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Chandler man debuts his first mystery thriller

BY SRIANTHI PERERA Arizonan Contributor

Chandler resident Steven Patterson’s debut novel is set mostly in Gilbert, where a serial killer is running amok.

The scene is not typical of the town. In fact, it’s macabre and disturbingly similar to another scene law enforcement encountered there a few months ago.

Patterson’s suspense thriller novel, “Not Normal,” also incorporates Mesa, Tempe and Chandler.

“I always thought of Gilbert as a quiet suburband wondered, what if it was terrorized by a serial killer? In my mind Gilbert, seems so friendly and safe, I wanted to exploit that,” he said.“It also has a ‘farm community’ feel to it, and that is where our antagonist is most comfortable.”

Patterson has lived in Arizona since 1982, hence landmarks such as the Hayden Flour Mill in Tempe appear in the book. His father worked as a flour miller there in the 1980s.

The setting also incorporates parts of the Midwest, where Patterson spent his early years: Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. “Not Normal,” the first in the Normal Series, features teenager Anthony Jacobson, who worked hard to hone a pleasing personality.

In the author’s words: “This was no easy task considering his sordid family background and the gossip mill of his native Nebraskan town. His theater was mostly a success. Teachers bragged about his character, his younger brother idolized him, and classmates wanted to be him. However, some saw through his mask, including his mother. They knew Anthony Jacobson was Not Normal.

“Years later, Patricia Hopkins peered from the safety of her home as two detectives stepped across yellow police tape and into the adjacent Gilbert, Arizona suburban bungalow. What greeted them was macabre and disturbing.”

Detectives hunt for the killer and explore the mindset of a psychopath. Patterson uses the genre’s tools of horror, mystery and suspense to fashion his story.

It seems the author began honing his horror skills rather young. “I am a movie buff in general; however, I have always loved horror,” he said.

John Carpenter’s “The Thing” and slasher films are among his favorites. “As a kid, I wanted to see every horror movie that came out; but was too young to do so,” Patterson recalled. “My mother took me to them, even though she hated the genre.”

He read suspense novelists such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Robert McCammon.King’s “The Stand” is his alltime favorite, whileKoontz’s “Whispers” and McCammon’s “Swan Song” follow closely behind.

To write his own novel, Patterson had a general outline in his head before starting.

“I like stories that jump around in time,” he said, citing Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” as an inspiration.

“As a result, I knew chunks of the antagonist’s life. I would think of each as an independentstory; as a result, I could place them randomly throughout the novel. By the end, I wanted it all to come full circle and intertwine,” he said.

Asked for the best part of his story, Patterson said: “It does have a fun reveal I cannot discuss too much. Based on my reviews, readers seem to enjoy the detail I use in each scene.They also enjoy the time jumps and how it eventually is one story. There are many Easter Eggs in it for fans of the genre; finding those are always fun.”

Patterson took a long time to complete his novel. He began writing it in 1997, but stopped after a couple of chapters.

Life kept him busy. During his younger days, he lived in Ahwatukee and attended Corona del Sol High School, where he met his future wife, Christi. He studied electrical engineering at Arizona State University, but graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. He has worked in help desk management throughout his working life.

The couple, who have lived in Chandler since 1999, raised two sons, Joshua and Nathan, who are both in college.

When the sons were younger, sports, particularly baseball, took over the family’s life.

“I was a very active father. I coached my kids in football and baseball. Once they became serious about baseball, I helped coach their club teams,” Patterson said. “My wife Christi wastheteam mom and extremely active with them, too.”

Every weekend was spent at tournaments, he said.

“Our team, “The East Valley Devils” were a very tight group. Our vacations were spent together, often surrounding tournaments in such places as Temecula, Vegas and San Diego. The first person who asked me to sign their copy of Not Normal was Mike Fritz, who runs the East ValleyBaseball leaguein Chandler.”

After the sons received baseball scholarships and left home, home life became quiet. “A big part of my life was over,” he felt.

In 2019, his mother passed unexpectedly.

“She was an amazing woman and the glue that held our family together. As an example of the type of woman she was, on her 80th birthday she went skydiving,” he said. “As a kid, I loved horror movies and novels. She hated them.However, since I was too young to attend or buy them myself, she took me to the movies and purchased the novels.” He dedicated her first novel to her. It only seemed natural, he said.

Two months after her death, Patterson was laid off two days after he had marked his 20th anniversary in his job. “My 20-year celebration was the Friday before,complete with cake,cards and a plaque,” he said.

Depressed, Patterson began delivering food to make ends meet.

“In addition, I picked up my two chapters from 1997 and a year later self-published my first novel on Amazon,” he said.

The author partly credits the pandemic for enabling him to write and complete the story. Writing helped him cope with his depression.

“I was jobless and in a pandemic; consequently, it was my release,” he said. “Only two chapters were completed before the Coronavirus. I also had to

Chandler resident Steven Patterson’s debut novel is set in much of the East Valley.

(Special to the Arizonan)

Chandler alum basks in Super Bowl glory

BY ZACH ALVIRA

Arizonan Sports Editor

It took nearly an hour for Los Angeles Rams players to get into the locker room after Super Bowl LVI. Many players stayed on the field to celebrate with family. Once they did get in the locker room, more celebrating took place as the Vince Lombardi Trophy was passed around.

When it got to Rams third-string quarterback Bryce Perkins, all he could do was stare and take it all in. Getting a chance to hold that trophy had been a dream of his for as long as he can remember.

Now, the Chandler High alum, who accomplished many feats while playing for the Wolves, can call himself a Super Bowl champion.

