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Writer's pictureLee Murray

The Next Big Thing

Interview 2010!


What is the working title of your book?

Into the Mist.


Where did the idea come from for the book?

This is going to sound so corny: I woke up one morning with a vague story idea in my head and it hasn’t gone away. Where do those ideas come from anyway? Snippets cobbled together from movies and books, people you meet at the post office, the label on your muesli bar, an article in the newspaper, on…Mostly, they’re forgotten by lunchtime, but this one keeps niggling, wanting to be told. It reminds me of the time about thirty odd years ago, when my grandmother mentioned this chap who’d set his cap at her. It was back when she was young and pretty, and he was a nice chap, she said, and very keen. He just wouldn’t take no for an answer. Eventually, to make him go away, she gave in and married him. So, following Grandma’s example, I’m giving in to this persistent story. Perhaps we have a future together.


What genre does your book fall under?

Science fiction thriller.


Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

For my main character, perhaps a younger version of Temuera Morrison.When I’m writing Taine McKenna, Sonny Bill Williams often comes to mind, but the character is an NZDF army corporal so perhaps the haircut has something to do with it! I haven’t pinned down a female lead yet. I need to give that one some thought.


What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

How about three sentences?

Corporal Taine McKenna made a mistake once and a girl of six paid the price. Not this time. McKenna and his men are escorting a group of geologists on a prospecting assignment in New Zealand’s Te Urewera ranges where recently fifteen people have mysteriously disappeared, it seems, into the mist. But when darkness falls McKenna’s group are picked off one by one…


Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

A publisher is interested….


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Aaargh…not there yet. Ask me again in a couple of months.


What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Maybe Leviathan by Jared Sands. Oh cripes, hope I haven’t given too much away.   Who or what inspired you to write this book? Night terrors and Grandma! And some lovely reviews on excepts I’ve sent out to my readers.


What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Bullroarer – a Maori wind instrument – I hope that sounds sufficiently cryptic and mysterious.

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