The Light Bringer

We had a great interview with Art Holliday on Channel 5 – check it out here:

http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=2166220450001&odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|featured

The Fallen in the St. Charles County Community News

Great Podcast Interview with Forris Day -

The Fallen featured on Tom Hill’s Eaglezine – http://archives.subscribermail.com/msg/44d40531238140bbba07eb6f30de375e.htm

The Fallen – Suburban Journal Article:

http://m.stltoday.com/STL/db_259737/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=qyWbGVao

Mike Force and Chris DiGiuseppi don’t anticipate jettisoning their day jobs anytime soon to jet off to Hollywood on the tail of their published novels.

Instead, they said their books’ purpose is to help people cope with tragedy and issues surrounding good and evil.

Force, 60, is the chief of police in Lake Saint Louis. DiGiuseppi, 45, is the assistant chief. While both have seen tragedy in their line of work, they also have seen how compassion can help others.

“We felt that’s really important to note and get that word out to people,” Force said last week. “We chose to write the trilogy to do that.”

Their first novel, “The Light Bringer,” was published in 2011, made the top 10 list of local best sellers list and was nominated for a literary achievement award by the Missouri Humanities Council. Their second novel, “The Fallen,” was scheduled for release Feb. 5, and the entire trilogy will be known as “The Light Bringer Trilogy.”

They describe the books as supernatural suspense fiction that includes journeys into the afterlife, but the books are grounded in what both know best — police work and the everyday issues and victims police officers have to confront.

DiGiuseppi said the novels are based on incidents from their careers and personal lives. “It revolves around two main questions — why do people die, and why do bad things happen to good people.”

Force said they wanted a main character who is compassionate and cares about people.

“Amazingly, people have this image of a cop as this lock-jawed kind of Joe Friday type of guy — ‘just the facts, ma’am’ — but nothing could be further from the truth,” Force said. “Police officers are very compassionate people. They’re real job is to help people, not necessarily to get in trouble.”

As in the first book, the main character in “The Fallen” is Alan Crane, a former Marine who has been promoted to lieutenant from sergeant and tries to make sense of a series of catastrophic events that led to four untimely deaths. Crane and his supernatural companion, Michael Simmons, search for the truth in supernatural realms.

In both novels, fictional incidents and settings were taken from real-life events that occurred in Lake Saint Louis or elsewhere in St. Charles County area and often involved both officers.

The books came out of discussions Force and DiGiuseppi had through the years about tragic events they witnessed.

“Contrary to popular belief, that really weighs heavy on a person after a while,” Force said. “Specifically we’d talk about this question of why, why me, why my husband, why my son, why my daughter. It’s tough as you hold a person in your arms and you can’t answer that question. So we would talk about this for about 10 years and said we could write these things down to help somebody.”

They came up with a concept, only to be rejected by about 30 publishers. DiGiuseppi said Tom Hill, a local author and friend, finally read the first book and sent them to a literary agent. Eventually they found a publisher, Health Communications Inc.

Learning how to write a novel wasn’t easy; both met with local authors’ groups to develop their skills.

“For the first book, the writing was hard, but the editing was grueling,” DiGiuseppi said. That editing took a year and a half. “In the end, it was ‘ah, just have the publisher turn it down so we can stop,’” he said. The second book was easier.

Becoming a novelist doesn’t necessarily mean getting rich. Even though they received a small advance to write their first book, DiGiuseppi said it was more like a loan, paid back by the number of books sold.

Have they made any money? “We don’t know yet, we’re still waiting to break even,” Force said.

A Los Angeles-based production company, Undergo Entertainment, acquired the film rights to their novels last April and is working on possibly developing a television series. What will come from that remains unclear, the authors said.

Force said the books have helped them look at the purpose and direction of their lives. They are establishing a nonprofit foundation to recognize people who do good things, something society tends to ignore these days, Force said.

