July 12, 2025 • 61 mins
Buckle up for an electrifying episode of Off The Shelf Books! This week, host and author Denise Turney welcomes debut novelist Chris Kneer, whose gripping new crime thriller, Bluebird, is sending shockwaves through the mystery world.
Set in a dark, atmospheric city with secrets lurking in every alley, Bluebird introduces readers to a conflicted protagonist caught between justice and vengeance—and a case that cuts too close to home. With unforgettable characters, razor-sharp dialogue, and plot twists that’ll leave you breathless, Kneer’s Bluebird is the first in a crime series you won’t want to miss.
Denise dives deep into Chris’s inspiration behind Bluebird, the challenges of launching a debut novel, and how his background shaped the gritty tone of the story. Whether you're a die-hard thriller fan or a curious reader looking for your next binge-worthy series, this conversation will hook you from the first word.
Don’t miss this bold, suspenseful, and insightful episode of Off The Shelf Books!
Set in a dark, atmospheric city with secrets lurking in every alley, Bluebird introduces readers to a conflicted protagonist caught between justice and vengeance—and a case that cuts too close to home. With unforgettable characters, razor-sharp dialogue, and plot twists that’ll leave you breathless, Kneer’s Bluebird is the first in a crime series you won’t want to miss.
Denise dives deep into Chris’s inspiration behind Bluebird, the challenges of launching a debut novel, and how his background shaped the gritty tone of the story. Whether you're a die-hard thriller fan or a curious reader looking for your next binge-worthy series, this conversation will hook you from the first word.
Don’t miss this bold, suspenseful, and insightful episode of Off The Shelf Books!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to the winning literary show Off the Shelf
Books Talk Radio Live with host Denise Turney, author of
the books Long Walk Up, Portie Love, More Over Me,
Spiral Love Has Many Faces, and Rosette us great hopes.
Turn up your dial and get ready for a blast
of feature author interviews, four one one on book festivals,
(00:21):
writing conferences, and so much more. Ready and let's good.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to today's Off the Shelf Books Podcast.
As I've been doing for our last few well I
should say over a year actually shows. I want to
start with a positive quote. It's something to dump into
your th out system to potentially think about it. This
(00:52):
quote is attributed to Damien Thomas and it is if
you change your mindset, you have the ability to change
your old world. If you change your mindset, you have
the ability to change your whole world. Again, that's from
Damian Thomas to our loyal listeners. I always got to
(01:13):
kick off the show. Given our loyal listeners props eighteen years.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to our
loyal listeners. And if this is your first time tuning
in to Off the Shelf Books, I just want to
let you know, yes, you are listening to the winning
book podcast off the show, and you're going to enjoy
(01:36):
our guests. We've had so many, just been blessed with
so many guests on the show. For those who've been
here from the beginning, We've had New York Times bestselling offers,
movie producers, people who have done very well in business,
who've written books on the show. And we have another
awesome author on deck for you on this Saturday. It's
(01:58):
a light or two. It can hardly believe I'm saying
that it feels like July just started and we almost
in the middle of July already. I want to encourage you.
If there's something you promised yourself that you would do
this year, I want to encourage you to check in
see it. How far long you are, and if you
(02:19):
haven't started, that you get started, map out a plan
so at the end of the year that promise you
made to yourself that you will have kept it. And
the next thing, I want to ask you, my friens,
how good of a mystery sleuth are you? Do? You
just love them? I love mysteries, Oh my goodness, even
(02:40):
if I know how who did what, I'm going back
to the Columbos. You know you know who did it,
but you don't know exactly how, you don't know who
all else was involved, and you don't maybe know exactly why.
It's just the mystery behind even being a human. But
(03:02):
I love mystery so much. If you love a mystery
and you you want to figure out just who always involved,
or who did it or why they did it before
you get to the end, I told you to get
a copy of Love for Opening, and why that title.
There is a there's a true soulmate relationship anyway. There's
(03:22):
a couple of weeks when they're in quality. But there's
also all these five friends and you rarely hear about
like friends. They met in college. They're friends for the
rest of their life. One goes, we want to do
well in the NFL. Raymond is a on his way
to the Olympics. And you've got these successful These guys
go on to do successful in business, friends for life,
(03:44):
but one of them, one of them is involved in
a murder. So if you love a mystery and you
value relationship, I encourage you to get a copy of
Love for Over Me ebook, paperback, audio book, your choice
to get a copy today and please let me know
how you enjoy love for of Me by then East
(04:05):
turning when you get your copy today. And now let
us go and meet our very special author shelf guests.
And this morning's guest is Chris Near And if I
say his name, Ms. Vanessa's surname, I hope he corrects me.
He is the co founder of Catalyst Capital Management, a
(04:25):
financial services firm. He has spent more than thirty years
as a senior banker, which gives him insight and just
this good quality fuel for the financial crime thrillers stud
He writes. His debut novel, Bluebird, is the beginning of
a crime thriller book series. And Chris is also a
(04:47):
member of the Florida Writers' Association. He and his family
make their home in Sunny Florida. And I encourage you
to check Chris out online at chrisnearauthor dot com. And
I'm going to spell that see h R I s
k is in kind k n e e r a
(05:07):
U t h o r dot com. And again h
R I s k n e e r a U
t h o r dot com. We're just honed to
have Chris join us on off the showt this morning Welcome, Welcome, welcome, Chris.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Thank you so much. First of all, congrats on eighteen years.
What an amazing accomplishment. And I really appreciate you having
me on the show and love the positivity.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
What a great way to start a Saturday.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Okay, and so the kick off the show, I asked
this all of our guests this now. When I first started,
I just went straight into talking about their books, and
I got feedback from listeners. Could you give us a
little background on on the guests before you start talking
about their books. So about the first three or four
questions I ask every yes, So kick off today. So Chris,
(06:01):
can you tell off the SHLP listeners where you grew
up and what life was like for you growing up?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, you bet so. It's actually a big part of
my writing. So I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and
you know, normal childhood. My dad was a college professor,
and I had two sisters, and our whole family really
loved to read. I remember spending you know a lot
(06:31):
of times when I wasn't outside playing sports and running
around the neighborhood. I was a very very active reader.
And I always loved mysteries. That was by far my favorite,
and so as time went on. As a matter of fact,
when I went to college at Creighton University, I was
(06:53):
studying business and I had a professor I was taking
an English class, and he said, you know, you're really
pretty good at this, maybe you should think about a career,
you know, in the arts. And I said, you know,
I did what every college student does, ignore them, and said,
you're crazy.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I'm supposed to be a business person.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
And so I got my finance degree with the minor
and economics and worked for a couple of years in Omaha.
And but I just always had a suspicion that maybe
there was somewhere else that I was meant to be.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Loved Omaha.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
It's a great city, but you know, I just, you know,
I felt a calling to go somewhere else. And I
had fraternity brothers in Florida, and you know, and everybody
kind of has that triggering moment. And I remember it
was Christmas Eve and I was looking out I was
living at my parents' house and I was looking out
(07:54):
their beautiful picture window to the backyard and it was
snowing and sleeping and just great. And so I called
my friends in Florida and I said, you know, what
are you all doing? It was Christmas Eve, and I
said what are you all doing today? And one of
them said, we just got done water skiing and I said,
that's what I'm talking about. And I literally told my parents,
(08:19):
you know, I'm going to I'm going to move to Florida.
I'm going to pack up my car and I'm going
to go stay with my friends in Gainesville, Florida, and
where University of Florida is. Maybe I'll go back to school.
And you know, I think they probably thought that I
just needed a vacation. And so I left and I
(08:41):
drove down. You know, these are in the days. I'm
fifty five years old, So these are in the days
when there's no GPS. You get a big old map
out and you get a highlighter and you try to
figure out where you're going.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
And that that's what I did.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
I highlighted the you know, twenty something hour drive from
Omaha to Gainesville, and I showed up there with literally
my car and a pillow and a piece of luggage.
And so I spent a couple weeks in Gainesville and
it just it really just wasn't for me. I remember
(09:17):
telling a friend of mine, and this is a lot
like Georgia. This is not what I pictured, you know,
Florida to be. And he said, okay, well let's go
down and we'll stay with my parents and we'll go
to Gasparilla, to which I said, sounds good. But I
don't know what Gasparilla is and I don't know where
Tampa is. And so we made the three hour drive down,
and just to give everybody, I actually feature a trip
(09:41):
to Gasparilla in my book Bluebird. And so we went
down and it's basically Tampa's Mardi Gras. It is where
you know, along the water. It's a symbolic or it's
a kind of a make believe holiday where the pirates,
led by Jose Gaspar come into the bay on a
(10:05):
pirate ship and they take the city over. And now
it's turned into just you know, thousands and thousands and
thousands of people and boats and throwing beads and just
having a wild time. And I remember being on a
boat coming into the bay and just thinking this is
exactly what I'm talking about. And so that was, gosh,
(10:28):
almost thirty years ago.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
And I never went home.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I wound home, and I love it here and it's
really an amazing place.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Oh my goodness. Yes. Now, when you were a kid, Chris,
what did you want to be? Said? You had somebody
in your life told you enter the arts, but you
thought no. But when you were a kid, what did
you want to be when you grew up?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I think I was the typical kid that started off
wanting to be a policeman or a fireman or something exciting.
And you know, I'll be honest with you, even through college,
I had no idea what I was going to be.
I just I didn't know. I I was just kind
of happy to you know, survive every every stage, you know,
(11:13):
get through high school, enjoyed it, loved college. I would
have stayed in college for ten years if they would
have left me, but they said time to move on,
and you know, I was just I just kind of
enjoyed life and I just kept my eyes open. But
there was really nothing, you know, that that I thought
I would be doing. I figured as time went on,
(11:35):
I was pretty good at math, and so I finance
made a lot of sense. And I knew I didn't
want to be, you know, just in a back room somewhere,
you know, doing analysis. So really, you know, I figured
I'd end up in sales and financial sales, which is
really what I've done, you know, the majority of my life.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Okay, so so good. Just kind of stumbled into banking
and financial services. That's a very fast industry. I've worked
in it myself. You just kind of fell into it, or.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Well, this is this is really funny. So when I
moved to Tampa, I didn't know what I would do.
So I was waiting tables trying to figure out, you
know what, what what would I stay in Tampa?
Speaker 4 (12:22):
And I had I was.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I stayed with this this wonderful family, those Ritzky family,
who I'm still really close with today.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
And their mom.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
You know this is you know, they're very they're very professional.
She said, you know you need to get this is
my second day in Tampa. You need to get your
suit on, go downtown and start interviewing. Now I didn't
even know where downtown was and I had one suit,
so you know, I listened to her and I went
down and I started kind of knocking on doors. And
(12:54):
the first job that I was offered was as a
financial analyst at a pretty size bank, and I jumped
at it. And it's funny to think back on it today.
I remember when the HR director you know, offered me
the job, and I think the pay was twenty eight
(13:15):
thousand dollars, and I remember taking the elevator away from
that interview and thinking, I am by far the wealthiest
person there is.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
I thought I had hit the lottery.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
So, you know, it's that's kind of how I ended
up in banking, and I, you know, I was really
lucky to have some great mentors, and you know, I
did what I think anybody that's in banking should do.
