The story behind Breathing Fire

Every book has a story.

I’m talking outside of the pages; how the book came into being.

I started writing Breathing Fire in 2017. It’s the longest I’ve taken with a book in almost a decade. I would set it aside for long periods. At one point (and I don’t EVER recommend doing this), I grafted the story onto another story and tried to make one mega-story out of them both.

It didn’t work.

The inspiration for Breathing Fire came from a couple of sources. At the time, I was watching a lot debates on science and religion and philosophy. I focused on what some have called “the intellectual dark web,” a consortium of public intellectuals, such as Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, Bret Weinstein, and others. (Some of them in particular have also been called “The Four Horsemen” … you know, of the apocalypse! Yikes!)

Around the same time, I read “Before the Fall” by Noah Hawley. “Before the Fall” follows an artist who survived a plane crash. It also gets into some intellectual territory, or at least some social criticism; the media hound the main character, and also seek to blame certain people for the crash. The book comments on the media profiteering from division and outrage. 

I’d already been toying with a story about a public shooting for a while. Of course, this is not a popular topic to write about. We see enough of it; why would anyone want to read a book about it? But I like exploring ideas and themes in my books. One theme is the idea of the trauma suffered by the surviving victims of shootings. 

At one point, I had a story going about an aging actor who was past his prime. He’s filming a movie in NYC’s Central Park and a gunman gets up on the camera lift — like a cherry picker — and opens fire. But it was too graphic and sad, and I let it go.

Later, I decided that my main character would be one of these public intellectuals. I’d base him loosely on Sam Harris, a neuroscientist and author who has a podcast called “Making Sense.” Harris is famous for his takedowns of religion, controversial in his positions on foreign policy, but an unquestionably brilliant guy.

Part of that brilliance, it seems, is his command of the English language. He’s a “smooth talker.” I’d watch him debate people, and his articulateness, coupled with his unwavering calm, seemed to be what gave him the edge. Yes, his positions on things seemed logical and internally consistent, but it wasn’t just that logic, or the data he cited, which made him so effective at “winning” debates, I decided. It was how well he communicated.

So I thought: is he just killing it because he’s so well-spoken? Is that really the metric for discerning truth — how well you can argue?

I called my character Alex Baines. I wondered, what if someone became really incensed by him? What if they took action? But beyond that, what if they were inspired, or even goaded, into taking action by someone else? Like a public rival. Maybe someone who had been hurt by Baines in the past…

And a story was born.

***

The next part of the story-behind-the-story goes as follows: Interestingly, there’s one other book I’ve written that I felt the need to talk about, almost as a caveat, or mea culpa — and that book is called Gone, one of my biggest sellers to date. 

I felt the need to explain its nature: rife with conspiracy theories. I also felt I needed to explain how rushed a book it was, in retrospect, and what I might’ve done differently had I to do it all over again.

Why that’s interesting is because it was the success of Gone, published in 2016, that drew the attention of a literary agent, and that literary agent went on to — briefly — represent Breathing Fire.

The thing is, I’d never noticed I’d draw such attention from Gone, since the agent’s initial message went into my SPAM folder on Facebook. (Thanks, Facebook!) It was three years later before I even realized I had such a folder, and went fishing around in it, to discover the agent’s interest in me.

I’d written nearly ten more novels since Gone, and none of them seemed to grab the market in the same way that book had. The market was getting more crowded, for one thing, and I could’ve really used the boost an agent might’ve brought. (Again — THANKS FACEBOOK)

But I reached out to him anyway, and he responded, and he asked me what I was working on. I pitched him four projects that were in the works, and Breathing Fire was the one that piqued his interest. At the time, summer of 2019, it had been sitting idle and still in need of work, so I dusted it off and gave it another draft, then sent it in to the agent without much expectation.

He called me after a weekend spent reading it and said he wanted to represent me. I was blown away! 

But let’s cut to four months later, and the twenty brick-and-mortar publishers to whom the agent sent the book all said no. Most of them said good things about it, calling it “propulsive” and “clever” but that they would have a hard time marketing it, since it fell between genres.

