Local award winning author to release sixth novel this summer

  • By Jackie Buckwalter
  • January 25, 2010
  • 687
                        
If you run into local award winning author Bob Adamov while you’re tooling around Wooster some day, you better watch out. You could become fodder for his next novel. Adamov, who is working on his sixth novel, which he plans to release this summer, admitted the “characters in my books are compilations of people I run into or observe.” For instance, his lead character, Washington Post reporter Emerson Moore, was “based on my (former) boss at Goodyear who was my role model,” he said. Another character in his book, Jay Oakes, was “loosely based on Jim Oelschlager, who runs Oak Associates in Fairlawn. Jim is a friend and I have the deepest admiration for him as how he has not let his MS prevent him from being a success and a role model to other people.” Adamov wrote MS into his fictional character as well. Once, at the Cleveland Airport, he overheard someone talking about a gentleman named Pocatello. “I repeated Pocatello several times and then put the first name Paul with it,” said Adamov. “Paul Pocatello became Polly Pockets – the nickname of a Mafioso” who was a character in his book When Rainbow’s Walk. Adamov said he could be anywhere and “see someone with a face full of character and start thinking about him or her and the next thing I know is that they end up as a character in my book.” Locations are fair game as well. In fact, the first time he set eyes on Put-in-Bay at the age of 18, he recalled thinking “What a perfect setting for a novel.” The thought “perked over the years” and Put-in-Bay and the surrounding islands have become the focal point of most of his books. His award winning series “centers on the adventures of a Washington Post investigative reporter, Emerson Moore, who is based in the Lake Erie islands, and his rascally ex-Navy SEAL sidekick, Sam Duncan,” said Adamov. His first novel, Rainbow’s End, was a runner up for the Top Fiction Novel in the Great Lakes in 2002. All of his books have received local recognition and five-star reviews from the Midwest Book Review. He’s traveled across the United States for book signings, been involved in various media interviews, and was asked to be the featured author at the 2006 Ernest Hemmingway Literary Festival in Key West. But nothing topped his feeling of elation when he received an e-mail from his “hero, (and favorite author) Clive Cussler,” in January of 2008. Cussler had just finished reading Adamov’s Promised Land and e-mailed to tell him “how much he enjoyed the novel. I didn’t want to appear too excited to him so I waited an anguishing 30 minutes before I responded,” Adamov confessed. Since then, Adamov has been invited to speak at the Clive Cussler Collector’s Society Convention in Denver where he had a chance to meet Cussler. He’s been invited to speak at Cussler’s convention again this fall and pitch his new release Tan Lines. An admitted history buff, Adamov’s books are a blend of the past and present, with mystery, murder, mayhem, and a touch of romance thrown in. In addition to history, his series will give readers an inside look at scuba diving, corporate takeovers, terrorism, the Mafia, and many other topics which involve extensive research. “I’m always researching,” he said. “I’m always pulling together ideas, making notes, creating files, folders, dropping ideas, and sources of information.” Just like his real-life inspirations, Adamov created his main character with flaws. “I didn’t want Emerson to be a James Bond, a superhero. Instead, I wanted someone who had flaws, someone who at times could get a little too pushy when he interviewed people, someone who had fears. Someone people could relate to.” The reaction he has gotten to his novels so far is proof that people are indeed relating to Emerson Moore. “Many readers tell me that they couldn’t put the books down,” said Adamov. “Most readers tell me they read the book in two to three days. Some read them in one evening.” One of his more zealous readers tracked him down and called him at 10 p.m. one night to inquire, “When in the world is your next book coming out?” The answer to that question is “this summer. Tan Lines is scheduled to be released this summer,” said Adamov. This new release will involve “a massive fish kill and bioterrorism on the Great Lakes and the disappearance of the U.S. President two days before he stands for reelection,” said Adamov. For this novel, he’s “working with Ohio State’s Stone Lab folks on Gibraltar Island on the fish kill sequences,” he said. He also met with a “former deputy White House Secretary” who provided him with “detailed information regarding presidential conferences and the rings of security placed around the president.” Adamov said he’s “wanted to write since I was eight years old.” However, it wasn’t until he turned 51 that he realized if he didn’t follow his dream soon it might never happen. “Turning age 51 hit me like a ton of bricks,” he said. “I thought about my dream of writing and decided to sit down and write Rainbow’s End. One of the most rewarding comments I receive from some readers is when I hear that I’ve encouraged them to go after their dreams like I did after turning 50.” Adamov said he has two more “books in the works after Tan Lines. I enjoy Emerson so much that I expect to stick with the series and be his shadow as he gets in and out of a variety of dangerous adventures.” “Writing for me is like getting bits and pieces of a puzzle and twisting and turning them until they fit together in a complete puzzle,” said Adamov. “Then I sit back and say, Ah…, that’s how it was meant to be.” In spite of his literary success, Adamov has no plans to give up his day job as vice president of human resources at TechniGraphics. “I have too much fun with my job at TechniGraphics in growing the company,” he said. Adamov and his wife, Cathy, live in Wooster. His books are sold across the United States and in the UK, Spain, Germany, Norway and India. They include: Rainbow’s End, Pierce the Veil, When Rainbow’s Walk, Promised Land, The Other Side of Hell, and the soon-to-be released Tan Lines.


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