It gives me enormous pleasure to welcome Bradley Harper onto the website today. Bradley's debut novel A Knife in the Fog was a Finalist in the 2019 Edgar Awards; a winner of the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award; and was named a Recommended Read by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate. His second novel, Queen's Gambit was awarded the 2020 Silver Falchion for both Best Suspense and Book of the Year.
Alex: Tell me a bit about yourself, Bradley.
Bradley: I grew up in Oklahoma. Both my wife and I are part Cherokee, and I spoke that language before English. I’ve been married for forty-eight years to the same woman who’s followed me around the world during a thirty-seven-year military career.
In college I wanted to be a high school Spanish and History teacher, but due to the Vietnam War I had to do military service right after graduation. I was assigned to the Infantry and one day I had a bad interaction with an Army doctor and decided I could do better, so after I got out I went back to school and entered medical school at age twenty-nine.
During my career I had three overseas postings as well as fifteen months in Puerto Rico, had four commands starting with the 67th Combat Support Hospital in Bosnia, and a two-year posting in the Pentagon. While serving as the Command Surgeon for US Army South, I spent time in Colombia where the FARC had a $1.5 million reward for my capture. (Offer no longer valid).
After I retired from the Army, I took an idea I had about involving Arthur Conan Doyle in the hunt for Jack the Ripper and over three years made it into a book an agent picked up. The book, A Knife in the Fog, was a Finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. It’s been translated into Japanese and is a Recommended Read by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate. The audiobook, narrated by Shakespearean actor Matthew Lloyd Davies, won Audiofile Magazine’s Earphone award as Best Mystery/Thriller of 2019.
I have another book out, Queen’s Gambit, (unfortunate title in hindsight), which won Killer Nashville’s 2020 Silver Falchion Award as Best Suspense as well as Book of the Year.
Currently (2021-2022) I am in Edinburgh, Scotland, pursuing a graduate degree in Popular Fiction. This December will mark the first Christmas in eight years in which I haven’t worked part-time as Santa. My wife and I have worked together for several years as the Claus couple at a local theme park, and we’ll miss it this year.
Alex: Tell me a bit about yourself, Bradley.
Bradley: I grew up in Oklahoma. Both my wife and I are part Cherokee, and I spoke that language before English. I’ve been married for forty-eight years to the same woman who’s followed me around the world during a thirty-seven-year military career.
In college I wanted to be a high school Spanish and History teacher, but due to the Vietnam War I had to do military service right after graduation. I was assigned to the Infantry and one day I had a bad interaction with an Army doctor and decided I could do better, so after I got out I went back to school and entered medical school at age twenty-nine.
During my career I had three overseas postings as well as fifteen months in Puerto Rico, had four commands starting with the 67th Combat Support Hospital in Bosnia, and a two-year posting in the Pentagon. While serving as the Command Surgeon for US Army South, I spent time in Colombia where the FARC had a $1.5 million reward for my capture. (Offer no longer valid).
After I retired from the Army, I took an idea I had about involving Arthur Conan Doyle in the hunt for Jack the Ripper and over three years made it into a book an agent picked up. The book, A Knife in the Fog, was a Finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. It’s been translated into Japanese and is a Recommended Read by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate. The audiobook, narrated by Shakespearean actor Matthew Lloyd Davies, won Audiofile Magazine’s Earphone award as Best Mystery/Thriller of 2019.
I have another book out, Queen’s Gambit, (unfortunate title in hindsight), which won Killer Nashville’s 2020 Silver Falchion Award as Best Suspense as well as Book of the Year.
Currently (2021-2022) I am in Edinburgh, Scotland, pursuing a graduate degree in Popular Fiction. This December will mark the first Christmas in eight years in which I haven’t worked part-time as Santa. My wife and I have worked together for several years as the Claus couple at a local theme park, and we’ll miss it this year.
Alex: How would you describe your writing, and are there particular themes that you like to explore?
Bradley: I think the themes that interest us change as we go through life. The one I find most uplifting at my age (seventy), is Redemption. All of us have fallen short, let someone down, remained silent when we should have spoken up. So, I like to craft stories where my Main Character has that second chance we’d all love to have.
Alex: Are you a writer that plans a detailed synopsis or do you set out with a vague idea and let the story unfold as you write?
