Welcome to fellow BWL Publishing author, Edward Yatscoff!
Edward
Yatscoff was born in Welland, Ontario. After living in Australia and
backpacking around the world, he met his wife Gloria on a freighter in the
South China Sea. They married and moved to Beaumont, Alberta. After
32 years with Edmonton Fire Rescue he retired as a station captain and is the
first author to write Canadian firefighter novels. He swam with a marlin
in Honduras, climbed the Great Wall of China, tried to smuggle a Playboy magazine
into the USSR, was accused of throwing eggs at an Aussie PM, and survived the
1979 revolution in Grenada during the honeymoon. He continues to travel,
write, and enjoy the outdoors.
His
website is http://www.yatscoffbooks.com
What is your latest release?
My
latest novel is SERVICES RENDERED a hard-boiled crime novel released last
October. It doesn’t pull any punches and has plenty pf crime. Think of Home
Depot meet Somali gangbangers.
SERVICES
RENDERED: Got a bully in your neighborhood? A troublesome squatter you can’t
evict? When the courts or police can’t, or won’t help, well…good luck. Or you
can hire Ritchie and Arlan, ex-cop and ex-con. Their trade is home renovations,
but their side job is just what you’re looking for. They're the good kinda bad;
angels to some, devils to others. But when they stumble on the real bad--a
dangerous city gang--there's no one to call when they run out of options.
What are you working on now?
I
am almost finished a first draft of THE NIKE BIRDS. It is about an abduction of
two students in the Colombian jungle and the search for them. Murder, soldiers,
cops, some Colombian politics, and snakes
Was there a person who
encouraged you to write?
No
one encouraged me to write. When I began writing I told people I was writing a
book and they nodded politely. I once visited an elementary school for a career
day and wore my firefighter uniform. The kids said they didn’t know a
firefighter could read or write! Not sure if that’s a stereotype. But what
challenged me to write was reading tame and dull stories my son used to bring
home from school. I knew I could do better and since then wrote 6 MG and YA
novels, all action with elements of crime. My writers group has given me
encouragement, suggestions, and great critiquing. Submitting to them every
month keeps me going as I enjoy discovering what I am doing wrong and also
doing right.
What would you say are your strengths as an
author?
My
writers group tells me my strengths are action scenes, dialogue, and imaging. I
have a tough time describing women’s clothes which evokes a few laughs in the
group. I don’t like writing too much background as it bogs me down and my
novels are long enough already. It feels like filler when I get too deep and I
know readers will skim, like I do when I read too much of it. I do read a lot:
30 to 40 books per year, every year.
How often do you write, and do you write using a
strict routine?
No
routine. My work stews in my brain before I write each chapter. Every day I am
either editing my work, critiquing my writers group submissions, or laying down
a few more pages of a project. Once I sit to write something new the creative
process kicks in and I can usually breeze through to write a chapter. I think
of my project before I fall asleep, too. My old website had almost all my short
stories and travel articles posted, some which won competitions. I’ve started
to post them on Vocalmedia.com and might make a few pennies if people read
them.
Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?
In
five years I hope to have novel #14 finished. THE NIKE BIRDS will give me 13
and it’s a bit worrisome as usually, by the time a first draft is done, I’m
already thinking about another project.
I
am really going to push the NBs novel to big agents and publishers because the
early reviews on the first draft are very good. My historical fiction THE
RUMRUNNER’S BOY took me to Toronto for the Crime Writers of Canada competition
gala. Unfortunately I came second…to Lynwood Barclay, a huge bestseller! I met
a few people at the gala (includi9ng Barclay) who have seen the NBs, as well as
an LA crime writer (we swap beta reads) and the reviews are very good. If the
first draft is as good as they say, I think a good sculpting should make it
outstanding. But hey, I thought I’d have a bestseller by now, too. I’m
having fun writing it. My trips to Amazonia and various jungle parks in Latin
America have inspired me for the story. I spent a good chunk of winter in
Panama and those big boats going past my balcony I think may have planted a
seed.
TEETH
OF THE COCODRILO
4
STAR reviews: "A punch of an adventure novel!" – Christina
Hoag, author of Skin of Tattoos
“Aaron Landers is in paradise - problem is, it’s going to get
him killed. Ever wondered what it would be like to have the Mexican
mafia, police, and drug smugglers looking for you – and wanting you dead?.” – Jeff
Buick, bestselling author.
“Entertaining,
heart-pounding, and realistic!” -Laurie Stevens
bestselling author
“Exotic
crime under Mexican palms. Intrigue, obsession, hot romance, international
crime, and murder set along the beautiful Mayan Riviera. Fate plays its hand to
bind ex-firefighter Aaron Landers and Mexican state police Commandant Luis
Gutierrez, when he saves the lives of Luis' sons in Cancun. Aaron falls hard
for the alluring Maria Vasquez who comes with a vengeful, estranged husband and
a sordid past with Luis. Opportunity arrives in easy money scams for Aaron and
the Commandant, but the small crimes escalate out of control and explode into
murder and revenge.” https://books2read.com/u/bxQ81e
Link
for FINAL RESPONSE
https://books2read.com/b/Final-Response
Facebook page: E.R. Yatscoff author
