Featured Interview With David R. Schoorens
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Originally from Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1979 I earned a B.S. degree in Biology from Southeastern Massachusetts University – now the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. By January of 1980, I entered Officer Candidate School with the United States Coast Guard. Commissioned as an Ensign, I was first assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center in Washington, D.C. before serving as the Operations Officer of U.S. Coast Guard Group Baltimore.
I put my knowledge of coastal search and rescue and small boat station operations to use in my writing. One such station found in Eastport, Maine, plays a prominent role in his political and moral thriller Refuge: A Novel of Lost Democracy, published in 2022.
Leaving active duty in 1985, with my wife Cathy we started a family while she attended medical school through the Department of Defense University of Health Sciences, later serving in the U.S. Air Force as a primary care physician. In 1990, the next move was on military orders to Geilenkirchen NATO Airbase in Germany. We left for overseas with two children and returned with a third.
Germany was followed by a move to F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Then back to Geilenkirchen once more before returning to the States at Hanscom Air Force Base, ironically in David’s hometown of Bedford.
Living in other parts of the United States and in Germany and travels through much of Europe, yielded many experiences, friendships and memories. These have served me well, adding richness and authenticity to my novels.
Along the way, David earned two graduate degrees. A M.A. in Education and Human Development from The George Washington University and a M.S. in Business Administration from Boston University’s campus in Brussels, Belgium, while living overseas.
Recently retired as a high school biology and chemistry teacher, David and Cathy now live in Rhode Island. With retirement I needed to do something more worthy than playing golf. That's how my writing started.
Two novels to date. The first, published in 2022, is Refuge: A Novel of Lost Democracy. Though it falls within the genres of military and political thriller, underneath it is a moral thriller, as the characters must cope with an authoritarian U.S. government and president.
The second novel, Captive, published this year, is psychological thriller. A writer publishes a cautionary tale about the fall of democracy and then faces harassment and threats. It imagines what could happen to any author. Indeed, what could happen to anyone who makes their voice heard.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I've always read, especially history. For that gift, I credit my father, Richard. His love of history seemed to pass down to me.
I only started any serious writing after I retired when I faced a decision. I could have spent the time and money to play lots of golf. Realizing that all I'd have left would be memories of a poorly played game, I decided on something which leave a more worthy legacy.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Of the genres, history is my favorite, followed my military thrillers and science fiction.
Of my favorite authors, I'd say Alan Furst because his espionage stories so wonderfully combine history and the old places of Europe.
In the science fiction realm, these days Andy Weir is tops. He had me when I read The Martian.
Inspiration to start writing came from two brothers. One is an accomplished artist and lover of history. The other is an author.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Captive
A terror any author may face.
Victor Holt made a bad mistake. He wrote a novel. A cautioning tale defending democracy. A warning.
Victor did not foresee infuriating so many people. Who call him un-American, treasonous and demand his book be banned. Who threaten to harm him. To kill him.
This wounded and decorated combat veteran of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, now an old man and all alone, faces new enemies hiding amongst his fellow countrymen. Doxed, harassed, threatened, stalked, vandalized and assaulted, he faces mortal danger from an enemy who does not stop. His fight to save himself will drive him to the edge of sanity.
How can one man stand against a furious mob? Yet Vic’s greatest threat will come not from the crowd, but from a single man.
Captive is a story of what could happen. To anyone.
“Writer Schoorens has a terrifying talent for pulling back the veil and letting his readers understand what is and what could be. He writes “read until dawn” books that you can’t put down.” – Max Folsom, Author.
Amazon US: www.amazon.com/dp/1968548300
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