Thursday, March 3, 2011
Change in a Moment
Beautiful song and video of what it's like to live with epilepsy. Your life changes in a moment. But as the words show, she may have epilepsy, but it does NOT have her.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Understanding Partial Seizures
This explains partial seizures, including simple and complex seizures arising from different parts of the brain in epilepsy.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
US company stops making key death penalty drug | Toledo Newspaper
US company stops making key death penalty drug | Toledo Newspaper
Note:
By Tracy L. Karol
I am unabashedly in favor of the death penalty. Those who say it doesn't deter crime need only do a Google search for the name "Kenneth McDuff." When the US Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in the 1970s, requiring individual states to revisit their respective laws, his sentence, like those of all others, was commuted to life in prison.
However, McDuff, a brutal murderer, was actually up for parole later. That certainly doesn't sound like "life in prison" or "life without parole" to me. Even today, "life in prison" in Texas is, unless I'm mistaken, 40 years. So a 17-year-old who commits a multiple homicide will be out of prison by age 57. That, again, is due to a fairly new law imposed on the states by the US Supreme Court, which determined that anyone under the age of 18 is not mature enough mentally to be held accountable to the greatest degree for his or her actions. I suppose, if it was a day before the murderer's birthday, they would suddenly mature overnight enough to know the next day that what they were doing was truly wrong.
But I digress. I understand that people are opposed to the death penalty. I understand that some feel it is morally wrong. I happen to disagree with them. I worked in law enforcement for a number of years and I saw some of the most depraved criminals imaginable -- and I worked in a city that doesn't have a terrible crime rate. At the same time, I know there is always the fear of putting an innocent man or woman to death. Obviously no one would ever want that to happen, and I believe there should be every safeguard in place to ensure it doesn't occur. Today, with DNA evidence and other scientific advances, I think we can assure, with the proper laws (possibly new ones) in death penalty cases, that innocent people are not sent to death. I don't want, after all, to see an innocent person spend his or her life in prison, either. Yet I've also seen a man on death row for more than 30 years, despite three trials in which three different juries found him guilty of killing a young police officer, though he confessed to the crime, was found with the weapon shortly after the murder, and there was eyewitness testimony (I know this can be problematic, but he never denied committing the crime -- rather he blamed drugs, his girlfriend, anything to get away with it). The amount of time, media attention, public money, and family torment this murderer put everyone through after the brutal slaying of a heroic police officer is simply a travesty.
Back to Kenneth McDuff. He was a serial killer. When he was imprisoned and sentenced to death the first time, he'd already served time for burglary. Within a few years he was back, surfacing in Fort Worth where he shot two teen boys in the face (both died) and raped their female friend, also strangling her with a broomstick. That got him the death penalty in 1968. Those were the crimes he is known to have committed at the time, though it's likely he got away with more.
Amazingly, and this is what not only shocks me and should shock and disgust everyone who reads this, Kenneth McDuff was paroled. Not because of good behavior (it's doubtful he ever behaved well in his life), not because of time served, not because of any good reason at all. Kenneth McDuff was sentenced to death for the murders and rape he committed. That sentence should have been carried out. But it wasn't. Because the US Supreme Court decided to impose its will on the states - and I'm not stating that individual states at the time might have been wrong in how each carried out death penalty cases, but clearly a blanket moratorium without safeguards was not the answer either - a known sadistic serial killer, namely Kenneth McDuff, was paroled in Texas.
Why? Why was Kenneth McDuff paroled? That is a question that has been hotly debated, but basically it comes down to overcrowding in Texas prisons. There was a breakdown in the system and a man sentenced to death, who never should have seen the outside of a prison (he should have been put to death, period), was set free. And within a very short time after his release he was on a murdering spree again.
Kenneth McDuff spent 17 years in prison the first time he was on death row. It's unclear how many people he killed before and after he got out, but in 1991 he crossed paths with a beautiful Austin accountant, 28-year-old Colleen Reed, when she stopped to wash her car and was abducted by McDuff and an accomplice. She was never again seen alive. Though her body was never found before his trial, witnesses placed McDuff at the scene and his accomplice testified that McDuff kidnapped, tortured and raped her before killing her and burying her body at a dump site. I believe the words his accomplice used in testifying against McDuff were that he said he was "going to use this bitch up." I could be wrong on the exact details, but frankly I'm too sickened to look them up again.
Though Colleen Reed's body was never found at the time, Kenneth McDuff was charged with her kidnapping, rape and murder - a rarity indeed without a body, but McDuff was a known serial killer. His sentence was the death penalty. However, he wasn't apprehended until more than a year later and by that time he had murdered again, and this time there was a body, so again - police knew he was a serial killer.
