Interviews

Interview with

S. Evan Townsend

Author of

Annihilation from Above

Today I have the pleasure to present an author who has been called "America's Unique Speculative Fiction Voice”. S. Evan Townsend writes novels that cause thrills and rapid page-turning. After spending four years in the U.S. Army in the Military Intelligence branch, he returned to civilian life and earned a B.S. in Forest Resources from the University of Washington. In his spare time he enjoys reading, driving on a racetrack, meeting people, and talking with friends. He is in a 12-step program for Starbucks addiction.

What inspired you to write Annihilation from Above?

 

It was actually a story written by another author in a writers' group. He had aliens attacking Earth with asteroids, which would hit with the force of a nuclear blast. And I thought about what if a group of terrorists aimed a near-earth orbiting asteroid at a major world capital, what could be done to stop it. The asteroid is too close for NASA's deflection technology to work so NASA and other government entities have to get creative in order to divert it so it doesn't hit the Earth.

 

How does your military experience influence your writing?

 

I was in Military Intelligence in the Army. As such, I gained perspective into how intelligence is done and how those in intelligence think. In many of my novels, there's intelligence agencies and operatives. Also, I know about basic military tactics and have used that knowledge in my novels. In one of my novels, the main character actually joins the CIA. In Annihilation from Above, the CIA is involved in the story.

 

The advent of self-publishing has made it easy for anyone to publish a book. What sets your books apart?

 

My novels, including my urban fantasy novels, are meticulously researched. When I write science fiction, as in Annihilation from Above, the science is done correctly. I end up doing a lot of math for my science fiction books. For one series of novels, I set up a spreadsheet that allowed me to calculate how long it would take for the ships to journey certain distances and if there would be any relativistic effects such as time dilation. So the accuracy of my books is one thing that sets them apart. Also, I can write an action scene that you won't want to put down. I try to use diverse characters and write them as they would be.

 

Is there a particular author or work that inspired you to begin your writing journey?

 

The one work that inspired me was Ringworld by Larry Niven. Also, during a three-year period when I was in the Army, I read everything by Robert Heinlein I could get my hands on.  Both those authors were brilliant in their writing and in their science (although some of Heinlein's, bring written so long ago, turned out to be inaccurate).  I've wanted to write since I was twelve. Those works steered me in the direction of hard science fiction.

 

Have you had any memorable fan interactions?

 

I was doing a podcast interview when another writer I respected, who has since passed, called in to say that he loved my first fantasy, Hammer of Thor. I was just amazed and happy to hear that. We became Facebook friends and continued to communicate until he died. Another time I was doing a book signing and a young woman came to the table and looked at me. "Are you S. Evan Townsend?" she asked. When I said "yes" she broke out on a huge smile. "I loved your book, Rock Killer," she said holding out her hand. I stood up and shook it. She also bought the book I was signing. It's interactions such as that that motivate me to keep writing.

 

Book link:

Annihilation from Above

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Interview with

Tricia T. LaRochelle

Author of

Let Me Go

Today I have the pleasure to present Flickering Heart, Gold Medal winner in the 2024 Global Book Awards for Romance/Suspense.  Since she was a little girl, Tricia T. LaRochelle has been obsessed with tragic love stories. No beach reads for her. Bring on the grit with a double side of turmoil. She likes to feel the character’s anguish as they fight to overcome obstacles to be together. Growing up in central Vermont, she has seen her share of tragedy but remains a hopeful romantic. 

How did you first get into writing romantic suspense novels? And why did you choose this genre?

I was influenced by several factors that steered me toward this genre. As far as the romance, when I was a girl, I was struck by the series The Thorne Birds. The sacrifice, the commitment, and the overpowering love between Father Ralph and Meggie grabbed hold of my young heart and wouldn’t let go. 

In the literary world, I loved to read Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. The mysteries kept me guessing and equally intrigued to find out who the villain turned out to be. I couldn’t get enough of them. 

Years later, The Phantom of the Opera reached out and grabbed me once again. I realized then that I didn’t just like romances, I liked romances with mysterious themes that kept the reader or viewer guessing, and with characters that would stop at nothing to sacrifice themselves for the ones they loved. 

