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Author Archives: Frank McRae

COULD YOU BE THE ONE?

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COULD YOU BE THE ONE?

I had such a great time writing both ‘Premonitions’ and ‘Vengeance’ that I simply knew I needed to put myself through the rigor of bringing the conclusion of the ‘Black Breath’ trilogy to print. As any published author can attest, touching all the publishing bases, which involves, of course, writing a manuscript, designing the cover, editing, registering and promoting their work, is truly a labor of love. The toils of which are quickly forgotten once he/she is overcome by the proud feeling that accompanies the first look at that shiny, newly-designed cover. This wonderful feeling is unavoidable as it comes embedded within, and joyously springs forward by merely holding that first printed copy in your hand! I hope to motivate a new aspiring author, young or old, to start and complete that personally fulfilling process/journey. I would like nothing more than to one day be introduced to their completed work that was hopefully inspired by these words!

What moved you to write Vengeance?

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I was recently asked, “What moved you to write Vengeance?” Well, Vengeance was born from reader requests for more after reading my first novel, ‘Premonitions – When the Universe Shifts, Expect the Unexpected’. I enjoyed writing ‘Premonitions’ so much that I decided to search for suitable material to build a plot around but kept gravitating back to the characters and the suspense inherent with the plot of ‘Premonitions’ until one day a great sequel angle presented itself and ‘Vengeance’ was born. The deeper I got into writing ‘Vengeance’ the more it seemed as though ‘Premonitions’ was subconsciously written inviting natural tie-ins from a future sequel. I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the characters developed in ‘Premonitions’ (the ones that survived that is) and I created a cadre of new necessary characters to interact with them. Knowing this story wasn’t complete until yet another book was written, I embarked upon my third book, ‘Vendetta – When Vengeance Wasn’t Enough’ which was recently released and completes the ‘Black Breath’ trilogy. I wrote each book to stand alone without relying on the others by providing just enough background information to complete each plot. However, I feel you will get the most out of the ‘Black Breath’ trilogy if the books are read in the order written. Enjoy them and do feel free to forward your comments on my work by emailing them to: author@frankmcrae.com

VENDETTA is now released!

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VENDETTA is now released!

I am very excited with how the finished manuscript for Vendetta turned out!

It has been yet another labor of love. I’ve now learned they all are! It’s been great fun revisiting many of the characters developed in Premonitions & Vengeance and even more fun creating new, colorful and heinous ones as well. Fans of Premonitions & Vengeance will surely enjoy the new engaging plot which plays out in Vendetta.

Spoiler alert!! Once again, you’ll need to block out a good chunk of time before starting to read Vendetta. The unexpected plot twists continue in greater numbers than my first two books and they will surely keep you turning the pages!

So, once again, take out the trash, bring in the mail, turn off the TV, let the dog out and settle back in your favorite reading chair with plenty of light, your favorite drink and snacks because once you start reading it, you won’t want to put this one down either!

Remain focused on your ‘Vendetta’!

Vendetta Update

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Updates haven’t been as frequent as I would normally like them to be but here is a long overdue one.

It’s been a very busy 2018 so far finally settling in at our new home in Florida. We’ve done a ton of remodeling to make it our own which has taken me away from progress on my third book. (That and a bunch of fun in the sun activities inherent with the Florida lifestyle) We’ve had lots of friends visit, made a lot of new friends and attended nearly all of the band concerts at Epcot this year so now

it’s high time I got back to pulling ‘Vendetta’ out of the keyboard once again. After several exciting chapters lately, I have found my grove once again! I’m very glad I had such good notes on what I previously captured for content. Please keep your kind comments coming as there have been many new readers that I haven’t heard from and I love adding new comments on the books to the website ‘Reviews’ tab.

With now 14 chapters and counting, I’m well on my way to writing ‘Vendetta’ and I am planning more plot twists than the 1st two books combined.

Relocating the Author Cave

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As you may know if you follow my FB page, I recently moved the “Author Cave” to Florida. I was honored by a very kind blog entry by our new friend Barbara Doeringer and include it here.

May 30th, 2017 8:04 AM

MORE HIGH VISTA TALENT

Barbara’s Blog:

Most of the High Vista residents are well aware of some amazing talent in our community after enjoying some of it at the Talent Show in February.   But there is a wider variety of talent here than realized and one most recently discovered was when we sold a home to a wonderful couple from Illinois this month.

Frank McRae has already published two incredible murder mysteries and is currently working on his third, which will make a “trilogy” of books connected to each other.  His careers began in engineering, business ownership and construction expertise, but he marveled for years at the talents of many of his favorite writers, and then found himself inspired to transform his imagination into words.

His first novel, “Premonitions” is about a group of top local plastic surgeons in the Chicago suburbs, whose lives are suddenly ripped apart by a series of unexplainable murders.  The wives belonging to this group of surgeons are being systematically found in their locked homes murdered, with alarms set and no apparent clues for motives.  Believe me when I say this novel has mind boggling plot twists that will wow every reader!  I simply could not put it down and the ending will shock you.

Next, is the second novel, “Vengeance” which I am told is even better than the first!  I will be starting that book this week.  So as not to ruin or give any hints about the first book, I will only say that this one entails the same Inspector who now tries to find a different serial killer who has taken on the persona of a black widow spider, leaving no witnesses behind.  “She” seeks justice and plans revenge for those she has admired by developing three versions of a deadly drug.