On March 1, 1992, McDuff kidnapped Melissa Ann Northrup from the convenience store where she worked. She was a 22-year-old pregnant mother of two young children. Her body was found a few weeks later in a gravel pit, her arms tied behind her. She had been strangled with a rope. Up until the minutes of his execution for her murder, his attorneys were trying to delay his sentence. Though Northrup's murder took place a few month's after Reed's, he was sentenced to death by two different juries for the crimes and the penalty for Melissa Northrup happened to come first.
When Kenneth McDuff committed his killing spree between Austin and Waco -- and police believe he may have killed as many as a dozen other people - I was a young mother myself, living in Austin and going to college at the University of Texas. Like most women, I was afraid. If Colleen Reed, a bright, successful woman who happened to stop at a car wash mere days after Christmas, could go missing without a trace, it could happen to anyone. The story was everywhere. Fear was in the air. It was within weeks of the infamous "Yogurt Shop Murders." (Four teen girls were killed at a yogurt shop where two of them worked, then the store was set on fire to hide the crime; it was almost a decade before arrests were made and the case is still hotly debated).
Kenneth McDuff never told, during the trial or while he was in prison, where Colleen Reed's body was buried. His accomplice did not remember the exact spot. Her family had no closure on that point; they could never put her to rest.
By the time Kenneth McDuff was scheduled to die for the murder of Melissa Northrup, things had changed for me. I had graduated from UT, worked as a reporter, then went to work for the Austin Police Department in what is basically the media relations department (I no longer work there; I have disabling epilepsy and don't work at all, but that's not relevant to this story).
Melissa Northrup's murder was not an APD case, but Colleen Reed's most definitely was, and detectives had never given up on finding her body. I give tremendous credit to the officers of the Austin Police Department - they are among the finest men and women I have ever worked with, and their commitment to victims is absolute. These officers and detectives take a lot of heat from the public for a variety of reasons - mostly because of special interest groups, but that's another story for a different time. Still, they work the cases and Austin remains one of the safest large cities in Texas with a homicide solve rate that is excellent.
Back to the execution of Kenneth McDuff for the murder of Melissa Northrup, who was kidnapped from Waco. He still had the death sentence for Colleen Reed hanging over him, not that it mattered at that point, except that her body had never been found. But in those last frantic days, Kenneth McDuff's nephew was in jail on a drug charge. I suppose there was someone he must have cared about, at least a bit, because in exchange for lenience against his nephew, McDuff finally agreed to lead detectives to the body of Colleen Reed.
As I stated, I worked at APD during that time (1998), and while I was sickened by McDuff, I was relieved that Colleen Reed's family finally was able to bring her home. I remember detectives saying that had McDuff not shown them where she was buried, they likely never would have found her. At the same time, the skeletons of several other bodies were found nearby - little doubt that they had met the same fate as Colleen Reed, Melissa Northrup, and so many others.
Kenneth McDuff, one of the most evil monsters I ever came across, finally died by lethal injection on November 18, 1998. He was 52.
I know this was a long story. I know you may be wondering why I'm writing it right now. Actually I've wanted to write it for a long time. I am in favor of the death penalty. That may not win me any friends. That may actually lose me some. I don't hold it against those who oppose the death penalty, but I brought up one case, one of thousands, that demonstrate the evil that men do. And in this case, whenever I hear people say, "the death penalty is not a deterrent," I want to scream out the name KENNETH MCDUFF. It most certainly would have deterred him from murdering Melissa Northrup, Colleen Reed, and God knows how many other women - because he would have been dead the first time he was sentenced to die.
Kenneth McDuff wasn't executed until he was 52 years old. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that, if he had been released at that age, he would have gone right back to murdering women. He had been doing so since at least 1968.
Now the US Supreme Court has commuted all death penalty sentences in all states for those who committed the crime when they were younger than 18. I'm not sure what "life" is in every state, but in Texas it is 40 years. "Life" in prison should mean exactly that -if you are sentenced to life, you stay in prison until you die. Instead someone like Kenneth McDuff could commit multiple murders at 17, get out of prison at 57, and start killing again. Trust me, I've seen older monsters than that.
But what really has me concerned is that other countries that make one of the key drugs used in lethal injection (deemed the most humane way to execute someone, and what set me on the path to writing this story, as you see in the link at the top of this page) are threatening to withhold it from the United States because they do not like our stance on the death penalty. Well, I don't particularly like many of the policies of these countries. I think they border on socialism. I don't think they have a right to dictate to us what we do with our country. Maybe we need to rethink our trade policy, because for the most part they certainly need us more than we need them. But that isn't going to happen, I'm sure.
