Blog Archives
Karmic Debt
What the Living Do follows a woman navigating the wreckage of her past, a harrowing cancer diagnosis, and the line between self-destruction and redemption, all while searching for meaning and healing. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I have been curious about what happens to the animals hit on our roads and wondered about those who had to dispose of them. If it was a woman doing that job, what would she be like? What would make her want a job that would bring her so close to death? She would have to be tough or want to be bullet-proof, and she would need a history that caused her to be so tough. Most stories begin with the question, “What if…?” So I asked, “What if she was diagnosed with cancer?” Well, maybe she thought she deserved it, and maybe she believed she didn’t deserve any of the good things in her life… hence, Brett was born.
How did Brett’s character evolve during the writing process?
For the most part, Brett is frustrated and frustrating. She pushes back against the good in her life and seriously considers running away to die. Through her encounters with animals—ones she hits, ones she finds, and her sweet dog, Beckett, she starts to pay attention to what is true. Even though she doesn’t seem to be listening to anyone, she actually hears everything. Most readers want to give her a wake-up slap but ultimately find they can understand and relate to her character.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The misguided idea that illness or disease is somehow deserved was the underlying theme. How we ask ourselves, “What did I do wrong?” when faced with a grave diagnosis, having an accident, suffering a loss, etc. From believing that God is punishing us for our sins to imagining we must repay a Karmic debt to what we ate or drank… many of us experience guilt when misfortune falls. We assume it must be our fault.
I also wanted to highlight the exploitation of sexual pleasure in children, and how those experiences can have damaging and lasting repercussions on one’s sexual attitudes.
Grieving is a long, long process, and everyone’s process is their own.
There’s also a nod to how difficult it is to adopt when one isn’t able to birth one’s own.
What do you hope readers take away from Brett’s story, especially those who may see parts of themselves in her struggles?
That it’s not your fault! Shit happens. And to find comfort in the goodness in one’s life, whatever form that might take.
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What The Living Do
Susan Wadds’ debut novel, What the Living Do, is a haunting exploration of Brett Catlin’s life—a woman grappling with the echoes of her traumatic past, a devastating cancer diagnosis, and the delicate balance between self-destruction and survival. Through Brett’s introspective journey, Wadds crafts a story that is both raw and beautifully poetic as Brett navigates her relationships and the fragmented pieces of her past to find healing.
Wadds has a way of weaving words that feel like they’re sinking straight into your bones. Early on, Brett’s job handling roadkill becomes a visceral metaphor for her internal state. I couldn’t shake the image of her burying a young dog in the hard-packed dirt, her thoughts unraveling like the rib bone poking through the carcass. These moments, uncomfortable yet profound, bring Brett’s pain and search for meaning to life.
Wadds isn’t afraid to show us the beauty and brutality of survival. Her conversations with Mel, who teaches her to pray for animals rather than to them, are some of the most grounding moments in the story. These exchanges are a quiet counterpoint to the chaos of her dynamic with Cole, her younger lover. The contrast between Mel’s stoic spirituality and Cole’s boyish longing for stability highlights Brett’s own turmoil. I also appreciated Wadds’ portrayal of Brett’s past trauma and how it reverberates into her present.
The novel doesn’t shy away from difficult topics—childhood abuse, survivor’s guilt, and the weight of familial expectations. Yet, Wadds handles these with sensitivity and grace. The recurring motifs of fire, ash, and the lingering scent of smoke are haunting reminders of Brett’s unresolved grief. They mirror her struggle to reconcile the ghosts of her family and her own self-worth.
Wadds writes with a compassion and honesty that is rare and deeply moving. What the Living Do is perfect for anyone who isn’t afraid to confront the messiness of life, grief, and the hope of healing. Fans of literary fiction with emotional depth will find much to admire in Brett’s journey.
Pages: 253 | ASIN: B0C1P62CS5
The Essence of a Being
The Gemini Project follows a seventeen-year-old boy who discovers his entire life has been a lie and now must find a way to escape the school he lives in in order to survive. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration is a bit of a spoiler alert. I had a thought what if this certain event happened, and that became a brain-worm. Each day I would expand on the story and new characters would enter my head, and I knew it wouldn’t go away until I wrote something down!
I find the world you created in this novel brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from and how did it change as you were writing?
