Interview with Scott R. Lord, author of 'The Logic Bomb'



Scott R. Lord has been a highly successful criminal and civil trial lawyer for 35 years and is active in the practice of law with the law firm of Cohen & Lord, a P.C., located in the Century City area of Los Angeles. Scott is a devoted student of Italian language and literature. He is the father and step-father of six children and lives with his wife and children in Santa Monica, California.

His latest book is the thriller, The Logic Bomb.

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About the Book:

Fiction collides with fact with frightening prescience in Scott Lord’s ripped-from-the-headlines techno-thriller, THE LOGIC BOMB.

In his exciting debut as a novelist, Lord, a practicing lawyer, mixes shady financial deals, organized crime, and the real-life threat of cyber warfare into an unlikely but always entertaining blend of high
drama and comedy.

Scott Turow, author of the bestselling legal thriller PRESUMED INNOCENT, hails Lord as “a terrific writer. Read THE LOGIC BOMB.”

Kirkus Reviews praises THE LOGIC BOMB as “rife with tense scenes dominated by gleefully unpredictable characters.”

Lord’s hero, Tom Tresh, is a Los Angeles lawyer living on an aging sailboat while struggling to support his seven-year-old son and an ex-wife. When a friend offers him a “huge payday” if he helps with a shady deal to sell a complex but seemingly harmless computer program to a Hong Kong company, Tresh finds himself in a firestorm of intrigue, because the program is actually a powerful cyber weapon, capable of infiltrating and destroying computer systems.

Lord cites former National Security Advisor Richard A. Clarke’s 2010 book, “Cyber War,” as one of the chief inspirations for writing THE LOGIC BOMB. Lord explains that a logic bomb is a type of cyber weapon, a "virtual explosive," that can infiltrate various systems and wreck them.

So-called “logic bombs” actually exist, says Lord, and, according to the best authorities, are already planted in U.S. software programs that run our financial, transportation, utility and – scariest of all – defense systems.

(Clarke’s book) “describes in great detail the types of cyber attacks which we are all becoming familiar with,” Lord explains. “I decided that one of the cyber weapons he describes, a logic bomb, would be an excellent `MacGuffin’ for my story. Now cyberwar is filling the news. Little did I know!”

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Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life, Scott.  Can you tell us how long you’ve been writing and how your journey led to writing your latest book, The Logic Bomb?  

A:  I’ve been writing creatively since I was ten:  fiction, poetry, a play, even an opera libretto.  Once I retired from the full-time law practice of law, I knew I wanted to write a novel that shared some of the stories and insights I had learned during my years as an attorney. 

Q: I love your title…can you tell us why you chose it?

A:   Thank you, I do, too.  The Logic Bomb fulfills what, for me, are the requirements of a good title:  It sounds good, it excites curiosity and it means something in relation to the subject matter of the book.

Q: Why did you believe your book should be published?


A:  I believe that a good novel should entertain the reader.  Reading it should be a pleasure, not a duty. A good novel may also teach you a little something, too.  The books I find myself returning again and again are books that entertain me and that have characters I want to spend time with.  I think that The Logic Bomb is both entertaining and deals with a subject – cyber crime and cyber war – that is very relevant today.

Q: We all know that publishers can’t do all of the publicity and that some lies on the author.  What has your publisher done so far to publicize the book and what have you done?

A:  Since I am self-published, I have done most of the publicity myself.  I will say that my publisher, Friesen Press, spent hours with me developing a marketing strategy and plan and also helped me create my website.

Q: What book on the market can it compare to?  How is it different?  What makes your book special?

A:  In general, I think that The Logic Bomb fits nicely on the shelf with books by Robert Parker, Scott Turow, Michael Connelly and John Grisham.

Q: Open to a random page in your book.  Can you tell us what is happening?

A:  Tom Tresh is, literally, twenty feet under water at the bottom of the harbor.  He was thrown there by two thugs sent to punish him for his part in the theft of the cyber weapon – the logic bomb – that is the subject of the novel. 

Q: Do you plan subsequent books?

A:  Absolutely.  I have completed a new manuscript and am deep in the editing process.  I have begun work on a follow-up to The Logic Bomb and hope to have it completed by the end of the year.
  
Q: Thank you for your interview, Scott.  Do you have any final words?

A:  Thank you so much for the opportunity to talk a little about my book.  For those who might like more information, please visit my website, www.scottrichardlord.com.


1 comment:

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