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Bestselling Author Steve Martini Rob Holden: Steve Martini, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It's a pleasure to have you with us here today! I would like to start this chat off with your last novel, The Arraignment -- currently out in paperback. Could you tell our readers a bit about it? Steve Martini: The Arraignment grew out of some experiences I had while serving on a federal grand jury in Seattle a few years back. As with all novels you begin with a lot of "what if" kind of questions and work from there. The story took me into areas involving antiquities and the murder of a man who was on the verge of being arraigned on federal criminal charges, a lawyer who was acquainted with Paul Madriani and who had tried to palm a case off on Paul. Madriani in turn ends up talking to the client in the case and decides not to take it resulting in the case ending up back in the court of the original lawyer. A few days later that lawyer and his client are both killed in a shooting in front of the federal courthouse in San Diego, California and Madriani is left to dwell over question as to why they were killed and whether he is in part responsible for his friend's death. Those questions and the guilt that lies just under the surface that he (Madriani) is alive and his friend is dead, continue to plague him with the result that Paul begins pursuing questions in the case, leading him from San Diego into the jungles of Mexico and the ancient Mayan ruins of Coba, down in the Yucatan. I had a great time writing the book and in particular doing the research. Rob Holden: Did you travel into the Yucatan to do the research?

Steve Martini: You bet. I crawled on my hands and knees through parts of the jungle during the month of August, which is not exactly the time for travel in the tropics. If you know anything about the ancient ruins of Coba it is an immense city of the Mayan Empire about 50 square miles in size only about half of which has been excavated. Experts estimate that it may take as long as another fifty or sixty years to unearth the entire city. Because the area is so large it is subject to constant raids by tomb robbers and others scavenging for relics and items of value which has become a huge problem in Latin America rivaling the criminal problems of the drug trade in many Central and South American countries.

Rob Holden: One of the things that your novels are noted for is the amazing amount of research that appears to go into them but this one sounds as though it was even more intense than most.

Steve Martini: I suspect part of that comes from my background as a journalist and later as a lawyer. One of the things I enjoyed most when writing news copy were feature pieces many of them multi-part feature articles involving deep research often times delving into historic issues. I have always had a serious interest in history and the law, and so whenever I can put these elements together in the form of a book I tend to enjoy the process more. I have also spent a good deal of time researching areas including criminal forensics and crime scene evidence, how it is processed and used in court. In some cases I have launched into ideas for a new novel based on areas of science that I have little or no background in simply because I am intrigued by the details. This was how I found myself writing a story about nuclear weaponry and nuclear terrorism before the topic was popularized by the events of 9/11. That novel Critical Mass involved extensive research and a good deal of travel to educational institutions involved in non-proliferation of WMA's (weapons of mass destruction.)

Rob Holden: Let's talk about Paul Madriani for a moment -- I believe The Arraignment is the 7th in that series. Is his character based at all on your career as an attorney?

Steve Martini: Actually while I did practice some criminal law in the early part of my career as a lawyer, the protagonist in my stories is more of a composite of people I knew and have met during my years as a journalist and lawyer. I was particularly blessed in that in my twenties before and during the period that I attended law school and shortly after graduating from the University of California at Santa Cruz I was hired as a journalist and had an opportunity to meet and interview many of the leading lawyers of the last century -- Jake Erlich, Melvin Belli, Joe Ball, Grant Kenyon, and Lynn Compton the chief deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County who prosecuted Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of Bobbie Kennedy. Some of these lawyers were not as famous or well known but remarkable lawyers nonetheless. Many of the character traits and courtroom techniques used in my novels come from those experiences as well as my coverage of trials during those early years as a journalist. I can't say that I have ever tried cases as difficult or as noteworthy as those presented in my novels but I have observed others do so and rubbed shoulders with enough of them that I have been able to draw on certain traits to craft believable characters.