Rewards sometimes come from readers. Force said he received a call from a woman who as a child was locked in a car on a hot day with the windows shut, a situation similar to one portrayed in the first book. The woman said she eventually was put in foster care and hated her mother for 30 years. After reading the book, she called her mother and forgave her.

“If no one ever buys this book, if just that one woman bought that book, it makes all that effort worthwhile,” Force said. “That’s a person that carried that burden all of her life, that could finally be released from that burden and get on with her life. What a great thing.”

A book launch party for “The Fallen” is set for 1 to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Spencer Road Branch Library, 427 Spencer Road in St. Peters. Book signing events are planned for 1 to 3 p.m. March 2 at Barnes & Noble, 320 Mid Rivers Center in St. Peters, and 1 to 3 p.m. March 23 at All on the Same Page book store, 11052 Olive Blvd. in Creve Coeur.

Reserve your copy now at your favorite bookstore or on Amazon at http://goo.gl/R0E3L

THE FALLEN – PUBLISHER’S INTERVIEW

1. First, please briefly tell us a little bit about yourselves – your background, career path–anything you’re comfortable sharing.

Chris:
Everything happens for a reason and my story is no different. In 1991 I
graduated from the police academy with high confidence that I was going to
attain a job at one of the higher paying police departments. Nine months later
my ambitions of becoming a police officer were dwindling as I had interviewed
at approximately 15 different departments all ending in rejection. My first
meeting with Mike Force was when he offered me the opportunity to become a full time police officer for $17,000 per year and although I was glad to have a job, I was disappointed that it wasn’t one of the higher paying departments. Looking back on it now I realize that it was the best thing that has ever happened to me. I rose though the ranks to become the Assistant Chief of Police, attained my undergraduate degree in human resources and my graduate degree in business administration. I also graduated from Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command and the FBI National  Academy which is one of the premier certifications in law enforcement. Aside from law enforcement, I became a published author with my friend and co-author, Mike Force, in 2010 with our debut novel, The Light Bringer. Currently, we are scheduled to release our second book in the trilogy, The Fallen, on February 5^th, 2013. My family is the most important aspect of my life and I’m truly blessed to have them.

Mike: Like Chris, I have a strong belief that all things that happen, happen for a reason.  I left High School and joined the Marine Corps in 1969 primarily for financial reasons but also out of a strong sense of patriotism which stemmed from the values offered by my parents. During my next 22 years of active duty in the Marine Corps, I was afforded opportunities to finish my High School education, obtain a Bachelor’s Degree and matriculated to service as a Commissioned Officer in 1981.  After retiring from the Marine Corps in 1991, I spent a short amount of time self employed in the computer industry but missed the closeness of a small group working environment. I applied for and was selected for my current position as Chief of Police in Lake Saint Louis,
Mo in March of 1992. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, A Master of Science in Human Resource Management and am a graduate of the FBI
National Academy.

Chris and I became published authors in 2010 and continue to try to bring our message to others regarding the importance of how we live our lives through writing and speaking engagements.

2. What is your new book, The Fallen, about?

Chris and Mike:
The Fallen is the second book in our Light Bringer trilogy and it builds on the
basic concepts we’ve established in the first book which revolve around “thinking beyond life.”  The Fallen is a fast paced supernatural thriller mixed with a police procedural genre where there are 4 ritualistic murders and unexplainable natural disasters that eventually coincide. This book attempts to draw clear lines between good and evil that exist in society and how each is defined and organized.  We believe that The Fallen continues to climb toward the questions that establish the main theme of the entire trilogy, which are, “Why to do people die?” and “Why to bad things happen to good people?”

3. Your first book, The Light Bringer, has done well in terms of hitting the local best sellers list and being nominated for some awards.  What else is happening that may push it even higher?

