Beyond Justice: An Interview with Joshua Graham

Joshua Graham grew up in Brooklyn, NY, where he lived for the better part of 30 years. He holds a Bachelor and Master´s Degree and went on to earn his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. During his time in Maryland, he taught as a professor at Shepherd College (WV), Western Maryland College, and Columbia Union College (MD).

Today he lives with his beautiful wife and children in San Diego. Several of Graham´s short fiction works have been published by Pocket Books and Dawn Treader Press under different pen names.

Beyond Justice is now available in Trade Paperback through Amazon.com as well as Barnes and Noble. It´s available at the Kindle store for $2.99 for a limited time, and can be purchased for other ebook readers at Smashwords, and is now available for the iPad and iPhone at the Apple iBooks store.

A member of the Oregon Writers Network, Graham is a graduate of the Master Classes and professional writing workshops held by Dean W. Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Dean and Kris and the entire OWN, have been a major influence in his journey to become a published writer. You can visit his website at www.joshua-graham.com, connect with him on facebook at www.facebook.com/j0shuagraham or twitter at www.twitter.com/j0shuagraham.

Thank you for this interview, Joshua. Can you tell us briefly what your latest book, BEYOND JUSTICE, is all about?

Great to be here, thanks! BEYOND JUSTICE is a legal suspense/thriller in which a reputable attorney is wrongfully convicted for the brutal murders of his wife and daughter, then sentenced to death. It´s a story of redemption, forgiveness, and the power of grace.

Can you tell us who or what was the inspiration behind your book?

It started with hearing a story about Dennis Rader, the BTK serial killer. This man had his family, friends and entire church fooled into thinking he was a normal, decent man. Later when his pastor had to confront him in prison, he was faced with the question: Are there limits on forgiveness. It made me wonder if there are limits on God´s forgiveness. So I decided to write BEYOND JUSTICE as a way to explore this hypothetical.



Is this your first published book and if so, can you tell us your experiences in finding a publisher for it?

Yes, this is my debut. Finding a publisher takes a lot of persistence and thick skin. If you can´t handle rejection, if you can´t be innovative, you probably won´t make it past the first few rejections. If you ask some of the great bestselling writers, they will tell you an alarming number of rejections they got before they got published. You have to be in it for the long haul, but while you are sending your manuscripts out, keep writing more books!

Do you have an agent?

Currently, I haven´t hired one just yet, but the time may yet come that I do. There are always possibilities.

Can you tell us how long it took you to write your book and also how long it took from the time DAWN TREADER PRESS sent the contract and the time itwas released?

My first draft of BEYOND JUSTICE took about six months to complete, but after revisions about a year had passed. Dawn Treader Press had a pretty quick turnaround (within a year.)

Do you have any words of inspiration from other writers who would like to be wearing your shoes?

To borrow a quote from that hilarious movie GALAXY QUEST, "Never give up, never surrender." The writing career is a marathon, not a sprint. Believe in your work and remember, you alone are responsible for your career, not an agent, not a publisher. You are.

I understand that you've been on a virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion. Can you tell us all why you chose a virtual book tour to promote your book online?

Dorothy Thompson is a virtual angel! I´ve met seen such a hard-working and capable professional. Virtual Book Tours reach a lot more people and in this day and age, they are a lot more economical because you don´t have airfare and hotel expenses. There´s nothing like a good old-fashioned book signing or live interview on television (which I am all in favor of,) but when you look at the ROI (return on investment) it´s a no brainer that every writer should do a virtual book tour. And Dorothy Thompson is a wonderful person to work with. Since my tour, BEYOND JUSTICE has hit two Amazon Bestseller lists, topping two of John Grisham´s books.

What´s next for you?

I´m always writing the next book (though book tours slow me down slightly.) Keep an eye out for my next book DARKROOM, and several short fiction works and collections. In my other pen names, I am completing a Young Adult Fantasy book which my son asked me to write. I´m really looking forward to seeing that in print.

Thank you for this interview, Joshua. Can you tell us how we can find out more about you and your new book?

I´ve gotten so many great fan email and look forward to more. I hope everyone will connect with me on facebook and twitter:

www.facebook.com/J0shuaGraham

www.twitter.com/J0shuaGraham

Please follow my blog at www.joshua-graham.com

BEYOND JUSTICE is available in trade paperback at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. It´s also available in every ebook format including:

Kindle, Nook, SONY E-reader, and smashwords.