with Matt Cook
We are delighted to welcome author Matt Cook to Omnimystery News today.
Matt's debut suspense thriller is Sabotage (Forge Books; September 2014 hardcover, audiobook and ebook formats), a sure thrill ride for those who love the puzzles of technology, cryptology, and people.
We recently had the opportunity to catch up with Matt to talk more about his book.
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Omnimystery News: Introduce us to the cast of characters in Sabotage.
Photo provided courtesy of
Matt Cook
Matt Cook: There's Austin Hardy, a Stanford doctoral student of aerospace engineering who spent his teen years building model airplanes and remote controlled aircraft. Growing up in Malibu, his other hobbies were cryptology and bodysurfing. He loves the sea, and does his best thinking and problem solving out in the waves.
Austin's professor is Malcolm Clare, an eccentric aerospace engineer of English decent. Dr. Clare founded of ClareCraft, a company that designs and builds airplanes, as well as Glitnir Defense, a secret defense corporation.
Malcolm's daughter is Victoria, a doctoral student of mathematics in her early twenties. Half Brazilian, she grew up in Mojave watching her father's aircraft soar into the sky. She's a private person with few friends, viewed as cold and arrogant by her peers. What they don't know is that she lives in fear of being targeted by her father's enemies.
Then there's Jake Rove, a retired Air Force combat weatherman with a background that includes meteorology and bioacoustics. His skills enable him to resist a hostile takeover of a luxury cruise ship.
OMN: They seem like an interesting mix of people. What is it about them that appeals to you as a writer?
MC: Happiness is achievable to those who live a good life. I like stories that reflect this view through heroes with admirable virtues — characters created in the spirit of what can and should be. That doesn't mean perfect, superhuman, or uninteresting. It means the protagonists' values, and the way they go about earning them, are respectable. That's how Austin Hardy, Jake Rove, and the Clares were created.
OMN: Tell us something about Sabotage that isn't mentioned in the publisher's synopsis.
MC: One of the characters dabbles as a close-up magician. He uses a key principle in magic in attempt to overcome the villains.
OMN: Are any of the situations in which the characters find themselves based on real events?
MC: At Stanford, there's a tradition called "The Game." Teams of students race around the San Francisco Bay Area over twenty-four hours, solving a chain of clues. During my freshman year, we lost terribly and didn't finish the race. The year after, our team came in first among the undergraduates. That time, our team had drawn from a variety of fields, including chemistry, physics, economics, mechanical engineering, and computer science. The creative synergy was exciting. I wanted to write a story about a team whose different academic backgrounds would enable them to solve a puzzle of international consequence.
OMN: Do you have any favorite places to go while you write?
MC: It depends on the stage. I believe travel is the best education a person can get, and to me — during early thinking and brainstorming — there's no greater muse. As for thinking through scenes, there's something peaceful and grand about sitting at the beach, listening while the waves roll in. For putting words on a page, any quiet room will do, but the experience is enhanced by a nice warm atmosphere. There's nothing like sinking into a cushy sofa by a fireplace to write.
OMN: Sabotage seems to take a cinematic approach to its story. What are some of your favorite films?
MC: That's tough! I rank favorites according to two factors: entertainment value and quality, where the latter is measured according to how true and significant the theme is, and how successfully the theme is conveyed through plot, characterization, style, and music. Entertainment value and quality don't always correlate. (For example, you may respect a movie's storytelling, but find the subject too heavy to enjoy on a regular basis.) That's why picking favorites is so difficult. That said, here are my top five overall:
1. Schindler's List;
2. The Sound of Music;
3. Life is Beautiful;
4. The Scent of a Woman; and
5. The Shawshank Redemption.
OMN: Are you working on another book? And is it a sequel to Sabotage?
MC: Yes, though it's not a sequel. Sabotage was written with a series in mind; I'd like to revisit Austin Hardy and the gang eventually. Nonetheless, I felt the best way to grow as a writer was to develop an independent premise for the next book. It will take place in a different time, with a new cast of characters. It'll be darker, and a bit sexier.
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Matt Cook is a writer based in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. A close-up magician trained at the Magic Castle, Matt has performed in Hollywood and across the globe. For his support of the military, he was honored with the President's Call to Service Award. In 2010 Matt co-founded California Common Sense, a nonprofit dedicated to government transparency and data-driven policy analysis. Matt's hobbies include scuba, piano, and travel. He now pursues an Economics doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania as an NSF scholar.
For more information about the author, please visit his website at VisitMatt.com and his author page on Goodreads, or find him on Facebook.
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Sabotage
Matt Cook
A Suspense Thriller
A cruise ship loses power in the North Atlantic. A satellite launches in the South Pacific. Professor Malcolm Clare — celebrated aviator, entrepreneur, and aerospace engineer — disappears from Stanford University and wakes up aboard an unknown jet, minutes before the aircraft plunges into the high seas.
An extortionist code-named "Viking" has seized control of a private warfare technology, pitting a U.S. defense corporation against terrorist conspirators in a bidding war. His leverage: a threat to destroy the luxury liner and its 3,000 passengers.
Stanford doctoral student Austin Hardy, probing the disappearance of his professor, seeks out Malcolm Clare's daughter Victoria, an icy brunette with a secret that sweeps them to Saint Petersburg. Helped by a team of graduates on campus, they must devise Trojan horses, outfox an assassin, escape murder in Bruges, and sidestep treachery in order to unravel Viking's scheme. Failure would ensure economic armageddon in the United States.
