BooksChatter: ℚ♫ Murder in Montague Falls - Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, Patrick Thomas

Today we have the pleasure of meeting up with three authors, Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, Patrick Thomas to talk about Murder in Montague Falls (29 August 2019, Crazy 8 Press, 203 pages), an anthology of three Noir-Inspired Novellas.

"Murder in Montague Falls contains three wonderfully dangerous journeys into the world of death and betrayal. So sit back and enjoy the ride." - John L. French, author of The Last Redhead

"These three novellas will have you feeling the spooky season for sure! Each author does an amazing job for writing the stories to stand out while having the setting be the common thread. You will finish this and see Montague Falls as that small town that just can never catch a break!" - Alyssa Aleshire, Amazon reviewer

|| Synopsis || Teaser: KCR Preview || Author Q&A || About the Authors || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||

A very warm welcome to Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton and Patrick Thomas; thank you for joining us on BooksChatter!

Murder in Montague Falls (Noir-Inspired Novellas by Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton & Patrick Thomas) has an official soundtrack: “You Kill Me” by The Turnback. Russ Colchamiro (a long time friend and fellow creator) asked the band to write what would be considered a closing credit tune for the book. They were happy to do so!

What was the inspiration for Murder in Montague Falls?

Russ: "My novella, Red Ink, is about a paperboy in the 1980s who witnesses one of his customers get murdered on his route. Well, that paperboy was me! I didn’t witness a murder, but there was a bloody stabbing on my route, which was one of the inspirations. But I didn’t think I had a novel’s worth of story to tell, so I invited Sawney and Pat to contribute noir-themed novellas of their own, and we combined them into one book with all three stories set within the same fictional town of Montague Falls."

The first thing that draws me to a book is its cover. Can you tell us about your cover for Murder in Montague Falls - why you chose that concept and who the artist is.

Sawney: "For our cover, designed by Milan Jovanovic (who also did the cover art for Sawney Hatton’s Uglyville), we wanted to evoke the darker side of suburbia with the row of virtually identical white houses beneath a gloomy, dusky sky. The rust-mottled, bullet-riddled town sign adds to the effect.

Lastly, each story is represented by a corresponding ominous motif—a stack of bloodstained newspapers for Red Ink, red pentagram graffiti for The Devil’s Delinquents, and a scattered bouquet of red roses for A Many Splendid Thing."

Can you tell us something quirky about Murder in Montague Falls, its story and characters?

"Sawney: "in The Devil’s Delinquents:

In the original outline, the three protagonists had been all male. I later decided the ringleader should be female, making her into a femme fatale to better fit the Noir genre.

The basement in the climax of the story was based on the basement of the house where my childhood best friend lived.

The title of each part of the novella is a reference to chapters from Anton Lavey’s The Satanic Bible."

Pat: "In A Many Splendid Thing, one of the characters names was inspired by a teacher who used to allow bullies to beat up kids in their class and didn’t do anything but watch. I thought it was appropriate."

Russ: "For years on my paper route, I fantasized about being a junior spy with a tricked-out bicycle loaded with rocket launchers, machine guns, infrared vision, and all other sorts of awesome gadgets. Some of that made it into Red Ink!"

If you could / wished to turn Murder in Montague Fallswho would be your dream team?

Sawney: "For The Devil’s Delinquents, I think director Rob Zombie would do the story justice, working from a script written by Harmony Korine.

As for actors, for some reason I kept picturing heavy metal versions of Michael Cera and Jonah Hill from Superbad. (They’re too old now.) I think Bella Ramsey, who played Lady Lyanna in Game Of Thrones, would make a captivating Natalie (adopting an American accent, of course)."

Pat: "For A Many Splendid Thing: Director, Alfred Hitchcock. Stars - DJ Qualls (New Guy) when he was a teen and Jayne Mansfield as the femme fatale."

Russ: "For Red Ink, Spielberg as director, Matthew Broderick (in his Wargame era) as teen Isaac, Natalie Portman as Dani, Wendel Pierce as Detective Butler, and Oscar Isaac as the suspicious neighbour."

What is your writing process?

Sawney: "I outline all my stories first, often in screenplay form, before I begin penning the prose.

Outlining is crucial to my process—if I don’t know where I’m going from the point of departure, there’s a higher probability I’ll never arrive to my destination. I write for that perfect ending I already know I’m headed for."

Pat: "I let the story run around in my mind and pick up steam and details, then I outline, then I write. Of course, the outline and the finished book may only distantly resemble each other.

And I tend to work best on a deadline.

Russ: "I’m about inspiration. When idea grabs hold of me, I jot it down and write whatever comes into my head. If I think there’s a real story there, I talk it out loud—usually while walking my dog (the neighbors have no idea what to think of me!)—and then do a loose outline.

After that, I plot a three-act structure, and then start filling in the gaps.

After I have a complete manuscript, I do at least a dozen revisions until it’s tight and clean."

What is in store next?

Sawney: "My current WIP is a ghost story/dysfunctional romance with substance abuse themes. So yeah, it’s a (dark) comedy."

Pat: "I have several kids books I write as Patrick T. Fibbs coming out next year including book two in The Undead Kid Diaries and the Babe B. Bear Mysteries for middle readers, a picture book and an early reader (Soggy Goes To The Beach) with my Ughabooz monster kids characters.

As Patrick Thomas I have the first books in two new series coming out and new Murphy’s Lore and Mystic Investigators books on the horizon."

Russ: "I’m nearly done with my first full-length novel featuring my intergalactic private eye, Angela Hardwicke. Scheduled to debut fall 2020."

And as a final quirky thing, to get to know you a little bit better... do you have a pet or something that is special to you that you could share with us?