As I wrote the story, it hit me that I was naturally writing about the future in past tense. At one point in the text, when something happens to the protagonist, I suddenly found myself writing in the present tense. Although this change in style just seemed natural to the flow, I hope that it also helps draw the reader into the experiences of the protagonist.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The story covers parental relationships, especially those where a parent is detached from their child, as in the case of a parent who outsources the upbringing of their child. The story also explores neurological development and tries to answer the question of what the soul consists of, or more accurately the essence of a being. Finally, the story takes place in a dystopian world, however, not a fantasy world. The overarching theme is a warning as the world that is developed is in the realm of the possible.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?
This is a stand-alone story, however my next novel Nothing but the Truth takes a very similar path in its style of story-telling.
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Dr. William Osler works at the Academy and considers himself an amateur philosopher and would-be comedian. He befriends Jan and sees the boy’s keen desire to learn. Quietly in the background, the doctor teaches his student to read. Dr. Osler knows that the 17-year-old boy will die, the same way his older brother died, in less than two weeks. However, addicted to a designer drug, the doctor is constantly high as he tries to fight his own demons.
Tre Ericson is Jan’s father. He sees his son four times a year but feels no love for him. While desperately trying to please his father, Jan discovers a tunnel that runs under the school. The tunnel contains a dark secret, which initiates a chain of events that might save Jan’s life!
The Gemini Project is must-read coming-of-age novel that deals with a dystopian future and the world of neurology. The story of Jan Ericson will take you to unpredictable places in a battle of life and death.
Stop Feeling Ashamed
But Baby, You’re Worth It! follows a woman who, during childbirth, experiences life-threatening medical errors resulting in severe physical and emotional scars. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I drew the inspiration for this story from my own experiences. In particular, the injuries and trauma I sustained during my son’s birth but also after the difficult time during and after my daughter’s birth some twelve years earlier. Something that struck me both times, was how alone and isolated I felt despite the massive amount of support that I had around me.
Birth trauma is a topic that is seldom discussed. When it is, the long-term impacts and the healing process are rarely addressed. What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?
My goal in sharing this story was, my own healing journey aside, to help kickstart the conversation about birth trauma and the profound impact it has on women and their families. The healing journey after a traumatic birth can be really scary, especially when there are injuries sustained during that birth. I want us, as a society, to stop feeling ashamed about talking about our experiences. The “village” has never been more important than it is in this scenario.
Did you plan the tone and direction of the novel before writing or did it come out organically as you were writing?
The writing happened very much organically. The first draft took me three weeks to write. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and haven’t stopped writing since.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I have finished writing the sequel to But Baby, You’re Worth It! The second book is with ASPG now and I expect it to be released mid to late October. I am also working through my editor’s suggestions for my third book and hope to see it released by December. My fourth book is a few chapters in as well but my goal for 2024 is to publish the first three!
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Those first blissful days were soon forgotten though as they were slowly but surely replaced by pain, trauma and heartache. All because of mistakes made in the delivery room, mistakes that could have cost her, her life. As the full extent of those medical mistakes starts to become apparent Tabitha must make some life altering and devastating decisions. Her journey back from a dark place would take every ounce of fight that she had. Her job was on the line, her mother’s health was flailing and her children needed her, despite her fears to the contrary. Could she fix what was broken inside and be happy once more?
Medical Thrillers
Doctor Lucifer follows a proficient but cynical internist who becomes the target of a hacker who is killing his patients by altering their medical records. What was the initial idea behind this story, and how did that transform as you were writing the novel?
As someone who had gone through medical school and the first year of residency before calling it quits, I had seen the various ways that medical records in clinics and hospitals were maintained. Some still primarily used paper charts, another had all-electronic medical records, and others were in between. During the time I began brainstorming my own medical thriller stories after reading several by Robin Cook, I thought about cybersecurity breaches and whether they could directly impact healthcare, where a hacker could change a medication dose or something else in a medical record and ultimately leave a patient suffering or dying from a deliberately placed medical error. I proceeded to think of different ways that a manufactured error in an electronic medical record could harm or kill a patient. Then it was just a matter of placing them in the most appropriate places on the story’s fictional timeline. At first, I had spread them evenly out, but then I knew I had to turn up the stakes. That’s when I decided to shove the first three medical disasters into the beginning, making them occur nearly at the same time.
How did you come up with the idea for the antagonist in this story, and how did it change as you wrote?
I had so much fun figuring out how the computer hacker could sabotage medical records that I never thought about the villain’s identity at first. Once I finished the part of the story where the doctor protagonist has to survive in the hospital, I spent time brainstorming who the villain would be and what the motives are. Without giving anything away, I came up with all of this after thinking about another issue with the medical profession that I felt strongly about. It led me to devise an origin story for the antagonist that, if explained clearly, could ultimately be connected back to the computer hacker plot. It was like taking two pieces of metal and welding them together with a blowtorch, making sure that they connected smoothly and solidly.
