In 2001 I took a post-secondary film course and fell in love with screenwriting and of course did the next logical thing…

became a police officer…I know, I know, it makes no sense.

During my sixteen year policing career I still loved reading, watching movies and always missed writing so when in 2019 an injury derailed my policing career I decided to write again.

Instead of going back to school and refreshing my skills I instead took a few Masterclasses and listened to endless podcasts on writing and what I kept hearing is write what you know…I know policing.

I’ve been in love with the zombie genre since seeing George A. Romero’s 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead and during a brainstorming session came up with the idea for Dry Run with a simple question that I’ve never seen addresses in fiction, print or film…

What if the police had to arrest an unarmed zombie?

I spend six years of my policing career on the SWAT Team where arresting and apprehending subjects with the best possible outcome is the bread and butter of that job. A SWAT team will usually work in arrest teams where each member has a specific function job. A SWAT Team also has a contingency plan for any move the subject may make, for example; What if they pull a knife? What if they pull a gun? What if they run? What if they fight? A SWAT Team has an answer to all those questions before a subject presents a situation.

So therein lies the predicament I found fascinating…What if an unarmed female is coming

towards you but looks like a zombie? Pretty messed up right? I thought so…and that’s how Dry Run was born.

I thought Todd was an interesting antagonist, a domestic terrorist, but I didn’t really want to spend too much time with him. I wanted to show how scary an unassuming person could become. What I really wanted to focus on was Audrey and Megan, the protagonists of the story.

Audrey is more experienced and grizzled than Megan who has to deal with the corrupt Sgt. Price, an unfortunate character, but a believable one. There’s unfortunately bad apples in every profession. Megan knows Sgt. Price is the dealer but lacks the confidence to straight up call him out on it which would be a very tough thing for a young person to do to a seasoned police officer. I thought Audrey and Megan’s relationship blossomed organically and they came to a mutual agreement forged in trust.

Hartmann, another antagonist, represents the overconfident leader who’s in it for the wrong reasons and is incompetent. Another sometimes unfortunate truth in policing.

I also hope the readers enjoyed the exploration of humanity under pressure. Policing has given me an inside view of how each person can react differently in a high pressure situation. Fight, Flight and Freeze were explored as those are some common reactions I have seen during operations and in training.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions or would like to discuss it further please reach out via email, I’d love to connect with you.