Canada – Lit World Interviews

John Viera left his CIA fieldwork hoping for a “normal” occupation and a long-awaited family, but when a Pakistani engineer is kidnapped from a top-secret US project and diplomatic entanglements tie the government’s hands, the Intelligence Community turns to John and his team of ex-operatives to investigate — strictly off the books. They uncover a plot of unprecedented magnitude that will precipitate the slaughter of millions.

From the corporate skyscrapers of Montreal to the treacherous alleys of Baluchistan, these formidable enemies strike, determined to create a regional apocalypse and permanently alter the balance of world power. Isolated in their knowledge of the impending devastation, John and his network stand alone between total destruction and the Leopard of Cairo.

This is the first book in the Apex Predator series.

The Leopard of Cairo front cover. — The Leopard of Cairo

Get The Leopard of Cairo at Amazon.

How did you do research for your book?

The majority of our research for The Leopard of Cairo and our other fiction comes from Jay Holmes’s fifty years of experience in military and intelligence operations. Piper will call him up and say something like, “We need to blow something up,” or “What will John Viera do if he’s being followed?” Jay either tells her off the top of his head or he gets back to her in a day or so, and she fills in the rest from her own knowledge and with Google.

Which was the easiest character to write?

Jay finds it easiest to write the male operatives on the team. For Piper, the female characters are easiest to write, particularly the middle-aged female assassin, Mrs. Beasley. Piper isn’t sure what that says about her own personal character.

Where do you get inspiration for your stories?

Usually, our inspiration starts with some tawdry joke we make while eating a fresh chocolate cake in Holmes’s kitchen sometime after midnight. If we’ve had a sip of guinda, a Spanish cherry liqueur, the work goes faster.

Your book is set in Quetta, Pakistan, Cairo, Egypt, Montreal, Canada, Northern Vermont, and Flagstaff, Arizona. Have you ever been there?

Piper has only been to Flagstaff, but Jay has been to all of these places. Piper would love to visit Montreal and Vermont, but Jay has warned her away from Quetta and Cairo.

If you could put yourself as a character in your book, who would you be?

Piper would love to be as tough as Angelina. Jay is already one or two of the male characters, including our protagonist John Viera.

How long have you been writing?

Piper has been writing off and on since she flunked Calculus in college and switched her major from Biophysics to technical writing. She began writing novels in 2004.

Jay has been writing professional papers for over four decades, and he has occasionally been forced to turn in government paperwork that resembles writing during that same time span. Piper roped him into writing fiction, spycraft, and history books in 2010.

What is the last great book you’ve read?

Piper just finished Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence, a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia. It’s an absolute masterpiece detailing his work with the Arab tribes to overthrow the Ottoman Empire and build the nations of the Arabian Peninsula.

Jay just re-read Admiral Arleigh Burke, a biography by E.B. Potter, and he highly recommends it.

Which authors inspired you to write?

Piper is inspired by authors of great characters and stories from all eras, such as Alexandre Dumas and J.K. Rowling. Jay was inspired by Piper asking him to write.

What is something you had to cut from your book that you wish you could have kept?

Piper: Not with The Leopard of Cairo.

Jay: Piper constantly edits out my X-rated content.

Who was your childhood celebrity crush?

Piper: Roger Moore. At fifteen I was in London and was thrilled to get a picture of the trash in front of the building where he lived.

Jay: Raquel Welch. I wanted things to happen with me and her. By the time I was ten, I figured out that was a nonstarter, and I started focusing more on local girls.

Get The Leopard of Cairo at Amazon.

Bayard and Holmes author photo. — Bayard & Holmes

Author Bio:

Piper Bayard is an author and a recovering attorney with a college degree or two. She is also a belly dancer and a former hospice volunteer. She has been working daily with her good friend Jay Holmes for the past decade, learning about foreign affairs, espionage history, and field techniques for the purpose of writing fiction and nonfiction. She currently pens espionage nonfiction and international spy thrillers with Jay Holmes, as well as post-apocalyptic fiction of her own.

Jay Holmes is a forty-five-year veteran of field espionage operations with experience spanning from the Cold War fight against the Soviets, the East Germans, and the various terrorist organizations they sponsored to the present Global War on Terror. He is unwilling to admit to much more than that. Piper is the public face of their partnership.Together, Bayard & Holmes author non-fiction articles and books on espionage and foreign affairs, as well as fictional international spy thrillers. They are also the bestselling authors of The Spy Bride from the Risky Brides Bestsellers Collection and were featured contributors for Social In Worldwide, Inc.

When they aren’t writing or, in Jay’s case, busy with “other work,” Piper and Jay are enjoying time with their families, hiking, exploring back roads of America, talking foreign affairs, laughing at their own rude jokes until the wee hours, and questing for the perfect chocolate cake recipe.

Website: https://bayardandholmes.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piper.bayard

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PiperBayard

Amazon:
Leopard: https://amzn.to/3UVvUkr

Caiman: https://amzn.to/3TivPG4

Goodreads:
Leopard: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/71953522-the-leopard-of-cairo

Caiman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/206323749-the-caiman-of-iquitos

Not long ago I met an author, one of the best I’ve come across in a one on one way ever, through another great author Dan McNeil. I’ve read and reviewed her book, and you can read the review on LWI by clicking here. What did I say? Read it, but I warn you, if you know my normal reviews and ratings…you will be shocked. Her name is Jasmine Aziz. Her book is:

First of all, I think people would like to know how in the world you got into the world of selling vibrators. I think that is somewhat important regarding your book. And in addition, how did you get out of doing that?

