Going from interviewer to the interviewee felt a bit strange late last year when Azam Gill from The Big Thrill sent me questions via email. He was working on a feature story for The Big Thrill, the online magazine of the International Thriller Writers.

I already had a couple of short mentions in the local media, basically re-written press releases or a short mention along with other authors having events.

But the story in The Big Thrill was going to be the largest piece written about me and my novel, and it did not disappoint.

Here are some of my favorite parts (please go online to read the whole thing if you can).

After honing his writing skills as an award-winning journalist and editor, Rick Treon has made the leap to debut author with DEEP BACKGROUND, about a reporter caught up in a political scandal that turns deadly in a small Texas Panhandle town.

While Treon’s training as a journalist informs every aspect of his debut, writing a novel gave him a chance to flex some very different muscles. “Coming from a journalism background, where we’re trained in the conservation of words, allowing myself to expand upon subjects was a new feeling,” he says.

Like many writers, Treon finds inspiration for his characters in real life, and he prefers to let them dictate the story—and their own development—as they are impacted by the novel’s interlocking plot twists. Of course, as Treon points out, “Real people would almost never go to the lengths a character would go to in a thriller.”

Anyone who picks up DEEP BACKGROUND will be keenly looking forward to another thrilling read.

Reading about myself — and reading my quotes talking about myself — is also strange, but in a really good way.