Writing from thrill of life's experiences

Author Wade Stevenson needs to look no further than his own life to find material for his historical thrillers, including the time spent growing up in Southeast Missouri.

Since leaving his hometown of Scott City -- then Ancell -- in 1955, Stevenson has traveled the world during the 32 years he spent working for the United States government handling sensitive information. He now lives in Wheatland, Wyo.

His last job took Stevenson back to Southeast Missouri as a special agent with the U.S. Department of Defense Investigative Service until his retirement in 1994.

After a lifetime of assignments to exotic locales and top-secret missions, however, retirement proved a little boring.

"I have a friend who was a professor at Southeast Missouri State University who encouraged me to join with him as a member in the Heartland Writer's Guild and to write about some of my personal experiences," Stevenson said. "I found with retirement, I really enjoyed writing the action-thriller genre."

This was Stevenson's first attempt at creative writing, although he did writing of a different sort while he worked for the government.

Stevenson used to write regulations, manuals, pamphlets, articles and briefs, or as he describes it, "mostly dry, dull and boring mundane things."

"I was a nut on Ian Fleming and those types of writings, and I thought it would be great to write something thrilling and exciting," he said.

Soon after entering the guild and the world of fiction writing, Stevenson began work on his first novel, "The Salzdorf Wellspring," which he worked on for five years before its publication in 2001.

"The Salzdorf Wellspring" is about treasures stolen by the Nazis during World War II and buried in the fictional town of Salzdorf and the attempts by several agencies to locate them.

The novel is fiction based in fact. Stevenson got the idea from an article he read about Nazi plunder that Patton's army came upon in Merker, Germany.

"It just sparked my interest, and I got into a 'what if' scenario," he said.

That artistic license extended to Stevenson's own experiences as well, including those from his childhood and young adulthood in Scott City.

Several of the early scenes in the novel that deal with the protagonist take place in Scott City and Cape Girardeau. In these scenes, Stevenson mentions The Blue Hole Bar-B-Que, an old barbecue place that used to be in Cape Girardeau, as well as Cape Rock Drive and several places that used to be in Ancell, like the old Saveway restaurant and gas station, George Blattel's bar and his roller rink and Arnold's Grainery.

Later on in the novel, the U.S. Air Force Postal Group plays a role in the story. Stevenson served as a courier for the group in the 1950s in England.

He also takes people he has known over the years and makes them into composite characters. He also has taken events he experienced and twisted them enough so they could be fictionalized.

In March, the sequel to Stevenson's first novel was published. "Mountains: Prime Evil" continues with the premise of Nazi plunder but contains more of Stevenson's personal experiences.

Just last month, a short story by Stevenson, "A Special Cup of Coffee," was published in the anthology "The Rocking Chair Reader: Coming Home," which is available at the Barnes and Noble and Waldenbooks in Cape Girardeau.

This story marks a complete departure from Stevenson's thrillers. For one thing, it is a work of non-fiction and the subject matter is more heart-warming than heart-racing.

"A Special Cup of Coffee" recounts a stop Stevenson made at a Scott City restaurant while traveling from Benton to Perryville, Mo. several years ago.

He said that when he walked in, the restaurant was full of noise -- people yelling, children running around and a television set with the volume on high.

Stevenson sat down next to a family with a young child, who asked his father if he could pray before they ate their food.

Then, according to Stevenson, something remarkable happened. The noisy restaurant suddenly quieted as people stopped talking and the television was turned off.

"After he was through I looked around and people still had their heads down and had tears in their eyes," he said.

"It had such a profound effect on me that I made mention of it in some notes and turned it into a short story."

Stevenson said he did not intend to have the story published until he received an e-mail from the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, of which he is a member, announcing that Adams Media was looking for short stories for a new anthology it was publishing.

"I've been all over the world and this was the first time ever I was able to experience a little boy who was able to silence a room with his prayer," Stevenson said.

"It's something that would not have happened in a bigger city."

Currently, Stevenson is finishing up the research for the follow-up to "Mountains: Prime Evil." It should serve as the last book in the Nazi plunder trilogy.

Whether Stevenson chooses to continue with writing after this latest novel remains to be seen. He said he sees writing more as an escape than a career and could possibly stop at any time, although that time may not have come just yet.

"I still have a lot of memories and experiences I can draw from," he said.

kalfisi@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182