The thing about Breathing Fire is that, not only does it contain a shooting scene, there are two big sections that host an intellectual debate over science-versus-religion. And then there’s the “metaphysical” aspect; the strange vision Alex’s wife, Corrine, continues to see — and not be able to explain — throughout the story. Plus, there’s also a substantial cop character, and chapters from her POV. So, what kind of book is it? Police procedural? Supernatural thriller? Philosophy book?

I totally get it.

After those publishers passed, I sought the counsel of a writer friend who pens bestsellers. She read the book and assured me it was a good book; she loved it. But she understood why publishers might’ve been averse, and cautioned me against “dying on that hill.” So I parted ways with the agent and sought to represent myself directly, as I’d done with seventeen other books, and approach digital publishers. 

They also said no. Even one of my long-standing publishers, who has thirteen of my other titles, said no. (That publisher once published a book of mine called High Water, about flying teenagers and a monster in a lake, yet called this book “esoteric”…)

It’s getting tough out there, people! 

In fairness, one publisher — Literary Wanderlust — was brave and bold enough to take on the project. But then the coronavirus hit and complicated everything. In the end, I decided to publish it myself. Because, why not? Should it sit forever in the proverbial desk drawer drawing spiders because (most) publishers didn’t think it would earn its keep? I figured, if even just a few people read it, and liked it, it would justify self-publishing it.

***

But here’s the disclaimer: Breathing Fire may not satisfy my main readership. It’s possible the publishers are right and it is esoteric, insofar as people discussing the meaning of life is esoteric. Put plainly: it’s certainly not going to be for everyone. But what book ever does?

Still, understanding that I might be out of my usual target market, I gave the book a pink cover. I put a meditative figure front and center. I categorized it on Amazon as “metaphysical and visionary”. I even priced it at $5.99, because snooty literary thrillers are usually more expensive, hee hee. The point being, I’ve tried to demonstrate that its not my typical fare (if I have a typical fare), and to avoid setting up any false expectations.

Yes, I call it “propulsive” — but so did a rejecting publisher. And it does have a big twist! But this is a book I wrote because I wanted to. Because I liked the idea, and I wanted to somehow crystallize the science-versus-religion debate in my own words.

That’s the real admission here: this was a passion project. Of course I had the reader in mind, and wanted to keep things moving at a good pace, but whenever I got into territory I thought would lose people, or put them off, I kept going anyway.

And who knows? Maybe that’s not a bad thing.


Thanks so much for reading, and for supporting. 

Love,

TJ


Six Popular Novelists Writing About Crime

Ezvid Wiki, “The World’s Video Wiki”, has chosen to include me in this video covering several crime fiction novelists, such as Meg Gardiner. Cool!

What’s a wiki? Good question. A wiki is an online publication that’s collaboratively edited, such as Wikipedia. Ezvid uses video as a primary method of introducing topics for entertainment and educational benefit.

They did a great job summarizing my books, and I’ve enjoyed learning about the other authors.

Check it out!

Go To wiki.ezvid.com



Midsummer Garden !

My garden. It sits somewhere between being a hobby and my ambitions to be self-reliant. We got an early start this year, growing indoors as early as March. Where we live, zone 3/4, it was snowing as late as mid-May, then in the nineties the week after. We call this the north country. After battling wild temperature swings, early ground-dwelling pests such as moles and voles, followed by the insect menaces known as cabbage worms, here are some pictures of a little midsummer harvest. (We’ve been eating lettuce and kale for several weeks, but these are the first cucumbers!)

midsummer harvest… from upper left counterclockwise: red salad bowl lettuce with some parsley and basil, emerald oak lettuce, green finger cucumbers, kale (dwarf blue curled)

midsummer harvest… from upper left counterclockwise: red salad bowl lettuce with some parsley and basil, emerald oak lettuce, green finger cucumbers, kale (dwarf blue curled)

tomato in July!

tomato in July!

southeast corner of the garden

southeast corner of the garden

the first pumpkin sprout…

the first pumpkin sprout…

massive cukes!

massive cukes!

