He went on to create and produce several television series and mini-series. At the same time, he started a music management company launching million seller artist Neneh Cherry.
In 2004 he arranged the US $250 million buy-out of the Hallmark Channel International which was then successfully sold to NBC. He returned to producing a number of movies and mini-series.
He has recently morphed into a serial entrepreneur and is now a co-founder of seed to shelf CBD producer Dragonfly Biosciences (www.dragonflybiosciences.com) and a founder in two separate digital companies.
In addition to his love of cooking, an unhealthy amount of time and money is lavished on a collection of classic cars that he has raced all over the world. He enjoys risk and has parachuted in New Zealand, scuba-dived in the Pacific, hang-glided in the Himalayas and even tobogganed down the Cresta Run. In nearly every case chasing after his wife who is utterly fearless!
He is now writing the follow up to Fall Out, entitled The Bastion. In addition, he writes a humorous blog with subscribers in more than 40 countries. www.andanotherthing.com
He has two grown sons, two daughters’-in-law, three grandchildren and lives in Malta with his wife and two French bulldogs.
Mark’s latest book is the thriller, Fall Out.
You can visit his website at www.MNGrenside.com and his blog at www.AndAnotherThing.com or connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.
We welcome you to My Bookish Pleasures! Can you tell us how you got started writing fiction?
I have produced movies and mini-series for many years. I love the process of telling a story and despite probably giving numerous screenwriters a hard time during productions, I still desperately wanted to write something myself. I could have written a screenplay but that still relies on so many other factors before seeing the light of day. So, I decided to write a book, a thriller set in the world I knew so well; movie making and Hollywood
Describe your writing process. Do you plot or write by the seat of your pants? When and where do you write?
Seat of the pants it is! I have no real idea how the story will run. I just have main plot points that are set in my head. In Fall Out there are in fact three timelines. Originally, I wrote each timeline in a linear fashion. Then, as with screen writing, I got out a big board and pinned each chapter up and then began the process of mixing them up, shifting timelines all the while making sure clues and plot points are altered to fit the new sequence.
Can you tell us about your most recent release?
An LA screenwriter is killed shortly after completing his latest script, FALL OUT - a thriller destined to be a blockbuster but written with a secret double purpose.
Echoing events from the past the screenplay is sent to a very specific group of people and will change their lives forever. All are connected to a movie that had abruptly stopped shooting in the jungles of the Philippines years before. FALL OUT exposes the truth about a conspiracy and murder that led to a half-a-billion-dollar fortune for a select few.
Follow the story of Producer Marcus Riley, who sets out on an increasingly dangerous quest to get FALL OUT made. From a powerful Agent's office in Hollywood, hidden treasures in Belgravia and a remote chalet in the Swiss Alps to murder at the Cannes Film Festival, Marcus teams up with designer Melinda (Mako) de Turris as they and the other recipients of the screenplay are pursued by an assassin from the past.
With clues cleverly concealed in the screenplay, Marcus and Mako unravel a lethal puzzle that for some will bring death, others the truth and ends in a cave with a shocking secret...
How did you get the idea for the book?
Outside of movies I have several hobbies and interests. These range from cooking, scuba diving, and parasailing to classic cars as well as some of the deep mysteries of history, especially from events of the last hundred years in Asia. I always knew my book would have the movies as the backdrop, but I did not want the mystery to be about movies. I wanted something else that I could slot in behind. What I discovered is a simply staggering event that is true and documented!
Of all your characters, which one is your favorite? Why?
Difficult! I love strong independent women. Mako the co-lead character is a complex Chinese European with a flawed and difficult past due to her relationship with her late parents. Hugely successful as a designer of stands in Cannes for all the festivals that take place there as well as organizer of many famous themed parties, everything she does is for the present. There is no legacy of her work and she lives totally for the moment. On meeting the co-lead Producer Marcus Riley, she develops and changes based on the influence he has on her and of course the danger they find themselves in. Equally the loner Marcus develops and changes as a result of the burgeoning relationship with Mako that she brings; so, the book is not only a thriller but their journey of discovery.
What was the most challenging aspect of writing your book?
Fitting in all the other businesses and interests I have in my life.
What projects are you currently working on?
In writing terms, I have a weekly blog that goes out to 40 countries www.andanotherthing.com and I am writing the follow up to Fall Out with the same lead characters, entitled The Bastion. This will take place in The Aleutian Islands, LA Vancouver and Malta.
What advice would you offer to new or aspiring fiction authors?.
Don’t give up and edit, edit, edit. Even if what you first write is a stream of consciousness get it down on paper. Gems take time to polish!
“A page-turning, jaw-dropping thriller of action and surprise. A riveting debut.” – Damien Lewis, international bestselling author
An LA screenwriter is killed shortly after completing his latest script, FALL OUT – a thriller destined to be a blockbuster but written with a secret double purpose. Echoing events from the past, the screenplay is sent to a very specific group of people and will change their lives forever. All are connected to a movie that had abruptly stopped shooting in the jungles of the Philippines years before. FALL OUT exposes the truth about a conspiracy and murder that led to a half-a-billion-dollar fortune for a select few.
Follow the story of Producer Marcus Riley, who sets out on an increasingly dangerous quest to get FALL OUT made. From a powerful agent’s office in Hollywood, hidden treasures in Belgravia and a remote chalet in the Swiss Alps to murder at the Cannes Film Festival, Marcus teams up with designer Melinda (Mako) de Turris as they and the other recipients of the screenplay are pursued by an assassin from the past.
With clues cleverly concealed in the screenplay, Marcus and Mako unravel a lethal puzzle that for some will bring death, others the truth and ends in a cave with a shocking secret…
“If you want a fast-paced stand out different thriller, I can’t recommend Fall Out enough. I loved it.” —Emma Forbes, broadcaster
“Amazing . . . I agree with all the other reviews that have stated if you like Dan Brown or James Patterson, then this book is for you.” —Joyful Antidotes
“And, action! Plenty of it and super nasty bad guys and stories so outrageously crazy they can only be true . . . Fall Out is inventive and, at times intentionally filmic . . . The fun doesn’t stop for 440 pages.” —Booksplainer
Book Information
Release Date: August 27, 2021
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1912666751; 400 pages; $13.46; Kindle: ASIN: B09C1PJNZ4; 480 pages; $4.99; FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED, FREE AUDIOBOOK WITH AUDIBLE TRIAL
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3M133DQ
Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/3Fz1DhI
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