The naming of THE TRAZ by Eileen Schuh

The wonderful part of being a novelist is that I get to create entire worlds and then populate them with people—who I also get to create. It’s a very God-like profession.
I found it exciting to create both a biker gang and police detachment for my YA crime novel, THE TRAZ. If I were the leader of a gang, I began, what kinds of people would I put in power? What would the regular members be like? What would the gang do? And…what would I call my gang?
I spend many hours trying to find a name I liked. I started out with the usual route for gangs, scrounging through the thesauruses of my life for words equivalent or suggestive of evil—words like dark, devil, shadow, and Lucifer.

After running the gauntlet of wickedness, I realized that I wanted my gang to have name like no other. I wanted it to be unmistakably mine—not just for reasons of originality but to keep me safe. (Traditionally, criminal organizations don’t like books being written about them.)
I thought if I had a biker gang, I’d want motorists to be able to read the gang name on the back of my bikers’ black leather jackets as they roared down the highway. I wanted a name, therefore, that was short and tough. (Also, having short names is nice when it comes to typing them over and over during the course of a novel.)
Into my head popped THE TRAZ. Instantly, I knew that was the perfect name. However, I also wondered from where in the world it had come. Worried that I’d heard it somewhere or read it somewhere, I searched and researched. I could find nothing about THE TRAZ other than references to Alcatraz—the notorious and torturous U.S. prison of yore. That connotation worked well for me. It also struck me that the mascot for my local St. Paul Regional High School was TAZ—the Tasmanian Devil. So, that fit in well, too.
THE TRAZ –a cross between a gruesome prison and a fearsome devil. Short and easy to read. Distinctive.
My gang was so powerful and bold that it wished to have no graphics to either conceal or advertise their identity or intent—just the two short words, orange on black—THE TRAZ.
How thrilling it was to receive my first paperback proof and run my fingers over THE TRAZ gang patch on the cover. I could almost smell the leather…
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THE TRAZ eBook is free on Amazon Kindle for THREE DAYS ONLY-- April 14, 15 and 16. Don’t have a Kindle? No problem—you can easily download Amazon’s free KINDLE FOR PCs software to read eBooks on your computer.
THE TRAZ is available in paperback and ebook formats and in a special School Edition that includes a Teaching Guide. Click on the following links to purchase or sample THE TRAZ
Amazon eBook
Amazon Paperback
School Edition Paperback
School Edition eBook
Also available from other fine online bookstores.
If THE TRAZ is not on your local bookstore or library shelves, ask for it to be ordered in for you.
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Eileen Schuh is also the author of the adult Sci-Fi novella SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT
For more information on Schuh and her books visit her at:
http://www.eileenschuh.com
http://eileenschuh.blogspot.com
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My compulsion to write by Eileen Schuh

As a Canadian author interested in breaking into the European market, I was intrigued to discover that Suzy Turner’s novel RAVEN takes place in Canada yet Suzy was born in the U.K. and lives in Portugal.
As silly as it may seem to those overseas, Canadians seldom think of their country as exotic and interesting. Although our authors and artists often use Canada as their canvas, we usually don’t promote our work beyond the North American market.
However, when creating the location for my novel THE TRAZ, I kept in mind the astounding beauty of my home province of Alberta—the prairies, the Rockies, the autumn colours, the long, long summer days. Chinooks and blizzards and harvested fields. This unique Canadian geography is the stage for my characters as they live out their adventure.
Sharing my country with others, however, is only a small part of why I wrote THE TRAZ. What really drove me, was that bleak, helpless feeling that overcame me each time I heard about the very young ruining their lives. When I finally could no longer sit idly by, I called on both my compulsion to write and my talent with words, to do what I could to help prevent such tragedies.
THE TRAZ highlights that it’s usually not an innate evilness driving teens into risky lifestyles, but rather a lack of information, support, and experience. Alone, afraid, and (many times) angry they make decisions that will leave them scarred for life.
As I was readying THE TRAZ for publication, Canadian law enforcement officials and youth workers issued several public pleas for community help in stemming the increasing incidents of criminal gangs recruiting youngsters into their ranks.
THE TRAZ became my literary response to those pleas for help, a gift to both at-risk-teens and the adults in their lives.
Rather than weaving life lessons into the plot, I wrote a Discussion Guide to encourage readers to take a close look at the decisions, actions, and motives of the characters. By separating the moral issues from the story this way, the plot unfolds quickly and forcefully without didactic interruption, while the appended Guide dampens the allure of the criminal adventure.
I intend THE TRAZ to influence readers of all ages and both genres, long after they finish the book; that will likely happen. THE TRAZ is only the first of many novels in The BackTracker series.
Eileen Schuh Author of THE TRAZ, Schrödinger's Cat
Sample/purchase THE TRAZ:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-TRAZ-BackTracker-Series-ebook http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005199RFE
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/60190
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-traz
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/the-traz/id443187987?mt=11
Web site: http://www.eileenschuh.com
Blog: http://eileenschuh.blogspot.com

Sample/purchase Schrödinger's Cat:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/80124
http://www.amazon.com/Schr%C3%B6dingers-Cat-ebook/dp/B005GLJET6/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1312927682&sr=1-6