I learned the credit side of the business for a
couple of years, so I understood how to look at
the lending side, and then once I had that down,
(13:51):
I was able to move into sales and from there,
you know, I was a lender for a long time,
and then I moved into management and then started to
really learned some niche programs and that really became, you know,
my differentiator. And that's really you know, what I did
until you know, I retired from banking about three months ago.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Whow three months ago? Oh my gosh, we're getting impressed
in the retirement. What inspired you to co found Catalyst
Capital Management?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
So I had, you know, uh, My banking career was fantastic.
I was at a small community bank for a long time.
I was not a job jumper, and then I ended
up at another small bank, but it was growing, and
it turned out it was just it's such a strange
path we take. These were guys that I had met
(14:50):
my first job in Tampa, and you know, go forward
twenty years. These guys had all started a bank and
I ran into them and friend of mine said, you know,
you should come over and talk to these guys. I
think this might be really good for you. And it
turned out to be life changing. It was just an
amazing bank that I loved. It was called us Amera Bank,
(15:11):
and it just had great people.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
We sold the.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Bank about seven years ago to Valley National Bank, which
is a big regional bank out of New Jersey, and so,
you know, I really I wasn't really sure how long
I would stay with Valley, but turned out to be
a you know, a good, you know, a good career,
and and then at one point, you know, I was
(15:35):
just ready to do something else. You know, the bank
was in a good position, had a great team there
that could take over, and it was just time to
do something else and try you know, something more entrepreneurial
along with you know, keeping very active with my writing.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Okay, oh my goodness, and I can only imagine running
a business, oh my goodness is and then again, like
you said, find the time to write before we go
into Bluebird. Last question, how has working in the industry
financial services, especially what you think about what your novel
(16:16):
and the series about how has that affected the writing
the creation of Bluebird? Just your back working background.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, I mean there. I think you just have to
keep your eyes open if you are you know, I've
heard a long time ago write what you love is
you know, I love thrillers, I love mysteries, and you know,
I've had a great career in finance. So finding a
way to kind of blend it all together has been fantastic.
And I think you just have to kind of keep
(16:48):
your eyes open to you know, what you're doing day
to day, and there's all kinds of interesting subjects. I
probably take a note on something twenty times a day
that I think is interesting, especially today with all that's
going on, you know, in the news. I mean, if
you I think anyone could be a thriller writer at
this point, there's so much fodder, you know, between AI
(17:13):
and politics and fraud. So yeah, I just you know,
I would take situations from my career and then I
would kind of you know, move them forward and say, well,
what if this happened, What if you know, this person
that I'm dealing with turned out to be you know,
a bad guy. And so yeah, it's it's you know,
(17:35):
and it's tricky when you write a financial thriller because
you can't get too deep into the weeds on the
financial side. You're gonna, I think you're gonna lose readers
if you really start going deep on it. So you
just want to touch on different topics and and.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
So that's what I did with Bluebird.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I just and and any books after that will be
they'll always be financial thriller and they'll always deal with
because that's my background and that's what I know, and
I think, you know, it just it's funny. I was
meeting with a guy yesterday and we were talking about
our careers, and you know, he mentioned that he'd like
to write a book, and he told me the story
(18:16):
of you know, some things that had happened to him.
I mean, talk about an amazing story. And this was
all financial related, And I mean, you could not make
up a better story than this guy had. So I
think you just again you keep your eyes open. And
that's why they call it fiction. You can kind of
take it in any direction you want. It's got to
(18:37):
be somewhat really believable, but you know, you you can
take some you can go in some different directions with it,
for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Okay, where did you get the ideal for the book? Bluebird?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
So what I've always been interested in is, you know,
what if someone has got, you know, a terrific life
and they are, they are challenged with a decision to
you know, do the right thing.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
You know, would I do the right thing?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
You know, if would I be willing to risk everything
I've got to do what's right? And so that's been
the basis of you know, years and years and years ago,
I wrote I wrote a book. I never published it,
but it was the first true full length book that
I had written. I'd written lots of stories and that
kind of thing, and it was kind of a similar
(19:32):
story as far as you know, someone being you know,
in a situation where they had to make the a
tough decision. And so that story always stuck with me.
But What was funny was when the first one I
wrote was I said it in Chicago because I felt like,
you know, books were always setting in these big cities,
(19:53):
and and despite the fact I didn't even know Chicago
very well. So when I decided to do Bluebird, you know,
I kind of the direction I would be going. But
I said it in Tampa because it's it's the area.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
I know.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
It's a really interesting city with great things. We've got
everything from you know, beautiful areas, we've got beaches, we've
got you know, some areas that are rougher. And I
figured if I could, you know, I could really bring
to light all the wonderful parts of Tampa and it
would just be a great setting. So that's what I did,
(20:29):
and I'm really glad I did because that's been some
of the best feedback I've received. Our people, you know,
people that live here say, you know, how exciting to
you know, see all these different or listen about all
these different places that we know. And then people from
out of town, you know, it's like a vacation to Florida.
And who doesn't want that? So I think it was
the right choice.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Okay, please give my listeners an overview of Bluebird.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
You bet you so.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Bluebird starts off with the lead character Jason Miles, and
he is he's escaped a tough past and he has
gone to Israel for a fresh start and he is
snatched off to the street by a rough group of characters.
(21:16):
And as it turns out, these are people that are
building a case against a bank in Israel, fraud related
and so there's all of this excitement early on in
the book of you know, can he join these people?
Will he help them? And so that's almost like a
(21:36):
little mini novel in itself. And then we move forward
ten years and Jason is living in Tampa and he's.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Married the woman of his dreams.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
He's got a great career at Safe Harbor Bank and he,
you know, just everything is going fantastic and he counts
his blessings. He's got. His best friend is a character
named Oak Williams who he grew up with is now
a movie star in la So they have lots of
(22:07):
fun together. And what happens is he and one of
his co workers, he's a technology expert in the bank
and he deals with fraud those types of things, and
they come across a what looks like to be fraud
in the bank, and you know, Jason tries to ignore it,
(22:28):
not think about it, and his coworker proves to him
that this is indeed going on, and when he goes
to the management of the bank tells him what he
has seen, they turn on him and Jason is forced
to go on the run and prove his innocence. They
try to pin several things on him, and so he's
(22:51):
on the run throughout Tampa and all the different areas
and you know, changing how he looks and everything. That
makes a great thriller. And you know, I've built lots
and lots of twists into it where you think one
thing is happening and something else does.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
So he is not only being chased.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
By you know, the bad guys that are part of
the bank, but he's also being chased by the FBI
as they are they believe that maybe he had something
to do with this fraud at the bank. And you know,
the main characters of the bank are all a tight
knit group that he's still with as he's on the run.
(23:32):
But you know, towards the end they turn he it
turns out that one of them has turned on him
and he's got to figure out which one. And that's really,
you know, that's really.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
What Bluebird is about.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
It takes place in areas like Ebor City, which is
a famous part of Tampa that you know, is fascinating
on its own, and that's why, you know, the subtitle
is a Cigar City thriller. That's the area Tampa is
known as cigar City, and Ebor especially was the home
of the cigar manufacturing, you know, in the late eighteen hundred's,
(24:07):
late early nineteen hundreds. So Ebar is fascinating. So that's
somewhere that I wanted to highlight in the book. And
then we've got everything that Florida's about. We've got beaches,
we've got hurricane, we've got everything that can go wrong does.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
And the question is can Jason make it through?
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Oh my god? What what time period is this? Karrent Day?
This story? Yes, it is Karen Day. And you told
us a little bit about Jason. He's married, he works
a safe harbor bank in Tampa, and his best friend
is Oak Williams, who's a movie star in Hollywood. But
Jason's personality is he like a real social guy? Is
(24:48):
he more introverted? Is he given to anger aggressive, Is
he more lighthearted? What type of person is he? And
does he have children?
Speaker 3 (25:00):
So Jason had a damaged childhood, which is a big
part of the beginning of the story, and really grew up,
you know, somewhat on his own. And so that's a
big part of the book is you know, the hero's journey.
You know, he always feels like he has let people
down and so he's always trying to prove you know,
(25:22):
you know that that is not true. He wants to
be the one that everybody can count on. No, he absolutely,
he's an outgoing guy. He's a you know, up and
coming executive at the bank, and he you know, he
doesn't have quite the charisma that Oak does, but he
is a really interesting character and he's really you know,
(25:44):
he's really torn between this amazing life he has and
he feels very blessed. He loves his wife, they don't
have any kids, and you know, but he also knows
that something wrong has been done and he needs to
do the right thing and be that hero.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
How long has he been working at Safe Harbor when he, uh,
I'm thinking about the firm. I'm thinking about the firm.
How long? Because that character was new to the to
the to that that law firm. But how long has
he been at the bank when he discovers something something's
not right?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
So he's been there five years and he he is
really as I said, he's kind of the up and
coming star. They're you know, they're they're they're doing what
corporations do. They're giving him stock options. He's going to
be a wealthy man as if he stays with the bank.
And you know, he's paid well and and has lots
(26:44):
of mentors as well. And I think that's all a
bit of the the grooming that takes place in the
book of you know, they have built this life for him,
and they really you know, when he threatens to to
tell everybody about this fraud, you know, that's really what
they use to say. You know, Jason, why would you
do that? You've got this, you know, you've got everything here.
(27:07):
Why you know, if first of all it's not true,
but why would you why would you? You know, why
would you ruin your life over this? And so you know,
and it's something you know I've seen in the industry,
is you do you know, you become very and it's
probably all industries, you know, you've been somewhere for a while,
and you start to get comfortable and you really start
(27:29):
to build that life you want and and it's kind
of went back to one of your early questions, you know,
And I think that's the great, you know question that
I like to ask, is if you're in that spot
and then you're challenged, what.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Are you going to do?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yees? Now, why does Jason Miles? Why does he want
to escape his past? Why he's doing the right thing,
He's doing the right thing. Why should he want to
escape his past? Yes? He really is he really a
good guy? He is. He got a shady past.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
You know, he is a's part of you know, for
the reader to decide they you know, is he a
is he someone that you know, just talks about being
a hero or is he somebody that truly believes it?
And he you know, I would say he didn't grow
up shady, but he grew up somewhat alone and so
(28:23):
he you know, that also plays into you know, a
real strong part of the story is his love for
his wife and and you know, because he had such
a you know, lonely childhood, you know, he's very attached
to her, you know, and she is one of his
you know key you know, there's really a few key
(28:45):
people in his life. Her name is Leah, and then
his friend Oak and then Abner who came from Israel
to help him with this situation. And knowing that one
of these people turned on him, you know, towards the
end of the book is really you know, and again
I think, and what I've heard from other people is
(29:06):
when it comes down to the very end, there is
a pretty pretty darn good twist, you know, to when
you find out who it is that turned on them.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Just what for for for listeners who might not be
that will versed in the financial services industry, just what
does a bank security expert do? And is this the
person who really discovered the fraud?
