Featured Interview With Michael Smart
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m of Jamaican and British ancestry, born in New York City but lived until age 16 in various parts of Europe and the West Indies. Probably where I acquired the travel bug, but I think I actually inherited it from my adventurous mother. My passions include flying, blue water sailing, reading, and of course writing. I retired from the work-a-day world for the first time in my late twenties to travel around the world, and I spent years sailing around the Caribbean. Returned to the work-a-day world to raise two extraordinary kids, and retired again as soon as they were off on their own. Now I write full time, mostly mysteries and science fiction, and anywhere I happen to hang my hat for the moment is home.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
From early on, perhaps 9 or 10 years old, I’ve been fascinated by stories I discovered in books and the power of imagination. That fired my own imagination and my desire to write and tell stories. I began writing and attempting to create stories around age 13.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I cut my teeth reading authors like Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett, John D. MacDonald, Author Conan Doyle, Leslie Charteris with the great Simon Templar Saint series, John Creasey’s The Toff, and Dick Francis among many others. And of course sci-fi greats like Clarke, Wells, Bradbury, Heinlein, Herbert, Asimov to name just a few. Contemporary favorites, though sadly some are no longer with us, include Robert B. Parker, Clive Cussler, the great Patrick O’Brian, Steig Larsson, Sarah Paretsky and Nora Roberts. So those are the genres I mostly read. I enjoy those authors for the kind of characters they created, the Saint and Travis McGee among my all time favorites. I try to emulate that kind of character building and storytelling in my writing.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The book just released is the second title in the Bequia Mysteries series. The stories involve mystery and danger spiced with a bit of romance, and set in the exotic islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. My three central characters share my passion for ocean sailing and flying, and they navigate complex relationships while attempting to solve the central dilemma and of course, stay alive. In writing the series the main character Gage actually came to me first. It was a time in my life when I was considering retiring early and returning to the Grenadines. But I knew it wouldn’t be the same as when I lived there, some things I wouldn’t be able to still do. Too much time had passed, my perspective and my body had changed. The islands had changed. And I wondered what it’d be like living there now. As I thought about those things the character developed, and also the themes of life changing choices, redemption, and finding love. So Gage arrives in the Grenadines with an entirely new perspective than he had in his past life, and he has to cope with reinventing himself at an older stage in life.
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