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This week we have something different-we are interviewing a pair of writers who write historical mysteries. Mary Reed and Eric Mayer are not only partners in writing but in life as well.
SUITE:Tell me a little about your books and what genre they are MARY They are historical mysteries set in the sixth century Byzantine Roman Empire. Our protagonist is John the Eunuch, Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, and the stories take place at the imperial court at Constantinople or else in or near the city itself. SUITE: When did you first start writing? First start publishing?(short stories, books,etc) ERIC I drew cartoon stories before I learned how to read or write. Once I started grade school and got past "Dick and Jane" I graduated to picture books with a few words and over the years, as I learned more words, the pictures were gradually pushed aside. One picture might be worth a thousand words but for me it seemed quicker and easier to write the thousand words, although as recently as fifteen years ago I was drawing comics as a hobby. For years I published amateur magazines whose content was mostly personal essays, which is to say that I duplicated maybe a hundred copies and sent them off to friends. My first professionally published work was a weekly column I wrote for two years for a small local newspaper while I was in college. I was paid by the column inch and received around $2 to $4 a shot. I did 102 of those with topics ranging from politics to humorous essays. About fifteen years ago I made an effort to sell some articles and essays to national publications and managed to place work in Baby Talk, The Viking, Writing!, Modern Secretary...all small magazines. I especially enjoyed doing a few pieces for Running Times, which actually sent me to run in/cover a road race. You get the best perspective from the very back of the pack, after all! I'd made some desultory and ineffectual efforts to sell fiction over the years and only broke through there when I collaborated with Mary, so she's the one to fill you in on that. MARY We'd sold the first of a hitherto handful of jointly-written stories about our other series character, Inspector Dorj of modern-day Mongolia, to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Poor Dorj, by the way, is still hanging about in the corner waiting for his debut novel although we've had an idea for it for years, as we have said for years, but it is finding the time to write it
The copyright of the article Interview with authors Mary Reed and Eric Mayer in Reviews of Mystery Books is owned by . Permission to republish Interview with authors Mary Reed and Eric Mayer in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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