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Mike Billington

Goodreads Author

Born

in New Haven, CT, The United States

Twitter

Billington_Books

Genre

Mystery, Historical Fiction

Influences

My earliest influence was Pulitzer Prize winning war correspondent Ern ...more

Member Since

February 2014

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I'm the son of a Protestant minister and an engineer who spent nearly 50 years as a journalist before retiring. Since retirement I've continued writing and currently have seven books on Kindle and am working on a couple more.
As a reporter I covered a wide variety of stories ranging from the Love Canal environmental disaster to the Rwandan civil war, unrest in Haiti, the invasion of Panama, Operation Desert Storm, hurricanes Andrew, Hugo, Gilbert, Katrina and Rita as well as immigration issues in Mexico and drug trafficking in Florida. With two other colleagues I investigated police abuse of the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act for which we received the Southern Journalism Award for Investigative Reporting. I am the recipient of more than ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

Do you ever have problem with a character who won't talk?

Mike Billington Not really... sometimes my characters don't like what I've written and so - rather than go off and sulk somewhere - they tell me that, usually at some…moreNot really... sometimes my characters don't like what I've written and so - rather than go off and sulk somewhere - they tell me that, usually at some inconvenient time like when I'm trying to sleep or have something cooking on the stove... I've found that they're usually right and so I go back and do it again (and sometimes again and again and...) until we're both satisfied :-)
Seriously, though, I do sometimes get stuck because I want to have one of them say something and it just doesn't ring true to the persona I've created for that character. When that happens I usually try to do something else for a bit... sometimes I draw or paint, other times I try out a new recipe. That usually works because it gives me a little time to clear my brain and get back on point. Hemingway once said "Never fall in love with a sentence..." and I try to keep that in mind when I'm trying to force one of my characters to say something that - no matter how brilliant it may sound to me - just isn't right.(less)

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Who is your favorite fictional couple, and why?

Mike Billington That's not an easy question to answer because, as someone who reads between 75 and 100 books a year, I have several "favorite" fictional couples. Nick…moreThat's not an easy question to answer because, as someone who reads between 75 and 100 books a year, I have several "favorite" fictional couples. Nick and Nora Charles, for example, are longtime favorites from "The Thin Man" as are Sean King and Michelle Maxwell from David Baldacci's more contemporary thrillers. That said, I guess if I had to choose one favorite fictional couple - not counting any of my own characters, which I am very partial to - I'd have to pick Amelia Peabody Emerson and her husband Radcliff from the Elizabeth Peters series of late Victorian Egyptian novels. Amelia is one of my favorite characters of all time because she defies convention, actually adores her husband (as he does her) and is fearless in the face of danger. I am a big fan of strong female characters and Amelia is one of the strongest.(less)

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Combine Editions
Mike Billington’s books

Average rating: 4.52 · 79 ratings · 52 reviews · 5 distinct works

	Murder in the Rainy Season 4.45 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Corpus Delectable (Marcy Pantano Mysteries Book 1) 4.48 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blood Debt 4.70 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jacks or Better by Mike Billington (Goodreads Author), Marisa Porto 4.80 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Third Servant 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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40 posts
Mike Billington's Blog

An oath is forever

This post is not about writing... just something I thought should be said.

“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regu Read more of this blog post »

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Published on January 14, 2021 17:35

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Mike is Currently Reading

Mike Billington is currently reading

Nam: Someone Else's War

by Maurice Tudor

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Apr 14, 2014 06:03AM

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Mike Billington has read Quite Contrary by Richard Roberts (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 28, 2024 04:09PM · like

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