Well it isn’t exactly something your Guidance Counsellor in school tells you that you were born to do so no one was more surprised than me when I ended up doing door-to-door dildo sales. I went to a party (my first) with my girlfriend and the consultant that was presenting the products was stiffer than the toys on the table. She made everyone uncomfortable. Naturally, coming from a long line of sales people, I did what I know how to do best: make light of the situation to put everyone at ease. The consultant told me to keep quiet but at the end of the presentation, five women I had never met before came up to me to ask me if I could help them choose what to buy. I can’t be sure what made them come to me for guidance but I sensed I was on to something. That, or it was the “Sex Crazed Loon” shirt I was wearing.

There is an amount of honesty in your book that takes courage. How many times did you stop writing or have doubts and who helped push you to complete the project?

It took me six years to complete the book because I wasn’t sure I could face the potential wrath I was expecting from my extended family. But I had spoken to too many women and men that I felt needed the story so I forged forward. It was actually a fateful trip to Las Vegas that propelled me in the right direction. It was there that I was told I wasn’t “sexy” enough to get free tickets to a club. That made me stop and think, well, what is the definition of “sexy” anyway? It was that concept that helped me string the book together. Now if I ever go back to Las Vegas I’m just going to wear a copy of my novel and we’ll see who gets the last laugh.

How many strange men have proposed to you since the book came out?

Are you proposing? 🙂 If so, then only one 😉 Just kidding!

One thing I believe that makes the book so easy to read and perhaps become comfortable with is the humor. Where did the stories told about the sexual explorations and the disasters resulting come from? (I still laugh at the burning man scene.)

I’m often asked how much of it is based on my own adventures but the truth is, they were inspired by my protagonist Leena herself. I’ve always believed that one of the best ways to tackle difficult topics is through humour. When you are relaxed and laughing, you are more likely to be receptive to information. You don’t even realize that you’re learning something. I personally think laugh lines are extremely sexy too!

Why did you write this book? Your storytelling is great. You could easily have written a romantic comedy of the more traditional type but you chose this one. Why?

Well, thank you! In fact, I am trying my hand at a romantic comedy as we speak! The main reason I wrote “Sex & Samosas” was because I needed a way to purge my own feelings after a very bad breakup so I started writing them down. As I continued with my adult toy parties, I started to realize that other people had the same issues and insecurities that I did and that this was a story that so many others would find relatable. Page after page my personal bitterness and angst gave way to the fiction that unfolded. It’s not necessarily cheaper than therapy, but writing the book helped me work through some very difficult issues.

What has been the public reaction to the book?

I’m really blessed with the reaction. I frequently get emails and notes from people telling me that they not only loved the book and have loaned it to everyone they know, but that they have learned something from it or changed their lives as a result. No author could ask for more than that, I think.

What have men said to you about the book?

When they’re not proposing to me…more men have told me that they love the book because it has helped them to understand how a woman’s mind works. There is a voyeuristic quality to being in Leena’s head all the time that helps them to empathize in ways they couldn’t before. Some have even told me that it has helped them improve on their relationships and pick up women in the book store. It’s all good. Just name the baby Jasmine, is all I say!

I enjoyed the cultural aspects you discussed in the book. I think those parts might be the most surprising to people and maybe in some cases the most informative. Was there an intention of putting that in the book or did it just happen?

That was the starting point of the book actually. Leena and I both struggled with finding balance between two opposing cultures and asserting yourself comfortably in both. She has to find her footing and learn to love herself for the hybrid of cultures that she is as I had to when I was writing it.

What do you have to say or would say to people who say you wrote a sex book and you’ve gone against what a “proper” person should do?

If you’re going to be a suck, then at least read my book so you know you’re doing it right.

What did you want to convey to readers with this book?

My message is simple: if you can’t love yourself, don’t expect anyone else to. And that masturbation is healthy and natural. Sure, I can’t see my hand in front of my face and I have the hairiest palms on the planet, but I know better than anyone else how to please myself and that’s all that matters.

Give me your best sales pitch to get me to buy this book.

Buy my book: there’s sex in it.

Kidding again! I realize my novel isn’t for everyone so when people ask me what it’s about I tell them it’s a funny journey of self-discovery that just happens to have a bunch of vibrators in it.

When can we expect the next book to come out?

There’s the trickiest question of them all. I’ve been really busy and not able to finish my follow up memoir about the four years I sold adult toys, though the frame of the story is complete. It’s only now that I’m beginning to wonder if it should be a television series (Netflix, I’m talking to you!) instead. So I’m going to pursue that first before I head back to finish it as a novel.

Where can you connect with Jasmine? Well, she’s made it easy. Drop a hat and you’ll likely find her, and that’s as it should be with a future star of the publishing world.
First go and buy the book!
Click here to find your preferred method. Jasmine has them all listed for you.
@JasmineAziz
www.facebook.com
www.goodreads.com
Jasmine on LinkedIn.
Want to discover more about Jasmine? Visit her website, JasmineAziz.com.

Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com.

Tag: Canada

Questions with Bayard & Holmes, author of The Leopard of Cairo.

#Interview with @JasmineAziz of Sex & Samosas.

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