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Mystery writer draws on experiences
The 64-year-old retired Army colonel from West Virginia stood quietly before his audience at the Dalton-Whitfield Public Library, wondering aloud if he needed a microphone to be heard.
Audience members assured him he did.
“If you were expecting John Grisham or James Patterson, you’re going to be highly disappointed,” said Lee Martin, a psychology professor and mystery writer who was a guest speaker for a lecture series at the library on Monday. “I don’t get an opportunity to speak very much.”
Martin’s work is anything but quiet. It’s about mysteries, murders, war, drama, love, surprises, and twists and turns. The metro Atlanta resident is a writer who discovered his love for telling a story late in life, after 25 years in the Army, after having fought in Vietnam, after earning advanced degrees in counseling and after bouncing around to a few jobs that left him feeling as if something in his life were still missing. Writing novels filled that hole when he began publishing in 2004.
“After you create these characters and you give them personalities and you describe them for the readers, it’s like they actually lived and had breath,” he told about 25 people.
Martin kicked off the second year of the Davison Lecture Series. The program, sponsored by the library and Friends of the Library, features 10 speakers from now through November. It’s named in honor of its benefactor, former Dalton resident Bob Davison.
Dalton resident Margaret Crow said her brother, who was unable to attend because of a health issue, is friends with Martin and is one of the characters portrayed in his book “Starlight, Starbright.” The family has known him for many years, she said.
Martin’s most recent novel, “The Valiant,” was released in late 2009. It’s the story of an intelligent high school custodian who is often ignored by students and faculty. An academically struggling high school quarterback and a feisty school librarian befriend him, but the reader discovers both the student and custodian are hiding loathsome secrets.
Surprises are one of Martin’s trademarks, he says. His cabinet of ideas is his life experiences. In “The Third Moon is Blue,” the Vietnam stories are ones he lived, and the father is his father. (The mother of the main character is not Martin’s real mother.)
Only one of his books, “Ten Minutes till Midnight,” is nonfiction. It is based on the true story of a young man in Denver who nearly died after being attacked by a Crip gang bent on killing people who were set to testify against them in court. Two of their targets died in the 1989 murders, but Steve Curtis survived.
Martin learned of the story through a friend and conducted research and interviews in Colorado a couple of years ago. The book was released in 2009.
Most of his seven books were written in six months, but his paperback “The Six Mile Inn” took just two weeks, he said.
Dalton resident Virginia Weaver bought six of Martin’s books after the lecture, saying she liked his quiet humor and the way he told a little about each of his books.
“When I found out he was coming (to Dalton), I was so excited,” Weaver said. “I love mysteries.”
Resaca resident Pam O’Neal asked her husband to drive her to Dalton to hear the lecture. A physician before a stroke several years ago that impaired her mobility, O’Neal said she especially likes classic literature but is an avid reader who likes many genres.
Each of Martin’s books contains elements of mystery, romance and surprise, an approach O’Neal said she doesn’t like.
“To put one (romance story) in every book just because he’s trying to sell them to the women too — that was a little bit much to me,” she said.
Lee Martin’s writer’s quirks:
Method: Long-hand on a legal pad, but typed on a computer after completion.
Planning: “Normally, I’ll completely write the book in my head, where I want to go with it, but as I develop it, it may change.”
Goals: “I don’t ever aspire to be ‘great’ because I enjoy the writing part of it” and writing for its “recreational value.”
Ideas: His T-shirt slogan, “Be nice to me or you may end up in one of my books,” says it all.
Approach: “I like to play with the reader’s mind a little.”
Advice: “I’ve lived a very long time. I hope you become the people you want to be. It’s not too late.”
Online: www.leemartinbooks.com
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