Ask the Author: Bruce M. Perrin
Answered Questions (5)
Bruce M. Perrin
This question popped up on my author dashboard recently. I’m not sure if it was distributed widely or if they targeted a few of us recalcitrants who ignored months of prompts to sign up for a reading challenge.
Hey, Goodreads, I’ll be reading some books, but do I need to give a figure? I do? OK, how about…23? It wasn’t that I didn’t want to give a number, but rather, I didn’t want to explain it. So, here goes.
First, there’s The Obsidian Chamber, number 16 in the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Yeah, guilty. I’ve read the other 15, plus the short story, Extraction. So, that makes Special Agent Aloysius Xingu L. Pendergast one of my oldest acquaintances, along with Jack Reacher, Harry Bosch, Jack Ryan, Oliver Stone, and Lucas Davenport…among others.
Then, I have my eye on a few works by rising stars. I have to get the sequel to Body on the Barstool by Lolli Powell, which I understand will be called Whiskey Kills. The original cracked me up. And Lincoln Cole’s World on Fire series (Raven’s Peak et. al) was some great storytelling, but it’s a post promising a book in the technothriller genre that has me waiting impatiently. That’s my preferred genre. And of course, there’ll be a dozen new, yet undiscovered favorites along the way. (I’m not into planning my reading life too carefully.)
So now, if you’re counting, you’re thinking I’m about 10 books short…but not really. I’ll make up the difference reading my own words. Actually, it’ll add up quite quickly, with me re-reading and re-working those the sections of the next manuscript that come together well only 3-4 times, and the parts that don’t, like 63 times.
There, like I said, 23 book equivalents…but who’s counting?
So, what’s on your summer reading list?
Hey, Goodreads, I’ll be reading some books, but do I need to give a figure? I do? OK, how about…23? It wasn’t that I didn’t want to give a number, but rather, I didn’t want to explain it. So, here goes.
First, there’s The Obsidian Chamber, number 16 in the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Yeah, guilty. I’ve read the other 15, plus the short story, Extraction. So, that makes Special Agent Aloysius Xingu L. Pendergast one of my oldest acquaintances, along with Jack Reacher, Harry Bosch, Jack Ryan, Oliver Stone, and Lucas Davenport…among others.
Then, I have my eye on a few works by rising stars. I have to get the sequel to Body on the Barstool by Lolli Powell, which I understand will be called Whiskey Kills. The original cracked me up. And Lincoln Cole’s World on Fire series (Raven’s Peak et. al) was some great storytelling, but it’s a post promising a book in the technothriller genre that has me waiting impatiently. That’s my preferred genre. And of course, there’ll be a dozen new, yet undiscovered favorites along the way. (I’m not into planning my reading life too carefully.)
So now, if you’re counting, you’re thinking I’m about 10 books short…but not really. I’ll make up the difference reading my own words. Actually, it’ll add up quite quickly, with me re-reading and re-working those the sections of the next manuscript that come together well only 3-4 times, and the parts that don’t, like 63 times.
There, like I said, 23 book equivalents…but who’s counting?
So, what’s on your summer reading list?
Bruce M. Perrin
This is a tough one, because my life is so humdrum.
I guess there was a bit of mystery surrounding a letter some of my St. Louis neighbors and I found a couple of years ago. True, it was just an unpaid water bill, but the circumstances were a bit suspicious.
We were chipping out some old sections of a concrete sidewalk to reclaim a small area for a neighborhood green space when we found the letter. The bill had been due in March and it was now April. We didn’t become concerned, however, until we noticed the bill had been due in March two years earlier. But in thinking back about it now, it was probably because the letter was in the back pocket of a dead man’s jeans that really got us spun up.
The man was later identified as Bill Waite, which seemed about right. And since he was a scientist working on some type of advanced stealth weapon, one of those three-letter agencies was called in to investigate. I never realized they were so specialized, until I saw they were from the Bureau of Undercover Munitions.
The BUMs immediately suspected the next-door neighbor, Mary Hopkins, a 77-year-old, retired third grade teacher. She had no alibi for the two-week period when Bill had gone missing. There were whole blocks of eight hours or more when the widow claimed no one had seen her. And since Bill’s girlfriend, Natasha Popov had disappeared about the same time as Bill, she couldn’t vouch for Mary either. Last we saw, Natasha was driving off in her Ferrari, probably going to the airport to visit her old, dying mother in the Ukraine. She did that a lot.