I doubt that I've changed the mind of anyone who is against the death penalty, and that really isn't my purpose in writing this. But every time I read a story about the death penalty, the writer seems to inject groups of homicide survivors who oppose it. I'm here to tell you that there are plenty of homicide survivors who have no problem with seeing the person who murdered their loved one executed. Both the families of Melissa Northrup and Colleen Reed were interviewed when Kenneth McDuff was executed; neither showed remorse at his death.
There are monsters among us. If the US Supreme Court is going to continue to chip away at states' rights in these matters, then there must be a better method for keeping these monsters put away for good. When someone hears that a criminal is going away for life, they should have the assurance that it actually means something, that it is not an arbitrary number. I know the climate is changing. I know that there is little I can personally do about it. But I will always advocate for crime victims.
I hate that this story was about Kenneth McDuff, but it had to be to make a point. I wish I could have told you more about the lives of Melissa Northrup, Colleen Reed and the many other victims he killed. They are the ones who matter. Their lives mattered. The sum of a story should not be about their deaths. I apologize for that. In this case, I needed to show you what a monster Kenneth McDuff was - and I didn't even come close. But his victims mattered. They had lives that had nothing to do with him. They were beautiful people who should still be alive today, raising their families, going to work, living their dreams. Please take the time to learn a bit about them, to learn what was stolen from this world.
Note:
By Tracy L. Karol
 |
| Melissa Northrup |
I am unabashedly in favor of the death penalty. Those who say it doesn't deter crime need only do a Google search for the name "Kenneth McDuff." When the US Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in the 1970s, requiring individual states to revisit their respective laws, his sentence, like those of all others, was commuted to life in prison.
 |
| Louise Sullivan |
 |
| Colleen Reed |
Back to Kenneth McDuff. He was a serial killer. When he was imprisoned and sentenced to death the first time, he'd already served time for burglary. Within a few years he was back, surfacing in Fort Worth where he shot two teen boys in the face (both died) and raped their female friend, also strangling her with a broomstick. That got him the death penalty in 1968. Those were the crimes he is known to have committed at the time, though it's likely he got away with more.
Amazingly, and this is what not only shocks me and should shock and disgust everyone who reads this, Kenneth McDuff was paroled. Not because of good behavior (it's doubtful he ever behaved well in his life), not because of time served, not because of any good reason at all. Kenneth McDuff was sentenced to death for the murders and rape he committed. That sentence should have been carried out. But it wasn't. Because the US Supreme Court decided to impose its will on the states - and I'm not stating that individual states at the time might have been wrong in how each carried out death penalty cases, but clearly a blanket moratorium without safeguards was not the answer either - a known sadistic serial killer, namely Kenneth McDuff, was paroled in Texas.
 |
| McDuff |
Why? Why was Kenneth McDuff paroled? That is a question that has been hotly debated, but basically it comes down to overcrowding in Texas prisons. There was a breakdown in the system and a man sentenced to death, who never should have seen the outside of a prison (he should have been put to death, period), was set free. And within a very short time after his release he was on a murdering spree again.
Kenneth McDuff spent 17 years in prison the first time he was on death row. It's unclear how many people he killed before and after he got out, but in 1991 he crossed paths with a beautiful Austin accountant, 28-year-old Colleen Reed, when she stopped to wash her car and was abducted by McDuff and an accomplice. She was never again seen alive. Though her body was never found before his trial, witnesses placed McDuff at the scene and his accomplice testified that McDuff kidnapped, tortured and raped her before killing her and burying her body at a dump site. I believe the words his accomplice used in testifying against McDuff were that he said he was "going to use this bitch up." I could be wrong on the exact details, but frankly I'm too sickened to look them up again.
 |
| Rap Sheet |
On March 1, 1992, McDuff kidnapped Melissa Ann Northrup from the convenience store where she worked. She was a 22-year-old pregnant mother of two young children. Her body was found a few weeks later in a gravel pit, her arms tied behind her. She had been strangled with a rope. Up until the minutes of his execution for her murder, his attorneys were trying to delay his sentence. Though Northrup's murder took place a few month's after Reed's, he was sentenced to death by two different juries for the crimes and the penalty for Melissa Northrup happened to come first.
When Kenneth McDuff committed his killing spree between Austin and Waco -- and police believe he may have killed as many as a dozen other people - I was a young mother myself, living in Austin and going to college at the University of Texas. Like most women, I was afraid. If Colleen Reed, a bright, successful woman who happened to stop at a car wash mere days after Christmas, could go missing without a trace, it could happen to anyone. The story was everywhere. Fear was in the air. It was within weeks of the infamous "Yogurt Shop Murders." (Four teen girls were killed at a yogurt shop where two of them worked, then the store was set on fire to hide the crime; it was almost a decade before arrests were made and the case is still hotly debated).
