What is James Byrne reading?

Featured at Writers Read: James Byrne, author of Chain Reaction (A Dez Limerick Thriller, 3).

His entry begins:

I shouldn’t read mysteries and thrillers when I’m in a first-draft mode — as I am now — so I’m re-reading Wind, Sand and Stars by aviator, novelist, journalist Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It’s a collection of the most amazing stories about the earliest days of aviation. He writes about flying over hostile tribes in North Africa and the treacherous Andes Mountains in South America, delivering the mail in the 1930s. His prose style is beautiful and lyrical, and his descriptions are elegant.

Although he’s most famous for The Little Prince, it’s his aviation writing that mesmerizes me.

Adding to his mystique...[read on]

About Chain Reaction, from the publisher:

Dez Limerick, a man of many skills and a murky past, faces the impossible-a skilled, deadly opponent who anticipates his every move in James Byrne's Chain Reaction.

Desmond Aloysius Limerick ("Dez" to his friends and close personal enemies) is a man with a shadowy past, certain useful hard-won skills, and, if one digs deep enough, a reputation as a good man to have at your back. He was trained as a "gatekeeper"―he can open any door, keep it open as long as necessary, and control who does―and does not―go through. Now retired from his previous life, Dez still tries to keep his skills up to date.

Knocking around the country, picking up the occasional gig as a guitarist, Dez is contacted by a friend in urgent need of his musical skills. At his behest, Dez flies to the East Coast to a gig at the brand new massive complex, the Liberty Center. But he's barely landed before he finds himself in the midst of a terrorist attack, a group has taken over the whole center and thousands of hostage lives are in danger. With the semi-willing help of a talented thief, Dez takes on the impossible task of outfighting and outwitting a literal army. But that's just the beginning, as Dez learns he was actually lured there under false pretenses, by someone who knows more about Dez, his past and his skills than any living person should.

Visit James Byrne's website.

Q&A with James Byrne.

The Page 69 Test: Deadlock.

My Book, The Movie: Deadlock.

Writers Read: James Byrne.

--Marshal Zeringue