Q: How
did you decide where your book was going to take place?
A: In the first book of this series, My Brother’s Keeper, Hawk lived
in Los Angeles and when he left Congo in Jungleland,
he went back there with Father Bob and Sparks.
It also fits with the finale at the Reno Air Races.
Q: What’s the “elevator
pitch” for your new book, Racing the Dream?
A: This year—after 60 years of checkered flags—the
Reno Air Races came to a close, ending an era of aviation history. In Racing the Dream, Hawk climbs in a
Formula 1 cockpit, sharing the thrills and chills involved in reviving the
world’s fastest motorsport, climaxing with the
inaugural 1964 National Championship Air Races.
Q: Do you
edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
A: I am really more of a re-writer than a writer, so
I am constantly reworking my words, kind of like a fine carpenter finishing the
wood on a fine piece of furniture. In
fact, I never really finish a book. I
just make myself stop and just abandon it to pixels and print.
Q: Describe your writing space/office!
A: If I can open my laptop or my iPad, I can write
anywhere—and I’ve done it often. But at home, I have two places where I
work. I get up at 5 a.m., grab a cup of
coffee, and spew out my first drafts in bed before I clutter up my mind with
social media posts, emails, or news of the day.
In my office, I have a stand-up desk I built with reclaimed lumber and
wood from the 1905 Herald Building I own in downtown Lorain, Ohio. This is where the final touches to my stories
are made, as well as prepping manuscripts for publication and doing all my book
marketing stuff.
Q: What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
A: I built a
stone fire pit out back and soon discovered that we could cook on it. Delmonico steaks grilled over the open flames
is a total bomb.
Q: What’s your favorite genre to read?
A: I like to
read history and biographies. I spent three years reading every U.S. President’s biography—in chronological order. Even though people think everything is way
different today, it’s funny how nothing really changes with the politics, the
media, and the kinds of people involved.
Q: What’s a recent TV show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
A: Movies?
Well, with all the flying in Racing the
Dream, of course, Top Gun Maverick. TV Show: Yellowstone. Books: Noir
by Christopher Moore, Top Gun by Dan
Peterson, and You’re Doing Just
Great by Tom Papa. Podcast: The Jocko Podcast.
Q: What do you do when you have free time?
A: As my
bio says, I fly airplanes as well as jam, perform, and record with my
guitar. I also ride a 1985 Honda Shadow
motorcycle and play a little golf.
Mostly, though, I enjoy hanging out with Lola out back staring at Lake
Erie and eating her fine cooking.
Q: What are three words that describe your Main Characters?
A: Hawk is definitely “A
Fighter Pilot.”
Racing the Dream
by M.T. Bass
GENRE: Action and Adventure
“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.”
~Mario Andretti
Strap
down the 5-point harness in the cockpit of a Formula 1 air racing plane and
join Hawk as he chases victory! First on their amateur make-shift course over
Antelope Acres, then on the re-emerging pylon racing circuit in the early
1960s. And finally, as Hawk battles 7 other top-level pilots at the very first
National Air Racing Championship event in Reno!
Abandoning
the cloth and his African mission, Father Bob returns to his slide rule to
design Hawk’s racer. Sparks, his loyal yet surly mechanic, built it and
wrenching both on the engine—as well as on Hawk—keeps them at the front of the
pack. Home again in Los Angeles from behind the stick of a T-6 Texan as a
mercenary in the Congo civil war, air racing is a new aviation adventure for
Hawk. Ride along as he tangles with fellow pilots in “uncooperative formation
flying” at two-hundred miles per hour a mere fifty feet off the ground!
And
then one day cruising home to Van Nuys airport, Hawk spies Allison, a
beach-blonde surfer girl, insanely wing walking on the top wing of a Stearman
PT-17 bi-plane. He quickly sets his sights on her.
Fly
low…Fly fast…and Turn Left…
Racing the
Dream Purchase Links
Author Web Site
Info Page:
https://mtbassauthor.wordpress.com/racing-the-dream-white-hawk-aviation-stories-3/
Amazon (Kindle
Unlimited):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CCSVMSQV
Excerpt
Three:
Chapter 8 — The Albatross Hotel
Allison kicked off her shoes and dropped them in the car. I
stripped off my jacket and left it, then we wound our way around the Albatross
to the waterfront where she skipped ahead and waded into the surf.