Kenneth McDuff never told, during the trial or while he was in prison, where Colleen Reed's body was buried. His accomplice did not remember the exact spot. Her family had no closure on that point; they could never put her to rest.
By the time Kenneth McDuff was scheduled to die for the murder of Melissa Northrup, things had changed for me. I had graduated from UT, worked as a reporter, then went to work for the Austin Police Department in what is basically the media relations department (I no longer work there; I have disabling epilepsy and don't work at all, but that's not relevant to this story).
Melissa Northrup's murder was not an APD case, but Colleen Reed's most definitely was, and detectives had never given up on finding her body. I give tremendous credit to the officers of the Austin Police Department - they are among the finest men and women I have ever worked with, and their commitment to victims is absolute. These officers and detectives take a lot of heat from the public for a variety of reasons - mostly because of special interest groups, but that's another story for a different time. Still, they work the cases and Austin remains one of the safest large cities in Texas with a homicide solve rate that is excellent.
Back to the execution of Kenneth McDuff for the murder of Melissa Northrup, who was kidnapped from Waco. He still had the death sentence for Colleen Reed hanging over him, not that it mattered at that point, except that her body had never been found. But in those last frantic days, Kenneth McDuff's nephew was in jail on a drug charge. I suppose there was someone he must have cared about, at least a bit, because in exchange for lenience against his nephew, McDuff finally agreed to lead detectives to the body of Colleen Reed.
As I stated, I worked at APD during that time (1998), and while I was sickened by McDuff, I was relieved that Colleen Reed's family finally was able to bring her home. I remember detectives saying that had McDuff not shown them where she was buried, they likely never would have found her. At the same time, the skeletons of several other bodies were found nearby - little doubt that they had met the same fate as Colleen Reed, Melissa Northrup, and so many others.
Kenneth McDuff, one of the most evil monsters I ever came across, finally died by lethal injection on November 18, 1998. He was 52.
 |
| Kenneth McDuff |
Kenneth McDuff wasn't executed until he was 52 years old. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that, if he had been released at that age, he would have gone right back to murdering women. He had been doing so since at least 1968.
Now the US Supreme Court has commuted all death penalty sentences in all states for those who committed the crime when they were younger than 18. I'm not sure what "life" is in every state, but in Texas it is 40 years. "Life" in prison should mean exactly that -if you are sentenced to life, you stay in prison until you die. Instead someone like Kenneth McDuff could commit multiple murders at 17, get out of prison at 57, and start killing again. Trust me, I've seen older monsters than that.
But what really has me concerned is that other countries that make one of the key drugs used in lethal injection (deemed the most humane way to execute someone, and what set me on the path to writing this story, as you see in the link at the top of this page) are threatening to withhold it from the United States because they do not like our stance on the death penalty. Well, I don't particularly like many of the policies of these countries. I think they border on socialism. I don't think they have a right to dictate to us what we do with our country. Maybe we need to rethink our trade policy, because for the most part they certainly need us more than we need them. But that isn't going to happen, I'm sure.
I doubt that I've changed the mind of anyone who is against the death penalty, and that really isn't my purpose in writing this. But every time I read a story about the death penalty, the writer seems to inject groups of homicide survivors who oppose it. I'm here to tell you that there are plenty of homicide survivors who have no problem with seeing the person who murdered their loved one executed. Both the families of Melissa Northrup and Colleen Reed were interviewed when Kenneth McDuff was executed; neither showed remorse at his death.
There are monsters among us. If the US Supreme Court is going to continue to chip away at states' rights in these matters, then there must be a better method for keeping these monsters put away for good. When someone hears that a criminal is going away for life, they should have the assurance that it actually means something, that it is not an arbitrary number. I know the climate is changing. I know that there is little I can personally do about it. But I will always advocate for crime victims.
I hate that this story was about Kenneth McDuff, but it had to be to make a point. I wish I could have told you more about the lives of Melissa Northrup, Colleen Reed and the many other victims he killed. They are the ones who matter. Their lives mattered. The sum of a story should not be about their deaths. I apologize for that. In this case, I needed to show you what a monster Kenneth McDuff was - and I didn't even come close. But his victims mattered. They had lives that had nothing to do with him. They were beautiful people who should still be alive today, raising their families, going to work, living their dreams. Please take the time to learn a bit about them, to learn what was stolen from this world.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Dallas Cowboys!
By Tracy L. Karol
Well, for what it's worth, the Cowboys pulled out a win for the final game of the season. (How 'Bout Them Cowboys?!) It was one game I could watch without worries about any of my Fantasy Football players, since the championship game (after the playoffs) was last week, and I came in second place. Not bad for my first season.