I’ve often been told by my readers that my books made them cry, scream, and even swoon. My latest novel, Let Me Go, continued the tradition of leaving my readers guessing while capturing their hearts with characters who are difficult to forget. One reviewer for Let Me Go said, and I quote, “I was a horror genre reader only and Tricia has made me a romance reader. After reading mainly horror for the last 54 years, I'm 64 now, Tricia has done what I thought was impossible.” 

That was music to my ears. As I said, I don’t want to just write romances, I want a romances that bring the reader through something significant with twists and turns that they never see coming. 

Aside from romance and suspense, do your books carry a common theme?

Yes, just as my books delve into struggle, conflict, and sacrifice, the salve for those struggles comes in the form of second chances. Whether it’s a young woman trying to overcome a tragic accident in Flickering Heart, or a woman trying to escape from her abusive husband in Sun in My Heart, or even a man in Let Me Go, honoring his late grandfather, never realizing his life was shallow and unhappy, the characters do overcome and find their second chance at happiness and love. 

What do you hope your readers will come away with after reading one of your books?

First and foremost, I want my readers to feel when they read my work. I also hope to reach those who struggle with themselves and make them understand that they are not alone. Yes, life is hard, and for some, downright brutal. My characters understand these struggles, and they find ways to move past them. My female characters may not always start out strong, confident, and independent, but they will arrive there. As in Flickering Heart, there is also a level of sisterhood and female empowerment that weaves nicely into the story. 

Do you believe your stories are current with what society deals with as a whole?

Yes, I touch on serious issues that plague our society, such as male domination, sexual assault, manipulation, mental illness, loss, and PTSD. 

Do you put any/much research into your books?

Yes, I put a tremendous amount of research into my books. In A Collision with Love, the story travels to London, where my MP opens up a law office. That took some serious research to find out how one could do all that. 

Many of my books had me calling police stations, speaking to lawyers, and researching everything from DMVs in other states to how medical bills are handled in places such as Ireland and the London. 

Unless I have personal experience on a topic, I will research it. I’ve read books where the author doesn’t do their homework, and in my opinion, it shows. Readers are smart and can spot a fraud. If I want my readers to truly experience my stories to the fullest, they have to believe they are authentic. 

Please share an excerpt from Let Me Go with us.

I set both bags on the deck, just above the steps and next to the railing, hoping that would provide just enough stability to keep them upright until the crazy lady had found them. No point in leaving a note. If she saw the note, she’d see the bags. 

I turned to leave and found Lily standing there in front of my truck watching me with the same expression she wore on my dock. Only this time, I wasn’t afraid. Not of her. “Hey, Lily.” I loved that I now knew her name. 

She bounded over. 

I scratched behind her ears. “So this is your home, girl?” I squatted down to see her better. 

Lily just stood there, allowing my hands to pet and pamper. What was it about this dog? I already liked her. In fact, I almost wanted to take her home with me. Being alone wasn’t something I had been accustomed to. Not lately. Lily would be a great companion. And if I suspected she was being abused, I would have done just that. But this dog was friendly, not guarded, and well cared for judging by her disposition and her thick coat of fur. Abused dogs were mean. Lily was anything but. 

“Maybe you can come see me again. Would you like that, girl?” I scrubbed around her ears some more and down her neck, which she seemed to like. 

And then I realized I’d overstayed my welcome. What business did I have hanging around this place? I was far from skedaddling as Raymond had instructed. 

I rose. “Okay, Lily. I’ve gotta go. You come over anytime you want to, okay? I gotcha some dog treats.” Do you expect her to answer you?

I took a step toward my truck, when the sound of a screen door opened and shut from the back of the house. My curiosity getting the better of me, I inched my way toward the front corner of the porch, assuring myself my truck was only a quick jaunt away. And I was prepared to run. Like the wind if I had to. 

I just wanted to see what this . . .  person looked like. All I could imagine was someone you’d buy tickets to see at a county fair. Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got a crazy loon for you.

And then, she appeared, Lily running to her side. 

“Hey, Miss Lily. You been wandering around again?” The woman was not old at all. In fact, she was probably younger than I was. She bent over and brushed her fingers through Lily’s fur, and I found myself envious of the animal’s care. “You wanna help me get these clothes down?” Various articles of clothing floated back and forth in the breeze.

