The following article ran in the April issue of The Big Thrill, the publication of the International Thriller Writers organization. It offers a brief summary of how Robert started writing, where the idea for DEADLOCK came from, and what he's up to now. Enjoy...
Deadlock by Robert Liparulo
Robert Liparulo has had the writing bug for a long, long time.
When he was in the fifth grade, his family lived in the Azores Islands, where his father was stationed in the Air Force.
"One day, I watched the Concorde land there on its first transatlantic flight. I wrote an article about it and my fifth grade teacher sent it into the magazine without telling them my age."
A few months later, he received a copy of the magazine with his article and a check.
"I was hooked," he says. "I knew then that writing was all I wanted to do."
At the age of twelve, Liparulo read Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND, a book that affected him profoundly -- so much so that he was brought to tears. This in itself was a revelation for him. If a book full of "only words" could reduce a tough kid to tears, he knew he had to be a novelist.
Throughout his youth, when asked what he wanted to do when he was older, he always said, "I want to make 12-year-old boys cry."
After spending several years as a journalist and adding over a thousand articles and several writing awards to his resume, Liparulo finally achieved his dream when COMES A HORSEMAN was published by WestBow Press.
Since then, Bob has created a series of YA thrillers, has written the novels GERM and DEADFALL -- which Michael Palmer called "a brilliantly crafted thriller" -- and has seen his fourth adult thriller, DEADLOCK, hit the stands in March.
When asked what inspired him to write DEADLOCK, Liparulo says: "In September 2007, word hit the news about Blackwater guards in Baghdad firing on civilians in Nisoor Square, killing seventeen. One of the pictures showed a guard afterward leaning casually against a Humvee, one leg cocked, picking his teeth with a toothpick, totally unaffected."
When he was in the fifth grade, his family lived in the Azores Islands, where his father was stationed in the Air Force."One day, I watched the Concorde land there on its first transatlantic flight. I wrote an article about it and my fifth grade teacher sent it into the magazine without telling them my age."
A few months later, he received a copy of the magazine with his article and a check.
"I was hooked," he says. "I knew then that writing was all I wanted to do."
At the age of twelve, Liparulo read Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND, a book that affected him profoundly -- so much so that he was brought to tears. This in itself was a revelation for him. If a book full of "only words" could reduce a tough kid to tears, he knew he had to be a novelist.
Throughout his youth, when asked what he wanted to do when he was older, he always said, "I want to make 12-year-old boys cry."
After spending several years as a journalist and adding over a thousand articles and several writing awards to his resume, Liparulo finally achieved his dream when COMES A HORSEMAN was published by WestBow Press.
Since then, Bob has created a series of YA thrillers, has written the novels GERM and DEADFALL -- which Michael Palmer called "a brilliantly crafted thriller" -- and has seen his fourth adult thriller, DEADLOCK, hit the stands in March.
When asked what inspired him to write DEADLOCK, Liparulo says: "In September 2007, word hit the news about Blackwater guards in Baghdad firing on civilians in Nisoor Square, killing seventeen. One of the pictures showed a guard afterward leaning casually against a Humvee, one leg cocked, picking his teeth with a toothpick, totally unaffected."
What could make people so indifferent to human life? Liparulo wondered.
"That got me to thinking about Blackwater-type companies, which claim to have the best soldiers in the world. In a war zone, the best must mean better than normal soldiers at defending -- and killing. What could a company do to make people good killers?"
When developing his novels, Liparulo tends to take current technology or public opinion and extend it out for a few years. After researching private military companies, he decided to describe a situation in which young people are recruited through online war games.
"The company in DEADLOCK, called Outis, monitors which gamers show a penchant for killing and strategy. The company recruits these players, desensitizes them to violence, and -- this is the cool and scary part, really -- manipulates what they see through their face masks. Since it's proven that soldiers are more likely to kill men over women, adults over children, the armed over the unarmed, foreigners over people who look like them, the face masks transforms reality so they see only the perfect target, regardless of who it is they truly are killing."
