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| George Snyder, Author BAJA BULLETS THE FAREWELL HEIST |
Award-winning and prolific author, George Snyder, has written more
than 30 fiction and non-fiction books.
One of his popular hardboiled crime novel series features sailor Baylor –most
call him just “Bay”- Rumble, who typically meets “good
cops, bad cops, mob hit men, and long-legged beauties.” Most recently he has authored a stand
alone hardboiled crime novel, THE FAREWELL HEIST, that takes place in an
entirely fictional city—River Beach, in coastal Northern California, which is
planned for release soon. It involves a heist to grab funds used by politicians for offshore drilling.
George himself is an avid sailor, in addition to
being a prolific writer. He is currently working on a new series character:
Logan Sand is a former boxer, Shore Patrol, SEAL, Naval Intelligence, boxer;
now a private detective connected with the Lady Eye Detective Agency as the
token male. When he is not writing or sailing, George likes to ride motorcycles
and has owned more than twenty and ridden more than 300,000 miles.
Q: You are a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, and have produced the Baylor Rumble hardboiled crime novel series, with the latest, BAJA BULLETS. What made you decide to write about Baylor Rumble and how did you create his name?
George Snyder: Thirty-plus books so far with eleven still available on Amazon and other outlets. The idea for the Baylor
Rumble series came to me back in the nineties; about a guy who designed and
built an ocean sailing catamaran who would sail to different parts of the
world. This was shortly after I had designed and built a cruising catamaran
that I sailed to Alaska and back from Seattle. At the time, I intended to do
the same, maybe go around the world. The cat was stolen and destroyed and that
ended my dream. But what if this guy actually did it, sailing from port to
port, and finding treachery and killing wherever he sailed? That was the
germ for the idea.
I created a
biography for Bay. He was abandoned as a newborn and found in a dumpster. The
orphanage named him—Baylor because when found he had the lid of a Baylor Bean
can imbedded in his forehead. Rumble because as a baby he never cried, just
made this rumbling sound from his throat. Nobody in the books calls him Baylor,
he’s just Bay
Q: What are the attributes of “a hardboiled crime novel”?
George Snyder: The dictionary defines “hardboiled” as: harsh, unsympathetic,
unsentimental; tough and callous by virtue of experience; hard-bitten,
emotionally hardened. Nobody writes that pure a definition today, if they
ever did. Softened to apply to crime genre writing, it shows an unsentimental
portrayal of crime, violence and sex. Carol John Daly started the genre in the
1920’s; then it was honed by Dashiell Hammett and further by Raymond Chandler,
and those who came later: Mickey Spillane, John D. McDonald, Richard Prather,
to the guys working at it today, Dennis Lehane, Ken Bruen, Robert Crais, James
Crumely, and many others.
With each
generation of writers, the meaning grows softer. Now we have Private Eyes with
a feminine side, elderly parents in a nursing home, taking their kids to school
and with child visitation.
Into the
twenty-first century, one character epitomized the true meaning best—Parker.
Parker is without emotion or sentiment. He is a craftsman devoted to his work.
His work is stealing. What he hates most is chaos. Some men, like some dogs
need to be shot—that sort of thing. The creation of Donald Westlake writing as
Richard Stark, Parker will no longer be as he once was. Donald Westlake is
gone. Whoever takes over will fall short. Those who write in the genre today
are more complicated with cluttered lives. Lee Child’s, Jack Reacher comes
close but his background is too military and he doesn’t quite hit the purity of
the genre.
My original
intent with Baylor Rumble was to make him somewhere between Parker and Spenser
and Travis McGee. But since I’m too soft, he’s too soft so maybe I didn’t make
it.
Q: How do you encourage readers to care about Baylor?
George Snyder: Bay cares, maybe too much. In each book there are two types of women,
a tough selfish bitch and a damsel in distress. Bay must conflict with one to
rescue the other. Most of the men he confronts just want him dead and work hard
to get that done. He does have a few buddies. His loyalty is unwavering.
Q: BAJA BULLETS is set on a sailboat headed for Mexico. How important
is setting for telling your story? How do you select a setting?
George Snyder: As stated the original intent was to have him sail from port to port.
He lives on his catamaran. I started him local: BAD GIRL DEAD is in Long Beach,
California; BLEEDING SISTERS in San Pedro. Because of what happened to him in
that book, he vows never to return to California. After CATALINA KILLERS I had
to get him out of the country.
In 1993-1994, I had
solo-sailed my small sloop down Baja and spent a year cruising Mexico. I spent
four months living in La Paz and used that as a base for BAJA BULLETS. As
hinted at during the ending, the next book will be about the international
slave trade and will take place on and around a Pacific island. The book will
be awhile coming.
