Lonely, eerie echoes...The setting for my BackTracker Series

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.

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"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"

THE TRAZ -realism and credibility

I had lots of fun creating the Alberta Police Service and the Northern Alberta Police Detachment which figure prominently in my BackTracker series. In real life, my home province of Alberta doesn’t have its own law enforcement agency but is policed by Canada’s world-renown Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). So, as you might guess my police agency, although fictional, is largely based on the RCMP. 

I did take liberties in designing my police force. In THE TRAZ and FATAL ERROR, the Alberta Police Force operates both in the cities of Edmonton and Calgary and in rural areas, whereas in fact, Alberta’s major cities have their own separate police forces. But that isn’t too much of a stretch since the RCMP has a sweeping national and international mandate, often works in tandem with the Edmonton and Calgary Police Services on criminal investigations, and its K-Division headquarters is situated in Edmonton.

The description of the building that houses the Northern Alberta Police Detachment is roughly based on the RCMP Detachment in my home town of St. Paul but contains elements from other detachments. The uniforms I describe are pretty generic and sound like police uniforms across North America. However, for the sake of a great story, despite the fact my police aren’t RCMP, the famous, flashy red serge RCMP dress uniform just may appear at someone’s wedding in the yet-to-be released Book III of the series.

I could have designed my police service to more closely resemble the RCMP, or in fact become the RCMP, but for several reasons I chose instead to create one of my own. I've always enjoyed studying the people, underlying beliefs, relationships, and paradigms that drive organizations. It was an enjoyable, empowering excerise to create my own police service, staff it, and set it in motion.

Doing so also gave me flexibility in my story-telling. The policies, procedures, and lingo in my series can differ from that of the RCMP without ruining the credibility of the story. It also allows me to adapt my writing to suit my targeted young adult readership. For example, I can create realistic dialogue without feeling compelled to use and explain the unique phrasings, codes, or abbreviations used by the RCMP.

The main reason for creating my own police force, however, rests mostly with the kind of person I am. I hold an incredible respect for the men and women in law enforcement and wanted to do everything possible to ensure the less-than-stellar things that my characters say and do, don't reflect poorly on the RCMP or any individual within its ranks.

Over the years I've enjoyed many conversations as well as business and social relationships with RCMP officers, some of them family and some friends, and I didn't want to risk feeling I'd betrayed any confidences. It's not that I've been privy to law enforcement secrets, but officers have shared stories, expressed opinions, and given me behind-the-scene glimpses into the workings of a police detachment. At times, they've revealed their emotional natures, their dreams, frustrations, and regrets. Although none of the situations or the officers I portray in my novels are based on real life,creating my own police service establishes that fact implicitly.

Despite the liberties I've taken with the design of my police force, realism shines through. For half a century, I’ve followed crime stories in the news, read crime novels and true crime books, watched crime shows, and enjoyed conversations with police officers and others involved in the justice system. It is these experiences, coupled with my volunteerism with the RCMP, that adds the depth, flavour, credibility and colour to my characters and my story-telling.

My officers are mainly young men and women, still learning about themselves and about life and at times lacking confidence and knowledge. As in real life, their errors often come under the scrutiny of the media, can be judged harshly by their bosses and peers and, alas, sometimes prove fatal. 

But, you’ll love them anyways.

Book I in the series THE TRAZ is on special for a limited time through Amazon. Get the School Edition eBook for only 99₵ / £0.77 and the first edition paperback for $8.99 / £5.86

Insanely jealous...of my characters

Yesterday I had a rather frightening experience. It all started as I was loading groceries into the car. Just after the coffee got tossed in and while I was nesting the eggs and milk between the toilet paper and the family pack of Cheezies I got this incredible rush of jealousy toward my BackTracker characters.

I became abruptly convinced they're lives were much more exciting and fulfilling than mine, that I'd more or less wasted my own life on trivial pursuits and, was there not someway I could yet become an ace real-life crime fighter? Or, at the very least, a high-tech computer guru carving the leading edge of cyberspace technology? 

It took the entire twenty-minute drive home to fast talk myself out of these powerful feelings and reaffirm that I was, in fact, doing exactly what I had dreamed of doing my entire life--writing novels. That I never had, in any serious sense, wanted to be a cop and that people (like myself) who use their fingers to add, likely wouldn't do well in computer sciences.