Chris and Mike:
One of the big accomplishments, regarding The Light Bringer, is that we’ve
attained an agreement with a production company out of Los Angeles California who is developing a T.V. series.  We’ve been working with them over the last year to complete a screenplay on the pilot and are preparing to begin soliciting resources and network acquisition.  We think that this endeavor will further spread the concept, story and message.

4. How is the feedback you’ve been receiving on the books?

Chris and Mike:
The Light Bringer received amazing feedback when it was released.  We were bombarded with inspiring comments from people who wanted to tell us their personal stories.  Our early readers for The Fallen have told us that they like this book even better than the first so we believe it will exceed our expectations.

5. Why do you think people like telling you their stories after reading these books?

Chris and Mike:
A supernatural thriller and police procedural genre is popular among readers,
however we believe that it’s the aspect of hope that our main character and the
overall stories tell which attract people. When society is faced with evil, good people come together to overcome it and we believe that’s what our readers see as valuable – it’s a fast paced exciting story but it brings people hope that good will prevail.

6. What do you attribute your success in your writing endeavors to?

Chris and Mike:
Faith, family and friends.  If you have those three, you’ll live a purpose-filled life. Without that, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

7. What does writing do for you personally?

Chris and Mike:
We deal with a lot of tragedy in law enforcement and we’ve found that writing
helps us cope and perhaps tell a story in a way which aids us in making sense
of horrific situations – like we said earlier – “Why do people die and why do
bad things happen to good people?”  We’ve found that through our writing we can also help other people by stimulating thought and letting them know that they’re not alone in dealing with trauma and grief.  We believe that living your life by doing what’s right is critically important as is showing others compassion, kindness and empathy.

8. What other things have you two done to further this philosophy of showing others compassion and empathy?

Chris and Mike:
We were prompted by some close friends to start an organization which could
further those core values that we believe are so important.  Last year we put together a non profit organization called The Light Bringer Foundation which seeks out ways to recognize people for showing compassion and helping others in need.  We held our first award ceremony in September of 2012 where we honored two people, who exemplify those values, with the first Light Bringer Awards.  It’s our hope that the recognition of those people who live their lives by these attributes will continue to influence others to do the same. You can see more at www.tlbf-inc.com.

9. Where can readers get a copy of The Fallen or The Light Bringer?

Chris and Mike:
They should be available in all the book stores who should either have them in
stock or be able to order them.  They’re also available online through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million – here are the links:

Amazon – http://goo.gl/R0E3L

Barnes & Noble – http://goo.gl/SXIoI

Books-A-Million – http://goo.gl/WUAFo

Readers can also see more about both books at www.thelightbringerbook.com to include both book trailers and both books are available electronically – Kindle, Nook and other e-readers.

10.  So in conclusion, what’s next for Chris and Mike?

Chris and Mike:
We are continuing to work on the third book to conclude the trilogy and await
our next unknown adventure in the literary world.  Things seem to happen without much advance notice sometimes so we try to be open-minded and ready for whatever opportunities or challenges arise.

Curtis could see people running by him toward the barn entrance as the sound grew louder. It was now like thunder that never ended, and he noticed the old wooden barn wall rattling violently.

As he stumbled to his feet, he saw the last of the boys scramble out the door, except for the one who had been stabbed. On shaky legs, Curtis plowed forward, and as he made it to the front door, he felt something tug at his pants leg.

Looking down, he saw the blood-soaked hand of the wounded boy, who pleaded with him, “Please, don’t leave me. I’m sorry, please help me.”

Curtis kicked his hand away and pushed the barn door hard.  The rusted hinges screeched, and a cool breeze kicked up a small whirlwind of dust that danced around the barn. He paused for a moment as his father’s voice echoed in his mind, “Always do what’s right.” Then reluctantly, he bent down to where the boy was lying, picked up the steak knife, and cut off the arm of the boy’s shirt completely, exposing the wound. Quickly, he tied the material around the boy’s shoulder and pulled it tight to stanch the bleeding. With one arm, he hoisted the boy to his feet and placed his uninjured arm over his shoulder.

