There are just so many conversations these days about
immigrants and even more mistrust of certain groups. Yes, I admit
whole-heartedly that I wanted to build that particular hot topic into my EMS
suspense Hyphema.
Hyphema is the second EMS (Emergency Medical
Services) suspense that I wrote; the first EMS novel is Final Sin. Matt Garratti, Hyphema’s
hero, was introduced to my readers as a sort of supporting character in Final Sin (as the best friend and
riding partner to the heroine Julie), but he refused to let me type The End on
his story when I finished Final Sin.He convinced me that he is actually a pretty interesting guy and certainly
worthy of a few words.
Enter Sudah, (she was never seen in Final Sin but she was mentioned near the end of the book). Sudah was
born and raised in Pakistan and a practicing Muslim. She fell in love with Matt.
It was a mixed-marriage (Muslim and Christian). While she hadn’t achieved her
United States citizenship in Hyphema she
was in the process of studying for it.
With their infant son in tow Sudah follows Matt down south so
that he can follow his dream job of being a flight medic. And that’s when
things begin to happen, people look at her with suspicion, and when crimes
happen (to others as well as Matt’s family) there are those who don’t trust her.
There are those, even among Matt’s new work family, who cannot separate any
Muslim from the terror attack of 2001.
I try to show that there is good and evil in all sides, and I
try to demonstrate both the acceptance and the prejudice against all immigrants
to our country. Hyphema won the Dec
9, 2011 Friday Book Cover Vote on the Shades
of Love website and was recommended in the book Summer
Reading: 2012 Blue Ribbon Selection published by the Ewen Prime
Co.EMSWorld
posted about Final Sin and Hyphema.
Hyphema: Bleeding in the eye caused
by trauma…
Matt Garratti, a paramedic from New York, moves his wife and
son to North Carolina to work at his dream job as a flight medic. Pakistani
born Sudah, his wife, receives frosty stares and insensitive comments from
their new neighbors... Matt wonders if he is pursuing his dream or bringing his
family into a nightmare from which they may never wake.
Hi! Welcome to another Weekend Writing Warrior and Snippet Sunday round. Every week writers post 8-to-10 sentences on their blogs from a published or unpublished book. Then we "hop" around and leave comments on each other's snippets. Whether our work is already published or in progress, the helpful comments help us become stronger writers on our next WIP. We welcome EVERYONE's comments.
I'm sharing snippets from HYPHEMA, my second EMS novel. The hero in HYPHEMA was first introduced in Final Sin as the heroine's ambulance partner and best friend.
Matt Garratti, a paramedic from New York, moves his wife and son to North Carolina to work at his dream job as a flight medic. Pakistani born Sudah, his wife, receives frosty stares and insensitive comments from their new neighbors… Matt wonders if he is pursuing his dream or bringing his family into a nightmare from which they may never wake.
In the last excerpt I posted from Hyphema one of the wives (Donna) verbally attacked Sudah for her Muslim/Pakistani heritage. The other wives were supportive of Sudah. In this excerpt Donna's husband, Frankie, approaches Matt at work and apologizes for his wife's comments. Matt is surprised since Sudah never said anything.
Creative editing (a.k.a. condensed to fit) alert!
“I heard that Donna gave your wife a hard time about her
being a Muslim and all, I wanted to apologize. Laurie told Tony that Sudah
handled it real well, I just want you to know I don’t have any problems
with your wife.”
Matt could see the sincerity in his eyes, “good to know.”
“So how did you wind up with a girl from over there anyway?”
Matt let Frankie follow him into the crew room before he
answered, “Sudah enrolled in a college program in New York, I sometimes helped
out with the paramedic program there, we met one day in the hallway and I knew
that I loved her right away.”
“So she’s not a citizen, right?”
“Not yet,” Frankie handed Matt a cup of coffee and they sat
at the table, “she’s working on it but it takes several years.”
Frankie took a long swallow from his coffee, “it’s just that
it’s odd to see foreigners around here…”
“You know we all started out as foreigners somewhere in our
families,” Matt bristled a bit.
