Author and radiological emergency expert John Darrin interviewed

John Darrin, radiological emergency consultant and author, talks to the ITW about his work in Homeland Security, his new book Screenshot, and his life as a full-time vagabond living in an RV.

[ClickPress, Sat Apr 04 2009] The International Thriller Writers recently interviewed John Darrin, a consultant on radiological emergency preparedness, and the author of the techno-thriller Screenshot. Darrin talked about his work in Homeland Security, his new book, and his life as a full-time vagabond living in an RV.

Responding to their questions, Darrin tells about his work with local, state, and Federal government agencies in planning for the safety of responders to radiological emergencies such as terrorist attacks. “My career has led me all over the world,” he said. “I gravitated to homeland security when it became one of the primary radiation safety concerns.”

As the host and moderator of a web site designed to provide news, training and information for emergency responders to radiological emergencies , www.radsafeinfo.com, he fills a gap that he sees in the preparedness for a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb explosion. Citing his years of working with emergency responders at all levels, he believes the resources and training for the various emergency workers who will be needed to respond and recover is inadequate, particularly for those “second responders” who will be drafted from their jobs as bus drivers and heavy equipment operators and utility workers and thrust into a potentially hazardous environment.

His qualifications include “some very unusual projects, like the first decommissioning of a radiological research laboratory and several nuclear reactors, the recovery after the Three Mile Island accident, and even on the treatment of nuclear weapons waste in China.”

Darrin’s wife died of Mad Cow Disease in 2007, and he now lives full-time in a surprisingly luxurious recreational vehicle, traveling for his work, his writing, and for the adventure. He journals about the trip on one of his several blogs, http://thegoplacesmeetpeopledothingstour.blogspot.com/. He is currently in Tucson, AZ for the launch of his new book, Screenshot, a techno-thriller featuring pay-per-view Internet assassinations, a crazed and obsessive scientist who is one of the good guys, a beautiful rogue FBI computer geek, and a free-lance writer clearly unequipped to deal with it all.

Darrin will be making book signing and speaking appearances in Tucson, Phoenix, and San Diego in the coming weeks. Full tour and event information is available on his web site, www.johndarrin.com.

ITW (http://www.thrillerwriters.org/) is a writer’s association including many of the world’s top-selling authors. The newsletter, The Big Thrill, is distributed to 10,000 subscribers around the world. The full transcript is available at their website at www.tinyurl.com/itw-darrin.