As Curtis focused his gaze through the open door, he could see what was causing the sound. A storm must have blown in, and as the two boys distanced themselves from the barn, Curtis could see a huge vortex whirling across the sky beyond the field. The wounded boy yelled, “Twister! We need to get to a cellar! Run for the house!”

Curtis plowed forward as fast as he could toward the old brick house, with the weight of the injured boy dragging him down. The tornado was at the barn now, and Curtis looked across the field to see the other boys scattering in all directions. Shaking his head as he tried to maintain his balance, he wondered how the storm had blown in so quickly. It had been clear and sunny when he entered the barn.

The edge of the field was very near, and the fence was only a few feet in front of them. Heaving the wounded boy over, Curtis watched him topple to the ground on the other side. Curtis jumped the fence and once again lifted up his maimed counterpart, then braced him against his shoulder. They ran by the parked cars, and as they approached the opposite side of the roadway, a sudden jerk caused Curtis’s feet to fallout from beneath him. The rope that was still tied around his neck had tangled around a fence post. The wounded boy’s body flung forward and landed on the grassy area near the driveway that led to the house.

“Keep going!” Curtis screamed at the boy. The wind was now unbearable.

Running back to the fence, he began tugging at the rope to free himself. Despite his desperate attempts, the rope would not budge, and he could see the vortex
closing in. Giving up on breaking free, he decided that the only chance he might have would be to lie down in the ditch next to the fence.

As he did, he watched the path of the whirling mass of air coming across the field, and he noticed something odd. He’d seen many twisters before in his lifetime, since the small area that he lived in was known as Tornado Alley, but never before had he seen a tornado behave as this one did. It seemed to move and change directions frequently. It weaved through the field and quickly shifted to the left, then back to the right.

Refocusing his attention to the horizon, Curtis could make out the distant image of the other boys running across the field. To his disbelief, it seemed as though this tornado was following them. Watching more intently, he saw one of the boys get sucked upward into the wind. The twister changed direction once again and seemed to be tracking another boy; it quickly was upon him and scooped him from the ground, like an enormous cat pouncing on a mouse.

Once it had consumed that victim, it backtracked into the field again, and Curtis could see it closing in on Johnny, who was running in the opposite direction from the others. It enveloped him quickly, and Curtis saw Johnny spinning upward, flailing his arms and screaming.

Looking toward the house, Curtis saw that the wounded boy was nearly up to the small trap door that led to the old cellar. The twister plowed through the center of the field and into the front yard of the farmhouse. As the wounded boy opened the cellar door, the tornado moved directly overhead, and he clung to the handle with his body waving in the wind like a kite caught in an updraft. The force of the wind was too much, and Curtis watched as the wounded boy was sucked upward.

Fear began to grip Curtis, and he sank low into the ditch. The swirling air reversed its course once again and came back across the road directly toward him. His heartbeat quickened as he tried to find the lowest spot possible to hide in. The twister was now on the other side of the parked cars, and as Curtis looked up into it, a feeling of sheer horror overtook him. As the vortex grew closer, he lowered his head to wipe the dust and debris from his eyes. When he looked up again, the twister was directly in front of him, and he stared into the center. His fear peaked as he continued to gaze at it in horror. Something hovered in the middle of the massive tornado, and although Curtis could not make out its exact outline, he was definite about one thing. It was laughing.

THE FALLEN – Upcoming Book Events – In case I missed anyone on the invite – here they are – Please join us:
February 7th – The Meadows in LSL – at the Soma store 6:30-8pm
February 16th – BOOK LAUNCH PARTY St. Charles Co Library Spencer Rd  St. Peters 1-3pm
March 2nd – Barnes & Noble Mid Rivers Mall Dr. St. Peters – 1-3pm
March 23rd – All on the Same Page Bookstore in Creve Coeur 1-3pm