Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Rwandan Hostage
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.christopherlowery.co/
CITY: Geneva
STATE:
COUNTRY: Switzerland
NATIONALITY: British
Lives in Geneva, Switzerland, and Marbella, Spain * http://www.christopherlowery.co/chris/ * https://urbanepublications.com/book_author/christopher-lowery/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
N/A
PERSONAL
Born in England; married Marjorie; children: one daughter.
EDUCATION:Holds a college degree.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and entrepreneur.
AVOCATIONS:Composing music.
WRITINGS
Also author of children’s books and patents.
SIDELIGHTS
Christopher Lowery is a British writer and entrepreneur. He studied economics and finance in college and went on to launch businesses in the telecommunications and real estate fields. He is a music composer and has written works of both fiction and nonfiction.
The Angolan Clan
The Angolan Clan is the first book in Lowery’s “African Diamonds” trilogy. In an interview with a contributor to the Crime Thriller Fella Web site, Lowery explained the premise of the novel. He stated: “The Carnation Revolution was a military coup in Lisbon, Portugal, on 25 April 1974 which overthrew the regime of the Estado Novo. The revolution started as a military coup organized by the Movimento das Forças Armadas, composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but the movement was soon coupled with an unanticipated and popular campaign of civil resistance. This movement would lead to the fall of the Estado Novo and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies and East Timor.” Lowery continued: “The book combines strands from the revolution in Portugal and the impact on its Angolan colony.” The name of the revolution came from public demonstrations during which members of the military placed carnations on their uniforms and in their rifles’ muzzles. On his Web site, Lowery explains that he was in Portugal in 1975 and was forced to leave the country because of the Carnation Revolution.
In The Angolan Clan, Lowery describes the chaos that ensues during the Carnation Revolution. Portugal becomes a communist state and begins systematically punishing its capitalist citizens. Angola, now liberated, erupts in a civil war. Other more powerful nations, including the United States, the Soviet Union, South Africa, and Cuba become involved in the conflict. Angola is famed for its diamond mines, which are now closed down due to the fighting. A group gathers a selection of the most valuable diamonds and quickly leaves the country. Decades later, mysterious deaths occur across Europe and the United States. In Marbella, Spain, a wealthy businessman is found dead in his swimming pool. In New York, a prostitute and an affluent Portuguese man are murdered, and in Switzerland, a French millionaire dies on a ski trip in the Alps. An Angolan woman named Leticia da Costa and an Englishwoman named Jenny Bishop begin investigating the killings, which leads them back to the looted diamond mine and the Carnation Revolution.
The Rwandan Hostage
The second novel in the series, The Rwandan Hostage, is set primarily in 2010 and features a British writer named Emma Stewart as its protagonist. However, the beginning of the book describes the events that led to the outbreak of civil war in Rwanda. The death of the nation’s president brings about chaos in the country, and one of its two tribes begins killing off the other. The narrative then jumps to the United Kingdom in the year 2010. Emma, who writes mystery novels, has a teenage son named Leo. She decides to take him to watch the World Cup finals in South Africa. While there, Leo goes missing. Emma attempts to obtain help from the South African authorities, but she is disappointed in their response to the situation. She decides to enlist the help of her sister, Jenny Bishop. The two devise a plan to deal with ransom demands from Leo’s kidnappers. Meanwhile, they try to determine why Leo was taken. Jenny and Emma discover that his kidnappers are connected to the genocide that occurred during Rwanda’s bloody civil war in the 1990s.
A reviewer in Publishers Weekly offered a mixed assessment of the book. The reviewer suggested that The Rwandan Hostage “will work best for thriller fans who don’t mind extremely convoluted plots.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, October 3, 2016, review of The Rwandan Hostage, p. 102.
ONLINE
Christopher Lowery Home Page, http://www.christopherlowery.co/ (July 14, 2017).
Crime Thriller Fella, http://www.crimethrillerfella.wordpress.com/ (July 14, 2017), author interview.*
Christopher Lowery is a Geordie, born in the northeast of England, who graduated in finance and economics after reluctantly giving up career choices in professional golf and rock & roll. He is a real estate and telecoms entrepreneur and has created several successful companies around the world. Chris wrote the Angolan Clan after the Revolution of the Carnations forced him to flee Portugal in 1975. He also writes patents and children's books and composes music. He and his wife Marjorie live in Europe. They have one daughter, a writer/photographer/humanitarian aid worker who lives and works all over the world.
HRISTOPHER LOWERY is a Geordie, born in the northeast of England, who graduated in finance and economics after reluctantly giving up career choices in professional golf and rock & roll. He is a real estate and telecoms entrepreneur and has created several successful companies around the world. Chris wrote the Angolan Clan after the Revolution of the Carnations forced him to flee Portugal in 1975. He also writes patents and childrens books and composes music. He and his wife Marjorie live between Geneva and Marbella. They have one daughter, a writer/photographer who is resident in Geneva.
QUOTED: "The Carnation Revolution was a military coup in Lisbon, Portugal, on 25 April 1974 which overthrew the regime of the Estado Novo. The revolution started as a military coup organized by the Movimento das Forças Armadas, composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but the movement was soon coupled with an unanticipated and popular campaign of civil resistance. This movement would lead to the fall of the Estado Novo and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies and East Timor."
"The book combines strands from the revolution in Portugal and the impact on its Angolan colony."
The great thing about crime fiction is that it takes you into the nooks and crannies of history, throwing up strange truths about places in the world that you thought you knew all about. Christopher Lowery’s The Angolan Clan is partly set amid the Carnation Revolution, a military coup in Portugal, in 1974. It was an uprising that had serious implications across two continents — and Christopher was right in the middle of it. In his novel, two people must untangle the deadly truth of a series of murders and its connection to a civil war in Africa.