I had not, I reaffirmed to myself, led a useless life and, despite the fact I have never bungie jumped, sky-dived, discovered a body, or been involved in a shootout, my life has not been boring.

I also reminded myself of the tragedies and pain my characters experiences. They, too, have unfulfilled dreams. I said that while the dangers they are constantly facing make for good reading, they wouldn't make for good living. And that although my heroes are handsome and fairy-tale loving--alas, they are too young for me.

Today, I'm okay with things again. The episode likely happened because I find grocery shopping an incredibly boring task. My mind just needed some stimulation...right?

NOTE TO SELF: load some heavy-metal music into the vehicle CD player, ready to blast the next time disturbing thoughts invade my psyche.

THE TRAZ paperback ON SALE! Only $8.99! & FREE Shipping on orders over $25.

FATAL ERROR - Now on Amazon!

What does an author do on the day of her book’s release? As with many aspects of a writer’s psyche and behaviour, my response to this day may seem...a little odd, perhaps.

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 FATAL ERROR on Amazon.com

Kindle Price:

$3.99 includes free international wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet

FATAL ERROR on Amazon.co.uk

Kindle Price:

£2.54 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet

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Firstly, I clicked the Amazon link my publisher emailed me-- to confirm she wasn’t lying about FATAL ERROR being available. This despite the fact she has never lied to me before and has no motive to lie to me now.

I then stare at the Amazon page for 3 minutes. Still disbelieving, I hit purchase and download it to my Kindle. Ah ha...FATAL ERROR magically appears on the eReader in my hand. (I’m a baby boomer, so yes, this is magical.) And, almost simultaneously, the invoice for it magically appears in my inbox.

Then...well, it’s kind of like getting a positive pregnancy test result (not that that has happened to me in decades). I do nothing, wallowing in this secret knowledge, savouring it.  I do that for about 10 minutes. Then, (still like the pregnancy test scenario) I try to decide who to tell first. In my mind, I rehearse my announcement. I create a list of those to tell and beside the names, note how I will tell them...phone? email? Facebook?

Then I savour that list for 10 minutes.

Then I realize that for some very good--well, at least some very ‘cleverly-designed’--reasons I do not have my blogs, guest blogs, tweets, or other promo materials ready! About then I notice my craft bag in the corner and realize that in just a few short weeks my next grandbaby will be here and I haven’t started that crocheted bunting bag. I have the Mary Maxim pattern, bought the wool... I rummage through the bag to make sure it is all still there (although in my entire life nobody has ever taken anything from my craft bag and would have no motive to do so now). I confirm that I did buy the colours I want.

I go back to my computer and visit Amazon again. I decide to announce the release to my fans on my facebook author page. I do so. I then try to check my email and realize Yahoo has locked me out of my account (possibly because I switched to a new laptop so they think I’m not me. This has happened before. Their motive is to prevent strangers from hacking into my email account—which has also happened before.) I fight for an hour to try to reset my password, to no avail. I find an emergency contact email address for Yahoo service and fire off a pleasantly-worded letter of protest and plead for immediate assistance. I get an auto-reply email saying I’m locked out until this time tomorrow. I check my hotmail and gmail accounts and receive my facebook congratulatory messages. I do some more wallowing.

I realize it is noon and I’m still in my pjs and have not eaten anything yet. I spend 5 minutes deciding which is my priority. I opt for the shower and dressing. Just as I step out of the shower, my daughter phones, congratulating me on the release and filling me with wonderful grandbaby stories while I attempt to keep my towel wrapped around my sensitive parts. I give up, hit the speaker button on the receiver and pretend I’m listening to her as I rummage in my closet for clothes.

The phone call ends and I’m dressed...but still hungry. I remember the leftover chilli and bee-line it for the kitchen.  I stuff the chilli in the micro and return to my computer, try once more to hack into my yahoo email, all the while wishing Katrina, the young protagonist of FATAL ERROR and computer geek extraordinaire, could pop out of my books and help me solve this issue. I click on the Amazon link to my new book once more and stare at the cover. I really like the cover.  The micro dings and I head back to the kitchen.

