Lighting the Dark Side is an Award Winning anthology of short fiction featuring three novellas. DEAD of KNIGHT is a full length novel coming in November 2009.
Author William R. Potter takes the reader into the heart and soul of his protagonist and into the warped mind of a psychopath. Potter’s first full length novel, Dead of Knight is told from the point-of-view of Detective Jack Staal and from the perspective of a killer who murders women on their birthdays.
Through clever use of back story, we learn that Detective Staal is suffering from post-traumatic stress after a horrific shooting. Unable to shake the horror of that day, Staal has left his position with the Vancouver PD’s homicide squad and has resurrected his career with the police service in a fictional country town called Hanson, British Columbia.
Anxious to work the biggest case of his career, Staal is forced to the outside when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Integrated Homicide Teams are assigned to the case. Not one to sit on the sidelines, Staal convinces his colleagues to follow his lead and pursue a serial killer the media has dubbed Birthday Boy.
Believing he is a soldier of justice, a misguided young man has begun a callous campaign of terror. Damian Knight (Birthday Boy) is convinced of his righteousness and continues his brutal crusade of revenge. As his death count mounts, so does Knight’s courage and he soon turns his anger on a fatigued Staal. Staal and Knight play out a cat and mouse thrill ride that culminates with an epic, one-on-one meeting of cop versus killer.
Potter has created an intriguing police procedural with a strong main character, a terrific supporting cast, and a plot with twists, turns, and plenty of red herrings. I have read many books in this genre featuring a main character that is a bullet-proof, womanizing Neanderthal. However, Potter’s Jack Staal takes a pounding, both physically and emotionally. This is one author who isn’t afraid to show his hero breaking down or making mistakes. Potter has penned a captivating tale filled with plenty of tension and conflict, crisp dialogue and an unrelenting pace. He puts us in the story with vivid descriptions and scene-painting narrative.
I highly recommend Dead of Knight-A Jack Staal Mystery. It is sure to delight fans of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta or Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch.
LIGHTING THE DARK SIDE-the E-Book is now available in most E formats including Amazon Kindle
Bent, Not Broken. The opening novella is about an obsessive compulsive man who falls in love. Dee-Dee challenges Dwayne to experience life instead of hiding from it. Nevertheless, Dwayne’s disorder puts a severe strain on the relationship. Jealousy, low self-esteem, anxiety, and an increasing sense of violence engulf him until he pushes his new love away and falls into old habits of avoidance. Will he overcome this dilemma for love? Or will his problems continue to impede his happiness?
In the Gray. A seemingly mundane phone call between a grown son and his mother uncovers the reality of one man’s life. Michael Conner has estranged himself from his entire family. He has no time for his corrupt politician brother, his racist, abusive father, and his mother who seems to be more concerned with his marital status than the ugliness in her own home. Tragedy interrupts the call seconds before Michael can speak his truth and free his mind of decades of bitter animosity.
Prominent Couple Slain. Detective Jack Staal spent twelve years working in the Major Crime Section of the Vancouver Police Department. There he saw the worst of humanity, violent murders, gang warfare, sex crimes, and the ravages of illicit drugs. Homicide investigation was once his mission in life; now with his confidence damaged, he struggles each day to face the brutality. The story finds Staal only weeks after transferring to the Police Service of a small country town called Hanson, where a detective is more likely to investigate a canoe thief than a killer. When a former mayoral candidate and his wife are found DOA in an apparent murder-suicide, Staal is thrown back onto the homicide beat.
May 18, 2010. Is May 18, 2010 the end of the world? Trevor Woodward isn’t sure; he just wants to go home to his girlfriend, Kelly-Anne, and ignore the growing pandemonium over the approach of an earth-grazing comet called Ivan. Will the rock strike earth and destroy all life? Or is the entire thing a hoax to cover up an atomic bombing in the Persian Gulf? Experiencing increasing episodes of déjà-vu, Trevor begins to suspect that the eventful day is repeating; and with each pass, he gets another chance to repair mistakes with Kelly-Anne and his dying father.
