R.V. Doon's Blog, page 6
January 11, 2014
The War Nurse
Hey everyone! My new book, The War Nurse, will launch on 1-1-14. It’s a historical family saga set during WWII, and yes, the main protagonist is a civilian nurse. I know, I just can’t escape writing about nurses. After the many long years of working with them, I never thought I’d drag them into my fiction. Nurses! Stop haunting me! Okay, yes I know I’m the author and I can write them out, but they won’t go!
The War Nurse introduces Katarina Stahl at a happy moment, because the love of her life has joined her in Manila. Her happiness lasts for about three words…okay three paragraphs, and then all hell breaks loose. If you like an epic romance set in the backdrop of war, The War Nurse is for you. Don’t worry, the history timeline won’t disappoint you, I promise.
Today I’m sharing one picture used to make the cover. I asked for From Here to Eternity, war, and tropical setting. My cover won’t scream historical, but I hope you like it. I’ll reveal the cover soon. What do you think of this picture?
December 30, 2013
Whistleblowers Don’t Get Enough Respect
Double Blind, my medical thriller,
features a nurse whistleblower against a mob-controlled pharmaceutical company. It’s easy to cheer for her success, because she’s made it plain people are going to get sick. But in real life is the danger always crystal clear?
Let’s face it–Whistleblowers just don’t get any respect. Any why? Well, to prove something harmful has happened, they have to steal the data and rat-out colleagues. They also lose their jobs, friends, and sometimes their families, but the bigger question is why do they do it? Why don’t they turn a blind eye?
My personal opinion is that whistleblowers often are blessed/cursed with a hyperactive sense of compassion. Don’t believe me? What about Christina Maslach? Don’t know her? She’s one of many whistleblower heroes in my book. In Double Blind, a college experiment is mentioned in passing, but it’s known in the “clinical research world” as the Stanford Prison Experiment. This is a must read article but what isn’t mentioned is that many of the prisoner volunteers suffered psychological problems by the “vetted experiment.”
Also rarely mentioned, is the PI (Primary Investigator), Doctor Phil Zimbardo, totally loses his objectivity and becomes a “character” in his own prison study by becoming the warden. Don’t get me wrong, Doctor Zimbardo becomes famous, and the reason he becomes famous is because his girlfriend, Christina Maslach, slaps the cold, hard truth into him and he stops the study. What if he hadn’t stopped the study? Would he have been reviled? Stopping the study certainly wasn’t on his mind until Christina (the whistleblower) arrived. If he hadn’t stopped the study, I wonder if Christina would’ve married him?
Once a test or experiment goes public, others duplicate them. In Double Blind, this study becomes the basis of a Frankenstudy, which I made up, using elements of real studies. In real life and fiction worlds, whistleblowers are part of the universal safety net, like it or not. In this interesting article, Shocking Memories Away, the writer describes a clinical trial where subjects are shown disturbing pictures and given electro shock therapy afterward.
The study’s goal is to determine if the shock therapy erases the disturbing pictures from their minds. They’re hoping to erase traumatic memories, just like the Frankenstudy in Double Blind. Guess what, electro shock did reduce memory of the traumatic pictures. But here is just one question not mentioned in the article. Why not give the subjects math questions to work before and after shock therapy? Or an IQ test? Or do they recognize family pictures from those not living in the household? Oh wait…am I starting to sound like a whistleblower?
Tell me what you think of whistleblowers? Come on, don’t be shy.
December 3, 2013
Following Your Dreams Pays Off
Jorge Odon followed his dream and changed childbirth forever. The really funny thing was he was trying to find a way to get a cork out of a bottle!
After he accomplished his task and won the bet, he claims he had a light bulb moment that the same device could help a baby out of the birth canal without the trauma of using forceps. He woke his wife, she mumbled, “that’s nice,” and went back to sleep. But Jorge believed in his dream fix, and he set out to prove it. He did! Once he showed his device to a skeptical local obstetrician (see pictures in article) he kept refining it.
One thing Jorge’s challenge had in common with my book Double Blind was the clinical research process. Like a new drug, he had to take his medical device through the research process before it could be used on patients. He had to go to meetings and demonstrate his product’s worth. ”I am not sure I would be very comfortable letting my wife, the mother of my children, use some device that has never been tested,” Odon says. “But all the women who have volunteered for these trials, they do it for the progress of science, which is something truly beautiful.”
In Odon’s initial trials, “the bag was inserted using a spatula, but it wasn’t easy. So Odon went home to work on the problem. By the fifth birth, he had invented an inserter, “a very ingenious instrument that permits us to introduce the bag in a very easy way,” Schvartzman says. Note to writers: He was told his product needed more development…he didn’t give up. He improved his product.
