HIDE AND SEEK - H L Wegley - One Free Ebook

Lovers of espionage thrillers, I have a new author to share with you. Welcome, Harry. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

My first 3 novels are a 3-book series using the same main characters. Like most new authors, I felt a bit insecure, so I stayed with familiar settings, subjects, and people. I gave my male protagonist my resume (a shortened version) and my middle name. Like me, he uses a lot of word plays when he speaks.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

In school, my teachers called me the Rock of Gibraltar, steady, dependable, but they rarely saw me outside of school. I published a book full of the quirky things I did growing up, Colby and me: Growing up in the 50's. My buddy, Colby, and I made explosives and created fake meteorites in the sky. We wrapped a beautiful Christmas package filled with cow pies, then set it on the shoulder of a busy road and hid to watch the fun. We blew up an old car with wet, unstable dynamite and survived. The list goes on for 300 pages, and I'm not sure which was the quirkiest.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

In the 4^th and 5^th grades my teachers gave extra credit for writing. I wrote poems. In high school I took the college-prep writing classes. It was three years of non-stop writing, but it came easy to me. I wrote continually as a research scientist, but the technical writing was constrained to describing the physical world we live in. Nothing matches the thrill and satisfaction of writing fiction. Only when I wrote my first novel, in 2010, did I realize that I couldn't not write.

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

I read everything from Christian apologetics and philosophy books on one end of the spectrum to thrillers (not the gory stuff) and romance on the other – well … romance provided it includes a little suspense, intrigue, or flying bullets.

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

I don't – not all of the time. When I go insane and then eventually burn out, I re-establish priorities and try to follow them. But it is so easy to get caught up in the rat race of our modern culture because technology allows us to do an incredible number of things in a day, like driving 200 miles and still putting in 8 hours of work. But just because we can do these things, doesn't mean we should.

How do you choose your characters’ names?

For my main characters I consult name lists online and choose names that sound good together. For minor characters I often use people I knew and liked who have died. Of course ethnicity often dictates which online name list I go to for ideas.

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

I'm most proud to be adopted into God's family, but that wasn't my accomplishment, it was my Lord and Savior's work. For myself, I'm proud to be the first person in my mom's clan to graduate from college. But I'm even more proud of the many family members that have since followed me in gaining college degrees.

If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?

I'd probably pick a dog, but not one of the little yappers. I'd choose a big dog. They're faithful friends and intelligent. Reveille, the Texas A&M collie mascot, would be a good choice. But animals not having a redeemable soul … that could be a real bummer.

What is your favorite food?

If we're talking meat, grilled salmon or mahi-mahi steaks are hard to beat. For a meal, I could eat Mexican food nearly every day, provided a few jalapenos are thrown in.

What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

When I wrote my first novel, it was hard to express my characters' deepest emotions. It felt like I was exposing too much of myself. I wasn't sure I wanted anyone to read my first story. Then, somewhere along the way, my main characterss became "real people" to me, characters I genuinely cared about. Then, I wanted others to see in them what I saw, and the timidity disappeared.

Tell us about the featured book.

Description:

Hide and Seek is an espionage thriller about an ingenious plot to neutralize several critical US military weapons systems using cyber-warfare. When the two very bright main charcters, Lee and Jennifer, discover the sinister plot, they are targeted for elimination before they can disclose their findings.

Tag line:

He expected security breaches, but the conspiracy she discovers sends them running for their lives.

Blurb:

A computer security breach within a US defense contractor’s firewalls leads investigators, Lee Brandt and beautiful, brilliant Jennifer Akihara, onto the cyber-turf of terrorists, where they are detected and targeted for elimination. Lee leads them on a desperate flight for survival into the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Will Jennifer’s pursuit of truth about the conspiracy, and the deepest issues of life, lead her into the clutches of terrorists, into the arms of Lee Brandt, or into the arms of the God she's been unwilling to trust. 

Sounds intriguing. Please give us the first page of the book.

6:00 a.m. Saturday, March 18

Never practice unwise behavior.

Lee Brandt made that vow as a teenager the same year he swore off dating. Now, here he was thirteen years later parked on a secluded road with a member of the opposite sex.

I really hate irony.

He glanced at the woman sitting in the driver’s seat. Jennifer Akihara was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. She was also the most intelligent. Most guys would die to be sitting here on this Western-Washington mountain road with Jennifer. When he glanced into the passenger-side mirror, it appeared likely that he would.

A vehicle slowed on the highway, and a blast of air left his lungs.

Jennifer’s gaze froze on the rearview mirror and she gasped.

Those lights had pursued them most of the night.

The vehicle turned towards them.

That sent his heart racing.

In an instant, their dead-end hideout turned into a trap.

Jennifer cut the engine and Lee took her hand. Despite the rising panic, awareness of their first touch etched an indelible mark in his memory.

I'll want to read that one. How can readers find you on the Internet?

My web site is:                        http://hlwegley.com

My facebook profile page:      https://www.facebook.com/harry.wegley.1

My facebook fan page:           https://www.facebook.com/HLWegley

Twitter:                                   @hlw154th

I have a sadly neglected blog at: http://weatherscribe.blogspot.com

Thank you, Harry, for spending this time with us.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Hide and Seek - paperback
Hide and Seek - Kindle


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