Chit Chatting with Helena P. Schrader

  Chit Chatting With Author Helena P. Schrader

J: Tell us about yourself?  When did you start writing books?

H: I started writing when I was in primary school, but I made a conscious decision not to try to make a living as an author before attending college. I feared that if I had to pay the bills by publishing, I would be forced to write what the market wanted rather than what was in me. I completed degrees in history and international commerce before finishing my education with a PhD in History from the University of Hamburg. My dissertation was on a leading member of the German Resistance to Hitler. I then earned my living by working as an analyst in international consulting, as an investment relations manager with financial institutions and finally as an American diplomat serving in Europe and Africa. I continued to write creatively, however, have published eighteen novels to date in addition to four non-fiction history books.

J: Tell us about your book "Moral Fibre."

H: "Moral Fibre" is a study of the many faces of courage. It is set in the last year of WWII and follows a young pilot through the final stages of training, assignment to operational flying and on to his last combat mission. What makes the hero unique is that, in addition to be part African, he started out as an aircraft mechanic and then volunteered as a Fight Engineer, but after his best friend and pilot is killed by enemy action on their 36th operational flight, he refuses to fly the next day with a different crew. As a result, he is posted off his squadron for "Lack of Moral Fibre," a term used by the RAF to denote someone who had "lost the confidence of their commanding officer." Men labeled "LMF" could be subjected to severe disciplinary measures, but not all were because the RAF medical establishment recognized that a variety of factors could cause a temporary break-down in morale. In Kit's case, he is given a second chance, and indeed, sent to flight training. When the book begins, Kit is just about to form a crew for the final stages of training. Needless to say, this is a stressful period, but Kit's situation is complicated by being in love with Georgina, his dead friend's fiance.

Georgina was devastated by the loss of her first love and is not feeling strong enough to fall in love again. She sees Kit as a "friend" but wants to avoid romantic involvement. She is also in the final stages of training as a teacher. For her year of internship (apprentice teaching) she has chosen to work at a school for evacuees from the inner city of London. Here she finds herself struggling to cope with the challenges these underprivileged children present.

The book alternates between Kit and Georgina's point of view and also introduces you to Kit's crew and Georgina's parents. The latter are the only adults in the room, so-to-speak, since all the rest of the characters are still teenagers or at most in their early twenties. Georgina's father is a vicar in rural Yorkshire and he provides reflection and commentary on the wider context of the novel as well as Kit and Georgina's presonal choices.

J: How did you come up with the idea for your book?

H: This was a work of inspiration. I had completed two novellas which I intended to publish together, and suddenly while having a glass of wine after dinner I realized that I had to write a third novella -- one about Kit going LMF. All my plans for publication were put on hold while I did the research and wrote a novella that starts with Kit being posted LMF and goes on to describe via flash-backs how he came to be in this position. Yet no sooner had I finished that novella (titled "Lack of Moral Fibre"), then I realized that it was only the teaser. The real story was what happened afterward. I went ahead and published my trilogy of novellas under the title "Grounded Eagles," and this included the novella "Lack of Moral Fibre" as described above. Then I set to work on "Moral Fibre" proper.

J: Tell us about the award you got for this book?

H: "Moral Fibre" has been recognized by both Maincrest Media and Indie Brag as an outstanding book. Both these awards are based on a jury of judges providing feedback on a fixed set of criteria. Both send the feedback to the author, which I find very useful.  You can find out more about these two award programs at: https://maincrestmedia.com/maincrest-media-book-award-program/ and https://www.bragmedallion.com/ respectively.

J: Where can people get your book?

H: "Moral Fibre" is available on amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository and via your local book store. It is available in paperback or ebook formats.

J: Tell us about some of the other books you wrote?

H: In 2007 I wrote a novel about the Battle of Britain that not only includes a German storyline but also pays tribute to the ground crews and controllers, who contributed so much to victory. By chance, a review copy of this book, "Where Eagles Never Flew" fell into the hands of one of the few surviving RAF aces from the Battle, Wing Commander Bob Doe. He wrote me a hand-written letter to say it was "the best book on the Battle of Britain" that he had ever read, adding that I'd gotten it "smack on the way it was for us fighter pilots." There is no higher praise possible for a historical novelist than for someone who lived through the events described to say you got it "smack on." I'm very proud of that book, and it has also done well commercially, being on of my best selling books.

Otherwise, there is the "Grounded Eagles" trilogy which includes "LMF" but also the story of a pilot whose face and hands were burned off as he escaped from his crashing Hurricane and is undergoing an identity crisis as his face and hands are reconstructed in a series of plastic surgery operations. The title of that novella is "A Stranger in the Mirror." The third story in the trilogy, "A Rose in November," looks at a widower with teenage children who falls in love with a woman of a "better" class and the complications that brings.

"Traitors for the Sake of Humanity" is a novel about the German Resistance to Hitler. It was inspired by the many interviews and research I did for my dissertation.

I have also published six novels set in Ancient Sparta, and six set in the Crusader States between 1175 and 1235.