Funny, she spoke to Lily as though she was another person. Just like I had. The late-day sun had paused just above the horizon, blanketing the scene before me in a sort of spotlight, only much softer than that, shades of pink, orange, and violet contributing to the spectrum.

I lost my breath or my ability to hold a single thought inside of my head. Iris was . . . beautiful? No radiant. Honestly, there were no words. Was my mouth hanging open? I had no fucking idea. She stood sideways while pulling clothes off her line as the sunset filtered through her cotton white sundress, silhouetting a lean body and full breasts. A gentle breeze ran its fingers through her long locks of golden curls that cascaded all the way to her tiny waist. I wanted to touch it, and then felt weird for wanting such a thing. I dated beautiful women, some of them models. And if I were being honest, I wasn’t so bad myself, or so I’d been told. But the vision of what stood before me spoke to somewhere deep within my soul, a place unknown and uncertain. I couldn’t fathom was I was feeling in that moment. All I knew was that whatever it was, I was rendered helpless by the power of it. 

Her profile highlighted a delicate nose that formed a small button at its tip. Her chin and neck were sculpted as if from sandstone, a golden tan glowing from her flawless skin. With long and delicate fingers, she unhooked a shirt and placed it in the wicker basket next to her feet. Her movements were graceful, almost rhythmic, and I couldn’t for the life of me stop watching her. My feet remained rooted to the earth as my chest filled with something indescribable. My skin tingled. If I was still breathing, I was unaware.

The only thing I couldn’t see were her eyes. It didn’t matter, they could be jet black and she’d still be the most gorgeous creature I had ever seen.

Book link:

Let Me Go

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Interview with

Suzy Davis

Author of

Housie Mousie and the Christmas Crow

Today I have the pleasure to present an author who earned a BSc (Hons) in Applied Sociology from the University of Leicester, an MA in English Literature from the University of Sussex and a teaching certificate with Credit from Trinity College. Suzy Davies went on to a lead teacher role in English for Speakers of Other Languages, and was a Lead Literacy Teacher. 

Since then, she has gained certifications in Counselling and in Life Coaching. She uses her knowledge of kids, books she has read, her own experiences in life and her own childhood to write her books.

Tell us how you use your experiences as a Lead Literacy Teacher. as well as Counselling and in Life Coaching. and your knowledge of kids, to inspire your writing.

I have two experiences as a Literacy Lead Teacher. The first experience was when I taught at an inner city college. I supported students studying to be nursery nurses, and helped them compile portfolios of work relating to developing early years skills in children. This experience taught me the value of playfulness, and the importance of developing language skills in children from an early age. Play and language are related; when kids learn to play with language, such as by reading a funny kids’ book, they have fun with it. My picture book, “Poop The Dragon” is one such book, and telling and sharing jokes highlights all the wonderful things we can do, playing with words to get the reaction we want. Kids are naturally adept at word-play.

My second experience as Literacy Lead Teacher, (where I was also a teacher of English as a Second Language,) was when I taught classes from beginners through intermediate and advanced, and I pioneered a course for grandparents and seniors. Children came along to my classes in the summer, and so it was a family learning experience. I learned about different learning levels and stages kids go through to learn to speak, listen, read and write, and how these skills are inter-related. 

Teaching kids highlighted the importance of clarity in writing for children, and also the importance of entertaining them, so they relax and want to learn. I think you enter a children’s realm when you write for kids, so you see things the way they do. When books are relatable, kids get immersed in the story, and feel included and involved. This is a great motivator, especially with kids who are reluctant readers.

My certifications and experiences in Counseling also inform my writing in multiple ways.

Perhaps the most important thing is social and emotional learning. In counseling, you learn about all the different perspectives people have, and at the same time, you learn that even though perspectives may vary, people have a lot of common ground.  You learn to walk in the shoes of another person as if you were them, experiencing how they feel, and this is empathy. I believe that empathy is a leap of the imagination, and this is what authors do to craft a range of characters with different perspectives. 

So, my characterisation in my children’s books is enriched by this knowledge that teaching empathy is very important, and that kids can learn this from reading. In these days of social media and The Internet, it is vital that kids learn how to relate to others. Books are great conversation starters, and it’s helpful when parents engage with kids to talk about a story they have shared.

