‘A Rebel In Amber’—

Sandy Hook Author Publishes Her Second Novel

By Nancy K. Crevier

Native Sandy Hook novelist Debra Thrall readily admits that there is more than a smidgeon of her own opinions and life history in the characters and settings that populate her recently published mystery/thriller, A Rebel in Amber.

She considers herself a freethinker and a feminist, and with this novel, she intended to insert social commentary with the suspense and mystery, said Ms Thrall, selecting the abortion issue as the “hot button” issue in A Rebel in Amber. The construction of a middle-aged, single, female character dodging the small town norm and challenging less broad-minded personalities was intentional, as well, said Ms Thrall, adding that it is all too easy for childless women to end up “invisible,” in towns where families with children are the common denominators.

While obviously elaborated upon, the town of Braeburn, the book’s central setting, is a thinly veiled Newtown of the past and present, complete with a recently closed mental hospital, a burned down biker bar known as “The Birch,” and a former toilet and bathtub strewn property tidied up by the “Eyesore Committee.”

“These are people you haven’t met, nonconformists with thought-provoking ideas you might not agree with,” writes Ms Thrall of her Rebel characters in a brief synopsis of her novel. “They are mature adults whose right to disagree isn’t well tolerated by their neighbors….”

A Rebel in Amber is Ms Thrall’s second published novel. In 1978, Manor Books published Demon Stalking, which she described as “a Stephen King sort of horror novel.” 

“I’ve been writing since I was 12 years old, and have always wanted to be published,” said Ms Thrall. In 1977, Unearth: The Magazine of Science Fiction Discoveries published her short story, “Thanatos Coming,” giving her the confidence boost that led to the publication of Demon Stalking.

That book had limited success, she said, but it was really her work as a medical transcriptionist at Fairfield Hospital and later in Waterbury, as well as caring for her aging parents, that put her writing on the back burner.

When she retired a year and a half ago, she found herself with time to devote to writing. A Rebel in Amber surprised her, though, by how quickly the idea developed and the story unveiled itself to her.

“It took me only about a year to write, with very little rewriting. I find that I like writing novels over short stories, as the longer length allows for more character exploration,” she said.

A Rebel in Amber developed as most of her other writing does, without an outline.

“I have an idea, often things I’ve observed in our town that get a fictional spin, and there always has to be an element of menace. I am researching my material online all the time, but I’m always amazed where the story takes me. Sometimes the dialogue takes me in a very different direction than I thought I was heading, and that’s the fun in it,” she said.

She finds the style of author James Lee Burke inspiring, she said, and whether writing one of the steamy scenes (“I am writing about adults with real lives, after all,” she said) or a cut and dried conversation, her challenge is to make the writing pleasurable reading, said Ms Thrall.

“The relationships and attractions of characters are part of the motivations, so it is important to write about them realistically,” she said.

Ideally, she would liked to have found a literary agent to sell the book to a publisher, but when that proved to be an obstacle, she decided to go the route of self-publishing.

“I think that self-publishing is the wave of the future. Because the books are published on demand, as copies are requested, they claim that your book never actually goes out of print,” said Ms Thrall. “Self publishers are out there and they do want your business,” she said. She found the process of self-publishing to be simple and much less expensive than she had anticipated.

Her sister, Newtown resident Rose Fogelman, did the photography for the cover art, which Ms Thrall provided to Xlibris, the publisher she selected. “I think I got my money’s worth out of this process,” said Ms Thrall. “I will most likely go with Xlibris again for my next book,” she said.

Readers may not have to wait long for a follow up to A Rebel in Amber. Her next novel, with the working title of The Opaque Eye, is nearly finished. Rooted in the real-life discovery in Newtown of a body beneath floorboards, The Opaque Eye takes off from there, said Ms Thrall, and is also set in a town not unlike Newtown, but is “far less autobiographical” than A Rebel in Amber.

Simultaneously, Ms Thrall is 50 pages into a character-driven Western novel, she said.

“I can’t stop writing, now that I have the time. The actual writing is so enjoyable, and I am constantly thinking about the stories, and plotting the stories. It’s very absorbing,” she said.

A Rebel in Amber is available in paperback and hardcover at www.amazon.com, www.BarnesandNoble.com, and www.Xlibris.com, and as a Kindle selection on Amazon.