Hi Harley! Welcome to Fallen Angel Reviews! Thank you for taking time out of your busy holiday and end of the year schedule to visit with us. I appreciate this opportunity to visit with you.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a retired professor of technical writing from Michigan Technological University but have been a free lance writer since 1957 when I sold a story to Car Life. You can read a short biography at my web site www.hu.mtu.edu/~hlsachs. I lived in several European countries for about seven years, including a post-retirement stint in Aalborg, Denmark. Used to be a stringer for Fishing News, a Fleet Street, London weekly, translating stories from Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. Now a columnist for Northern Express in Traverse City, Michigan where my columns are archived on their web site. My interest in boating let to my first published book, "Irma Quarterdeck Reports" done at Wescott Cove. I’m married, have three grown daughters, and winter in Portland, Oregon.

What or who inspired you to try to become an author?

I’ve been writing since the second grade, inspired because my mother got me a library card as soon as I could read.

When your first story was picked up for publishing, how did you celebrate?

I photographed the check and wrote more articles.

Do you have a particular ritual you follow for writing?

Other than sacrificing a chicken by the full moon, none. I am an early riser and prefer to start writing before breakfast.

What is your work space like? Cluttered or perfectly straightened?

At my home in Michigan I’ve taken over the top floor of the house, have a cluttered desk with a fine view and an extensive library, but in Portland, Oregon I work in a space that used to be a closet, a "desk" with two computers underneath it, a platform on top with a scanner squeezed under it and both monitor and printer on the little platform. A second printer is in a side compartment. No library. Only a single bookshelf with a couple of dictionaries and a boom box used for doing audiobooks. It’s cramped and difficult to write in a studio apartment.

Per your website, I see that you have some upcoming works in progress.
Do you tend to write one story at a time or many all at once? How do you keep the stories, characters, etc straight if you write more than one story at a time?

The works in progress are all finished and under contract. I write only one story at a time. I do maintain a persona file with vignettes of each of the characters so I don’t give them blue eyes in one place, brown in another. With this file opened I can paste in passages from the books so there’s continuity.

You have a series called The Mystery Club. The third installment came out earlier this year. Do you anticipate more stories for this series in the near future?

I’ve lots more material, but haven’t done a Mystery Club book in a couple of years. Two summers ago I did a memoir of our year-long honeymoon and last summer wrote and self-published "IS" about the meaning of "is." The Mystery Club books, with the characters pretty much confined to a single building, get a bit constraining and the books have become more sinister. The charming little old ladies have taken on the character of a cabal. In the last one, "The Mystery Club and the Hidden Witness," one of the women is unforgiving and vindictive. This could become something scary. It takes only one person with a mean streak to change the characteristics of a group.

Is there a genre of stories that you have not tried you hand at writing yet that you are interested in giving a try?

The new owner of Wescott Cove wants me to do a nautical mystery that would fit his list, but he's been so slow in bringing out a second edition of Irma Quarterdeck I have doubts that once written the book would ever make it through editing. I’m puzzling over a suitable scenario, the setting to be Lake Superior where I keep my boat.

Do you tend to do lots of research for your novels? If so, what type of research do you do?

The first Mystery Club book was a standard who done it, but the second grew out of my training as a volunteer with Elders in Action to give lectures on Medicare fraud. The third in the series came out of my experience as custodian of the employee gift fund. I did research the WITSEC witness protection program for authenticity. My sci-fi romance "The Search for Jesse B ram" drew on my study of kabbalah, Jewish mysticism.

You have quite a list of published books. Do you have a favorite?

My best writing is in Threads of the Covenant: The Jews of Red Jacket. I had fun doing all of them. The early ones were the most difficult, especially "Scratch—out!" which is derived from my own experience as an under cover agent. My favorite character is the Jewish detective who has a minor role in the third Mystery Club novel.

Do you think writing a full novel gets easier as you go or do you find it harder to come up with fresh new stories?

Unlike writers who plot a detailed outline before writing anything, I start with a situation, sometimes from a dream, as in "Ben Zakkai’s Coffin" and have to write the book to find out how the story comes out. It does get easier, once you get in the flow of it.

Most authors are avid readers. Do you have any favorite authors/books?

I like different authors for different skills. I like Carre for his insights into espionage and the mind of the agent, as he knows better than others what it’s truly like. I like Parker for his crisp dialogue. I like Hemingway for his economical style. The risk is that one becomes repetitive, the author imitating himself.

With the end of the year rapidly approaching, have you already started thinking of what you would like to accomplish next year?

I’d like to break through the New York barrier, but that is unlikely. I will be 75 and not "tourable" in spite of my engaging lecture skills. If I can figure out the plot, I’ll do that nautical mystery next summer. I write another book every summer when I get back to Michigan.

Can you give us a summary of some of the wonderful stories you have on your website as coming out soon?

"Conspiracy" is a road trip romance and mystery. A technical writer who has ghost written his boss’s biography becomes co-author of a book called "Conspiracy" which turns out to be one and he’s part of it. "The Gold Chromosome" is a funny family mystery about a tontine: last surviving cousin gets all the money. It’s based on my own family and my aunt’s estate. "Misplaced Persons" is a collection of short stories. Having often been out of place as a foreigner lost in a strange country, such a condition is a common theme in those stories. "Scratch—out!" is going to be an ebook, though we already had an abortive POD edition in an experiment that failed.

Describe the perfect holiday season for you. If you don’t mind.

I’d like to see family members but also have some private time without the obligation and stress of being or having company. Travel is exhausting and stressful. Then there’s that problem of finding a parking space!

Is there a holiday tradition that you and your family do every year together?

At one time we, the only Jewish family in the neighborhood, went from house to house in the deep snows of Michigan’s Copper Country singing carols and being treated to cookies. Nothing lasts. Kids grow up and move away. There is nothing left that we all do together at the holidays because everyone is scattered.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

Good question. I know my books don’t get in bookstores because my conventional niche publishers used direct mail advertising only and the bookstores don’t touch POD editions. I don’t ask people to buy my books, but to ask their librarians to get them. If my books were in every US library and not a single bookstore I’d be a best seller. This is something I recommend other authors to do.

Thank you so much for stopping by Harley. For anyone looking for a sizzling, erotic tale, look no further. Stop by the Harley’s website, to see what you could be missing. It has been a pleasure talking with you and I look forward to having the opportunity to pick up a story or two of yours.

Interviewed by: Jessica