Daniel

Publisher info

I lived in Mexico in 2009 and 2010 and suffered the murder of a young friend who was kidnapped, tortured, shot, and left in a vacant field in his home city of Monterrey. Israel was a bright and handsome college student. The mistake that cost him his life was to meet the wrong person at a party: She was the estranged wife of a drug cartel leader in Monterrey, but she didn’t tell Israel. Their flirtation put an end to his life and the dreams for him of all who loved him. I was aware of the violence in Mexico when I arrived and tried to stay alert. After I came to make friends and saw that they courageously lived their lives in a world abundant with daily horrors and impunity, I realized how safely we lead lives in the United States. I learned that we know so little about how we contribute to problems in the country to the south of us.

Israel’s murder began to haunt me a little more each day. I couldn’t forget him. I spent two years researching and understanding the violence of organized crime, especially that of the drug cartels throughout Latin America and the United States. I found out that on the demand side, the people in the United States purchase the majority of drugs coming from the Mexican cartels. On the supply side, our country is the biggest supplier of illegal weapons used by these cartels. These weapons have been responsible for at least 100,000 deaths in Mexico in the past seven years. Even the casual marijuana enjoyed in social gatherings in our country arrives to us with a lot of blood on their leaves. We don’t think about that at all.

The result of my time in Mexico are The Z Redemption and its sequel, Corvette Nightfire, published in April, 2014. These are the first two books of The Z Redemption Trilogy. I like to think that writing these novels has helped with my personal redemption.

As for my bio, I am a retired Certified Public Accountant who spent most of my career in the health care field. For twenty years I was the CFO and then CEO of a Virginia hospital and nursing home in a large healthcare company. I wrote short stories as a young man, and at the College of William and Mary I really learned to write. I received my undergraduate degree in History there. Later I went to graduate school at Virginia Commonwealth University, where I got a post-baccalaureate certificate in accounting and then my Masters in Business Administration from the University of Dallas. I am a life-long lover of Corvettes, Las Vegas, and living on the edge. I am in love with my family, and I am passionate about United States and Mexican history, the Spanish language, and using social media.

Smashwords Interview

Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in Richmond, Virginia in the suburbs in the late 1950s and '60s when kids actually played together on their streets and houses never needed to be locked. Organized sports were rare. Most families only had one car. The transportation of choice for kids was the bicycle. I led a neighborhood gang of mostly girls in bicycle adventures all over Richmond. Our parents did not have complete knowledge of just how far we roamed. The key was to be back in time for lunch or supper. Chapter 3 in my novel, The Z Redemption, basically is a slight exaggeration of my childhood.
When did you first start writing?
I read a lot of science material as a kid, mostly astronomy and physics, and these fueled my imagination and gave me fire to explore. So I wrote a number of short stories until I got busy in college. I went to the College of William and Mary, a liberal arts school, and majored in history. Most of our exams required us to write three essays in less than an hour. I ended up with a career in accounting and hospital administration and did a lot of business and marketing-related writing. I retired (too young) at age 54. Five years ago I went to live in Mexico for a year and had experiences there which resulted in my renewed passion for writing. The most excruciating experience was the murder of a young friend whose company I enjoyed daily. He was an innocent who got tortured and murdered by a drug cartel. Writing truly has been a form of therapy for me.
Read more of this interview.

Where to buy in print

Parents Playbook
Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 9,400. Language: English. Published: March 1, 2016 by Daniel. Categories: Nonfiction » Reference » Careers, Nonfiction » Reference » Personal & Practical Guides
Parents Playbook is Dr. Bill Holland's concise guide for parents on how to provide career counseling to their athlete to prepare her/him for a successful transition from high school to college to career. Handy and specific, this playbook helps student and parent avert the disasters of under-employment after college. It guides them to obtain the most suitable and enriching career for the student.