Blessing or curse? Who wouldn’t enjoy winning the big one? Brad Stewart isn’t certain that becoming an instant millionaire is all he dreamed it to be. With the constant hounding by charities and long lost relatives, and the distance forming between him and his best friends, Brad is beginning to believe the windfall may be a curse. Without warning, a backyard barbeque becomes his worst nightmare when his son is abducted and held for ransom. Brad must reunite with his buddies in a frantic effort to rescue his kidnapped child.
Surviving the fall. Since childhood, James Goodal has had a soft spot for stray creatures. One gloomy afternoon, a lonely and depressed James meets Ashley, a young street girl. Impulsively, he offers her a spot on his couch for the night. Tempted by Ashley’s beauty and her willingness to please him, James struggles to live by his morals while questioning his motivations. Sickened by her life story, he can’t bring himself to send her away. But the comfort the two find in their unorthodox relationship is short-lived; shattered by violence as Ashley’s past catches up to her at Goodal’s home.
I don't normally like short stories, but as soon as I started reading this book, Lighting The Dark Side, I instantly fell in love with the stories.
Each story is completely different - although they have a thread going through them of - the darker side of life.
I think my favorite is Blessing or Curse - which actually reflects one of the things that i often think - one good thing happens and then something bad happens to equal it out!
Some might think this is a series of pessimistic outlooks on life - in fact, I have been, myself, on occasion accused of being in this state of mind - however, I choose to call it reality and I like that author Potter has the guts to put down on paper what alot of people think, deep inside their minds. It can be scary to actually admit just how dark the mind can truly get. I, for one, applaud this author for channeling his "inner dark side" and writing these stories.
Granted, this book will not exactly make you feel all warm and loved after you have finished reading it, but the stories are so well written, that the tales, in themselves will be engrossing enough.
The author, William R. Potter, is a very good writer, he knows how to get to the darker side of human nature and the darker side of life....I loved this book, even if after reading it, I wasn't exactly in the mood to sing a hearthy song.
My guest post for The Blue Stocking Society. I talk about how I juggle family and writing.
Like most aspiring authors, I dream of selling a book to a mainstream publisher, and then writing fulltime. For now, I write whenever I can.
Saturday, 4:30 AM. I’m up and ready to take on the day. Yeah right! After quickly flipping off the alarm so not to wake my wife, I’m at the computer nursing a fishbowl sized mug of coffee. As the PC comes to life, I glance at the stack of books next to me on the floor. Somehow the latest hardcover offering from Michael Connelly has made its way to the top of my TBR (To Be Read) pile, so I spend a half hour with Connelly’s meal ticket, Harry Bosch.
I begin work on my own novel, a police procedural called Dead of Knight. The story is complete; it’s now down to re-writes and polishing. I hear tiny feet on carpet. My five year old son is wandering around the house in the dark half asleep—it’s 5:30. I guide Alex back to bed and snuggle with him until he returns to sleep.
I pause for another cup of coffee and a few minutes of staring at a blank screen. A writer friend has asked me to read his 300-page manuscript. How can I tell him the second and third chapters are just a rehash of the first? I e-mail him a note reminding him to hook the reader early and suggest that perhaps his first 35 pages could be condensed into a strong ten to twelve.
A second after opening my book file, the phone rings—it’s my mom. She launches into a story of how my dad put his back out working in the yard yesterday. I ignore Mom’s subtle invitation to feel guilty about not spending more time with my parents.
The family is awake now and Erin, my wife, is quick to comment about how early I was up to write. She’s worried about how tired I am. Her concern is valid, as constant fatigue is the price I pay for working at such a ridiculous hour. Erin is telling me something about shopping with her mom. She’s irritated that I’m living in my head, as she calls it. She’s right—I’m stuck in my book and can’t get a scene out of my mind.
I pause from the book to open some snail mail. An agent from Toronto regrets to inform me that she is presently unable to take on new clients. Next, I learn a book proposal does not meet the current publishing needs of a small press in Connecticut.