Staring out to sea, she took a deep breath. “You’ve got to
love it. It’s the law.”
“Well, I’m kind of a desperado.”
Allison spun around to kick water at me, then started
walking north.
I followed along just outside the retreating waves.
“Sure, sure—a desperado. Well, don’t make me walk out here
all by myself.”
“But—”
“But nothing.”
So I slipped off my shoes and socks, then rolled up my pants
legs. She didn’t stop. “Hey, wait for me.”
Allison ran ahead, stopped, then turned to face me.
“I’m beginning to think that you’re the one who’s an
outlaw,” I said walking up to her. “A real Black Rebel.”
“Maybe…”
“So, what are you rebelling against?” I asked.
“Whadda ya got?”
I looked her in the eyes and smiled.
“Well, then, don’t wait too long.”
I leaned in and we kissed, softly. Then more passionately as
I took her in my arms.
“Mmmm…” she moaned sweetly, then put her head against my
chest. “Come on.”
She took my hand and we walked north through the moonlit
surf.
I watched her looking out to sea. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, nothing,” she sighed. “Just counting waves.”
“Why?”
“Force of habit. It’s what you do in the lineup.”
“The lineup?” I asked.
“Uh-huh. When you’re surfing.”
“Oh, no. Don’t tell me you’re a surfer girl.”
Allison began to sing The Beach Boys song: “Do you love me,
do you, surfer girl? Surfer girl surfer girl.”
“Seriously?”
I stopped walking, but she pulled me along. “Everything’s a
song.”
“Aye-Yi-Yi,” I moaned.
“And, you know, it does make sense—considering my job and all.”
I thought about it a bit. “Yeah…I suppose. A surfboard is
kind of like a wing. And how long have you been doing that?”
“Before I started flying. I learned in Hawaii when Dad was
based at Hickam. I think I might have been twelve. And, of course, there are
great waves up north when I went to Stanford. It gets in your blood. You’re not
fighting gravity, you know? You are riding a wall of green that some storm has
thrown at you from way out at sea. And some of them get pretty big and mean
and, man, you are racing for your life with the wind blasting in your face as
the wave crests over your head. You’re scared, but your juices are flowing like
crazy, too.”
“Sounds wild.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it is. Some say it’s better than sex.”
“You?”
She smiled at me. “Haven’t decided, yet.”
“Right…and you surf here?”
“Up north past the Malibu pier, at Surf Rider Beach. And
Zuma Beach and County Line.”
“Well, what do you know: flying, philosophy, and surfing.”
“I do lead a full life.”
I looked out at the waves, then back at her. “So you do.”
We walked another half-mile north, then turned back south
towards the Albatross, got in the car, and drove back to Hollywood.
When I walked her to her apartment door, we kissed again.
“Don’t wait so long to call, again,” Allison said as she
slipped inside. Before she closed the door, she looked back at me. “Who knows,
one of these days you just might get lucky.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a Rafflecopter giveaway
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
M.T. Bass is a
scribbler of fiction who holds fast to the notion that while victors may get to
write history, novelists get to write/right reality. He lives, writes, flies
and makes music in Mudcat Falls, USA.
Born in Athens,
Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan
University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in the private
sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace & Defense
manufacturing market. He is the author of twelve novels, two novellas, and a
book of verse. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure,
Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified
Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories.
Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.
M.T. Bass
Author Links
Website: https://www.mtbass.net
Blog: https://www.owl-works.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/owlworks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Owlworks
Amazon Author
Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/mtbass
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5270962.M_T_Bass
Stories by M.T. Bass
White Hawk
Aviation Adventure Stories
My Brother's
Keeper
Jungleland
Racing the Dream
***~~~***
Murder by
Munchausen Sci-Fi Thriller Series
Murder by
Munchausen
The Darknet
The Invisible
Mind
Motherless
Children
Murder by Munchausen Trilogy: Books 1-3
***~~~***
Article 15
Somethin' for
Nothin'
In the Black
Crossroads
Lodging
Untethered
6 comments:
Thank you so much for featuring today's author.
Hi Dawn --
It's great to have Racing the Dream featured on your blog this Monday.
If I can answer any questions for your readers, have them drop a comment.
Thanks.
~Mudcat
Dawn, I would love to read your book! What I have read about it so far is fantastic!
This sounds like a good book.
I enjoyed the post. Sounds like a good book.
I liked reading the Q&A and excerpt!
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