Newton author releases second novel ‘The Death Firm’

After working on her first novel for several years, Newton author Lisa M. Lucero took no time at all jumping into her second piece.

Lucero, aka Lisa Shapiro, published her novel "Waves Crashing" as an eBook in the spring of 2019 but she was already looking ahead to her next adventure. She completed the writing on "The Death Firm" in less than a year, completing it in 2019.

“I am ecstatic about it, but I feel a bit overwhelmed by the experience. Writing a novel itself takes a significant amount of time, patience and immense effort,” Lucero said.

But writing the novel was only one step in the process. As a lesser known author, Lucero was busy helping market the book and getting her name out to the public. She has worked to design her own website, advertising, bookmarks, flyers and business cards. As Lucero said, many people may not be aware how much authors have to work to market their own material.

Lucero was getting the word out about “Death Firm” while at the same time continuing to market “Waves Crashing,” which was officially released in paperback this summer.

“I never realized how much organizing and planning is involved. It has been especially challenging because both books came out in print back-to-back. I had to market two books at the same time,” Lucero said.

Lucero is also proud to have put her design skills to work helping design the cover for “Death Firm.” The new novel allowed Lucero to use her “overdeveloped imagination” as she described it. She created a new world for her book for readers to dive into and explore.

“I have always enjoyed watching old sci-fi movies and television shows, reading some fantasy and sci-fi books, as well,” Lucero said. “Two of my favorite books of all time are ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.’”

She has been considering writing a sci-fi novel for several years but she wanted to be sure to create a world that made sense to readers. It is a challenge to make this new unusual world sound believable.

“The content of it is very exciting though. Many people just want to escape reality and take a trip into the unknown,” Lucero said.

The book is set in the future and described it as Terminator meets Frankenstein. Death Firms are part animal, part robot and part human created by the military to help protect U.S. borders and in combat situations. They have escaped the military compound in Arizona and attack anything and anyone that tries to stop them. It is up to a librarian to study these creatures and figure out a way to kill Death Firms.

“What makes this story so strange is that it involves many things that are happening this year. I wrote the entire book last year in less than a year,” Lucero said. “I started writing this novel during a dark period in my life. I had just lost my mother, so some of the story is about loss, pain and love.”

“The Death Firm” and “Waves Crashing” are available to purchase online on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, eBay as well as other book sale websites. Lucero plans to make them available inside bookstores by doing book signings. Unfortunately because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many stores are not hosting signings at this time.

Lucero is already working on her next novel, a sequel to her second book called “The Re-creation of the Death Firm.” Her goal is to finish writing the next novel by the end of next year.

“With all that has happened this year, finding inspiration hasn’t been difficult at all,” Lucero said.

With each novel she writes, Lucero finds it gets much easier to write the next. She has found a process that works for her, learning the best way to keep notes and organize the story’s structure and how much preparation is needed to meet each deadline.

Lucero has also been furthering her education by watching writing classes on masterclass.com.

“If anyone is considering writing a novel, I highly recommend it. I was excited to find out that many of my favorite authors used some of the same techniques as me,” Lucero said.

To find out more about Lucero's novels and future projects, visit her website at lisamlucero.com or visit her Facebook page.

Contact Pam Pratt at
641-792-3121 ext. 6530 or pampratt@newtondailynews.com