“If the trials go well, Merialdi predicts the device could be in clinical use in two or three years’ time. The US company that will manufacture the device, Becton Dickinson and Company, says it will sell it cheaply to developing countries. This is very important to Odon. “The important thing is that it’s affordable so that it can reach everywhere,” he says. “More than the economic side of this I have always wanted to save lives, to help people.”
Don’t you agree that people like Jorge Odon make the world a better place?
Like writers and their books, Odon believed in his dream. He built the first prototype, and as he learned more about the childbirth process from doctors, he refined the device (similar to editing a book). He shopped it (querying), and he personally took on the job of promoting his device, even after it began to catch on (book promotion). Soon he’ll see his device used worldwide (international book sales)
Yes, writers can learn a lot from Jorge Odon as can doctors. Jorge Odon gets my vote for humanitarian of the year!
DOUBLE BLIND IS STILL HAVING A NEW RELEASE PROMOTION - DECEMBER 1-7. THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR CHECKING IT OUT!
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December 1, 2013
Best Advice for Wannabe Writers? Read!
Read more is my advice for anyone wanting to release the screaming characters sitting in the jail inside their head. I’m not unique. Every writer, teacher, and librarian has said the same countless times. What’s different now that I’ve recovered from the last ten seconds of Iron Bowl agony is finding out that a famous sportscaster, blogger, and author agrees with me.
Joe Posnanski wrote a blog article about Nick Saban’s FG call that ended up losing the game for Alabama. The post went viral. Naturally, I had to check him out to make sure he wasn’t one of those Texas fans trying to lure Saban away from the “Tide.” He wasn’t, and his article isn’t full of the normal gloating Bama fans are accustomed to when we lose.
Imagine my surprise when I googled up a past Posnanski interview on the blog Baseball: Past and Present. Posnanski was interviewed in 2010 by Graham Womack in a post titled: My Curiously Long Interview with Joe Posnanski. The entire post is a fascinating read. Here’s the excerpt that mentions reading.
Me: What’s one piece of advice you would give an aspiring sportswriter?
Posnanski: I always say this with a caveat that I wish there was one piece of advice that would work for everybody. I wish there was something I could say that would get somebody a job of their dreams tomorrow.
Not really having that piece of advice, I always say that, to me, it starts with reading. This is something I tell high school kids, college kids, people trying to get into the business, that it’s just so much about reading. Read, read, read. So much of everything else falls into place when you just do a ton of reading.
It works on so many different levels. When you’re reading, obviously, it gives you the knowledge, the background and that sort of thing. But also it helps you, I really believe, form words in your mind. It gives you an idea of how things need to be written, it gives you style points. There’s just so many things, some of them very much below the surface.
I read a lot. When I’m not at the computer, and I’m not with the family, I’m reading. I read very widely. I don’t read very much sports. I read fiction and non-fiction and history and mysteries and read with very much an open mind to what I can get out of this…. It’s important to write a lot, it’s important to have a good editor and listen to good advice. There’s so many of those basic things. But to me, the magic really comes out of the reading.
In 254 words, Posnanski gave great advice to everyone wanting to write. I’d add this to Joe’s advice: The greatest gift any parent can give their children is a love of reading.
Related posts:
Writers: Reduce Eye Fatigue With Gunnar Glasses
Advice From Rats: Change Your Genes
Amazon.com: Swarmers (The Cloudland Series) eBook: R.V. Doon: Books
November 18, 2013
Double Blind #3 at Medical Thrillers on Amazon Kindle
Well, I wasn’t smart enough to grab a picture when Double Blind was number 2. But, I do have proof Double Blind ranked #3 in Medical Thrillers 11-18-13. Thank you readers!
November 16, 2013
Great Interview with Astronaut & Author Chis Hadfield
Colonel Chris Hadfield’s book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything
is going on my Christmas list. The guy has made being an astronaut cool again. Listen to him describe what it feels like in space and feel your stress slip away. Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. Some tidbits to whet your appetite: He was temporarily blinded while orbiting outside of the spacecraft and he had to hang on for dear life, he once broke into the Space Station with a Swiss army knife, and disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane. He claims the secret to his success is a philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst-and enjoy every moment of it. Cmdr. Hadfield shares his love of space exploration in this video. Many thanks to Joe Rogen for a great interview.