But my
stand alone hardboiled crime novel, THE FAREWELL HEIST, takes place in an
entirely fictional city—River Beach, in coastal Northern California, population
about 60,000. I sure liked doing that and will again. No walking the mean
streets, drinking in tough dives, no maps, able to steal little quirks from
many real cities. Good, easy stuff.
Q: What makes an effective villain?
George Snyder: I chair a critique group
at Barnes and Noble in Long Beach. Those who live a suburban life often don’t
like that crime novel people can be so mean. It’s understandable, most suburb
types have not had a gun pointed at them or been threatened with a knife, and
for the guys, their last fist fight was in high school.
In my genre, a
villain has to be as vile and evil as a “B” movie monster. As a twist he may
have a slick line of patter and heartbreaking rugged good looks to mask his
dark heart, and worse black soul. He is and does pure evil. One thing I love
about Elmore Leonard, sometimes his villain is a cowboy or flashy dresser with
the personality of a stand-up comedian onstage; one minute laughing and loving
and a short time later killing. My villains are hissing bad. I love my
villains. To be believable and operate on the same turf, the antihero must be
only slightly less evil, the way Parker is.
Q: How do you create suspense?
George Snyder: Short chapters; cliffhanger chapter endings; plants. Raymond Chandler
once wrote that when you’re stuck in a story, have a man walk in the room with
a gun in his hand. If in a previous chapter somebody says, “Hey, a guy might
come in here with a gun anytime tomorrow morning,” then the reader is in
suspense.
My
chapters run five to seven pages. Readers today are busy; they won’t wallow
through twenty pages of narration without a break. But James Patterson (a tough
read for me) or whoever writes his stuff these days goes apeshit with his
one-page chapters.
To keep your
reader you have to roll your story along with little introspection,
philosophical meanderings or beautiful scene descriptions. You need lots of
conflict and action.
I try to
end each chapter with a cliffhanger, maybe not a plot changer but something to
add suspense, to make the reader want to get into the next chapter. You send
your character to bed at the end of the chapter; the reader will go to bed too
and maybe not pick up the book again. But end the chapter with the guy crawling
in bed with a beautiful woman and just when he’s about to practice his
lovemaking skills, she pushes the snout of a Glock 9mm against his throat, the
reader might want to know what happens next. I love it when the book ends in a
gigantic twist but my writing skill isn’t good enough for that.
Plants are important.
They make the reader wonder, make him/her think: wait a minute, back in Chapter
Six; I saw that black bowling bag with the white stripe in the clown’s closet.
He’s the one who stole the money, the virginity, the jewelry and her Bible.
Q: Do you write to deliver a message? Or for pure entertainment?
George Snyder: The cliché is, as a
Hollywood producer said, “Wanna send a message, use Western Union.” The
hardboiled crime genre is not literature. It can be but usually isn’t. The
books are for entertainment. And yet…at the end of each Sherlock Holmes novel,
the sleuth makes a philosophical statement that might be taken as a message.
Ray Bradbury
once said that his science fiction stories were based on: if these events are
allowed to continue, this is what might happen. I used that for my one and only
science fiction romance novel, BEYOND GENDER WARS. The premise being that if
the battle of the sexes became a shooting war, this is what might happen.
Despite that, in
order to flesh out my characters, I might give them a philosophy stated in a
sentence or two, their reaction regarding what is going on around them. And my
latest books carry an undercurrent sub-theme with national or global
ramifications. THE FAREWELL HEIST is about oil drilling platforms off the
California coast AND crooked politicians. Yes, it’s a heist novel but the money
was being used for political bribes to add more drilling platforms. It should
be taken away from them, and my guy Ben Steele intends to do just that. The
second book in my new Logan Sand series, PLUNDERED ANGELS covers child
prostitution. I’m leaning more toward a small protest voice against injustice
by the temporary force in power over regular folks. Evil takes many forms.
Q: Your resume offers a list of jobs you’ve held in addition to
writing. What was your favorite one?
George Snyder: All my jobs were forgettable. Their only function was to pay rent and
put food on the table so I could write. The day I got out of the Navy, I
intended to write. If I made a lot of money at it, swell. Even if I only made a
little money, I’d still write. Soon after the Navy, I had a wife and two small
kids. I was sending out a story a week to men’s magazines and they were coming
right back. I had to work. Many years were spent in aerospace assembly, I had
no degree, and after I completed my apprenticeship as a machinist, I worked at
that. Eventually I got into planning then engineering then tech writing, which
was fill-in-the-blanks boilerplate, and editing. Aerospace had layoffs about
every year so I’d go into something else.
The now ex-wife
went off to live with somebody else and I was never interested enough to get
another one. The kids are grown and living their own lives. I retired as Senior
Editor of Technical Publications from Boeing. With retirement, I can write full
time if I live frugal. And I do.