Rob Holden: I'd like to take a step forward here if I could and talk a little bit about Double Tap, which is due out December 22 of this year. Could you tell our readers a bit about it?

Steve Martini: Double Tap is perhaps the story most deeply researched of the all the books I have written to date. For that reason I suspect it has taken more time to complete the manuscript than is usual. The story deals with the modern high tech world and the ability of government to ransack digital data concerning the lives of ordinary Americans. It is a murder trial involving the death of a software queen, a distaff Bill Gates if you like, whose domain has been catering to the needs of government and in particular the Pentagon and the military. The woman, who because of the development of certain software now possesses the keys to the information kingdom. During the hectic period following 9-11 and the ensuing war on terror she is murdered. The story unfolds to reveal the risk presented to privacy in the modern age when so much of our lives from banking to health care to what we read and see in the form of entertainment to who we talk to and socialize with is digitized and the information maintain in mammoth data bases. Whether we like or not this information, the minute details of our daily lives is available to the unscrupulous who can if they are swift enough delve into this information and use it for unethical purposes. I don't think many of use truly comprehend the where we are going with this trend or the incalculable risks to individual privacy and perhaps even our liberty represented by the so called "information age".

Natalie R. Collins: Paul Madriani is a single father now, and you've built that interesting dynamic into your stories. Do you have more planned in that arena?

Steve Martini: That -- the death of Paul's wife -- came about as a result of a conversation with my former publisher Phyllis Grann over dinner in New York some years ago now. I had written two books and while the stories were solid, the relationship between Paul and his wife Nikki was going nowhere. We discussed it over the entree and by dessert Nikki's obituary had been penned. It has worked an interesting dynamic into the books since Sarah, Paul's now teenage daughter, who just so happens to be the same age as my own daughter, is now an integral part of the stories. Many of the conversations and things that you see Paul and Sarah doing in the stories -- from her assistance with high tech devices to information on what is cool in music -- come from Sarah. Yes you will see more of Sarah in future books. After next year I may have to call my daughter long distance for information as she will be off to college by then.

Rob Holden: Steve, since we announced this chat we've had a lot of questions from our readers. Would you answer a few of them for us now?

Steve Martini: Sure.

ReadersRoom: Sylvia, Lenexa, KS: The List is my favorite book you wrote. How difficult was it to keep Paul or a character like him out of the mix? Abby was so real, did you enjoy writing with a higher voice (female)?

Steve Martini: Actually I had a great time writing the book and was constantly grabbing my wife to read the script so that she could give me pointers in specific areas and keep the character honest. It took me a while to master some of the motivations in the story, but the fact that it dealt with the publishing world, had a dangerous male character and ranged into the Virgin Islands a great place to do location research, made the entire book fun to work on. Part of the story was tongue in cheek and I think that writers sometimes have fund poking a comical finger at the industry. Not long after I wrote The List Stephen King published Bag of Bones and I couldn't help but notice that my name showed up as a character and the author who shared a duel main selection on the Book of the Month Club with his fictional character. Whether we are lawyers, writers, doctors or politicians it is never good to take ourselves too seriously. You have to maintain a healthy perspective on life.

ReadersRoom: Ronny, Charlotte, NC: So many good authors work in the newspaper business before writing a novel. What one thing did journalism teach you that helped with your writing career?

