Friday, December 13, 2013

Interview with David Wind and Terese Ramin, authors of 'The Cured


ABOUT THE CURED

Title: The Cured
Author: David Wind & Terese Ramin
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Publisher: Smashwords
Pages: 274
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1-48178-874-8

When over 4000 people world-wide died after taking a cure for cancer, the drug was recalled. But the questions kept coming. Was it contamination? Was it sabotage? Or,was it outright murder by an insane research scientist in retaliation against the pharmaceutical giant he worked for and to avenge the death of his wife?

And everyone wanted Doctor Donald Brockman! The lawyers wanted answers; the FDA wanted answers and, Homeland Security wanted the doctor!

When the 911 code flashed across her beeper, Doctor Kira Brockman went cold. The one thing she had been dreading had happened and her life as she knew it had been changed, and the change was for the worst!

The wrong people had found her father!

She knew she had very little time to get out of the hospital, to find her brother and to run before Homeland Security and the FBI found them, and they were not the only ones: the lawyers who were in the midst of a huge class action suit against the international pharmaceutical manufacturing giant who had sold the cancer cure wanted her and the evidence she had as well as the lethal security team from the drug company who was trying to stop Kira Brockman from disclosing the evidence only she could get—evidence that would save her father—and they would use any means necessary to stop her.

And so begins a heart stopping cross country race to save her father's life and prove he was not responsible for the deaths of 4000 people—The Cured—who had survived cancer because of his medication and then inexplicitly died from the very cure he’d created.

Could you please tell us a little about your book? 

David: How do you describe a thriller without revealing that which makes it exciting and suspenseful? I don’t know… The Cured is a legal, medical thriller that takes the divergent characters populating it on a roller coaster chase across the country in an effort to save lives and stop a horrendous act of bio/medical-terrorism. In the process, the life of each of the characters is forever changed.

Did something specific happen to prompt you to write this book? 

David: Yes, a life-long close friend of mine had a severe form of cancer—treatable. After treatment the cancer went into remission. He died less than a year later of a viral infection. It was around the same time that several medications came to light with terrible side-effects including death and, coincidentally (or not), there were several reports of medical terrorism—the tampering with, and contamination of, medications. For me, it was easier to think that some unknown person had done something to my friend’s medication than that he died of some horrible coincidence. From that, The Cured was born.

Who or what is the inspiration behind this book? Who is your biggest supporter? 

Terese: My kids are probably my biggest supporters. My son used to bring my books in and show them around to his teachers and class, and my daughter used to sit in my lap when she was small and “write” on the back of the pages as they came out of the typewriter because she was going to be a writer, too. She’s just sold her first short story. Both kids have always loved to be included in the plotting process and make suggestions for plot turns and twists – especially when I was bogged down in the middle of a book. Now that they’re grown, they tell their friends about the books, share good news for me on the various social media sites and generally let me know that they’re proud of me. I couldn’t be prouder of them and the people they’ve become.

What cause are you most passionate about and why? 

David: The cure of pancreatic cancer, which is almost always fatal. There are several cures being worked on, but none have proven overly effective. I lost my mother to this disease, and watched the terrible way it took her life. I continue to hope that one day this disease and others like it will be wiped away.

Terese: Disaster relief, putting an end to child abuse, and animal rescue – and before you wonder which I’m most passionate about, it changes by the needs of the day. Right now, for instance, I’m cobbling together a new and revised version of the charitable collaboration a group of us released to benefit the International Red Cross right after the 2004 tsunami and just in time to help with the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. My husband and I have been doing dog / cat rescue since the start of our marriage – right now we have four dogs living with us, but have had as many as eight (temporary) visitors. And as for kids and child abuse… Let’s just leave it at I will do what I can, where I can, and when I can to alleviate an abusive situation.

In the last year have you learned or improved on any skills? Do you have any rituals you follow when finishing a piece of work? 

Terese: Well, I clean the house by putting away all of the research, books, papers, printouts, and clutter I’ve used to get me through a manuscript. It’s amazing how uncluttered the entire house looks (yes, movable office: my 16 year old Lhasa Apso can no longer climb stairs, so I work where it’s easy for him to find me) in between projects. Unfortunately the clutter-free zone doesn’t last long because I’m lost without a book to work on.

Who has influenced you throughout your career as a writer? 

David: Ah, that truly is the question! The single most influential person who literally forced me to do what I had always wanted to do was a writing teacher at ‘The New School’ in NYC. When I submitted my first assignment, which was the first chapter of my first novel, I was excited. A week later I got back thirteen pages with red pen marked throughout and at the very top, in an overly neat scrawl, it read ‘STOP, You have no business trying to write!!!’ Well, I left the class that night and never went back. I was so angry I spent every night after that writing. Two years later I sold my first novel. The Cured is my thirty-fifth.

