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Brandilyn
Collins
“You know the drill. Strap
that seat belt on tight,
keep your hands inside the
car, and don’t forget to b r
e a t h e…”
These words are an
invitation from Christian
suspense writer Brandilyn
Collins to climb aboard her
latest book and get ready
for a gut wrenching ride.
After a warning like that, I
don’t advise letting
Brandilyn take her turn in
the carpool.
But if you want a roller
coaster ride with incredible
heights, bladder spilling
drops and violent spiral
twists that leave you
quaking with reaction as it
slows to a stop, read Violet
Dawn. But I warn you--after
a few calming breaths, your
next words will be--Let’s do
it again! And she’s prepared
for that, too.
Brandilyn Collins is
credited with writing ‘seat
belt suspense’. She’s a
Christian writer so you
won’t find profanity or sex
in her books, but you will
find a few dead bodies
scattered here and there--
and secrets, and shadows,
and questions--everything
required for a nail-biting
read. But she doesn’t beat
you over the head with a
sermon.
“I used to write women’s
fiction as well as
suspense,” said Collins.
“During a marketing meeting
with Zondervan Publishing in
January of 2005, we decided
I should write suspense
only. However, my bent
toward women’s fiction tends
to give my suspense novels
more characterization.”
Brandilyn has a home in
Coeur d’Alene and her latest
book, Violet Dawn is the
first in her new Kanner Lake
series. Half-way between
Priest River and Spirit Lake
near the Spirit Lake Cutoff
Road, sits the quaint,
fictional town of Kanner
Lake. |
“I wanted my fictional town
and lake somewhere in
the Panhandle, not too far
from Coeur d’Alene,” said
Collins. “I looked to find a
good-size area where I could
place them. To the west of
Spirit Lake Cut-off Road
looked perfect. I just had
to move a few hills.”
A load of research goes into
her books to make them
authentic. She traveled to
the area where Kanner Lake
sits, and spent hours
talking to law enforcement
from the small towns of
Priest River and Spirit Lake
to find out how a small town
police department would
handle different scenarios.
She met with Spirit Lake
Chief of Police, Tony
Lamanna last summer and sent
e-mails back and forth to
make sure her fictional cops
would react the way they
should.
“Tony knows his stuff, so
I’ve relied on him a lot to
keep the story accurate with
law enforcement issues,”
said Collins. “He taught me
how he watches people for
lies, his thought processes
while interviewing, his
philosophy about handling
the media, etc. These
nuances helped bring Vince
Edwards, my fictional chief
of police, alive. I was able
to write quite a few
chapters from Vince’s point
of view, which helps make
Violet Dawn an interesting
read for men as well as
women.”
Violet Dawn hit the
bookstores in August, and
it’s sequel, Coral Moon, is
expected in March of 2007.
For more information about
books by Brandilyn Collins
go to
www.brandilyncollins.com
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Pat
McManus
GOES FICTION!
Patrick McManus is a legend in the
Northwest
and well-known throughout the United
States. He could be best known for
his humor column in Outdoor Life
Magazine. Or maybe he’s best known
for some of his books that hit the
New York Times Best sellers list.
With titles like, Never Sniff a Gift
Fish, Deer on a Bicycle, and The
Bear in the Attic, it’s not hard to
see, the man has a funny bone.
But after writing numerous factual
articles and short humor for
magazines, 17 books and four one-man
shows over the past 50 years, he’s
decided to change gears.
“About a year ago, I decided to try
something
different from my short humor
pieces,” said Pat. “Now that I’m 72,
I decided it was time to try a
novel. It seemed to me that the
mystery novel would be the simplest,
in that it has a well defined form.
So I wrote The Blight Way, which was
published last March by Simon &
Schuster.”
McManus fans have searched out his
books for years and his new book is
no exception.
“My ambition was simply to get a
novel published, but it received
some great reviews, so I am now
writing a mystery series about my
protagonist Sheriff, Bo Tully,” said
Pat.
The paperback of The Blight Way will
be out in February 2007. One month
later the second novel in the
series, Avalanche, will be out in
hard cover.
