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Feeling honored and grateful to find myself on the front page of the September 20 Daytona Beach News-Journal. Jim Abbott is a gifted writer, and he captured the essence of my new novel, Final Deadline, which he called a “tale of embattled journalists trapped in a politically motivated hostage situation [that] unfolds at a breakneck pace.” Thanks also to my writers’ group partner Ginger Pinholster, who praised the book’s balance of action and bigger messages, and Nigel Cook, who has a knack for making people look better than even AI could manage. You can read the story below:

Volusia author Derek Catron conjures newsroom suspense with new novel, ‘Final Deadline’

By Jim Abbott, Daytona Beach News-Journal, Sept. 20, 2024

In “Final Deadline,” a new thriller set in a newspaper’s newsroom, Volusia County author Derek Catron’s tale of embattled journalists trapped in a politically motivated hostage situation unfolds at a breakneck pace measured in minutes and hours that tick away like a deadline clock.

In reality, the novel represents the culmination of a project that has occupied Catron’s imagination for more than five years, as he searched for a story that would be a page-turner and at the same time illuminate the challenges that have beset the journalistic profession in the digital age.  

“This is meant to be suspenseful, so you want to turn the pages to find out what happens next, but the current beneath that is that more newspapers are shutting down and shriveling to a shell of what they once were,” said Catron, 57, a former managing editor of The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

“That’s the story I couldn’t shake, that I wanted to tell.”

At the center is newsroom veteran Becket Thompson, managing editor of the fictional Palmetto Press.

Under ownership by a profit-driven investment group, the newspaper’s staff has endured low salaries and layoffs, but the stakes suddenly become life-and-death when a trio of brothers burst into the newsroom wielding AR-15s.

They threaten to start killing hostages unless the newspaper prints a manifesto promoting an array of conspiracy theories. As the crisis unfolds, Becket fights to keep his colleagues safe in a situation that tests his courage, intelligence and commitment to the ethics of his profession.

Along the way, he also struggles to express his romantic feelings about the newspaper’s marketing director, Laura Wilson, who emerges as smart, strong force in the standoff against the gunmen.  

For newspaper veteran, ‘Final Deadline’ is personal

“Final Deadline” ($24.99, Minorca Publishing, 292 pages) is Catron’s fifth book, following the well-received Trail Angel trilogy of historical westerns and his first modern-day thriller, “Yosemite Lies,” the latter published in 2023. It’s available on amazon.com or via links on his Facebook author page.

Catron also will be on hand for a book launch event from 4-7 p.m. Nov. 2 at Novel Tea Book Shop in Ormond Beach.

After decades working in newsrooms, Catron calls “Final Deadline” his most personal book yet.

“I wanted to write a story that shows that local media matters, even when people are ignoring it much of the time,” he said. “The stories in local newspapers help offer a sense of community, keep you better informed about the place where you live and the people you call your neighbors.

“It unites a community to a point where, when they lose that institution, there’s a cost to that. The book does not preach these things, but I hope you come away with that.”

“Final Deadline” excels at balancing action and its bigger messages, said Ginger Pinholster, award-winning Ponce Inlet author of novels that include “Snakes of St. Augustine.” Pinholster is a member of a local writer’s group that offered Catron feedback during the creation of his newsroom story.

“It’s a classic example of a crime thriller, meticulously well-plotted, as all of Derek’s books are,” she said.“As with the other books, there’s a wonderful romantic spice. He’s so good at suspense. He understands the fundamental nature of story, which is, of course, conflict.”

New publishing company offers control

To market his books, Catron formed an LLC, Minorca Publishing, to take better control of his work. In September, he is retiring from his role as an editor at Northstar Travel Group, a travel business news website, to focus solely on writing.

The success of initially self-published authors such as Colleen Hoover, whose 2016 book “It Ends With Us” has been transformed into a hit movie starring Blake Lively, offers optimism for hard-working independent authors, Catron said.

“Today, it’s both easier than ever to publish a book, but harder than ever to find an audience for it,” he said. “There are more than 30 million books on Amazon today, but I see the potential in it now.”

For instance, based on Amazon analytics, Catron’s “Trail Angel” has connected with readers in India, he said.

“That’s pretty cool. This is a new world that we’re in as far as readership goes. For those who dream and work really hard at it, there’s a path.”

I had a great time doing this Q&A with Danielle Anderson of Flagler News Weekly in which I got to share more details about my latest novel, “Final Deadline.”

My favorite question: After writing a western trilogy and suspense thriller set in Yosemite National Park, why take readers back to the newsroom?

My answer: “As more and more local newspapers across the country shut down or shrivel to a shell of what they once were, this was a story I couldn’t shake. Local news matters, even when people ignore it much of the time. … when I think back on my own journalism career, the stories that mattered most to me were those that asked questions nobody else was asking or brought to light facts no one else had — all with an objective of making, or keeping, our community a better place to live. All good journalists have stories like that. It was a perspective I wanted to share — wrapped in a rollicking story of danger and secrets and love too long denied.”

