with Natalie Buske Thomas
We are delighted to welcome mystery author Natalie Buske Thomas to Omnimystery News today.
Natalie's third book in her second trilogy of Serena Wilcox mysteries is Bluebird Flown (Independent Spirit Publishing; May 2013 trade paperback and ebook formats). The trilogy theme of the series is a closely guarded secret for now!
We recently had a chance to talk to Natalie about her books.
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Omnimystery News: Tell us more about your trilogy of trilogies featuring Serena Wilcox.
Photo provided courtesy of
Natalie Buske Thomas
Natalie Buske Thomas: I wrote Gene Play as a stand-alone when I was in my twenties. It wasn't professionally edited. It fell so short on word count that what I thought was a "novel" is really a "novella", or even a longer short story! The writing is too green to be taken seriously. However, I was full of moxie and I put it out there anyway. The character of Serena Wilcox popped up about three-fourths of the way through Gene Play. Serena was an after-thought, written in because I needed an investigator to wrap up the case. The best feedback from my first book was that readers loved my private detective character Serena Wilcox. "The Serena Wilcox Mysteries" was born.
I wrote two more short mysteries in the series while still too inexperienced to do anything more than dabble. Those first three books are now sold as a collection of short stories in e-book form only. I have but one copy left of Gene Play, wine-stained from a booksigning that was held at a winery (I spilled an entire glass of wine when my jacket sleeve caught the rim of my glass!). Now of course I'm kicking myself for not holding on to a few more copies of those books, especially since my mother has since passed away. Mom loved Gene Play best of all because it was my first book. I always disagreed with her, but now she's gone and I regret not having a single clean copy of that little red monstrosity. Funny how life works.
I returned to the publishing scene with Angels Mark, book one in The Serena Wilcox Dystopian Trilogy, over a decade after the first three books were published. Serena Wilcox had changed so much from the early books that I had to either drop her or find a way to separate the early amateur-effort novellas from the new novel-length hard-hitting professionally-edited thrillers.
Young single one-dimensional Serena Wilcox is now a woman in her forties. She's a former private detective, having left that life behind to focus on her three children. But once a sleuth, always a sleuth. Her skills are requested by none other than American President Ann Kinji. Futuristic America is corrupt and at the point of collapse. Kinji trusts no one but government outsider Serena Wilcox and her motley crew of rogue agents and vigilantes to bring the traitors to light.
The trilogy (Angels Mark, 2011, Covert Coffee, 2012, and Bluebird Flown, 2013) is now complete. The character Serena Wilcox is once again going through a transition before emerging in the new trilogy The Serena Wilcox Time Travel Trilogy.
A private company investigates science and technology crimes. Time travel is now possible, and naturally unscrupulous power-grabbers have already found a way to use the new technology for their own gain. Serena investigates corruption in the past, present and future in Project Scarecrow, in progress. Besides Serena, several other characters are returning. Readers were invited to vote for which characters should receive immunity from being bumped off the series. Favorites were spared an untimely, and potentially absurd, death and are still alive and well to return in Project Scarecrow.
OMN: This series would seem to span several mystery genres. Would you agree?
NBT: My books cross-over with so many intersections that my series is "its own thing"! Yes, there are big disadvantages to this. I have a hard time explaining what my books are like, and some readers are thrown when my books don't match their expectations. It seems people either love me or hate me, there's no "meh" option. The downside to being original is that it's easy to be misunderstood. The upside to being original is that when readers "get" me, they are intensely loyal and oftentimes become personal friends who have wonderfully quirky projects to share with me in return.
OMN: We often hear that you should write what you know. How much of you or your experience is in the series?
NBT: I was taught the same rule, yes. I definitely put my own experiences into my books. I even put real people into my books, with their permission. Beav, Agent Estep and Lehman are all based on personal friends. The character of Serena Wilcox wasn't ever intended to be based on me, but readers insisted that she must be me. Eventually I gave up trying to convince readers otherwise. I got into the character of Serena Wilcox to the point of dipping back into a couple of early books to edit out a little of her past that doesn't fit with my real life history or personality. Now that I've given into the whole Serena identity I'm having more fun with her. Of course she's not me, and I take liberties with my super hero alter ego, but at future booksigning events I'll be wearing the signature scarf, pilot's hat, and wrist band worn by Serena in Project Scarecrow. (Remember, I'm a theater person!)
OMN: Describe your writing process for us.
NBT: I let the story develop as I write, as that is when the fun takes over. But I do make notes; many, many scribbles and scrabbles. I keep multiple writing journals. Some of the pages may be interrupted by numbers I couldn't add in my head or one of my infamous to-do lists. If anyone wanted to have me committed, my writing journals would offer up enough probable cause.
OMN: What are some of your hobbies or interests outside of writing? And do any of these find their way into your books?
NBT: I sing, play the drums, and tap dance if my knees allow it. Too many years of tap dancing on concrete floors have done me in (and the fact that I'm not as young as I used to be). I'm also an oil painter. Yes, these activities find their way into my novels. If I have to be Serena Wilcox, then it's only fair that she has to be me!
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Natalie Buske Thomas is an author, artist and entertainer. She was born in upstate New York and spent most of her childhood in Indiana. She also lived in Germany for three years when her husband was stationed in Bamberg with the U.S. Army. After the military-spouse years Natalie graduated from Ball State University with a BA. She currently lives near the Twin Cities with her husband and three children.
To learn more about the author and her books, visit her website at NatalieBuskeThomas.com or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Bluebird Flown
Natalie Buske Thomas
A Serena Wilcox Mystery
President Ann Kinji trusts no one, except for government outsider, former private detective mother-of-three Serena Wilcox and her motley crew of vigilantes, burned agents and the criminally insane.
As the United States continues to spiral out of control, can Serena stop all of the traitors before they kill the President? As the layers of betrayal are peeled, will anyone remain standing?
Operation Covert Coffee left more questions than answers.
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