The story revolves around newsman John Hutchinson, who discovers that military industrialist Brendan Page is using a private army to settle his own scores. Page's "threat" to keep Hutch quiet goes terribly wrong, and Hutch's son is kidnapped. While a lone man stands little chance against the best black op soldiers ever issued M-16s, Hutch manages to survive longer than Page anticipated. And as far as Hutch is concerned, high-tech helmets and machine guns are nothing compared to a man determined to save his son.
When asked how fatherhood has affected his work, Liparulo -- the father of four -- says, "I love my children more than anything on Earth. For DEADLOCK, I tried to imagine what would drive Hutch to take on impossible odds and keep finding the strength to carry on after suffering multiple defeats and wounds. For me, it would be the love I feel for my children, the deep desire to protect them. That's the fire that keeps Hutch going, that makes him want to be tougher and smarter and more persistent than his enemies."
Now that DEADLOCK has been released, Liparulo finds his plate piled high with projects. He's writing the last of his six-book Dreamhouse Kings series for young adults, is starting a new thriller for adults that explores vigilantism on a global scale, is developing an original screenplay with Andrew Davis, the director of The Fugitive and The Guardian, and is also working with a producer to turn his Dreamhouse Kings series into a movie.
In other words, Liparulo is spending every waking moment trying to make those 12-year-old boys -- and then some -- cry.
"I feel incredibly blessed to be able to tell these stories," he says. "Like a starving man who's stumbled upon a banquet."
Robert Gregory Browne is the author of KISS HER GOODBYE and the upcoming WHISPER IN THE DARK, which received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly.
"That got me to thinking about Blackwater-type companies, which claim to have the best soldiers in the world. In a war zone, the best must mean better than normal soldiers at defending -- and killing. What could a company do to make people good killers?"When developing his novels, Liparulo tends to take current technology or public opinion and extend it out for a few years. After researching private military companies, he decided to describe a situation in which young people are recruited through online war games.
"The company in DEADLOCK, called Outis, monitors which gamers show a penchant for killing and strategy. The company recruits these players, desensitizes them to violence, and -- this is the cool and scary part, really -- manipulates what they see through their face masks. Since it's proven that soldiers are more likely to kill men over women, adults over children, the armed over the unarmed, foreigners over people who look like them, the face masks transforms reality so they see only the perfect target, regardless of who it is they truly are killing."
The story revolves around newsman John Hutchinson, who discovers that military industrialist Brendan Page is using a private army to settle his own scores. Page's "threat" to keep Hutch quiet goes terribly wrong, and Hutch's son is kidnapped. While a lone man stands little chance against the best black op soldiers ever issued M-16s, Hutch manages to survive longer than Page anticipated. And as far as Hutch is concerned, high-tech helmets and machine guns are nothing compared to a man determined to save his son.
When asked how fatherhood has affected his work, Liparulo -- the father of four -- says, "I love my children more than anything on Earth. For DEADLOCK, I tried to imagine what would drive Hutch to take on impossible odds and keep finding the strength to carry on after suffering multiple defeats and wounds. For me, it would be the love I feel for my children, the deep desire to protect them. That's the fire that keeps Hutch going, that makes him want to be tougher and smarter and more persistent than his enemies."
Now that DEADLOCK has been released, Liparulo finds his plate piled high with projects. He's writing the last of his six-book Dreamhouse Kings series for young adults, is starting a new thriller for adults that explores vigilantism on a global scale, is developing an original screenplay with Andrew Davis, the director of The Fugitive and The Guardian, and is also working with a producer to turn his Dreamhouse Kings series into a movie.
In other words, Liparulo is spending every waking moment trying to make those 12-year-old boys -- and then some -- cry.
"I feel incredibly blessed to be able to tell these stories," he says. "Like a starving man who's stumbled upon a banquet."
Robert Gregory Browne is the author of KISS HER GOODBYE and the upcoming WHISPER IN THE DARK, which received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly.
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I'll be at the ThrillerFest convention in New York City July 8-12. If you're around, stop by and see me.
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