J: What are you currently working on?

H: I'm currently working on a trilogy about the Berlin Airlift. This was one of the most dramatic episodes of the post-war era, when the Soviet Union abruptly laid siege to a city of more than 2 million people. The Soviets literally, from one day to the next, cut the inhabitants off from access to food, fuel, electricity, medicine and, indeed, all daily needs except air and water. The Soviet objective was to force the Western Allies out of Berlin. They expected the people of Berlin to riot and demand that the Western troops withdraw so the siege would be lifted.

Instead, the British and Americans decided to try to fly in everything that people needed, and the Berliners steadfastly accepted minimal rations, cold and darkness rather than succumb to Soviet demands and lures. After roughly 11 months in which the tonnage of goods transported into Berlin grew slowly to ten times the initial levels and finally exceeded the deliveries by ground transportation before the seige, the Soviets gave up and lifted the siege.

But the siege did not end before many dramatic things had happened! The Berlin Airlift is full of wonderful stories of creativity, ingenuity and courage. Furthermore, at the start of the Airlift the Germans mistrusted the Americans and the British -- and vice versa. At the end, they had learned great respect for one another and formed friendships too. I'm astonished more books haven't been written about the Airlift!

My series has a large cast of characters including a former RAF and a USAF pilot, both of whom had previously bombed Berlin and are now trying to save the very people they were previously trying to kill, a female air traffic controller (true fact! WRAF were employed as air traffic controllers during the airlift), a female pilot for one of the civilian contractors on the airlift, a Social Democratic city councilman and a young German woman whose parents were killed in the war and who is severely traumatized by the Soviet occupation.

J: What advice would you give someone who wanted to become a writer?

H: If you don't know what you want to write about, then don't write. A story should be in you screaming to come out. If it's not, you're probably not going to be able to retain the focus or commit the resources -- in time, money and emotions -- to complete the book. If you have a story you want to tell, then focus on making it as good as you possibly can. Quality counts. I recently counted the number of drafts my books go through and realized that on average I write seven drafts. I also pay for professional editors and graphic designers. Yet never forget that writing is only half the battle. With roughly 5,000 new titles coming out every single day, the market is flooded with books and you will never sell your book unless you are also prepared to invest heavily in marketing it.

J: Are you on any social networking sites?  If so, what are their addresses? What about a website? 

H: I'm not really comfortable or active on social media, but I'm happy to respond to readers who contact me via my website: http://helenapschrader.com

J: Is there anything else you would like to add?

H: "Moral Fibre" seems to take some readers out of their "comfort zone." It is about the RAF, for example, and set in England. Yet Kit and Georgina's story is really universal. It is a story about confronting life's challenges, facing one's demons and making sense of one's life. My motto as a writer is "understanding ourselves by understanding the past," and I firmly believe that readers will see their own lives in a different light if they read about people like Kit and Georgina. I'd like to think that others will come to love Kit and Georgina as much as I do, and be inspired by them as I have been.

J: Thank you for the interview.  Have a great day.

Book Summary

 

Riding the icy, moonlit sky—

They took the war to Hitler.

Their chances of survival were less than fifty percent.

Their average age was 21.

This is the story of just one bomber pilot, his crew, and the woman he loved.

It is intended as a tribute to them all.

 

Flying Officer Kit Moran has earned his pilot’s wings, but the greatest challenges still lie ahead: crewing up and returning to operations. Things aren’t made easier by the fact that while still a flight engineer, he was posted LMF (Lacking in Moral Fibre) for refusing to fly after a raid on Berlin that killed his best friend and skipper. Nor does it help that he is in love with his dead friend’s fiancé, but she is not yet ready to become romantically involved again.

 

Publisher: Cross Sea Press

ISBN-10: 1735313993

ISBN-13: 978-1735313993

Print Length: 436 pages

 

Purchase a copy of Moral Fibre on Amazon, Bookshop.org, and Barnes and Noble. You can also add this to your GoodReads reading list.

 

About the Author:

Helena P. Schrader is an established aviation author and expert on the Second World War. She earned a PhD in History (cum Laude) from the University of Hamburg with a ground-breaking dissertation on a leading member of the German Resistance to Hitler. Her non-fiction publications include Sisters in Arms: The Women who Flew in WWII, The Blockade Breakers: The Berlin Airlift, and Codename Valkyrie: General Friederich Olbricht and the Plot against Hitler. In addition, Helena has published eighteen historical novels and won numerous literary awards. Her novel on the Battle of Britain, Where Eagles Never Flew won the Hemingway Award for 20th Century Wartime Fiction and a Maincrest Media Award for Historical Fiction. RAF Battle of Britain ace Wing Commander Bob Doe called it "the best book" he had ever seen about the battle. Traitors for the Sake of Humanity is a finalist for the Foreword INDIES awards. Grounded Eagles and Moral Fibre have both garnered excellent reviews from acclaimed review sites such as Kirkus, Blue Ink, Foreword Clarion, Feathered Quill, and Chantileer Books.

 

You can follow her author website for updates and her aviation history blog