Five on Friday - Brad Parks

Beware the Ides of March! But good golly Happy Friday! How did Friday get here so quickly? Where did this week go?

That is not a complaint mind you. I'm happy for Friday to be here, but I have much to do before Left Coast Crime and that's right around the corner! I'm packing the books and related gadgets for collecting fun blog content...hopefully I won't forget things like clothes and shoes. Those might be important.

Very quickly, I want to point out to you that the Friday Reads contest on Facebook this week includes Rob Zombie's THE LORDS OF SALEM and C.J. Box's BREAKING POINT.

Lesa has Leighton Gage's PERFECT HATRED and Deborah Coates' DEEP DOWN in her giveaway this week.

And Criminal Element has a slew of contests going on.

My new issue of Crimespree Magazine arrived this week. In addition to the awesome cover photo (Robert Crais), it includes an interview I did with Alafair and James Lee Burke. So be sure to check that out when you get your copy!

Now it is with great trepidation that I introduce today's Five on Friday guest. Yes, he is presently out on his "Khaki is the New Black" book tour for The Good Cop, which released March 5th. The reports have not come back as to whether he's leaving damage in his wake, but I guess no news is good news?

Seriously, I am very excited to have a great writer and a great friend here today. I met Brad Parks back before the first Carter Ross mystery was published, and I've been thrilled to see Brad and this series doing so well.

Without any further ado, I'll turn the blog over (oh dear God help me) to the multi-talented, award-winning, goofball himself...Brad Parks!

Brad sent this with the caption "Tough Interview"

The best gift I ever received was: I’ve got two children who are healthy and smart and beautiful and fun. It’s a total copout answer, I realize, but it’s also hard to imagine a greater blessing.

One thing I have no tolerance for is: Slow drivers. Which is a problem, because I live in this rural part of Virginia with a lot of farmers in pickup trucks and old people who have nowhere to go and insist on getting there while driving ten miles below the speed limit. People like this are serious impediments to my pursuit of happiness. My blood pressure is spiking just thinking about it. I mean, seriously, it’s the long skinny pedal on the right, you miserable waste of biomass, so why don’t you either use it or get the @$%!^ out of my way! And while we’re talking, you do know that left lane is called the passing lane, not the camping-out-while-going-the-exact-same-speed-as-the-person-next-to-you lane, so why don’t you... Ahem. Sorry. What’s the next question?

A skill I’ve always wanted to have, but don’t is: Playing the piano. Some folks in the crime fiction community may be aware I sing a little bit. But the fact is I can never really take it on the road without accompaniment. A woman can get away with not being able to play—she can just put on a slinky dress and slither all over the piano, ala Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys—but I don’t have that option. I don’t have the hips for it.

If I won the lottery tomorrow, the first thing I would do would be: My wife and I have an ongoing debate about this. I swear to her that if I won the lottery, I would retire to an island where all I’d do is read on the beach, snorkel and, if I was really feeling motivated on a particular day, play golf. I’d never write another word, except for scribbled notes to my accountant that said, “Send more money.” Sadly, my wife’s version—and she knows me better than I know myself—is probably more accurate. She contends that after about two weeks of this I’d be going out of my mind with boredom; and that by the end of the third week, I’d be inventing a story about a guy who wins the lottery, goes to live a life of tranquility on island, only to discover its dark and horrible secret...

The #1 item on my bucket list right now is: Six-pack abs. Go ahead. Laugh it up. Maybe that’s audacious for a man of my advanced age (I was born in 1974, Forbus; and people born in 1974, especially March or earlier in that year, are getting seriously old). But I’ve always wanted them and just sorta, y’know, never got around to it during my 20s. My 30s have turned out to be a little busier than expected as well. So my plan is to give them to myself as a 40th birthday present. Then we’ll see about my secret desire to dunk a basketball... 

See what I get? I give him a nice introduction and he takes a pot shot at my age!

If you have not experienced the Carter Ross series, I encourage you to do so. The audiobooks of the first three in the series are narrated by MacLeod Andrews and he does a fabulous job. I have not heard The Good Cop, which has a new narrator, but when I do I'll let you know!  And of course the audios can't be great if the books themselves aren't, so I highly encourage you to check them out. You can see reviews and some other related posts with Brad on the blog here.

You can connect with Brad at his website, on Facebook or on Twitter. He will also be at Left Coast Crime, so you can give him a hard time....er, I mean, stop and say "hi" if you're attending. Or you can check out one of his other tour events that are going on through April.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend. Happy Reading!