R.D. Maddux has story telling in his blood. Since he was young he’s always loved a good tale. He’s been writing seriously since he was in high school and college. His novels range from Mystery and Intrigue to Sci-fi/fantasy. With Boy On The Beach he’s set the story in modern America, to be exact, on the West Coast of California. He’s a native of the golden state and has been a resident of San Diego since 1987. Before that he grew up in northern California and lived in the Sacramento Valley and Bay Area with sojourns in some of the beautiful parts of our state.
Living in California for over 60 years he couldn't help but watch the way things have changed in our culture and the impact this coast makes on the rest of America and the world. So even though Boy On The Beach is fiction, like most serious novels, it is not without a context and comment on issues we all face in our changing world. It takes place in real locations that are very familiar to him and its characters, which are fictional, no doubt have their counterparts in the real world. Boy On The Beach is a story of intrigue, suspense, revenge, love and redemption with flashbacks to the era when sex, drugs and rock and roll set our culture on it's inevitable journey to our present day. This idea has been rattling around in his heart and mind for a decade and it's finally coming to the page.
Hello R. D. and welcome to FLY HIGH! Here's my first question for you: where is the most interesting
place you’ve ever visited?
I’ve
been in 105 countries. Some of the most interesting are places like Namibia
where the huge desert sand dunes fall away to flat valleys filled with black,
lifeless trees that have died ages ago and stand out like skinny, twisted
ghosts against the stark landscape all around them. Another is the vast Maasai
Mara savannah in Kenya, Africa. I’ve had the privilege of visiting
it twice and it’s always amazing to see the number and variety of wildlife
there. But one of the most stunning places I’ve visited is right here in my own
home state of California. The rugged coastal area known as Big Sur is
spectacular and it makes for a dramatic setting for the opening of a novel.
That’s one of the reasons I chose it as the setting for the opening of my novel
Boy On The Beach.
Where do you get inspiration for
your stories?
Most
of my inspiration for my stories comes from either people or events that have
taken place in my own life or in the lives of those I’ve known. But it also
comes from issues I see in our culture or conflicts I see arising in our world.
The great thing about being a writer is that you can speak to those issues in a
way that people don’t expect and maybe put them in a different light. This
allows people to see both sides of a subject and perhaps be better informed in
their opinions.
Why did you write in in the
first person POV?
A
recent trend in writing seems to be novels with perspective coming from
different characters set in the first person. The bestseller, Girl On The
Train, set off a whole new wave of similar books. I was intrigued to find out
why it drew such interest and within a few chapters I saw why the format had a
lot going for it. As I set out to write Boy On The Beach I realized that I
could use this approach but limited it to two characters. I like the way you
can “get into the head” of the characters in a unique way, but also gain a
perspective from one character that you don’t in others. It gives you an
overview without having to use, the third person “god” viewpoint that a lot of novels
use. Although the first-person approach can be limiting, this multi-viewpoint
approach gives the author some options he or she might not otherwise have. It
worked for me in writing my novel. Hopefully the reader will find it works for
them as well.
What genre do you write and why?
I’ve
written my latest novel, Boy On The Beach, in mystery/intrigue genre with some
romantic parts included. I’ve also written a novel in the Sci-fi/Fantasy genre
as well titled Gem Of The Wanderer. It had a lot of twist and turns in it as
well, but you wouldn’t call it a mystery. I guess I like stories that have a
lot of intrigue but with a real but not overbearing message to them. That’s why
I like to write in fiction, even though I’ve written a few non-fiction books.
With fiction you can explore issues in a way that subtly brings your message
home. A lot of movies do this. They don’t just entertain, they also leave you
with the director’s idea in an indirect way.
Was it a challenge as man writing
a mystery novel with a romantic story at its heart?
When
I set out to write Boy On The Beach, it was to be more a story mystery than one
about a set of passionate relationships the main character finds himself in.
But once I got into the heart of the writing I discovered that I faced a huge
challenge. I’m sure for some guys they find it easy to write a love story, with
all the dialog and romantic settings that sell novels. For me it was a huge
struggle. But strangely enough, once I found myself immersed in the characters
I discovered words and scenes just naturally flowing out between the drama and
trauma of the human lives at the heart of the story. Anyone who’s ever been in
love knows about the range of emotions that come with giving your heart away.
Sometimes you have your heart broken and at other times it’s you are breaking
someone else’s heart. Even though it was stretching for this California dude,
I’m glad I was able to take on the challenge of following my characters through
the emotional arc of their lives all the way to the end. It enriched my own
life and I hope it will also enrich the life of the reader.
Book Title: Boy on the Beach by R.D. Maddux
Category: Adult Fiction; 304 pages
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Publisher: Ezekiel 12 Publications
Release date: March 11, 2017
Content Rating: PG-13 + M (There are implied sex scenes but no graphic descriptions of lovemaking. There is one scene with some violence.)
Book Description
Andrew Foster, a real estate developer in San Diego, is a man suddenly haunted by his past. Memories, like specters from his former life of sex, drugs and rock and roll have come crashing into his current world of business in this sunny coastal city. The ominous, repeated appearance of a black SUV at the beach where he meets his sister each week, has triggered fears that it’s payback time for a bad choice he made years ago.
To add to his frustrations, his hopes of a big breakthrough in the San Diego real estate market haven’t come to pass. He’s starting to wonder if his visions of success will ever come true when an investor offers to finance his dream project. Soon things start to fall into place for Andrew in business, life, and even love. He starts dating the beautiful and business-savvy Nicole but even with her at his side he can’t seem to shake the ghosts of his past. As the relationship with Nicole deepens, Andrew opens up to her about the many loves and adventures that have taken him from the crazy days of living in Big Sur and Joshua Tree to business success in San Diego. Her wise insights help him face the character flaws that have caused him to fail in his past relationships.
Rounding out his social life is his once-a-week task of assisting his sister with her nanny job watching a young boy named Chandler. They build sand castles on the beach and enjoy the beauty of nature together. But the now ominous weekly appearance of a strange car at the beach has awakened Andrew’s fears. Is the boy in danger? Or worse, has an enemy from Andrew’s past come seeking revenge and now Chandler’s caught in the middle?
A strange twist of events threatens to destroy Andrew’s dreams, but as he searches for answers, a sudden revelation offers hope of a future he never imagined.
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