Good morning, readers! Hope your week has been great so far.

In this episode, Nike Chillemi is our woman of faith and fiction. I met Nike online when she visited this blog. We are now in the same ACFW crit group! I always enjoy talking with Nike because she has a great sense of humor.

Readers, you’ll notice the format is a little different this morning. I’m not losing my mind. Nike asked permission to change things up a bit to share more than a few words on each question. So, let’s get started!

Personal

Good morning, Nike. Thank you for joining me! Tell us a little about yourself.

I’ve been reading classic mystery novels, detective stories, and espionage/national security thrillers for a long time. I find them to be fascinating. I enjoy seeing the inner workings of the minds of the brave men and women characters who fight against terrorists and evil doers…and who push back that evil, so it doesn’t harm America. It thrills me reading a novel where I hold my breath as the heroine/hero pulls the fat out of the fire one more time.

For decades, I read Michael Connelly, David Baldacci, Robert Crais, Lee Child, Vince Flynn, Stuart Woods, Harlan Coben, Tom Clancy, and others. Yes, they’re all general market and their all guys, and their books are indeed realistically violent. Men like things that go boom, and they like to shoot it up. I found that it was the general market women thriller writers who began putting in the graphic sex scenes. Now, many of the men are doing that too which disappoints me, and I eliminate them from my TBR list.

I came to know Jesus as my Savior twenty years ago. So, I spent most of my life totally unaware of the need for a personal savior. However, in these types of novels, I did see the intense war between good and evil. I didn’t know anything about a personal God who cares for me. But it wasn’t hard for me to believe there was a devil when someone presented that to me. And, if there indeed was a devil roaming the earth seeing who he could destroy…then it wasn’t that hard to believe there was the opposite, a God who cares.

Along with this realization, I came to read Christian mystery and thriller writers such as Luana Ehrlich, Nancy Mehl, Robbin Carol, Mark Young, Donn Taylor, H. L. Wegley, Robert Liparulo, and others. I feel called to write Christian themed novels in this genre, and hopefully, my books will be fun entertainment for those who enjoy this type of novel. At the end of the day, perhaps my stories will help some to see that there is a God and that God does personally love them.

Nike, I love the way you began piecing the puzzle together by reading general fiction and Christian fiction. ❤ I enjoyed that testimony. Next question… Tea or coffee?

Tea or coffee? Both. I usually start my day with two large mugs of coffee. But later in the day, it will be hot black tea. Lipton, if I have a choice. Organic Lipton if Walmart hasn’t sold out of it. Don’t give me the fancy stuff. Perhaps that’s because Lipton was on the shelves of my mom’s cupboards. I find things in my life run into each other.

Share a favorite thing to do when not writing.

My favorite thing to do when I’m not writing or working is going out to eat with my local group of Christian writers. Four of us (Lynn, Lou Ann, Tracy, and myself) go out almost every Friday. As the weather in northeastern coastal Florida gets intensely hot and humid, I find myself asking the waitress for unsweetened iced tea with a wedge of lemon. We love all the local family oriented places that feature southern cooking including crab and shrimp boils, barbeque, and Caribbean cuisine. And we also try Thai, Indian, Japanese steak house fare, and other more exotic cuisines. I also love to cook and am trying to convert traditional American cuisine into lower fat and sugar versions, hopefully, that taste good. I use myself as the taste tester.

So, just as things maneuver themselves from my work life into my non-work life, they also move into my writing. Food, organic food, cooking and cooking healthy show up in my detective novels in one scenario or another. In my latest release, COURTING DANGER, secondary character Nicholas (Nick) Anastos is the head chef in a chop house owned by the heroine’s family. And this man can cook. Readers have told me when they’re in the middle of a Nick Anastos scene, their mouth starts watering, and they want to get something good to eat.

LOL. Sounds like fun! 🙂

Professional

For your first draft, do you use a pencil or keyboard? Do you plot or fly by the seat of your pants? Do you have a to-do list or do you work from a spur of the moment idea?

I use a keyboard for the first draft of my work-in-progress (WIP) I’m slaving over. For those who do not write, this is the novel I’m next gong to publish, ACTS OF MALICE. However, in general, for novels I have lined up for the series I’m working on, or ones I’m thinking of for a future series, I could do either. And for future novels, I’m a combination plotter/panster. I’m not a true plotter, as I don’t make a highly detailed outline. I could create files in Word where I’ll make notes in different colored fonts, or I’ll highlight things I want to point out to myself. If I choose to use a spiral notebook, I find I rip out pages I don’t care for which is gratifying. Both have their positives and negatives.

I never thought about ripping sheets from a notebook as gratifying. Maybe that’s why I use a spiral notebook. (Laughing.) Nike, thank you for sharing your thoughts with our guests today.

ClicktoTweet: “My favorite thing to do when I’m not writing or working is going out to eat with my local group of Christian writers.” ~ Nike Chillemi Women of Faith and Fiction @NikeNChillemi @GailJohnson87

Book Blurb

Newly installed Pelican Beach, Florida detective Katerina “Kat” Andruko fears the prime suspect will get off in the murder of a teen with the help of the department’s forensics psychologist, a man she’s just started to trust.

This case has national security implications that give former US Army Ranger, Dr. Dimitri Garmonin a opportunity to work with the FBI. The case could give him the chance to obtain the funds needed to expand his small Behavior Analysis Unit. He’s unmoved by the chic FBI agent sent to assist but is intrigued by Kat with whom he shares a Slavic heritage.

Kat and her partner detain two wrong suspects, giving the department negative press. The predator turns his anger on Kat, targeting her. Can Dimitri use his profiler skills to catch this killer before he hurts the woman he’s growing to love?

Purchase Link for Courting Danger

Bio:

Nike N. Chillemi writes contemporary detective novels, It’s been said she writes literature that reads like pulp fiction. Plenty of action, a dash of grit, wry humor as well as an uplifting message. There’s often a national security/public safety twist to them. She likes her bad guys really bad, her good guys smarter and better. Her newest endeavor is COURTING DANGER.

Nike is the founding board member of the Grace Filled Fiction Spotlight (formerly the Grace Awards) and its Chair, a platform to promote excellence in Christian fiction. She has been a judge in the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017 Carol Awards in the suspense, mystery, and romantic suspense categories; the Genesis Awards in 2019; and an Inspy Awards 2010 judge in the Suspense/Thriller/Mystery category. Her four novel Sanctuary Point series (out of print), set in the mid-1940s has finaled, won an award, and garnered critical acclaim. The first novel in the Veronica “Ronnie” Ingels/Dawson Hughes series HARMFUL INTENT won in the Grace Awards 2014 Mystery/Romantic Suspense/Thriller/Historical Suspense category. She has written book reviews for The Christian Pulse online magazine. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and John 3:16 Marketing Network. https://nikechillemi.com/

Author Blog: https://nikechillemi.com/