New Novelist Lives His Title: Through the Fire

Shawn Grady, fireman and debut novelist, recently saw his novel Through the Fire release from Bethany House. Shawn stopped by Forensics and Faith to tell us how his life and writing intersect.
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Many writers hold down a separate day or a night job. I’m no different. Only mine is both a day and night job as a fireman, which made finding time to write Through the Fire on my days off a bit of a challenge.

But one advantage my first profession has provided is excellent fodder for novels. Just this last year I attended a four-week Hazardous Materials Technician course through the fire department. Much time was devoted to chemistry and lab analysis of unknown chemicals.

Sound like CSI? It sort of was. In the lab we’d be given an unknown liquid or solid and then have to use an algorithmic succession of experiments to isolate its properties and determine what it was. We’d test solubility, flammability, vapor density, reactivity, etc. Kind of like Twenty Questions for chemicals.
(That's me on the right.)

This training proved especially helpful as I devised the arson means employed in Through the Fire, and also with the methodology the acting Fire Inspector Julianne Caldwell used to gather and assess chemical evidence.

I first started purposefully writing with a novel in mind about nine years ago, but didn’t pursue publication until five years back. Networking with editors and other writers at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference has proved invaluable for me in the honing of my craft and ultimately in the offering of a three-book deal by Bethany House Publishers.

My next book, Tomorrow We Die, is slated for a summer 2010 release and is about a Reno paramedic who feels like he’s chasing the Angel of Death.

I’m happy to help with any forensic chemical analysis questions you may have for a work in progress. Feel free to send questions to shawn (at) shawngradybooks (dot) com or visit my web site.

Many Cheers,
Shawn
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Buy Through the Fire on Amazon for $11.19
Kindle version: $9.99