What can you tell us about your new release, Native Dreams?
NATIVE DREAMS is the 11th book in the ZEB HANKS: Small Town Sheriff Big Time Trouble series. For new readers to the series, this story centers around Sheriff Zeb Hanks’ wife, Echo Skysong, Apache, mystical Knowledge Keeper, Afghanistan war veteran, mother, wife and much more. While Sheriff Zeb Hanks is integral to solving the mystery and its multiple component parts you will see how they truly are a team in the best possible ways. While the book covers branches of Native American mysticism it also covers the day-to-day issue of crime-solving and takes a deep dive into PTSD and its long-term affects.
New readers can pick up at this book and not be lost to many of the interrelationships that have been developed over the first ten books. If you’ve read the first ten, you will know more of the inside information on how the interpersonal relationships between all the characters work. This book was particularly fun to write as the more novels I write in the series, the more I know the depths of each character and how I can portray them for the reader. Writing the series has grown from mystery writing to character development in a wonderful way for myself and the readers. It has become a way to connect with thousands of fans in a very fun way. Because of their love for the stories I will continue joyfully to write them and with each tell of every new tale hopefully educate readers about not only the Apache way of life, past and present ways of being but allow some insight into the modern relationships between the old west and the new west.
What books are currently on your nightstand?
I am currently reading The Last Hundred by Jim Ellis, Three Wise Men by Beau Wise and The National Baseball Hall of Fame Almanac. I’m also a big fan of Henning Mankell and the Kurt Wallander Series. He knows how to write a mystery well.
What advice would you give your teenage self?
I had an idyllic teenage life. The best advice I could give myself would be to do it again and this time take a little more time to learn things that I know now interest me.
If you had an extra hour each day, how would you spend it?
My days go by fast as most people’s do, even in Covid 19 times. I guess I would study more acupuncture as I am a Chiropractor and an Acupuncturist. There are 5000 years of acupuncture studies and books that I could learn from.
What makes your world go round? Why does it bring you joy?
My day to day life including family, writing, working, playing, thinking, listening to music, dreaming (both day and night dreaming) and just enjoying life itself. Life is like a dream as it presents us with infinite options.
Living, helping others, writing, being myself, evolving, laughing, playing pool, thinking, creating, eating, just about all things in life have a joyful side as far as I can tell.
What scene in Native Dreams was your favorite to write?
Most definitely the opening dream sequence when we see inside Echo and understand her thoughts and realize something big is about to happen to her. It came to me in a thought. I wrote and rewrote it until I had the whole story inside her dream. It was great fun to write. I have had great positive feedback on that chapter as well, probably more so than in any other chapter in any of my books.
Mark Reps is the author of the new book Native Dreams.
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