You can read the entire interview below:

The Big Five … with Derek Catron, Author ‘Final Deadline’

By Danielle Anderson, Aug. 26, 2024

Journalists make some of the most prolific writers of fiction, so when Derek Catron started releasing books, naturally they ended up on the radar of readers. Releasing his newest book Final Deadline, Derek shares the inspiration behind his work. Enjoy this week’s Big Five with author Derek Catron.

1. Tell readers about yourself and how you ended up in Central Florida. 

My family moved to the Orlando area when I was in high school, and my first job on graduating from the University of Florida was with the Orlando Sentinel. I wound up as their “Daytona” reporter and learned I preferred sea breezes to interstate gridlock. I never went back. I was an investigative reporter, projects editor and, eventually, managing editor at the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Volusia County has now been my home for most of my life, and I count myself blessed. I married here, raised my daughter here and started writing novels when she got too cool to spend time with the old man. It’s all good now; I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, and five books later, while I wouldn’t say I’m any cooler, my daughter likes spending time with me again.

2. As a journalist, you deal in facts. How were you able to make the switch from fact to fiction?

It was hard; the disciplines are so different. Journalism is all about sharing facts, as quickly and clearly as you can. Fiction is about knowing what facts to withhold so you can build tension and narrative momentum while drawing the reader deeper into the story. What is similar is the research to get things right. One of the most valuable lessons I drew from journalism is knowing what I don’t know, a humility I apply in building a fictional world that readers will recognize. For Final Deadline, I recall researching (among many, many other things) what time the sun sets in March in Central Florida, both before and after the start of daylight savings time. I doubt few readers would have noticed if the sun set late in my fictional county. But when you get facts wrong, you risk breaking the spell of reality you’re trying to cast so readers can lose themselves in your world. That’s even more important in historical fiction, when so much is unfamiliar to a modern audience. I couldn’t travel back to 1866 to research Trail Angel and its sequels, but I drove — with my very patient wife — the thousand-mile route between Omaha, Nebraska, and Virginia City, Montana. We even camped out one night in a covered wagon. All so I could have a better sense of the terrain, the look of cottonwood leaves flashing in the sunlight, the smell of the air after a rain.

3. Your work spans several genres. Do you have a favorite and why? 

The legend on my website, derekcatron.com, is “Join the adventure.” Life is an adventure, and I want my readers to feel swept away by it. That’s my aim, whether it’s a historical wagon train to find love and a fresh start in the West; a camping trip that turns violent, testing two women’s mettle and bounds of friendship; or an editor’s efforts to protect those closest to him when his newsroom is caught up in forces beyond their control. When I set out to write my first book, I had my late grandparents in mind. Both were avid readers, but they rarely read the same books. I wanted to write something they would have enjoyed sharing. So far, so good.

4. Are there any authors who have inspired you, and if so, who has been the most influential for you as a writer (and of course, why)?

I like a wide range of authors, and I learn from every book I read. Dickens and Hemingway taught me “literature” could also be fun. Larry McMurtry took me to worlds that seemed more real on the page than anything I knew in life. John Grisham showed how to draw white-knuckle tension from settings as mundane as a Sothern courtroom. Laura Lippman proved former journalists could create stories that seemed even more true than the news they once covered. Elmore Leonard said, “skip the boring parts,” and Lee Child demonstrated how to “write the slow parts fast and the fast parts slow.” I’ve probably taken away the most from Stephen King and J.K. Rowling’s character-driven mystery thrillers. If they can trust their readers to appreciate a rip-roaring story that occasionally pauses to breathe life into characters so they are more than plot contrivances, who am I to argue with them?

5. This book is different than your others. Why take readers back to the newsroom? 

Final Deadline is wholly fiction. Thankfully, no gunmen ever burst into a newsroom where I worked. But the story is more personal than any other I’ve written. As more and more local newspapers across the country shut down or shrivel to a shell of what they once were, this was a story I couldn’t shake. Local news matters, even when people ignore it much of the time. The stories you read on these pages foster a sense of community by leaving you better informed about the place where you live and the people you call neighbors. This is a uniting influence that we dismiss at our own peril. Yet while it originates from a dark place, the story is ultimately hopeful. Because when I think back on my own journalism career, the stories that mattered most to me were those that asked questions nobody else was asking or brought to light facts no one else had — all with an objective of making, or keeping, our community a better place to live. All good journalists have stories like that. It was a perspective I wanted to share — wrapped in a rollicking story of danger and secrets and love too long denied.

While seeking inspiration for the newsroom scenes in my new novel “Final Deadline,” I came across some old photos. Who can guess the circumstances for this one?

1. Deepfake alteration of an image captured during my first job delivering newspapers (apparently in 1933).

2. Hanging out with the good-looking extras on the set of “Newsies” (Christian Bale was cut from the frame).

3. The time News-Journal marketing maven Jamie Brown decided leaping from a tall building would get more people to read newspapers (which, to be fair, worked as well as any other idea).

4. Your turn. Let me see your guess in the comments.