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Rebecca :
How did you come to a protagonist who is a computer programmer?
P.M. :
I've always heard to “write what you know.” I've been a computer programmer for almost twenty years, so I'm intimately familiar with how they do their jobs. In Kickback, the main character, Sheila, works for a computer consulting company in Washington, DC. I was born in DC & have lived most of my life there. In 1984, I opened one of the first companies in the DC area devoted entirely to computer training. So I was also familiar with computer consulting firms in the DC area, & how they operate.
Contrary to what many people think, programmers can be involved in exciting projects. They get to see the inner workings of companies in much more detail than anyone else ever will. Because of that, I've seen many things in my career as a programmer!
Rebecca :
What kind of contacts did you have to develop within the law enforcement community in order to create the background for Kickback?
P.M. :
With Kickback, the crimes committed fall into the jurisdiction of the FBI. Fortunately, my father is a retired FBI agent who began his career as a code breaker, transferred to the Investigative Division, & retired as Acting Senior Agent in Charge for the State of Mississippi. So I depend on him as my legal & investigative advisor.
However, since Kickback was released, I've found law enforcement -- especially police officers & detectives -- enjoy my work. With my latest book, The China Conspiracy (to be released in May 2003) I depended a lot more on detectives throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia for issues as diverse as investigating a murder scene to jurisdictional issues.
Rebecca :
Kickback is all about the trucking industry -- did you get a chance to ride or drive an 18 wheeler while researching background?
P.M. :
No, I didn't ride in any tractor-trailers, but the idea for Kickback came to me through an experience I had. I'd developed a program for a trucking company to track their shipments; some time later, the bookkeeper for the trucking company approached me & asked me to hide their kickbacks. I thought she was joking, but when she explained how it would work & how she wanted me to hide illegal kickbacks, I realized she was dead serious. I talked to my father about it; he confirmed that what they were asking me to do violated several federal laws. He put me in touch with the local FBI office, & I turned over evidence to them showing the discrepancies in their bookkeeping.
I kept in touch with the FBI agents for a time, & there was a period in my life where I thought for certain someone was going to find my severed head in a ditch somewhere. As time went on, I decided to write a book about the kickback scheme. Of course, what happens to Sheila was much more exciting than what had happened to me.
As Kickback was in production & a few weeks away from being released, I went onto google.com & searched for t“rucking kickbacks.” What I found astonished me -- & frightened me a bit -- because I had no idea the Mafia was involved, or the FBI was prosecuting the exact kickback scheme I'd written about, all over the country.
In a twist of fiction-meets-reality, I'd also changed the locations for my book: Sheila had just graduated from Vanderbilt University, & she was living in Alexandria, Virginia, right outside of Washington, DC. I had no idea the purchasing director at Vanderbilt was serving time for procurement kickbacks, & I was astonished to find a case eerily similar being prosecuted right in Alexandria. In that case, the employee at a trucking firm found two sets of invoices in the copy room -- one with the kickbacks inflating the price, & another lower set to hide the kickbacks.
I am surprised mainstream media hasn't picked up on Kickback, since trucking kickbacks are so widespread it easily overshadows Enron, WorldCom, & the ImClone scandals.
Rebecca :
Is this your first foray into writing fiction? Have you written anything else?
P.M. :
Kickback is my first published fiction. I've been writing suspense/thrillers since I was in the fourth grade. Due to a twist of fate, I stumbled into the computer industry & had four of my computer books published: Creating the Perfect Database, published by Scott-Foresman; The Dynamics of WordPerfect & The Dynamics of Reflex, both published by Dow Jones-Irwin; & Momento WordPerfect, published by Edimicro in Paris.
But I have to say that writing fiction is a whole lot more interesting than writing computer how-to books!
Rebecca :
Would you tell us about being sworn in as the first woman President of Chesterfield County/Colonial Heights Crime Solvers?
P.M. :
Crime Solvers is an organization in which citizens can call to report information about a crime, & be guaranteed anonymity. They can never be called to testify in court, so there's no worry about retribution, & their identity can never be revealed. Plus, if their information is used to help solve a crime, they can receive up to $1,000. In Chesterfield County, where I live, I'm fortunate to have one of the most active Crime Solvers organizations in the state. I've been involved with them for several years, & just this January, was elected as their first female President.
In another twist, The Virginia Crime Stoppers Association, which represents approximately 51 Crime Solvers, Crime Stoppers, & Crime Lines in the state, decided last year to endorse Kickback & me as an author. It's the first time they've ever endorsed a book or author, so I feel very, very fortunate. I have traveled throughout the state & participated in special events Crime Solvers has sponsored, autographing my book & donating part of the proceeds (40%) to their organizations.