Of course, the whole mystery disappeared when the doctors completed the autopsy. Bill had died of a heart attack. It was just one of those strange coincidences that he fell in the open trench for the sidewalk at the exact moment that the worker and his six supervisors were all looking the other way…probably watching Natasha drive away, because she always liked to have her top down.
So, with the mystery solved, I guess that won’t work for a book after all, because my life is so humdrum…
I guess there was a bit of mystery surrounding a letter some of my St. Louis neighbors and I found a couple of years ago. True, it was just an unpaid water bill, but the circumstances were a bit suspicious.
We were chipping out some old sections of a concrete sidewalk to reclaim a small area for a neighborhood green space when we found the letter. The bill had been due in March and it was now April. We didn’t become concerned, however, until we noticed the bill had been due in March two years earlier. But in thinking back about it now, it was probably because the letter was in the back pocket of a dead man’s jeans that really got us spun up.
The man was later identified as Bill Waite, which seemed about right. And since he was a scientist working on some type of advanced stealth weapon, one of those three-letter agencies was called in to investigate. I never realized they were so specialized, until I saw they were from the Bureau of Undercover Munitions.
The BUMs immediately suspected the next-door neighbor, Mary Hopkins, a 77-year-old, retired third grade teacher. She had no alibi for the two-week period when Bill had gone missing. There were whole blocks of eight hours or more when the widow claimed no one had seen her. And since Bill’s girlfriend, Natasha Popov had disappeared about the same time as Bill, she couldn’t vouch for Mary either. Last we saw, Natasha was driving off in her Ferrari, probably going to the airport to visit her old, dying mother in the Ukraine. She did that a lot.
Of course, the whole mystery disappeared when the doctors completed the autopsy. Bill had died of a heart attack. It was just one of those strange coincidences that he fell in the open trench for the sidewalk at the exact moment that the worker and his six supervisors were all looking the other way…probably watching Natasha drive away, because she always liked to have her top down.
So, with the mystery solved, I guess that won’t work for a book after all, because my life is so humdrum…
Bruce M. Perrin
This question showed up in my ‘Ask the Author’ queue a couple of days ago, and admittedly, I was about to hit the ‘skip’ button. After all, this is a soft lob right in the wheelhouse of the Romance authors for Valentine’s Day. What do I know, writing techno-thrillers?
In fact, I have more than one book review where I poke some fun at the stereotypic couple in the thriller genre. You know the type. The damsel in distress is six-sigma on some specialized skill that most of us have only the foggiest notion about, like quantum physics or nanotechnology. (And those of you who don’t have statistics as a second language, six sigma means something that happens once every 1.38 million years, or about twice in the history of humankind – that’s pretty rare.) But she still manages to be compassionate and, of course, beautiful. Across from her is the male, who is almost equally unique in his skill set, which tends to run to combat skills and/or investigative techniques. Yes, these couples make for a fun read…but they’re not exactly the grist for a lasting love story.
But I’ve been known to read outside my writing genre, and yes, there is a couple that has long stuck in my memory – Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald sometime in high school…meaning many years ago. And there was something about that book that stuck with me. It could have been the mystery surrounding Jay. It could be that he threw the most awesome parties of all time. But I have to believe that it was Jay’s obsession with Daisy that got lodged in my memory for all time. Of course, F. Scott has to also throw us what in the thriller genre would be ‘the twist.’ In this case, after Jay finally wins Daisy back – after a lifelong, unwavering quest – he admits that the relationship wasn’t all that he expected.
I didn’t see that one coming.
In fact, I have more than one book review where I poke some fun at the stereotypic couple in the thriller genre. You know the type. The damsel in distress is six-sigma on some specialized skill that most of us have only the foggiest notion about, like quantum physics or nanotechnology. (And those of you who don’t have statistics as a second language, six sigma means something that happens once every 1.38 million years, or about twice in the history of humankind – that’s pretty rare.) But she still manages to be compassionate and, of course, beautiful. Across from her is the male, who is almost equally unique in his skill set, which tends to run to combat skills and/or investigative techniques. Yes, these couples make for a fun read…but they’re not exactly the grist for a lasting love story.