As well as a writer, Christopher is a real estate and telecoms entrepreneur, living between Geneva and Marbella. He also writes patents and children’s books and composes music. Christopher gives us the lowdown on the Carnation Revolution, naughty limericks, and getting out of town real quick…
The Angolan Clan is about the military coup in Portugal in 1974 – and its effects on the colony of Angola. Tell us about what happened…
The Carnation Revolution was a military coup in Lisbon, Portugal, on 25 April 1974 which overthrew the regime of the Estado Novo. The revolution started as a military coup organized by the Movimento das Forças Armadas, composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but the movement was soon coupled with an unanticipated and popular campaign of civil resistance. This movement would lead to the fall of the Estado Novo and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies and East Timor. The name “Carnation Revolution” comes from the fact that almost no shots were fired and when the population took to the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship and war in the colonies, carnations were put into the muzzles of rifles and on the uniforms of the army. The Portuguese celebrate the national holiday of Freedom Day on 25 April every year to celebrate the revolution.
After being granted its independence Angola would enter into a decades-long civil war which involved nations like the Soviet Union, Cuba, South Africa and the United States. Millions of Angolans would die in the aftermath of colonialism, due either to the violence of the armed conflict or malnutrition and disease. The book combines strands from the revolution in Portugal and the impact on its Angolan colony.
I can’t imagine many people who holiday in Portugal will remember these events – what’s your own connection to the revolution?
Fortunately my own experience of the revolution was less dramatic than the characters in the book. I was actually on business in Geneva when the chairman of the company I was working for in Portugal called me and said they were putting everyone in jail – and that I was on the ‘hitlist’ to be imprisoned as soon as I returned. My wife and daughter had to flee (with the dog!) as capitalists, particularly foreign entrepreneurs, were very much persona non grata with the newly installed powers.
How difficult is it to entwine factual events with thriller fiction?
Sometimes it feels impossible because you know that someone, somewhere, will always have a unique and accurate take on what actually happened versus what actually happened PLUS the author’s imagination. As a writer there’s a danger you can become so obsessed with the facts you lose the dynamics of the story. One of the biggest challenges of writing a thriller is keeping track of all the various storyline strands. I have to keep reminding myself what time it is in Africa and what time it is in Spain! J
The Angolan ClanThe Angolan Clan is the first in a projected series – where do you see the narrative going next?
Book two is called The Rwandan Hostage and is set in a difficult and horrific period in Africa’s modern history. The beginning of the story is the death of the president of Rwanda and the subsequent genocide. The first book has a particular ending, which leads to the second book, and several of the characters are the same. I believe readers like the comfort of knowing who the characters are and where they came from.
Take us through a typical writing day for you?
As I get older and the business concerns take more of a back seat it’s less chaotic and snatched and I’m now setting aside ‘writing time’. It’s not disciplined and structured though, it’s very much a mood thing, and I can write very quickly when I’ve got the time and the story is demanding to be told. I started by writing stories for my daughter, and I even write the odd naughty limerick! Writing is a balance to the other aspects of my life.
What’s the hardest lesson you ever had to learn about writing?
That if I wanted to be published I had to write not just for me, but for everyone. It’s hard putting aside that control to develop a story you think can appeal to complete strangers. As an entrepreneur I’m used to driving everything forward, to making it what I want it to be – to be published you have to consider other readers, you have to learn not to write selfishly.
How do you deal with feedback?
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I do like it to be qualified – I think it’s the business leader in me. I want to hear feedback, but it has to be justified, whether positive or negative.
Who are the authors you admire, and why?
Frederick Forsyth is an incredible thriller writer – seamlessly blending action, characterisation, globally expansive plots, and always with such intricacies of plot. I’m also a big fan of John Buchan’s The 39 Steps, as it’s an example of the perfectly plotted thriller and good inspiration when you’re grappling with a complex mystery across three continents!
Give me some advice about writing…
It’s an oft used phrase, but write what you know. You’ll be amazed what comes out!
***
The Angolan Clan is available from Urbane Publications right here!
Later in the week we join Karen Long’s Blog Tour, for her new thriller The Vault.
QUOTED: "will work best for thriller fans who don't mind extremely convoluted plots."
The Rwandan Hostage
Publishers Weekly.
263.40 (Oct. 3, 2016): p102.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Rwandan Hostage
Christopher Lowery. Urbane (IPG, dist.), $14.95 trade paper (544p) ISBN 978-1910692-96-7
Set over a period of 10 days in July 2010, the second volume in British author Lowery's African Diamonds trilogy (after 2015's The Angolan
Clan) will work best for thriller fans who don't mind extremely convoluted plots. Mystery author Emma Stewart has taken her 15-year-old son,
Leo, from the U.K. to Johannesburg for the World Cup final as a special treat. When Leo disappears, Emma finds the authorities' handling of the
case suspicious. Emma's worst fears come true when she learns that Leo has, in fact, been abducted, and she turns to her sister back in England,
Jenny Bishop, who has the financial assets to help with any ransom demand. Fortunately, Leo manages to stay alive while Emma and her allies
try to determine the motive behind the crime, which has its roots in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, though this background is underdeveloped.
Readers should be prepared for some improbable actions (e.g., the kidnappers wait days before warning Emma not to contact the authorities).
(Nov.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Rwandan Hostage." Publishers Weekly, 3 Oct. 2016, p. 102. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466166588&it=r&asid=e39f7681fe7da4a99f7a77736a4cd42e. Accessed 3 June
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466166588