Fatal Reunion: Interview with Legal Thriller Author Ken Malovos
Ken
Malovos has been practicing law in Sacramento
for more than forty years. He spent twelve years with the Public Defender’s
Office and twenty-five years as a business litigator. He now serves full-time
as a mediator and arbitrator. Fatal
Reunion is his second novel. His first novel, Contempt of Court,
won first prize in the legal genre of the Mystery & Mayhem Book Writing
Competition sponsored by Chanticleer Book Reviews. He and his wife, Michele,
live in Sacramento.
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About the Book:
Jason Robinson
attends his 20th high school reunion where he connects with his old girlfriend.
The next day she is dead and he is charged with her murder. He asks attorney
Mike Zorich to represent him. Mike feels that the case against Jason is weak,
even though Jason has given inconsistent statements and some emails emerge that
give him a motive to commit murder.
Meanwhile, Mike is
trying to cope with his own problem with alcohol. After his friends confront
him, he enters rehabilitation and then begins his own investigation into what
really happened at the reunion, exposing dirty secrets that leave families and
lives ruined with their disclosure.
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Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d
love to find out more about the process.
Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? Where did you come up with the idea to write
your book?
Fatal Reunion is my second book. The
inspiration for this book was a news story I read about a woman who was killed
and, naturally, the police suspected her husband. But he had an airtight alibi.
The case went cold but then the facts were uncovered showing that that someone
else was responsible, someone that you would not normally even consider. I
thought it was so unusual and I wanted to explore what went through this
person’s head to make the decision to kill someone.
Another inspiration for the
story was a friend I knew who attended a reunion and found out that old lovers
had met again and took up where they left off in high school. I know that
people dream about this but I had not heard about it actually happening. So, I
combined the two stories. In the process, I got to explore the character of the
protagonist, Michael Zorich, who is facing is own demons. I think it comes
together alright, but I will leave that to the reader.
Q: How hard was it to write a
book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make
the journey easier for other writers?
The
short answer is that it was very hard. At the same time it was fun. Try that on
for a contradiction. There is nothing quite like the feeling of accomplishment
when I sit down at ten in the morning and, all of sudden, it’s four. I look at
the pages I have written with a lot of pride. But that doesn’t happen too
often. Usually, I am struggling to figure out where I am going. I do not
outline. I have to begin writing with a kernel of an idea and then let it
happen. Maybe I should try to outline more, but I have found that my characters
take me to places that I had not previously considered.
My
main tip for other writers is to never give up. If you like to write, then
write. Start with an idea and let it happen by itself. Don’t judge it. Just see
where your imagination takes you. Ask yourself what you would do. In effect,
you become a part of every character, whether male or female, young or old,
criminal or saint. Really, we are all more alike than we are different. Read
Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird. It
is the best book out there for good advice on how to write, in my opinion.
Q: Who is your publisher and how
did you find them or did you self-publish?
I
self-published through CreateSpace and found the experience satisfying and
relatively easy to follow. I knew that I wanted to be found on Amazon.com, so I
simply used their publisher. Also, the idea of printing on demand was very
attractive. The transition to Kindle.com was easy. However, I know there are
quite a few fine publishing houses for the self-publisher. So, this is just one
option.
Q: Is there anything that
surprised you about getting your first book published?
My
first book was Contempt of Court. I
learned that the process is not all that mystifying. Using CreateSpace, I
followed the instructions and asked for help whenever I needed it. Most
everything is done online and I received very quick responses. Before I
started, I was definitely intimidated, but once I got into it and understood
the various options and decisions that needed to be made, I saw that the
process was happening very smoothly. It’s a little like giving birth,
figuratively speaking. That’s my book. I have to say that I was overjoyed with
the final product.
Q: What other books (if any) are
you working on and when will they be published?
I
am working on a book about a man with a secret from his college days when he
was a student abroad. How does he deal with it, as he traverses along life,
first as an attorney, then as a prosecutor and a judge? Will it come back to
haunt him? Of course it does, otherwise there is no story.
Q: What’s your favorite place to
hang out online?
Huffington
Post, by far. I love all of the articles and authors that Arianna Huffington
attracts to her site. You can learn so much by just reading most of what she
posts. I am a political and a news junkie, so I follow a lot of those kinds of sites.
And I am a sports fan of the first order, so Sports Illustrated and the sites
for my favorite teams are my frequent landing spots.
Q: What’s your nightly ritual
before retiring for the night?
Nobody
has ever asked me that question before. Sometimes, I will have a glass of milk.
I got to bed when I am tired. It doesn’t work for me to go to sleep at a
specific time. I need to be in the mood.
I learned in college from a roommate that the best way to go to sleep is
to think back on the day and to plan ahead for the next day. I do this
religiously and have found that it usually works to help me to get to sleep.
Q: Finally, what message (if any)
are you trying to get across with your book?
Not
sure I have a message. I am trying to explore the motivations of people who do
horrible things, completely out of character. We don’t think of women as
killers or even as criminals. So, the question becomes why would a woman in an
established place in society do something horrible? What could possibly
motivate her? Also, we don’t often think that people who have a lot to lose
will do something stupid, but they do. It happens a whole lot more that we
think and writing about these kinds of stories is most interesting to me.
Q: Thank you again for this
interview! Do you have any final words?
Thank
for the opportunity to share my story. I would just say to anyone who likes to
write, to keep it up. Don’t be discouraged. Write a little. Think a lot. Then
write some more. It doesn’t matter if the first draft isn’t all that great.
There is always editing. And editing never seems to end.
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