Author of Simon Leonidovich novels wraps up series

Advertisement

Simon & Schuster has released Las Vegas resident Jay MacLarty's latest book, "Choke Point." It is now in your favorite bookstore.

The best-selling author closes out his Simon Leonidovich series with a story that mixes millions and international intrigue with hard-hearted mercenaries, also throwing in an element of sexual tension.

Fans might be sorry to read the last of Simon Leonidovich, but MacLarty says he's glad his series contract is up, after living and breathing with his character.

"I'm glad it's done," he said. "I got up with that man, I ate breakfast with him, I went to bed with him at night. I'm sick of him. Besides, I like girls."

Yet he pounded out material almost daily, mindful of his contract commitment. He called writing hard work, but writing a series so much harder because "you have find things for him to do. You're stuck with this character for four straight books. Most writers dream of having that burden, but I had to (come up with) a new story every 12 to 14 months."

He relied on his writer's critique group to keep his story line for "Choke Point" on track. At one point, MacLarty realized he could make a dollar more per book if he made the novel longer, so he threw in a plot side trip that took Simon to South America. Everyone in his writers' group cried foul at the plot interruption, and he ended up taking out the excursion.

"They were right," he said.

His significant other, Holly McKinnis, is working on a slasher-murder mystery. She said she's learning the craft, in part, by reading MacLarty's material.

"You'll be reading along and all of a sudden, you'll go, 'I didn't know you (as an author) could do that, have point of view shifts and things like that,' " she said.

MacLarty described the pressure to come up with new plot twists for his Simon Leonidovich series and the time parameters involved in producing the work.

"The minute one book comes out and it takes them (readers) two or three days to read it, they want the next one," he said.

He plans to spend the next 18 months or so in Europe, finishing a novel he began in 1994. It's about female empowerment, and the working title is "A Child of Fate." It details the struggles of five executives on a retreat in the far reaches of Canada, whose bush pilot -- the only one who knows where they are -- crashes and dies after dropping them off.

The bush pilot is not the only victim of MacLarty's. One night, Tom Justin, a friend and colleague, was reading one of the Simon Leonidovich books and almost dropped it.

"It was 1 a.m. and all of a sudden, he committed murder. He killed off my favorite character," Justin said. "He writes with blood on his keyboard."

New fans of MacLarty can visit his Web site at www.jaymaclarty.com.