THE TRAZ and FATAL ERROR
are set in my home province of Alberta, Canada. This is where the
characters dictated to me that their adventures were to happen and who was I to
argue?
I’m not sure why they chose the vast Alberta prairie to pit
cops vs bikers and sully the sensitivities of a 13-year old girl. As the characters
originally intended their stories to be therapy for me, perhaps they thought
setting them in such a familiar locale would make their messages more
timely and relevant.
Or perhaps, they understood that the familiar scenes would be
intensified by my knowledge of the scents and sounds permeating them. When
Shrug alit from his bike, torn apart inside and seeking wisdom from beyond the
far horizon, I'd know the exact slant of the September sun on the harvested
wheat field over which he gazed.
I would know how to tell the readers what it was like for
Katrina on the park bench that autumn when she suddenly realized that her secrets
were not safe--the red berry bushes along the banks of the North Saskatchewan
river, the chuckle of migrating geese. The musty smell of poplar leaves beneath
her feet.
I know the setting in my novels intimately. The slow March
melt, when Katrina hit puberty. The warm, noisy fury of a December Chinook when
she almost, almost got rescued from the gang. I know the edible mushrooms
Katrina might gather...and the poisonous ones. I know where she might hide and
where bikers might ride.
I’m a farm girl--I know the lonely eerie echoes that haunt
metal sheds on the vast Alberta prairie.
_______________
"Lonely, eerie echoes..." is brought to you by:
FIREWALLS
Book III in the BackTracker series.
"Be prepared
for a rollercoaster of emotions..."
"Packed with humanity, crafted with insight."
"Schuh has created a character worthy of being called a hero."
"A
tale of comfort and hope that we, too, can slay our own dragons."
"A gritty, fast paced thriller"