But I’ve been known to read outside my writing genre, and yes, there is a couple that has long stuck in my memory – Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald sometime in high school…meaning many years ago. And there was something about that book that stuck with me. It could have been the mystery surrounding Jay. It could be that he threw the most awesome parties of all time. But I have to believe that it was Jay’s obsession with Daisy that got lodged in my memory for all time. Of course, F. Scott has to also throw us what in the thriller genre would be ‘the twist.’ In this case, after Jay finally wins Daisy back – after a lifelong, unwavering quest – he admits that the relationship wasn’t all that he expected.
I didn’t see that one coming.
Bruce M. Perrin
Hey Bob -
A name from the past! Did I really talk about writing back then? I don't remember, but now that I have time, it feels less like an accomplishment and just like something that I enjoy doing.
And even if it wasn't a question, it was great to hear from you. If you want to catch up on old times, message me through Goodreads with your email address, or get mine from my blog: brucemperrin.blogspot.com. I have no idea what you are up to these days.
A name from the past! Did I really talk about writing back then? I don't remember, but now that I have time, it feels less like an accomplishment and just like something that I enjoy doing.
And even if it wasn't a question, it was great to hear from you. If you want to catch up on old times, message me through Goodreads with your email address, or get mine from my blog: brucemperrin.blogspot.com. I have no idea what you are up to these days.
Bruce M. Perrin
A friend, when he saw I had published my first book, emailed me, “Half A Mind…….Autobiography? :)”
Although those who know me might expect that, no, my life was not the inspiration for the book. It was actually another friend who recommended a novel, saying, ‘You’ll like it. It is about brain plasticity gone wrong.’
If you are thinking, brain plasticity sounds vaguely familiar, but completely uninteresting, I can address the first issue.
Unless you are employed in an academic or professional field that studies the human nervous system, you have most likely heard of brain plasticity in a news story. Plasticity is the cure when a 2-year old falls from his bike, sustains a head injury that causes, for example, the loss of speech, but then develops speech again using a different part of the brain. It is the nervous system re-wiring itself in order to replace a lost function. And it has been credited with some remarkable recoveries.
I was intrigued. How could the brain’s natural curative capabilities go wrong? What events or technology would be needed to produce re-wiring? What form would the maladaptation take? I thought I had some promising hypotheses about the novel.
Then, I got a copy of the book and read it. None of my guesses about it was correct…because the book was not about plasticity. It did mention it, but the suspense was not from it.
As the book did not satisfy my curiosity, and perhaps increased it, I dug further into the research on neural re-wiring, only to find many of my hypotheses were much more than that. They were techniques and technologies, in the labs and in the headlines. To my surprise and my apprehension, our capabilities brought us closer to this neural demise than I had ever thought. And the kernel for Half A Mind had taken form.
Although those who know me might expect that, no, my life was not the inspiration for the book. It was actually another friend who recommended a novel, saying, ‘You’ll like it. It is about brain plasticity gone wrong.’
If you are thinking, brain plasticity sounds vaguely familiar, but completely uninteresting, I can address the first issue.
Unless you are employed in an academic or professional field that studies the human nervous system, you have most likely heard of brain plasticity in a news story. Plasticity is the cure when a 2-year old falls from his bike, sustains a head injury that causes, for example, the loss of speech, but then develops speech again using a different part of the brain. It is the nervous system re-wiring itself in order to replace a lost function. And it has been credited with some remarkable recoveries.
I was intrigued. How could the brain’s natural curative capabilities go wrong? What events or technology would be needed to produce re-wiring? What form would the maladaptation take? I thought I had some promising hypotheses about the novel.
Then, I got a copy of the book and read it. None of my guesses about it was correct…because the book was not about plasticity. It did mention it, but the suspense was not from it.
As the book did not satisfy my curiosity, and perhaps increased it, I dug further into the research on neural re-wiring, only to find many of my hypotheses were much more than that. They were techniques and technologies, in the labs and in the headlines. To my surprise and my apprehension, our capabilities brought us closer to this neural demise than I had ever thought. And the kernel for Half A Mind had taken form.
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