Welcome to my blog Kurt. Thank you for taking the time to answer a few
questions about yourself and your latest book.
Q. Tell
us about your latest work—title, genre, etc. —
and why you wrote it?
A. Hazardous Material - This is the fourth in a series of
Firefighter mysteries. Each novel deals with a different discipline in
firefighting (wildland/ arson/paramedic/hazardous material). Each book brings
together two mysteries—one fire related, and one connected to the personal life
of the protagonist.
This title is a play on words. The protagonist, Bucky,
deals with hazardous materials in his job. He is also dealing with an addiction
to the painkiller Percocet, and while searching for his sister, is drawn into a
confrontation with an outlaw motorcycle gang that runs a meth lab in the Mojave
Desert. The conflict also leads to poisoned desert tortoises and a NASA
scientist using nanoparticles. The story is filled with hazardous materials.
Q. What draws you to your genre(s)?
Why is this type of story compelling to you?
A. I
have access to the Los Angeles County and Ventura County fire departments, and
spend considerable time with them responding to incidents. I find the life and
mentality of firefighters (and related first responders) fascinating. These are
brave (but not foolish) people who run toward danger when everyone else is
running away. They are incredibly well trained and disciplined.
I have had good success creating stories that connect
their personal lives with their profession.
As an aside, you can't imagine how much fun it is riding in the engines,
flying in the helicopters, and getting a first-hand view of a wide range of
emergencies
Q. What is your writing process
like? Do you map the whole thing out or do you just let it unfold? What kind of research was involved?
A. Once
I decide on a new subject (I am currently working on a USAR—urban search and
rescue—novel), then I spend several months with the appropriate firefighters. I
usually have a vague notion of my mysteries and I let the action and reality
around me get me started.
Once I start writing, my characters take over, and I am
just the scribe. Sometimes they do things I don't like, and often get
themselves into difficult situations, which requires my intervention to rescue
them. Sometimes they can't be rescued.
Some writers outline every chapter before starting to
write. I have tried, and am incapable of doing that.
Q. How much of YOU makes it into
your characters?
A. I
guess my fatalistic view and dark sense of humor is common to most of my main
characters. Otherwise, they stand alone.
Q. How do you balance the need to
have time to write with the needs of family, society, etc.?
A. I
am fortunate to be retired (from the financial world and as a masters bicycle
racer) and have as much time as I want to write.
Q. Have
there been any authors in particular, that inspired your writing?
A.
James Salter – spare, beautiful writing.
Q. Is there a story you want to
tell behind or about your work(s)?
A. I simply want to entertain my reader. I get
e-mails from firefighters who love my books, and that's a great satisfaction,
because firefighters are not readers.
Every time someone reads one of my books, the cause of
literacy is advanced.
Q.
What
other projects are you currently working on or about to start?
A. *I am working on book number 5
*I am about to do some book promotion on Hazardous
Material at the California State Fire Fighter's HazMat conference.
* I am about to do a book signing at a law enforcement
conference dealing with motorcycle gangs.
*Waiting to hear whether a French publisher is going to
translate CODE BLOOD
That's enough.
Q. Could you
share some of your marketing strategies? Which ones are the most
effective in your opinion?
A. Tough question, things that worked last year,
don't seem to work now. As a moderately successful author, I think you have to
try everything. I have had great success on Facebook creating an audience of
4500 first responder friends. Network. Communicate with anyone and everyone.
Reviews can't hurt. Don't be afraid to give books to people who are in a
position to read and comment on them.
Q. What would be the top
five, (or 3 or 1 or however many) things you would tell aspiring authors?
1.
Enter contests
2. Get as many reviews as
possible
3. Align yourself with an
organization or group that relates to the topic of your book. If you can keep
on topic for successive books it will help your connections
4. You MUST have your
book edited professionally. Your uncle Sam cannot do it
5. You will get what you
pay for in cover design
6.
MOST IMPORTANT – GET SELF SATISFACTION OUT OF YOUR WRITING.
Enjoy what you are doing, because that may be all the gratification and
recognition you ever get.
Again,
thanks Kurt for taking the time to share your knowledge with us. We appreciate
you and your work.
Good luck with your current and future
publications.
Review
Hazardous
Material is Kurt Kamm's fourth novel.
The book begins with a 'bang'. A
big explosion in a trailer outside
Lancaster, California. Inside the
trailer are crooks and addicts preparing methamphetamine. The main character, Bucky Dawson a fire
fighter, member of HazMat (Hazardous Materials) Squad 129 gets called to the
explosion of the meth lab. Bucky discovers
his sister’s involvement with the meth
lab and terrifying motorcycle gangs. In his attempt to discover what has
happened to his sister, Bucky has to confront the violent side of the bikers
and his own addiction to pain killers.
The story is action packed to the end.
Kurt Kamm
has created the novel Hazardous Material from well researched facts. His connection and knowledge of the various
fire departments and hazardous materials response teams, and law enforcement of
California is evident in his writing.
Methamphetamine and outlaw motorcycle gangs are described in vivid and
realistic detail. As the story
progresses Kurt paints a picture of his main character, Bucky a HazMat
firefighter, as a 'real' person with flaws, and a strange ability. He has an usual sense of smell that, among
other things, helps in the detection of drug labs. Detective Miguel "Mike" Ortiz of
the North County Narcotics Squad, best friend of Bucky, is Bucky's only real
friend and help throughout the
novel. Kamm pulls together creativity
and facts as seen in the 'Dwarf' leader of the Vagos biker gang and Dubkova a
scientist with an interesting twist to his role. An interesting and informative book for all.
This is
the first of Kurt Kamm's novels I've read and not the last. The title, location and aerospace technology,
were my main interest in reading the book.
Kamm gets straight into the essence of the story in chapter one. For those who have no knowledge or
understanding of drugs and addicts, the details and pictures the author paints
are an education. The balance and care
Kurt has given to his descriptions of the various departments of Los Angeles as
part of the story are excellent. Not
being familiar with 'biker's' groups or gangs, I found the details Kamm
provides, illuminating. An excellent
read that informs as well as entertains.
About
Author
Malibu
resident Kurt Kamm has used his contact with CalFire, Los Angeles County Fire
Department, Ventura County Fire Department and the ATF, as well as his
experience in several devastating local wildfires, to write fact-based
firefighter mystery novels. He has attended classes at El Camino Fire Academy
and trained in wildland firefighting, arson investigation and hazardous
materials response. He is also a graduate of the ATF Citizen’s Academy. He is currently riding with Los Angeles County
Fire Department’s famed Urban Search &
Rescue Task Force 2/USA-2, and is working on a USAR mystery.
One of
the Malibu fires, the 60 mile-per-hour Santa Ana wind-driven Canyon Fire,
burned to his front door and destroyed the homes of several neighbors. Kamm
said the lessons he learned from the County Fire Department while writing his
first book helped him save his home.
A
graduate of Brown University and Columbia Law School, Kamm was previously a
financial executive and semi-professional bicycle racer. He was also Chairman
of the UCLA/Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Foundation and is an avid
supporter of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.
For more information:
Email: kurt@kkamm.com
Purchase: http://www.amazon.com/Hazardous-Material-Kurt-Kamm/dp/0988888203/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364567587&sr=1-1&keywords=Hazardous
Blog/Website: Kurtkamm.com A writers/first responder website
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