have the other six titles in my backlist available in paperback by Christmas.
I’m always interested in readers feed back, please feel free to contact me at I’d like to wish everyone happy reading and please let Tina know if you’d like to read Russian Roulette. I’d love to send a free download to you.
Many thanks, You can find my books at Amazon.com, Smashwords.com, Barnes&Noble.com or, you can check me out at www.mikefaricy.com all the best.
Thanks Mike for stopping by and sharing your journey in writing Russian Roulette. Best of luck to you and the success to your writing career.
GIVEAWAY
Today if your interested in reading this book, Mike is sending you a free Ebook version of his book Russian Roulette. Just leave a comment and it will be forwarded to the author.
Russian Roulette by Mike Faricy
No one is surprised when dysfunctional private eye Devlin Haskell ends up in bed with his latest client. But, he hasn't the foggiest notion she's just signed him up with the Russian mob. Their 'special' relationship quickly finds Dev at odds with local police and an FBI task force investigating human trafficking. In the process of getting answers, Dev finds himself on both sides of the law. He's shot, beaten, car bombed and used as a human shield, all in the name of justice, at least as he sees it.
Sounds pretty interesting! I'd love to read it!
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