Life is a series of adventures for Flower Mound-based author Norman Carmichael.

He played professional basketball for 10 seasons for the Futbol Club Barcelona in Spain, exported wines from Europe to the United States and recently published his first book, The Founders, which is about a company whose members are followed by a hit man. He also is working on his second novel, For My Country, which will be a sequel to The Founders. In addition, he will be speaking about Spanish wines and his book at a wine tasting and tapas shindig on May 20 at Sonoma Grill and Wine Bar in Flower Mound’s Parker Square.

Carmichael, 56, grew up in the Washington, D.C. area and said that many people who are successful lead dull lives.

However, when Carmichael described his life this sunny Thursday afternoon at the Celebrity Café on FM 2499 in Flower Mound, it sounded anything but dull. He said he often has been at the right place at the right time, and he said he is always open to change. He said he would like to continue with his writing and that “I’m always open for surprises.”

When he was 14 years old, Carmichael grew from 5’10” to 6’6”. “You can see it from day to day,” he said, talking about his growing so fast. The basketball coach took notice, and Carmichael got into basketball playing. He said he was blessed with good teammates and coaches.

Then when Carmichael was 21 years old and got off the airplane in Barcelona for the first time—before he started playing professional basketball there—he was hooked. “It smelled different, it looked different and it tasted different,” he said. “If you like music, you like art, you can immerse yourself without much effort.”

Ian, the main character in The Founders, also is attracted to the city upon arrival: “Seemingly from the first moment he stepped out of the taxi in front of the Hotel Barcelona, all of its rhythms, all of its scents, all of its people rang a resonant chord in him.”

Carmichael, who is a business consultant, said he also likes the architecture in the city, and he has enjoyed seeing the city evolve from the Franco era to the post-Franco era.

When Franco was in power, Carmichael said, there were seven daily newspapers, and they focused primarily on sports because the government censored news about 20,000-people demonstrations and the like. As a professional athlete Carmichael was interviewed often, and he said he always was treated well by fans and the media.

He could not be reached for interviews, though, when he lived in a masia farm home in Centelles, about 50 kilometers north of Barcelona, because it had electricity but no telephone. The masia, which had more than 30 rooms and originated in 1175, is identical to the one mentioned in The Founders. Carmichael said it took about three trips to the masia to discover all of the rooms.

Also, he said he fell into the wine importing business after he met many Europeans, particularly French ones, who had good wine that they wanted to sell in the United States. “I fell into wine in college,” he said.

Something about the taste intrigued him. “It was good,” he said. “I liked it.” In addition, he said, “I’ve always loved good food,” and he added that one can’t have a meal without wine in Spain.

Carmichael will talk about the rebirth of Spanish wine at the wine tasting event at the Sonoma Grill and Wine Bar.

Although exporting wine from Europe to the United States was fun and created good revenue, Carmichael said, “It is work.”

He said that sometimes he would sample 120 to 200 wines a day. Spitting out some samples was necessary, he said, since a professional has to be an attentive, alert taster.

He pays attention to detail in developing characters and creating a driving plot in The Founders, too.

It took him six months to write the book, four months to edit it and another six months to publish it. Carmichael said he knew the skeleton of the book from the first, but when he started out, he didn’t think the book would take on such an international flavor, with the plot twisting through Spain, France and the United States.

Talking about his characters, he said, “They just take off.”

Yes, they do.

Ian, the main character, played professional volleyball in Spain, returned to Washington, D.C. to distribute wine and then.tries to keep the TrueDimensions Video (TDV) company in stable shape when investigations of fellow company members’ deaths are underway. Lopez Abril is a workaholic investigator who is embarrassed about overlooking foul play as a possible cause of the death of Hank, one of Ian’s co-workers. Cristina is Ian’s passionate, beautiful girlfriend who becomes his wife. Someone in TDV is involved with the murder-for-hire plot, wants to control the company and wants Ian dead.

And there’s Raimundo Corona, a hit man. He likes London, is well-educated, is good at hacking computers, worked for the FBI for a while and then got into his preferred profession, which is being an assassin: “He wanted, simply, to be an assassin. Hired by the very wealthy or very powerful. For as much money as he could force them to pay.

Asked if he has ever met a hit man, Carmichael said, “I don’t think so.” However, he said he has met a couple of people he thought were capable of being hit men, and he said, “I’ve met some hard people.” Also, he said, “There is a real nasty world out there.”

Talking about Raimundo, though, Carmichael said, “He plays golf. How bad can he be?” He broke into a laugh.

This reporter had one last question for Carmichael. Would he want to listen to a song called “Barcelona” and tell me if he thought it captured the city’s vibe?

He was up for it, so he scrunched his 6’10” frame into my compact car, and we listened to “Barcelona” by D.Kay and Epsilon from a mixed CD by DJ Fresh.

U.K. MC GQ introduced the track by saying, “Trust me, big tune. Big tune. Big. Bad. Heavy.” Then—“Boom!”—and the drum ‘n’ bass track kicked into high gear. It is a mix of cheery, sexy melodies and solid, shuffly beats, with a warm, sunny, party vibe throughout.

Carmichael listened intently, removed his sunglasses and paused. Then he said, “It is it.” The song does feel like Barcelona, Carmichael said, because in Barcelona there is an insistent rhythm, and “the back beat in this is very insistent.”

“Nice and easy,” GQ said. “Lovely”.

Carmichael also said that he can picture a series of rapid pictures to the song and that Barcelona is a very visual setting.

“Barcelona fills you up with a lot of rapid images,” he said, “but it has a lot of quieter, more contemplative settings.” He said he favors the contemplative places, and he said Barcelona excites, soothes and fills one up.

“We all have rhythms, and the rhythm of Spain and particularly Barcelona fit me,” he said.

Continuing, he said that the Catalans are more controlled people than people in other parts of the country; he said they have exuberance with a touch of control, “and I like that touch of control.”

Meanwhile GQ’s voice rolled on in rhythm with “Barcelona”: “Just let it take you away, take you away. Roll it into a perfect beat. Different style, different technique. Barcelona, baby.”

[sidebar] Carmichael’s wine tasting and book talk will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 20. “It should be an enjoyable evening,” Carmichael said. He also gave kudos to the owner and sommelier for their help with the event. Cost is $50 and includes wine, Spanish-California fusion tapas and a copy of The Founders. To reserve a spot for the wine tasting and book talk, call Sonoma Grill and Wine Bar, 380 Parker Square, at 972-899-8989.