Tiffinie Helmer

This week marks a very important accomplishment in my life, the release of my first book in digital format.  And of course, I want IMPACT to make an impact (sorry, I just couldn’t help myself). It was natural for me to choose a plane wreck for my first short story since I have first hand knowledge of the subject.  Growing up in Alaska, bush planes were, and still are, the main mode of transportation in and out of villages and fish camps throughout Alaska.

My grandfather was a bush pilot, so is my brother.  There have been many plane “landings” in my family where the pilot and passengers were lucky to walk away.  And one really bad one, where my grandparents were airlifted by the Coast Guard from a sheer-faced mountain they’d crashed into in Kodiak, Alaska.  An important note here, my grandfather wasn’t flying this plane, and it nearly killed the five people, including the pilot.  My grandfather was a hero and put out the burning plane, stabilized the passengers, and got the Coast Guard on the scene at great risk to himself.  My grandmother was hurt the worst as she was riding shotgun.  She spent a weeks in ICU and had thirty-two resulting surgeries over the course of fifteen years, including having her left leg amputated.  This book is dedicated to my wonderful and tenacious grandparents, Don and Afton Blanc.

As you can imagine with this in my background, I wanted a life and death situation in my story that the reader would have a tough time putting down.

Short stories are a severe exercise in writing. They are sprints not marathons. There is no pacing yourself. It’s a race to the finish from the moment the gun goes off, or in IMPACT’s case, the plane crashes.  Within the first five pages my characters are facing death.  Literally.  I’ll stop now since I don’t want to give anything else away (I hate it when people do that to me).  You’ll need to read the book to see what happens.  And because it’s me, there is a hell of a lot more my characters must deal with than just a crashed airplane.

 Alaska State Trooper Skip Ozhuwan has waited five years to reunite with Wren Terni, the woman he arrested and sent to jail, and never stopped loving.  Flying back home for his sister’s wedding with only him and Wren in a chartered bush plane guarantees he’ll have her undivided attention.  

 When the plane crashes, forcing them to a battle a violent arctic storm, outwit predators, and dispose of a dead body, they must find a way to get past their differences if they are to survive to have a future together. 

That is if they don’t kill each other first.

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I would love to hear about a life experience that has impacted your life. One lucky commenter, picked at random, will win a digital copy of IMPACT.