29 Sep 2010 Firefighter pens first novel

“I’m an avid fan of Christian thrillers,” he said, citing Ted Dekker, Frank Peretti and Robert Liparulo, all writers of such novels, among his influences. Others who have influenced his writing are C.S. Lewis, Bob Dylan and Bill Mallonee.

A description of the book on Amazon.com says:

“Disc jockey Carter “The Cart-Man” Jackson has been climbing the stairway to heaven – keeping his life as simple as possible by living from one song to the next. He had the world by the tail, coming from a family of power, prestige and politics… until he let it all go.
Killer Queen is burning up the highway to hell – terrorizing a town, in her crimson-red stilettos, by holding random men at gunpoint. She had nothing, except a dad who abused her… and now she has nothing to lose.

K-I-L-L FM 100 is the visual soundtrack of two opposing lives colliding head-on at a destined radio station. As Killer Queen puts the DJ under the gun during his night shift, she begins to question who the real hostage is, as she confronts the demons of her past. And as the DJ shines his light into her darkened world, a few shadows of his own begin to loom from his closet. When the lane narrows on this solitary stretch of highway, both captor and captive realize that something’s got to give. Someone’s got to go.

Closing in fast on this dead-end drive, two souls discover that their lives are not so different; each has lived under a mask, and each is in dire need of genuine love.”
Schreiber, who is a lieutenant with the Conway Fire Department, said, “One night, lying on my bed at work, I had a really quirky idea for a book … a cool twist throughout the book that’s almost subliminal. It’s like the twist came first, and the whole story was built around that concept.”

He noted, “You see a word like ‘kill’ and you think the worst. But it’s not about killing other people. It’s about putting to death the darkness in our hearts that so easily deceives us and tangles us up in its web and only serves to hurt us. The only way to do that is to be crucified with Christ – just like the Apostle Paul said. It was no longer him that lived but Christ in him. It’s only when we die to self that we have life, and Christ is the author of life.”

Schreiber chose a pseudonym both to protect his privacy and because of his subject matter. He explained the name Teric comes from the word “esoteric,” one meaning of which is “things not fully revealed,” he said.  The name Darken comes from his dark subject matter.

“There are a lot of dark things in our society and in our world,” he said. “It’s not that I’m glorifying the darkness; I’m doing the opposite. I’m shining the light exposing that darkness.”

He added, “When you write about some dark things, it’s not a good place to stay. Teric Darken is a role or mode I can slip into. I’m a husband, I’m a dad, I’m an employee … Teric Darken is a role I can slip into, and when it’s time, I can step away.”

His second novel, “U-TURN KiLLuR,” will be released in about six months. In the novel, a murderer calls himself KiLLuR, and the reason for the atypical spelling and use of capital letters is explained in the book.

Schreiber said he chose to write thrillers with Christian-oriented themes because the darkness he sees troubles him.

“Man has tried to concoct every cure under the sun, and it’s not working,” he said. “We’ve tried everything from drugs to sex to religion to get our fix and fix our problems.

It’s not working. Mankind keeps killing mankind, and people keep hating.”

He said he feels certain the message behind “K-I-L-L  FM 100” is clear.

“I’ve had to make a promise to my heavenly Father. Just as much darkness is shown in these books, the light prevails even more. I know that message is loud and clear. I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus that sets all men free. By the same token, I’m not browbeating anyone. There’s no preaching,” he said.

Schreiber has been writing since 1987, when he was in 10th grade at Conway High School. In his English class that year, every student had to write a poem.

“It opened up a floodgate inside me,” he said. “It gave me an outlet to relieve the angst and frustrations that commonly flood a teen’s life. As I learned to play music, those (poems) transformed into song lyrics.”

He performed with a Christian-rock band called Narrow Road from about 1993 to 2003, and he wrote lyrics for the band. In 2000, he published a book of his best song lyrics and poems.

“K-I-L-L FM 100” is Schreiber’s first professionally published work through WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson.

Schreiber and his wife, Sabrina, have two daughters. He is a graduate of Central Baptist College with a degree in religious education. He is also a member of the Christian Motorcyclists Association.

“K-I-L-L FM 100” is available online and in a number of bookstores. Schreiber will hold a booksigning from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 16, at Hastings in Conway on Old Morrilton Highway. To learn more about Teric Darken, visit him on Facebook, MySpace and on his author’s page at Amazon.com.

In summary, he said of the novel, “It’s kind of edgy at first. It starts very bleak, but at the end, I believe there’s a ray of hope. And that hope is not in vain.”