This week I’m happy to interview Thriller Author Bill Brewer as he launches the first in his David Diegert Series, Dawn of the Assassin.
Want to discover other new Thriller Authors? Don’t miss my interview with Tech Thriller Author Tom Chatfield, click the link here for the full post.
Thriller Author
Bill Brewer is a member of the Faculty of the College of Health Sciences and Technology at RIT where he serves as the Director of Exercise Science within the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition.
His areas of instruction include Anatomy & Physiology as well as numerous courses in Exercise Science.
Bill is a family man, happily married and the proud father of a son and two daughters. He lives in the South Wedge of Rochester NY. and loves to find outdoor adventure in the Adirondacks and in the Frontenac region of Ontario, Canada.
To learn more about Bill, click on his name, photo, or the link here.
The Book
A tough, but desperate guy must choose to take lives or lose his.
The decision he makes will impact the world’s power elite and the one person he loves.
He can contemplate all he wants, but his choice will be made in a split second.
To Buy the Book, click the link here.
The Interview
You’ve created an action/adventure thriller series with a reluctant assassin. What drew you to creating an unwilling hitman?
Elena, thank you so much for hosting me on your fabulous Blog. I really appreciate the degree to which you go to help writers find readers. (You are so welcome! Happy to have you.)
Killing people is wrong, no matter how entertaining. I wanted to write a story from a character point of view of a guy who kills people without the direction or permission of a government. I wanted the guy to be in danger all the time. He is being trained and paid to kill, but if he’s caught he will not only be denied, but his employers will assist in the prosecution.
He’s reluctant to kill, but he’s good at it and if he doesn’t he will suffer the tremendous consequences of his actions. I thought it would be an exciting way to build tension into the story by having him under pressure all the time.
This is the first of a four book series of thriller novels. How much do you know about the next three novels? Are they fully written? Still in progress?
I’m glad you’re thinking ahead. The next three books are written. The second one is in the production stage, the other two are being edited. The third and fourth books are complete drafts, but they will be edited to enhance and streamline the story.
I feel editing is the most important part of writing because it is where I can re-engage my imagination and refine the story. I find I can always improve the story when I vigorously edit with an eye towards making the action in the story faster and more intense.
2020 and 2021 will have David Diegert facing a lot more danger.
You are a cancer survivor (congratulations on that by the way!). How did facing such a serious condition impact your drive to write?
Thanks for you kind words. I’m one of the most fortunate people to have ever had cancer, so I extend my support to everyone who has had their life impacted by this ravenous disease. It’s a fight for life.
I have always been a writer, but not an author. Cancer made me realize that this dream may not have enough time to come true if I kept imagining it, but not doing it. Being aware that the end is real, and may be near, gave me motivation to strive for my dream.
Don’t wait for cancer to give you a wake up call, write that story and get it published. Also, get your colonoscopy.
(I second this. At the age of 40 – I suffered severe fatigue. One doctor told me I was depressed, which was ridiculous. I kept looking for answers. A colonoscopy found one reason I was losing iron from my system, and potentially saved my life. Had I waited until I was 50, it might have been too late. Anyone with a family history of colon cancer – get a colonoscopy early! For everyone else, do it at 50. It’s easy and painless and might save your life.)
As a Director of Exercise Science within a School of Health and Nutrition and with an expertise in Anatomy & Physiology, you understand a lot about the human body. How does that expertise appear in your thrillers?
I love the topics I teach, and at RIT I am very fortunate to instruct fabulous, intelligent, and hardworking students. I also work with outstanding colleagues, some of whom are researching innovative technologies that seek to develop methods of linking digital information processing with biological information systems, getting computers to communicate with the genes of cells.
This is fascinating stuff, which will revolutionize medicine. In the upcoming Code of the Assassin, I introduce a fictional application of this near future technology with amazing results. I write the passages explaining the technology with an eye towards entertainment.
I want the reader to get the gist of the technology, understanding it enough to be plausible, without getting bogged down in confusing jargon. I hope readers will be enthralled with what the future holds.
“I feel that thrillers are a socially acceptable way to engage topics which raise frustration.”
What interests you about thrillers that include the widening socio-economic gap as part of their focus?
I feel that thrillers are a socially acceptable way to engage topics which raise frustration. Such an emotion can be projected into a story experienced through the primal limbic system of our brains.
Social inequality is such a big topic, one that is slowly and insidiously affecting people in ways that will have a far-reaching impact upon the future. People who struggle to succeed in this evolving economy will find themselves unable to provide, while powerful elites possess so much more than they need.
In the world of thriller novels, these issues can be raised, and through entertainment, readers can become aware of social change. I find the thriller an excellent way to express an emotional reaction to the troubling social changes happening in our society.
“I find the thriller an excellent way to express an emotional reaction to the troubling social changes happening in our society.”
What are you working on now?
You know as a writer, we’re always working on the next thing. At present I am working on Diegert book number five, Heart of the Assassin. In this story, Diegert faces consequences from the earlier stories, while trying to maintain a new, more peaceful life.
Destiny calls with a debt that pulls him back in the assassin game, with the added challenge that this time he must kept his lethal actions secret from the family he has created and loves so much.
Diegert will painfully learn that violence has a way of begetting violence.
I have also been creating an outline for a new thriller with a central protagonist very different from David Diegert. In this as yet untitled story, a successful, married family man is called to serve his country. He is put into a situation where he is forced to manage all the risks as he clandestinely fulfills his critical, time sensitive missions.
His civilian job gives him the perfect cover, but it makes it impossible for his handlers to help him once the mission is underway. For several hours, he is in constant danger that will resolve either with his capture and probable death, or with him completing the mission and leaving the scene free and clear.
Maybe that should be the title: Free and Clear? (I checked on Amazon – there are some other books with that title, but mostly about clearing clutter and getting debt free!)
“Writing is storytelling, do it because you can’t not do it.”
Final Words of Wisdom For Writers:
Writing is storytelling, do it because you can’t not do it.
If you want to be published, do your marketing. Even the biggest publishers require you to do a lot of the work to market the book. With easy access to everyone through modern media, it is best when authors do their own book marketing.
The readers want to connect with you, not a big publishing house. I love it when readers reach out to me with comments, complaints and feedback of all sorts about my writing.
Realize that wonderful writing turns into successful publishing through effective marketing. Always fill your life and stories with hope, and always keep writing.
