History buff and former Seattle police officer Tim Perry discovered the power of language when he taught classes at the police academy with outdated textbooks. They were irrelevant and, therefore, ineffective. He soon leaned on his own experiences and real-world examples to create curricula related to police work, police procedure, and officer survival. The textbooks are still in use throughout the country and have saved countless lives. After writing the textbooks, Tim thought to himself, “That was nice. Let me see what I can do with fiction.”
Trilogy in Blue: From the Ashes is Tim’s first work of fiction in his three-book series. He’s currently finishing the third book in the series. It begins in Vermont in the early 1800s and follows the characters’ trials through the 19th and 20th centuries. Tim diligently researched the eras in Northwest history and weaved his characters throughout real events that occurred. He also injects his characters into cases he worked and situations he experienced, such as Seattle’s Wah Mee Massacre. He knows exactly what they saw and felt. “It’s important to make your reader feel as if they’re there. When something’s happening, it makes the reader want to go to the next page … Feeling is the most important part of a book. You have to make them feel.” Tim also hopes his readers gain knowledge about American history, as well as the joys and hardships people experienced throughout the eras.
Tim’s writing process is simple. He sits down and writes. “I thought it was easy. For me it is easy. I thank God I can put myself in someone else’s head.” The hardest thing about writing? “Getting published.” Tim submitted several cover letters, manuscripts, and partial manuscripts to publishers before one picked up his book. His persistence paid off. Tim advises reading your manuscript five times, as well as researching publishers before sending in a cover letter to find one that’s a good fit. His cure for writer’s block: “Anything from exercising to two fingers, neat, Macallan’s 20 Scotch to sitting down to think.”
The Trilogy in Blue series is a fast-moving, action-packed, historical -based family saga. A young man is becoming a police officer in a city struggling for identity, bringing the Mitchell family to a crisis that will tear it apart. Chad Mitchell will deal with a psychotic killer, greed, graft, and corruption that will endanger his life and the lives of his wife and child. Trilogy in Blue titles include From the Ashes, Where Eagles Soar, and Equal Justice for All. From the Ashes is available on Amazon.com here.