Bradley: I’m somewhere between a Plotter and a Pantser. I write the beginning. Then I write the ending, deciding what emotion I want the reader to have when they’ve completed my story. Then I decide what needs to happen to get my Main Character from Point A to B. Then I write a first draft and study it, figuring what works, what doesn’t, and what is lacking. I clean it up and count that as a second draft. Then I let it sit for a couple of weeks so I can look at it with fresh eyes. That’s the hardest part. Then I write a third draft to clean up the prose and polish it a bit. Then It’s ready for an editor I’ve used to break it down and give me suggestions. One more round of revision, then it’s ready for a beta reader.
That being said, I’m tweaking it until the publisher’s editor pries it from me.
Alex: Tell us about your latest novel.
Bradley: Queen’s Gambit, (Seventh Street Books, 2019), involves a woman who was in my first novel, a real person, named Margaret Harkness. She was a writer, Suffragette, and social reformer/labor organizer. She tries to stop an anarchist plot to assassinate Queen Victoria during her Diamond Jubilee procession in 1897. The anarchists had what they called “Propaganda of the Deed,” and several heads of state were killed by them over the years hoping to bring down the old order. She is aided by Inspector James Ethington of the Special Branch of Scotland Yard, the predecessor to the counter-intelligence arm of British Intelligence.
Bradley: I think the themes that interest us change as we go through life. The one I find most uplifting at my age (seventy), is Redemption. All of us have fallen short, let someone down, remained silent when we should have spoken up. So, I like to craft stories where my Main Character has that second chance we’d all love to have.
Alex: Are you a writer that plans a detailed synopsis or do you set out with a vague idea and let the story unfold as you write?
Bradley: I’m somewhere between a Plotter and a Pantser. I write the beginning. Then I write the ending, deciding what emotion I want the reader to have when they’ve completed my story. Then I decide what needs to happen to get my Main Character from Point A to B. Then I write a first draft and study it, figuring what works, what doesn’t, and what is lacking. I clean it up and count that as a second draft. Then I let it sit for a couple of weeks so I can look at it with fresh eyes. That’s the hardest part. Then I write a third draft to clean up the prose and polish it a bit. Then It’s ready for an editor I’ve used to break it down and give me suggestions. One more round of revision, then it’s ready for a beta reader.
That being said, I’m tweaking it until the publisher’s editor pries it from me.
Alex: Tell us about your latest novel.
Bradley: Queen’s Gambit, (Seventh Street Books, 2019), involves a woman who was in my first novel, a real person, named Margaret Harkness. She was a writer, Suffragette, and social reformer/labor organizer. She tries to stop an anarchist plot to assassinate Queen Victoria during her Diamond Jubilee procession in 1897. The anarchists had what they called “Propaganda of the Deed,” and several heads of state were killed by them over the years hoping to bring down the old order. She is aided by Inspector James Ethington of the Special Branch of Scotland Yard, the predecessor to the counter-intelligence arm of British Intelligence.
Alex: What was the first book you read?
Bradley: My uncle’s Batman comic books.
Alex: How much research do you do and what does it usually entail?
Bradley: I like to walk the terrain. For my Ripper book I bought out a tour led by the noted Ripperologist Richard Jones, and although I’d read one of his two books on the Ripper from cover to cover, three times, I still picked up some nuances I used to good effect in my story.
In my second story I went to St Paul’s cathedral where the ceremony of the Diamond Jubilee was held. Queen Victoria stayed in her carriage and the ceremony came out to her. There’s a plaque showing where her carriage sat, and I stood on that spot and looked around for a place to put my sniper. There is a large courtyard in front and looking at pictures of the ceremony the buildings surrounding it had temporary bleachers installed on their roofs, so there’d be no place to hide there. Next, I looked at the cathedral and though there was a stairwell directly overhead, it would be crowded with spectators.
I noticed a side street with one window on the third floor on the corner that looked right down on the site. I went to it and discovered that while it is now an international youth hostel, in 1897 it was the boarding school for the boys’ choir at St Paul’s, so it would have been largely empty during the ceremony. The staff allowed my wife and I to walk around (accompanied by a staff member), and we went to the window and sure enough, it was perfect. My assassin has an air rifle but the eighty-eight paces my wife and I measured from the base of the window to the carriage site was well within the range of the weapon. My final struggle happens inside that room and having a clear picture in my mind helped me in crafting an effective scene.
Alex: Do you ever base your characters on people you have encountered in real life?
Bradley: Not yet. Are you volunteering?
Alex: Hahah... Thank you for the offer. Which was the last book you read that blew you away?
Bradley: City of Thieves, by David Benioff. Mister Benioff was one of the major writers for the Game of Thrones franchise, and this story set in WWII Leningrad is a real white-knuckle affair. He effectively puts you into the world of his main character. Don’t have snacks beside you as you read it as starvation is a recurring issue in the story.