Speaker 4 (29:32):
Yeah, so they they tend to.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Things, they deal with things like cybersecurity. They can deal
you know with some physical physical security around the bank,
but it's really more, you know, there's so many things
that go on with banks as far as when you know,
if there's a top and knowing your customer. That's a
big part. You need to know who the customer is.
(29:56):
You need to and there's been some really classic frauds,
you know, over time, a lot of them actually in Switzerland,
and you know that was something I read early on,
and I read this book about this particular financial crime,
I say, well, that would be you know, that'd be great.
I wonder if someone could pull something like that off here.
(30:18):
And so, you know, I think that, like I said earlier,
you got to be careful not to go too deep.
But you know, everything that a you know, somebody that
deals with banks and fraud and you know the cyber world,
you know, frauds alone could be you know, you could
do twenty books on fraud. There's so much out there,
(30:39):
and and every bank is really staffing up on those
positions to make sure that they're taken care of and
protecting their customers data. And they've got to make sure
that they do that because there's all kinds of people.
You know, in my second book, that's one of the
you know, one of the main topics his you know,
(31:01):
cybersecurity and bad guys trying to get data from individuals.
So you know, it's a it's probably one of the
main topics there is in banking today is how do
you keep everybody's information safe?
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yes? Yeah, Now Leah is Jason's wife, what give us
an introduction to Leah, what what is she like, what's
her personality like, what drives her? What tracted her to Jason.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
So Leah and Avner were Jason's handlers in Israel, and
they are the ones who mentored him and taught him
how to go into this bank in Israel and basically
be a spy for them. So you know, there's some
things that happened, and you know that you could blame
(31:53):
on his handlers. And so Jason had fallen in love
with Leah, who you know, she had a very challenging
childhood herself. So they connected over that and he talked
her into coming to Florida. And you know, she is
somebody who, you know, in Israel, everybody is in the
(32:15):
military at some point.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
She is, you know, somebody who has been.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
You know, really a you know, tough She's a tough,
tough woman, let's say that. And you know, Jason is
really trying to civilize her to you know, the the
world of mc mansions and you know, nice restaurants.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
And she's always a little.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Unsettled because you know, her background is about excitement and
so you know, even though they've been together for a
long time and they love each other. You know, she
does not love all that comes with, you know, being
married to an executive and you know, living that life
as I wouldn't say a trophy wife, but someone that
(33:02):
you know that is expected to go all the parties and.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
That type of thing. Okay, now there's a menu on
your website. Again, I want to give out your website
you r L to our listeners. They can hop over
and check it out as we uh finishing up today's interview.
But it's Chris ne or c h R I s
k n E E r A U t h o
R dot com. And I say that I give out
(33:27):
the r L. So if our listeners, if you want
to hop over there, I know there's a menu on
your website. Is Jason and Avid cook and it's not?
And how did how do you incorporate cooking into the story?
Speaker 4 (33:40):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
So you know when you when you start doing this,
you know, I think you know when I when I
wrote the book, and I knew I had to promote it.
To be honest, I had no social media. I guess
I had a LinkedIn account, and my son would always
tell me that's not social media, and so I had
(34:03):
to you know, I had to learn relearn about Facebook
and Instagram and all these things. And so I was
listening to someone talk about how you know, to promote
yourself when you know nobody's heard of you, You've never
heard of your book, and they basically said, why don't
you find or what you need to do is find
something that you love and try to get that out there.
(34:24):
And cooking is definitely, you know, one of my passions.
I have a lot of passions, but cooking is definitely one.
And so I kind of came up with this, this
idea of as I read books, I would find something
in the book, because it's still to this day, I read,
you know all the time. I would find something in
the book food related, and then I would take, you know,
(34:48):
that recipe or that food and do my own spin
on it, and I would use that to kind of
get my name out there. And so I think that
food and drink and all of these types of things,
you know, I try to work in you know, all
the things I love into my books because I think
(35:08):
it's one it's fun for me, but I think that
you know, people like that kind of detail. And so
that that was kind of where that particular part of
the website came from was a bunch of recipes and
people really liked it, and it's, you know, for each
(35:29):
one of them. It is basically a synopsis or a
review of a book, a recipe and a drink and
you can kind of pair it all together. And I
thought it was I thought it was a fun creative
way to do things.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Okay. Now, now back to some of the characters in Bluebird.
Who is Terrence Browning? And is he on Jason's side?
Speaker 3 (35:52):
So Terrence Browning is the CEO of Safe Harbor Bank.
He's one of Jason's mentors and someone that is really
trying to build up Jason's career. And when Jason becomes
aware of the fraud, that's who he goes to and
and Terrence, you know, it becomes evident early on that
(36:18):
he is not only involved in the fraud, but he
may be involved in something much much bigger and ominous.
And there's the whole In addition to the fraud itself,
there is you know, kind of a backstory going on
about This may not just be one particular situation. It
may be part of something much much bigger, and it
(36:40):
will be a theme throughout all of the books of
you know, has Jason has not only stepped into something
you know, messy here, but it could be a much
much bigger situation.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Oh my goodness. Uh introduce us to maybe two other
characters who helped to move the story Bluebird forward.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
So I think that.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
And you know what's really fun is everybody who's read
the book has come back with favorite characters, and that's
always fun for me. So certain personalities love Oak. He's
kind of the fun loving, you know, movie star that
you know, is just a super fun character, but at
the same point just doesn't understand why Jason is doing
(37:26):
what he's doing. And there's some background things that go
on with Oak that make you know, maybe he could
be involved in this fraud.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
And then another really great character is Abner, who which
which was the other you know, other handler in Israel
and he comes to you know, he's become friends with Jason,
and he's your classic tough guy. You know, he's a
guy who worked in intelligence in Israel. He's the muscle
and he's rough, and he's tough and and he's a
(38:00):
nice compliment to Jason, and he is you know, I
think every I love books who have got somebody like that.
They are the you know, they seem like there, their
heart's in the right place, but their methods are not
always right. And which is really funny because my mom
(38:24):
is ninety three years old and she read my book.
And so when I was back in Omaha last time,
I told her I was writing a second book, and
she said, loved your book. And she said, now I don't.
I don't like any of the violence, so if you
could cut that out in the future, that would be great.
(38:46):
And I said, well, mom, it's a thriller that's going
to be difficult to do.
Speaker 5 (38:50):
So so yeah, I think those are great characters. Terrence
is a great character in that, you know, he's just
your classic bad guy, and then he's got a group
of you know, thugs that are after Jason. Actually, somebody
that I didn't mention was a character named Zeke Michaels
(39:11):
who is part of the c i A or I'm sorry,
the FBI, and he worked with Jason on financial crimes
at the bank. So anytime they needed to bring in,
you know, somebody who could do some additional, you know, legwork.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
On something, they would call Zeke and Zeke. You never
really know. He's smarter than everybody. He is, you know,
he is ambitious, and you never really know is he
on Jason's side? Is he not on Jason's side? And
along with the thugs, you know, the the Zeke is
(39:46):
chasing Jason as well and trying to convince him to
turn himself in, And you never really know if you
should trust him or not. And I had a lot
of people that came back and said, I love that character.
He's he needs to be in it more.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Oh, okay, now, how much you ken alluded to this
earlier when I was asking about the bank security expert.
How much does the story Bluebird lean on artificial intelligence
and other technology forms? And and why did you choose
this did you do? Is it not at all? Or
(40:21):
does it make an appearance in the story?
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Now maybe lightly in the story? You know, I don't
get heavy into technology besides how Jason and his coworker
find proof of the fraud, and so that's an important
part of the story. Really, I think my second book
will dive much deeper into cybersecurity and to AI and
(40:52):
just the amazing things that are going on with technology today.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Okay, what have you told us about what some readers
tell you about who some of their favorite characters are.
But as the story as a whole, what have you
been hearing feedback from readers? What have they been saying
about Bluebirds?
Speaker 4 (41:09):
They absolutely love the twist?
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Okay, And you know my question to them is always,
because I try to communicate, if somebody reaches out, I always,
you know, reach out back to them or respond to them,
and I always ask them, did you see did you
see the twist coming? And some say yes, some say no,
and some you know, you know, depending on how you
(41:34):
feel about the particular character, you know, you might love
that twist or it might leave you mad.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
And that's, you know, that's the great part of a thriller.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Okay. Now you said something about the subtitle the Cigar
that's the area Tampa always really called cigar City. Does
the does the book titled Bluebird? I love that title.
Does it hold a special means?
Speaker 3 (41:58):
You know, I've been trying to think because I've been
asked that a lot, and I'm trying to remember where
it initially came from. I think that, you know, my
dad was a big influence in my life, not only
you know, because he was a professor and very bright.
He was very avid reader as well, and he loved birds.
(42:22):
He's passed away about a decade ago, but he loved
he loved birds. And for some reason, Bluebird just kind
of the kind of spoke with spoke to me, and
I was like, that should be the title. And but
you know, tell us, you how these things just seem
like they're all interconnected.
Speaker 4 (42:40):
You know.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
I was working on Somebody Read, you know, it was
kind of a story coach for me when I got
this my initial draft done, and she said, you know,
I love your title. Do you know what it means?
And I said, I said no, I said, it's just
it's just a bird. And she said, actually, bluebirds symbolize
(43:02):
angels in disguise. And it turned out to be, you know,
and I've got that line in the book, and so
you know, and that's really, you know, it's perfect. You know,
it's this particular bird symbolizes an angel. And the question
in the book is who's the angel? Is it Jason,
is it Leah?
Speaker 4 (43:22):
Who is it?
Speaker 3 (43:23):
And I just I don't know. I just really loved it.
And then when I designed the cover and I was
able to you know, kind of include the Bluebird and
a weapon and.
Speaker 4 (43:36):
Some color that I loved.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
I just felt like and I think I hit a
home run with the cover. That's one of the you know,
that's some of the strongest feedback I get when I've
done book fairs and those types of things. People see
the cover and say, oh wow, that's cool. Let's talk,
and so, you know, I think that it was just
meant to be.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Okay, how many books do you plan to write in
the series and who are some of the characters readers
can expect to see in each book in the series.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
So again to what I said earlier about you write
what you love. I love series and everything almost everything
I read is a series. And you know, you know,
my dream is that as I have this series and
new books come out, people are you know, really excited
on the day it comes out. You know, I know
(44:29):
for myself when Brad Thor or Daniel Silva or some
of these authors that I really love, when their book
comes out, I am in the bookstore.
Speaker 4 (44:38):
I'm a physical book person.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
I like the book itself, and so I am at
the bookstore buying that book.
Speaker 4 (44:45):
And so I.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
Would love to do, you know, I'll write this series
for you know, as long as as people will buy
the books and the book number two, the majority of
the characters return. But I'd be giving away something if
I told you exactly who. But Jason is definitely the
(45:10):
the the protagonist.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
Okay, can you give us an intro to the second
book and does it have a have a working title already?
