www.andrewekaufman.com
"Two strangers: distance separates them, a dark secret connects them, but a voice from the grave will draw them together."
If you're a mystery writer, that's the kind of elevator pitch—the 30-second sales pitch you'd use on an elevator with a publisher—you'd want. And that's Andrew E. Kaufman's pitch for While the Savage Sleeps."
When Kaufman, an Emmy-nominated writer/producer for San Diego and LA TV news stations, realized that TV news wasn't satisfying his creative side, he decided to leave the business. "In television news you write hypercondensed blurbs that last only about 15-20 seconds. And while that process taught me to be economical with my words, it also left my creative side feeling a bit starved." Kaufman said. Now Kaufman writes what he wants on his own schedule.
www.andrewekaufman.com
Kaufman also contributed a chapter to Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Cancer Book. He's all too familar with the dreaded disease. His mother was battling inoperable cancer when he was diagnosed. Kaufman says his battle with cancer taught him two valuable lessons: "In this life there are no second chances and there's not a second to waste." As a result, he lives every day as if it might be his last—and knows that it very well could be.
Kaufman wrote While the Savage Sleeps, a forensic-paranormal mystery, because he was "intrigued by the notion of mixing hard-boiled forensic science with dark paranormal tension." And while some authors like to outline their work before they put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, Kaufman prefers to let his characters follow their own paths. "I like to see where the journey takes me. I like throwing hurdles in front of my characters and watching them grow and try to move past them."
He wasn't sure whether the odd genre combination would work, but judging by the e-mail responses Kaufman is receiving, it does. He says he receives "at least one e-mail a day, sometimes more, from readers who want me to make this a series. They tell me they fell in love with the characters and want to see more of them."
While the Savage Sleeps has spent several weeks on three of Amazon's bestsellers lists by genre, and it recently moved into the #1 spot on two of them. It also placed third on Amazon's Movers and Shakers List.
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