She writes historical spy fiction and a series of mystery-action novels.
"One-to-One with John DeDakis" goes 1-2-1 with novelist Ellen Butler.
We talk about many things: traditional vs. self-publishing; planning vs. seat-of-the-pantsing; her passion for classic cars; and we compare the U.S. of today with Germany in the 1930s.
See and hear it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgd16sCifTI&list=PLXDV_HPUqtvvV-j0lyb2BsaZNSW3GCcDP&index=1
I'm fascinated with history and started there with my first science fiction novel. I have watched almost every movie and documentary about the rise of Hitler and Germany and am fascinated with it. But Ellen seems to have gone much further by getting into the details. And I found her coming to the same conclusion that I've had that this country has elements of fascism growing amid the population that is very disturbing. And the parallels between Hitler and Trump as charismatic evil characters is so obvious, I don't understand why people don't see it in his behavior and actions.
Ellen is amazing. She is so smart and has so many ways of researching her information. I find romance writers very good but find the subject matter uninteresting. And, I find whodunits quite annoying for the apparent superiority the sleuth has over everybody else, amateur or not.
But taking on real events like the Gardner Museum heist I only saw in a documentary about two years ago is something that I admire in Ellen's evolution. I've always said that reality is stranger than fiction.
As a teenager in the 1950s, I was car crazy, but didn't buy a car until my sophomore year in college when I bought the same 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 4dr sedan that my dad ordered from Ford from a schoolteacher. When unable to drive it by your later with paralyzed hands, bought a 1957 DeSoto Firedome with a hemi engine for $100 to get me to California and beyond. Those were wonderful cars, but rusted out quickly in Wisconsin.
I have been a pantser, using my experience for most of my novels. But the one I'm currently working on, a near future disaster scenario has so many characters and so many options, I'm finding that I'm doing a lot more research and plotting than ever before.
I had no idea how to get an agent in Houston, so self published, with a good publisher, Booklocker, and have no regrets except that I don't promote enough. Both Ellen and you are amazing promoters of your work.
Ron