Alex: I'll bear that in mind. How do you market your books?
Bradley: I have a monthly newsletter and an assistant who keeps her eyes peeled for opportunities (like this one), to get my name out there. I attend writers conferences regularly and am often featured on panels. I enjoy author events at bookstores, but they don’t generate a lot of sales.
Alex: What are your interests aside from writing? And what do you do to unwind?
Bradley: Music. My wife plays the harp, piano, and organ, and I love listening to her play. I bought her the first harp, and never regretted it. I enjoy reading good books by other authors, as well as movies. Then there’s the Santa gig. I keep the beard year-round, so am never far from character. The 2021 Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Blessings of Christmas, contains an essay I wrote about my experiences as a jolly old elf.
Alex: Interestingly there's an English writer who appears in these pages named Hazel Prior who plays the harp. She also penned a bestseller in the UK titled Away with the Penguins. Anyway, I digress. Which authors do you particularly admire and why?
Bradley: Joe Ide. He writes a series using a character called IQ, an updated Sherlock Holmes, set in South Los Angeles. He grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go.
Lyndsay Faye. For my money, her Holmes short stories are the best from any living author.
Matthew Pearl. His The Poe Shadow greatly inspired my first book.
Laurie R. King. Her Mary Russell stories, the wife of Sherlock Holmes, are a delight.
Alexander McCall Smith. His Number One Ladies Detective Agency stories set in Botswana are a real treat. He can show human foibles in a gentle, loving way that I greatly admire.
Alex: I haven't read any Matthew Pearl. I ought to as he may very well be related to me somewhere down the line, particularly since I do have distant Pearl cousins in the US. And I'm glad Alexander McCall Smith gets a mention. It's the first time he has had a look-in, rather surprisingly. I love his charming books set in Botswana and his wonderful ear for language. Anyway, thank you so much Bradley for your fascinating answers and good humour. I shall be grabbing copies of your books. They sound fabulous.
Bradley: Thank you Alex. It's been a lot of fun.
Bradley: Not yet. Are you volunteering?
Alex: Hahah... Thank you for the offer. Which was the last book you read that blew you away?
Bradley: City of Thieves, by David Benioff. Mister Benioff was one of the major writers for the Game of Thrones franchise, and this story set in WWII Leningrad is a real white-knuckle affair. He effectively puts you into the world of his main character. Don’t have snacks beside you as you read it as starvation is a recurring issue in the story.
Alex: I'll bear that in mind. How do you market your books?
Bradley: I have a monthly newsletter and an assistant who keeps her eyes peeled for opportunities (like this one), to get my name out there. I attend writers conferences regularly and am often featured on panels. I enjoy author events at bookstores, but they don’t generate a lot of sales.
Alex: What are your interests aside from writing? And what do you do to unwind?
Bradley: Music. My wife plays the harp, piano, and organ, and I love listening to her play. I bought her the first harp, and never regretted it. I enjoy reading good books by other authors, as well as movies. Then there’s the Santa gig. I keep the beard year-round, so am never far from character. The 2021 Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Blessings of Christmas, contains an essay I wrote about my experiences as a jolly old elf.
Alex: Interestingly there's an English writer who appears in these pages named Hazel Prior who plays the harp. She also penned a bestseller in the UK titled Away with the Penguins. Anyway, I digress. Which authors do you particularly admire and why?
Bradley: Joe Ide. He writes a series using a character called IQ, an updated Sherlock Holmes, set in South Los Angeles. He grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go.
Lyndsay Faye. For my money, her Holmes short stories are the best from any living author.
Matthew Pearl. His The Poe Shadow greatly inspired my first book.
Laurie R. King. Her Mary Russell stories, the wife of Sherlock Holmes, are a delight.
Alexander McCall Smith. His Number One Ladies Detective Agency stories set in Botswana are a real treat. He can show human foibles in a gentle, loving way that I greatly admire.
Alex: I haven't read any Matthew Pearl. I ought to as he may very well be related to me somewhere down the line, particularly since I do have distant Pearl cousins in the US. And I'm glad Alexander McCall Smith gets a mention. It's the first time he has had a look-in, rather surprisingly. I love his charming books set in Botswana and his wonderful ear for language. Anyway, thank you so much Bradley for your fascinating answers and good humour. I shall be grabbing copies of your books. They sound fabulous.
Bradley: Thank you Alex. It's been a lot of fun.