If you could give us a brief synopsis of it
and let us know when you expect to have it
out on the market.
Speaker 4 (45:27):
You bet so.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
The title of the book is Loose Ends and the
same subtitle as Cigar City Thriller. And I've just about
finished the the cover and I think it's it's fantastic
as well. And this really starts with you know, the
second book starts with Jason, you know, rebuilding from the
(45:52):
trauma of how the the first book ends, and he is,
you know, he has started his own business at this
point and he's in the same field and he is
drawn into this, you know, incredible situation that deals with
(46:16):
again cybercrime and fraud. And you know, a lot of
the as I said, the same characters are back and
they're involved, and we've got some new villains that that
are all kind of tied to that bigger picture I
was talking about with Bluebird that was going on behind
(46:37):
the scenes, So we go deeper into AI. You know,
we talk about things like quantum computers and all the
excitement that's going on in that world, and you know,
it's I've got the draft. First draft is done. And
you know, it was a lot easier to write the
(46:59):
second book than it was the first because I, between
us and all your listeners, I didn't know what I
was doing with the first one, so it took a
long time to make sure I understood there's this particular
structure that goes with each chapter and the whole book. Well,
for the second book, you know, I knew that, and
I knew you know, my my writing style stays the same, though.
(47:22):
I like to write short chapters with a good you know,
cliffhanger at the end of every chapter that entices you
to read the next chapter. And I can't tell you
how many people that I've spoken to that said they
read Bluebird in a couple of days because they just
they had to go to the next chapter, and before
(47:44):
they knew it, they had finished it. And that's that's
you know, as a thriller writer, I don't think there's
could be a better compliment. But I think, you know,
I was really happy with how blue Bird, you know,
the quality of it, and I think that Loose Ends
is going to be, you know, even better.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
Okay, now you're a member of the Florida Writers Association, Chris,
would you recommend that other writers doing their local writers
Association organizations to strengthen their writing and to learn about
a book marketing opportunity?
Speaker 3 (48:19):
One hundred percent. I think that you know, you know,
it's always your responsibility to be you know, marketing your book,
and I think that you know, it's just such a
there's just a million books out there, so you need
to figure out these different ways to do it. The
whole key is getting your book in front of new readers,
(48:42):
and so, you know, that's one part of it that
I think writers I'm not but a lot of writers
are a little more introverted and you know, if they
like to write, they don't like to market. And so
but it's it's incredibly important because otherwise your book just
won't go anywhere, and so you've got to do you know,
things like if you have the wonderful opportunity to a
(49:04):
podcast or you know, you can get some local print media,
So I think that's important. But on the other side,
you're always trying to improve your craft, and you know,
I'm always you know, it's funny. I'll go back and
I'll read parts of Bluebird and I'll be like, oh, man,
I don't like that sentence, or I don't like this sentence.
(49:24):
And my wife finally said, she owes Chrus. You know
that like nobody else reads it like that. They like
the whole story. They're not concerned about the structure of
a particular sentence. So I think as a lot of
writers are kind of perfectionists and they're never really done
with their book. But you got to stop at some point.
(49:45):
And I think that if you can join a local
writers group and always be working. And another thing that
I've done that has just been, you know, so rewarding,
is I networked with local authors all the time. You know,
I mentioned you Michael Bland, who you had on your
your your podcast a couple of weeks ago. He's local here.
(50:07):
I've got a group of other authors here that you know,
it's just it's really great to go not only share
ideas on you know, writing and how to market and
but also you know, kind of commiserate.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
You know, being.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
An author is hard, and I think we all go
through the same things of trying to you know, grow
your readers and you know, do a really good job
with your book.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Okay, now, congratulations on getting getting published, getting news about
the publishing the Bluebird in the local newspaper, talking about
book marketing. And because you were a banker, and I've
worked with bankers and you've got to have You've got
to have strong sales and communication skills to even be
(50:55):
a successful banker. So I would see that as an
advantage for you, uh that a lot of other authors
might struggle with. But congratulations on that. I wanted to
ask you, how were you able to get the attention
of local media to get coverage for Bluebird?
Speaker 4 (51:13):
Really good questions.
Speaker 3 (51:14):
So I worked not only social media, but I had
a lot of conversations with other authors, you know, just
sharing who do you know? You know, what podcasts have
you been on. I worked with a great PR firm
here locally in town and they, as a matter of fact,
(51:38):
be too. Communication is who connected me with you and
put me on a number of other shows. They did
a really good job getting me in front of some
print media, and all of them wanted to do the
same thing. They want to talk to you first and
see if you have a good story and if you
do an interesting story. And I think the fact that
(51:58):
you know, I was going from you know, a banking career,
you know, I do as you said, I mean, I'm
I'm very outgoing. I like to do the marketing side
of it. I love to do things like this, and
so I think people are more open, you know, if
this is something you know, you enjoy and you can.
Speaker 4 (52:16):
Tell your story.
Speaker 3 (52:17):
But it's it's you know, it's it's really like the
business world. It's about networking, getting to know people, and
you know, and finally, I've been so touched with the
amount of you know, help that I received from people
and the interest of you know, friends and family and
(52:39):
you know, people that have been so great and interested
in this is a career. And you know, I think
again and being an author can be, you know, a
tough business, but when you get that support from people,
you know, it's really touching.
Speaker 2 (52:53):
So for for are our listeners, I'm listening to you again.
My experience working with bankers. If you're going to be
a successful banker, you you got to have good communications,
you know, how the different personalities interact communicate with a
lot of writers struggle tremendously with that. Uh, what advice
(53:15):
could you give to someone who is absolutely terrified to
do even a podcast interview, I mean terrified to speak
to a group. What advice could you give them to
kind of help them slowly start moving forward with that?
Speaker 3 (53:33):
Yeah, so you know, some advice I got. You know,
I've done a lot of public speaking, and you know,
being in sales, you know, and being in you know,
financial sales, you're a lot of times you're making a
decision on someone's character. So you're really you know, you're
you know, you're listening to them, right, And so my
advice would be, well, the advice I got as far
(53:55):
as you know, public speaking was, you know, you always
know more about your subject than the majority of the
people that are listening to you. You should be pretty
comfortable talking about things. And I think that's the same
thing for writing. I mean, all you're doing is talking
about your passion and you're talking about your book, and listen,
nobody's totally comfortable with these things, and you just.
Speaker 4 (54:18):
Have to do it.
Speaker 3 (54:19):
The more you do, the more comfortable you get and
it's a huge part of the industry.
Speaker 4 (54:23):
So you've got to.
Speaker 3 (54:25):
You know, if you're gonna you know, if you're going
to give a you know, speech somewhere, be prepared for it.
Know what you want to talk about. Don't just go
in there, you know blind. You know, if you are
going to be on a podcast, listen to the podcast
the previous podcasts, Understand what it's all about, and you know,
prepare for things. It's unfortunately, you know, the there's a
(54:49):
few writers here and there that you know, hit the
home run with a book and didn't have to do
you know, any of these types of marketing items, but
it's not many. So you've got to go to the
book fairs and you have got to you know, that's
a you know, you've got to go out and meet
readers and tell them about your book. And I've been
to some great book fairs and I've been to some
(55:09):
rough ones, and one of them is just you know,
every one of them is different, like sometimes you The
first one I ever went to, we sold out in
you know, a couple of hours, and I thought, this
is amazing, this is how they all are. When I
went to the last one I went to.
Speaker 4 (55:29):
Nobody wanted a thriller. They all wanted romance. Yeah, this
is actually really funny.
Speaker 3 (55:34):
So my wife and I I drag her to these,
you know, book fairs with me, and she's great at
sales and she was actually better than me.
Speaker 4 (55:42):
And so this last.
Speaker 3 (55:44):
One I was like, I was like, honey, these are
all romance people.
Speaker 4 (55:48):
They're not interested at all.
Speaker 3 (55:50):
And so we and it was all female, and so
we searched on chat cheapt how do I sell a
threat to a female crowd? And it was really funny.
It like gave a perspective of focus on this part
of the story and people appeal.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
To more interesting. It's interesting that you would think to
even look that up.
Speaker 4 (56:17):
And you said it.
Speaker 2 (56:19):
You said something for the listeners. I remember years ago,
I was terrified to speak in front of a crowd.
And I was in the military, and I took it
and I saw an imprimetu speech program was speaking in
front of officers. I said, I'm doing I'm gonna force
myself to do it. Yes, I was scared of death.
But every time I got more events invited to stuff it,
(56:40):
would you do a speak? Yes? Yes, yes, So the
more you do it, the less afraid you will become.
You gotta. You said that you just got to get started. Yeah,
the first few times might be awkward, you might not
sleep the night before, but as you keep doing it,
it'll become more and more comfortable for you. And you
(57:00):
do have to market. Whether you're traditionally published, hybrid published author,
or you self published. You got to get out there
and hustle that book. If you don't tell people the
books out here, they probably won't even know. They might
love the book, but they would never know it was
out here if you don't introduce it to them. So,
oh my goodness, I've just absolutely loved having you on, Chris.
(57:26):
I could go on and on with you and look
forward to Loose Ends when it comes out. Where can
off the shelf listeners get a copy of your books?
Speaker 3 (57:36):
So you can get Bluebird really anywhere that they sell books,
so Amazon, Barnes, and Noble. There is the physical books.
I've got a hard copy and a paperback. I've got
the ebook as well as I've got an audiobook which
(57:56):
turned out fantastic, And so you can go to any
of those those typical sources if you want a signed
copy of the book. You can go to my website
and you can find links not only to different places
to buy it, but there's also a Shopify account if
you want something signed, and I always not only sign it,
(58:19):
I'll write something you know, from my heart, and you know,
I'd love to do that. And I really just want
to thank you for having me on this. This was
an honor and it was really fun.
Speaker 2 (58:31):
Oh enjoyed you enjoy you? Do you have any other
upcoming speaking engagements, one or two that you can share
that our listeners who want to support you and follow
you could also join.
Speaker 3 (58:43):
Yeah, so right now I've got a couple scheduled. I'll
put them on my website. Really, the focus of my
time right now is finishing up loose ends and getting
it into editing, and so I've spent a little bit
more time on that. You know, as you said early on,
(59:05):
there's only so many hours in the day, so you know,
I spend my time most of my day at Catalyst
and then I you know, write at night, and then
I try to do some marketing as well. So the
best thing you can do if you're interested is sign
up for my newsletter on my website and I'll always
(59:25):
keep you arrest of where I am, what I'm doing,
and I'll share all these great media things.
Speaker 2 (59:33):
Oh well, a joy well, a joy well, just I
always learned something from our I guess the many minute
guests we've had on and I hope in a future
I can say Christ is one of our New York
Times best selling authors. That's what I hope that for
you who was on Off the Shelf Books, we have
just had a just a just a wonderful time interviewing Christ.
(59:56):
His website again is c h R I k inn
is a Nancy k n e e r a u
th h o r dot com. Chrisnary's the author of
the book Bluebird, which we talked about in depth here
on today's show. If you came in late or midstream
(01:00:18):
nowhere reached after the show finishes streaming, you can go
back and listen to it in its entirety. We're on
platforms all over the world and we have listeners from
all over the world and tune in to Off the Shelf.