“Hey, no offense. I just didn’t know if you guys are prepared
for some of the shit that can go on down here.”
Just got good news from my publisher, she said OKAY to a manuscript I just submitted, it's a sequel to my book Karma Visited and I am soooo excited.
I believe the sequel, tentatively titled Annie's Karma will be available mid to late January 2017 ~ I'll keep y'all posted!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the meanwhile, a bunch of Vanilla Heart Publishing authors got together to create a collection of holiday oriented stories and it is FREE to download from Noisetrade and Smashwords
’Tis the Season for Cocoa and Reading: Holiday Stories and More is a collection of short stories by Vanilla Heart Publishing Authors Tamara Philip, Chelle Cordero, Malcolm R. Campbell, Gwendolyn Jensen-Woodard, Neva Squires-Rodriguez, Charmaine Gordon, and Lauren Shiro.
That Christmas
Feeling - Tamara Philip
A Date With Mistletoe
- Chelle Cordero
Jock Stewart’s
Holiday Hilarity - Malcolm R. Campbell
Dead for a Night -
Gwendolyn Jensen-Woodard
Esperanza-The Holiday
that Wasn’t - Neva Squires-Rodriguez
Hi! I managed to get Matt Garatti off of the Hyphema pages long enough to answer some questions that I thought would interest our readers, but, ssh… he doesn’t know that I am the one asking questions — he thought he was making time for some famous journalist. I hope you enjoy getting to know more about him.
What is the name of the book where we would meet you? What genre is it?
My story is in Hyphema; a hyphema is blood in the front chamber of the eye usually from an injury and the story’s title comes from a line in the book. English is my wife’s second language and she has trouble with some common American idioms; at one point she refers to the expression “an eye for an eye” and she comments that makes for bloody eyes. I actually was introduced in the book Final Sin, another Chelle Cordero novel. Both books are EMS-based thrillers.
What do you think of the author? You can tell us the truth.
Once you get past her ego, you realize she is very passionate about what she does. I have to say as one of her characters, she really loves us, we can feel that and I’m sure the readers can, too.
Tell us a little about yourself. How would you describe your appearance? Give us enough detail to get a clear idea of how you look.
I think I am sort of average, my wife thinks I am “handsome in my uniform” — I’m a flight paramedic so I wear a uniform every working day. I’m pretty fit, I have to be considering my line of work, and I’m trim, again I have to be as a flight medic. Other than that I have dark hair, I keep it cropped pretty short, I stand about five-eleven, and I’ve been told I look a little like that actor Justin Chambers… I think he’s on some TV medical show, I don’t see it.
What character are you in the book? Are you the hero, the best friend, the side kick, the hero/heroine’s child or someone else?
In Hyphema I’m the hero, in Final Sin I’m the best friend.
Who was your best friend in Final Sin? What brought you together as friends?
I was best friends with Julie Jennings, the female lead character in Final Sin. Julie and I were paramedic partners and we rode together for our job. When you spend a lot of time with someone in a job like that you learn to depend on each other while you work to save lives. It’s very high stress and your partner is the one who understands because they are there right alongside you. There’ve been a lot of jokes about your EMS partner being the equivalent of a work spouse.
Is there a specific reason why you’re in the story? Don’t give us any story spoilers, but you can share some teasers if you want.
By the end of Final Sin I had met and married my wife, Sudah. I was also looking for some kind of career advancement. When Hyphema opens, we’ve just moved to North Carolina and I have a job as a flight medic. Like the tagline indicates, I worry that I brought my family to a new place where we deal with unexpected prejudice and possible danger.
What time period do you live in?
It’s pretty much contemporary, that’s the kind of stories that Chelle writes, although I have a really ironic story about that. My wife was born in Pakistan and she’s a practicing Muslim; we run into quite a bit of prejudice because of 9/11. There’s a scene where my buddy’s wife yells at Sudah that the Pakistanis are hiding Osama Bin Laden; ironically the e-book came out the week before Bin Laden was finally found… in Pakistan.
Where are you from?
I was born and raised in New York State, central New York to be exact.