Counseling has also taught me to maintain a lighthearted touch when writing for kids. 

Positivity is so important, and I like to show children challenges in my books, but not in any heavy teachy-preachy way. I like to provide inspirational role-models who “succeed” with a “can do” attitude. This is related to C.B.T in my counseling, and how we can make big goals achievable by working towards them in small, achievable goals. My characters do this in my stories, showing kids that life involves problem-solving and that teamwork and leadership are important. My books offer a safe rehearsal of facing challenges that prepares kids for real life experiences.

From Counseling, I learned the importance of relationships in life. And so, friendship and family values are always at the heart of my children’s books.

From Life-coaching, I came to realize how vital it is to have self-belief and hope in life. I enjoy depicting characters who overcome self-doubts, anxiety and shyness; characters who learn self-love, and who learn to look on the bright side of life.

In my mind, a crow is the unlikeliest creature to represent the Christmas spirit. Usually it is thought of as a dark character, unfit to represent a festive occasion. What made you select it for your book?

Yes, I can understand that. But of course, I love crows!

The reason I love them goes back to when I was a child, and my grandma and my family lived in a big old mansion in the upstairs flat. 

At the front of the house, there was a huge island of trees, and so we had lots of corvid visitors. My grandma used to feed birds from her hand from the upstairs kitchen window. She taught me how to do it. I think there may have been a crow or two among them.

Anyhow, I used to study all the birds, observing how they flew, how they moved, the sound they made and so on.

What finally did it for me in selecting a crow as a lead character for my book was that I discovered that a group of crows are known as a “storytelling of crows,” and this really gave me an opportunity to create a story within a story. “Housie Mousie and The Christmas Crow”  has many crow characters - each one unique - and each one named after a different type of story. Each crow has a different outlook about their planned good deed, according to what sort of story they are named after. 

The intelligence of crows is well documented, and Ink Wing demonstrates this intelligence through its highest form - kindness, something special year round, but especially at Christmas.

I am delighted with Emily Heaven’s cover art which depicts the beautiful blueish-black feathers crows have - another reason that I believe crows should be celebrated. It is so important to have diversity in books, and I love coming up with original characters.

What age group are you writing for, and how do the children react to hearing your stories?

I write for all age groups from early years to early teens and adults who enjoy children or teen books.

I had a funny reaction when I read an excerpt from “Snugs The Snow Bear,” a middle grade book with a green message. One little boy was so taken with the pictures in the book he piped up, “Next time, we want to meet the artist!”

I read “Luna The Moon Pig” at our library, and the kids loved her. Then, I sang a song, “ I’m Just a Pig,” with kids doing the actions, (it’s on Sound Cloud.) They were laughing and they enjoyed the story.  Deltona library has multiple copies on the shelves, I’m happy to see.

Readers have told me that their little girl was so enthusiastic about “The Flamingos Who Painted The Sky,” that she gave it two thumbs up when asked if she enjoyed it.

I had a good belly-laugh when one reader reported what their grandchild had said about “Poop The Dragon.” Apparently, she said, “ Look! Granddad’s bought me a STINKY book!”  She asks to hear the story at least 3 times a week.

An  adult who read my ya fairytale, “The Snow Queen,” said he was completely “spellbound.”

I love the beautiful cover of the book, tell us how it reflects the story.

I think the important thing about the cover is it shows the relationship between Housie Mousie and Ink Wing in a magical Christmassy way! It’s perfect for my story, which shows children how we can make people (and ourselves) happy by giving selflessly. And what would Christmas be without a mouse? That’s traditional. Ink Wing, The Christmas Crow, provides a contrast because he is so unusual. It’s so cute how he’s helping Housie hang the Christmas star, and I just love Housie’s Santa hat!  The whole atmosphere of Emily Heaven’s cover mirrors the warm-heartedness of the characters and the enchantment of Christmas in our tale.

Give us an excerpt from Housie Mousie and the Christmas Crow.

There’s an excerpt on Look Inside On Amazon. However, here are some more paragraphs:

“Oh! Christmas Tree!” Fairytale cawed. “You are the most beautiful tree I have ever seen!”

