Author Q&A with Graham McDonald of "Song Catcher" and a Giveaway!

Today we have an author Q&A and a giveaway! Read on for more details!

Giveaway and more information is over at Closed the Cover. Click here!
Win a Paperback copy of "Song Catcher!"

Synopsis - Grace Howard, a Lakota woman from the Pine Ridge reservation, makes it to the brink of
stardom as a rock singer when drug addiction destroys everything. The catalyst to get clean
comes with the birth of her physically deformed son, Jamie. Twelve years later, she is singing
in a North Dakota bar to help pay for his ongoing medical treatment when a power surge
through her microphone triggers a vision and she hears the music that will change her life
forever.

Jamie, a budding poet, simultaneously has a strange dream and begins to produce lyrics of a
standard beyond his years. The supernatural experiences of mother and son ignite a special
songwriting partnership and they begin to craft an album that melds the songs of a Lakota
ancestor and other cultural music with modern rock – a combination that eventually rockets
to the top of the charts. Long estranged from her people, Grace is compelled to make peace
with her past as her music gains popularity. She returns to Pine Ridge and learns of the
desecration of her musician-ancestor’s spiritual resting place by the construction of a golf
course. Enraged, she decides to use the music’s popularity to try to stop the development,
setting in motion a series of events that will test the strength of her soul and put the lives of
everyone she holds dear on the line.

A heartfelt exploration of the resurrection of cultural and personal spirit, Song Catcher examines the
clash between European and indigenous cultures with bracing honesty. A haunting, compelling story
full of the synchronicities of life and powers we can neither see nor touch, it is as heartbreaking as it
is transformative.



Biography – Graham McDonald 
At the age of 15, Graham McDonald left school to begin what he calls his “real education”,
traveling widely and working in varying occupations. He continued this lifestyle till he was in
his 50’s, when he began writing. Drawing on experiences he had as a gold prospector in
Western Australia, he decided to write a trilogy of mystery novels about native peoples’ loss
of country and how that affects culture.
Graham currently lives with his wife, Coral, in a small town on the southern coast of Western
Australia. He spends his time away from writing putting the finishing touches to a house they
have built and occasionally escaping in their vintage VW kombi to camp out in the
wilderness regions of his country.

 What draws you to your genre?

Mostly it is the mystical elements of native spirituality but, in terms of genre, I have difficulty in clearly defining mine. It could be considered Historical Fiction or Mystery. Maybe there should be a category entitled ‘Mystorical’.

 Have you written any other novels in collaboration with other writers?  Why did you do decide to collaborate and did that affect your sales?

No and I never will. It is my belief that a novel is the work of a single imagination, although a good editor is essential for the pruning process.

Do you work to an outline or plot or just see where an idea takes you?

I am in the last category. Although I have had a definite theme to follow, my stories grow from a single incident or a character. I love the mystery of not knowing exactly where the story’s going although within half a dozen chapters I usually begin to see a path ahead.

How do you think you’ve evolved creatively? What do you think of “trailers” for books?

I have always had the ability to think creatively but it is my improvement in the craft of writing that has paradoxically aided me in my creative evolution. It has enabled me to better organize my thoughts, to move more quickly through the fog of many ideas that can descend upon a storyline.

In regard to trailers, I feel that anything that can get your book in front of readers is a good thing, apart from walking through Times Square dressed only in a sandwich board advertising it, but then again...

Do you have a trailer or do you intend to create one for your own book/s?

At the risk of contradicting myself - no is the answer on both counts. It just isn’t for me.  I’ve had a hard enough time just answering these questions.