It's Black Friday. When thinking of Christmas gifts, consider supporting EMS authors.
My new book, Killing Season: A Paramedic's Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic, is coming out on April 6, 2021, but if you order two books (or spend $50 now, you can get them for 40% off under a special promotion. Good through 12/6. Use code HHSA when checking out at the Johns Hopkins University Press Bookstore.
My first two books, Paramedic: on the Front Lines of Medicine and Rescue 471: A Paramedics's Stories are still available both in print and as ebooks.
I have two works of fiction available as ebooks.
Diamond in the Rough tells the story of a young EMT's wayward journey through EMS. It takes place in Hartford in the similar setting to my first novel, Mortal Men: Paramedics on the Streets of Hartford. The book has caused some controversy because the EMT narrator is a thief, who steals from his patients. He, of course, eventually pays the price for his actions, but he does, despite his crimes, manage to find some redemption and a path toward grace. After writing two nonfiction books about EMS in Hartford, I have turned to fiction because it offered a freer reign to explore the world of EMS and tell atypical stories.
You can read sample chapters of Diamond in the Rough here:
Mortal Men is a more traditional story. Paramedic Troy Johnson battles trauma and sickness on the streets of Hartford, Connecticut. When a fellow medic is shot to death responding to a 911 call, a grief-stricken Troy vows to avenge the death, while struggling to come to grips with his own mortality.
i appreciate your buying and reading my books and blog!
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Here are some of my favorites from other EMS authors you should consider:
Lights and Sirens: The Education of a Paramedic by Kevin Grange published by Berkley. This a great account of a young man going through paramedic school. I reviewed it in more detail in this post:
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Michael Morse first two excellent books Rescuing Providence and Rescue 1 Responding are combined into one book and published by Post Hill Press and distributed by Simon and Shuster. I reviewed Rescue 1 Responding in this post:
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A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back by Kevin Hazzard published by Scribner. This is also a tremendously well written book covering the EMS career of an Atlanta, Georgia paramedic from eager EMT to eventual burn out and fade away nearly a decade later.
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Kelly Grayson's En Route is a great read by the author of the Ambulance Driver Files.
Grayson is an EMS Mark Twain -- a gifted humorist who packs a serious punch. He does a great job of describing what it is like to be in EMS -- the good and the bad, the high points and the lows.
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Turning to EMS Fiction, a little known, but excellent book is Black Flies by Shannon Burke, which retells Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness with EMS as the background.
I reviewed this book many years ago on this blog:
