When Reality and Fiction Collide - Stalker by August Cruz

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Hello and welcome to Shedding the Bitch Radio, where you can discuss, debate, and get advice on how to discover and shed the bitches of fear, insecurity, self-doubt, and negative mindsets so you can realize your dreams and life purpose and create and accelerate the riches you want in life. Join us here live every Tuesday at noon Eastern and dialogue with us at 817- 818-572-2910. You can also chat with us at blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch or share your stories on our website at sheddingthebitch.com. Whatever the bitch is that's holding you back from living your life to the fullest, it's not worth giving up the riches in life that you deserve. So call in now and let Bernadette Boas know what's holding you back. 818-572-2910.

Good day, good day, good day everyone, and this is Bernadette Boas and you're listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio. And I am so excited we had the opportunity to reschedule our guests. I had mentioned to you on his original date of October 9th, I believe it was, that he had a family emergency. But be sure to go out to that recording. We had a replay of one of our popular Yes, Dorothy Coons. So be sure to listen for that. But I'm so glad we had the opportunity to get him fit into the schedule because this subject is kind of intriguing to me. I'll just put it that way. All around how fiction impacts reality. And we'll get into that in just, just a few minutes. But before we do, we had our Ask Bernadette Ask Me Anything episode last week, and therefore we had a number of business, career, and life questions. So we covered the gamut this particular episode. So be sure to go back and also download and listen to that. And keep in mind, because we do that the first Tuesday of every month, so keep in mind you could be posting your questions, stories, or challenges on Facebook or Twitter or sending them to me directly at Bernadette Boas at Shed and I'll get you the advice and the tips that you need right away. But at the same time, we'll bring them onto the first Tuesday of each month program, and you have an opportunity to actually come on live and have a deep dive conversation with me should you choose to. So go back and check that out. And then next week we're going to be talking to Madeline Lambert. And a whole conversation about just inspiration and how to really kind of go inward in order to see your external world shift into a more creative, more innovative, more rich life, as we talk about here on Shedding the Bitch Radio. Alright, so let me introduce you to the subject, and then if you're a regular, you know that we then will ground you with a rich question around this subject, and then we will take a quick commercial break, come back to the formal introduction of our guests, and dive into this conversation. All right, so what are we talking about? Well, we're talking about how fiction impacts reality, and it's a discussion of his fictional novel Stalker, which is based on research from actual stalking cases. And while the book is a Fence story, uh, you will find out how the mind of certain stalkers work. Now, I found this very intriguing. I mentioned to our guest that I'm a big fan of Dateline and those type of investigative, uh, programs. And I just found this whole conversation intriguing because I'm always interested to get into the minds of other people, um, even stalkers. So then we have a better idea— of maybe what we should be paying attention to when we meet and come across individuals. So you're— listen for these things. The book is written from the stalker's point of view. So listeners, you're going to be able to be pulled into his thinking process and how he becomes more and more obsessed with a woman he doesn't even know. And then you also learn interesting facts about stalking, which is very important, such as that there are 7.5 million cases of stalking crimes in the United States alone. When I first read that, I thought, oh my God, I thought it was talking globally. 7.5 million just here in the United States. And the audience will also be informed about what they can do if you feel you're a victim of stalking. Now, this all of a sudden actually jumped out at me when I read that statistic of 7.5 million, uh, because I kind of put it behind me. But, um, I had a couple stalking, uh, um, incidences actually when I was a teenager, um, and one of them actually threatened not only myself but my father. Um, so that is kind of coming up really strong for me right now, which I haven't even thought about. Um, so I'll thank our guests for that because You, you do want to process these things so you can formally put them behind you. So I'm definitely going to be interested in that. So this is your rich question I really want you to think hard about when it comes to this conversation. So I want you to be thinking about what qualities or traits— how would you initially, immediately define or describe a stalker? What are their attributes or qualities or characteristics or behaviors? And then what I'm expecting is that our guest is going to give us the reality check, as he says, in regards to it. And it's important that we get a reality check because if we're thinking they act one way and they're actually acting in a, in a different way, you know, in a manipulative, whatever the case might be, you definitely want to be thinking about it. So How would you describe what you think a stalker is? And hopefully many of you, most of you, have never had a stalking incident in your life, but for those that have, you can also learn a great deal from our guests' experience as well. So that's your Rich Question. You can Rich Tag— Rich Tag. You can Rich Tag with us on Facebook, Twitter, on your posts and your tweets. And use hashtag stalking or hashtag— actually, what I'd like you to do is hashtag survivor and then hashtag stalker, but only simply because of his novel. And then of course hashtag shed the bitch. So today we're shedding the stalker bitch. That's what we're doing. So when we get back, I'm going to introduce you to our guest, and then we will get into this conversation, which is going to be very intriguing. With our guests. So we'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business. Available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors: North Georgia Tax Solutions, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to ngtaxsolutions.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium size businesses. Email deborahparker@parkerhouseservices.com. Deborahparker.va@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at mediarelations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everyone! Are you ready for this very intriguing conversation? Well, this is one of the shortest bios you're ever going to hear from one of our guests, and it's all you need to know. August Cruz is an English teacher and native New Yorker. He has spent years researching the topic of stalking crime in preparation for his debut novel, Stalker. So welcome to the program, August.

