Welcome back to Writerly Wednesday.
On the First Wednesday of February and the first Writerly Wednesday post of 2014 Writerly Wednesday Welcomes Timothy Fleming.
Writerly Wednesday posts consist of an Interview followed by a bio, blurb and excerpt. You will also see buy links. While you are purchasing Timothy’s book add one of mine to your cart.
Interview
1. What is your favorite marketing task that has resulted in a sale?
I have an elderly neighbor who can’t get around well. After a recent snowstorm I offered to shovel her drive. We got to talking, and I told her about my book. A few days later her daughter showed up at my door with a newly purchased copy of The President’s Mortician for me to sign. It was a birthday gift for her mother.
2. What do you like about your publisher or why did you decide to Self Publish?
It took courage to publish The President’s Mortician, because it is a dangerous book. While some of the narrative is fictional, the parts dealing directly with the assassination of JFK are factual. I name the real plotters, shooters, and accessories before and after the fact. And I reveal explosive new evidence that flies in the face of the historical lies our government has foisted on us for 50 years. Lots of publishers backed away from my book before Neverland Publishing took it on.
3. What do you have under your bed?
A notebook. Often I awake from a dream (or a nightmare) with ideas that need to be jotted down before I lose them.
4. Are you a plotter or a pantser when you are writing?
More of a plotter. I have a working outline in my head at all times.
5. Do you write in a bubble or do you prefer critique groups,writing buddies or other companionship during the process?
I’m a loner. Like Hemingway said, “Writing is easy. Just sit down by yourself at a typewriter and bleed.”
6. When do ideas come to you and how do you capture them?
Ideas come to me all the time. Some of them warrant my attention; others fade away. When I’m stuck, music inspires me. I prefer classical–Ravel, Satie, and other French composers are my favorites.
7. What is your favorite word processing program and what other tools do you use, pen, notebooks, white board, index cards, finger on fogged bathroom mirrors?
I use anything that is handy. I once wrote down an idea on an envelope in my car while stopped at a traffic light. I use MS Word, but I’m not married to it.
Bio
Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Tim Fleming is a graduate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He has worked as a writer, editor, and college English instructor. His published stories include works across several genres. His first historical novel, Murder Of An American Nazi, was published in 2008. “The Barefoot Hero,” a 2010 work of literary fiction, was published in the award-winning short story anthology, Writers On The Wrong Side Of The Road. His screenplay, Boats Against The Current, won top honors at the Skyfest Film Festival in 2011. His short story, “Back To Lopez Island,” was published in 2012 in The Speed Of Dark, a horror anthology. It won the Reader’s Favorite International Bronze Award in 2013. Fleming’s latest work is The President’s Mortician, A Story Of How And Why JFK’s Murder Was Executed And Covered Up.
Fleming has researched the Kennedy assassination for decades. He has read most of the hundreds of books published on the topic; he has reviewed thousands of documents released through the Freedom of Information Act; and he has interviewed scores of witnesses. He even lived in Dallas for a period of time, taking a part-time job in between college semesters, just to have access to primary sources. The evidence he uncovered indicated that a conspiracy took the life of JFK, but there were unresolved questions about how and why the cover-up endured so long. Despite all the years of research, he was unable to reconcile the fundamental contradictions inherent in the medical evidence of the case, until he stumbled upon a witness who clarified the contradictions in JFK’s wounds.
In any murder investigation, the victim’s body tells the story of how the crime took place. In the case of murder by gunshot, the bullet holes on the dead body will indicate, among other things, trajectory and direction of the shots. But JFK’s wounds appeared one way in Dallas and another way in Washington DC just six hours after the shooting. The Parkland doctors saw evidence of frontal entry, meaning Oswald could not have done the shooting because he was in a building behind the President at the time of the assassination. But the Bethesda Naval Hospital autopsy doctors saw evidence of rear entry, meaning Oswald could have done the shooting. Which group of doctors was right? Fleming did not know until he talked to the daughter of the man who altered JFK’s wounds after the president’s corpse left Parkland and before it arrived at Bethesda. The eponymous mortician was a master at reconstructing and altering dead bodies to disguise the true manner of death. And he had sinister ties to U.S. intelligence and Air Force officers. His name was John Liggett, and he was the surreptitious mortician to the 35th President.
Largely unknown to history, John Liggett was one of the most macabre and gruesome figures of the 20th century. A skilled undertaker and body reconstructionist, he was also a contract killer with furtive intelligence connections. Liggett’s actions on November 22, 1963, speak to the sinister role he may have played in helping plotters cover up the true nature of President John F. Kennedy’s murder. But Liggett’s secret work is not done. One summer night young Conrad “Con” Reese, Jr., while peeping in his neighbor’s window, witnesses the horrifying murder of Nancy Weirshellen. Nancy’s husband, Ed, is wrongly convicted of the murder, and, though Con knows Ed is not the murderer, ashamed of his actions on that night, he does not come forward to tell his story to authorities. As he grows older, Con feels deep remorse for allowing an innocent man to be convicted of murder, and he retains a clear image of the real murderer in his memory. With the help of a journalist friend, Durrell “Abbie” Monroe, Con learns that Liggett has suspicious connections to the JFK assassination and was also Nancy Weirshellen’s murderer. Ed escapes custody, aided by Con and Abbie. The friends reveal the identity of Nancy’s murderer to Ed, thus sending him on a deadly search for Liggett. Interwoven with riveting facts and enthralling historical fiction, The President’s Mortician reveals the true nature of the plot to kill our nation’s 35th president, and how that deed was covered up in the most diabolical and clever way imaginable
Author contact information:
Follow on Twitter @tpfleming
Thank you Timothy for being my guest this week. Come back next week to see my next Writerly Wednesday guest.
If I Should Die and Milk Carton People by Sally Franklin Christie are available at your favorite book-seller in print and e-formats for your favorite e-reader.
Thank you again for coming to Writerly Wednesday and please visit again.
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