“In Avalanche, Tully is trapped back
in the mountains by an avalanche,”
said Pat. “From there he must
attempt to solve a murder that
occurs in Blight City, on the other
side of the avalanche.” Pat, in this
paragraph your quote has the word
avalanche 3 times. Would it work if
I changed the last one to “on the
other side of the mountain”? |
Sandpoint loves to lay
claim to Pat McManus. And why not?
He was born and raised here, where
many of his stories originate from,
as well as some of his characters.
“I often use the adventures of my
youth for stories, and in them
readers will recognize the names of
many of my Idaho friends,” said Pat.
“These characters tell me they don’t
recognize the adventures from my
stories, but they are all getting
old now and their memories probably
aren’t as good as they once were.”
Mmm hmm, sure Pat. Somebody’s memory
could be faulty I suppose.McManus
books are read by people from every
walk of life, from university
professors to elementary students.
“My books are often used in schools
and have been particularly useful in
stimulating reluctant readers to
read, usually boys who would rather
be out fishing or camping than
sitting in school.”
Right now Pat is busy staying on top
of his humor articles for Outdoor
Life magazine, he also has a
collection of his humor pieces
coming out in the fall of 2007.
He’ll be back in North Idaho in the
spring to sign copies of Avalanche
when it’s released.
“I’m also working on a foreword for
The Bean Book, authored and
illustrated by my old friend Roy
“Boots” Reynolds, who lives on a
North Idaho mountain top,” said Pat.
If you’d like a sneak peek of The
Blight Way, you can read the entire
first chapter online at
www.mcmanusbooks.com
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Ben Olson of Sandpoint has seen and
done more in his 25 years than most
of us will ever do. When he needs
money, he heads to Hollywood and
helps make commercials and
documentaries.
“I make really good money down there
but I hate it,” said Ben.
“I’ll make enough to let me come
back up here and be a bum. When I
run out of money I go back down.”
When things are getting stagnant,
he’ll take off to parts unknown in
hopes that his experiences
will zap his creativity, like a
defibrillator can bring a heart back
to life.
“I like putting myself in a position
that I’ll have to get out of,” said
Ben. “It always produces interesting
consequences. But I just have to do
it to purge myself, then I come back
and I’m fine.”
Last January, Ben started to feel
trapped.
“My writing wasn’t doing worth a
shit, so I thought I’d shake things
up,” he said.
Ben packed, headed for the train
station and bought a Rail Pass for
$385. It’s a pass that allows you to
come and go on Amtrak for 30 days,
anywhere you want to go, as many
trips as you like.
“I just wanted to see and observe
and write and not be in control of
where I was going,” he said.
Ben writes for the Sandpoint Reader
and during his month on the train,
he sent articles about his
adventures, which were published
each week in his absence.
“At one point I was hitch-hiking and
two really weird southern homo
truckers picked me up in a row. They
were propositioning me, and one I
had to shove and escape from. It was
really scary, it was 1:30 in the
morning,” he said. “I ran out of
money and had to come home a couple
days early. But I was ready, I was
eating peanut butter out of a can
and drinking only water. Besides
after the trucker experience and
being broke, I knew that was the
climax. That was the weirdest it
could get, and the best it could
get.”
Back in Sandpoint, Ben sent his
articles to every publisher and
agent he could find. As the weeks
went by, the rejections started
coming. In April, Tom Moore of
Alphar Publishing called. After a
few traded emails Ben received a
publishing contract and a deadline
of June 1.
It was all a bunch of non-fiction
articles, so I had to hurry and make
it fiction with a story and dialog.
I wrote it in 37 days. I wish I
would have had more time to smooth
it out. I see errors in the book
that I just hate.”
According to Ben, his book,
Wanderlost, is 98% nonfiction, the
story of his Amtrak adventure. But
he likes the protection fiction
provides.
“There are some very illegal things
that happen in the book. Besides,
if I’d gone nonfiction it would have
been like a memoir, and I’m too
young to write a memoir.”
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