So there you have it. The kale will work nicely in a miso soup. Cucumbers are good in a salad or just cut up in a dish with salt and pepper and a little vinegar — my daughters like to pour a little Italian dressing on. Hope you’re pulling out some good veggies and reading some good books!

Cheers,

TJ

What good does Facebook do you?

OK, this might be a little harsh, but:

What good has social media, Facebook, done for anyone?

“Oh, I keep in touch with my family on there.”

No you don’t. Keeping in touch with family is having reunions and get-togethers. It’s talking on the phone — actually talking, having long-form conversation. If it’s electronic, fine, then maybe it’s sending some pictures via text or email. 

What are you doing on social media? Even if you’re enjoying images of your grandkids or nieces and nephews, cousins, whatever, be honest and admit you’re also posting non-family things. Maybe you say, “I’m not political,” but I guarantee you’ve posted something controversial in the last year. Maybe even in the last month. Or week.

And what has that brought?

What sense does it make to have a family argument in a public space? Arguing about Trump on Facebook is like having a shouting match in a mall. Why are you subjecting all these other people to it? Awkward…

Is it maybe because part of you… some part of you, no matter how small, no matter how much you believe yourself to be NOT an exhibitionist, NOT narcissistic, kind of likes the attention?

And, at whose expense?

Certainly not Facebook’s expense. They’re making billions off of you. Advertising to you. Learning about your habits, what you like and don’t like. All for profit. Theirs and other companies’.

So you’re on there, either freely sharing your biometric data, your opinions on all things big and small, your preferences for all manner of entertainment — you’re on there arguing with people, or at least having the occasional disagreement, and for what?

You’re a product. You’ve become a cog in the machine of the infotainment complex. 

Look, let’s step back and get the broadest perspective we can. Each of us, right now, are under the influence of the political news media. Even if we say we avoid “mainstream news,” we’ve been influenced to choose alternative outlets of information, and some of those are even more misleading and misinforming. 

We’re being trained — we’ve been being trained for more than ten years — to consume “news” as an entertainment product, as a truth product. Cable news networks sell us moral panic and we eat it up. Then we go on social media and spit it back out. I’ve sat there and watched arguments unfold on Facebook and known exactly what one person was going to say to the other before they even typed it out. It’s been scripted for us! 

And why? Why are we arguing? Why debate? Why even passively “share” information? What good does it do? Studies show over and over again that what we see online, if it doesn’t already affirm our preexisting views, holds no sway over us. No one comes away from a Facebook debate with a fresh perspective. (Unless, maybe, it’s “I need to get off Facebook…”)

No change is happening on Facebook. No deepening of wisdom or betterment of humanity. We’re coming to social media with the talking points provided to us by the nationalized political news media, the cable news editorialists (I’m looking at you, Tucker Carlson and Rachel Maddow) and we’re weaponizing these talking points against our fellow citizens.

Why?

We think there’s some big culture war happening, some ultra important battle we need to be a part of (we have to save the country!!) and it’s nonsense — it’s this very phenomenon that’s most damaging to the country!! The “culture war” is an effective business model for the media. It’s us-versus-them, and we’re sucking it right up. Sure, there are issues, but they’re almost never, and I mean almost never as binary, as cut-and-dried as depicted by the media. Further, there are myriad issues, arguably far more important, that effect us all, and we don’t hear about them because they’re too bipartisan in nature, too complex or nuanced, because there’s not one side ready to blame. 

The media profit from our division. Then we go on social media, and companies like Facebook profit while we argue the talking points the media scripted for us. While we (fools!) wear the brands of the politicians now taking their cues from that selfsame political news media. It’s a vicious circle, with media writing the cultural script, politicians taking direction so as not to lose their constituents. A feedback circle with us stuck in the middle, like children, thinking we know what we’re doing.

Want to keep it going? By all means, continue to scroll through the nonsense on Facebook everyday. Tell yourself you’re there to keep in touch with family and friends. The attention merchants love it. The politicians love it — and milk it for all its worth. The news media make their living from it!

