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Press Coverage on today’s featured Free Kindle Nation Shorts author, Deborah Wallis, author of Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines


Here’s an article from the Havelock News on today’s featured Free Kindle Nation Shorts author, Deborah Wallis, author of Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines. Click here to read her Free Kindle Nation Short:

Murder mystery

Havelock, Cherry Point the scene for author’s first book

Havelock News
When a Harrier crashes at the Cherry Point Air Show, it’s not just a tragedy. It’s murder.

Such is the plot of a new book by former Havelock resident Deborah Wallis.

Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines” was released earlier this month through McBryde Publishing. It is Wallis’ first novel and the culmination of a three-year process.

She said she always wanted to write but started in earnest when her husband, Earl P. Wallis, retired from the Marine Corps, and the last of their children left their Wilmington home.
“I always wanted to do it,” Wallis said. “I decided that if I ever was going to do it, now would be the time.”
She drew inspiration from her aunt, whose 30-year writing career started in her 50s.
“She’s my role model,” Wallis said. “She showed me that there is life after 50.”
Wallis said she lived in Havelock off and on for about 15 years with her husband, a retired colonel who was a Harrier pilot. She also sold real estate in the area.
“There’s something special about Havelock, and I didn’t really realize it until I moved away,” she said. “When you live in Havelock, you’re part of something. You’re part of a community. The civilian and the military communities blend into something that’s really special.”
And that’s why she picked Havelock and Cherry Point as the setting for her novel.
“It’s a great place to set a book,” she said.
The plot of the book involves the death of Maj. Danny Weaver in a Harrier crash at the Cherry Point Air Show. His widow, Abby, isn’t convinced that her husband died in an accident.
“She gets involved in the investigation and is the one who ends up solving the whole thing,” Wallis said.
The book includes real streets, neighborhoods and places in Havelock.
“It’s neat to read and recognize restaurants you’ve been to and street names,” she said. “That’s the fun part.”
While the setting may be real, the story is complete fiction. She said the characters began as a mix of traits and quirks of other people, but that they evolved as the book moved along.
“I felt like the characters took me in directions that I really hadn’t thought of going,” she said. “They became their own people, and I really know who they are now.”
And, while the plot involves the crash of what is a highly-technical aircraft, Wallis said she did not want the book to get too technical, though she said she consulted with her husband to make sure it was realistic.
“He would tell me that this can’t happen or this can happen,” Wallis said. “He was my technical advisor.”
Though the book has been out for less than a month, Wallis said she has received some good feedback and plans to make a series with the widow Abby as a main character. She said she has already started on the next book and hopes to have it out by the summer of 2011.
“I am getting some really positive response,” she said. “I’m tickled to death.”
The book is available at Make It Personally Yours in Havelock, Next Chapter in downtown New Bern, and Dee Gee’s Gifts and Books in Morehead City.
Wallis has scheduled a book signing and will answer questions about the book from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Make It Personally Yours on East Main Street in Havelock.

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