I find that while writing, you sometimes ask questions and have the characters answer them. Do you find that to be true? What questions did you ask yourself while writing this story?
Many authors like to talk to their created characters like they’re real-life people in front of them, which can be fun. For me, however, the character of Mark Lin is really a version of myself, specifically me from many years ago during my darkest and most frustrating moments in medical training. I don’t find myself talking to Mark Lin as a separate imaginary person.
While writing my novel, the questions I asked were really addressed to myself. For example, I asked why Mark Lin is such a cynical and angry physician. The answer is simple: I discovered how hard it really is to be a doctor, unlike what the general public might assume, so I naturally felt the need to show everyone outside healthcare what the job is really like and how intense it can get sometimes. Another major question I asked was whether Mark Lin has the potential to grow. The answer was a definite yes because I myself opened my mind and learned things in my adult life. Surely, Mark can, too.
Can you tell us more about what’s in store for Dr. Mark Lin and the direction of the second book?
My series of medical thrillers featuring Dr. Mark Lin are all about the intersection of the world of medicine and society at large. There is a two-way relationship between medicine and society. Medicine heals people and gives them a second chance at life in society, whereas the things that happen in society determine what kinds of conditions the world of medicine treats. For example, a hospital located in a high-crime area of the city is likely to treat victims of gunshots and stabbings, and a clinic in a poor area of a city is more likely to see preventable conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. In this context, I imagine schemes by various bad actors in society whose impacts amount to a looming public health crisis spilling into healthcare, and Dr. Mark Lin, a doctor who is also disgusted with humanity, tackles the problem both inside the hospital as a doctor and outside the hospital as a tough amateur sleuth. On the way, he may learn lessons that help him become more of a compassionate human being.
Normally, I try to avoid previewing future books before their manuscripts are finished, just to maximize the anticipation before eventual publication. But if anyone asks, I can gladly share select details. My second book will be about the intersection of healthcare and cults. Specifically, Mark faces the consequences of a secretive healing cult that is spreading medical disinformation. Besides treating patients who suffer from the cult’s dangerous practices, Mark goes undercover as a member of that cult, to find out if this group had indeed radicalized someone into murdering multiple people at a clinic, including a patient of his.
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In today’s digital world, no one is safe from cyberattacks. Not even medical doctors and hospitals. Can a hacker remotely kill a doctor’s patients, just by altering medical records?
Dr. Mark Lin, a proficient but cynical and disillusioned internist, is the target of such a hacker, known as Doctor Lucifer. Three of his patients at Ivory Memorial Hospital suffer from medication errors, created by the hacker, yet Mark is forced to take the blame. However, he knows that a computer worm is spreading worldwide and crippling network security everywhere. When Doctor Lucifer threatens more patient deaths, Mark vows to defend his honor.
Together with the hospital’s information technology team, Mark scrambles to outwit the hacker and avert one medical crisis after another. But the consequences of Doctor Lucifer’s actions still hurt Mark, who soon hits rock bottom at the hands of a vengeful widow and an egotistical surgeon. He has no choice but to hunt down and confront Doctor Lucifer, an enemy with a truly malicious purpose.
Doctor Lucifer, Anthony Lee’s debut novel that is the first of a series, is a new take on the medical thriller, featuring unusual life-and-death situations, an antihero doctor taking center stage, and hard-hitting commentary on the state of humanity itself.
Doctor Lucifer
Doctor Lucifer by Anthony Lee is a compelling blend of medical drama and cyber warfare, delving into the sinister potential of our digital age. The story follows Dr. Mark Lin, a skilled yet skeptical internist at Ivory Memorial Hospital, who becomes ensnared in a deadly game with a malevolent hacker known as Doctor Lucifer. As medication errors orchestrated by the hacker lead to the deaths of three patients, Mark finds himself wrongly accused and must team up with the hospital’s IT team to unmask the real perpetrator. The stakes are high as he battles to clear his name and avert further tragedies.