Hi, Bernadette. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it.

You're welcome. Well, your short bio leaves me with a lot of questions that I want to know even before we dive into this conversation regarding the novel and your research and whatnot. So you're an English teacher, but you're also, you know, you're a debut novelist, author. So can you give us some backstory in regards to how you got into not only teaching, but then writing and wanting to write something on such an intriguing topic like stalking and your novel coming up?

Yeah. I've always been— Even as a kid, I was a big, big reader, avid reader, loved fiction, and I used to write little stories even as a kid about suspense and that kind of— that genre just for some reason has always appealed to me. I read when I was 11 years old, I read Frankenstein in a day. So it was, yeah, I mean, it was— that genre has always kind of called to me, so I was always drawn to it. I actually got into teaching— I just sort of fell into it. I had done many, many different types of jobs over the years, everything from construction to, you know, working at a law firm. Oh wow. Yeah, to just retail. I worked at Barnes Noble for 5 years, actually, first in the stores and then the corporate office. Eventually I wound up working at a company that unfortunately was broken apart. It was bought by another company and broken apart. A friend of the family's who is a teacher said, "You know, we need somebody as a substitute for the rest of the year because the original teacher quit." So I went and I got my substitute license. My sub-license and I started teaching and it just kind of came natural to me. Oh, wow. And then I just pursued it and I enrolled in programs to help me get my master's in education and I got it. I've been teaching ever since and it's going on, I want to say, almost 10 years that I've been teaching roughly. Nice. Yeah, so yeah, I teach English in high school, well, I try to. That's all you can do in high school is try to do things. And so it's always— it's the genre that I love and it's made a big impact on me. The idea for Stalker, that came before I was a teacher actually. I used to commute into Manhattan, living in New York, I live in Queens. I used to commute into Manhattan every day on the train and it just kind of struck me how there are certain times you would see kind of the same faces. If you take the train at a certain time, either going to work or coming home from work, everyone, you know, some people have the same schedule or similar schedule, so you would see some of the same faces sometimes. And it just got me to thinking what they're really like, you know. What, you see them and they're professionally dressed and they're, you know, they're just buried in their newspaper or a book or whatever. And generally quiet, just kind of focus on what they're doing. And I wondered, "I wonder what they're like in real life." And years later, actually after I had written the first draft of Stalker, I became very, very good friends with the horror writer Jack Ketchum, who unfortunately passed away earlier this year. And I asked him once, I said, "You know, you write 'You write stories who— that scare the hell out of people. Like, what is it that scares you?' And without missing a beat, he said, 'People. Not knowing what they're capable of.' And it got me to kind of even thinking more about the topic and, uh, and about how you read about, uh, serial killers who are— who just blend into society and they function like everybody else, and they have somebody chained up in their, you know, in their basement. I mean, you never— and they're standing next to you on the train. You know, so that, that, that duality always kind of intrigued me. I was like, how does, how does that happen within your mind? You know, how do you, how do you reconcile that?

Right.

And that's when I started kind of looking into it and reading about it and studying it and all that. I mean, if you, if you just Google that, that, you know, that type of question, you'll come up with cases. I mean, if you're gonna go that way, uh The actress Rebecca Schaeffer, who not— I'm sure many people don't remember at this point.

I do.

Was killed by— yeah. Oh, you remember from My Sister Sam, the show back in the '80s? She was killed by her stalker, by Robert Bardo. Um, and that's— that incident actually is what made a lot of the laws regarding stalking change in this country. Uh, and now all 50 states, including the District of Columbia, have, have very, very strict laws regarding stalking.

Uh, right.

And it's because— it's because of the recidivism.

