The Jeweler - by Ken Murray

Today I am honored to participate in author Ken Murray's blog tour. 

By way of introduction, Ken Murray lives with his wife Beth in Winter Park and has sons and daughters and three grandchildren. A graduate of the University of Virginia, he served in a top secret cryptographic unit of the U. S. Army in the Pentagon during the Korean war organizing intelligence from codes deciphered by the National Intelligence Agency. He moved to Florida in 1958, retired early, and for the past fifteen years has been writing novels and poetry. You can learn more about Ken by visiting him at www.kennethsmurray.com. 

Now on to our Interview: 

[Stephanie]: Ken, as an author my stories and characters are often influenced by events, experiences, and even people in my life. Is the same true with your writing?

[Ken]: Yes, Stephanie - all three. Rock and Carla Hard, the jewelers I met through our daughter, Jennifer, up in the Florida Panhandle are a prime example. They inspired me to write the novel - his youth and background were just too good not to build that into a story.

[Stephanie]: Is there a character in The Jeweler that shares some of your own personality traits? Which one? And how?

[Ken]: No. There's no one in the novel that touches the cusp of insanity, that walks on the edge of the envelope, a dreamer of tales, who frequents the cosmos and finds himself seeing the world and people through the eyes of new characters that invade my senses - all of whom are conjured by witches I employ.

[Stephanie]: Who was your favorite character to write? Why?

[Ken]: The character I most enjoyed describing and developing was Jacob Turley. The little British recruiter for the CIA. He's introduced on page 115, and as I write the reader slowly gets a vivid picture of the pipe smoking Brit with the English accent and unusual humor that he builds into asking a man to become an assassin.

[Stephanie]: Where did you draw your inspiration for The Jeweler (or any of your writing for that matter)?

[Ken]: Inspiration in most cases comes from imagination - true for several other novels such as 'Fort Knox Heist,' 'The Final Plan,' and my just completed sci-fi, 'The Second Creation,' that will be available at ebook sites quite soon. But all of them involve lots of facts developed by research which is extensive in all of my writing. I believe great fiction should be based upon a lot of fact which gives credibility that leads to acceptance by the reader.

[Stephanie]: What drives you to write? Is it something you've always wanted to do or something you stumbled upon during the course of your life?

[Ken]: Sheer boredom after retiring early lead to my interest in writing. I've been an avid reader all of my life, and then in a muddle a few years ago, I stumbled into poetry. That's a wow. I mostly write romantic poetry, but some spiritual. John Updike said 'poetry is the most intense and the most satisfying.' I know what he meant.
[Stephanie]: Do you have any particular habits or rituals that help you get in "the zone" for writing?

[Ken]: When I'm into writing a novel, like the sci-fi I just finished, I just sit down and it flows from where I left off. I write at different times of the day, lots at night - less disturbance, and I don't write from an outline, that's way too confining. I like the freedom of ideas or new characters that just come to me, then I get inside their heads and they tell me what to write.

[Stephanie]: Thanks, Ken. It's been fun to get to know a little more about you. Creativity is certainly something I think we all can respect and when that creativity comes forth in the form of a book, that's even better.

About Ken Murray's The Jeweler: 

Cole Hanson learned the jewelry trade early in life. Dealing in emeralds in Columbia, Hanson is kidnapped and taken to the mountain jungle lair of the Black Jaguar, a cocaine drug lord. He witnesses a horrible triple murder, executes the killer, and escapes. Hanson is overwhelmed by a euphoric rush and struggles with this discovered Jekyll and Hyde personality. Hanson is recruited to become an assassin for the CIA who learns of his strange predilection for death and uses this alter ego to press The Jeweler ever deeper into espionage and assassinations around the world. Murder occurs in England. Diskettes with top secret information about the Soul Catcher are stolen. Incensed, Hanson seeks the killers, but is on his own without CIA approval as clues take him across Europe and to the Vatican for revenge. After twenty years of service The Jeweler attempts his toughest sanction. Hussein is well guarded moving between palaces and seems an impossible target until fate deals a hand. Hussein flees on his mega-yacht. Hanson battles his way on board for the final action and twists in the Persian Gulf.

Find Ken on  Facebook,  @KenMurrayAuthor on Twitter, and Goodreads

Purchase a copy of  The Jeweler  on Amazon

Enter to win Ken's Rafflecopter giveaway here.

·         First prize: Autographed Copy of The Jeweler; $20 Amazon Gift Card

·         Second prize: Autographed Copy of The Jeweler

·         Third prize: Autographed Copy of The Jeweler