Author Interview

1) How long have you been writing?

Over twenty years, but only 5 years seriously, and 2 years since publication.

2) What is your favorite genre to write?

Crime thrillers, though I have dabbled in romantic thrillers and occult thrillers, but not for publication.

3) Which genre have you never tried before, but would you like to try out?

Romance, because it is the most popular genre.  I’m just not sure I’m capable of it.  Moreover, I like my stories to have dark side, and not necessarily a happy ending which I don’t believe suits the romance market.

4) Please tell us about your book.

End as an Assassin is about André Warner, a hit man who, at the start of the story, goes into retirement. He then finds he is at a loose end and his life has lost purpose and meaning. He becomes something of a lotus eater, drink, drugs, loose women, etc. then his violent past returns to bite him and he finds himself under surveillance by persons unknown. About that time he meets a woman, divorced, defensive, suspicious of men, and they fall in love. She gets dragged into whatever is going on with him, and ultimately they both come face to face with death. Warner solves the problem the only way he knows how – at the point of a gun.

5) Which character was your favorite, and why? Which character was your least favorite, and why?

Favorite character is the narrator / protagonist, because there is in him some of the standards and beliefs that I subscribe to. Least favorite character was … actually, I can’t think of a least favorite, unless it’s Kessler, the go-between for the Tillou mob, possibly because I made him rather unappealing physically.

6) What was the hardest part about writing your book?

Hardest part to write was the scene where Warner accidentally shoots his lady love. Setting his emotions down in writing was a major challenge.

7) What is your writing routine? Are there things you absolutely need to start writing?

My routine is 3 hours every morning, Monday to Saturday inclusive. Sometimes I re-read the mornings outpourings in the evening. I need no incentive to get started. When I am working on a book it is part of my daily routine, like going to a regular job. I never suffer from writer’s block.

8) How long did it take you to write your book from start to finish?

 First draft took about 10 weeks. Then I took a month’s break and did a first edit. Then another break before the second and final edit, and even then it’s not all over. Also, my publishers carry out their own edit.

9) Is this book part of a series? If so, how many installments do you have planned?

The book is part of a series, with Volume II being launched on the same date. Vol III is written, Vol IV is 75% written, Vol V is at the planning stage. If the books prove popular I will not set a limit on the number I  will write in the series, though I think it would be at least 10.

10) Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

My advice to aspiring authors would be to have faith in yourself, and to persist and persevere in your quest for publication. Alternatively, find another pursuit!

11) Why should everyone read your book?

 Not everyone will read my book, only those who have a taste for crime thrillers. Among that clique the ones who seek credible character, with flaws, emotions, and weaknesses will be drawn to my books.

12) If you could meet three authors, dead or alive, which authors would you choose?

R M Ballantyne, Ernest Hemingway, James Hadley Chase.

13) What inspired you to write your book?

Inspire is not the right word for me. I have a compulsion to write, ergo I must write.  Wrongdoings and wrongdoers are more interesting, I feel, than good gays/gals, so, to feed the compulsion I write about subjects and people that interest me most – hence crime thrillers.

14) Are you working on something at the moment? If so, can you tell us more about it?

I am working on another book in the Warner series entitled She Kills. This would be Volume IV, except that I may insert another story, provisionally entitled Cold Pursuit, which would then become Volume IV. If this  latter title does becomes the next in line, I can only tell you that a lot of the action will take place in the UK for the first time, with about the last third shifting to Finland and Russia/St Petersburg.

End As An Assassin by Lex Lander

Published: Kaybec Publishing (1^st May 2016)
Amazon UK | Amazon US
THIS TIME IT’S NOT FOR MONEY.
THIS TIME IT’S FOR BLOOD, PURE AND SIMPLE.
André Warner is a professional killer, ex-British Secret Service. Thirty-nine contracts have made him a wealthy man, and his fortieth is to be his last.
The hit goes smoothly enough, and the victim – a degenerate drug baron – is dispatched with minimal fuss and no traces left to incriminate Warner. He drives off into the sunrise to hang up his gun and retire to his home in Geneva.
Then into his life comes Gina, a hauntingly beautiful divorcee, fugitive from a bad marriage. The timing is perfect, coinciding as it does with Warner’s new beginning. They soon become lovers, and all seems set fair for a life together.
Their idyll is shattered when a former associate turns against Warner, and he faces exposure and arrest. Accompanied by Gina, he flees his Geneva home, only to run from the clutches of the Swiss police into the far deadlier embrace of a Marseilles crime syndicate whose boss has a score to settle on behalf of Warner’s last victim. Suddenly Gina is at risk through her association with him, and in trying to protect her he only makes matters worse.
His retirement plans in shreds, his life on the line, Warner is forced to stage a comeback. Only this time it’s not for money. It’s for blood, pure and simple.
 

About Lex Lander

LEX LANDER is a British born writer of crime thrillers, living and working in Montreal. Despite heavy business commitments – he is a partner in a Property Realtor business – he is currently finding time to produce two novels per annum. Lander is also the author of political thriller ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER JACKAL, published by Kaybec in 2013.
Kaybec Publishing Website