Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

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 The middle child of five, I was born in 1960 and anointed with my mother’s pen name “Duncan”, given to me by award-winning author Lois Duncan.  During her career, my mother Lois wrote 48 best-selling young adult books, some of which have been made into movies, including the movie “I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Hotel for Dogs".  I was raised in New Mexico and moved to Florida on my 30th birthday.  Writing on the weekends, my first book, "Deadly Perversions", was published in 2002. My additional titles are "Seeing Red", "Tweaked", "The Pandemic Diary" and "Soundman for a B-Band".  My newest book is an adventure into Young Adult writing with a series of "HAIL" books with the first one called "Operation Hail Storm.  I currently reside in the Sunshine State with my wife and three children.  

             

What inspired you to write?

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My Mother inspired me to write.   She cranked out 48 books during her lifetime and was still able to run a family with five children.  I really had no business writing, since I had no background novel writing in High School or College.  But after I wrote my first book, I came to the realization that I could do it and I was hooked.

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Has having a famous best-selling author as a Mother opened doors for you in your writing career?

 

Yes and no.  By dropping her name, I can every once in a great while get a book read by an agent that would have never bothered without my family pedigree.   However, past that, every book will live or die on its own merits.   And the publishing business has change 180 degrees since my Mother published her first book.  I am writing a multipart blog on my website http://brett.arquette.us about just that subject. 

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What inspired your novel?

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I had written many novels with adult themes, but had never written a book that was written for teens.   My Mother had made a career writing almost exclusively for teens, so I knew there was an audience out there.  One day, my son came home from middle school and told me that his teacher was reading his class "Rainbow Six", a classic special ops book by Tom Clancy.  Unfortunately, they had to stop reading the book due to too many profanities in the novel.   At the time, I was really enjoying reading special ops books, such as "The Gray Man" series by Mark Greaney.   I couldn't recall anyone writing special ops books for young adults that could be read in the classroom that had no profanity and G rated violence.  Six months later, wa-la, OPERATION HAIL STORM received the last typed words "The End".

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What is the genre?

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The genre would be classified as a Thriller, but it has a military feel to it.  Since it was written for teens, I also wanted to add some educational information.  So there is the potential for math, social studies, geography and science workbooks that could accompany the CLASSROOM edition.

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What draws you to this genre?

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I love reading fast paced books.  You know, lots of action and if you skip a dozen pages, you probably missed something important.   Thrillers should thrill throughout the book; not just at the beginning or the end. And I think I accomplished that with OPERATION HAIL STORM.   I also feel when I'm writing for teens, I am going up against video games and video and movies and music, all competing for their.

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You can contact Brett Arquette on his website at brett.arquette.us or email at reviewarquette@gmail.com