I think all Cowboys fans breathed a collective sigh of relief when Jerry Jones finally fired Wade Phillips. Not that the former head coach isn't a nice guy, but he just might be too nice to be a head coach. At least in Dallas, and certainly for Jerry Jones. Jason Garrett has more than proved himself capable of the permanent job, and after proving that he can work with Jerry Jones for several years already, we don't have to worry about personality clashes. Let's all just hope JJ makes the right decision.
With Tony Romo looking healthy again (and engaged, so hopefully his head will be fully in the game), and some top draft picks, next season should be much better than this sadly disappointment turned out to be. Pick up some offensive linemen and a good defensive coordinator and the Dallas Cowboys will be back. We still have powerful weapons like Jason Witten, Demarcus Ware, Miles Austin, Dez Bryant, and many others.
Sadly, the situation with the Texas Longhorns doesn't look as promising. Quarterback Garrett Gilbert hasn't proven to be the breakout he looked like he might when he filled in for an injured Colt McCoy during the National Championship last year. Colt McCoy, however, has proven himself in the few games he started for the Cleveland Browns.
It's been an interesting football year, both in the NFL and the NCAA. I'll be watching the playoffs, though none of my favorite teams are in it. I'm rooting for the New York Jets -- I grew a fond spot for them during the Fantasy season.
Good luck to you with your teams. As for me, I'll always be a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan, and never abandon my alma mater, the Texas Longhorns. Hook 'Em!
Well, for what it's worth, the Cowboys pulled out a win for the final game of the season. (How 'Bout Them Cowboys?!) It was one game I could watch without worries about any of my Fantasy Football players, since the championship game (after the playoffs) was last week, and I came in second place. Not bad for my first season.
I think all Cowboys fans breathed a collective sigh of relief when Jerry Jones finally fired Wade Phillips. Not that the former head coach isn't a nice guy, but he just might be too nice to be a head coach. At least in Dallas, and certainly for Jerry Jones. Jason Garrett has more than proved himself capable of the permanent job, and after proving that he can work with Jerry Jones for several years already, we don't have to worry about personality clashes. Let's all just hope JJ makes the right decision.
Sadly, the situation with the Texas Longhorns doesn't look as promising. Quarterback Garrett Gilbert hasn't proven to be the breakout he looked like he might when he filled in for an injured Colt McCoy during the National Championship last year. Colt McCoy, however, has proven himself in the few games he started for the Cleveland Browns.
It's been an interesting football year, both in the NFL and the NCAA. I'll be watching the playoffs, though none of my favorite teams are in it. I'm rooting for the New York Jets -- I grew a fond spot for them during the Fantasy season.
Good luck to you with your teams. As for me, I'll always be a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan, and never abandon my alma mater, the Texas Longhorns. Hook 'Em!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Worth Dying For, a Jack Reacher Novel
"Worth Dying For" by Lee Child
4-1/2 stars
Reviewed by Tracy L. Karol
"Worth Dying For" begins shortly after the end of "61 Hours," and it's no spoiler to tell you that, yes, Jack Reacher survives the end of that novel. Why so many people were convinced he died at the end of "61 Hours" was a bit of a mystery to me, since Child clearly left the ending open and the books have been optioned for movies, which as I understand should start filming soon (though who will play Reacher is still beyond me).
Anyway, Reacher is making his way, painfully (I won't spoil how he got out of the tunnel at the end of the previous novel for you regular readers) across the country to Virginia. If you read the book you can guess why. He gets stranded in rural Nebraska where, as usual, he becomes embroiled rather quickly in the local town's problems -- and they are much worse than he first anticipates. Never one to leave the weak at the mercy of the cruel, he pays a visit to a prominent citizen who regularly beats his wife, and breaks the man 's nose. This starts off a chain of events as the man he hit is much more than simply a man who beats his wife. His family runs a criminal enterprise and terrifies the entire town, employing thug ex-football players to regularly keep the citizenry in line. But that's not all. There's also a 25-year-old murder mystery, a group of townsfolk who quickly depend on Reacher, and mafia men from Las Vegas hunting him while the Duncan family (local thugs) hold up a mysterious shipment and blame it on Reacher. Convoluted, yes; fascinating, also yes.
Child makes Reacher more "human" in this book, in the sense that he feels more pain. At the same time, he is tough as nails. Child is methodical in his writing, and Reacher is the same way in reaching his decisions. He never plans to be Superman, but he is stubborn and insistent at getting at the truth, as well as ensuring that the bad guys aren't left around to hurt the innocent, even though he himself never sticks around.
This is a very good addition to the Reacher series, and one of my favorites, such as "Die Trying." I highly recommend it. There is no love interest, yet you don't even realize that as you are caught up in the action.
Enjoy!