As if on queue, my three year old daughter, Meghan, dances in to relieve the stinging pain of rejection with noisy versions of Do Re Mi and My Boy Lollipop!
I’m re-energized and writing at a nice pace. Erin is increasingly annoyed with my inability to pull myself from my book for even a few seconds. She announces that she is taking the kids to have lunch with her mom.
I decide to write for an hour and then surprise the family by meeting them at the mall. The house is quiet, too quiet. My eyes are closing, and each minute becomes a greater struggle to stay awake. I move to the bed for a short nap and wake three hours later to the sound of loud voices and laughter.
Alex and Meghan find me in bed and I excite them with news about a special day at the park tomorrow. However, the promise does little to diminish the guilt I feel for spending so much time away from my kids for writing.
Welcome to The Writer's Life, William Potter! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?
I would first like to thank The Writers life for having me. I guess you could say I was bitten by the writing bug at an early age. Shortly after watching the first remake of King Kong, around the age of ten or eleven, I scribbled a few lines about a mutant crab and said I was writing a book.
I discovered poetry in my teens and continued to write verse into my twenties and early thirties. However that kid’s dream of writing a book never went away. In 2001 I decided to get serious about fiction and dabbled in short stories with some success. With my confidence surging I attempted larger and larger word counts. Before long I had a collection of shorts and two novellas approaching novel length. It was time…after waiting twenty-five years since that monstrous crustacean of my childhood I attempted another novel in 2003 and finished the first draft just before Christmas 2004.
Can you please tell us about your book and why you wrote it?
Lighting the Dark Side is an anthology of short fiction including three novellas and three shorter works spanning the gamut of fiction genres. After I finished the first draft of my first novel I decided to let the manuscript sit and cool for a while. I then returned to the assortment of stories I penned from 2001 to 2003.
The first thing I noticed about the group of fiction was the darker subject matter. I blamed or credited this gloominess to pain and sadness still lingering from my divorce of a few years previous. My writing was getting some favourable feedback and I wondered if grouped together the short stories might be enough for a book. I began to polish the stronger selections and wrote two more novellas in 2006 and 2007. I pared the total down to six and then began to seek out a publisher.
I believe everyone has an ugly side to their personality down deep that troubles those who witness it. For some it is pure evil and for others its anger management or perhaps jealousy. The key to triumphing over this darkness is to recognise it, and to turn a light against it. This became the theme and title of the book.
The characters in the book all follow unique paths in order to escape their own personal short comings; from Dwayne Johnson, a man who struggles to find love despite a severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; to Brad Stewart, whose lottery win becomes a nightmare when his son is kidnapped for ransom; to James Goodal, a gentle man with a rescue complex who resorts to murder when he takes in a young street prostitute.
What kind of research was involved in writing “Lighting the Dark Side”?
Each of the six stories required different amounts of research. As soon as I realised that Dwayne in the novella “Bent, Not Broken” suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder I stopped writing and began to researching online OCD sites. The internet makes research so much easier and I quickly had a feel for this much misunderstood anxiety disorder. It took me a while to feel confident that I wouldn’t offend people who suffer from OCD and almost cut the story from the book. I’m glad I kept it in as the piece is always mentioned first by readers and reviewers.
For the police procedural, “Prominent Couple Slain” I studied as much information about police detective work as I could find. If you don’t have access to a real life detective, the World Wide Web is a good alternative to learn about weapons and tactics of law enforcement.
Researching the novella “Surviving the Fall” was a very sad experience for me. Ashley Metcalf is a fourteen year-old prostitute who was put on the street at age eleven to finance her Mother’s drug addiction. I found numerous stories from around the world of girls as young as nine forced into this nightmare world of fear and violence.
How much input did you have into the design of your book cover?
From early on I had a vision of how I wanted the cover to look. I made my own “working cover” and hoped the professionals at the publisher could improve it. The publisher’s designer went in a different direction with the title font. I disliked his first draft as it made the cover look like a self help book and it took me many weeks to persuade him that my idea was better. However, he continued to send galleys with lower case font and I became discouraged. I’m still not happy with it and it bothers me that the main title is not centred properly. Nevertheless readers and reviewers have called it eye catching, striking, and unique.
