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Drug Influence Recognition and Field Impairment Testing Aide Memoire: A Guide for Police Officers, Forensic Physicians, Criminal Justice Departments, Magistrates and Lawyers
28 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
About the author
Stephen G. Collier
7 books12 followersStephen’s been an avid reader all of his life, and it’s not all been crime fiction either. The written word though is a challenge, and he is always concerned when he sees how the English language is developing, but not in a good way,
Much of his early reading centered on Science; fact and fiction, and history. Later, his life in the police service saw a growing interest in true crime and crime fiction. He always thought that one day he would write a novel, but it was only after he retired from the police that he began writing seriously.
Over his lifetime, many books and many genres have influenced Stephen, from Gibbons,’ ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,’ to Carl Sagan’s, ‘Cosmos.’ And from a crime fiction point of view, a wealth of authors he may have read in the past, but can’t remember all of them. What he can say for him revolves it around such greats as Elmore Leonard, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan-Doyle, and Georges Simenon.
Crime fiction is the largest and constantly growing genre in commercial fiction. Trying to fit new authors in among the current crop of great CF writers, like Child, Rankin, McDermid, and MacBride, is a tall order. When Stephen wrote his debut novel ‘Blind Murder’ he had no idea about the ‘craft’ of writing. But what he knew was that it needed to be different. Being different, though, does not always get you a publishing deal or an agent.
Modern-day detectives in fiction are larger-than-life characters. Sometimes dysfunctional. Most times, alcoholic or close to being one, with a failed or failing marriage. And when you think about it to a certain degree, the problems of one fictional detective can be a crystallising of the problems of many police officers, but not all at the same time and not just one!
Blind Murder is different because it uses a road policing officer, reluctantly getting himself involved in things he shouldn’t do with a detective. The consequences of which will affect the rest of his life, (I won’t say any more in case you haven’t read it). Jake Jordan’s problems continue in the second in the series, ‘Driving Dead,’ published in January 2019.
Stephen realises that the days in front of him are shorter than the ones behind him and may seem to be in a hurry to write as much as he can. But his MA slowed him down (hence having to wait so long for ‘Driving Dead’), and it has taught him that plot, character, structure, setting, and point of view, are as important as just getting the story on the page.
A TV script is now written for Blind Murder, hoping one of the TV companies will pick it up. Stephen also has ideas for a stage play, based on a true incident he attended as a cop. An audio version of both books is another idea for the future. The book he wrote for his MA, ‘Crimson Dragon’, is now published by Troubador Publishing, under the Matador imprint. You can get it via the publisher’s website (Matador) , Amazon or my website (stephen-collier.com)
During 2022, Stephen looked at expanding his creative portfolio by seeking to train as a videographer under the name Five2Eight Productions. He now has a YouTube channel of the same name which you can access from the main menu.
Stephen is currently working on two other books at the moment. The first one is a book written by a deceased family member. ‘Let The Grass Green’ was written by his aunt in the 1950’s – recently discovered in her belongings. So he thought that it would be good to reveal it in all its glory – LGGG is now available on Amazon.
Stephen is an author member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, the Society of Authors and the Crime Writers Association.
Much of his early reading centered on Science; fact and fiction, and history. Later, his life in the police service saw a growing interest in true crime and crime fiction. He always thought that one day he would write a novel, but it was only after he retired from the police that he began writing seriously.
Over his lifetime, many books and many genres have influenced Stephen, from Gibbons,’ ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,’ to Carl Sagan’s, ‘Cosmos.’ And from a crime fiction point of view, a wealth of authors he may have read in the past, but can’t remember all of them. What he can say for him revolves it around such greats as Elmore Leonard, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan-Doyle, and Georges Simenon.
Crime fiction is the largest and constantly growing genre in commercial fiction. Trying to fit new authors in among the current crop of great CF writers, like Child, Rankin, McDermid, and MacBride, is a tall order. When Stephen wrote his debut novel ‘Blind Murder’ he had no idea about the ‘craft’ of writing. But what he knew was that it needed to be different. Being different, though, does not always get you a publishing deal or an agent.
Modern-day detectives in fiction are larger-than-life characters. Sometimes dysfunctional. Most times, alcoholic or close to being one, with a failed or failing marriage. And when you think about it to a certain degree, the problems of one fictional detective can be a crystallising of the problems of many police officers, but not all at the same time and not just one!
Blind Murder is different because it uses a road policing officer, reluctantly getting himself involved in things he shouldn’t do with a detective. The consequences of which will affect the rest of his life, (I won’t say any more in case you haven’t read it). Jake Jordan’s problems continue in the second in the series, ‘Driving Dead,’ published in January 2019.
Stephen realises that the days in front of him are shorter than the ones behind him and may seem to be in a hurry to write as much as he can. But his MA slowed him down (hence having to wait so long for ‘Driving Dead’), and it has taught him that plot, character, structure, setting, and point of view, are as important as just getting the story on the page.
A TV script is now written for Blind Murder, hoping one of the TV companies will pick it up. Stephen also has ideas for a stage play, based on a true incident he attended as a cop. An audio version of both books is another idea for the future. The book he wrote for his MA, ‘Crimson Dragon’, is now published by Troubador Publishing, under the Matador imprint. You can get it via the publisher’s website (Matador) , Amazon or my website (stephen-collier.com)
During 2022, Stephen looked at expanding his creative portfolio by seeking to train as a videographer under the name Five2Eight Productions. He now has a YouTube channel of the same name which you can access from the main menu.
Stephen is currently working on two other books at the moment. The first one is a book written by a deceased family member. ‘Let The Grass Green’ was written by his aunt in the 1950’s – recently discovered in her belongings. So he thought that it would be good to reveal it in all its glory – LGGG is now available on Amazon.
Stephen is an author member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, the Society of Authors and the Crime Writers Association.
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