You can go back and listen to it and share it,
share it, share it with people who love books and
other authors who might be interested in Chris's journey if
(01:00:40):
they're early in their writing career, or midstream or late
in their writing career. And as I always tell you,
I just want to thank you again to our listeners
and a Chris for being with us here on Off
the Shelf Books today. See you back here next Saturday,
Well we'll have another wonderful Off the Shelf Books. Yes
for you, And remember I truly hope one day you
(01:01:04):
get this down in your system. You are amazing, You
are absolutely incredible. Go out and create a fabulous day
for yourself. Chris, I'll send you a link to the show.
Would it finished the streaming? Thank you so much, bye
for now,
You're listening to the winning literary show Off the Shelf
Books Talk Radio Live with host Denise Turney, author of
the books Long Walk Up, Portie Love, More Over Me,
Spiral Love Has Many Faces, and Rosette us great hopes.
Turn up your dial and get ready for a blast
of feature author interviews, four one one on book festivals,
(00:21):
writing conferences, and so much more. Ready and let's good.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to today's Off the Shelf Books Podcast.
As I've been doing for our last few well I
should say over a year actually shows. I want to
start with a positive quote. It's something to dump into
your th out system to potentially think about it. This
(00:52):
quote is attributed to Damien Thomas and it is if
you change your mindset, you have the ability to change
your old world. If you change your mindset, you have
the ability to change your whole world. Again, that's from
Damian Thomas to our loyal listeners. I always got to
(01:13):
kick off the show. Given our loyal listeners props eighteen years.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to our
loyal listeners. And if this is your first time tuning
in to Off the Shelf Books, I just want to
let you know, yes, you are listening to the winning
book podcast off the show, and you're going to enjoy
(01:36):
our guests. We've had so many, just been blessed with
so many guests on the show. For those who've been
here from the beginning, We've had New York Times bestselling offers,
movie producers, people who have done very well in business,
who've written books on the show. And we have another
awesome author on deck for you on this Saturday. It's
(01:58):
a light or two. It can hardly believe I'm saying
that it feels like July just started and we almost
in the middle of July already. I want to encourage you.
If there's something you promised yourself that you would do
this year, I want to encourage you to check in
see it. How far long you are, and if you
(02:19):
haven't started, that you get started, map out a plan
so at the end of the year that promise you
made to yourself that you will have kept it. And
the next thing, I want to ask you, my friens,
how good of a mystery sleuth are you? Do? You
just love them? I love mysteries, Oh my goodness, even
(02:40):
if I know how who did what, I'm going back
to the Columbos. You know you know who did it,
but you don't know exactly how, you don't know who
all else was involved, and you don't maybe know exactly why.
It's just the mystery behind even being a human. But
(03:02):
I love mystery so much. If you love a mystery
and you you want to figure out just who always involved,
or who did it or why they did it before
you get to the end, I told you to get
a copy of Love for Opening, and why that title.
There is a there's a true soulmate relationship anyway. There's
(03:22):
a couple of weeks when they're in quality. But there's
also all these five friends and you rarely hear about
like friends. They met in college. They're friends for the
rest of their life. One goes, we want to do
well in the NFL. Raymond is a on his way
to the Olympics. And you've got these successful These guys
go on to do successful in business, friends for life,
(03:44):
but one of them, one of them is involved in
a murder. So if you love a mystery and you
value relationship, I encourage you to get a copy of
Love for Over Me ebook, paperback, audio book, your choice
to get a copy today and please let me know
how you enjoy love for of Me by then East
(04:05):
turning when you get your copy today. And now let
us go and meet our very special author shelf guests.
And this morning's guest is Chris Near And if I
say his name, Ms. Vanessa's surname, I hope he corrects me.
He is the co founder of Catalyst Capital Management, a
(04:25):
financial services firm. He has spent more than thirty years
as a senior banker, which gives him insight and just
this good quality fuel for the financial crime thrillers stud
He writes. His debut novel, Bluebird, is the beginning of
a crime thriller book series. And Chris is also a
(04:47):
member of the Florida Writers' Association. He and his family
make their home in Sunny Florida. And I encourage you
to check Chris out online at chrisnearauthor dot com. And
I'm going to spell that see h R I s
k is in kind k n e e r a
(05:07):
U t h o r dot com. And again h
R I s k n e e r a U
t h o r dot com. We're just honed to
have Chris join us on off the showt this morning Welcome, Welcome, welcome, Chris.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Thank you so much. First of all, congrats on eighteen years.
What an amazing accomplishment. And I really appreciate you having
me on the show and love the positivity.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
What a great way to start a Saturday.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Okay, and so the kick off the show, I asked
this all of our guests this now. When I first started,
I just went straight into talking about their books, and
I got feedback from listeners. Could you give us a
little background on on the guests before you start talking
about their books. So about the first three or four
questions I ask every yes, So kick off today. So Chris,
(06:01):
can you tell off the SHLP listeners where you grew
up and what life was like for you growing up?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, you bet so. It's actually a big part of
my writing. So I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and
you know, normal childhood. My dad was a college professor,
and I had two sisters, and our whole family really
loved to read. I remember spending you know a lot
(06:31):
of times when I wasn't outside playing sports and running
around the neighborhood. I was a very very active reader.
And I always loved mysteries. That was by far my favorite,
and so as time went on. As a matter of fact,
when I went to college at Creighton University, I was
(06:53):
studying business and I had a professor I was taking
an English class, and he said, you know, you're really
pretty good at this, maybe you should think about a career,
you know, in the arts. And I said, you know,
I did what every college student does, ignore them, and said,
you're crazy.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I'm supposed to be a business person.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
And so I got my finance degree with the minor
and economics and worked for a couple of years in Omaha.
And but I just always had a suspicion that maybe
there was somewhere else that I was meant to be.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Loved Omaha.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
It's a great city, but you know, I just, you know,
I felt a calling to go somewhere else. And I
had fraternity brothers in Florida, and you know, and everybody
kind of has that triggering moment. And I remember it
was Christmas Eve and I was looking out I was
living at my parents' house and I was looking out
(07:54):
their beautiful picture window to the backyard and it was
snowing and sleeping and just great. And so I called
my friends in Florida and I said, you know, what
are you all doing? It was Christmas Eve, and I
said what are you all doing today? And one of
them said, we just got done water skiing and I said,
that's what I'm talking about. And I literally told my parents,
(08:19):
you know, I'm going to I'm going to move to Florida.
I'm going to pack up my car and I'm going
to go stay with my friends in Gainesville, Florida, and
where University of Florida is. Maybe I'll go back to school.
And you know, I think they probably thought that I
just needed a vacation. And so I left and I
(08:41):
drove down. You know, these are in the days. I'm
fifty five years old, So these are in the days
when there's no GPS. You get a big old map
out and you get a highlighter and you try to
figure out where you're going.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
And that that's what I did.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
I highlighted the you know, twenty something hour drive from
Omaha to Gainesville, and I showed up there with literally
my car and a pillow and a piece of luggage.
And so I spent a couple weeks in Gainesville and
it just it really just wasn't for me. I remember
(09:17):
telling a friend of mine, and this is a lot
like Georgia. This is not what I pictured, you know,
Florida to be. And he said, okay, well let's go
down and we'll stay with my parents and we'll go
to Gasparilla, to which I said, sounds good. But I
don't know what Gasparilla is and I don't know where
Tampa is. And so we made the three hour drive down,
and just to give everybody, I actually feature a trip
(09:41):
to Gasparilla in my book Bluebird. And so we went
down and it's basically Tampa's Mardi Gras. It is where
you know, along the water. It's a symbolic or it's
a kind of a make believe holiday where the pirates,
led by Jose Gaspar come into the bay on a
(10:05):
pirate ship and they take the city over. And now
it's turned into just you know, thousands and thousands and
thousands of people and boats and throwing beads and just
having a wild time. And I remember being on a
boat coming into the bay and just thinking this is
exactly what I'm talking about. And so that was, gosh,
(10:28):
almost thirty years ago.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
And I never went home.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I wound home, and I love it here and it's
really an amazing place.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Oh my goodness. Yes. Now, when you were a kid, Chris,
what did you want to be? Said? You had somebody
in your life told you enter the arts, but you
thought no. But when you were a kid, what did
you want to be when you grew up?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I think I was the typical kid that started off
wanting to be a policeman or a fireman or something exciting.
And you know, I'll be honest with you, even through college,
I had no idea what I was going to be.
I just I didn't know. I I was just kind
of happy to you know, survive every every stage, you know,
(11:13):
get through high school, enjoyed it, loved college. I would
have stayed in college for ten years if they would
have left me, but they said time to move on,
and you know, I was just I just kind of
enjoyed life and I just kept my eyes open. But
there was really nothing, you know, that that I thought
I would be doing. I figured as time went on,
(11:35):
I was pretty good at math, and so I finance
made a lot of sense. And I knew I didn't
want to be, you know, just in a back room somewhere,
you know, doing analysis. So really, you know, I figured
I'd end up in sales and financial sales, which is
really what I've done, you know, the majority of my life.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Okay, so so good. Just kind of stumbled into banking
and financial services. That's a very fast industry. I've worked
in it myself. You just kind of fell into it, or.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Well, this is this is really funny. So when I
moved to Tampa, I didn't know what I would do.
So I was waiting tables trying to figure out, you
know what, what what would I stay in Tampa?
Speaker 4 (12:22):
And I had I was.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I stayed with this this wonderful family, those Ritzky family,
who I'm still really close with today.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
And their mom.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
You know this is you know, they're very they're very professional.
She said, you know you need to get this is
my second day in Tampa. You need to get your
suit on, go downtown and start interviewing. Now I didn't
even know where downtown was and I had one suit,
so you know, I listened to her and I went
down and I started kind of knocking on doors. And
(12:54):
the first job that I was offered was as a
financial analyst at a pretty size bank, and I jumped
at it. And it's funny to think back on it today.
I remember when the HR director you know, offered me
the job, and I think the pay was twenty eight
(13:15):
thousand dollars, and I remember taking the elevator away from
that interview and thinking, I am by far the wealthiest
person there is.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
I thought I had hit the lottery.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
So, you know, it's that's kind of how I ended
up in banking, and I, you know, I was really
lucky to have some great mentors, and you know, I
did what I think anybody that's in banking should do.
I learned the credit side of the business for a
couple of years, so I understood how to look at
the lending side, and then once I had that down,
(13:51):
I was able to move into sales and from there,
you know, I was a lender for a long time,
and then I moved into management and then started to
really learned some niche programs and that really became, you know,
my differentiator. And that's really you know, what I did
until you know, I retired from banking about three months ago.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Whow three months ago? Oh my gosh, we're getting impressed
in the retirement. What inspired you to co found Catalyst
Capital Management?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
So I had, you know, uh, My banking career was fantastic.
I was at a small community bank for a long time.
