Writing from KD Farms, a "hard work" sanctuary
Left: Derek Armstrong going to the birds in Venice.
The sunsets on KD Farms are always spectacular. Our farm sits on top of the Niagara escarpment. We pay the price in bitterly cold winter winds sweeping in from the northwest and early mornings on the snow blower, cutting through drifts as tall as the barn.
Yet we'd live no where else on earth. It's a special place, a place to toil in the rolling fields, then to sit under one of the few surviving Elm trees with my laptop—and sink into Alban Bane's world, or back to the middle ages with Ramon Troubadour. 
Everything on KD Farms is built around nature, from our easy attitude to sharing with wildlife: a herd of deer, one heron, a flock of wild turkeys, two coyotes, an otter, a beaver, endless rabbits and birds of every type from hawks to geese to scolding bluejays.
Here, we come close to mother nature. This is a very place to write. A place to be. The horses crowd around, wanting attention or a ride. We breed these lovely, affectionate icelandics — I hope you'll visit the farm at this link.
I am thriller author Derek Armstrong. Every morning, I rise at 5 am to write, roused by our Newfie, German Shepherd and Dalmation dogs, who share our bedroom. After a romp with the dogs, while everyone else stays asleep, I trip to my keyboard to be with Bane or Ramon and their whacky friends and bizarre enemies. After dawn I go out in any weather to play with our growing herd of horses. 
Farming is a hard life. The writing life is even more difficult. I pour my entire experience and life into the work. No, I've never been Alban Bane, although in my youth I was a licensed private investigator. I've never hunted killers. But, I'm in familiar territory with my charcters. Alban Bane is modeled on my hilariously funny mother, Anna Kane. She was my inspiration, sadly taken away from us to young. I keep her alive in Bane. I could see her chasing down killers. Not only did she have a sarcastic wit that had me in stitches, she was indomitable, never quit. Life was hard on her. Cancer took her early from a life that she made bright only by will of her own spirit.
It can take a year to finish a novel. It's harder work than most people realize. Why do it? It has to be passion for the story. Because if not, then the only other explanation is pure insanity. It doesn't pay. You are opened up to sharp and sometimes hurtful criticism. You bare your soul and life for everyone to read. Yet, it is all I want to do. I hope to die with fingertips on keyboard.
Winter on KD Farms, walking the dogs Polo and ToffeeWhy thrillers, many people ask me. Agents and publishers for years told me how idiotic I was to try. "It's impossible to break in," one agent said. One publisher praised my writing, then turned around and rejected the work. "I can't see you breaking into this genre."
I like the thriller because I try to present "tough themes." Thematic novels can become "preachy" in the mainstream, at least my attempts at it. But thrillers are pure entertainment. Bury a theme in a thriller, and no one notices. Not that I'm preachy. Just strong-minded.
I love humor as much as I love adventure. Alban Bane in The Game (and my current project MADicine, the sequel to The Game) and Ramon Troubadour in my historical thriller The Last Troubadour are both adventurers who can never take themselves too seriously, who love a good joke. Thrillers should never take themselves too seriously. It's pure entertainment. Humor and thrills belong together.
Derek's Literary Culture Column at Suite 101.
Review of The Game on Films and Books Magazine: "Hugely cinematic." (Scroll down the page to find review)
Reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist: "Compels us to keep reading."
Editor
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