Yeah. Before we get into the stalking conversation, because I— that definitely will be a, um, uh, an intriguing piece in this conversation that I definitely want to get into with you. Um, uh, what— so you're obviously, um, you're an avid reader, you turn English teacher, um, and then, you know, this— the stalking concept was intriguing, but you know, some people get very overwhelmed and intimidated, and I speak to a lot of wannabe authors. Um, so what kind of made you kind of cross over to say, okay, I am going to sit down and I'm going to write this, write this book? Like, was there any aha moment or that you can share?

Well, you know, it— I've thankfully, I've been blessed with, with having come up— and that's through Barnes Noble— I'm blessed with having met many authors. For many years I was in charge of scheduling author events at certain stores. Ah, wow. And through that I got to meet a lot of really, really good authors, really good writers. And there's a quote, you know, if there's a story that you want to read and it's not out there, then you should write it. And that's kind of what, what gave me the impetus to, to, to go ahead and, and start researching the topic and, and putting it down to papers.

Uh, and how long did it take you to write it?

It, uh, it took me a good 4 years, uh, between conception and actually putting it out there. Right, to write it, and it took many, many, many drafts, many edits, and I also have to credit my ex-wife with helping with that, actually. She was very instrumental in helping me put this together.

Right, well, that's, you know, hey, you know, it takes a village to do anything, right?

That's right.

You know, so that's fabulous. Now It says a debut novel. When did it come out? Or when, when did it come out?

It came out in August of 2017.

Okay, all right. So everybody, it's on amazon.com. Uh, you can either look up August Cruz and you'll find it, or you just, you can look up, uh, Stalker. And we're going to share the link, uh, directly to where you can not only you know, kind of review what the book is about, but actually we want you to buy it. And many of our listeners are personal and professional development kind of addicts and fans, but at the same time you're also avid readers from across all genres. So, you know, this is definitely an intriguing subject matter, and at the same time, let's support our guests and our authors out there and pick up a copy because you will not be disappointed. I promise you. So the subject of stalking, and I'm serious when in the opening I kind of started fumbling in my words because as I'm reading about what this, the subject was covering, and I must have read it like 2 or 3 times over the past month, that we've been scheduling this interview, I really never thought about my own situation, especially the one that I had as a teenager where my father all of a sudden, you know, got involved, because that could have turned out much uglier than it did. And, you know, feel very blessed that it— I mean, it was terrifying, and it's created some PTSD of things I don't need to talk about today, but Even today, you know, even, you know, for the last several decades, but it's a subject that definitely we need to be talking more and more about, even in the form of a suspense novel. So the subject matter of stalking, you know, what kind of research, apart from Googling, but what kind of research, but more importantly, that 7.5 million incidences of stalking just stunned me. What really caught you by surprise and just shocked you about this whole subject matter?

What really kind of— pardon— what really caught me by surprise was typically, at least for me, what— when I hear or think of stalking stalkers or stalking crimes, I think of women who are stalked. And what surprised me was— were the statistics of how many men have also been stalked.

By a fellow man? By other men or women?

No, no, by women.

Ah.

By women. It surprised me because the statistics for So stalking, clearly there are more women that are stalked than men. 66% of women are stalked by either current or former spouse or associate. For men though, it was, it was in the 40 percentile range of men who are stalked by women, current or former spouse. And that, that really surprised me. I hadn't I never thought that that would be the case, but in the research that I did, I found that it was alarming. And not only the percentage of men that have been stalked by women, but also in the manner in which they are stalked. And today, because of the use of, you know, the— because of technology and how easy it is to do it now, a lot to the rise of stalking in terms of not just for men, but for women as well.

Wow.

So that really kind of blew me away.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I— yeah, I would have to admit, now being a woman and going through, uh, you know, like decades of having my girlfriends, um, with their incidences of, you know, the men that they were involved with, um, I never stalked any of mine, but I certainly have had those girlfriends that, that could, that could fall into that you know, that 60-some-odd percent, because, um, you know, they definitely, you know, kind of can get just as worked up, I guess, about a relationship as men can get. So it does surprise me that it's that high. At the same time, it doesn't in, in some other ways as well. Um, yeah, yeah, it's— it— wow, that's crazy. Absolutely crazy.

Oh, I know.

So to what degree, other than, you know, like Googling, but did you kind of interview victims or even the accused, or what was the research that you did?