Through my travels, I've met police officers & detectives who I called upon for help with my latest book, The China Conspiracy. One detective even scouted out the best place to find a body, when I needed one to wash up from the Potomac River! So readers can actually go to the exact geographic locations described in my book.
Rebecca :
Will there be a sequel to Kickback?
P.M. :
When I first wrote Kickback, I'd intended it to be a stand-alone story, much like John Grisham's characters differ from book to book. But so many people wanted to know more about Sheila, I found she took on a life of her own, & I felt compelled to bring her back. So in the sequel, which is untitled as of this writing, I have her entering the FBI Academy. While she's in training, she's called back to Sunnyside, Tennessee, which is where she's from, & while there, she finds out how her parents really died -- which takes her on another hair-raising adventure.
By the way, Sunnyside is where my ancestors are from. In Kickback, I described a house where Sheila's father was born; I was, in fact, describing the house where my own father was born. Aunt Jo's house is my Aunt Florene's, although Aunt Florene doesn't resemble Aunt Jo at all, in appearance or personality!
& there are other twists in the book, like the law firm of Robinson, Michaels, & James -- it was a play on my son's name! But I'm digressing...
Rebecca :
What's your next book about?
P.M. :
The China Conspiracy, which is due to be released in May 2003, is about another computer programmer/analyst, Kit Olsen. This time my protagonist is about twenty years older, & she just happens to work for the CIA. The most Kit has to worry about when the book begins, is juggling an increasingly heavy workload with the duties of a wife & mother. But then two of her coworkers are abducted & her teenage son is kidnapped. The ransom for him is some Mandarin code Kit has been decoding, which had previously been intercepted by covert CIA operatives. In an effort to ransom her son, Kit is driven into a shadowy underworld filled with double-crosses, where people aren't what they seem. She also realizes the answers lie in her coworkers' murders & why her son was kidnapped. She has to decipher that code, but the bonfire she ignites is more than she bargained for!
Rebecca :
Do you use a computer for your writing?
P.M. :
Couldn't live without it! I use a Dell computer & Microsoft Word xp. I think the three greatest inventions for writers were: (a) word processing software, (b) the Internet, & (c) DVD's!
I remember when I first started writing, I typed on an old Smith-Corona manual typewriter. In order to meet the exact margins set by publishers, I literally had to go through a ream of paper & draw a pencil line across the bottom so I'd know when I was within one inch of the bottom of the page. & God help me if I made a typo! Rewrites meant weeks of retyping the entire manuscript.
With the Internet, I can now go online & get every piece of information I need without leaving my desk. No more hours scouring libraries, hoping they'd have what I was looking for! With The China Conspiracy, I actually used propaganda from Chinese government sources I found on the Internet, which was China's official stance on Tibet & human rights in their country, as well as the exact transcripts from American sources presenting opposing information in Congressional hearings.
My son got me started on DVD's. A good example is the movie Original Sin, starring Angelina Jolie & Antonio Banderas. This was a remake of another movie made in the 1950's called Mississippi Mermaid, which in turn, was derived from the book, Waltz Into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich, best remembered for Rear Window.
In the book, the antagonist was never seen; he was only referred to. You can't do that in a movie. You can't make a person sit through two hours of a movie, trying to guess who the bad guy is, & then out he pops for the first time in the climactic scene. The viewer feels cheated. By listening to the Director's comments on the film, I learned how they had to change the movie, which meant merging two characters together into a bad guy pretending to be a good guy.
By listening to the Director's comments about making the film Unbreakable starring Bruce Willis, I learned that every scene showing strong emotion had the color red in it -- a red dress or a red jacket -- an interesting, vivid detail you might otherwise miss.
It's little things like that, I build into my books. With books geared toward action, which mine are, watching movies helps me stay focused on the fact that every scene must do double duty, & no scene can be used if it doesn't fit at least two specific purposes. So I'll watch a DVD, then watch it again with the Director's comments, & even study specific scenes. Everyone who's read my books tells me they should be made into movies, that they're incredibly visual.
Rebecca :
That's exactly what I thought when I was reading Kickback, & I'm looking forward to The China Conspiracy. Thank you , p.m.terrell, for such a lively, informative Interview.
Readers, do check out p.m.terrell's Guest Editorials: On the Path to Publishing &
My Publisher Wasn't a Box of Chocolates!
Do catch my review's of p.m.terrell's Kickback & The China Conspiracy -- I hope they make you go out & buy yourself a copy!
Get your signed copy of Kickback:
p.m.terrell's price is: $8.95 US
Rebecca Brown
(Published 02/02/03)
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RebeccasiReads.com