“It was such an amazing experience,” Perkins said. “Everyone was dancing around and celebrating. When I first grabbed (the trophy), I just thought about how hard people work for this moment. There’s a lot of individual awards we play for but when you start a season you sit down and assess how close you are to winning a Super Bowl.

“And for us to do it and when you grab the trophy you realize that you accomplished something a lot of people didn’t in their lifetime. It’s surreal.”

Perkins’ journey to becoming a Super Bowl champion is one that was met head on by bouts with adversity. It started when he first stepped foot at Chandler as a freshman. His older brother, Paul, played running back for the Wolves. He eventually went on to UCLA and played in the NFL.

With Paul there ahead of him, Perkins knew there was one ultimate goal every year for the Chandler football program: beat Hamilton.

Chandler lost 17 straight games to the Huskies. But when Perkins was handed the reigns, things changed.

Alongside the likes of former Chandler, Arizona State and current New England Patriot wideout N’Keal Harry and future NFL defensive back Chase Lucas, Perkins led the Wolves to a breakthrough victory over Hamilton in 2013. They went on to face the Huskies in the postseason and lost.

But the next year after beating Hamilton again in the regular season, Perkins led Chandler to its first title since 1949. That was the start of the dynasty and run of state titles that just recently came to end this past season. Garretson to this day still credits Perkins for helping change the culture of the program and build it into the powerhouse it is now.

“He was the one who led the way,” Garretson said. “Teams had no answer for him, and he made things look easy. He made things look effortless. All of the great NFL players, when you go back and look at what they did in high school, that’s exactly what they do. Bryce took the lead and led us over a hump we couldn’t get over.”

Perkins earned a scholarship offer to Arizona State after passing for 5,332 yards, rushing for 1,609 and scoring 97 total touchdowns in his high school career. He redshirted his freshman year for the Sun Devils. While figuring to be in a three-way battle for the starting quarterback position the next season, tragedy struck. Perkins collided with then-Sun Devil safety Deion Guinard. He immediately felt pain in his neck and scans revealed he fractured the C4 and C5 vertebrae. Surgery to fix the injury would have almost certainly ended his career. He chose to get a second opinion and let the injury heal. For months he was unable to lift his hands above his head, and he had to wear a neck brace that limited his mobility altogether. But it healed, and he was given a chance to play football again. But after being asked to change positions, he took a chance on himself and enrolled at Arizona Western College in Yuma.

“You truly get to know more about yourself when adversity hits you,” Perkins said. “Everything I’ve done in my life was on purpose and was a big factor into who I am today. All of those experiences, everything I went through, was necessary for me to become the player people see today. I’m grateful for all of it.” Perkins led the Matadors to the junior college national championship game where they fell short to East Mississippi. He caught the eye of many Division I coaches. But one stood out to him: the University of Virginia. He went on to break school records for the Cavaliers, passing for 3,603 yards and 34 touchdowns in his first season. He followed it up with 3,540 passing yards, 769 rushing and had 33 total touchdowns. He led the Cavaliers to the ACC title game along the way, further proving doubters wrong.

“When people outside of our family didn’t have faith in his ability, he had faith in himself,” Perkins’ father Bruce, who played in the NFL, said. “We knew what type of player, what type of quarterback he is. He’s got the Super Bowl ring now.

“It’s really cool to see him considering the path and journey he’s been on.”

Perkins declared for the NFL Draft after his second season at Virginia. He went undrafted but was signed by the Rams as free agent shortly after. All he needed was a chance, and he got it.

He opened the eyes of the coaching staff during preseason games and made the Rams’ official roster. He learned from the quarterbacks in front of him, including Matthew Stafford, who he said gave him a wealth of knowledge and how to further understand the game.

All of that led to the moment on the night of Feb. 13 in the Rams locker room at SoFi Stadium, where he had the Vince Lombardi trophy in his hands as he posed for pictures. It was something he had dreamed about and despite the adversity that stood in his way, he made it a reality.

“I’ve always believed that if your faith and what you believe in is stronger than the doubt, there’s nothing you can’t do,” Perkins said. “I think the only time people’s words and opinions effect you and the outcome of your dream and what you want to do is when you hold any truth to what they’re saying. But if you keep a mindset to what you want and hold that close to your heart, it doesn’t matter what anybody else says.”

Perkins credited his current and former coaches, as well as his family, for what he was able to accomplish. They are a close-knit bunch that always put the goals they wanted to accomplish in front of them.

For Perkins, that was to win a national championship in youth football, a state title in high school and even more in college and the NFL. He accomplished nearly all those goals, even when told by outsiders he couldn’t.

He and his Rams teammates were sized for their championship rings the day after their win over the Bengals. When he gets it, he won’t look at it as his personal accomplishment. It will be for everyone who helped him get to that point and supported him, including his parents and older brother.

“This is all of us. There’s no me without them,” Perkins said. “They’re happy for me and I’m glad they were there to be a part of it. My father and brother came down to the field after the game. It was amazing to have those guys there. They have been with me through everything.”

Los Angeles Rams third-string quarterback Bryce Perkins celebrate alongside teammates after their Super Bowl victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Feb. 13. The Chandler High alum, who suffered bouts with adversity throughout his football career, turned his dream into a reality becoming a Super Bowl champion. (Courtesy Bryce Perkins Instagram)

AUTHOR from page 23

ence to the pandemic.”

Patterson is writing a sequel, set in the paranormal, titled “Para-Normal.” Many smaller characters return for larger parts here.

“I loved those characters so much, even though they didn’t occupy a lot of time in the novel,” he said. “I’m bringing them back to enjoy more terror.”

Steven Patterson’s “Not Normal” is available through amazon.com and is priced at $15.