Since my
creative efforts were used for writing, I didn’t want a job that required me to
think too much. I liked working with my hands. Building four liveaboard sailing
vessels during lay-offs felt good after hours of writing. I’m uneducated and
I’ve never had a career.
Q: What’s next? Do you plan to continue with the Baylor Rumble
series? Others?
George Snyder: The next Baylor Rumble
book will be awhile coming. I’m excited about my new series character, Logan
Sand; former boxer, Shore Patrol, SEAL, Naval Intelligence, boxer; now a
private detective connected with the Lady Eye Detective Agency as the token
male. First draft of THE CALCUTTA DRAGON is done and cooling off while I
complete the second book, PLUNDERED ANGELS. I’m trying to make Logan tougher
than Bay but I know I’ll never get him as tough as Parker. I’ve never had an
agent so my books are brought out by small publishers, too small to be eligible
for prizes.
THE FAREWELL
HEIST did receive an award from the Southwest Writers Conference. I’ve written
some screenplays but I only write them based on my own novels so nothing has
happened. As mentioned, BAJA BULLETS does have a film option, whatever that
means.
Q: Who is George Snyder? What do you like to do when you’re not
writing?
George Snyder: Sail, with cruises along the coast and to Catalina Island. Scuba
diving with dives in the Channel Islands, Sea of Cortez, Puget Sound and the
Gulf of Thailand, although I snorkel more these days. Motorcycles, I’ve owned
more than twenty and ridden more than 300,000 miles through Canada, Mexico, the
five western states; even rented them in Japan. I have an old dual purpose
on/off road machine now. A memoir about motorcycles is out there: ROAR AND
THUNDER, motorcycle journeys. Although I’ve seen most of the Far East, I plan a
six-month backpack trek across Europe soon. Gold panning is my new passion,
although I use metal detectors more. Even found some color. Of course I read,
constantly. And I like movies, good and bad. I also camp, and ocean fish from
my boat. I do have a blog about writing: http://onewriterconnection.blogspot.com
But mostly, I
write. My books can be seen on my web site:
I’m on
Facebook-Twitter-LinkedIn-Smashwords-Google-Goodbooks-Goodreads
About George Snyder
George Snyder started by publishing short
stories in men’s magazines; one to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. His
first novel, ‘The Surfer Killers’ was published as ‘Surfside Sex’ by Playtime
Books (part of Neva Paperbacks) in the early sixties. With Merit and Award
books and through promoter Lyle Kenyon Engel, he wrote seven Nick Carter
spy/adventure “scres and kill” books. One book, ‘The Defector’ went into three
printings and was translated into French and Japanese. As Patrick Morgan, he wrote ten
spy/thrillers in the Operation Hang Ten series with titles like, ‘Hang Dead
Hawaiian Style’ (translated into French and Japanese), ‘Cute and Deadly Surf
Twins’, ‘Deadly Group Down Under’ ‘Too Many Murders’ etc. As Ray Stanley, he wrote
‘The Mini Cult Murders,’ loosely based on Charles Manson.
Breaking loose on his own in the late
seventies, Snyder wrote a sci-fi Romance ‘Beyond Gender Wars,’ eventually
published as an eBook by Extasy Publishing in 2010. He self-published three
books in the Baylor Rumble series, BAD GIRL DEAD, BLEEDING SISTERS, CATALINA KILLERS, as well as a non-fiction
book, ‘Making it on Social Security’ and two memoirs, ‘The $900 Honda’ and ROAR AND THUNDER. In 2011 he connected with BooksForABuck Publishing that
published ‘SATIN SHORTS, and 2012 THE CROSSFIRE DIAMONDS. Also in 2012 he received
an award from the Southwestern Writers Conference, Albuquerque in the
mystery/detective/thriller category for his crime novel, THE FAREWELL HEIST,
published by BooksForABuck in July 2013. Solstice Publishing brought out the
eBook of #4 in the Baylor Rumble crime novel series, BAJA BULLETS and in 2013
the printed version.
In 2013 he launched his new Logan Sand
hardboiled crime series. The first novel, ‘The Calcutta Dragon’ is complete. He
is working on the second, ‘Plundered Angels.’ In May 2013 he signed a contract with
television media production company Villavision for a 24 month film option on
BAJA BULLETS
About the Books
THE
FAREWELL HEIST – Coming soon!
Benjamin Steele (Ben) is having an affair with Aubrey Blair; whose husband Jason has an $18 thousand poker debt owed to Ryan Silky, River Beach club owner. Silky hired PI Kurt Noland to forcefully collect from a list of heavy debtors, Jason at the top. Steele's long time friend, Seth Tanker, wants Steele to head a heist of two million from oil exec, Price Sydney, retired judge, Aldrich Thorne, and Senator Mansfield Monroe. The money is being used to buy senator votes for added offshore drilling platforms. Demonstrators clutter downtown River Beach. The same night Steele breaks it off with Aubrey, Jason is killed in a foggy alley. Police suspect Ben Steele.