Now the storytelling of crows all flapped their feathers, taking off in the ballroom, and landing on the tree, so they appeared to be part of the decorations. This time it was Fable who hung upside down like a bat, peering between the pine-needle branches.

Astrid laughed, clapping her hands together.

“You know, Crows,” she announced, “I think that there are two little animals who will be of great help to us.”

“Who?” asked Legend, swinging on the top branch of the tree, making the Mousy Queen Fairy dance.

“Housie Mousie and Ratty!” Astrid exclaimed.

Mystery piped up, ”That’s a good choice, for we all know how good Housie is at keeping secrets, and Ratty is the kindest of rodents.”

Where can we get “Housie Mousie and The Christmas Crow”?

It’s available on Amazon,  Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Waterstones, and at my publisher’s - Elite Lizzard Publishing Company  in Canada!

What can we expect next from you?

I am writing the third book in The Housie Mousie Series. This book is “Housie Mousie and The Fairy Ring.”

I have a children’s musical in the works “Luna and The Snow Cat - The Musical” . I'm hoping to launch it in 2027 at the latest.

I have a new picture book in the works, which I hope will launch sometime next year.

Book Link:

Housie Mousie and the Christmas Crow

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Interview with 

Mary L. Schmidt

Author of

Shadow 

Today I have the pleasure to present a wonderful Children's Books author, Mary L. Schmidt. She writes under the name of S. Jackson along with her husband Michael, pen name A Raymond. She grew up in a small Kansas town and lived in more than one state since then. 

Shadow is a children's picture story about the death/loss of a pet dog named Shadow, and how it affects both children and adults. Emphasis is how it affects a child or children as this is often the first time they learn about death, the death of a dear pet is palpable, and how to help a child or children cope. Grief is real and it is hard for children to cope as they have nothing in which to compare this new loss, thus the focus is on how it affects children and how to help them cope using strategies such as talking about the loss, drawing pictures of their pet, lots of hugs and love, and possibly plant a new tree or flower in memory of the lost pet. This story helps children know that grief is normal and they are not alone in the dealing with and healing process of this type of grief. In the back section of the story are parental tips on knowing how to help your child and yourself. Learning about grief and/or pet loss is essential for social development in all children. Children are better able to understand the grief process when the time comes for a relative to pass away. This concept and principles can be taught at an early age in situations where a child's best friend has a pet pass away or a family member.

Why write a book about pet loss? 

Grief sneaks up in the form of a missing paw print, an empty corner where a bed used to be, or the silence where a bark once echoed. Shadow is a gentle, necessary guide through the uncharted territory of loss.

Why is this book for the whole family and not children only?

Children often experience death for the first time through the loss of a beloved pet. Processing that grief is difficult for children and the entire family. Pet loss is the most common first loss, the first time to experience grief as a child. The pain of losing a pet is not new, yet we often struggle to help children navigate it. Shadow provides a roadmap, teaching kids that grief is real, valid, and—most importantly—manageable. 

How do children process this grief? Other family members?

One morning, Nanci and Tim, both young children, find that their pet dog, Shadow, won't wake up. They don't understand why this happened, and they are upset. The parents are unsure what to say; they fumble for words. But then they read Shadow together. As a family, they process this grief together. Feelings of anger, frustration, sadness, and more are all-consuming. Be gentle and caring when reading this book with children. Read the book with compassion and be ready to answer questions honestly and simply. Make sure you let your child know it's okay and normal to feel sad, angry, or confused.

What can you do as a family and on your own to help this grief process?

Draw pictures of Shadow, plant a tree in her memory, and talk about their favorite moments. Grief doesn’t vanish, but it transforms into something gentler. Encourage talking about favorite memories of your lost pet. Talking can help the sadness feel better. Drawing pictures of your pet lets your love for the pet shine in your drawings. The love in drawings is a “feel better” technique when missing a pet. Continue to love each other as a family and share warm hugs. Sit close to mom or dad. Hugs and cuddles are a bit of magic when you’re feeling sad. If it is spring or summer, consider planting a favorite flower or small tree. Think of how the flower will bloom and the tree will grow, just like their pet grew up, and older, when alive. Name that tree or plant the name of your lost pet. Share your own sadness about this loss with your children. Don’t overshare, but a simple “I miss him too” can be powerful. Encourage talking, and other creative ways to express their feelings. Help your children remember the happy times with their pet. Focus on the happy memories. Grief takes time, and there’s no right or wrong way to feel grief. Be patient, present, and supportive. 