October 31, 2013
The Doon Sleuth & Setting Review: Dying to Get Published by Judy Fitzwater
Dying To Get Published by Judy Fitzwater Series: A Jennifer Marsh Mystery Book One
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 240
Buy the Book • Goodreads
Jennifer Marsh is a mystery writer with a stack of eight unpublished manuscripts and rejection letters to match filling her closet. She's sure that if she can just get famous for something, someone will have to publish her books. Why not murder?
She'll find a target so mean that she'd actually be doing the world a favor by bumping him or her off. And she knows just the person: Penney Richmond, a high-powered literary agent who's made it her job to ruin people's lives. All Jennifer has to do is frame herself, do the deed, and come out with an iron-clad alibi, and she'll be well on her way to getting a three book deal. So what if she chickens out at the last minute?
A vegetarian good girl who rescued a greyhound could never actually kill someone. But when Penney is found murdered and the police think Jennifer did it, she’d better find the real murderer before she goes away... for life.
Along with her eccentric writer's group, spunky old ladies with a nose for sleuthing, her neurotic greyhound, and a sexy, sarcastic reporter named Sam, Jennifer embarks on a journey filled with danger, deception, and disguises that could leave her Dying to Get Published...
This week the Doon Review is checking out the Sleuth & Setting of Dying to Get Published
-Book One in the Jennifer Marsh Mystery Series by Judy Fitzwater. This first book was published originally by Ballantine and the author reports that she’s currently working on the 7th novel of the series. As a cozy fan, I was surprised that I’d missed this series, but I’m now happy to rectify it. In the Doon Review, I discuss Book One for readers so they can decide if the sleuth and setting falls into their favorite type of cozy.
Determined novelist Jennifer Marsh has concluded the reason none of her eight novels has been published is because she hasn’t delivered the nitty-gritty needed when describing murder in her stories. When Jennifer’s hopes are at a low point she “goes a little loopy” and decides to not only plot out a new crime, but then to act it out in person to gain instant notoriety. When she’s stumped for plotting techniques, her go to team is her writer’s support group. Jennifer turns out to be quite savvy and manages to provide the reader with multiple laugh out loud moments. Jennifer lives on the cheap working as a caterer with her friend Dee Dee Ivers, so she can have time to write. If you don’t like a little romance blended into your mystery, this series may not be for you, but the romance isn’t overdone or hot.
Sleuth
The reader meets Jennifer Marsh in a jail cell reflecting on how she’s arrived in the last place on earth she wants to be. It’s clear she’s not a sleuth in real life, but she writes mysteries so she understands the process. The character has a very strange habit of thinking about and talking to a future in utero baby that is not yet fertilized. She’s chosen a unisex name for this wannabe fetus, Jaimie. Women who were plodding along in careers only to wake up one morning with a baby alarm clock ringing will understand poor Jennifer’s situation. She’s 29 and she hasn’t got a man in sight plus, the baby alarm has made her a bit crazy, IMHO. Jennifer also has a dreamy habit of falling into the character of her own heroines when making her decisions and, believe me some of them are entertaining when she turns sleuth in real life. We get an open glimpse into the angst-ridden writer’s mind, and I have to admit it was a fun read and not a dark hole.
The funny thing about this book is a dead person doesn’t make it into the book until much later than expected. In the interval Jennifer gives us her four rules for finding a real person to murder, so her books will have the “realism” element. 1)the world must improve with the victim’s absence 2)the death should be symbolic to the people the victim has made suffer 3) victim must be childless and spouseless 4) the victim must be a true career S.O.B. Jennifer concludes her victim must be the heartless literary agent who viciously rejected her. Not to worry, she wakes from her trance before she crosses the line between fantasy and murder. The mean agent dies anyway and guess who is the prime suspect? Overall, Jennifer is an interesting character, and she’s shadowed by a strong supporting cast–all writers, don’t you know.
Her romantic interest, Sam Culpepper, is a reporter for the Macon Telegraph. Sam believes a local TV reporter, Kyle Browning at Chanel 14 was murdered, and didn’t take his own life by jumping off a building. He’s doing an undercover investigation at a wedding Jennifer and Dee Dee are catering. When he notices that a colleague of the dead reporter took Jennifer’s catering card for his own party, Sam asks Jennifer to help him find out if Browning was pushed off the roof. Sam is also planning to write a true crime story about Browning, and naturally Jennifer is hooked into helping him. Sam plays the romantic side kick well, but he doesn’t help Jennifer plot books, solve crimes, or rescue her. He’s the hot stand by and he’s got the right contacts with the police when she’s in jail.
The writing group is a cool support network for a sleuth. Each writer is unique and writes in a different genre. Each woman is memorable and provides help in their own way.
