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THE CHANDLER ARIZONAN | WWW.CHANDLERNEWS.COM | MARCH 20, 2022
Chandler author addresses human trafficking BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
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.D. Lawrence says human trafficking can happen anywhere. “We have a friend whose daughter got kind of caught up in it,” Lawrence said from his South Chandler home. “It got me thinking that this is really an awful thing, and you don’t see it spoken about a lot. It’s bad in the U.S., and even worse worldwide.” Human trafficking plays a major role in Lawrence’s first self-published novel, “An Angel and a One-Armed Man.” The man with the missing limb is private detective Lefty Bruder and Lawrence plans to write more stories featuring him. Stating that human trafficking “is a lot more local than people think,” Lawrence said he attended an event with the head of a trafficking task force with the Phoenix Police Department and learned that about 60 percent of prostitutes there are products of the foster system or otherwise “lost in the system.” The issue has become so important to Lawrence he says he will donate half of his profits from sales of his book to help combat the problem. The first book is set in St. Louis, where Lawrence spent a lot of time. It ends
Chandler author B.D. Lawrence has based his novel on human trafficking, a problem he says is more widespread in the Valley than people realize. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)
with a lead that sets up the second novel to be set in the Phoenix area. Writing more Lefty Bruder novels as well as other stories is Lawrence’s plan to keep busy once he retires from a career as a software architect for 3M. That’s not a likely path for someone who says English was his worst subject in high school and college. “I didn’t really care for writing that much,” he said. “One day … I was sitting in this programming class and I just thought of a story, a vigilante story if you will. I thought, you know I can probably write something like that. So I just got into writing and found I really like it.” He joined an online writing group to learn the craft and began writing short stories. He has published about 30 of them. That led him to earn a master’s degree in English and started teaching writing and English at the junior college level. Lawrence said he found writing a novel is half the battle. The other half is marketing it and getting it out to where readers can find it. “I wish it was write a book, put it out there and it sells itself,” Lawrence said. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. You need time and money for that as well.” Lawrence said growing up he was drawn to super heroes. His favorite was
Batman, so he’s always been a fan of vigilante justice. That’s how he settled on a private detective for his main character. Lefty Bruber is a former mixed-martial arts fighter who loses his arm investigating some serial killings. Lawrence said he got the idea for the character from a relationship with a friend. “I had a friend who only had one leg, and had a prosthetic leg, and in observing him and seeing how it didn’t really impact his life that much, I thought, ‘That’s interesting,’” Lawrence said. He said he also likes that it gives his character an element of surprise because others would likely underestimate him. Lawrence said he plans to continue to highlight human trafficking in future books. And he said his own faith journey will play a role in his novels. “I think Hollywood glorifies, in some cases, prostitution and what not, and I’d rather take the more realistic approach that shows most of those girls are not there by choice.”
Check it out
Read Lefty Bruber’s origin story and/ or a sample of his first book for free at the author’s website, bdlawrence.com.
Annual Corvette show coming to downtown Chandler ARIZONAN NEWS STAFF
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he Corvette Club of Arizona will host its free annual Corvettes in the Park Car Show 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. April 3 in A.J. Chandler Park on S. Arizona Avenue in downtown Chandler to benefit the Packages From Home nonprofit. The group’s Chevys in the Park show drew 140 vehicles and raised $2,200
and it’s hoping to break those records with the spring Corvette event. The Corvette Club of Arizona encourages all Corvette owners in the area to come out and display their cars. Last year’s show displayed over 100 gleaming Vettes, The club donates donate $10 from every car registration to “Packages from Home” and has raised over $25,000 over the course of its previous 11 shows.
Packages from Home provides personal care and support items to military personnel stationed abroad and representatives will be on the premises to discuss the program while children and adults will have a chance to decorate the boxes. “Corvettes in the Park” is a “participant’s choice” judged show with awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each generation (C1-C8). Presentation of Awards
will begin at 1:45pm. Pre-registration for the show is $35 and the form must be received by March 28. Day-of-show registration is $40 from 8:30-9:30 a.m., based on space availability. Registration forms and additional information are available on the website: Showcorvetteclubofarizona.com, or by contacting Ron Gliot @ 779 777 0857.