More than just a book, Shadow is an emotional toolkit. It reassures children that they are not alone. It reminds parents that silence isn’t always golden. And it teaches us all that love never really leaves—it just changes form.

Book Link:

Shadow

Author Links:

https://whenangelsfly.net/

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Interview with

Robert W. Walker

Author of

DISCORD - the Ripper of Buchenwald

Today I have the pleasure to present the author of thirty-six novels (including the acclaimed PSI Blue featuring FBI Psychic Rae Hiyakawa, the Instinct Series with FBI Medical Examiner Dr. Jessica Coran, and the Edge Series featuring Texas Cherokee Detective Lucas Stonecoat and psychiatrist Meredyth Sanger.) Robert W Walker was born in Mississippi; grew up in Illinois; and currently resides in Chicago and Charleston, West Virginia.

As you are a professor of writing (Dead on Writing a how-to for the dysfunctional writer in us all) what is the most important tool in the writers kit in crafting fiction?

A thing called VOICE, which is in large part your choice of 1st, 2nd or 3rd Point of View, the element of Passive verbs vs. Active verbs, simple over complex sentences, authorial firm narrator vs wishy-washy narrator. Firm narrator says the fog rose over the cemetery; wishy-washy writes with qualifiers as in: The fog seemed to be rising to the level of dissipating over the cemetery,but who knows?

So, this mysterious element Voice is built in layers of execution?

Just about every element of style, yes. All the elements down to contractions and commas that we find in Elements of Style by Strunk and White ( White, the author of Charlotte's Web and his college guide, his Professor Strunk.

A great exercise which I used with my class i to write the same paragraph(s) in 1st person, then in 2nd, then in 3rd. Totally different Voice every time.

You write in Crime Fiction that comes off as True Fiction, and you write in Horror Fiction that seeks to terrify the reader, and you write in historical fiction using actual events. What motivates you to write in so many genres?

You might say getting a contract, thus money. When I started out, I wss a Young Adult history author who wished to do Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and The Prince & the Pauper, as I trained on Mark Twain and wanted, should I ever get published continue his boys' tales, and I did with a number of book, n I also did  number of historicals aimed at the adult audience, but alas, it was the era of Stephen King. No market for history but a big one for horror. Every editor was seeking the next and new King. So, I wrote Vampire Dreams and became a horror author for work. Thereafter, with advice in correspondence from Dean R. Kooontz, I got into crime fiction. Sorry but complicated question = complicated reply.

Please share an excerpt from DISCORD with us.

How long now, he hadn’t any idea. Long time it seemed since the first stop at a place the German’s had named Treblinka, where the train had come to a stop. A large, red-bricked camp enclosure. The stop had everyone inside the box gasping with hope to be free of the boxcar and the standing.

What little Steiner could pick up in his rusty German spoke of overcrowding at this camp…that they had to go on to a place called Buchenwald, farther and inside Germany. And so, they, the cargo, he and his fellow travelers must continue onward, eastward, deep inside Germany. Otto imagined, surely a hundred or more miles from home, from his makeshift dispensary and surgery, from the pleasantry of watching children at play. No time to pack, no suitcase, only his medical bag and the now useless keys in his pocket.

He knew it was a prison transport, but the ghouls had packed them so tightly that the aged and weaker among them were literally dying and held up by whomever unlucky enough to be so nearby. Even loved ones holding a corpse upright, due to proximity, was a horrid burden, Otto thought. Here in the car, life and death is constricted to the length of time the Nazis consider a human can endure. Or do they care at all? Not likely, no…

Steiner thought of a time when his father had taken him out to gather wood for the home fires. His father busily sawed away at a tall, tapering tree standing amid others of its kind—birches— when suddenly his father had begun laughing. Young Otto caught the contagion of hilarity, but he didn’t know why his father had burst out in laughter, not until Papa pointed out that he’d cut the tree through, but that it was being held up by all the trees around it—as if there was a bond. His father then had to cut the tree in sections to pull the sapling down to its full length. While Papa accomplished this final task, Otto had played chase with the squirrels.