I gotta tell you, I’ve been off of Facebook for six months now, and I feel great. I don’t lay awake at night thinking about some debate I had, or some article I saw about something I can do nothing about. My path is toward what I can do in my own backyard, or within my own community, at the very most, my state. That the media choose to focus on the big sensational national issues where I have almost no power or influence, I’m not going to just follow along.

Speaking of following along… Have you ever noticed a refrain that’s common to both sides of the false binary machine? You’ve heard it time and again. It’s, “Wake up!” And it’s calling the other side “sheep.”

Sheep, huh?

I wonder — who is leading those sheep?

Dire Warning from a Respiratory Therapist / Covid-19

My friend is a respiratory therapist currently working in Portland Oregon who has seen multiple Covid-19 deaths today. He directly manages patients on ventilators. He texted me tonight in hurried fashion in between intubations. This is what he said: 

“Don’t go out. Sequester yourself. Three week minimum."

If possible, he said, have plenty of Gatorade on hand (for electrolytes). He said a lot of people are having electrolyte imbalance leading to cardiac imbalances which leads to him doing chest compressions. He’s seeing co-morbidity of asthma and COPD.

“It’s all pulmonary,” he said. It’s not just older people; most people are under 60 he’s seeing die and — he just intubated a 12 year-old asthmatic. “Asthma is huge,” he said. 

He advised me to do deep breathing exercises. “Open those lungs up. Go running — alone. If you have to go for food, bring bleach wipes to the grocery store and wipe all your grocery packages down and toss your gloves and do it again and then wash your hands again and hold your breath while doing it.”

He said: “Tell your parents to drop money on the doorstep and you buy groceries for them at a 24 hour grocery store at 4 a.m. when no one is around and do not touch your face what so ever when you are there.”

Again, my friend is a respiratory therapist who pulled tubes out of four corpses today. I live on the other side of the country from him.

He said: “100 million masks were returned in Oregon today due to them being infected. Think about that: They are testing the people who test the masks who make the masks.”

He said: "Blow your nose and clear everything out and deep breathe often.”

And he said: “We’re at the point where you have to consider everything in immediate vicinity infected with the virus. Door handles car door handles things you regularly touch faucets anything. Bleach it all.”

So (me talking now): This isn’t the time to be cynical, or tough, or selfish. You might be healthy, and good for you — you might be fine. But the person to whom you pass it on to might not. They might be like my mother, who has multiple health issues. Or me, with asthma. I don’t want to suffocate to death. So don’t listen to anyone who’s downplaying this, or trying to be cheery, or score political points. Listen to the infectious disease experts and the people on the front lines. People like my friend.

In the midst of our texts, my friend sent me a picture of himself and two other RTs and I nearly cried looking at them. Wearing full face shields and protective eye wear because they’re getting coughed and sneezed on and will likely get sick. They are, as someone said, the new rock stars.

Please. Don’t go out.

Sequester yourself.

Three week minimum.

Thank you.

An Interview with NFReads

Please introduce yourself and your book(s)!

Hi, I’m TJ Brearton and I currently have sixteen published novels.

What is/are the real-life story(ies) behind your book(s)?

See below.

What inspires/inspired your creativity?

I draw inspiration from my family life (I am married with three children), my experiences with past addictions, and my extended family members who work in law enforcement. I’m also very much inspired by current events, philosophy, and religious thought.

How do you deal with creative block?

By remembering that the first draft is not the final draft. And by re-committing to writing what I want... 

New Book This Friday

WOHOO!! DEAD or ALIVE is set for release on July 26!!

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The book can be enjoyed as a standalone, but you can always catch up on the first two Tom Lange books now!

DEAD GONE

TRUTH OR DEAD


On Writing Series Characters

A question I sometimes get asked is how I came up with my two main series characters, Brendan Healy (the Titan Series) and Tom Lange (Tom Lange Series). Here’s the truth:

It all started when I imagined this guy sitting in his car, smoking a cigarette, totally anxious about his first big case. When the senior investigator knocks on the window and asks, “You ready?” Brendan Healy practically swallows his tongue.