I did a lot. A lot of the research was done through the internet. I did speak with— pardon me— I did speak with, with a psychologist who, you know, is, uh, it wasn't exactly, you know, something that, that they dealt with on a daily basis, but it was certainly something that they had experienced. I had also spoken with people that had gone through stalking, uh, themselves who had been victims of stalkers. And so, and then again, just the, just the research alone that I obtained through the internet was, uh, was astounding. Uh, you know, local— and it's not always celebrity stalking. In Georgia a few years ago, um, uh, Stephen McDaniel, uh, was arrested and prosecuted for having stalked and killed the victim of his, uh, the, the, his obsession, the focus of his obsession, Lauren Giddens, who was a law student And, uh, it's just the manner in which he conducted himself prior to having been arrested astounded me because he— this is a guy who had— there's actual video of him filming, take a recording in, you know, from her window, uh, recording her, her activities from her window. And then eventually later on he killed her. And he participated when she had been proclaimed missing. He participated in the search for her.

Oh yeah.

And was it— and was interviewed on TV. Uh, and, and put on this whole act when he was advised, oh, that, that she had— that they had discovered her body, which he himself had dismembered. He put on this whole act like he was shocked and couldn't go on with the interview and just sat down. It was just— it was that just blew me away. So yeah, it— there's, there's so much out there regarding his horrible crimes, uh, of stalking that— yeah.

Well, and the reason why— and I'm telling you, August, I've never had a guest and a subject matter, uh, bring so much up within me. But, um, so I'm not sure if I want to thank you or slap you, but no. But, but, um, well, you know, it's why I posed the question, the rich question that I posed, because I really do think, you know, a majority of our listeners are women. But whether they're women or they're men, I think it's very— we get very caught up and very deceived and manipulated and in some cases naive about what a stalker looks like. So, you know, you've had now helped me kind of bring back 3 memories that I've had and I mentioned the one. The one was— the one I had mentioned of stalking with me and my father. That was a—

I am so sorry, by the way.

Oh, that's OK. No, no, no. No, no, no, no. But I want to paint a picture for our listeners because I think it's really important for them to have an idea that it's not just these vicious serial stalkers. I mean, they're as innocent as like— I was 14. This kid was 20. He didn't like the fact that I had a breakup with him because my parents found out he was older. And he then started stalking and following us and threatening us.

Oh, God.

All kinds of messy stuff. And then there was another who landed up— being that it's Halloween— landed up stalking me just for a few days and jumped out of a bush with a knife. You know, a knife.

Oh, my God.

And then you brought up the subject of a psychologist. Well, I went to— in my late 20s, I went to a psychiatrist to work through the death of a friend of mine. And that psychiatrist, psychologist, whatever he was, he started— I'll call it stalking because, you know, I was expressing to him kind of relationship issues I was having and he didn't understand. He's like, oh, you're so pretty and you're this and you're that and I don't understand why you're, you know, having these issues. And the next thing you know, for the like 2 weeks, I see him everywhere I go. He's following, um, I, I turn around, he's there. It was so— I think, you know, It comes in many forms, and I love the fact that you're— that, you know, that yes, it's a fictional novel, but at the same time, obviously, the research and the statistics and the facts that you're bringing to the program today, you know, we all have to be aware of it and alert to it and recognize that, you know, these people kind of live amongst us and hang out with us and, like you said, could be sitting next to us on a train.

Right.

So it's just crazy, absolutely crazy. All right, so I want to— I have a lot more, we have a lot more to talk about. I'm gonna— we're gonna just take a quick break, everybody. Don't go anywhere because this is just too, too intriguing of a conversation, but definitely want to hear more about the story and, and kind of the novel itself. Around the subject of stalking. So we will be right back with August Cruz.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business. Available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors: North Georgia Tax Solutions, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to ngtaxsolutions.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium size businesses. Email deborahparker@parkerhouseservices.com. Deborahparker.va@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at mediarelations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everyone. We are having a very intriguing conversation with our guest August Cruz, who's both an English teacher, which earlier August I wanted to kind of go thank you very much for, you know, being probably one of those great teachers out there that are, that don't get recognized as often as you deserve to, especially if you're teaching high school students.

Well, thank you very much. I hope that I make an impact.

Yes, I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. I have one or two high school teachers that I hold dear to my heart to this day who's had a significant impact on me as well. Um, all right, and he's also though an author and he has a debut novel, um, Stalker. So I want you to all go to amazon.com. I want you to either— you can do it through August Cruz and see his kind of author page, or you can just go and research on Amazon Stalker and you'll find, you'll find his book as well.— and we were talking about just where reality and fiction kind of merge, but we still have some reality and some facts that we— that we need to understand. So August, we talked about kind of the surprising statistics around, you know, how many women stalk men and then, of course, vice versa. I'm intrigued to understand how many of them actually end up in murder, or is it, you know, kind of more emotional stalking or emotional impact that is also kind of experienced and realized by its victim?

