Interview with Yvonne Perry

Tim Stewart is the author of Positive Force. He will be Yvonne Perry’s guest on Writers in the Sky Podcast on May 16!Tim Stewart was raised on a farm where he was controlled by nature, not a clock, but he soon learned that he had better be on time when he joined the U.S. Army and left for basic training in 1973. By the time he retired as a Captain in 1998, he had been a military policeman, a motor pool dispatcher, a combat medic, an infantryman, an infantry platoon leader, an infantry executive officer, and an infantry company commander (twice). He had taken a unit to Germany and provided training for one of the elite units, and was also a trainer at the Officer Candidate School where he was the Distinguished Candidate of Class 29-84.The greatest adventure of Tim’s life began when he was stationed at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver, CO. There, he met the love of his life—a redheaded nurse who became his wife after only six weeks. Thirty-two years later, Tim and April have three children and five grandchildren—most of whom have namesakes as characters in his book Positive Force.Synopsis of the book:Positive Force offers a positive alternative to gang involvement. It is a fictional story, but comes complete with a constitution that can be applied to help young people focus their energies on positive action vs. negative influences. Oakwood is divided by 5 gangs. The main characters are a nurse, a cop and a red headed youth. A patient of the nurse’s, who has been silent for twenty years, screams when she sees a tall red headed young man on the street. The nurse discovers that the young man looks eerily like the woman’s son, who died as a result of gang violence. The nurse begins a journey to find the young man. She begins this search while raising a freshman basketball player and a seventh grade son as a single parent. She starts at the police department. Here, she meets the head of the city’s gang commission, who is also raising a freshman basketball player and a seventh grader as a single parent. They are forced to live in the same house when the officer’s house is destroyed by gangs, thinking they have killed his sons. The sons are very much alive and have to wear disguises to attend school. The fun begins when his freshman son is recruited by the gangs, and it is discovered the red head is the ghost of the nurse’s patient, who can’t cross over until the cause of his death (the gangs) is removed. Positive Force replaces the gangs. The old woman meets her son and breaks her silence. The ghost crosses over, then returns with wedding rings for pair, and rings for each of the founders. If gangs return, the ghost can be called back by any two ring bearers joined together. “Positive force is an attitude of positive action over negative influences.”For more information please visit http://timstewart.npauthors.com/. His book is available http://timstewart.npauthors.com/ http://www.bn.com/ , http://www.amazon.com/ as well as all major electronic book sources.
Yvonne Perry worked with Tim as a developmental editor on this book. Do you know what a developmental editor does? Give us your opinion by leaving a comments on this post.
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Listening to Writers in the Sky Podcast on a computer is easy. Just click this link: http://yvonneperry.blogspot.com/ and go to my blog.On the right sidebar there is a list of archived shows. Click on the interview you would like to hear and it will open a post that has a link to the audio file.
For information about being a guest on Writers in the Sky Podcast, see http://www.yvonneperry.net/Writing_Packages.htm#Publicity_Packages_

Interview with Yvonne Perry

It is great to be recognized for your work. It is better to be recognized for your fun. I love writing and making up stories. My children, grandchildren and all the neighbors children have always asked me to tell them more stories. When Positive Force started, it was one of those stories. Then, I it started getting so big that I decided to write it down. Then, I decided to get it published. First I needed it edited. That was where I met Yvonne Perry of Writers in the Sky creative writing service. Yvonne helped me take a long story and turn it into a novel. Now she has gone one more step. She likes Positive Force so well, that she decided to interview me on her weekly podcast. I love it when a plan comes together. One day I started telling a story, before I knew it, I was an author being interviewed about my work. And, it is fun.

I love being recognized for having fun. You can access the interview at http://writersinthesky.com after May 15th.

I hope a miracle finds you today.

Tim

Positive Force Book Review

From the very first sentence to the very last one, this book had me glued to the pages. The characters came to life and I could not wait to find out how a petite nurse named April O'Rielly was going to deal with a ghost known as the Red-headed Stranger.

It all started with sixty-year-old Ruth Woodman who not spoken a word in nearly twenty years since her son had died. Her silence was broken the day she and April saw the ghost who had been haunting the city of Oakwood. This was no average haunting, however. This ghost was better than Casper the friendly ghost; he was helping the police department defend the city against gang activity.

With a righteous reward for his death, Officer Brandon James had to defend himself and his boys from the retaliation of the gangs who had infiltrated the local high school. Good thing he met April O'Rielly. Not only was she lovely to look at, she and her sons were a lifesaver when it came to helping Brandon solve his criminal case.

What is this NEW gang coming on the scene? And, who is in it? Tommy, the other Tommy, Joe, Michael, Bryan, and Pudge as well as their new recruits. Surely the sons of April and Brandon are not involved in a gang! But, this is a special gang--one with a constitution and bylaws that does not believe in violence--a gang that works for the good of the community. A gang based on positive attributes instead of negative ones. Can this gang save the city of Oakwood? Only with the help of the Red-headed Stranger!

The book tracks a fabulous love story that unfolds among Brandon and April. There is also a "sleepover" in a warehouse with two gang members who are in love. The book safely touches the "hot" button without encouraging anyone to get burned. The story comes full circle as Ruth is reunited with her son.

Tim Stewart is one of those authors everyone will love. His kind personality comes through in his writing. Each character is developed with true-to-life persona. Each is cast in a believable role with slang dialog current to today's teenager, yet Stewart gets the point across without using "gutter" language. This may be especially appreciated by law enforcement officers, drug task force members, parents and others who are trying to rid our culture of gangster behavior. He offers a substitute--an alternative to being involved in violence and drugs. A teenage boy gets to the root of the problem by issuing a plea to parents to stay involved in the lives of their children. "By keeping the sports programs active; by keeping extracurricular activities available; by showing each other--staff, parents and students--that you care. Kids get involved in gangs because they want to belong to something. If we offer our students a place to belong they won't turn to gangs looking for acceptance."

The story is filled with humor. How can you not have humor when you have two generations and two families living under one roof while trying to understand one another? There are realistic clashes between parents and teens, sass and respect, with a dose of overall good reading. I highly recommend this book, not only to teens who love to read and parents who enjoy knowing what their kids are reading, but to those who work with troubled teens and to the teens already involved in gangs, who want a safe way to make an exit from an errant path.

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