Frank McRae has certainly engaged close attention to details and has a knack for developing unexpected plot twists to keep readers glued to every page.  I am personally thrilled to have met this author (and his lovely wife) and honored to have two autographed copies of these books.

You will find both books on Amazon, if not in the local book stores, and they are both rated high.  Personally, I give the first one FIVE STARS!  And all I can say is, “Frank, hurry up and get that third one written!  You certainly have talent!!”

Written by Barbara Doeringer

Recent Trip To Winnetka- Vendetta Research

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As part of the research for the trilogy chapter of my Black Breath series, I once again visited my favorite (formerly) crime-free upscale suburb of Winnetka. I will be posting lots of pictures in the near future of locations from all three books. (SPOILER ALERT! FUTURE SCENE FROM VENDETTA!) One focus of this trip was to find potential murder scenes. (Yeah, I know. There’s another glimpse into that scary dark corner of Frank’s brain that everyone seems to be so concerned about!) Anyway, the pictures below are from one of them. It’s a neat little spooky setting which struck me as a perfectly secluded spot for Ed Cassidy to find a body or maybe two! It’s an underground pedestrian walk way which goes under a bike path and train tracks. There was a service tech working there that day installing security cameras in the tunnel and you should have seen the look on his face when I approached him and said, “This is a great place for a murder. Don’t you think?” I then quickly explained my author’s research motives. You may notice that he’s not in the last picture with the ladder. After my initial comments to him, he suddenly became very camera shy! Go figure! (Gotta love the fun you can have on those research trips!!)

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2016 New Year Updates

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Happy New Year!
It’s been a very exciting beginning for 2016 so far!

I have recently added 4 more book signing events at various Half Price Books stores in the Chicago suburban area and there will be more to come. I’d love to see you at one or more of them!

Vengeance sales have been brisk and many of you have passed along much appreciated verbal praise for my latest book, but I would like to encourage readers to send me your comments on the plot (hopefully by email @ fpmcrae@att.net). I am compiling a ‘Reader’s Comments’ sheet for Vengeance that I plan to have on hand at book signings and welcome your reviews.

Book 3 in the emerging ‘Black Breath’ trilogy is progressing nicely and I’m very excited at what is currently planned to wind up between the covers! This is the semi-frustrating phase of writing a novel. It’s when there is so much plot material bouncing around in my head that it can get a bit overwhelming, but it’s certainly better than writer’s block I guess. It’s also when the organizing, sequencing and rewriting of the manuscript (as new concepts keep popping up) forms the fun challenge of the writing process.

Follow up to ‘How will this one end?’

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Red XAs a follow up to my last entry, the ending for my 3rd book (possibly to be named ‘Vendetta’) has been developing in (what many have called) my scary brain. I haven’t been updating much lately as I have been VERY deep in thought about the plot of Vendetta. I’m as determined as ever to provide my readers with more twists and turns than were contained in my first two books combined! That aspect continues to be the most complimented areas of both books. Apparently you guys like being hit from the blind side by a good plot twist. (Kinda my favorite part of a book when I’m reading other authors as well.) Once again so many ideas have jumped up and requested a spot in Vendetta. I want as many of them as possible to wind up between the covers and I’ve been heavy into the ‘jigsaw puzzle’ aspect of sorting out them all out. It’s at times frustrating, but definitely a rush when it all comes together. I’ve also had several requests from friends to have their names included in the new book. If you happen to fall into that category, drop me a line. Don’t forget to list your preference for villain or good guy/gal. As usual, happy to oblige! Back to the keyboard for now, more later.

How will this one end?

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View from the Author Cave:
Next most asked question…”Did you know how your books were going to end before you started writing them?”
So far 3 no’s! With ‘Premonitions’, I had maybe 10% of what wound up between the covers in my head as I started writing. I didn’t know where the plot would ultimately wind up and the content seemed to write itself in my head as I progressed through the story. With ‘Vengeance’, once I decided on a sequel to ‘Premonitions’, I started out with about 80% of wound up between the covers in my head. I had an idea as to how it would end but was undecided until once again the story ultimately developed during the writing process and it became clear as to how the book needed to end. This was in no small part due to my decision to write a third book to complete the trilogy as I was having so much fun revisiting the characters. Third book… another no! I have maybe 50% of what will wind up between the covers now and concepts keep coming to me as the plot continues to develop in my head. This is, for me, one of the most exciting things about writing a book and is akin to the reader turning a page on the finished book. Next question…”How do you come up with the stuff in your books?” (which is sometimes followed by, “It scares me to think of what is in your head!”)

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Vengeance Book Signing Event on 8-13-15 in Schaumburg

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Vengeance by Frank McRaeI’ll be signing copies of Premonitions and my latest book, Vengeance: When All That’s Left is Revenge, on Thursday 8-13-15 during the Putting Green Event at 1700 E. Golf Road in Schaumburg from 2pm until 5pm. The building management, Transwestern, will be promoting job training and job placement through E-Waste recycling at this event which I will be participating in. Stop by for a chat, I’d like to meet you!

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