I was not a job jumper, and then I ended
up at another small bank, but it was growing, and
it turned out it was just it's such a strange
path we take. These were guys that I had met
(14:50):
my first job in Tampa, and you know, go forward
twenty years. These guys had all started a bank and
I ran into them and friend of mine said, you know,
you should come over and talk to these guys. I
think this might be really good for you. And it
turned out to be life changing. It was just an
amazing bank that I loved. It was called us Amera Bank,
(15:11):
and it just had great people.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
We sold the.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Bank about seven years ago to Valley National Bank, which
is a big regional bank out of New Jersey, and so,
you know, I really I wasn't really sure how long
I would stay with Valley, but turned out to be
a you know, a good, you know, a good career,
and and then at one point, you know, I was
(15:35):
just ready to do something else. You know, the bank
was in a good position, had a great team there
that could take over, and it was just time to
do something else and try you know, something more entrepreneurial
along with you know, keeping very active with my writing.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Okay, oh my goodness, and I can only imagine running
a business, oh my goodness is and then again, like
you said, find the time to write before we go
into Bluebird. Last question, how has working in the industry
financial services, especially what you think about what your novel
(16:16):
and the series about how has that affected the writing
the creation of Bluebird? Just your back working background.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, I mean there. I think you just have to
keep your eyes open if you are you know, I've
heard a long time ago write what you love is
you know, I love thrillers, I love mysteries, and you know,
I've had a great career in finance. So finding a
way to kind of blend it all together has been fantastic.
And I think you just have to kind of keep
(16:48):
your eyes open to you know, what you're doing day
to day, and there's all kinds of interesting subjects. I
probably take a note on something twenty times a day
that I think is interesting, especially today with all that's
going on, you know, in the news. I mean, if
you I think anyone could be a thriller writer at
this point, there's so much fodder, you know, between AI
(17:13):
and politics and fraud. So yeah, I just you know,
I would take situations from my career and then I
would kind of you know, move them forward and say, well,
what if this happened, What if you know, this person
that I'm dealing with turned out to be you know,
a bad guy. And so yeah, it's it's you know,
(17:35):
and it's tricky when you write a financial thriller because
you can't get too deep into the weeds on the
financial side. You're gonna, I think you're gonna lose readers
if you really start going deep on it. So you
just want to touch on different topics and and.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
So that's what I did with Bluebird.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I just and and any books after that will be
they'll always be financial thriller and they'll always deal with
because that's my background and that's what I know, and
I think, you know, it just it's funny. I was
meeting with a guy yesterday and we were talking about
our careers, and you know, he mentioned that he'd like
to write a book, and he told me the story
(18:16):
of you know, some things that had happened to him.
I mean, talk about an amazing story. And this was
all financial related, And I mean, you could not make
up a better story than this guy had. So I
think you just again you keep your eyes open. And
that's why they call it fiction. You can kind of
take it in any direction you want. It's got to
(18:37):
be somewhat really believable, but you know, you you can
take some you can go in some different directions with it,
for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Okay, where did you get the ideal for the book? Bluebird?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
So what I've always been interested in is, you know,
what if someone has got, you know, a terrific life
and they are, they are challenged with a decision to
you know, do the right thing.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
You know, would I do the right thing?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
You know, if would I be willing to risk everything
I've got to do what's right? And so that's been
the basis of you know, years and years and years ago,
I wrote I wrote a book. I never published it,
but it was the first true full length book that
I had written. I'd written lots of stories and that
kind of thing, and it was kind of a similar
(19:32):
story as far as you know, someone being you know,
in a situation where they had to make the a
tough decision. And so that story always stuck with me.
But What was funny was when the first one I
wrote was I said it in Chicago because I felt like,
you know, books were always setting in these big cities,
(19:53):
and and despite the fact I didn't even know Chicago
very well. So when I decided to do Bluebird, you know,
I kind of the direction I would be going. But
I said it in Tampa because it's it's the area.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
I know.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
It's a really interesting city with great things. We've got
everything from you know, beautiful areas, we've got beaches, we've
got you know, some areas that are rougher. And I
figured if I could, you know, I could really bring
to light all the wonderful parts of Tampa and it
would just be a great setting. So that's what I did,
(20:29):
and I'm really glad I did because that's been some
of the best feedback I've received. Our people, you know,
people that live here say, you know, how exciting to
you know, see all these different or listen about all
these different places that we know. And then people from
out of town, you know, it's like a vacation to Florida.
And who doesn't want that? So I think it was
the right choice.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Okay, please give my listeners an overview of Bluebird.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
You bet you so.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Bluebird starts off with the lead character Jason Miles, and
he is he's escaped a tough past and he has
gone to Israel for a fresh start and he is
snatched off to the street by a rough group of characters.
(21:16):
And as it turns out, these are people that are
building a case against a bank in Israel, fraud related
and so there's all of this excitement early on in
the book of you know, can he join these people?
Will he help them? And so that's almost like a
(21:36):
little mini novel in itself. And then we move forward
ten years and Jason is living in Tampa and he's.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Married the woman of his dreams.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
He's got a great career at Safe Harbor Bank and he,
you know, just everything is going fantastic and he counts
his blessings. He's got. His best friend is a character
named Oak Williams who he grew up with is now
a movie star in la So they have lots of
(22:07):
fun together. And what happens is he and one of
his co workers, he's a technology expert in the bank
and he deals with fraud those types of things, and
they come across a what looks like to be fraud
in the bank, and you know, Jason tries to ignore it,
(22:28):
not think about it, and his coworker proves to him
that this is indeed going on, and when he goes
to the management of the bank tells him what he
has seen, they turn on him and Jason is forced
to go on the run and prove his innocence. They
try to pin several things on him, and so he's
(22:51):
on the run throughout Tampa and all the different areas
and you know, changing how he looks and everything. That
makes a great thriller. And you know, I've built lots
and lots of twists into it where you think one
thing is happening and something else does.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
So he is not only being chased.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
By you know, the bad guys that are part of
the bank, but he's also being chased by the FBI
as they are they believe that maybe he had something
to do with this fraud at the bank. And you know,
the main characters of the bank are all a tight
knit group that he's still with as he's on the run.
(23:32):
But you know, towards the end they turn he it
turns out that one of them has turned on him
and he's got to figure out which one. And that's really,
you know, that's really.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
What Bluebird is about.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
It takes place in areas like Ebor City, which is
a famous part of Tampa that you know, is fascinating
on its own, and that's why, you know, the subtitle
is a Cigar City thriller. That's the area Tampa is
known as cigar City, and Ebor especially was the home
of the cigar manufacturing, you know, in the late eighteen hundred's,
(24:07):
late early nineteen hundreds. So Ebar is fascinating. So that's
somewhere that I wanted to highlight in the book. And
then we've got everything that Florida's about. We've got beaches,
we've got hurricane, we've got everything that can go wrong does.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
And the question is can Jason make it through?
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Oh my god? What what time period is this? Karrent Day?
This story? Yes, it is Karen Day. And you told
us a little bit about Jason. He's married, he works
a safe harbor bank in Tampa, and his best friend
is Oak Williams, who's a movie star in Hollywood. But
Jason's personality is he like a real social guy? Is
(24:48):
he more introverted? Is he given to anger aggressive, Is
he more lighthearted? What type of person is he? And
does he have children?
Speaker 3 (25:00):
So Jason had a damaged childhood, which is a big
part of the beginning of the story, and really grew up,
you know, somewhat on his own. And so that's a
big part of the book is you know, the hero's journey.
You know, he always feels like he has let people
down and so he's always trying to prove you know,
(25:22):
you know that that is not true. He wants to
be the one that everybody can count on. No, he absolutely,
he's an outgoing guy. He's a you know, up and
coming executive at the bank, and he you know, he
doesn't have quite the charisma that Oak does, but he
is a really interesting character and he's really you know,
(25:44):
he's really torn between this amazing life he has and
he feels very blessed. He loves his wife, they don't
have any kids, and you know, but he also knows
that something wrong has been done and he needs to
do the right thing and be that hero.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
How long has he been working at Safe Harbor when he, uh,
I'm thinking about the firm. I'm thinking about the firm.
How long? Because that character was new to the to
the to that that law firm. But how long has
he been at the bank when he discovers something something's
not right?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
So he's been there five years and he he is
really as I said, he's kind of the up and
coming star. They're you know, they're they're they're doing what
corporations do. They're giving him stock options. He's going to
be a wealthy man as if he stays with the bank.
And you know, he's paid well and and has lots
(26:44):
of mentors as well. And I think that's all a
bit of the the grooming that takes place in the
book of you know, they have built this life for him,
and they really you know, when he threatens to to
tell everybody about this fraud, you know, that's really what
they use to say. You know, Jason, why would you
do that? You've got this, you know, you've got everything here.
(27:07):
Why you know, if first of all it's not true,
but why would you why would you? You know, why
would you ruin your life over this? And so you know,
and it's something you know I've seen in the industry,
is you do you know, you become very and it's
probably all industries, you know, you've been somewhere for a while,
and you start to get comfortable and you really start
(27:29):
to build that life you want and and it's kind
of went back to one of your early questions, you know,
And I think that's the great, you know question that
I like to ask, is if you're in that spot
and then you're challenged, what.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Are you going to do?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yees? Now, why does Jason Miles? Why does he want
to escape his past? Why he's doing the right thing,
He's doing the right thing. Why should he want to
escape his past? Yes? He really is he really a
good guy? He is. He got a shady past.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
You know, he is a's part of you know, for
the reader to decide they you know, is he a
is he someone that you know, just talks about being
a hero or is he somebody that truly believes it?
And he you know, I would say he didn't grow
up shady, but he grew up somewhat alone and so
(28:23):
he you know, that also plays into you know, a
real strong part of the story is his love for
his wife and and you know, because he had such
a you know, lonely childhood, you know, he's very attached
to her, you know, and she is one of his
you know key you know, there's really a few key
(28:45):
people in his life. Her name is Leah, and then
his friend Oak and then Abner who came from Israel
to help him with this situation. And knowing that one
of these people turned on him, you know, towards the
end of the book is really you know, and again
I think, and what I've heard from other people is
(29:06):
when it comes down to the very end, there is
a pretty pretty darn good twist, you know, to when
you find out who it is that turned on them.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Just what for for for listeners who might not be
that will versed in the financial services industry, just what
does a bank security expert do? And is this the
person who really discovered the fraud?
Speaker 4 (29:32):
Yeah, so they they tend to.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Things, they deal with things like cybersecurity. They can deal
you know with some physical physical security around the bank,
but it's really more, you know, there's so many things
that go on with banks as far as when you know,
if there's a top and knowing your customer. That's a
big part. You need to know who the customer is.
(29:56):
You need to and there's been some really classic frauds,
you know, over time, a lot of them actually in Switzerland,
and you know that was something I read early on,
and I read this book about this particular financial crime,
I say, well, that would be you know, that'd be great.
I wonder if someone could pull something like that off here.
(30:18):
And so, you know, I think that, like I said earlier,
you got to be careful not to go too deep.