Tracy L. Karol
4-1/2 stars
Reviewed by Tracy L. Karol
"Worth Dying For" begins shortly after the end of "61 Hours," and it's no spoiler to tell you that, yes, Jack Reacher survives the end of that novel. Why so many people were convinced he died at the end of "61 Hours" was a bit of a mystery to me, since Child clearly left the ending open and the books have been optioned for movies, which as I understand should start filming soon (though who will play Reacher is still beyond me).
Anyway, Reacher is making his way, painfully (I won't spoil how he got out of the tunnel at the end of the previous novel for you regular readers) across the country to Virginia. If you read the book you can guess why. He gets stranded in rural Nebraska where, as usual, he becomes embroiled rather quickly in the local town's problems -- and they are much worse than he first anticipates. Never one to leave the weak at the mercy of the cruel, he pays a visit to a prominent citizen who regularly beats his wife, and breaks the man 's nose. This starts off a chain of events as the man he hit is much more than simply a man who beats his wife. His family runs a criminal enterprise and terrifies the entire town, employing thug ex-football players to regularly keep the citizenry in line. But that's not all. There's also a 25-year-old murder mystery, a group of townsfolk who quickly depend on Reacher, and mafia men from Las Vegas hunting him while the Duncan family (local thugs) hold up a mysterious shipment and blame it on Reacher. Convoluted, yes; fascinating, also yes.
Child makes Reacher more "human" in this book, in the sense that he feels more pain. At the same time, he is tough as nails. Child is methodical in his writing, and Reacher is the same way in reaching his decisions. He never plans to be Superman, but he is stubborn and insistent at getting at the truth, as well as ensuring that the bad guys aren't left around to hurt the innocent, even though he himself never sticks around.
This is a very good addition to the Reacher series, and one of my favorites, such as "Die Trying." I highly recommend it. There is no love interest, yet you don't even realize that as you are caught up in the action.
Enjoy!
Tracy L. Karol
Thursday, November 18, 2010
What Kind of Writer Am I?
By Tracy L. Karol
I love fiction. I love reading it, I love creating it in my mind...I can't wait to pen that first thriller. In fact, I've got an entire series outlined based on the characters in the first book. I've even written the first few chapters.
But I won't lie. Nonfiction is easier to write. First, of course, you aren't creating an entire world out of your imagination. You are dealing with facts. It may be a book that almost reads like fiction, but still the basis is true.
That's where my mind was tonight when I thought, again, about my former jobs. There are crimes, cases, scenes, events that linger with me. Some even haunt me.
I was lucky enough to have a very satisfying career before I became disabled. First I was a print reporter, covering crime, health and education. I wrote mostly "hard news" stories on the crime beat, and features on health. I won some awards. I have a stack of cards from people thanking me for the job I did. The police respected me and the feeling was mutual. Sadly, the pay was horrendous. I soon applied for a job at the metro police department, basically doing the opposite of what I had been. I would go to crime scenes and deal with the media so the detectives didn't have to. I didn't expect to get the job, but it was about triple the income so I went for it.
Obviously I got that one, and I worked closely with detectives for years, seeing the worst of humanity. There's much more to the story, but I'll save it for the book.
That job changed me in a very fundamental way. I never became hard, though I did learn to use gallows humor, like everyone else. Still, there are nights when I can't sleep, thinking of the things I now know; things branded into my soul. After I left and my family suffered our own brutal crime, it seemed every crime I had been to tore through me at once. I saw them not from a police perspective, but from a victim's family. And I wonder, even today, what I might have said to make things worse for those families.
I am a strange mixture. I've reported on crimes. I've been to countless crime scenes and worked with detectives to keep the media informed (or not). And worst of all, I've gotten that phone call that someone I love was murdered.
As I stated, there are scenes that linger, that haunt me. Perhaps the best way to face them is to quit hiding. And so that gave me the idea for a new book. Obviously, I will maintain victim privacy. But there are some stories that just must be told. Will they make sense? I doubt it. But I remember my boss telling me that criminals don't think like us. Even the accidents, the most awful suicides...perhaps sharing them will help someone, or be a warning. At the least, I promise you won't be bored.
Please read this book, when published, not with excitement, but with the reverence due the topic. I lived this. It was my life, and in many ways still haunts me.
So...that's the story of how my second book will come to life. Another nonfiction, but vastly different from the first. Crime, true to life.
I love fiction. I love reading it, I love creating it in my mind...I can't wait to pen that first thriller. In fact, I've got an entire series outlined based on the characters in the first book. I've even written the first few chapters.
But I won't lie. Nonfiction is easier to write. First, of course, you aren't creating an entire world out of your imagination. You are dealing with facts. It may be a book that almost reads like fiction, but still the basis is true.