BAJA BULLETS
Sailing on a Mexican treasure hunt for buried gold with his two-girl lesbian crew, Bay finds drugs, is attacked by the cartel, and loses all he owns as he is dumped in the desert and left to die. Rescued by shrimp captain, Carlos and his daughter, Consuela, who is lusted after by the evil Pierre Dante, Bay gets involved with a movie star diva, wealthy Mexicans, a cartel war, the CIA, drug territory takeovers, and cops and robbers as he dodges Baja bullets in an attempt to rescue Consuela and get his revenge.
Sailing on a Mexican treasure hunt for buried gold with his two-girl lesbian crew, Bay finds drugs, is attacked by the cartel, and loses all he owns as he is dumped in the desert and left to die. Rescued by shrimp captain, Carlos and his daughter, Consuela, who is lusted after by the evil Pierre Dante, Bay gets involved with a movie star diva, wealthy Mexicans, a cartel war, the CIA, drug territory takeovers, and cops and robbers as he dodges Baja bullets in an attempt to rescue Consuela and get his revenge.
In
this first of the Baylor Rumble sailing/adventure/mystery series, Bay is hired
by a mobster widow to find a missing diary belonging to the long-legged beauty
blown away right in front of him. Delving into the beauty's history, he learns
she was a bad girl, and not the only bad girl he encounters. He meets good
cops, bad cops, mob hit men, another long-legged beauty with a killer husband,
an ex-stud gone to seed, a lovely willing country girl, and other delightful
killers.
They tortured
her. They cut her throat and bled her.
Then they hung
her from the rigging of Baylor Rumble's self-designed, self-built sailing
catamaran home, Baye Rumb. Her three sisters want Bay to find out who did it.
Wading through more murder, mayhem, and marauding women, Bay finds his
wisecracking, noisy, disrupting personality fighting terrorists with a plan
torn right out of today's headlines, drug smugglers, government agents,
exploding boats, sea chases, loving and evil sisters, even some of his own
demons to deal with. Finally, Bay is himself tortured and sliced, and not even
sure if he can wrap up and tie off this caper.
Sailing
to Hawaii, Bay finds an encrusted dinghy with a dead young woman inside.
Ordered to Catalina Island by police, he is detained, attacked, robbed, seduced
and teased as he unwillingly tangles with movie stars, a film diva, a dirty
cop, pedophiles, hookers, a drunken stage mom, a molested teenage actress, an
overbearing director, killers and thieves. Forced at gunpoint to take part in
the drug deal during a raging gale, Bay, in his third sailing/adventure/mystery
caper tangles with them all to find the -- CATALINA KILLERS
Millions of
diamonds are enough to tempt even the virtuous into crime and Colt Fallon has
never been especially virtuous. While cleaning up a botched kidnapping, Fallon
learns of the diamonds and the bank where they're being held. He won't be able
to get them on his own, but Fallon has a way of attracting the right wrong
people--starting with the woman who once betrayed him and who, Fallon is sure,
will betray him again. Unfortunately, Fallon isn't the only person after the
diamonds. A Chinese syndicate known as "The Principles" has targeted
the jewels and Fallon, putting their top assassin on the job.
From Cushman
motor scooters to four-cylinder Hondas, Roar and Thunder is a personal lifetime
journey of owning and riding motorcycles. Solo or two-up it tells of riding
adventure through five Western states and Mexico, what was going on in the
world at the time, and the changes in motorcycles and attitudes about them.
There are twisty open roads, mud trails, quick boring freeways, traffic jams,
high desert winds, pouring rain and blinding blizzards. The big motorcycle rides
of the past are there - Death Valley Run, Indio, Lone Pine, Yuma Prison Run,
Sunday poker runs, and just rides for burger and beers. Absent are Harley
Davidson only events.
After two years
in prison, Eddie O'Rourke is thinking payback for Nick the Book, the man who
backstabbed Eddie after they ran a jewel heist, stole Eddie's wife, and talked
her into shooting Eddie. Nick adds a twist to Eddie's plans when he calls and
offers Eddie a chance to help out on a bank robbery. Nick has coordinated a
daring multi-bank holdup and arranged an exchange in a money laundry. All Eddie
will have to do is receive the money from the robbers, drive it across the
border into Canada, and hook up with Nick who'll be waiting for him. For that,
Eddie gets a couple hundred thousand dollars and, as a bonus, Nick sends
Nadine, a "semi-retired hooker" to keep Eddie company.
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