What is the most important thing in your life right now? 

David: Exactly what it has always been, my family: my wife, Bonnie, my three children and my grandson, followed by my writing.

Terese: I’d have to echo David. My family, my kids, our critters, and my writing are the most important things in my life – and if you were to ask me which is the most important, I’d have to tell you the order varies by the day and the hour.

What are you currently working on? 

David: Something a bit different…a fantasy set 3000 years in the future—’nuf said. Also, Terese and I are also thinking about a second novel with one of the characters from The Cured, but which one….you have to read the book to know.

Do you have any advice for writers or readers? Is there an author that inspired you to write? 

David: No, not an author…. Edgar Rice Borroughs, Frank Slaughter, Rafael Sabatini, Isaac Asimov, Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, Philip K. Dick.

Terese: Oh man, there are so many authors who inspired – and inspire – me to write (Ray Bradbury, Madeline L’Engle, Dr. Seuss), but probably the single most inspirational person wasn’t a writer, but a storyteller. My Irish grandmother (yes, straight out of the old country) told me some of the most wonderful stories and tall tales about her childhood in Ireland that I couldn’t not want to put them down. The woman died at the age of 106 (and that’s a low estimate because she lied about her age so often) and hung by her ankles to kiss the Blarney Stone for the last time at the age of 85 or 90. Allegedly that’s when she stole her second or third piece. The fruit does not fall far… ;-)

What are some of your long term goals?

Terese: To collapse at my desk at the age of 105 and die writing – but first I want to finish all of the stories that are taking up space in my computer and cluttering up my office. If I can do that and entertain people with what I do, I’ll have lived a blessed life.

What do you feel has been your greatest achievement as an author?

David: That’s the easiest question of all: Having a reader tell me how much they enjoyed reading one of my books.

What do you feel sets this book apart from others in the same genre? 

David: The reader’s personal experience. Almost everyone takes medication of some sort, from a vitamin pill to prescription meds. After reading The Cured, you will wonder about the pill you just took…

You know the scenario – you’re stuck on an island. What book would you bring with you and why? 

Terese: It’d be a toss-up between the Bible (so many stories!), Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine (no matter how many times I’ve read it, it’s always new), and Mike Resnick’s Stalking the Unicorn (because if I’m on a deserted island with no paper to write my own stories, something completely entertaining and provocative had better be available to keep me sane.)

Are you a different person now than you were 5 years ago? In what way/s? 

Terese: Yep, very. I’m more directed. I’ve always known what I wanted out of life / what I wanted to be (a writer-novelist), but I now better able to go beyond that very simple want and say “this is the kind of novelist I want to be, and this is how I intend to go about it and achieve it.” That’s a huge step forward.

ABOUT DAVID WIND

David WindDavid Wind is the author of 34 Novels. He began writing in 1979 and has published novels of suspense, adventure, science fiction, historical fiction and romance. David's novel, Angels In Mourning, won the reader's choice Book Award from thebookawards.com. It is available as an Ebook and Trade Paper. David's thrillers are The Hyte Maneuver, (a Literary guild alternate selection), As Peace Lay Dying, and Conspiracy of Mirrors which were originally written under the pen name David Milton. For the mystery/suspense novels, And Down will Come Baby, Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and Shadows, David worked with his wife Bonnie Faber Co-Op, is a mainstream novel about the lives of people inhabiting a New York City cooperative apartment building. Queen of Knights, a medieval fantasy, and The Others were stories of fantasy and science fiction. In 1988, David was honored by science fiction writer and Hugo Award Grand Master Andre Norton, who, after reading Queen of Knights, asked David to write a short story for inclusion in her Andre Norton's Tales From The Witch World 2 Anthology Series. David also wrote the novelization of the 7 day ABC miniseries, The Last Days Of Pompeii. David lives in Chestnut Ridge, NY, with his wife Bonnie and their sub-standard poodle, Alfie.

ABOUT TERESE RAMIN

Terese RaminTerese Ramin is the award winning author of 10 novels of romance, romantic suspense, adventure, paranormal romance, and thrillers available in the U.S. and worldwide. Her shorter works have been published in anthologies, including the charitable collaborations Bewitched, Bothered, & BeVampyred (to benefit the International Red Cross) and The Sound and the Furry (to benefit the International Fund for Animal Welfare – IFAW). Her work has been translated and published in Dutch, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, and Portuguese. Among her many writing achievements Terese has been awarded RWA Golden Heart Award and the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award. She lives in Michigan with her husband. For more information about Terese, please visit tereseramin.com

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