That's where my mind was tonight when I thought, again, about my former jobs. There are crimes, cases, scenes, events that linger with me. Some even haunt me.
I was lucky enough to have a very satisfying career before I became disabled. First I was a print reporter, covering crime, health and education. I wrote mostly "hard news" stories on the crime beat, and features on health. I won some awards. I have a stack of cards from people thanking me for the job I did. The police respected me and the feeling was mutual. Sadly, the pay was horrendous. I soon applied for a job at the metro police department, basically doing the opposite of what I had been. I would go to crime scenes and deal with the media so the detectives didn't have to. I didn't expect to get the job, but it was about triple the income so I went for it.
Obviously I got that one, and I worked closely with detectives for years, seeing the worst of humanity. There's much more to the story, but I'll save it for the book.
That job changed me in a very fundamental way. I never became hard, though I did learn to use gallows humor, like everyone else. Still, there are nights when I can't sleep, thinking of the things I now know; things branded into my soul. After I left and my family suffered our own brutal crime, it seemed every crime I had been to tore through me at once. I saw them not from a police perspective, but from a victim's family. And I wonder, even today, what I might have said to make things worse for those families.
I am a strange mixture. I've reported on crimes. I've been to countless crime scenes and worked with detectives to keep the media informed (or not). And worst of all, I've gotten that phone call that someone I love was murdered.
As I stated, there are scenes that linger, that haunt me. Perhaps the best way to face them is to quit hiding. And so that gave me the idea for a new book. Obviously, I will maintain victim privacy. But there are some stories that just must be told. Will they make sense? I doubt it. But I remember my boss telling me that criminals don't think like us. Even the accidents, the most awful suicides...perhaps sharing them will help someone, or be a warning. At the least, I promise you won't be bored.
Please read this book, when published, not with excitement, but with the reverence due the topic. I lived this. It was my life, and in many ways still haunts me.
So...that's the story of how my second book will come to life. Another nonfiction, but vastly different from the first. Crime, true to life.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Sunday, November 14, 2010
EPILEPSY SUCKS
November is epilepsy awareness month, and I'm trying desperately to get an excerpt of my book, "Epilepsy Sucks," finished before the end of the month so anyone interested can download it and see if they might want to read the whole thing. Problem is, I have this damn condition that slows me down and tends to interfere with my life at the most inconvenient times. Did I mention that I have epilepsy?
That being stated, I do plan to have an excerpt available. (I'm putting myself on deadline here). It may just be a taste, but I hope for some feedback as I continue writing.
This is not going to be a technical book, and it's not going to be my life story. I do plan to cover my experience with epilepsy, and the various treatments, types of seizures, as well as describe as best as possible what it's like to have your mind feel out of control. It sucks. But for the most part, those of us in this place are trying to take control. This is a very unique condition, as you'll discover.
I hope you read this book. Chances are someone you know either has epilepsy or cares for someone who does. Or, God forbid, you get it. I was 31 when it blind-sided me and changed my life.
Tracy L. Karol
P.S. Excerpts will be available on my website, http://www.tracylkarol.com and at my Facebook page, link to the right.
That being stated, I do plan to have an excerpt available. (I'm putting myself on deadline here). It may just be a taste, but I hope for some feedback as I continue writing.
This is not going to be a technical book, and it's not going to be my life story. I do plan to cover my experience with epilepsy, and the various treatments, types of seizures, as well as describe as best as possible what it's like to have your mind feel out of control. It sucks. But for the most part, those of us in this place are trying to take control. This is a very unique condition, as you'll discover.
I hope you read this book. Chances are someone you know either has epilepsy or cares for someone who does. Or, God forbid, you get it. I was 31 when it blind-sided me and changed my life.
Tracy L. Karol
P.S. Excerpts will be available on my website, http://www.tracylkarol.com and at my Facebook page, link to the right.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Saturday, October 30, 2010
The Missing Link
Reviewed by Tracy L. Karol
After the last Flynn novel, I wondered where he would take us on our journey with Mitch Rapp. Our hero has weathered devastating heartbreak, betrayals, corrupt (and/or stupid politicians), more danger than any James Bond character, and has barely managed to keep his soul intact. I find it a great testament to Mr. Flynn's writing and creativity that he has penned a character who has evolved so much. Yet there was always something missing. We knew from previous books that Rapp had been recruited to join the CIA, but his early years with the agency remained a mystery. In fact, just before I started reading this book someone who wanted to start the series asked me if he needed to start at the beginning or if he could pick up anywhere and understand the books. I hesitated to answer, but after reading "American Assassin" I can fully endorse starting with the latest release.
