Featured Author E.R. Yatscoff

Visit https://bookswelove.net/yatscoff-e-r/  to purchase E.R. Yatscoff books

 If any of you readers are somewhat tired of cops, lawyers, and PI novels I’d like to steer you toward something different—firefighter crime. BWL Publishing Inc. figured it was different enough and took on my firefighting crime series. A firefighter crime series certainly fills out their wide range of genres. FIRE DREAM, MAN ON FIRE, and next year’s FINAL RESPONSE are the three comprising the series. I like writing about fire officers as they are masters at chaos control. During my career I’ve found they can handle anything—that is until I get a hold of them. My recipe is simple: mix a courageous, competent, logical fire officer with elements of murder, various crimes, and voila…firefighter crime series novels.

In FIRE DREAM the first of the series, my protagonist captain’s public persona is that of a courageous hero due to an accidental photo that went national. His visit to his hometown triggers past memories and he is blindsided by an incident he took part in as a teenager. It’s a very large skeleton in his closet. The closet door opens wider. He’s trapped by his past and can barely understand the crimes swirling around him. Two strong female digging deep, are not at all satisfied by his obfuscation and heroic persona. Revealing his murderous past may solve the crimes but destroy his life.

The same protagonist, Vancouver Fire Captain Gerry Ormond is also featured in MAN ON FIRE #2 in the series, but now he’s a chief. The story has much more crime and some returning characters, notably the strong women as in FIRE DREAM. This time they are far less hostile to him but still driven. In MAN ON FIRE the new chief gets embroiled in embezzlement, murder, extortion, and heavily involved with the Russian Mafya. Oh yeah, plenty of crime from plenty of angles.

Now FINAL RESPONSE the 3^rd in the series is totally different. The idea came to me one frigid February afternoon while on duty. A blizzard whipped snow around my fire station and for all the world seemed the entire city was abandoned—no vehicles, no pedestrians. What if me and my crew were truly alone in an empty city? The story is a bit of speculative fiction and set in Edmonton during a 6-month brutal Polar Vortex. A cadre of firefighters are tasked to protect an ‘evacuated’ city from burning down. Soon they discover a gang of thieves looting the city and the criminals don’t want any witnesses. As if the brutal weather wasn’t enough. It’s the old saying “When your up to your ass in alligators, draining the swamp is not the first priority.”

FIRE DREAM is the first Canadian firefighter crime fiction ever. Why? There’s plenty of police/detective writersbecause police response begins at the outset, arrests are made, witnesses questioned, evidence is gathered, arrests made, and finally a trial. Firefighters respond to an emergency and hand off investigations to the police who have greater resources and experience. Fire crews return to station in order to prepare and resupply equipment used at a scene. Fire investigators in Canada, except for the Toronto Arson squad who can make arrests, are limited to finding the point of origin of a fire using sniffers and dogs. Many dispatches are ‘unknown’ which can be anything including various crimes. When people don’t know who to call for an emergency—any emergency—it’s firefighters who get the call.

My 32-year career wrapped up as a Station Officer where I could sometimes have as many as 50 firefighters under my command at a large incident. I’ve lived the life and it does reflect in my writing. Initially, in MAN ON FIRE you will read about the Incident Command System which is a standard command and control operation, utilized in North America. The first responding officer on scene takes command—even a junior captain—and controls/manages the incident.

Some years back my District Chief needed some members of the community to attend Reading Week at a nearby elementary school. I got a few hours off for it. At the school I sat at a table beside a nurse, CN rail engineer, and a veterinarian. I had my yellow helmet on the table and uniform shirt with shoulder flashes. The others wore their work clothes of their various disciplines. Each of us read a page from a popular book and then the kids asked us questions. At the end of it all, the teachers told me that the kids were quite surprised to see a firefighter there; they didn’t think firefighters could read.

I have written and sold travel articles, one which won a competition. I’ve published several young readers short stories and won a 2017 John Bilsland award for a non-fiction piece.

THE RUMRUNNER’S BOY a YA historical crime fiction was an Arthur Ellis Award Finalist. The story does have an interesting background. It’s unique because it’s the first YA fiction on the rumrunning era, however; more adults are enjoying it than young adults. My grandfather was a real rumrunner in the Detroit-Windsor area. My cousin and I would often talk about him although we never knew the man because he died when we were quite young. After rolling that family history around for a number of years, I began some research and discovered there is no fiction in Canada on the rumrunning era during U.S. Prohibition. Writing a decent story might just be the winner I need.

The book was almost finished but I felt it needed more and I couldn’t really say just what that was. I headed to Essex County, Ontario and an appointment with Captain Harvey Ryersee who piloted the ferry to Pelee Island from Kingsville. He invited me up on the bridge and I got a wealth of info from him. Every name he mentioned went into my story as did the names I garnered from the Port Dover Harbor Museum. I figured on keeping the memory alive of the men during that era. Pelee Island is the most southern point in Canada in the warm waters of Lake Erie. Islands dot this western end of Lake Erie stretching down to Ohio like stepping stones, all within sight of one another. One can understand why rumrunners prowled this area as there were plenty of places to hide and dodge the U.S. Coast Guard. Unfortunately, there is no written history from there on the liquor smuggling era.

I submitted it to the Crime Writers of Canada for an Arthur Ellis Award competition. I knew I was the outlander as many authors who enter this competition are bestsellers and well known. Along with some family members in Toronto, I attended the Crime Writers of Canada awards gala. Many top Canadian authors and publishers were there. My name and my book was even in lights on the stage backdrop. I met bestselling author Linwood Barclay (love his books) who was also a finalist in my category. We spoke during the early schmoozing period. He said I would likely win as I was the ‘outsider’ and anyhow, he’d already won last year. Well, he won again. At least I know I’m in good company.