In so many ways, this train trip felt like that moment with his father. All the standing people of Warsaw, holding one another up, a bond like no other, children at mothers’ feet, playing with Ma’s stockings down there, by now accepting of the long ride amid the putrid odors.

Someone, a male from one corner of the car, suddenly shouted, “How! How can this be?”

Another emboldened man shouted over the first, “To treat people as animas! Cruelty!”

“And where are we going?” The floodgate had opened.

A woman’s cry, “And what next is to come of us?”

“We are prisoners of war!”

“But we are shopkeepers, citizens not soldiers.”

“We are what they tell us we are.”

“They have the guns!”

“This is all the fault of the Resistance, isn’t it, Dr. Steiner?” asked a neighbor who looked harshly at the doctor. “Your friends with their bombs, they brought this on us all.”

“Yes, killing guards the way they were doing one man after another in the night.”

Otto objected, saying, “I don’t think those Jack the Ripper sort of murders by night have a thing to do with the Resistance. They don’t work like a recurring ghost in the shadows.”

For a moment, the others fell silent, giving thought to the doctor’s opinion. One man said, “They live in the gutters, so yes to shadows.”

“The phantom murderer of Warsaw is more likely here among us, or in the car ahead of us than underground with the Resistance. Our fighters use entirely different methods—hit and run, night at times, but mostly by day to gather German weapons. This Ripper killer does his work at close quarters with the knife, and he leaves the German guns with the bodies.”

“Who then is doing us the favor of cutting up German soldiers, eh?”

“All I know,” replied Steiner, “is the high command in Warsaw called it a recurring, returning murderer who leaves a pattern that identifies him as one man, one killer at work.”

“What do you mean by pattern?”

Otto was unsure how much he should or wished to relay to these angry men around him about just how much he’d gleaned from the new authorities—the Nazi command and their German doctor Kraus Earnst about the serial killer working the streets of Warsaw. After all, many of his neighbors were wary of Otto as it was, and he supposed for good reason. Earnst, the German doctor assigned to the commandant overseeing Warsaw proved a sad excuse for a doctor, a man who had long before become a melancholic—a word that Dr. Steiner used for alcoholics like Earnst, who’d succumbed to the pure horrors of war that he’d seen and dealt with. As a result of Earnst’s growing incompetence, the newly appointed Commandant Wilhelm Rupert had found Dr. Otto Steiner to augment Earnst diagnoses. First of the Gout, Earnst told Rupert, then the diagnosis would change another and another analysis, all proven wrong by Steiner. Who feared that one day Rupert might kill Earnst for his failures.

After a goodly number of failures on Dr. Earnst’s part, a pair of German soldiers began routinely showing up to drag Dr. Steiner from his Polish patients to tend to a boil on the Nazi’s backside. Until Commandant Rupert next asked Steiner to examine a mutilated corpse. The most recent victim of the murderer of German soldiers. The killer called the Phantom by the German occupiers, the Ripper by the occupied. The Pattern killer as Otto had begun to call this executioner who first garroted his victims, then the man gutted the corpse, dangling the entrails around the victims’ necks.

“How do you know so much of this?” challenged the match-stick man who seemed to enjoy putting a light on Otto’s features.

“I keep my eyes and ears open, and trust me, I have two of each.”

For now, the other men allowed Otto his peace inside their shared hell, where even the sound of the wheels below their feet had become its own insistent torture.

Which genre do you prefer, or is your personal favorite to work in?

Each category presents its own challenges, and as a kid, reading everything Twain wrote and seeing his wide ability to write non-fiction, fiction, in many genres, capable of making us laugh and cry in one paragraph, I set out to do as he did, as best I could. My first novel was meant to continue the Adventures of Tom and Huck. Twain became my spiritual mentor. Crime fiction allows for commentary on social issues (great) and Horror allows for the human condition to be starkly presented. Historicals allow for both of the above for young and old. With my DISCORD, I combined my interest in crime, horror, and history, and so, yeh, I love a challenge, even when I am the one setting out the parameters of the challenge.

Book Link:

DISCORD - the Ripper of Buchenwald

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@RobertWWalker

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