Stephen B King on Domin8 and life as a writer

Domin8

By Stephen B King

Psychological Thriller/Police Procedural/whodunnit

Blurb:

After his wife loses interest in him, fifty-year-old Dave Barndon turns to the dark side of the Internet and sex chat rooms.  There he finds willing partners who are happy to fulfil his needs with no strings attached.  But they aren’t the only ones looking to play.  

   

When a woman he had an affair with is murdered he becomes the prime suspect.  He thinks his alibi is solid until a second woman is murdered, and then a third; his wife.  He fights for his freedom and redemption while the body count rises.  He must figure out who is framing him and why before the killer strikes again.  

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 This is Stephen's story about Domin8 and his life as a writer and family man...

On April 13^th Domin8 is released by The Wild Rose Press, almost five years after I completed the first draft. D8 was the second book I wrote (I’ve written thirteen now) and it’s a long story how it got to being re-released – but I am an author and long stories are what I do.

Due to a legal battle with my first publisher after they contracted me for Forever Night, and then shut the line down before publication, I was in no-man’s land for quite a long time and disheartened with the publishing world. I had Domin8 finished at first draft stage, hopelessly too long, but no longer had access to the editor who loved the story and wanted to work on it with me. In desperation, I hired a freelance editor and self-published it and moved onto other projects.

Time passed, I wrote more books, and for Thirty-Three Days began a new relationship with my current publisher, The Wild Rose Press. I got to work with Melanie my wonderful editor on five books and I learnt so much that during a lull in proceedings, I picked up a copy of Domin8 and read it. Gulp…I was shocked at the errors and how poor the writing was – even though it had picked up some very good five-star reviews. In the four years that had passed, I learned a lot about the craft and knew I could do better. I was embarrassed and withdrew it from the public arena and began a long re-write while at the same time I was completing Winter at the light, and had begun writing Glimpse, The Angel Shot; book 4 of my trilogy, which is now at 75000 words.

People ask me frequently where do I find the time, how does writing impact on my family life, and how does it affect my day job? I spend 58 hours a week, managing a large Kia Sales Dealership, and the thing is I work for a living but write for a passion; I love my job, and sadly there isn’t a lot of money in being an author until you hit the ‘best seller ranks’ and most never do.

It’s no coincidence that my protagonist in Domin8 is a car dealer in his fifties. Well, they say write what you know, and I know Dave Barndon very well, in more ways than one. He was married 26 years with three children; and at time of writing so had I. But Dave slipped into a world of online chat rooms and dating sites with some rather erotic undertones leading to several murders. Apart from research purposes visiting such sites, I did not. But I’ve met lots of Daves, who complain about their wives, so I often think, there but for the grace of God…..

I once worked for a fantastic boss who was great with sayings and definitions, like his definition of a meeting was where minutes are kept, and hours are lost. Anyway, he told me once “If you want something important doing, ask someone who is busy; they will make time, someone who isn’t will make excuses.” I think that’s true.

I make time for my passion. I get up at 5.30 every morning, while my wife sleeps which gives me an hour and a half undisturbed. In the evening, after dinner, I’m with my wife in the same room so we can talk while she watches TV, and I’m on my Mac. Weekends we are renovators and we work well together; that’s her passion. On rare occasions I take a day off work, and I write up a storm while she is at work – she is an accountant. Not a boring accountant, but she really does like numbers. I like words; I think that’s a match made in heaven.

On St Patrick’s day, next week as I write this, it will be our 30^th wedding anniversary. Being a writer is a selfish passion, and not one I can share with my wife, but I am very lucky that she supports me, and though she has never read anything I’ve written, she listens to plot ideas, character developments, and once I woke her at 5am to tell her of a dream I had that I thought would make a great book (Thirty-Three Days). Next week, when I give her a card and a small box containing a gold and diamond encrusted ring, I will tell her I love her more today than the day we married. I will mean it with all my heart.

I am very lucky in so many ways. My children have grown up to be wonderful people, and successful in their own right, I adore my wife, and she me – though I am the one punching above his weight. We have a dog, named Snowy; a West Highland Terrier. He is a rescue dog who moved in after the last of my children moved out. He is my wife’s best friend and they cuddle on the couch while I’m writing. I’m the luckiest man alive.

To finish, I’d like to share an exclusive excerpt from Domin8, a section that was very hard to write. It is Dave giving the eulogy at the funeral of his wife Dianne, who was killed by the person stalking Dave, trying to frame him for murder.

 Excerpt:

I was never prouder of my children than when they each spoke a eulogy about how wonderful a mother they had lost, and there was barely a dry eye in the crowd. Next came the pastor, who spoke about her life and achievements based on things we had all told him about her. Then finally, it was the time I had been dreading; my turn. I limped slowly to the lectern to face an icy silence from the assembled throng.

I took a moment to look around to steady my nerves. There were so many faces looking, so many people blaming me and despising me I could have cut the air with a knife. I took a deep breath and began. “I want to thank every one of you for coming today to help us celebrate Dianne’s life. I know anyone here who encountered her couldn’t help but be touched by her kindness and spirit, and we will all miss her terribly.

“We were married twenty-six years but were together almost thirty, and we raised three incredible children together. I know most, if not all of you, think I didn’t deserve her, and you would be right to think that. I didn’t deserve such a wonderful woman as Dianne, yet thankfully she saw something in me she thought was worth hanging onto.

“She was, without doubt, a far better person than I could ever hope to be, and I was blessed to have had her in my life. Until the day I die I will always regret that her killer took her and not me. I think everyone knows it was my actions which led to her death, and I will suffer that burden for as long as I live.

“If I could pass on any life lessons to others, it would be to take your wife, husband, lover or child, and hug them like there is no tomorrow, because sometimes, when you least expect it, there is no tomorrow.

“I will always miss Dianne and must live with the guilt of my actions, because she deserved so much better than me. I am so, so incredibly sorry for everything. She was a beautiful woman, a spectacular mother and a very dear friend.

“On the last day of her life she mourned the passing away of one of her patients who died of cancer. She spent his last hours with him because he had no family of his own and she didn’t want him to be alone when he died. Such was her heart she would give up her time, to ease the passing of someone she barely knew. We are all so much poorer for her passing away, and she will be missed by all of us, I know.”

Thanks to Sandra for hosting me, I hope I haven’t bored you all.

Stephen B King

www.stephen-b-king.com

Twitter: @stephenBKing1
Facebook: @stephenbkingauthor