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AN INTERVIEW<br />
WITH<br />
Marc<br />
Cameron<br />
– A COLLECTOR OF<br />
STORIES<br />
Story: Tim Meyer<br />
Photos: Victoria Otte<br />
Escape Magazine sat down with New York<br />
Times Bestselling author Marc Cameron<br />
on one of his favourite beaches in Rarotonga<br />
enjoying a refreshing fruit smoothie from<br />
Charlie’s Café and Beach Hire. His first edition<br />
of Tom Clancy – ‘Power and Empire’ has<br />
sold an incredible 150,000 hard copies in the<br />
United States during the opening week. His<br />
oeuvre has been translated into 5 languages<br />
and he has published over 10 books, novels<br />
and short stories. A true celebrity of the<br />
contemporary writer’s guild who is a regular<br />
visitor to our island paradise and we thank<br />
him for taking the time to have a chat with us.<br />
Escape Magazine was lucky enough to spend<br />
the afternoon with the author discovering<br />
what he draws on for inspiration when<br />
writing, the importance of family and how he<br />
came to fall in love with the paradise that is<br />
the Cook Islands and her people.<br />
The moment of surprise is a big element in your writing, multiple<br />
story lines running alongside each other and intertwining<br />
subplots make for the ultimate page turner. You keep surprising<br />
your readers with new characters and twists all the time. When<br />
were you last surprised and by whom or what?<br />
That is the reason why I travel. When I plan a plot, it is all about<br />
the unknown parts and connections. These unknown spots are the<br />
inspiration for telling a story. And I fill them with observations of<br />
people that I meet and see during my travels. One of my favourite<br />
sayings I overheard recently here in Rarotonga was: “you have<br />
more culture than a month-old mango.” I love those things and<br />
you do not learn about them unless you stay for a while.<br />
When did you first hear about the Cook Islands?<br />
Our 30th wedding anniversary came up and my wife asked me<br />
to take her to a white sandy beach. You know, we live in Alaska<br />
and everybody is trying to get away for Christmas. It is cold and<br />
snowy, so many Alaskans are trying to escape the winter for a<br />
while and go somewhere warm and tropical. I researched the<br />
South Pacific, got stuck on French Polynesia and Bora Bora. But<br />
soon discovered that the Cook Islands was more what we were<br />
looking for. We wanted to get away around Christmas time.<br />
Through Trip Advisor we found Royale Takitumu, Booked, loved it<br />
and never stayed anywhere else. This is our third trip in four years<br />
to the Cook Islands.<br />
When did you decide to combine your love for the Cook Islands<br />
and your writing?<br />
The moment we got here. You know I had started writing very<br />
early, short stories and also Westerns, stories about real cowboys<br />
and lots of guns (laughs). About 15 years ago I started writing<br />
professionally and by the time we first came here I was recently<br />
retired from my job in law enforcement, had published 5 books in<br />
70 • <strong>ESCAPE</strong>
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