Setting
Jennifer lives in Macon, Georgia, but she travels back and forth to Atlanta. For me, the setting was a big let down. If I wasn’t already familiar with Atlanta and the surrounding counties, I wouldn’t have had a setting to visualize. Absolutely nothing unique to the area is tossed in. Hopefully, in future books the author does a better job.
Dying to Get Published is a funny story with a strong cast and satisfying ending. This sleuth strikes out on her own and gets herself in and out of trouble. I for one want to know if Jaimie ever sees the light of day. You can’t go wrong with a cozy that makes you laugh out loud.
About Judy Fitzwater
Judy Fitzwater grew up an Air Force brat and has lived in eight states, including Maine and Hawaii. Her first published mystery, DYING TO GET PUBLISHED, was plucked from a stack of unsolicited manuscripts at Ballantine Books. It was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Mystery. The subsequent six-book series, The Jennifer Marsh Mysteries, was a delight for her to write, especially the scenes with Jennifer’s quirky writers’ group. All six are now available in Kindle editions.
Judy has recently released an original, never-before-published suspense thriller for the Kindle, DROWNING IN AIR, which she is very excited about. AND a brand new, very funny romantic comedy, VACATIONING WITH THE DEAD, filled with ghosts and mayhem. She has plans for more mystery, suspense, humor, and paranormal adventures to come. She is currently working on the seventh Jennifer Marsh mystery.
October 30, 2013
DOUBLE BLIND: Whistleblowers-What Would You Do?
Claire Carter, the main protagonist or heroine if you prefer, of Double Blind faces the classic what would you do question. Most people assume if they run across any “wrong doing” in their field of expertise that they will do the right thing. I know I certainly did. The majority of people will never have to face this type of gut-twisting scenario.
Claire didn’t want to believe that her best friend fell into a coma while volunteering in a new drug clinical research trial. She didn’t want to believe it because she worked as a clinical research nurse. In other words, she believed in clinical research, she believed it was ethical, but then again, she had to believe her own eyes. But when she learned men came to visit her friend and filmed her deteriorating condition using Google glasses, she jumped into information gathering mode. Claire knew that drug companies follow up on adverse events for years. She left her local job as a CRA (Clinical Research Nurse) overseeing drug trials to becoming a CRA for a CRO (Clinical Research Organization). CROs work for the pharmaceutical companies and oversee the clinical drug trials down at the local level. These monitors travel all over the country to gather information so it can be reviewed. When Claire weaseled her way into overseeing all the clinical evidence: medical tests, blood work results, physical exams, patient’s complaints etc., on EZ eyedrops, she found gaps.
So, she did what whistleblowers have always done; Claire stole their blood and secrets. Her hope wasn’t to make money, but to force the FDA to take a new look at the clinical safety data. This would stall EZ’s chances of getting on the fast-track to prescription. Claire had no idea the pharmaceutical company located in New Orleans was mobbed up. All she knew was that nothing happened, except she got fired and sued for corporate espionage. She faced the stress of court, legal fees, and the loss of her ability to make a living while the DOJ (Department of Justice) studied the stolen evidence and decided if she gets whistleblower (protected) status. Claire doesn’t know her lawyer cherry picked the data he turned over to the DOJ. Meanwhile the eyedrops are fast-tracked to prescription and her best friend in the world dies. Claire doesn’t give up.
Claire climbs into an air duct in the research building where EZ eyedrops were discovered. She films a live guinea pig dubbed “Neuron Man,” learns her trusted lawyer is in cahoots with the company, and she finds out a hit man is going to “take care of her.” At this point most people would collapse, but not Claire. She’s motivated by something in her background, something so deep she’s forgotten about it, but it drives her to get the word out about the eyedrops.
Whistleblowers are the modern-day analogy to the David and Goliath story. Whistleblowers risk everything to share a truth they think is important to the rest of society. Some whistleblowers get paid for their troubles, but the majority get scorned or ignored. I dedicated Double Blind to the whistleblowers because the truth wants to be free. In the story, a tired and frustrated Claire turns to Brad and says, “We’re nobodies and we’re the ones trying to protect the public health.”
What Claire sees as “doing the right thing” another sees as courage. What do you think of whistleblowers? Love’ em or hate ‘em?
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October 24, 2013
Cliffhanger (The Belinda &Bennett Mystery Series) by Amy Saunders
Cliffhanger by Amy Saunders Series: cozy mystery, The Belinda and Bennett Series Book One
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 237
on November 20, 2012
Buy the Book
Making her grand re-entry into Portside, Rhode Island, Belinda Kittridge expected fun, sun, and sugar cookies.