Steve Martini: As for journalist who turn to fiction, I once read an article stating that the two professional groups that produce the greatest number of published authors are newspaper reporters and teachers in that order. I suspect that with regard to journalists they would develop a large base of experience that would give them a leg up for fiction. The people and events that are newsworthy would naturally provide wonderful color for fiction. With regard to what one thing I learned as a journalist that helped me the most, it is hard to say because there were so many. Dealing with deadlines, including quotes that give rise to the development of dialogue in fiction, the art of learning to compose at a keyboard, which today doesn't sound like much since so many people are computer literate and use e-mail, but back in the 60's and 70's most people who wrote anything would usually pen it longhand first and then type it on a type writer. Reporters on a breaking story couldn't afford to do this. They would knock the story out on an old Remington with a sheet of foolscap in the roller carriage and just X out their typos. Speed was the name of the game. Today everybody has a laptop and typing is like breathing. You either do it or you may not survive in the modern economy. But that wasn't always the case. Also the ability to do in-depth and detailed research, was something that I honed as a reporter as well as how to become an avid observer of human nature. You also gain an ear for dialogue when covering news stories as I did, many of which fell in the legal and political realm. You always wanted to be able to capture the actual words of the people you were covering. I often found it interesting in covering politicians to go back and read some of the quotes I had penned in my notebooks only to conclude that after getting writer's cramp taking notes there really wasn't a single coherent thought included in anything they said. It was amazing. I came to realize over time that this was no accident, it was an art form. Only those who are elected to public office could talk for an hour and say nothing that could possible be controversial or get them into trouble with any group of citizens. And of course as a journalist you would be looking for something newsworthy -- controversy.

ReadersRoom: Debbie, Kerrville, TX: On your Web site, there is a gift box I can buy that benefits The Children's Corrective Surgery Society. Could you tell me a little about the Society?

Steve Martini: There are a number of charities that are recipients for profits from our Web site sales. This is one of them. The Children's Corrective Surgery Society performs surgical procedures on disadvantaged children and involves not only fundraising but the donation of time and services on the part of skilled physicians who donate their energies in order to make the funds of those who give go further. These doctors and other health care professionals generously give their time to take care of kids in Third World countries who would otherwise not have a chance at receiving corrective surgery for birth defects, diseases and accidents that have left them disfigured. For anyone who is interested you can find information on the program on the organization's website at www.coad.org.

ReadersRoom: Susan, Dayton, OH: When The Judge and Undue Influence were put into a visual medium, how much were you included and did you enjoy the process?

Steve Martini: The answer is that for the most part I was not involved. I did not render the screen play for these works, but sold the rights to producers in Los Angeles. It is always a difficult process having a lengthy novel reduced to a screen play of 100 to 120 pages. I was actually pleased with the two productions that came from the works and in particular by some of the acting as we were blessed with great casts, Brian Dennehy for one of the stories and Edward James Olmos, Charles Durning, Sonia Braga and Chris Noth on the other.

Rob Holden: And here is the last question from a reader we will be asking ....

ReadersRoom: Toni, Bristol, TN: Mr. Martini, Mother and I have a bet, can you please help? She says you were a guest on Touched by an Angel a few years ago. I say NO WAY! Who wins the banana split?

Steve Martini: Sorry I was not a guest. What did happen is that one of the two network miniseries produced from my books followed I believe either the opening first episode of Touched by an Angel or perhaps the second and there was a tremendous amount of advertising involving my name in connection with that production which followed in prime time. That may have caused some of the confusion.

Rob Holden: Thanks for answering those. So, what is next for Steve Martini?

Steve Martini: Well a writer's life is never dull and usually never finished. Most of us will die with a pen in our hands or slumped over a keyboard, hopefully not intoxicated. I have contracts for Double Tap and two more Madriani novels. I hope that during the period of this writing I will be able to do some traveling, perhaps a second visit to Africa -- Tanzania where I have friends. I have fallen in love with the Serengeti, the people who live there and the remarkable wild life of the region. There is the sense of another age there, some mystical tug that seems to have a tremendous pull on me.

Rob Holden: Before we wrap this up, I would like to extend a special thank you to your assistant Marianne, who helped make this chat happen, and also mention that more information on you and what is going on with your novels is available at your website www.stevemartini.com.

Steve Martini: It was a wonderful experience. I have enjoyed it.

Rob Holden: Steve Martini -- thank you for taking the time to chat with us here today, and best of luck with Double Tap, and all your upcoming work!

Steve Martini: Thank you for the opportunity to correspond with readers.




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