Storytelling has always been a part of my life. My grandfather was our family wizard, capable of transporting everyone, especially his grandchildren, into incredible settings and realms of fantasy. From him I've learned that appealing fiction not only needs to be grounded in reality but must creatively explore the "what-ifs" of that realm too.
"What do you think would happen if you crawled in there with that bull?" My grandfather once asked me this as we watched it grazing peacefully on the other side of our Ohio farm fence. His purpose was to warn me of danger. Little did he know that I would later explore my grandfather's "what-if." When no one was looking, I crawled inside the bull's pen. The long and short of it was that I barely escaped the bull's angry charge.
Here I am years later, incorporating my childhood memory of that bull into one of the book's vignettes. Fire & Terror explores the "what-ifs" of fighting back when a brutal terrorist attack and an out-of-control fire threaten the small American town of Crest.