Unfortunately, it does sometimes end up in murder, as I mentioned earlier with Stephen McDaniel and Lauren Giddings, and of course Robert Bardo and Rebecca Schaefer. But more, more often than not, usually it winds up with an emotional type of scarring where the victims— and they unfortunately have to live the rest of their life with this hanging over their head. It's, you know, you can't ever really get over it, whether— and it never winds up, it never ends up well, whether the victim is has to deal with the fact that they had to confront their stalker and then go to court and they're sentenced and they're jailed. They still have that hanging over them because eventually they will get out. Um, and if they're— and if— and if the worst case scenario is if it winds up in a homicide, then the families have to deal with the aftermath of that. So there's— yeah, there's, um It's never a good situation.

Right, right. Well, and there's a third level too. I mean, just from— I'm blessed and feel very fortunate that none of my situations got to that extreme and that extent. But to be honest with you, you know, people will ask me, well, Bernadette, you're 55, you know, you've never been married, blah, blah, blah. And I can't deny— I won't really explain it to anybody else. I don't owe anybody an explanation. But I can't lie to myself to say that my trust level in relationships and men was severely impacted, especially the psychologist. Because when you realize a doctor's starting to stalk you, it's a whole different—

Sure.

It's a whole different ship. So yeah, you're right. I'm glad to know that— well, I'm not glad that some end in murder. But it's not the majority. But at the same time, it's never a good situation. So let's move on from that. Do you have any tips or any red flags of what people should be watching out for, especially, you know, women should be watching out for in someone that might be a stalker and/or if they even suspect that someone that, you know, is in their environment potentially could be a stalker?

You know, the thing about stalkers is that you, you never know who they could be. Um, there are some that are just blatant stalkers, you know, with the incessant texting or emailing, calling, showing up somewhere. Those are the obvious ones, you know, those are the ones that you really, you know, and, and there's, there's usually there's a slow buildup to that. Um, they'll start with just, you know, some friendly conversation, whatever, but then it's, "Hey, let's have lunch. Hey, let's have lunch again. Hey, let's—" You know, and where it's almost expected. And the person who is the focus of their obsession might mistake that for just being friendly. Right. But when it crosses over to this incessant need of the other person to be around them, that's a big red flag. You know, hey, you know, like, let's meet up, or let's have a drink, you know, and it's a constant reaching out, that you might want to kind of, you know, take a step back and say, what's going on, reevaluate what's happening. But the, the problem though, the more dangerous stalker is the one that doesn't do that but still stalks you without your knowledge. Like in the book, that's what happens, you know, the, the focus of the obsession is not aware of the stalking. And again, with the advent of the internet, people, you know, can easily find you on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you know, Snapchat, what have you. So you'll have people looking at you constantly, checking on what you're doing. And people, unfortunately, because of this, especially the younger generation, have a tendency to constantly post what they're doing and where they are almost on a daily basis. Yeah. And that's just— that, that's a— that's like you may as well paint a target on your head, right? Because that's what, that's what you're doing. You're basically telling everyone where you're at. In other words, you're not home, so your house is, is empty. Well, if somebody is stalking you, they might take advantage of that. Or you're telling everybody where you are if somebody's stalking you, they might make arrangements to go and be there. So, and that's the one you— so it's kind of a tricky thing because you have two, you know, those different types of stalkers. One that are— ones that are obvious and ones that like to do it behind the scenes to gain as much information as possible to start to slowly incorporate themselves into your life.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, absolutely, absolutely. So Going back, everyone, to, you know, the rich question that we stated at the beginning of the program, you know, what was your idea of a stalker, you know, before we started this conversation? And now what, you know, what— now how are you informed and armed with different and more realistic information regarding what a stalker might look like? And we're not— we're certainly not here to kind of get you all nervous or scared or whatnot, but knowing red flags, knowing red flags is a good, is a good, good, good thing. So I want to also mention, as we're talking with August, you can always follow him as well, and his Twitter handle is @AugustCruz7, is on Twitter. Facebook is August Cruz, and then Instagram is August Cruz Cruz 17. And the reason why I mentioned that right now, um, August, is— are— how are you— do you get people, you know, kind of reaching out to you or making comments or sharing their story or whatever the case might be, uh, whether they're already reading your book or they're following you on Twitter and Facebook and you're talking about your book, uh, is there any, you know, Is there any interesting stories in that regard?

