UAB physician releases first medical thriller
Stephen Russell knows what dedication means. He spent four years earning a history degree from Vanderbilt University, seven becoming a doctor, and now 10 bringing his first novel to life.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics has a new medical thriller, Blood Money, for sale starting this month.
“You will like it if you enjoy thrillers, are looking for a good beach read or if you are just wondering what Stephen Russell has been doing since high school,” said the 1990 Mountain Brook High School graduate.
The inspiration for the plot line developed when a friend of his told him about a biotech company that produced synthetic blood, a substance he first saw as a medical resident in Cincinnati.
The main character, surgeon Cooper “Mackie” McKay, finds himself under investigation when his ex-wife’s body is found in his car, her veins infused with the synthetic blood product they patented together. McKay soon finds himself searching his wife’s past to clear his name.
The more Russell researched synthetic blood, the more plot points came to mind, and he got friends in the medical field to read over parts to ensure their accuracy.
“My hope in the research I do is that it makes people think [the book] feels uncomfortably real,” Russell said.
Other plot points come from Russell’s experiences.
A childhood friend of Russell’s specializes in deep-frying munchies like Twinkies, something Mackie’s lawyer and friend, Duel Roberts, cooks up. (For the book release, Russell’s friend is working on a recipe for the fried Twinkies.)
The setting is Nashville, where Russell lived in college, and also Atlanta, near his grandparents’ house where he spent summers growing up.
Blood Money is the first of Russell’s three books being published by Blue Jay Media, which works with authors by invitation only and which publishes about a dozen books a year. Command and Control, also about McCay but with a new setting and plot, will follow with publication in June, and the third, Control Group, actually a rewritten version of the first novel Russell wrote, will be published by January.
The path to publication was a long one for Russell. He attended the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference for critiques three times over the past decade and most recently worked with a mentor in California to edit his novels.
Now the dad of four, he has less time to write than when he started and wakes up early to get in an hour before they get up in the morning.
He considers it a great milestone as a parent that he has “infected [his children] with a bug” to read and is proud that at Cherokee Bend Elementary, where they attend school, readers are recognized at a special pep rally each year.
His wife, Gretel, a pediatrician at Mayfair Medical Group in Homewood, reads his drafts and is his sounding board for ideas. Russell said she has been very supportive of all the time he has dedicated to writing.
The Blood Money book release party is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 12, from 6-7:30 p.m. at Cantina Tortilla Grill at Pepper Place. Books will be available at Little Professor Book Center in Homewood, and there will be a book signing at the store on Wednesday, Feb. 19, from 6-8 p.m. The book will also be available online from Amazon, iTunes and Barnes and Noble.
To learn more about Stephen Russell’s work, visit authorstephenrussell.com.