Today, we’re celebrating one of the authors who helped us make the Frasier Contest possible! Richard Mabry’s recent book, Fatal Trauma, will be released by Abingdon Press this coming spring
Q: Richard, can you tell us a little bit about your next book?
It began with Dr. Mark Baker facing a gunman who had nothing to lose. It could end with him behind bars.
In the Emergency Room, Dr. Mark Baker and Nurse Kelly Atkinson stand at the mercy of a gunman who declares, “If he dies, everyone here dies.” At the end of the evening three men lie dead. One of them is a police officer Mark and a surgeon, Dr. Anna King, couldn’t save. The other two are members of the feared Zeta drug cartel, and their threat of revenge puts the lives of Mark, Kelly, and others at risk.
It isn’t long before the shootings begin, and Mark finds himself under suspicion as a killer, yet still a potential victim. Because of Kelly’s growing love for Mark, she is hurt when he turns to his high school sweetheart, now an attorney, for help.
Who is the shooter? And can Mark find out before he becomes the next victim?
Q: What is one piece of writing advice you’d give the MyBookTherapy community?
I heard it almost from the time I started writing: keep your bottom in the chair, apply your fingers to the keyboard, and your persistence will get you published. And after six years as a published author, my assessment of that advice can be summarized in one word: hogwash! Yes, we should write, and write, and write some more. But don’t just write. Get someone knowledgeable—not your aunt or your wife or a friend—but someone who knows writing to critique your work. After you get over your pique that someone would dare criticize your efforts, go back and revise the work. Let it cool, read it again, and you’ll be surprised at the improvement. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to edit your own work. Is that it? No. Writers should also read. Read good novels so you’ll have a feel for what resonates with your reader. Read bad writing so you’ll know what to avoid. Never stop learning the craft. Never think you’ve arrived and know it all. That’s what I’ve learned about writing. It helped me. I hope it helps you, as well.
Richard Mabry is a retired physician, past Vice President of the American Christian Fiction Writers, and author of “medical suspense with heart.” His novels have been a semifinalist for International Thriller Writers’ debut novel, finalists for the Carol Award and Romantic Times’ Reader’s Choice Award, and winner of the Selah Award. His latest, Critical Condition, is his seventh published novel, and will be followed this coming spring by Fatal Trauma. You can follow Richard on his blog, on Twitter, and his Facebook fan page.