Michael Beres
"All I want for Christmas
is . . . ?"--"Sister, if I've had impure thoughts
of the mortal sin variety and I'm crossing the street on my way to Confession
and the cement truck careening down the street runs me
over . . . ?"--"So now I'm not going to
Vietnam?"--"Who says I'm an environmental nut?"
The
duck-and-cover Cold War, Eastern European roots, and environmental concerns
shape my novels. I've got a couple degrees in computer science, math, and
literature. I worked for the government, where I had a top-secret security
clearance that pulled me back from Vietnam where I was about to be sent. Later,
in the exhilarating private sector, I wrote dramatic documents about analytical
software that's probably still being used to spy on you. So, I guess you could
say my fiction is based on truth and therefore reflects our age of
environmental uncertainty and political treachery.
A Canadian
publisher published my first novel Sunstrike
in the eighties, then promptly went out of business. Sunstrike
came out when environmental and political conspiracies were
considered tall tales. Today we know differently. Medallion Press published my
"real" environmental novel Grand Traverse in 2005. In it I tried to
create a realistic portrait of our frightening near future.
My 2006 release,
political thriller The President's Nemesis, was (Ta-da!) compared
to The Manchurian Candidate by Library Journal and dubbed "a
nail-biting thriller" by Midwest
Review.
Final
Stroke (2007) is
about health care scams, a detective who's had a stroke, and a plot to steal a
Presidential election. Publishers Weekly said it had "awkward
prose." But the detective in the book had a left-brain stroke and his
speech center . . . never mind.
Chernobyl Murders is about deadly radiation, a Soviet government on its last
legs, and those good old madmen hungry for power. Because my father grew up in
Ukraine, Chernobyl Murders hits close
to home. Publishers Weekly said in Chernobyl
Murders "the writing quality is a step up from Beres' last
thriller, Final Stroke," so I guess that's
a plus.
My latest novel,
Traffyck, evolved during my research for Chernobyl
Murders. Try searching the Internet for Eastern European
information and human trafficking smacks you in the face.
I'm a Chicago
native recuperating in West Michigan. I'm a member of the Mystery Writers of
America, International Thriller Writers, International Association of Crime
Writers, the Sierra Club, the Green Car Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists,
and a few other organizations. I've driven a low-emissions hybrid car since the
beginning of the technology.
I've had about
30 short stories published, some of them in:
Amazing Stories, Amazon Shorts, the American
Fiction Collection, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery
Magazine, Ascent, Cosmopolitan, Ellery Queen, Michigan Quarterly Review, The
Missouri Review, New York Stories, Papyrus, Playboy, Pulpsmith, Skylark, and Twilight Zone.
73's from K9SDL
Copyright 2009 Michael Beres