Judge for yourself. My BWL publisher author page is https://bookswelove.net/yatscoff-e-r/ My book links are: https://www.books2read.com/Fire-Dream

Dazzling Diamonds by Victoria Chatham

 

 

 AVAILABLE HERE

For writers of romance, diamonds, or at least a diamond engagement ring, tend to have a place in their stories and in His Unexpected Muse my heroine inherits a whole cache of them. Carol Channing first sang the song ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,’ in the 1949 show ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ by Jule Styne and Leo Robyn, but it was the iconic Marilyn Monroe who made the song so famous. So what is the fascination with diamonds?

As with so many roots, we can go back to the Greeks and Romans for the early mention of diamonds. Greeks thought they were the tears of the gods or splintered stars, and the philosopher Plato considered they contained celestial spirits. As early as the first century AD, Roman literature mentions that diamonds tipped Cupid’s arrows. Romans believed them to be pieces of their gods, valuing them more than gold to protect them from any harm. It became common practice for soldiers to wear them in battle. Diamonds then were of the rough, uncut variety, and it was bad luck to cut one as that would counteract its protective qualities. With the decline of the Roman Empire, the magic and mythology of diamonds faded. Other cultures mention diamonds, but never to the extent of the Romans.

There is a common conception that diamonds are formed from coal because they are both sourced from carbon. Intense heat and immense pressure deep in the earth’s mantle about 1 billion to 3.5 billion years ago caused the formation of diamonds. The movement of tectonic plates compressed buried organic material found in swamps and peat bogs, into coal. At 360 million to 290 million years old, a piece of coal is a mere child compared to a diamond.

Cullinan Diamond, Wikipedia.com

While India was the ancient source of diamonds, deposits today are located around the world in North and South America, Australia and especially South Africa, home of the massive Cullinan diamond found there in 1905, all 3,106 carats of it. When cut, parts of it were incorporated into the British Crown Jewels, which are housed in the Tower of London.

There are many famous diamonds, including the Kohinoor or Mountain of Light, the largest diamond ever found in India. The Orloff, the Hope Diamond, the Taylor-Burton, the Esperanza Diamond are just a few of the world’s famous diamonds. They come in a range of colours from green, blue, yellow and pink, with red being the rarest and most expensive and still found only in India.

Diamonds did not regain their popularity until the Renaissance when Ludwig von Berquen, a Dutch lapidary, invented the art of faceting on diamonds in 1475 to enhance their glitter and beauty. The first known diamond engagement ring was given to Mary of Burgundy by Archduke Maximilian of Austria in 1477. Through the 17^th and 18^th centuries, the wearing of diamonds as solitary stones in rings, pins, and pendants became popular. Fashions changed how diamonds were worn. Large diamond brooches were popular on tight bodices, and long drop earrings complemented a low neckline. During the Victorian era, etiquette demanded that young, unmarried women did not wear diamonds, and married women only showed them off at balls or court appearances.

image from Bluenile.com

The tradition of wearing a diamond engagement ring on the fourth finger of the left-hand stems from
the belief that for a diamond to release its full power, it must be worn on the heart, or left, side of the body. Diamonds now come in various cuts from bezel to princess, cushion to emerald, rose, radiant, pear, marquise. They are said to protect the wearer, are reputed to detect guilt or innocence, indicate good luck, and increase fertility. Whatever the cut, whatever the reason for wearing them, diamonds really can be a girl’s best friend.

 

    

Victoria Chatham

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My Book Club reads Her Vanquished Land by Diane Scott Lewis

Last month my Book Club drank wine at a winery in Western Pennsylvania and discussed my historical novel, Her Vanquished Land, which was that month's pick. I was honored when the Wine Lady suggested it when we made our year's list.

Here's the novel blurb:

In 1780, Rowena Marsh decodes messages for the British during the American Revolution. When the rebels overrun her home state of Pennsylvania, she flees with her family. Are the people loyal to England welcome anywhere in the burgeoning United States? Rowena struggles with possible defeat and permanent exile, plus her growing love for an enigmatic Welshman who may have little need for affection. The war might destroy both their lives.

But when I sat down to face the women present, I wondered if they'd liked it, disliked it, thought I was brilliant or a hack.
Here were the comments:

"I thought the story of the Loyalists and Patriots paralleled today's government situation. Stay in the system and fix it or change to a new system."

"You really painted the historical picture, everyday things, and the bigger picture of the war."

"Use of Welsh was well done."

"I loved the Welshman."

"Rowena was a strong, intelligent heroine, who also questioned the system and why the two factions were fighting."

"Made history come alive! And I loved the Welshman."

"The two aunts were opposites, one frivolous, the other steady; I liked how the frivolous aunt showed her bravery in the one instant she needed to, banging a thief on the head with a teapot."

"The history was well done and fit right into the story, not overwhelming it."

One woman, a head librarian, said she loved my cover, very striking.

When I asked for any negative comments:
One woman said she'd read another book where the author used long sentences, and coming to mine, the sentences seemed choppy. But once she got into the story, she liked the structure and the fast pace.

I hope they weren't being kind to not bruise my feelings, but my novel seemed a triumph. It was good to get so many outside opinions on a novel I labored over.

To purchase my novels, and my other BWL books: BWL

Find out more about me and my novels on my website: Dianescottlewis

Diane Scott Lewis lives in Western Pennsylvania with her husband and one naughty puppy.