Anthony Lee’s narrative shines in its portrayal of the complex intersection between modern technology and medicine. Themes such as technological vulnerability, professional integrity, and the personal toll of cybercrime are explored with depth and nuance. The novel’s strength lies in its ability to weave suspense with a dramatic portrayal of contemporary challenges in the medical field. The diverse supporting cast, particularly the hospital’s IT team and staff, enriches the story, creating a multifaceted world that adds layers to the main plot. The abundance of technical jargon related to cybersecurity may present a learning opportunity for readers new to these concepts. A more balanced integration of technical details could enhance the story’s accessibility, inviting a broader audience to appreciate its depth. Dr. Lin’s internal conflicts and introspections, essential for his character development, are richly portrayed; however, a more varied and succinct expression of his thoughts could refine the narrative’s pace, making it even more engaging.
Doctor Lucifer is a thought-provoking and exhilarating read that revitalizes the medical thriller genre. It promises a thrilling journey for fans of the Dr. Mark Lin Medical Thrillers series and leaves readers eager for more adventures.
Pages: 315 | ASIN : B0D1YTHPG1
Shadow In The Ward
Ari Gray’s Shadow in the Ward weaves a compelling tale set in a not-so-distant future of 2042, where robotic physicians challenge the relevance of human healthcare professionals. At the heart of this story is Dr. Seth Kelley, a man burdened by his professional uncertainties and personal commitments, including caring for his wife, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. Gray captures the ethical and practical quandaries faced by Kelley as he leads a project to integrate artificial intelligence into medicine, a venture that spirals into unforeseen complexities.
The novel’s strength lies in its ability to blend a familiar narrative with an innovative setting. Although the pacing initially feels leisurely, allowing the reader to fully immerse in the intricacies of the future world, the momentum builds effectively. Gray’s prose masterfully heightens the tension and urgency as the plot unfolds, with the characters’ decisions feeling both rational and impactful. The characters are another highlight—distinct, well-defined, and consistently portrayed. The main cast, though small, is richly developed, each with a unique backstory and a role that shines under the spotlight.
ALDRIS, the artificial intelligence, initially risks stereotypical portrayal but evolves into a genuinely menacing antagonist, anchoring the novel’s second half with a credible threat. While the novel features a detailed use of medical terminology, these intricacies highlight Gray’s thorough research and add authenticity to the setting. Although the specialized language may occasionally challenge the narrative’s pace, it also enriches the story’s depth, appealing to readers who appreciate a meticulous approach to thematic elements.
Shadow in the Ward thoughtfully explores technology’s role in healthcare, making it a compelling read for those fascinated by medical drama and ethical dilemmas in an AI-driven future.
Pages: 356 | ASIN : B0CSBYHT6B
A Simple Recipe
Teaching Machines how To Cry follows a woman with a bionic leg and a mysterious connection to a prototype AI unit, who returns to her childhood hometown and is reconnected with the AI, discovering secrets about her life. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I have worked in the field of AI for the last eight years. I was responsible for managing the development, testing, and deployment of AI prototypes to advance the work of the United Nations and its partners to tackle issues such as poverty, climate change, and conflict around the world.
Every day I advocated for the ethical design and use of AI technology whether I was in the office or on the world stage.
A few months back, my son Alan asked me (as he does every other night) “Mommy, tell me a story.” As I told him the story of a child pirate who navigated the Caribbean Sea, something clicked inside me – why not share my thoughts and beliefs about AI and ethics by telling a story about it? The day after, I woke up before my alarm clock, and I wrote the first paragraphs of Teaching Machines How to Cry.
What kind of research did you do for this novel to ensure you captured the essence of the story’s theme?
Before I wrote my debut novel, Teaching Machines how to Cry, I authored many book chapters, blogs, and reports about the innovative and responsible ways to use AI technologies for sustainable development, humanitarian action, and peace.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
My debut novel, Teaching Machines how To Cry, is made out of a few ingredients and it follows a simple recipe. The ingredients are: nine ounces of AI and ethics, nine ounces of raw emotions, nine ounces of machine learning and a pinch of Porto city. I mixed all the ingredients, then I wrapped the mixture in a veil of spirituality and added a generous sprinkle of humor.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I am now working on translating my first novel into Spanish.
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But she feels empty. Something is missing and despite all she tries she can’t figure out what it is. The last time she remembers feeling fulfilled was as a child when her family hosted M, an AI-prototype, who became her companion. At the time she unexpectedly lost M her hollow feelings grew. She longs to find something she lost in her life and believes that M can help.
Briefly, a love affair with a fellow scientist fills her emotionally, but when tragedy strikes, she realises that she needs M more than ever. When M mysteriously returns to her, she discovers that everything she believed about her life has been wrong, and there is only one course of action to bring her back to wholeness. But she doesn’t know if it is too late.
LITERARY TITAN 