But you know, everything that a you know, somebody that
deals with banks and fraud and you know the cyber world,
you know, frauds alone could be you know, you could
do twenty books on fraud. There's so much out there,
(30:39):
and and every bank is really staffing up on those
positions to make sure that they're taken care of and
protecting their customers data. And they've got to make sure
that they do that because there's all kinds of people.
You know, in my second book, that's one of the
you know, one of the main topics his you know,
(31:01):
cybersecurity and bad guys trying to get data from individuals.
So you know, it's a it's probably one of the
main topics there is in banking today is how do
you keep everybody's information safe?
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yes? Yeah, Now Leah is Jason's wife, what give us
an introduction to Leah, what what is she like, what's
her personality like, what drives her? What tracted her to Jason.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
So Leah and Avner were Jason's handlers in Israel, and
they are the ones who mentored him and taught him
how to go into this bank in Israel and basically
be a spy for them. So you know, there's some
things that happened, and you know that you could blame
(31:53):
on his handlers. And so Jason had fallen in love
with Leah, who you know, she had a very challenging
childhood herself. So they connected over that and he talked
her into coming to Florida. And you know, she is
somebody who, you know, in Israel, everybody is in the
(32:15):
military at some point.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
She is, you know, somebody who has been.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
You know, really a you know, tough She's a tough,
tough woman, let's say that. And you know, Jason is
really trying to civilize her to you know, the the
world of mc mansions and you know, nice restaurants.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
And she's always a little.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Unsettled because you know, her background is about excitement and
so you know, even though they've been together for a
long time and they love each other. You know, she
does not love all that comes with, you know, being
married to an executive and you know, living that life
as I wouldn't say a trophy wife, but someone that
(33:02):
you know that is expected to go all the parties and.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
That type of thing. Okay, now there's a menu on
your website. Again, I want to give out your website
you r L to our listeners. They can hop over
and check it out as we uh finishing up today's interview.
But it's Chris ne or c h R I s
k n E E r A U t h o
R dot com. And I say that I give out
(33:27):
the r L. So if our listeners, if you want
to hop over there, I know there's a menu on
your website. Is Jason and Avid cook and it's not?
And how did how do you incorporate cooking into the story?
Speaker 4 (33:40):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
So you know when you when you start doing this,
you know, I think you know when I when I
wrote the book, and I knew I had to promote it.
To be honest, I had no social media. I guess
I had a LinkedIn account, and my son would always
tell me that's not social media, and so I had
(34:03):
to you know, I had to learn relearn about Facebook
and Instagram and all these things. And so I was
listening to someone talk about how you know, to promote
yourself when you know nobody's heard of you, You've never
heard of your book, and they basically said, why don't
you find or what you need to do is find
something that you love and try to get that out there.
(34:24):
And cooking is definitely, you know, one of my passions.
I have a lot of passions, but cooking is definitely one.
And so I kind of came up with this, this
idea of as I read books, I would find something
in the book, because it's still to this day, I read,
you know all the time. I would find something in
the book food related, and then I would take, you know,
(34:48):
that recipe or that food and do my own spin
on it, and I would use that to kind of
get my name out there. And so I think that
food and drink and all of these types of things,
you know, I try to work in you know, all
the things I love into my books because I think
(35:08):
it's one it's fun for me, but I think that
you know, people like that kind of detail. And so
that that was kind of where that particular part of
the website came from was a bunch of recipes and
people really liked it, and it's, you know, for each
(35:29):
one of them. It is basically a synopsis or a
review of a book, a recipe and a drink and
you can kind of pair it all together. And I
thought it was I thought it was a fun creative
way to do things.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Okay. Now, now back to some of the characters in Bluebird.
Who is Terrence Browning? And is he on Jason's side?
Speaker 3 (35:52):
So Terrence Browning is the CEO of Safe Harbor Bank.
He's one of Jason's mentors and someone that is really
trying to build up Jason's career. And when Jason becomes
aware of the fraud, that's who he goes to and
and Terrence, you know, it becomes evident early on that
(36:18):
he is not only involved in the fraud, but he
may be involved in something much much bigger and ominous.
And there's the whole In addition to the fraud itself,
there is you know, kind of a backstory going on
about This may not just be one particular situation. It
may be part of something much much bigger, and it
(36:40):
will be a theme throughout all of the books of
you know, has Jason has not only stepped into something
you know, messy here, but it could be a much
much bigger situation.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Oh my goodness. Uh introduce us to maybe two other
characters who helped to move the story Bluebird forward.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
So I think that.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
And you know what's really fun is everybody who's read
the book has come back with favorite characters, and that's
always fun for me. So certain personalities love Oak. He's
kind of the fun loving, you know, movie star that
you know, is just a super fun character, but at
the same point just doesn't understand why Jason is doing
(37:26):
what he's doing. And there's some background things that go
on with Oak that make you know, maybe he could
be involved in this fraud.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
And then another really great character is Abner, who which
which was the other you know, other handler in Israel
and he comes to you know, he's become friends with Jason,
and he's your classic tough guy. You know, he's a
guy who worked in intelligence in Israel. He's the muscle
and he's rough, and he's tough and and he's a
(38:00):
nice compliment to Jason, and he is you know, I
think every I love books who have got somebody like that.
They are the you know, they seem like there, their
heart's in the right place, but their methods are not
always right. And which is really funny because my mom
(38:24):
is ninety three years old and she read my book.
And so when I was back in Omaha last time,
I told her I was writing a second book, and
she said, loved your book. And she said, now I don't.
I don't like any of the violence, so if you
could cut that out in the future, that would be great.
(38:46):
And I said, well, mom, it's a thriller that's going
to be difficult to do.
Speaker 5 (38:50):
So so yeah, I think those are great characters. Terrence
is a great character in that, you know, he's just
your classic bad guy, and then he's got a group
of you know, thugs that are after Jason. Actually, somebody
that I didn't mention was a character named Zeke Michaels
(39:11):
who is part of the c i A or I'm sorry,
the FBI, and he worked with Jason on financial crimes
at the bank. So anytime they needed to bring in,
you know, somebody who could do some additional, you know, legwork.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
On something, they would call Zeke and Zeke. You never
really know. He's smarter than everybody. He is, you know,
he is ambitious, and you never really know is he
on Jason's side? Is he not on Jason's side? And
along with the thugs, you know, the the Zeke is
(39:46):
chasing Jason as well and trying to convince him to
turn himself in, And you never really know if you
should trust him or not. And I had a lot
of people that came back and said, I love that character.
He's he needs to be in it more.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Oh, okay, now, how much you ken alluded to this
earlier when I was asking about the bank security expert.
How much does the story Bluebird lean on artificial intelligence
and other technology forms? And and why did you choose
this did you do? Is it not at all? Or
(40:21):
does it make an appearance in the story?
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Now maybe lightly in the story? You know, I don't
get heavy into technology besides how Jason and his coworker
find proof of the fraud, and so that's an important
part of the story. Really, I think my second book
will dive much deeper into cybersecurity and to AI and
(40:52):
just the amazing things that are going on with technology today.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Okay, what have you told us about what some readers
tell you about who some of their favorite characters are.
But as the story as a whole, what have you
been hearing feedback from readers? What have they been saying
about Bluebirds?
Speaker 4 (41:09):
They absolutely love the twist?
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Okay, And you know my question to them is always,
because I try to communicate, if somebody reaches out, I always,
you know, reach out back to them or respond to them,
and I always ask them, did you see did you
see the twist coming? And some say yes, some say no,
and some you know, you know, depending on how you
(41:34):
feel about the particular character, you know, you might love
that twist or it might leave you mad.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
And that's, you know, that's the great part of a thriller.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Okay. Now you said something about the subtitle the Cigar
that's the area Tampa always really called cigar City. Does
the does the book titled Bluebird? I love that title.
Does it hold a special means?
Speaker 3 (41:58):
You know, I've been trying to think because I've been
asked that a lot, and I'm trying to remember where
it initially came from. I think that, you know, my
dad was a big influence in my life, not only
you know, because he was a professor and very bright.
He was very avid reader as well, and he loved birds.
(42:22):
He's passed away about a decade ago, but he loved
he loved birds. And for some reason, Bluebird just kind
of the kind of spoke with spoke to me, and
I was like, that should be the title. And but
you know, tell us, you how these things just seem
like they're all interconnected.
Speaker 4 (42:40):
You know.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
I was working on Somebody Read, you know, it was
kind of a story coach for me when I got
this my initial draft done, and she said, you know,
I love your title. Do you know what it means?
And I said, I said no, I said, it's just
it's just a bird. And she said, actually, bluebirds symbolize
(43:02):
angels in disguise. And it turned out to be, you know,
and I've got that line in the book, and so
you know, and that's really, you know, it's perfect. You know,
it's this particular bird symbolizes an angel. And the question
in the book is who's the angel? Is it Jason,
is it Leah?
Speaker 4 (43:22):
Who is it?
Speaker 3 (43:23):
And I just I don't know. I just really loved it.
And then when I designed the cover and I was
able to you know, kind of include the Bluebird and
a weapon and.
Speaker 4 (43:36):
Some color that I loved.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
I just felt like and I think I hit a
home run with the cover. That's one of the you know,
that's some of the strongest feedback I get when I've
done book fairs and those types of things. People see
the cover and say, oh wow, that's cool. Let's talk,
and so, you know, I think that it was just
meant to be.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Okay, how many books do you plan to write in
the series and who are some of the characters readers
can expect to see in each book in the series.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
So again to what I said earlier about you write
what you love. I love series and everything almost everything
I read is a series. And you know, you know,
my dream is that as I have this series and
new books come out, people are you know, really excited
on the day it comes out. You know, I know
(44:29):
for myself when Brad Thor or Daniel Silva or some
of these authors that I really love, when their book
comes out, I am in the bookstore.
Speaker 4 (44:38):
I'm a physical book person.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
I like the book itself, and so I am at
the bookstore buying that book.
Speaker 4 (44:45):
And so I.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
Would love to do, you know, I'll write this series
for you know, as long as as people will buy
the books and the book number two, the majority of
the characters return. But I'd be giving away something if
I told you exactly who. But Jason is definitely the
(45:10):
the the protagonist.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
Okay, can you give us an intro to the second
book and does it have a have a working title already?
If you could give us a brief synopsis of it
and let us know when you expect to have it
out on the market.
Speaker 4 (45:27):
You bet so.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
The title of the book is Loose Ends and the
same subtitle as Cigar City Thriller. And I've just about
finished the the cover and I think it's it's fantastic
as well. And this really starts with you know, the
second book starts with Jason, you know, rebuilding from the
(45:52):
trauma of how the the first book ends, and he is,
you know, he has started his own business at this
point and he's in the same field and he is
drawn into this, you know, incredible situation that deals with
(46:16):
again cybercrime and fraud. And you know, a lot of
the as I said, the same characters are back and
they're involved, and we've got some new villains that that
are all kind of tied to that bigger picture I
was talking about with Bluebird that was going on behind
(46:37):
the scenes, So we go deeper into AI. You know,
we talk about things like quantum computers and all the
excitement that's going on in that world, and you know,
it's I've got the draft. First draft is done. And
you know, it was a lot easier to write the
(46:59):
second book than it was the first because I, between
us and all your listeners, I didn't know what I
was doing with the first one, so it took a
long time to make sure I understood there's this particular
structure that goes with each chapter and the whole book. Well,
for the second book, you know, I knew that, and
I knew you know, my my writing style stays the same, though.
