Pat Bertram is a native of Colorado. When the traditional publishers stopped publishing her favorite type of book — character and story driven novels that can’t easily be slotted into a genre — she decided to write her own. Second Wind Publishing liked her style and published four of Bertram’s novels: Light Bringer, Daughter Am I, More Deaths Than One, and A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and one non-fiction book, Grief: the Great Yearning.
Grief: The Great Yearning is not a how-to but a how-done, a compilation of letters, blog posts, and journal entries Pat Bertram wrote while struggling to survive her first year of grief. This is an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.
“Grief: The Great Yearning, should be the grief process bible. Pat Bertram’s willingness to confront grief head on combined with her openness to change is the epitome of good mental health.” —Leesa Healy, Consultant in Emotional-Mental Health.
Light Bringer: Becka Johnson had been abandoned on the doorstep of a remote cabin in Chalcedony, Colorado when she was a baby. Now, thirty-seven years later, she has returned to Chalcedony to discover her identity, but she only finds more questions. Who has been looking for her all those years? Why are those same people interested in fellow newcomer Philip Hansen? Who is Philip, and why does her body sing in harmony with his? And what do either of them have to do with a shadow corporation that once operated a secret underground installation in the area?
Daughter Am I: When twenty-five-year-old Mary Stuart learns she inherited a farm from her recently murdered grandparents — grandparents her father claimed had died before she was born — she becomes obsessed with finding out who they were and why someone wanted them dead. Along the way she accumulates a crew of feisty octogenarians — former gangsters and friends of her grandfather. She meets and falls in love Tim Olson, whose grandfather shared a deadly secret with her great-grandfather. Now Mary and Tim need to stay one step ahead of the killer who is desperate to dig up that secret.
More Deaths Than One: Bob Stark returns to Denver after 18 years in Southeast Asia to discover that the mother he buried before he left is dead again. He attends her new funeral and sees . . . himself. Is his other self a hoaxer, or is something more sinister going on? And why are two men who appear to be government agents hunting for him? With the help of Kerry Casillas, a baffling young woman Bob meets in a coffee shop, he uncovers the unimaginable truth.
A Spark of Heavenly Fire: In quarantined Colorado, where hundreds of thousands of people are dying from an unstoppable disease called the red death, insomniac Kate Cummings struggles to find the courage to live and to love. Investigative reporter Greg Pullman, is determined to discover who unleashed the deadly organism and why they did it, until the cost — Kate’s life — becomes more than he can pay.
Bertram’s publisher says: “I was told by some other small publishers with whom I had done research that I was going to get mountains of unacceptable crap for every worthy thing I received. So when I got Pat’s manuscript for A Spark of Heavenly Fire, which was like the first submission to Second Wind, I thought, ‘OMG, is this possible?!’ I knew in the first 20 pages that she was the real thing.”
Reviews
“Pat Bertram has a marvelous ability to write the longest parables in all of literature. She unglues the world as it is perceived an rebuilds it in a wiser and more beautiful way.” — Lazarus Barnhill, author of The Medicine People and Lacey Took a Holiday
“What are you waiting for? Read this book. Now. More Deaths Than One is much better than any “bestseller” out there. The plot is constantly surprising and intricate, the characters draw you into the tale and the overall writing is top notch.” — Mickey Hoffman, author of School of Lies and Deadly Traffic
“Bertram’s characters in A Spark of Heavenly Fire are heartbreaking and real. I love Kate. Absolutely love her. The description of everything seems spot on. Sounds much like New Orleans post-Katrina. Bertram clearly did her research on this one. Fabulous.” Rachael Wollet, freelance editor.
“Light Bringer is one of the most unique novels I have had the pleasure to read in a long time. Ms. Bertram’s fascinating characters and unique subplots make this a page turner I absolutely could not put down.” – Deborah Ledford, author of Staccato and Snare
“Pat Bertram, author of More Deaths Than One and A Spark of Heavenly Fire, is one of the best of the new crop of writers. Pat’s work is insightful, superbly crafted, and completely involving. I would unhesitatingly recommend her books to anyone who enjoys speculative fiction of the highest order.” Suzanne Francis, author of the Song of the Arkafina series from Mushroom Ebooks.
October 8, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I’ve been in awe of Pat’s dedication to the craft of good writing for some time. I also like the fact she’s not into cardboard characters or passe’ plots.
I enjoyed what I was able to read of More Deaths than One. I’d really like to read A Spark of Heavenly Fire.
The curious and other authors should check out the writing topics she introduces in her group No Whine, Just Champagne on Gather.com You’ll be amazed at not only the subject matter, but the participation and Pat’s knowledge. I never walk away without learning something.
Like I say, Pat is amazing.
March 18, 2009 at 9:50 am
Interesting to see Andrew’s kind words again. I have no idea who invented the serial killer novel, but my book has been cited by many as being the beginning of the type of novels that have become such a mainstay. I will also agree that it isn’t a great book. I was young when I wrote it, and I hope you’ll be kind enough to try some of the others, THE BOTTOMS, MUCHO MOJO, LEATHER MAIDEN, ETC. But the bottom line is I think it blended a lot of things that are now thought of as the serial killer novel’s back bone. Actually, when I finished that book, I moved on. I’ve written about serial killers since, but never in that way, and never in any way as the heroes of a piece. Genre writing and mainstream writing are welding together, and sometimes in good and interesting ways. But the old fashioned genre writing is disappearing. Maybe it should. All things mutate. LONESOME DOVE was a Western, and a great one. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is bestselling genre, and so on. It’s there. It won’t die, but it will mutate. As for ACT OF LOVE, I think there may be a thirty year anniversary volume, 2011, and then I retire it. The reason it doesn’t have the impact it had then is now so many people have done what I did, and better than when I did it. But it’s also dated, and probably, at this juncture, my worst novel. But man, I’m glad I wrote it. I’ve been amazed over the years at how many writers have told me it influenced them. Surprising. I was just trying to learn how to write a novel and have a good time at it and maybe discuss a few social issues, if in a superficial way. Anyway, Thanks for the space. Joe Lansdlae
April 12, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I enjoyed reading more about you than what’s on your Goodreads profile!
June 23, 2009 at 6:49 pm
We’re already connected in a bunch of social networking ways, Pat. I’d love to expand that by exchanging blog links. Let me know what you think. (http://thevoiceofyourmuse.com)
July 16, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Good for you, jumping into independent publishing! Keep up the good work!
January 10, 2010 at 6:53 am
kind of reminds me of Robert Parker – Raymond Chandler. I love mysteries!
June 28, 2010 at 8:11 am
your post about grief captured my attention. Thanks. And congrates on surviving
September 28, 2010 at 2:10 pm
…you are of course, right. We have no place for grief in our world, most people do not know what to say to someone who is grieving and so rather than be in silence and witness with you the loss and the space, well meaning but clueless people sat sill things that somehow get stuck in your ear canals. You do not get over losing a love, ever. Full stop. Period. Time doesn’t heal, it just makes space for the absence. And the hardest thing to come to grips with is that life does go on, the sun rises and sets. Thank you for writing that.
September 28, 2010 at 4:15 pm
People always mention that they don’t know what to say to us, but they don’t need to say anything, do they? The best thing they can do, as you said, is sit in silence and witness with you the loss. It’s the caring that counts, not the words.