The Taylor Street Gang files, part 5. Robert Craven.

Rob Craven wrote one of my favourite books from last year, "Get Lenin", and if you're a Facebook friend of mine you've probably seen his link on my page a couple of thousand times.

 A really good bloke, a fan of Guinness, (which puts him in the "Good Bloke" category straight away in my eyes) and also a talented story teller. Here's the blurb for Rob's latest book, "Zinnman" and then we'll squeeze some info out of him.

Zinnman.

In this assured and compelling sequel to 'Get LENIN', it is 1941, and the Allied intelligence team of Henry Chainbridge, Peter De Witte and Eva Molenaar are tasked by Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden personally with destroying a terrifying new weapon of mass destruction being developed jointly by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, using Chinese prisoners of war as guinea-pigs before giving it its first full test on the Russian Front.

As ever, Eva is the sultry Polish-born spy putting her body on the line at the heart of the enemy, Chainbridge is the reserved master strategist and De Witte is the suave, blind intelligence gatherer in love with Eva Molenaar, but does she still love him back or has she fallen for a German agent?

Thanks very much for the interview Reg, and congratulations on ‘The Division of the Damned’, it's a wonderful read!

                My name is Robert Craven and I have 2 novels published by Taylor Street Publishing ‘Get Lenin’ released June 2011 and its sequel ‘Zinnman’, released August 2012. I live in the seaside town of Rush, north of Dublin, Ireland and I’ve been living there for nearly 12 years. I work full-time near Dublin Airport and in my free time write. I prefer to keep my private life private, so I’m married and a family man and that’s it.

How I got here as an author started when I was a journey man bass player in Dublin between 1986 and 1997. Over those years, I kept ‘gig’ diaries, and around them, I built a novella titled ‘‘Vocals preferred, own transport essential’’ and touted it around a few publishers. Though I got a few rejections, I also got some encouraging remarks, I learned the ropes and when I started writing Get Lenin in January 2005, had a plan.

Genre:

    The genre I specialise in is action/adventure. I think a book should be among other things entertaining and I hope with both Get Lenin and Zinnman they are good old fashioned page-turners.  The kind of books I imagine you see in an airport, while you’re waiting for the boarding call and thinking ‘‘this will do to pass the time.’’

What’s my inspiration?

    Now that is a good question! Good writing inspires me – well written novels, historical biographies or even a concise piece of journalism. I’m currently reading Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim books, and it’s like discovering a new band you want to jam along with – the way he writes dialogue and use of frags is really, really well done. Sometimes a photograph, painting or piece of music might give the few remaining brain cells a good kick and have me back at the computer typing.

My favourite author?

    Again a tough one – I suppose the biggest influence on me has been Stephen King; ‘The Stand’, ‘Salem’s Lot’ and ‘Dolores Claiborne’ stand out for me. Andrew Miller’s ‘Ingenious Pain’ is another exceptional book.  My all time favorite book though is ‘1984’ by George Orwell; there isn’t a wasted syllable in it.

On TSP

    Taylor Steet Publishing has been very good to me. After 5 years of grinding out rejection slips and no responses to my pitches for Get Lenin, Tim took a chance on it and published it last year. Then when I received the contract for Zinnman, it was the icing on the cake! Taylor Street to me is more of a family as a good few of the authors here were friends and rivals all jockeying for position on the Authonomy peer-review site. There’s a good community feel which both Tim and Kathleen have worked hard to foster and everyone has their sleeves rolled up and pitching and helping their fellow authors. It’s easy to forget that Tim’s passionate about the books TS produces, whatever the author’s style, and that’s the extra touch; you don’t get the sense that you have to adapt your work to a ‘house style’.

My plans 

     At the moment I don’t have any plan other than to complete the 3rd installment of Eva Molenaar’s adventures, it’s titled ‘A Finger of night’. I have the first draft down, but won’t go back to it properly for a few months, let it settle for a bit and also re-check the research.

    I’m also in the great position at the moment of reviewing new music for Musicians Together magazine – an on-line magazine and network for Irish & International musicians. It makes my day seeing a new CD come through the letter box!

Eva Molenaar; Ingenue, muse, model, assassin – she’s uncovered a plan, and she’s the only one who can stop it... see the links below:

Get Lenin:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-LENIN-ebook/dp/B0054EX4XW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1347015245&sr=8-2&keywords=Get+Lenin

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-LENIN-ebook/dp/B0054EX4XW/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_1

Zinnman:

http://www.amazon.com/Zinnman-ebook/dp/B0094WYC0E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347015339&sr=8-1&keywords=Zinnman

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zinnman-ebook/dp/B0094WYC0E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347015375&sr=8-1

thanks again Reg!

Rob

Nice one mate.

So peeps, now you know.

Reggie ;-)