(47:22):
I like to write short chapters with a good you know,
cliffhanger at the end of every chapter that entices you
to read the next chapter. And I can't tell you
how many people that I've spoken to that said they
read Bluebird in a couple of days because they just
they had to go to the next chapter, and before
(47:44):
they knew it, they had finished it. And that's that's
you know, as a thriller writer, I don't think there's
could be a better compliment. But I think, you know,
I was really happy with how blue Bird, you know,
the quality of it, and I think that Loose Ends
is going to be, you know, even better.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
Okay, now you're a member of the Florida Writers Association, Chris,
would you recommend that other writers doing their local writers
Association organizations to strengthen their writing and to learn about
a book marketing opportunity?
Speaker 3 (48:19):
One hundred percent. I think that you know, you know,
it's always your responsibility to be you know, marketing your book,
and I think that you know, it's just such a
there's just a million books out there, so you need
to figure out these different ways to do it. The
whole key is getting your book in front of new readers,
(48:42):
and so, you know, that's one part of it that
I think writers I'm not but a lot of writers
are a little more introverted and you know, if they
like to write, they don't like to market. And so
but it's it's incredibly important because otherwise your book just
won't go anywhere, and so you've got to do you know,
things like if you have the wonderful opportunity to a
(49:04):
podcast or you know, you can get some local print media,
So I think that's important. But on the other side,
you're always trying to improve your craft, and you know,
I'm always you know, it's funny. I'll go back and
I'll read parts of Bluebird and I'll be like, oh, man,
I don't like that sentence, or I don't like this sentence.
(49:24):
And my wife finally said, she owes Chrus. You know
that like nobody else reads it like that. They like
the whole story. They're not concerned about the structure of
a particular sentence. So I think as a lot of
writers are kind of perfectionists and they're never really done
with their book. But you got to stop at some point.
(49:45):
And I think that if you can join a local
writers group and always be working. And another thing that
I've done that has just been, you know, so rewarding,
is I networked with local authors all the time. You know,
I mentioned you Michael Bland, who you had on your
your your podcast a couple of weeks ago. He's local here.
(50:07):
I've got a group of other authors here that you know,
it's just it's really great to go not only share
ideas on you know, writing and how to market and
but also you know, kind of commiserate.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
You know, being.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
An author is hard, and I think we all go
through the same things of trying to you know, grow
your readers and you know, do a really good job
with your book.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Okay, now, congratulations on getting getting published, getting news about
the publishing the Bluebird in the local newspaper, talking about
book marketing. And because you were a banker, and I've
worked with bankers and you've got to have You've got
to have strong sales and communication skills to even be
(50:55):
a successful banker. So I would see that as an
advantage for you, uh that a lot of other authors
might struggle with. But congratulations on that. I wanted to
ask you, how were you able to get the attention
of local media to get coverage for Bluebird?
Speaker 4 (51:13):
Really good questions.
Speaker 3 (51:14):
So I worked not only social media, but I had
a lot of conversations with other authors, you know, just
sharing who do you know? You know, what podcasts have
you been on. I worked with a great PR firm
here locally in town and they, as a matter of fact,
(51:38):
be too. Communication is who connected me with you and
put me on a number of other shows. They did
a really good job getting me in front of some
print media, and all of them wanted to do the
same thing. They want to talk to you first and
see if you have a good story and if you
do an interesting story. And I think the fact that
(51:58):
you know, I was going from you know, a banking career,
you know, I do as you said, I mean, I'm
I'm very outgoing. I like to do the marketing side
of it. I love to do things like this, and
so I think people are more open, you know, if
this is something you know, you enjoy and you can.
Speaker 4 (52:16):
Tell your story.
Speaker 3 (52:17):
But it's it's you know, it's it's really like the
business world. It's about networking, getting to know people, and
you know, and finally, I've been so touched with the
amount of you know, help that I received from people
and the interest of you know, friends and family and
(52:39):
you know, people that have been so great and interested
in this is a career. And you know, I think
again and being an author can be, you know, a
tough business, but when you get that support from people,
you know, it's really touching.
Speaker 2 (52:53):
So for for are our listeners, I'm listening to you again.
My experience working with bankers. If you're going to be
a successful banker, you you got to have good communications,
you know, how the different personalities interact communicate with a
lot of writers struggle tremendously with that. Uh, what advice
(53:15):
could you give to someone who is absolutely terrified to
do even a podcast interview, I mean terrified to speak
to a group. What advice could you give them to
kind of help them slowly start moving forward with that?
Speaker 3 (53:33):
Yeah, so you know, some advice I got. You know,
I've done a lot of public speaking, and you know,
being in sales, you know, and being in you know,
financial sales, you're a lot of times you're making a
decision on someone's character. So you're really you know, you're
you know, you're listening to them, right, And so my
advice would be, well, the advice I got as far
(53:55):
as you know, public speaking was, you know, you always
know more about your subject than the majority of the
people that are listening to you. You should be pretty
comfortable talking about things. And I think that's the same
thing for writing. I mean, all you're doing is talking
about your passion and you're talking about your book, and listen,
nobody's totally comfortable with these things, and you just.
Speaker 4 (54:18):
Have to do it.
Speaker 3 (54:19):
The more you do, the more comfortable you get and
it's a huge part of the industry.
Speaker 4 (54:23):
So you've got to.
Speaker 3 (54:25):
You know, if you're gonna you know, if you're going
to give a you know, speech somewhere, be prepared for it.
Know what you want to talk about. Don't just go
in there, you know blind. You know, if you are
going to be on a podcast, listen to the podcast
the previous podcasts, Understand what it's all about, and you know,
prepare for things. It's unfortunately, you know, the there's a
(54:49):
few writers here and there that you know, hit the
home run with a book and didn't have to do
you know, any of these types of marketing items, but
it's not many. So you've got to go to the
book fairs and you have got to you know, that's
a you know, you've got to go out and meet
readers and tell them about your book. And I've been
to some great book fairs and I've been to some
(55:09):
rough ones, and one of them is just you know,
every one of them is different, like sometimes you The
first one I ever went to, we sold out in
you know, a couple of hours, and I thought, this
is amazing, this is how they all are. When I
went to the last one I went to.
Speaker 4 (55:29):
Nobody wanted a thriller. They all wanted romance. Yeah, this
is actually really funny.
Speaker 3 (55:34):
So my wife and I I drag her to these,
you know, book fairs with me, and she's great at
sales and she was actually better than me.
Speaker 4 (55:42):
And so this last.
Speaker 3 (55:44):
One I was like, I was like, honey, these are
all romance people.
Speaker 4 (55:48):
They're not interested at all.
Speaker 3 (55:50):
And so we and it was all female, and so
we searched on chat cheapt how do I sell a
threat to a female crowd? And it was really funny.
It like gave a perspective of focus on this part
of the story and people appeal.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
To more interesting. It's interesting that you would think to
even look that up.
Speaker 4 (56:17):
And you said it.
Speaker 2 (56:19):
You said something for the listeners. I remember years ago,
I was terrified to speak in front of a crowd.
And I was in the military, and I took it
and I saw an imprimetu speech program was speaking in
front of officers. I said, I'm doing I'm gonna force
myself to do it. Yes, I was scared of death.
But every time I got more events invited to stuff it,
(56:40):
would you do a speak? Yes? Yes, yes, So the
more you do it, the less afraid you will become.
You gotta. You said that you just got to get started. Yeah,
the first few times might be awkward, you might not
sleep the night before, but as you keep doing it,
it'll become more and more comfortable for you. And you
(57:00):
do have to market. Whether you're traditionally published, hybrid published author,
or you self published. You got to get out there
and hustle that book. If you don't tell people the
books out here, they probably won't even know. They might
love the book, but they would never know it was
out here if you don't introduce it to them. So,
oh my goodness, I've just absolutely loved having you on, Chris.
(57:26):
I could go on and on with you and look
forward to Loose Ends when it comes out. Where can
off the shelf listeners get a copy of your books?
Speaker 3 (57:36):
So you can get Bluebird really anywhere that they sell books,
so Amazon, Barnes, and Noble. There is the physical books.
I've got a hard copy and a paperback. I've got
the ebook as well as I've got an audiobook which
(57:56):
turned out fantastic, And so you can go to any
of those those typical sources if you want a signed
copy of the book. You can go to my website
and you can find links not only to different places
to buy it, but there's also a Shopify account if
you want something signed, and I always not only sign it,
(58:19):
I'll write something you know, from my heart, and you know,
I'd love to do that. And I really just want
to thank you for having me on this. This was
an honor and it was really fun.
Speaker 2 (58:31):
Oh enjoyed you enjoy you? Do you have any other
upcoming speaking engagements, one or two that you can share
that our listeners who want to support you and follow
you could also join.
Speaker 3 (58:43):
Yeah, so right now I've got a couple scheduled. I'll
put them on my website. Really, the focus of my
time right now is finishing up loose ends and getting
it into editing, and so I've spent a little bit
more time on that. You know, as you said early on,
(59:05):
there's only so many hours in the day, so you know,
I spend my time most of my day at Catalyst
and then I you know, write at night, and then
I try to do some marketing as well. So the
best thing you can do if you're interested is sign
up for my newsletter on my website and I'll always
(59:25):
keep you arrest of where I am, what I'm doing,
and I'll share all these great media things.
Speaker 2 (59:33):
Oh well, a joy well, a joy well, just I
always learned something from our I guess the many minute
guests we've had on and I hope in a future
I can say Christ is one of our New York
Times best selling authors. That's what I hope that for
you who was on Off the Shelf Books, we have
just had a just a just a wonderful time interviewing Christ.
(59:56):
His website again is c h R I k inn
is a Nancy k n e e r a u
th h o r dot com. Chrisnary's the author of
the book Bluebird, which we talked about in depth here
on today's show. If you came in late or midstream
(01:00:18):
nowhere reached after the show finishes streaming, you can go
back and listen to it in its entirety. We're on
platforms all over the world and we have listeners from
all over the world and tune in to Off the Shelf.
You can go back and listen to it and share it,
share it, share it with people who love books and
other authors who might be interested in Chris's journey if
(01:00:40):
they're early in their writing career, or midstream or late
in their writing career. And as I always tell you,
I just want to thank you again to our listeners
and a Chris for being with us here on Off
the Shelf Books today. See you back here next Saturday,
Well we'll have another wonderful Off the Shelf Books. Yes
for you, And remember I truly hope one day you
(01:01:04):
get this down in your system. You are amazing, You
are absolutely incredible. Go out and create a fabulous day
for yourself. Chris, I'll send you a link to the show.
Would it finished the streaming? Thank you so much, bye
for now,
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