This week I’m hosting Jill Elizabeth Nelson with Betrayal on the Border, Louise Gouge with A Suitable Wife (US and Canada only), Katy Lee with Real Virtue (ebook only) and Alan Schleimer with The Q Manifesto (ebook only). If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (December 23rd) evening.
Interview with the hero from The Q Manifesto by Alan Schleimer:
1. Jay Hunt, I’m glad I found you out here in the desert. Tell me the most interesting thing about you.
Well, I grew up as an only child in Israel. My mom and dad were Americans, but Dad worked there on the Dead Sea Scrolls. For fun, I climbed in and around the caves near Qumran—that’s the place near Jerusalem where the Q document is believed to have been found. It’s the ancient papyrus, which if true, proves the Gospels were faked. I’m sure you’re aware of the havoc that is causing. As a teenager, I lived with a nomadic Bedouin family for a while. Now that was interesting.
2. What do you do for fun?
Search and Rescue missions are the top of my list. When someone gets lost hiking in the desert, someone has to go find them. I’m one of the volunteers. It’s why I’m out here today. I also restore old Jeeps, and then see how much dirt I can get into. Right now, I’m in the middle of installing a new wiring harness on a 1978 CJ. It’s taking more time than I’d have ever guessed. Did I mention electronic gadgets? I love technology; like GPS tracking devices, miniature cameras and recorders, James Bond kind of stuff. Oh, and then there’s my business Pink Hummer Tours. I have a great time taking tourists out into the desert in my pink Hummer. We rock-crawl and scramble up and down majestic vistas that you won’t see any other way.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
Dusting. It’s really dusty living in the desert. I mean, I live in town, but the town’s surrounded by desert. You could dust every month, and it wouldn’t look like you did anything a week later.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
I don’t think I’m afraid of anything, but I am concerned that I won’t find Mike. He’s a hiker from Ohio, who I’m searching for now. He is way overdue returning from a multi-day hike alone in unfamiliar territory. Not a wise thing to do, but at least he told his family when to expect him back. I’ve been out here with other S&R members looking for him for five days now. It’s easy to get lost in the desert, and if you do, there’s a decent chance you’ll run out of food and water. Going hungry is no fun, but you can dehydrate out here in a heartbeat. No one ever carries enough water. By the way, how’d you find me out here?
5. What do you want out of life?
That’s a good question. A good woman to trust me. Someone I won’t let down. I have a certain history of doing that… I can’t believe I told you that. That’s all really. I’m forty-two, never married, and I wouldn’t mind changing that.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
Things aren’t important to me, but at the moment, two people are. Doc and Mike. I told you about Mike, the hiker. Doc is a lady friend. I’ll get to see her later tonight back at Search and Rescue base camp. You’ve got me thinking now; maybe I’ll doing something about not being so single.
7. Do you read books? If so, what is your favorite type of book?
I’ve read a couple Jeep repair manuals from cover-to-cover. There’s not much of a plot, but the applications to real life are tremendous.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
You get personal, don’t you? I think I’ll be a little more straightforward with Doc. You know, tell her I like her. Man, this is like junior high. You pry a lot of information out of a person.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
I’d like a dog, a large breed like a lab or a shepherd, but I’m not home much. It wouldn’t be fair to a dog to drag it around the desert with me or leave it at home alone.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
That’s easy and a little painful to even think about. I’d go back to a time when I was a kid, and I’d do anything to convince my mother not to go on a particular trip.
