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| The Author on Her Horse |
Sasscer Hill, a former Maryland racehorse breeder, trainer, and rider,
uses the sport of kings as a backdrop for her multi-award nominated mysteries. However,
publishing success often takes time. Today Sasscer discusses her writing frustrations
and how she persevered to overcome them. Learn more about Sasscer and her books
at her website.
Back in 1994, I wrote a
romantic suspense novel and landed a literary agent. I thought the rest would
be a slam-dunk! Fast-forward sixteen years where, still unpublished, and now
two agents later, I’d completed two novels featuring female jockey Nikki
Latrelle.
I wrote these books
because of my passion for Thoroughbreds and my love for and knowledge of horse
racing. One of my mentors suggested I make all my writing like the races I
wrote–putting that excitement, that pacing, and those amazing characters that
populate this world into every chapter. So I began a third Nikki Latrelle with
that in mind, and prayed it would land a New York publisher.
In February of 2010, my
favorite author Dick Francis died, I was diagnosed with lymphoma, and my horse
farm was hit by the worst blizzard in the history of Maryland. Feeling
desperate, I begged a small press owner to look at the first in the Nikki
Latrelle series, Full Mortality. He
read the manuscript during the blizzard and accepted it the next day.
Miraculously, Full Mortality was published in May of
2010, received rave reviews, and was nominated for both Agatha and Macavity
Awards.
The award nominations
helped secure a third and better agent with a successful track record. But by
the time I finished the third book in the Nikki Latrelle series, it was clear
that New York publishers weren’t interested in the latest in a series already
published by a small press–unless it had humongous sales. A word to the wise:
you are unlikely to get humongous sales with a small press.
My new agent told me to
start another series. So I did, creating Fia McKee, a thirty-two-year-old agent
for the real life agency, the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau. I finished
the manuscript of Flamingo Road in
2014 and started the second in the Fia McKee series in October that year.
My agent began shopping
for publishers in December of 2014. The next spring, we caught the attention of
an editor at St. Martins, Minotaur, but she had reservations about readers’
interest in a horseracing novel. I immediately went to work, obtaining
statistics on the surprisingly strong popularity of horse racing. Things like
NBC’s unprecedented ten-year extension agreement to broadcast rights to the
Breeders Cup weekend races as well as the eleven qualifying races that precede
that two-day, all-star event. I noted how a recent ESPN poll showed horse
racing is the most popular non-team sport, beating out tennis, boxing, and even
NASCAR! I sent the report to my agent, who sent it to St. Martins.
Less than a week after
this, the Carrie McCray committee gave my in-progress novel, the second in the
Fia McKee series, their Best First-Chapter of a Novel award. Within days, this
same novel received a Claymore nomination.
But the brightest star to
align that week was a racehorse named American Pharoah. Deep in my heart, I’d
believed if the colt could pull off the historical and momentous feat of
winning the first Triple Crown in 37 years, it might nudge a publishing offer
from St. Martins my way. White knuckled, I watched the final race at Belmont.
When American Pharoah blasted around the track on the lead, rocketed down the
stretch, and began pulling away from the Belmont field, I almost had a heart
attack. When he opened up and won by daylight, I burst into tears. Turning to
my husband, I said, “I think Flamingo
Road will get an offer.”
I could feel the bright
star that is my love for horses rising over me. Pharoah’s race drew 22 million
television viewers, and the subsequent radio, television, and social media
attention was phenomenal. Within a week, American Pharoah appeared on the cover
of Sports Illustrated, and a day later,
I received a two-book offer from St. Martins Minotaur.
But I was surprised to
learn that the first Fia McKee novel would not come out until the spring of
2017, a wait of almost two years! My last book had been published in 2013, and
I surely hated waiting for so long!
I was aware that some
publishers are asking their authors to write novellas and short stories to keep
these writers in the public eye during the intervals between their full-length
novels. The obvious answer for me was a new Nikki Latrelle. But as I was under
contract to St. Martins, I knew the time slot was very compressed. A novella
seemed like just the thing.
I believed the tale of
Nikki’s early years would make a poignant and satisfying read. Imagine a
fatherless thirteen-year-old girl whose mother dies suddenly. In a sense, this
mother has abandoned her daughter, leaving her in the hands of a lewd,
malevolent stepfather. Nikki has no family, and when the stepfather forces his
way into her bedroom, she flees. Her best times were spent with her mom at the
racetrack, so this is where she runs.
Nikki is forced to steal
food, sleep in racehorses’ stalls to stay warm, and avoid the police and her
stepfather who search for her. But just when things seem to be going right for
her, Nikki crosses paths with a young man who makes her stepfather seem like a
saint.
Racing from
Evil
Nikki Latrelle’s mother
dies suddenly, leaving the thirteen-year-old girl in the hands of a pedophile
stepfather. After escaping his attempt to assault her, Nikki flees through the
nighttime streets of Baltimore and climbs a razor-wire fence into
Pimlico Racetrack, the place she and her mom spent their happiest days
together. Nikki’s drawn to horses, knows how to ride, and dreams of being a
jockey. But how can a runaway with no ID, no family, and no income survive?
She needs money, but must
hide from both the police and her stepfather who relentlessly search for her.
As these men close in, a groom named Carlos helps her escape. Carlos has
problems of his own, but through him, she meets the old horse-trainer Ravinsky.
Will the old horseman take her under his wing? Risk his status and reputation
to help her? And what evil has befallen Carlos’s young son, Pedro? The boy is
missing, and Nikki senses evil forces are at work. Because she knows too well
how it feels to be alone and frightened, she puts her life on the line to find
Pedro.
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