Author Interview: Martin Hill Ortiz on A Predatory Mind

Please welcome Loose Leaves author Martin Hill Ortiz. He's here to talk about our latest release, his thriller A Predatory Mind.

JK: How long have you been writing fiction? 

MHO: I've been writing forever. Even while in high school I submitted short stories (unsuccessfully) to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's. I suppose I became a serious writer about 20 years back, a more serious writer about ten years ago. A lot of this time was spent on poetry and theater. I would say for fiction writing my skills finally meshed about five years ago.

I see writing as the craft of communication. If my readers aren't wowed by my piece, it is my fault. I can communicate better.

JK: What was the inspiration for A Predatory Mind?

MHO: I can give you the building blocks piece by piece. The inspiration for the first scene I wrote, that of Rickert performing his classroom experiment, came from the 1957 Tourneur film, Night of the Demon. In it, there is a scene of unbearable suspense as a catatonic mental patient is hypnotized. He is forced to relive the moments that drove him mad. You know something horrible is going to come of this, and it does.

From that first scene, I imagined following Rickert into a larger, more disastrous undertaking. I sought to invoke the chills of my favorite haunted mansion story, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.

The idea for adding Tesla and Holmes to the equation came from considering Holmes' murder castle as a model for my haunted house. Although I didn't follow up on this idea and chose a haunted library, I got to thinking about Holmes in The Devil in the White City, an allegory of light (literally, electrical lighting) and darkness. Tesla was a minor character in this, but I knew him well. I had written a story with him in it a dozen years back. I thought the pair would make for an exciting contrast, a virtual geek-gasm.

Nikola Tesla

Tesla and Holmes are such incredible individuals that they astound the imagination. They became a major inspiration in themselves.

Finally, the terror of being locked in together and not knowing who to trust and who not to trust came from Campbell's Who Goes There? and Christie's Ten Little Indians.

My first draft was akin to a graphic novel. I had pages of Tesla's notes, letters from Holmes, bits of history, etc., mixed in between with the story of Rickert, Fischer and the others. This was good, but I found it was even better to have Tesla with his personality haunting his lab, not just lab notes.

JK: What kind of research did you do for the intricate, accurate plot?

MHO: Lots! I love research, becoming engrossed in another time. I read five biographies of Tesla and three books about Holmes. I went back to original newspaper articles to find how things were phrased at the time. I have a wonderful old quirky thesaurus that provides me with the wording used a century ago. I tried to make the science as real as possible - I am a scientist.

Within that, I had to make allowances. The invention is part fanciful. Yes, Tesla did not patent anything for 1894 and '95 but mostly because his laboratory burnt down.

JK: What attracted you to Loose Leaves? 

MHO: I was searching for a publisher and noted that Loose Leaves had an interest both in thrillers and history. I further researched the background of the principal players and found that, although this was a new venture, they had been working in literary circles for a time. I bought one of their books and found it professionally done. Definitely worth a query!

Holmes

JK: The cover turned out amazing! How did it come about?

MHO: The cover is a graphic representation of the thought-cloud devices that play such a central role in the novel and hints at Holmes' role, too. A first draft of the cover art came from my wife, Ana Fajardo. She has a B.A. in graphic design and a Masters in Visual Arts. Her paintings explore what is hidden and mystical inside of lines, drippings and patterns. Megan Eichenlaub [Loose Leaves' graphic designer] went with the idea and polished it to the final, dramatic product.

JK: What's next in your fiction career?

MHO: Although I've been writing for a while now, this past year I've just begun to have multiple successes. I sold a western-thriller novella, Dead Man's Trail, to another publisher about the time I sold A Predatory Mind. Hopefully it will come out in the next few months. I've had four short stories accepted to anthologies this past year and they are appearing one by one.

I'm working on a sequel to A Predatory Mind and hope to have a draft by January. It has more interactions between Holmes and Tesla and a few new mixes in the brew. I don't want to give away its plot or central conceit, but I guarantee it will be loads of fun.

JK: I'm sure it will be. Thank you for being here with us. 

Martin Hill Ortiz

Please don't hesitate to visit Martin's website, www.apredatorymind.com, where you'll find a free ebook with tons of information about the two historical characters, inventor Tesla and evil embodied Holmes.

A Predatory Mind is available in paperback from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, your favorite online bookstore, or direct from Loose Leaves Publishing (signed copies coming soon!). You can also get it for Kindle in any country, for Nook or for Kobo (which can be used on any epub-compatible device.)

Please contact info at looseleavespublishing.com to see if you qualify for a free review copy of this amazing novel!