Um, I, I have had people reach out and say, hey, you know, I, I read your book and it really made me think about something that happened to me in the past. Uh, there was a, a young woman who reached out and told me that she had gone through something not exactly like what happened in the book, but, but something similar, uh, where she had to unfortunately, um, uh, get, you know, proceed legally in terms of having this person, you know, have a, have a, a— I'm sorry, a, um, she had to go to the police and she had to report it.

Pardon? A restraining order?

Yeah, they had to get a restraining order. Thank you. Because of an ex-boyfriend who just would not leave her alone and was interfering in her current relationship she was having, which unfortunately seems to happen very often. And that speaks to the statistic that I mentioned earlier about, you know, people who have been stalked are usually stalked by somebody, a current or former partner. And that's exactly what happened. And, and so she she had reached out and told me that her experience was similar to the one that happened in the book.

Wow, wow, wow.

But thankfully not the same. Thankfully not the same, right, right, right.

And if you—

well, yeah, and if they're— and if people read the book, they'll, they'll understand why I'm saying thankfully not the same.

Yeah, I bet. I know. And we're gonna, we're gonna definitely want to, um, kind of, uh, share some of whatever you can about the book. But more importantly, everybody, I do want you to go to Amazon and um, look up, uh, Stalker August Cruz. And that's the best way because I just thought to myself, well, there's TV shows called Stalker, there's a lot of different things, um, that could be on Amazon. So do, do, um, Stalker August Cruz and you'll find the book. Um, and I want to share because I just happened to go on myself, but I also want to share for everyone before we have August kind of share with us what he can about the book because we want you buy the book, I want to share with you some of his 5-star— he has all 5-star ratings regarding this book. So let's see, the first one would be, um, this book is amazing. I had my high school book club read this book and I can't keep this book on the bookshelves ever since. It is well written, has a very good twist. I want to be careful that I don't give anything away. I'd give this book 10 stars if I could. Please make part 2, August. So they're looking for a, looking for a follow-up, which I also want to talk to you about that as well. Another one is, I was looking for a good novel that would freak me out, and this was a good choice. The author keeps you captivated from beginning to end. And I love the twist, which I'm not going to mention anything after that. Uh, very well written. It gives you a good look into the mind of a stalker. Um, and then I love this one. This is a must-read, especially if you are a fan of Stephen King or Alfred Hitchcock. Writing is crafty and edgy. The novel was hard to put down, forcing me to want more. After each turn of the page. If you like novels that keep you in suspense, then you want to read Stalker. That's awesome. So awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. All right, so we're going to take one last quick break. When we come back, it's all about the book. I want to— whatever August is able to share, because again, we want you buying the book and following him on Twitter and Facebook as we shared. And to be sure that you're— and I want to do a shout out for authors and for August here. We want you to buy the book, but we also want you to come back and share your feedback with him through an Amazon review. Those are also always important for authors, but at the same time, it's great feedback. Writers always want feedback, and if, you know, if they are like some of his readers have stated that, you know, they want more in the subject matter, then that's a great piece of information for August to have. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to come back with August Cruz, our novelist of Stalker.

We'll be right back.

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Welcome back everyone, we are talking to to novelist August Cruz about his book Stalker. But at the same time, especially if you're just joining us, you're going to want to rewind and listen to the program again because we're also really kind of helping you to understand just the depth of stalking and with statistics and facts and trying to paint a picture of what stalkers look like because they're not always that vicious criminal. They could be the person sitting next to you on the train, as August described for us. So if you didn't, if you're just joining us, be sure to hear all of that, and we'll touch on more if we have time to see what other little tidbits there would be there, but I want to make sure we give some time to really hit on the book. So August, what can you share with us in regards to the book and the story that would get our listeners to kind of run to Amazon.com or their bookstore and pick up a copy?

It's a different take on the suspense because it's written from the stalker's point of view. So you get to see the actual, uh, to see him as he starts off with just noticing somebody on the train to breaking into her apartment, trying to find out more about her, reading her diary, going through her things, uh, and you see his mental breakdown. And in his mind, as we're— as you're reading, you're going, oh my God, that's, that's sick. That's terrible. In his mind, he sees absolutely nothing wrong with it. And so there's this— I don't want to give too much away, but there's this one scene where he's in her apartment by himself and he picks up a glass and he thinks to himself, or he rationalizes, "I guess she uses this. This is something that she uses all the time." And as he takes a drink from it, He, in his mind, he thinks that would make this our first kiss. So it's, yeah, exactly. So that's the type of thing you see him spiraling out of control, you know, diving deeper and deeper into his obsession. And then you're mainly thinking, just stop, you know, just, but he's not going to, you know. It takes you through his thought process and how he gets to where he gets to. And there's a little twist at the end that people don't exactly expect. So yeah, it's really kind of a— and again, because it's written from his point of view— That's cool. You're just along for the ride. Exactly. You're a passenger in this little ride, in this experience that he's going going through.

