Author Daniel Meier was recently recognized for his novels at The Hollywood Book Festival in Hollywood, Calif.
The Owings author’s books received a total of 12 awards from four different festivals through the past few years by his J.M. Northern Media group. It was the first time a ceremony was held since the pandemic.
Meier received awards for “The Dung Beetles of Liberia” (Top Honors; 1st Sequel), “Blood Before Dawn” (1st Sequel; 1st General Fiction), “No Birds Sing Here” (Top Honors; 2nd General Fiction), “Guidance to Death” (2-time 1st Genre Based; 1st General Fiction) and “Bloodroot” (3-time HM General Fiction).
He has worked as a flight instructor, an air taxi pilot and a pilot examiner for the Federal Aviation Administration and for 20 years was an Aviation Safety Inspector.
His first novel “The Dung Beetles of Liberia” and its sequel “Blood Before Dawn” as well as his latest book “Guidance to Death” are largely aviation-based.
He is currently working on the second book in his Frank Adams Investigator series.
BookLife said the inaugural Frank Adams book “is crisp and convincing, and the frozen setting shines as a hostile, miserable place, captured with the touch of hard-edge poetry — like bursts of rain that hit ‘the windshield and froze there in hard, flat teardrops’ — of Meier at his best.”
For more information on Daniel Meier, go to https://danielmeierauthor.com.
How long have you been writing, and how did you get started?
I have been writing on and off all my life. I majored in history at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, then went on to study American literature at the University of Maryland graduate school. In 1980 I published an action/thriller titled “Mendoza’s Treasure” under the pen name of Vince Daniels. After seeing the revenue (or lack thereof) from a thriller published by a New York publisher and realizing that they owned all the rights, I decided to find a job within the industry of my other passion in life: Aviation.
What inspires you to write?
It’s a nice way to be heard. I, like everyone, have certain opinions and beliefs. I can’t say that I am cynical, but I have become quite realistic regarding many people’s motives and passions. Writing fiction allows me to paint a picture of why people act the way they do and show the consequences. All of my books, I try to point out underlying motives that are usually hidden by a glossy façade.
Who are some of your favorite authors?
In the realm of fiction, I enjoy Saul Bellow, Philip Roth and Bernard Malamud. They certainly do not influence my style of writing, but I do like to look to them as truly fine authors and aspire to their level of expressive thought. As far as my latest genre goes, I have always enjoyed the Inspector Maigret mysteries.
What are you working on now?
In my latest book, Frank finds himself traveling to the small town in North Carolina where he grew up (and had vowed never to return) investigating the airplane crash and subsequent death of the local college chemistry professor. It’s not what everyone thinks.
What do you want readers to know about you?
I would like readers to know that I will never lie to them. Fiction is tricky. It’s made up, but the messages I send to the reader are straight from the heart, and the research I put into the books is as valid as I can find.
Please include a brief description of your book “Guidance to Death.”
It was cold and rainy, with low visibility. A perfect morning for sabotage. The company jet carrying a Senior VP mysteriously crashes shortly after taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board says it was an accident. The victim’s wife says it was murder.
Frank Adams, an independent aviation accident investigator has been hired to find out. Mounting evidence and an additional murder convinces Adams that there was indeed foul play.
As what seemed to be unrelated events become increasingly linked, Frank reveals a crime of international dimensions.
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