Brendan is a guy who had everything; he was on the cusp of the perfect life, and that all went away. He’s trying start over but keeps getting knocked down. Half the time, he does it to himself. He’s driven by things most of us — hopefully — will never have to face. But maybe we can understand him a little bit. Maybe we can see ourselves in him. Because after getting knocked down, like us, Brendan gets back up.

Unlike Brendan, who found his way into law enforcement through a friend, Tom Lange has wanted to be a cop since he was a troubled teenager in foster care. Growing up on the streets, he had some bad influences and some good influences. Luckily, the good ones inspired him to help people. 

Tom is troubled too, but when we meet him, he’s swimming his morning laps in the pool. He takes the skin off chicken, reads a book a week, and regularly hits the gym. If anything, he’s overcompensating. He got a perfect score on his SOCE and tries to do everything to perfection. He’s quiet, because he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing.

Over time, though, we see Tom loosen up a little bit, start to have some fun. Does some of his humor still mask his insecurity? Sure. Does he still get in the way of his own progress? Yes, but for different reasons. If you said that Tom Lange is further along in his recovery than Brendan Healy, you wouldn’t be wrong.


You can meet Brendan by reading HABIT, the first in the Titan Series. No matter what he puts himself through, he won’t stop until he solves the case; he won’t let you down. Though where he’s ultimately headed, is anyone’s guess. 

To find out what makes Tom tick; why he tries so hard, why any sort of violence against women drives him crazy, or why his older brother worries him so much, his first case is the book DEAD GONE.

Two men, each trying to do good in the world, failing often, hopefully getting it right when it matters.

As always, thank you so much for reading and reviewing. Your support means everything.

New Book THE HUSBANDS Climbing Bestseller Lists

I’m not patting myself on the back; this is expert work on the part of my publisher, Joffe Books.

My newest novel THE HUSBANDS has debuted as the #1 New release in Women’s Detective Fiction (US / Kindle) where it currently sits at #5. The book has also sneaked onto Canada’s top Police Procedural list, #8 for Kindle and #10 for books overall.

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More importantly, readers are enjoying the story!

“Awesome read… Brearton has taken this book to another level”

“On point all the way”

“Fast and entertaining… I devoured it… I was plugged into the investigation and search for the killer”

“Characters seemed true to life”

“Kelly was really good…I could really feel her determination and anxiousness”

“Sucked me in from the first page and wouldn’t let go”

— Goodreads reviews

GO TO BOOK PAGE >>

A Psychic Author??

An artist is influenced by the world around him or her. Certainly, real events get stuck in my brain and find their way, changed but bearing the same essence, onto the page and into a story.

But sometimes it’s the other way around.

Near the end of the third book in the Titan series (spoiler alert) our hero uncovers a kind of Holy Grail that evidences massive corporate malfeasance, tax dodging and scams. Shortly after the book was published, a story on the “Panama Papers” broke.

Long before that happened, a story I was writing set in the the near future involved a blond man who was suddenly everywhere on the internet. The story was science-fiction, and the blond man’s digital ubiquity more about hacking than politics, but nevertheless when Trump ran for president a few years later, was elected, and began storming cyberspace as the media covered everything he did and said relentlessly, my blond man became real.

More recently I wrote a serial killer story with a main character who has a traumatic event in her past. That story hasn’t been published yet, so I’ll just say that a recent major event in our society closely mirrors that character’s past.

I even started a sequel with that same character. The plot of the book involved political terrorists kidnapping media professionals. I’ve stopped writing the book for other reasons, but as of this moment, bombs have been delivered to certain media figures by political terrorists.

Do I think I’m psychic? Not really. Surely there is an explanation, something along the lines of real-world clues filtering unconsciously into my creative process and sometimes aligning to create the illusion of prediction.

More concerning to me, anyway, are these actual events and their impacts. Not to mention that it seems reality is outpacing my fiction writing. I need to work faster!

Off I go, then.

Best wishes,

TJB