Cascadia
Page 26
A key DVD was:
Shockwave: Surviving North America’s Biggest Disaster, Filmwest Associates
One of the more useful studies I employed (not exactly light reading) was:
“Earthquake Risk Study for Oregon’s Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub” by Yumei Wang, Steven F. Bartlett, and Scott B. Miles
Also very helpful were the evacuation brochures and maps provided by the State of Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.
Among the experts who kept me on track, or at least tried (if there are faults in my technical descriptions, they are mine, not those of the people who advised me), were John Vidale, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network and a professor at the University of Washington; Jody Bourgeois, a University of Washington geology professor; and Patrick Corcoran, Oregon Sea Grant Hazards Outreach Specialist and an associate professor at Oregon State University.
Patrick, by the way, while very helpful, even to the extent of allowing Rob, my protagonist, to steal some of his thoughts, didn’t care for my approach of employing a “worst-case scenario” in Cascadia. He believed I should have focused on a more probable eventuality involving only a partial rupture of Cascadia and a somewhat smaller (but still huge) earthquake and tsunami. I acknowledged his suggestion, but explained that novelists are enamored by worst-case scenarios.
The scenes in the novel that involved flying, crash landings, and rescues, also required expert oversight. Help with flying and tricky landings came from two gentlemen, Harold Schild, a local pilot from Tillamook who’s had plenty of experience in western Oregon; and Tom Young, a private pilot and retired Air National Guard flight engineer. Tom is also a fellow novelist who’s written several outstanding military thrillers. I highly recommend you check him out at: tomyoungbooks.com.
Another “brother” writer who assisted me was John House, a medical doctor with a multitude of urgent care experience, who vetted my emergency care and hospital scenes. John has authored several novels, including Trail of Deceit, a great adventure set on the Appalachian Trail. That book certainly has my stamp of approval.
Allow me to say here that all of the characters in Cascadia are products of my imagination. Their words, actions, and physical descriptions are not drawn, even in part, from people I know. I did employ several “real-life” first names in the river rescue incident, however: Travis, Kevin, and Todd. Travis is Lieutenant Travis Gullberg of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office River Patrol Unit. Kevin and Todd work with Travis on the boat depicted in the rescue scene. Travis was a tremendous help in making sure I correctly (I hope) described the equipment and procedures employed.
Curiously, one of the most difficult topics I had to tackle was the genesis of my protagonist’s nightmares (visions). Here I turned to religious authorities to help me out. The results surprised me, in that there turned out to be a modicum of scientific or philosophical theories actually supporting what Rob experienced.
Specifically, two men, probably on opposite ends of the religious ideological spectrum, guided my efforts: The Reverend Lewis Keizer and the Reverend Doctor Warren Lathem. Warren, however, told me, “As my grandfather used to say, ‘I don’t care what they call me as long as they call me for supper.’”
Both Lewis and Warren are friends of mine; Lewis from many, many years ago—grade school, in fact—and Warren from more recent times when I joined the Methodist church he formerly headed. You may note the reverend in the novel assumed both of their names, Lewis Warren.
A couple of long-time Oregon residents, my brother Rick, and Douglas Dick, made certain my descriptions of the coast, Manzanita in particular, stayed on target. Rick splits his time between Portland and Manzanita. Doug is Manzanita’s Building Official.
I got some wonderful help from weather buff Mary Shafer regarding the metal detection tools and procedures used by Neahkahnie Johnny.
My editor at Bell Bridge Books, Deborah Smith, did her usual masterful job of making my prose even more readable than I could have on my own.
Finally, and perhaps most important, are those who helped me craft Cascadia into a tale that, I trust, kept you turning the pages. There were my “beta” or first readers: my wife Christina, my brother Rick, Doug Dick, my agent Jeanie Loiacono, and Gary Schwartz, a voracious reader and master literary critic. There was also my Barnes & Noble critique group that includes regulars such as John Sheffield, Terry Segal, John Tabellione, Richard Buhler, John Madrid, Victoria Barkan, Susan McBreairty, and Jim Seltzer.
I can’t thank enough all those who helped me. Hopefully, their assistance contributed to Cascadia becoming not only an exciting read, but a scientifically factual one.
(Please continue reading for more information about the author)
About the Author
H. W. “Buzz” Bernard, a native Oregonian born in Eugene and raised in Portland, is a best-selling, award-winning novelist.
His debut novel, Eyewall, which one reviewer called a “perfect summer beach read,” was released in May 2011 and went on to become a number-one best seller in Amazon’s Kindle Store.
Buzz’s second novel, Plague (“One of the best thrillers of 2012”—novelist Al Leverone), came out in September 2012 and later won the 2014 EPIC eBook Award in the suspense/thriller category.
His third novel, Supercell (“Races along with the speed of a twister”—novelist Michael Wallace) became a Kindle best seller and winner of the 2015 EPIC eBook Award in the suspense/thriller category.
His fourth novel and the third in his “weather trilogy,” Blizzard (“A terrific book”—novelist Deborah Smith) was released in 2015.
Before becoming a novelist, Buzz worked at The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia, as a senior meteorologist for thirteen years. Prior to that, he served as a weather officer in the U.S. Air Force for over three decades. He attained the rank of colonel and received, among other awards, the Legion of Merit.
His “airborne” experiences include a mission with the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters, air drops over the Arctic Ocean and Turkey, and a stint as a weather officer aboard a Tactical Air Command airborne command post (C-135).
In the past, he’s provided field support to forest fire fighting operations in the Pacific Northwest, spent a summer working on Alaska’s arctic slope, and served two tours in Vietnam. Various other jobs, both civilian and military, have taken him to Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Panama.
He attended the University of Washington in Seattle where he earned a bachelor’s degree in atmospheric science and studied creative writing.
Buzz currently is president of the Southeastern Writers Association. He’s a member of International Thriller Writers, the Atlanta Writers Club, and Willamette Writers.
He and his wife Christina live in Roswell, Georgia, along with their fuzzy and sometimes over-active Shih-Tzu, Stormy. Buzz is represented by Jeanie Loiacono of the Loiacono Literary Agency.