As I eat I ponder my next moves. I will write a couple of blogs, design some tweets, post notices to my online groups, email my real-life buddies, replace my profile pic with a cover shot of FATAL ERROR...right after I check that craft bag, one more time.

Eileen Schuh, Canadian Author
www.eileenschuh.com

FATAL ERROR on Amazon.com
FATAL ERROR in the UK

THE TRAZ on Amazon.com
THE TRAZ in the UK

SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT

She was afraid...

It was a dark and lonely time in my life when she came to me…a tiny girl on a ridge, lying on her belly, watching danger unfold in the valley below. Listening.

Grasped tightly in her fingers were autumn grasses.

Her anticipation was so intense it hurt my lungs. She was barely breathing. Afraid to move.

I saw her there whenever I closed my eyes. She was waiting…

Each night, night after night, as I lay down to sleep, she came to me. Afraid. Excited. Alone. Always on her belly on an autumn ridge. One night I felt the  thump, thump, thump of an approaching helicopter shaking the ground beneath her belly. Once I heard the scream of sirens.

There came a night when I could stand it no longer; I needed to know who that young girl was. Why was she on that ridge? What was happening in the valley below? I flicked on the lights and made my way to my laptop.

There was no one but me in that tiny cabin in the forest that night--and it would only be me the next day…and the day after. There was no one I had to meet in the morning, nothing I had to do, no place I had to be.  There was no one to care if I stayed up all night, ate breakfast in my pyjamas, slept all day.

I snuggled down on the sofa, pulled an afghan around me, and began to write the young girl’s story.

Her name was Katrina. In the valley below was The Traz biker gang compound. Speeding in from the horizon was the police tactical team. And off in the distance was a rescue chopper… 

Katrina’s life unfolded, novel after novel after novel... 

And thus there came to be The BackTracker series.

THE TRAZ (Book I) also comes in a School Edition because that young girl had much to teach.

Also in paperback.

FATAL ERROR (Book II) soon to be released by Imajin Books.

 












Eileen Schuh,
Canadian Author http://www.eileenschuh.com

Also the author of SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT

Naked, painful truths...

 

Many professions require uniforms, or steel-toed boots, gas-masks, or airbags. Perhaps a Taser, a safety rope, or shatter-proof goggles.

Some require makeup and high heels.

__________________________

 

 Click here to purchase THE TRAZ for your Kindle, SmartPhone, Computer, iPad

Click here to purchase in the UK

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Novelists, though are required to lay themselves out bare--devoid of even sunscreen protection. Just out there...naked. For all the world to see.  To scrutinize. To compare, criticize and ridicule.

Or...to enjoy.

The scariest part of writing novels is laying one's soul bare but if one doesn't, the reader knows immediately.  A single sentence that muffles a point, a plot that ends too abruptly, a protagonist who, for a brief moment in time, steps out of character...the reader spots it--like a gerentologist spots dementia, a wrinkle...a single grey hair.

But we authors oh, so much want to glide over issues that pain our hearts, or stir bad memories, or require too much research. Perhaps we're embarrassed by our promiscuous characters, or taken back by a blasphemous curse, or unsure if there's a difference between a pistol and a revolver.

I write crime novels and I'm terrified I'll anger a criminal gang...or the cops.  I'm scared those who know me (but not all that well) will imagine I must have a sordid, drug-dealing, biker mama past...or a secret background in law enforcement.

However, I'm slowly coming to feel more confident in my work as reviews from those within the judicial and educational systems and those who deal with at-risk youngsters confirm that my stories are indeed realistic--despite the fact that many of us might prefer that they weren't.

"Although occasionally I got a slight feeling of disbelief..." one reviewer wrote, because after all, who wants to imagine a real-life 13-year old kid becoming involved in drug dealing and murder and cybercrime?

But those in the know, know that kids younger than my little Katrina are being recruited by criminal gangs to do their dirty work in exchange for belonging, or money, or drugs. Those making the big bucks stay out of jail by building layers of lackeys, both young and old, between them and their deeds. They toss these lost, lonely, hurting youngsters empty promises that their juvenile status will protect them from the law and all other evil that their actions may cause. They suck them in and do not let them leave.