Yeah, well, and since it's one of the things—

oh no, go ahead. Yeah, well, no, I just want to mention one other thing, uh, just a little, a little trivia and fun fact. Um, August in the book works in a customer service department for a national bookstore chain, and All of the calls that he receives, all the complaints he receives, uh, and, and I— and he talks about some of them. That's the only part of the book that's true. Uh, I'm not kidding. Like, and those are all complaints that I had to respond to when I worked in the corporate office, right? Right. Of Barnes Noble. Uh, everything from the water in the water fountain isn't cold enough to objecting to Harry Potter. I mean, just every— all those calls are, are actually— I mean, I changed the names and locations, obviously, but, uh, yeah, that's— and that was just my little way of kind of, you know, focusing my frustration at dealing with these calls into literature. So, but yeah, that's That's the only part of the story that's factual in terms of something that I experienced on a day-to-day basis were those phone calls.

Right, right. Well, I mean, they always say that whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction, you're always bringing reality into it as a writer. You're always bringing your own experience. Oh, absolutely. Into it. Now, you mentioned— you, you stated August, um, in like the third person. Is August your main character's name, or is it Everest?

No, no, uh, Everest is the character in the book. I'm the one who wrote it.

August Cruz. Gotcha, got it. Yeah, well, yes, yes, yes, because I was gonna say, if you use the same name, your own name as the character name, you know, yeah, no, it wouldn't have to be No, no, this is not a how-to.

Yeah, it's not a how-to book.

Okay, so, um, would you be okay if I read the excerpt that you have on Amazon? Sure. Okay, just so I, I really want everybody to kind of be very— because this is very intriguing, just this reading this. All right, so ever since Everest Porter found his mother hanging from a noose when he was 12 His belief in humanity fractured. Now at age 30, working as a customer service representative and living in the projects in Queens, he— his outlook is every interaction he has, whether it is with his overbearing boss, his clueless coworkers, the drags living in his neighborhood, only serves to reinforce his belief that there's no hope for the human race. Until he sees her. In Stalker, Everest witnesses This remarkably beautiful woman performed one of the few acts of kindness towards a needy stranger he has seen in years, and the memory of that kindness awakens something in him that he thought was lost forever— hope. He resolves to find out more about this woman until eventually the darkness that has eroded his mind and soul over the years begins to take hold hold over him and drive him into a dangerous obsession, all without her knowing that he's watching her every move. As he secretly delves deeper into her life, his own begins to unravel until one day, imagining her to be in danger and himself as her protector, he takes matters into his own hands. I'm gonna leave it at that. Wow. That's a, that's a, you know, very intriguing, beautifully written synopsis of the book. So everyone, Stalker, amazon.com, August Cruz, you need to be, you need to be looking into it for sure as, as a great read. It is kind of getting into the, at least here in the East Coast of the States, you know, into the winter, into the dark, early dark darkness of, I guess, when we lose daylight savings time. Great time to curl up on the couch with a great book, which is very exciting. So I have an office full of doggies at the moment, and so we're going to shut the door and either keep them in or keep them out. All right, so August, is there any other— anything else you could be sharing in regards to stalking and/or even your book that our listeners would, you know, be able to take away today and just be like, "Aha!" or "Wow!" Well, in response to one of the comments that you had made about somebody asking for another one, I am actually writing a new one.

Um, it's, it's perfect. Yeah, it's, it's related to Stalker, uh, and but this time it's a female stalker, um, and, and what she goes through. And she's a lot more tech savvy than the character in Stalker is, so she has, uh, the advantage of a greater advantage, um, than Everest did in, in his, uh, in his story. Um, right. So it's, it's a— yeah, it's about a, a young woman who, is somewhat like Everest, but a little— the difference, she works in the legal field, and one of the lawyers who is prosecuting a case calls on her— she works in the records department— she could— they call on her to pull a file that they had handled a few years ago regarding a stalking case, and it happened to be Everest's case. And, uh, as she's reading it before she sends it up she becomes intrigued, the fact that this guy had become so obsessed with a woman that he didn't even know that he went through everything that he went through to try and get to meet her. And it, it kind of sets her off on finding and trying to be a part of her ex-boyfriend's life from high school. Oh, uh, yeah. And, and it— she does, but certain other things happen. It turns out he's a He's a widower. And so at first they go out, and then she becomes a little too possessive. And so they break things off. He wants to be friends instead. And then that's when everything kind of goes south.

