A secret government project goes awry and breeds a giant, genetically modified killer raccoon. This wild science fiction and horror adventure from the mind of Bridgeville’ s Mark Berton may be exactly what you need for an escape from reality. Berton has lived in Pittsburgh his whole life, bouncing around the various suburbs before landing in Bridgeville. He started his career as a newspaper journalist and won several Society of Professional Journalists awards for medical and opinion writing, and then went on to work as an editor at IN Community Magazines for over a decade. These days, he is focused on his fiction writing while also working for the U. S. Postal Service.
In his debut novel,“ Aroughcoune,” Berton tells the tale of a couple of young guys, Zin and Bill, who are on a camping trip in Western Pennsylvania and cross paths with a giant mutant raccoon out for blood.
The cast of characters include Doug Slotter, a mysterious game warden who has tracked the beast from Connecticut; Monique McKesson, a Pennsylvania game warden whose quick thinking and knowledge help guide the boys through their nightmare weekend; and Mingan Jones, a Native American herbalist who brings his native folklore knowledge into the mix.
These characters band together to form an unlikely team facing a series of horrific and mysterious events, and trying to uncover the truth about the origin of the monster and the circumstances of its creation. Behind the twisted and suspenseful plot are themes of race, feminism, and our fascination with conspiracy theories. Nothing is quite what it seems.
Asked about what inspired such an imaginative plot, Berton cites his fascination with urban legends and mysterious creatures, like the Montauk Monster, an unidentifiable creature that washed up on the shores of Montauk, New
York, in 2008. He gained inspiration from the speculation about the identity and origin of the creature, and tried to imagine what type of animal would be useful for a classified military experiment.
“ The raccoon was the perfect animal. They have five fingers and can hold things, they are natural puzzle solvers, and they’ re incredibly agile and smart. The only hurdle to overcome would be size, and selective breeding could solve for that naturally,” says Berton.
The diverse set of characters brings the implausible story to life, and writing from their individual perspectives created a unique challenge for Berton. As a white male, he undertook the complex task of writing from the perspective of both a Native American man and an African American woman, something he knew he had to be careful with.“ The last thing I wanted to do was appropriate culture. The second-to-last thing I wanted to do was pander to stereotypes,” he explains. He approached his characters with sensitivity, sincerity, and a lot of research.
One of Berton’ s biggest inspirations in his writing is his daughter. He wants to help ensure access to books that portray women in science roles. It was also important to have his audience confront uncomfortable truths about racism.
“ I also wanted the truth to be out there that the corrosion of racism can be in any neighborhood, and these negative interactions impact a young person’ s trajectory in life, and people have to work harder to overcome that in order to become who they really are,” says Berton. His approach to writing goes against what most writers are taught in school— eschewing outlines and drafts— preferring to let his stories unravel organically like a ball of string.
“ It’ s challenging in its own right because I’ ll paint my characters or premises into corners and then concoct ways to get out of them.”
Bridgeville author Mark Berton ' s inspiration in writing is his daughter, Juliette, to promote books that portray women in science roles.
Berton credits his voracious reading habit for a lot of his inspiration, and notes the importance of curiosity. He reads everything he can get his hands on, from science and finance to political news, and files items away for future writing projects.
“ The more of the world you can take in and digest, the more you have at your disposal for writing,” he explains.
Berton is already working on the sequel to“ Aroughcoune,” under the working title“ Ghostmother,” and hopes it will be ready for publication by the end of next year. He will revisit the same characters to tell more of their story with a twisted new plot. Fans of horror and suspense will be on the edge of their seats, as he notes that the sequel will be“ much darker.”
“ Aroughcoune” is published by Roswell Publishing, U. K., and is available through amazon. com. The book, and related merchandise, can also be ordered at markberton. com. n
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