Do you live in the same place now?
Nope. Sudah and I, and our son Aden, moved to North Carolina. We’re a bit inland from the Outer Banks. It’s a really nice area and I love to take them exploring.
What special skills or abilities do you have?
I’m a paramedic turned flight medic. Being a paramedic is never boring. I enjoy the excitement and I meet a lot of people in my work. I’m there for them when they need help; I use the skills I’ve been taught to save lives, offer reassurance and sometimes just offer comfort. I admit, I feel good when I get to help someone.
Are you happy with the story?
Yes I am. Chelle was a NYS Emergency Medical Technician for almost 30-years so she is really familiar with the type of things EMS responders do. The story is all very realistic. The way she deals with the cultural differences and prejudice is really down to earth and significant.
Do you have some ideas that the author should consider about the story? You can share them with us. We’re all friends here.
I know that Chelle is busy writing some other stories with other characters, they’re pretty good also, but I would love to see another EMS story. Maybe Julie and Jake could come down from New York and I could get to work with Julie again. That would be fun.
Tell us about your past. Can you share one really good experience and/or one really bad experience? I know that bad experience can be tough, but it would tell us more about what you’ve been through.
Well the bad part of my past, I used to not be able to talk about it, was that my father abandoned us when I was just a little kid. I was always afraid that I was going to grow up and be like him. I was really scared of having a family. When Sudah first told me that she was pregnant with our son I was really scared, but she showed me that I could be a good dad. She helped me to see that there is a difference in fathering a child biologically and being a dad who really loves his kid.
Who is the most important person in your life?
I’d have to say that my wife is the most important person. She really has opened up a whole new world to me. She taught me how to love, I know that probably sounds sappy, but, she has made me very happy.
What do you see in your future?
I love working as a flight medic, I dreamt of doing this kind of work ever since I rode in an ambulance for the first time. I also like the company I’m working for. Eventually I’d like it if Sudah and I had another child or two. I just want to provide for my family and watch our children grow with my wife.
Do you like being a character in a book?
You know, I really don’t think of myself as just a character in a book. My life, my job and my family feel real to me. When Chelle created each of us in her mind she didn’t just give us lives for the beginning and end of the manuscript — she came up with real histories for each of us. I feel like I existed long before Hyphema’s epilogue, even long before I first appeared in Final Sin.
If someone ever decides to make a movie based on your story, who should play you in the movie and why?
I guess we could give that actor Justin Chambers a crack at it, after all people think he and I resemble each other anyway, and I’ve seen a show or two he’s been in and he’s not too bad an actor either.
Matt Garratti, a
paramedic from New York, moves his wife and son to North Carolina to work at
his dream job as a flight medic. Pakistani born Sudah, his wife, receives
frosty stares and insensitive comments from their new neighbors.
Before long, Matt wonders if he is pursuing his dream or
bringing his family into a nightmare from which they may never wake.
REVIEW
FIVE STARS A
Non-Stop Thriller that Will Leave You Longing for More
Tracy Riva
... Matt and Sudah face obstacles that
severely test their relationship and their marriage. I do not want to go into
anymore of the specifics here, but while Matt and Sudah's relationship plays an
important role in the book, the story is much more of an extremely well written
thriller and I definitely recommend reading it.
for
the rest of this review, see the Amazon Hyphema page
In Hyphema, author Chelle Cordero meets
headlong a number of real problems facing her characters. She doesn't
sugar-coat cultural differences and prejudice. The series of incidents and the
deaths faced by Matt and Sudah cause them to face these problems and gives the
love story a depth well-done.
Book Club Packet – FREE, of course
includes full
color printable bookmarks, discussion starters, cover art, and author info
So much to say and so little room to write - Grew up in the Bronx, NYC and went to school at JHS80, HS of Art & Design, and Fordham U. Lincoln Ctr campus. I always had an overactive imagination and parents who encouraged creativity and individuality. I am married to a terrific guy and we raised two extraordinary kids. My sister and I are real close. And I've always tried to give back to my community.
Oh, by the way, I like to write.