Obviously Flynn gives enough background material in each book that a new reader can enjoy the novel, but I'm personally glad that I actually read "Term Limits" years ago when it was first released, then read the rest of the books as they were published. Yes, it was agony waiting for each to come out, but they were all well worth the wait. That said, "American Assassin" is one book that anyone can actually start reading now and then go back and read the other books in the series ("Term Limits" is probably optional, but still a great read). It goes back in time and describes a young Mitch Rapp, just graduated from college, recruited by Dr. Irene Kennedy to join a super-secret black ops program to fight terrorism.
Not only was the book fascinating, it was wonderful to take a peek at the lives of other major characters in the series, some who are no longer around. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I quickly read "Transfer of Power" again and am now reading "The Third Option." So I would say if you've never read Vince Flynn but have wanted to try out his series, "American Assassin" is a great place to start. While it's the latest book, it goes back in time so you don't miss anything from the later books, and if you love a good thriller, you'll have a plethora waiting for you to read once you finish it. And trust me, Flynn knows of what he writes. When I check out the copyright date on these older novels, it's clear that Flynn had a firm grasp on the threat our country was facing from Islamic extremists, prior to 9/11. He has been spot-on ever since. I highly recommend all of his novels, not only for their entertainment value, but because they are actually educational as well.
A few times I have been lucky enough to stumble upon an author who has already produced a body of work that is fantastic, and after reading one novel I tear through all the other published titles (this happened with Robert Crais and Nelson DeMille). If you haven't started reading Flynn, this is your chance. I'm now on my third go-round with some of these books; that's how much I enjoy them.
Happy reading!
After the last Flynn novel, I wondered where he would take us on our journey with Mitch Rapp. Our hero has weathered devastating heartbreak, betrayals, corrupt (and/or stupid politicians), more danger than any James Bond character, and has barely managed to keep his soul intact. I find it a great testament to Mr. Flynn's writing and creativity that he has penned a character who has evolved so much. Yet there was always something missing. We knew from previous books that Rapp had been recruited to join the CIA, but his early years with the agency remained a mystery. In fact, just before I started reading this book someone who wanted to start the series asked me if he needed to start at the beginning or if he could pick up anywhere and understand the books. I hesitated to answer, but after reading "American Assassin" I can fully endorse starting with the latest release.
Obviously Flynn gives enough background material in each book that a new reader can enjoy the novel, but I'm personally glad that I actually read "Term Limits" years ago when it was first released, then read the rest of the books as they were published. Yes, it was agony waiting for each to come out, but they were all well worth the wait. That said, "American Assassin" is one book that anyone can actually start reading now and then go back and read the other books in the series ("Term Limits" is probably optional, but still a great read). It goes back in time and describes a young Mitch Rapp, just graduated from college, recruited by Dr. Irene Kennedy to join a super-secret black ops program to fight terrorism.
Not only was the book fascinating, it was wonderful to take a peek at the lives of other major characters in the series, some who are no longer around. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I quickly read "Transfer of Power" again and am now reading "The Third Option." So I would say if you've never read Vince Flynn but have wanted to try out his series, "American Assassin" is a great place to start. While it's the latest book, it goes back in time so you don't miss anything from the later books, and if you love a good thriller, you'll have a plethora waiting for you to read once you finish it. And trust me, Flynn knows of what he writes. When I check out the copyright date on these older novels, it's clear that Flynn had a firm grasp on the threat our country was facing from Islamic extremists, prior to 9/11. He has been spot-on ever since. I highly recommend all of his novels, not only for their entertainment value, but because they are actually educational as well.
A few times I have been lucky enough to stumble upon an author who has already produced a body of work that is fantastic, and after reading one novel I tear through all the other published titles (this happened with Robert Crais and Nelson DeMille). If you haven't started reading Flynn, this is your chance. I'm now on my third go-round with some of these books; that's how much I enjoy them.
Happy reading!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Long time, no reviews
By Tracy L. Karol
I haven't posted any reviews lately, mainly because I haven't written any :( I have been reading like crazy and plan to get back to writing them again now, so expect to see many coming in the following weeks; I have a backlog of books to cover. If you have a particular book you'd like reviewed, please let me know and I'll do my best to read and review it. My website has been down, so I will have a new address for that shortly as well. That's it for the news on my part, other than my book is coming along nicely and I hope to get it published soon. Until then, happy reading!
I haven't posted any reviews lately, mainly because I haven't written any :( I have been reading like crazy and plan to get back to writing them again now, so expect to see many coming in the following weeks; I have a backlog of books to cover. If you have a particular book you'd like reviewed, please let me know and I'll do my best to read and review it. My website has been down, so I will have a new address for that shortly as well. That's it for the news on my part, other than my book is coming along nicely and I hope to get it published soon. Until then, happy reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)