David Lyons Plays with Ice that Burns

Ice Fire
by David Lyons
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An Exclusive Authorlink Interview
with David Lyons, Author of Ice Fire

By Diane Slocum
June 2012

Jock Boucher is no sooner appointed a U.S. District Judge than he has to take over the caseload of an ailing senior judge and immediately steps into a 20-year-old case of corruption, murder and intrigue. Scientist Bob Palmetto and lawyer Ruth Kalin emerge from hiding long enough to entangle Boucher in the race for undersea methane hydrate – a volatile and dangerous, but extremely valuable new source of energy. Some will stop at nothing to get it, including murdering anyone who gets in their way, even a federal judge or two.

AUTHORLINK: The story deals with the law, science and big business. What is your background?

LYONS: I am a former international lawyer. For years I spent much time in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world representing clients in the energy as well as other global business sectors.

AUTHORLINK: Why did you want to write about methane hydrate? Which came first – Judge Boucher or Bob Palmetto and the hydrate?

LYONS: At the suggestion of a friend, I decided to write a thriller. In keeping with the genre, I knew I needed a body on the first few pages and decided to, as Shakespeare suggested, first kill the lawyer. That was all I had; a dead lawyer, murdered because he was going to reveal something – I knew not what at first – to the FBI. I didn’t have a plot. I didn’t even know where I was. Then one night I had dinner with friends and met a geophysicist who was working on a government project involving methane hydrate. I began to research the subject and was fascinated by what I found. So methane hydrate came next, closely followed by Bob Palmetto, the scientist. Still, I didn’t know where I was. I thought of several cities which I had known, with ties to the energy business, then settled on New Orleans. I love the city and have been fortunate to have spent much time there. Cajun Jock Boucher revealed himself once I had determined the setting of the novel.

AUTHORLINK: How did you do your research?

LYONS: Internet. What a wonderful wireless world we live in. I found government, scientific and private business sites dealing with the subject of methane hydrate. Its potential as a worldwide source of energy is undergoing substantial study by numerous governments and a great deal of information, some of it quite technical, is disseminated for public consumption. I also spoke with energy consultants familiar with the subject.

AUTHORLINK: What was the hardest part of the process of going from your original idea to a finished book? What surprised you?

LYONS: I have a manner of writing which I don’t think I could recommend to everyone. I call it the ‘jump in the deep end of the pool’ method. I begin. Sometimes I know where I’m going. Sometimes the story reveals itself as I write, and sometimes it doesn’t. In general, I usually have a clear vision of the very beginning and a vague idea of the end, with hardly a clue of what I’m going to do for the three hundred plus pages in between. But I do maintain decent discipline. I have a daily writing schedule, a per diem word count, and I stick to it. If there is anything that does surprise me, it is the realization that the subconscious really works, and I mean ‘works’ in several ways. When I have a problem of imagination, I don’t dwell on it, I keep writing. Whatever question or confusion I had, often resolves itself not after, but in the course of a good night’s sleep. I wake up with the answer as if it had been there waiting for me to get to the place where I needed it. I find this aspect of the creative process fascinating and would love to talk to other authors and ask if they experience this as well. Now, I can't ignore the process of re-writing. It's important and not fun. It feels like work. It's harder in part because you don't have a measuring stick like a word count to judge your progress. It's painful when you have to cut; when you have to back up and start fresh. But it's a part of it. What I really, and I mean really enjoyed was the editing process. It was fascinating working with an editor's perspective of your writing. You see things a whole new way.

AUTHORLINK: Why did you decide to self-publish? How did you get from there to a contract with Emily Bestler Books/Atria?

LYONS: I met Dan Poynter, the guru of self-publishing. His inspiration came at a time when new avenues were becoming available to publish one’s work. I still had my dreams of finding a major publisher, but self-publishing in the interim was most satisfying and finding satisfaction, I kept writing. Through my local writers group I met someone with contacts in the publishing industry. She introduced my novel, Ice Fire, to Simon and Schuster.

AUTHORLINK: How did you feel when your book sold to the publisher?

LYONS: Embarrassing for a writer, I was at a loss for words. But in truth, I felt humbled and in a very strange way, conflicted. Having one’s dream of a lifetime fulfilled presents its own challenge. You need the next dream.

AUTHORLINK: It looks as if Judge Boucher will be going after more criminals. Are you writing a sequel?

LYONS: Mais oui! I have big plans for Jock Boucher. He will make the world a safer place for all those of us who love beignets, jazz, and oysters Rockefeller.

Diane Slocum has been a newspaper reporter and editor and authored an historical book. As a freelance writer, she contributes regularly to magazines and newspapers. She writes features on authors and a column for writers and readers in Lifestyle magazine. She is assigned to write interviews of first-time novelists and bestselling authors for Authorlink.