Right. Wow. And I love how you are kind of tying in the two stories as opposed to just having two standalone stories. That is very cool.

Yeah, and that's just because that's the type of storyline that I like as well. I like it when authors, or whether, you know, with authors or books or rather, or movies tie into each other, especially by the same theme. Yep, yep, very cool.

And when do you anticipate that one being out and available?

It, you know, it hopefully within the next, um, the next 6 months, I want to say, maybe 8. Uh, okay, just at the beginning stages now. Uh, so it's, it takes a little while, but yeah, because I, I'd like to make sure that I know exactly what I'm talking about. Whenever you write something, whether it's fiction or anything else, you need to be the expert in that, in that genre. In that subject. Yeah. So there's a lot of research that goes into that. So there's, you know, I'm still doing some research into female stalkers and outcomes, specific cases, and that kind of thing. So, and I'm formulating ideas, writing, you know, rough drafts and stuff, how it's going to open, what's going to happen, you know, storyboarding and trying to plan it out. And that, that takes a while before the actual finished book comes out. So I want to say, yeah, about 6 to 8 months, hopefully.

Right, all right. So everyone, I want you to be sure that you are following him on Twitter @AugustCruz7, the number 7. I want you to be liking his Facebook page, August Cruz, and even getting on and following him on Instagram, August Cruz 17. And again, if you— when you go to Amazon and look up Stalker August Cruz. You can also follow him on Amazon, and then be sure to come back and keep an eye out for his following book, or in this case, the book. Do you have a title to that second one yet, or is that still in the works?

Yeah, it's— no, I do. Well, the tentative title is called Love, Sarah. Love, Sarah. Yeah, love, as in like if you're signing, if you're at the end of a note, love, comma, Sarah.

Nice, nice, very exciting. I'm very excited for you. Uh, thank you, thank you. You can't help but love, uh, you know, people who actually, you know, have that, uh, creative mindset to be able to sit down and, um, and write great stories, um, even when it comes to, you know, kind creepy, suspenseful topics like stalking. And again, I have to thank you personally, and this is truly a true comment that, you know, no one wants to dredge up kind of those type of memories, but at the same time, it also, you know, kind of one reminded me, but at the same time made me realize that I've come so far and overcome so much when it comes to those incidences of my own. So, uh, very cool.

I'm sorry that you had to go through that.

Yeah, well, it happens. It happens. But, uh, you know, I think your point too is, you know, it— as long as, as long as, you know, some people are able to put it into, you know, a perspective or put it into, um, a past memory and do whatever they can for it to not to create any type of current or future emotional, you know, I don't know what the word I'm looking for, you know, PTSD or any other type of emotional mindset, mindsets, I guess. See, I get all fumbly when I, you know, and was thinking about it, but that's okay. I'm good with that. I am absolutely good with that. All right, well, thank you. Is there any, any last comments or anything that you might want to share with us? Um, this has been a great conversation.

Thank you very much. Well, first of all, thank you for having me. You've been so gracious and you've been so nice. I, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me about it. Uh, I just— if, uh, whoever reads it, if they could leave a review, that would, that would be great. That really helped me out. Um, yeah, and I hope that I hope that you enjoy the read.

Absolutely, I can't believe they would not. And like I said, everybody, he's got 5-star reviews on the book, so definitely go out and get your copy of it. And yes, go back to Amazon, especially on Amazon, because that also helps with where he's falling in algorithms and all the kind of things you don't need to worry about. But yes, and it's great information for other readers as well as for the author themselves. Well, I want to thank you, August. This has been great, and I'll look forward to reading it myself, um, and, um, and contributing to that, to that, uh, review base as well.

Thank you, thank you. Listen, I'll be happy to send you a signed copy.

Oh, I'd love it! I would love it, love it, love it, love it. Done. Love it, love it, love it. Um, all right, everybody, uh, thank you very much for joining us today. This has been a fabulous conversation. Please join us right back here next Tuesday at noon Eastern time for another edition of Shedding the Bitch Radio. Talk to you soon, everybody.

Thank you for listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. Join Bernadette every Tuesday at noon Eastern as she helps you shift your bitches to riches. And the dialogue is always going on at sheddingthebitch.com. See you next week.