"To understand our children, it is nécessaire to read this book," one reader in France wrote.

Claudia Lefeve, a teacher of criminology said, "...Schuh managed to write a wonderful book deeply rooted in truth and reality." Lefeve has since put THE TRAZ on a suggested reading list for her college students.

Lloyanne Galas, a provisional psychologist working with youth and teens said she found THE TRAZ "...to be an amazingly insightful story paralleling so many youth with whom I work."
 
So...here's to THE TRAZ for shining a light on the dark side of life and revealing the natures of the adults who live there.

Here's to THE TRAZ for reminding us our youngsters are in danger and cluing us in on what to do to help keep them safe.

Here's to me for being brave enough to lay myself bare, to let the characters tell their stories in the excruciatingly honest, brutal, coarse way those tales needed to be told.

And...here's to you, my readers, who have given me the confidence to promote THE TRAZ and continue writing the BackTracker saga.

*********************

FATAL ERROR, Book II in the BackTracker Series will be released later this year by Imajin Books. 

THE TRAZ also comes in a School Edition complete with Discussion Guide. Both editions are available in both eBook and paperback formats.

Eileen Schuh, Canadian writer www.eileenschuh.com

Badge Bunnies/Cop Lovers

I welcome author, Chris Redding, to Magic of the Muses.  Chris shares my passion for writing crime fiction--the 'cops'-kind of crime fiction.  Let's find out why....

I’m Really Not a Badge Bunny

By Chris Redding

I’m not really. I’ve never wanted to sleep with a cop. Okay, there was that PA state trooper who lifted the back of my friend’s Honda out of the snow. That was way back in college. Wow.

Let me rewind. I grew up watching cop shows. 1970s cop shows. (Yes, I am dating myself.) Mannix, Columbo, Police Story. Loved them all. It’s my mother’s fault plus when you only have 3 channels, you watch what is on.

At the same time I was watching cop shows, I was reading Agatha Christie novels. Hey, they are adult books that you can let a kid read. I had a reading level 3 grades above the one I was actually in so my choices were limited. I’d graduated from Encyclopedia Brown books long ago.

What I’m trying to say is that I was predestined to write suspense or thrillers or mysteries. Why? Because I love cops and detectives and solving mysteries. The whole idea that your job is to solve a crime fascinates me. And the people who choose to do it are equally fascinating.  I recently had  a personal tour of a forensic unit. I was in heaven. Also, watching all these shows always made my imagination go into overdrive. Of course I’d try to figure it out before Columbo did.

When I was first married, I was an EMT (emergency medical technician). Of course I knew cops. They went on every call. Now? I have a part time job that brings me into contact with police officers all the time. I can’t seem to get away from them.

 

That’s a good thing. Now they are sources. At any moment, if I have a question, I have a dozen people I can e-mail. I like that. Makes my job as a write pretty easy. 

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You just can't hide from the past...

Mallory Sage lives in a small, idyllic town where nothing ever happens. Just the kind of life she has always wanted. No one, not even her fellow volunteer firefighters, knows about her past life as an agent for Homeland Security.

Former partner and lover, Trey McCrane, comes back into Mallory's life. He believes they made a great team once, and that they can do so again. Besides, they don't have much choice. Paul Stanley, a twisted killer and their old nemesis, is back.

Framed for a bombing and drawn together by necessity, Mallory and Trey go on the run and must learn to trust each other again―if they hope to survive. But Mallory has been hiding another secret, one that could destroy their relationship. And time is running out.

BLONDE DEMOLITION: available online at:

Amazon ebook

Amazon Paperback

Smashwords

Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and three rabbits. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. When she isn’t writing or teaching workshops, she works part time for her local hospital in the EMS Department.

       

www.chrisreddingauthor.com

http://chrisreddingauthor.com

www.facebook.com/chrisreddingauthor

    

               

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I'm celebrating the release of the Imajin Books e-editions of my crime novel, THE TRAZ.  She's 13, rich, brilliant, and beautiful...she's everything he needs. A story about gangs, drugs, bikers, and cops. Also available as a School Edition with a discussion guide. 


Eileen Schuh, Canadian writer www.eileenschuh.com