I am #PerilOnYourStreet
Every author has a central focus in stories they write. Some love vampires or zombies. Others swoon for those caught in romantic dilemmas. Each has a delicious range of possibilities. None of those appeal to me. I am a former journalist, so it is a rational path I've traveled from the stories I've written or edited over the years to this:
#PerilOnYourStreet
I covered a story of multiple murders by a mother on her family members. I covered more auto accidents than I care to remember. I wrote about fires that threatened homes, relatives who threatened relatives, and bosses who threatened employees. Those had a common denominator. Each could have happened in your home or neighborhood. I write novels in which the time is now, and the place cis just down the street from where you live.
Even my lone self-published novel has that trait. One Summer Season: A Young Man's Brutal Baptism Into Love And Baseball had its genesis in my coverage of Class A, short-season baseball while I was sports editor of The Bend Bulletin. Yes, I expand personalities and circumstances, but a lot of that book is taken from incidents I saw or heard about. The roommate who has a new woman over to the house almost every night? Yes. There was a player who left more than a few girlfriends behind when he left Oregon at the end of the season. The brawl that erupts between two bitter opponents? Yes. The Bend Phillies and Bellingham Mariners had such a spat, and there was a brawl of considerable size. It's real life, and the novel reflects that.
My current novel centers on a man who wants to get out of the madness of Manhattan, but his little Connecticut town has major problems just below the surface. He slowly sinks into those problems. Another novel centers on a former Marine who is livid when a child is killed or brutalized. My other novel is about an Average Joe who deals with a harsh past, or does he? He is a sexist bastard, but is he merely covering up hurts and flaws by objectifying women? You be the judge.
Real people, real problems, real peril. I like the sound of that, and I am happy to bring that threat into your homes.
#PerilOnYourStreet
I covered a story of multiple murders by a mother on her family members. I covered more auto accidents than I care to remember. I wrote about fires that threatened homes, relatives who threatened relatives, and bosses who threatened employees. Those had a common denominator. Each could have happened in your home or neighborhood. I write novels in which the time is now, and the place cis just down the street from where you live.
Even my lone self-published novel has that trait. One Summer Season: A Young Man's Brutal Baptism Into Love And Baseball had its genesis in my coverage of Class A, short-season baseball while I was sports editor of The Bend Bulletin. Yes, I expand personalities and circumstances, but a lot of that book is taken from incidents I saw or heard about. The roommate who has a new woman over to the house almost every night? Yes. There was a player who left more than a few girlfriends behind when he left Oregon at the end of the season. The brawl that erupts between two bitter opponents? Yes. The Bend Phillies and Bellingham Mariners had such a spat, and there was a brawl of considerable size. It's real life, and the novel reflects that.
My current novel centers on a man who wants to get out of the madness of Manhattan, but his little Connecticut town has major problems just below the surface. He slowly sinks into those problems. Another novel centers on a former Marine who is livid when a child is killed or brutalized. My other novel is about an Average Joe who deals with a harsh past, or does he? He is a sexist bastard, but is he merely covering up hurts and flaws by objectifying women? You be the judge.
Real people, real problems, real peril. I like the sound of that, and I am happy to bring that threat into your homes.
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