Has it been a bumpy ride to becoming a published author or has it been pretty well smooth sailing?
From the beginning I didn’t expect a traditional publisher to pick up a short story collection from and unknown and unpublished author and after several rejections I decided to go the self publishing route. The self publishing industry was my first adventure in publishing so I’m not sure how the ride compares to those who work with mainstream publishers.
For this particular book, how long did it take from the time you signed the contract to its release?
From the time I submitted my finished manuscript to the release date was about six months.
Do you have an agent and, if so, would you mind sharing who he/is is? If not, have you ever had an agent or do you even feel it’s necessary to have one?
I don’t have an agent and I know that if I’m going to be taken serious by traditional publishers I will need a good one. Finding an agent is my number one goal for 2009 as I attempt to leave my POD past behind me and sign that elusive contract.
Do you plan subsequent books?
Definitely. I’m currently in the rewrite stage of a sequel to the short story “Prominent Couple Slain” from “Lighting The Dark Side” called “DEAD of KNIGHT-A Jack Staal Mystery”. It should be available by Christmas 2009—fingers crossed. I think the Detective Jack Staal character is strong enough for a series and already have two sequels outlined.
Another completed novel manuscript is about an average family man and how he and his wife deal with his depression and addiction following the sudden tragic loss of his eyesight in a freak kitchen accident. “Falling Down The Hole” is my 2010 project and I daydream about it becoming my first book published by a traditional publisher.
Are you a morning writer or a night writer?
Any chance I get at the computer works for me. However, I have a fulltime job and my wife works evenings—throw in two kids under six and you can see how my writing time is very limited. I get up at 4:30 or five in the morning most weekends and fuel myself with a few gallons of coffee and then type away on my laptop until the kids wake up three or four hours later.
If money was no object, what would be the first thing you would invest in to promote your book?
Unfortunately you can’t see the smile on my face as I answer this one! I would write a two or three minute video trailer and then hire the best in the film business to produce it. M. Night Shyamalan or perhaps Marty Scorsese would direct. U2 would record the sound track—hey you said money was no object—and an all A list cast would be hired to play the characters form each story. Then I would unveil it during the next super bowl.
Seriously if I had a larger budget I would try a shot gun approach running ads in newspapers and magazines around North America. I would place banners, video clips and ads in every website and blog I could find featuring writers and books. Then I would hire a publicist and to get me some radio or local television spots.
How important do you think self-promotion is and in what ways have you been promoting your book offline and online?
For self published authors self-promotion is the only promotion. I’m always on the lookout for new opportunities to market my book. I am a member of Authors Den and several other sites that connect writers with readers. I try to spend at least an hour a day posting in forums, writing articles for blogs, and for maintaining my websites. Despite the negative reactions of bookstore mangers toward POD books I continue to investigate the possibility of a signing in the near future.
Any final words of wisdom for those of us who would like to be published?
Write something, anything every day and read as much as you can. Set realistic goals for your self such as how many pages you write every day or each week. Pick a date for when you will be published and then be prepared to work your tail off to reach your objectives. If you have a burning desire to be an author then keep at it and never give up until you get to where you want to be. Most of all—have fun with it!
Thank you for coming, Mr. Potter! Would you like to tell my readers where they can find you on the web and how everyone can buy your book?
I had a very active imagination as a child and making up stories often got me into trouble. Shortly after watching the first remake of King Kong, around the age of ten or eleven I decided to write a “book.” I remember something about a monster crab attacking Vancouver. Throughout my teens my mind was in a state of unrest and I used poetry to journal the ups and downs of those difficult times and published a piece in an anthology. I returned to my love of storytelling in my twenties writing numerous short stories; and now at forty, I am re-working two full-length novel manuscripts for publishing. Many more book ideas are at the researching and outline stage and keep me busy at the PC. When I’m not writing or working I am playing with my two children, aged three and five. My wife Erin is very supportive and I am truly fortunate that she understands my passion for crafting fiction and reviewing the works of other authors.
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