Rob Kelley writes about the intersection of high technology and crime, where perpetrators live in the world of theoretical math and cutting edge science. They may be more sophisticated than your typical criminal, but at bottom, they want the same things as bank robbers and art thieves.

Money and power.

Rob lives on the Midcoast with his wife Margot, who is an accomplished writer as well. After a career in the tech world, he has deep personal knowledge of its people and social dynamics. As for crime? He uses his active imagination to create characters seduced by the potential to use tech for selfish, misanthropic ends.

Now Rob’s diligent work is bearing fruit. Next spring his debut novel, RAVEN, will be published by High Frequency Press. An active member of the Maine crime writing community for years (and winner of the Two Minutes in the Slammer contest at Maine Crime Wave conference every time he competed), Rob will be joining the MCW blog next month, and likely will use some of his early posts to describe the exciting process of getting ready to launch a first novel. So I could properly introduce our new blog mate to our readers, Rob and I played Ten Questions last week.

Q:  What’s your elevator pitch for Raven?

Raven is a thriller set at the end of the cold war and beginning of the internet. An aspiring MIT graduate student becomes a target when her mentor tricks her into stealing computer secrets for the crumbling Soviet Union. As threats from her mentor, the FBI, the Russians, and Boston’s Irish Mob pile up, she relies on friends in the hacker underground to stay one step ahead of the investigation and intrigue, and to outwit and out-maneuver them all.

Q.     What inspired the plot?

Actual events. There was a computer researcher in the early 90s who invented a tool to test the security of early networks by identifying vulnerabilities in them. It was incorrectly seen as a tool for hackers, resulting in widespread criticism of the work. I adapted that idea for the novel.

Q.     How much does your background working in the tech field inform your fiction?

My tech background definitely informs my fiction, as does my work in social justice. The good guys are not always who they seem in either field!

Q.     Process question: are there things you did as a tech professional that you need to be mindful to do (or not do) when you write?

Great question! One of the really challenging things for me, as I suspect it is for any thriller writer going for verisimilitude, is not to info dump. We all know the not-untrue stereotype of the thriller writer who spends a page detailing the features of the gun the protagonist uses once.

Q.     What was your reaction last year when High Frequency Press made you an offer?

I was thrilled. I’d worked Scott Wolven and Shanna McNair last year in my time attending their conference, The Writer’s Hotel, here in Maine (more info here: https://www.writershotel.com/ ). Scott and Shanna are thoughtful, careful editors and wonderful writers in their own respect.

Q,    How is it to work with Scott and Shanna?

See above.

Q,    What has surprised you most about the experience of getting a book ready for publication?

I’ve heard it said that writing is a solo sport, but publishing is a team sport. And that is very true. As a writer you have complete control of the world and your characters and that feels great. But then you have a smart editor telling you how to make your work really shine. They are telling you your book is good—after all, you submitted the very best book you could make—but that it can be better. It’s a pretty humbling experience.

Q.     Your wife Margot is a writer also. (Margot Anne Kelley is a writer, editor, visual artist and educator whose book FOODTOPIA won a Maine Literary Award and a Readable Feast Book Award. More info here: https://www.margotannekelley.com/ ) How do you support each other in your literary lives?

I have a funny anecdote about that. A friend of Margot’s once said to her, “so, do you just sit down over cocktails and talk about your writing day?” The answer to that question, actually, is yes. It’s awesome to have a partner who cares about words as much as you do. We are each other’s first readers and greatest champions.

Q.     Where did you grow up and what was your best subject in school?

I grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis and lived there until I went to graduate school in Indiana. Best subject, interestingly, was pretty much a toss up between math and English. So, I made a living out of math for a while, now I get to use my writing skills.

Q.     What have you read recently and what did you think about it?

I’m constantly reading in the genre to stretch my idea of what works and doesn’t in fiction. I just finished Joseph Finder’s Nick Heller series which starts with Vanished. I really admire his ability to keep the action moving while maintaining the wry voice of Nick Heller as the books progress. I highly recommend them.

Robert T. Kelley is the author of Raven, a thriller forthcoming in 2025 from High Frequency Press. After thirty years in the technology industry, he now serves as an advisor for both non-profit and for-profit organizations. He was formerly the publisher of the quarterly literary journal The Maine Review and is a recipient of The Writer’s Hotel Conference’s Sara Patton Award. Look for his first MCW blog post in April.

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Brenda Buchanan brings years of experience as a journalist and a lawyer to her crime fiction. She has published three books featuring Joe Gale, a newspaper reporter who covers the crime and courts beat. She is now hard at work on new projects. FMI, go to http://brendabuchananwrites.com