Instead, she gets one jilted lover braced for round two, an old rival on the hunt, and the murder of a former classmate and friend. Even worse, Belinda must return to the events surrounding a tragic sailing accident to set things right.
But new possibilities emerge in the form of security expert Bennett Tate. Between her connections and his know-how, they’re bound to catch the killer – and kick the skeletons out of the closet for good.
Cliffhanger (The Belinda and Bennett Mystery Series) by Amy Saunders is first up for a Doon Sleuth and Setting Review.
Ten years after high school and the summer of a “sailboat accident,” old friends and flames return to Portside, Rhode Island for a reunion. One dies by falling off a cliff after a party. The problem is that before dying the victim tells Belinda Kittridge he has something important to tell her, about the decade-old sailing accident. This accident has haunted Belinda Kittridge and her twin brother. The investigation leads to the police knocking on her door. *Note* If you like your cozy mystery without a romance element, this one isn’t for you, although the romance is more sweet than hot.
Sleuth
Overall, the tone of the book is light-hearted and whimsical because the main female character is the same. She has no innate snooping skills learned from tough luck jobs and hard knocks. This sleuth is a very wealthy socialite from both Rhode Island and New York. She has a twin brother, Kyle, and at the beginning of the book they both appear to be aimless drifters relying on their inheritance for subsistence. Belinda’s interest in opening a cup cake shop kept me reading since it appeared she wouldn’t just buy one, but she’d work in it as well. (This I had to see after getting a small taste of her family’s vast wealth).
In this book, Belinda doesn’t get into launching her business, which I found disappointing. She went on one business location hunt and wrote out endless to do lists. After an old friend and admirer is found dead, Belinda teams up with Tate and Parker. Frankly, I wish Belinda had pushed harder on her own at tracking down data and doing interviews, but she’s young and romance was on her mind. Hopefully in later books, the author will turn on Belinda’s snoop gene. I tried to convince myself that Belinda Kittridge could solve the case on her own without her sidekicks, and I had to conclude that she could not. On the plus side, when Belinda found herself alone and in two dangerous situations, she didn’t cop-out and cry, no, her survival instincts turned on, but both times she was rescued.
Her sidekick, Bennett Tate is an ex-policeman, detective, and he left the force over “politics” to form his own business, Tate Security. He and his friend, Detective Jonas Parker bring the crime solving skills to this book. I liked both men. Parker the detective, rides his bike to interview crime suspects, and Tate is a chameleon when he follows people. He also runs the business which can fuel new cases in this series. Bennett is the character that has all the chops for sleuthing, and he steals the scene every time. It’s Bennett’s friend, Jonas Parker that notices his interest in Belinda, and Parker encourages Bennett to get close to her for information. The local force needs help dealing with the wealthy because they have a powerful name-dropping clique around them. Bennett does gather info for his friend, but he also begins to fall for Belinda.
Overall, I liked Bennett and Parker because they stayed in character. Belinda used her family’s wealth as a weapon on one too many occasions, and though the author tried to dilute the sting, Belinda did lose the rich girl with the common touch meme.
Setting
The setting for Cliffhanger is Portside, Rhode Island, which I envisioned as having many of the same characteristics as Martha’s Vineyard. The author introduces us to the beach scene at the beginning of the book and there is a constant thread of setting throughout. In Portside the super rich have estates along a road overlooking the ocean and their back yards all end with a steep fall to the beach below. This backyard deathtrap provides the perfect first title for the Belinda and Bennett Mystery Series.
If you’re looking for an easy-breezy romantic suspense tinged cozy mystery then Cliffhanger might be right up your alley. Cliffhanger is currently free at Amazon if you want to check it out before sampling the other books in the series.
About Amy Saunders
Hello! And thanks for checking out my books! I’ve written two mystery novels so far. My first, Dead Locked, is about Imogen Bell who works for a team of underwater archaeologists and ends up embroiled in a deadly treasure hunt. My second mystery, The Jester’s Apprentice, is about Philippa, a woman caught between her new husband Edric and his smoky past – and hers.
I’ve always loved mysteries, even in elementary school. My mother raised me on TV show reruns like Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, and Magnum, P.I, and later I picked up her Agatha Christie addiction.
However, sometimes I just want a hot (but intelligent) guy and a strong woman bantering for pages. Or a gripping action sequence. Or some fun sci-fi/fantasy elements. And sometimes I want it all in the same book. So with mystery as the backbone of my stories, I blend in romance, action, adventure, and soon sci-fi to keep it fresh and exciting.
