Author Bob Moats

Detroit area resident, Bob Moats, has been writing short stories and plays for as long as he can remember. He has lost most of his original stories, typed or handwritten, in the numerous moves he has made from his hometown of Fraser, Michigan to Northern Michigan, to Las Vegas and back to Fraser, where he now lives. He also wrote the short fantasy novella "Crystal Prison of Kyr" and is a published playwright with his three act comedy "Happily Ever After".

Moats became one of the causalities of unemployment early in 2009, and had time on his hands to finally pursue a lifelong dream of writing a full blown crime novel. Thus was born the first book, "Classmate Murders".

What followed was a series of 20 books starting with "The Classmate Murders" which introduces the main character, Jim Richards, who has to admit he has become a senior citizen, reluctantly. Richards, one day, receives an email from a childhood sweetheart asking for his help, but by the time he reaches her, she has been murdered. His life turns around and he is pulled into numerous murders of women from his high school that he hasn't seen in forty years. Along with a friend of his, Buck, a big, mustached biker, they go off to track down the killer before he can get to one former classmate, Penny Wickens, a TV talk show host who Jim has fallen for while protecting her. The killer is also murdering the women right out from under police protection, driving homicide detective Will Trapper crazy, and he slowly depends on Jim to help. There's humor, suspense, wild chases across suburban Detroit with cops, classic cars and motorcycle clubs; murder, mayhem, a good amount of romance and a twist ending.

To  contact or find out more about Bob and his books check out the links below:

Email: bob@magic1online.com

Website: http://murdernovels.com

Bob's new Blog: http://bit.ly/bu5KNN

Ebooks at http://bit.ly/a1CCV8

Books on Kindle http://bit.ly/70tQBq

Twitter: http://twitter.com/murdernovels

Facebook: http://facebook.com/bob.moats

What is the current project you are working on?

I just finished a book called "Fatal Rejection" about an author who wants to murder his editor. Sound familiar? It has serial killers and a murderer stalking his victim. I'm busy promoting the book on Amazon and Smashwords, but have a sequel in mind. I have already started the first chapter and may have it finished in a month or so.

How do you set your book apart from other books in the genre?

As far as possible. Just kidding. I can't even put my books up with other books in my genre; there are so many better books than mine. I know this. I write for people to enjoy, not for the pretentious literary snobs that love to bash books. I know my books are not great, they are like pulp fiction books, kicked out for readers to enjoy. I have many people who have bought all my books and have told me they love them. A friend of mine who I trust to read my beta books and give his opinion, said "The best reviews are from the people that keep reading all your books. If they come back for another book, what better review is there?" I have to agree.

What inspired you to become a writer?

I'm Sixty-two, I can't remember last week let alone years back, but I'll try. I've always enjoyed writing. I first started writing little plays in elementary school and had my friends act them out in class. Then I started to write short stories for my own enjoyment. Years later, I was publishing a weekly entertainment guide for the county I lived in and I would write reviews and goofy things to entertain the readers. I kept up until 2009 when I was unemployed and had nothing better to do, so I wrote my first book, "Classmate Murders".

What is the best thing about being a writer?

Being able to lie and no one condemns you for it. Mark Twain once said: “First, gather your facts; then, distort them at your leisure.” I like being able to make things up and create a world that doesn't exist in real time. I can manipulate people in my stories and put words into their mouths. Plus I like that I can sit in my room at my computer and work at my own pace, with no one watching over me, forcing me to write.

 What is the worst thing about being one?

Trying to make myself work. I have no boss but myself, so I tend to slide too often. But I have a goal to write at least 1600 words a day when I’m working on a book, and I usually make it. Most of the time. I write a book in about a month average. Sometimes two depending on what I have going on outside of writing. So getting myself to write is the hardest part.

What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?

Write. Anything and all. Short stories, articles that you can submit, just write. Even if it's bad, just develop the desire to put words on paper, or computer, and read what you have written. Later you can hone your writing to be read by pretentious literary snobs and have them kick you around, but don't listen to them. Chuck Lorre, who created many shows like "The Big Bang Theory" and "Two and A Half Men" said: "It's not true that if you believe the good reviews, you must also believe the bad ones. The bad ones could have been written by mean, stupid people who hate your success." I love to quote people.  What is the estimated number of projects you have worked on?

If you mean books, I have a series about a private investigator named Jim Richards, and the books are now at twenty. I recently took a break from those characters and wrote a new book about serial killers, called "Fatal Rejection". Actually it's about a writer who wants to murder his editor. Just came out on Amazon and Smashwords. I think I mentioned this earlier, and I'll probably do it again.

What do you like to do besides writing?

I'm a gadget freak. I own bunches of gadgets from Android tablets to a Roku streaming video set top box. I have about five Palm PDAs and smartphones, and various other electronic gadgets. If it isn't too expensive, I'll own it.

Who is your favorite author?

He was Robert B. Parker, who passed away last year. I also like James Patterson, Janet Evanovich, Michael Connelly, well, too many to mention.

 What are some of your favorite books?

The ones by my favorite authors; the Spenser, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall books by Parker, Alex Cross by Patterson, Stephanie Plum by Evanovich, Harry Bosch by Connelly, etc.

How would you describe the writing "scene" where you live?

Where I live? Nothing going on here that I'm involved in. I don't know about Detroit, I live just north of it, but I'm not a joiner, so I don't know if there are book groups locally. Here's another quote, Groucho Marx once said, paraphrasing: "I wouldn't join a club that would have me as a member."

How has social media changed the publishing industry?

It's easier to independently promote your book. Facebook and Twitter have become a way to get out information about it. Although there are people on social media who don't like us to promote, they want to talk about their children or the surgery they had. Or how cute their cat is. I haven't seen any big publishers using the social media to promote, but that is all different now days. There are tons of people who have a book in them and it's easy to put it out as an e-book. Good or bad, they can do this now, bypassing the publishers and using the social media to get the word out. Publishers should be worried.

What is your thought process like when you're writing?

I can't explain how it happens. I sit and start with the beginning of the story then I just let it flow out of my head. What you see on the page is what I typed. I like what was said about Robert B. Parker, my hero author, "He would sit down to write five and, later, ten pages a day. Once he was in his "groove," the words flowed easily, frequently leading him and his characters in unanticipated directions. Bob loved to write, and he always wondered at how his fingers often seemed to do the thinking for him." I took that from his website and this is exactly how I feel about my writing.

You could have any super power. What would it be?

X-ray vision, need I say more. ;-)

Do you believe in life on other planets?

I think humans are so arrogant to think that we are the only life around the solar system or beyond. Mostly because religion has taught us that we were the only ones created. I firmly believe there is life out there, maybe not on two legs with two arms but life, and probably a lot more intelligent than we are.

What is your opinion on book to movie adaptations?

I've only seen one movie that stuck by the book, The Golden Compass. I watched Robert Parker's book about Jesse Stone played by Tom Seleck and the only similarity was the characters and the title. Otherwise it was a whole different story, and I read the book just before the movie came out. Not crazy about adaptations so I try not to read the book or see a movie adaptation. I'd waste time being annoyed by the differences.

If you could have any first addition book, which would it be and why?

Well, I would like to own all the original Dead Sea scrolls, just to have them translated properly. Then I would like any first edition by Mark Twain. That would be nice. I have all the first editions of my own books; they may become valuable someday, but probably not.

Oh and did I mention again, that I have a new book out, called "Fatal Rejection"? Available on Amazon and Smashwords.