Former Aliso Viejo resident and journalist Shannon Capps is ‘turning the camera around’ for a scathing look at the TV news business. His new novel, Runaway Train, the story of a young reporter caught in a web of corruption, hit bookshelves October 5th.
“If Walter Cronkite was alive today,” Capps, who writes under the name S.W. Capps, says, “he’d have serious questions: ‘Who’s telling the truth?’; ‘What happened to unbiased reporting?’; and ‘When did the news business run off the rails?’”
Capps’ novel comes on the heels of a recent Gallup poll saying that only 9 percent of Americans “trust the media a great deal”, while 33 percent “don’t trust them at all”.
Runaway Train, published by D.X. Varos, Ltd. in Denver, Colorado, explains how we got to this point. Set in 1987, shortly after the FCC killed the Fairness Doctrine, it is the story of a wary journalist. No longer forced to report news in an “honest, equitable” manner, Bill Stacy (whose name is as fake as the stories he covers) struggles to confront the sinister forces behind the station he works for.
“I don’t love the term ‘fake news’,” Capps, 57, says, “but today’s broadcast press corps has certainly earned the moniker. This book is a pull-no-punches, honest look at where it all began.”
And Capps would know. Prior to writing Runaway Train, he worked as a reporter for KXII-TV Channel 12, the CBS affiliate in Ardmore, Oklahoma, where in 1989, he was nominated for an Oklahoma Broadcasters Award. Since leaving the world of television news, he has spent much of his time on two wheels, exploring the country via motorcycle and writing about it. His features have appeared in Rider, RoadBike, and H.O.G. magazines.
“His new book is part coming-of-age tale, part whodunit,” publisher Daniel Willis says. “And though it’s clearly a work of fiction, it allows readers a rare look behind the TV news curtain.”
Early reviews have been positive, with critics calling it “a solid, fast-paced action piece…compelling on many different levels, from social commentary to intrigue (Midwest Book Review).”
Runaway Train is Capps’ second work of fiction. His first, Salmon Run, was released in 2007. He and his family lived in Aliso Viejo from 1993 to 1999, before moving to the Pacific Northwest to pursue a full-time writing career. He makes himself available (via video conference, phone, or in-person) to book clubs that read his novels.
“My goal is to entertain readers,” Capps says, “but if I can open a few eyes along the way, all the better. I think Runaway Train will do that.”
Runaway Train is available in paperback and eBook at Amazon.com, DXVaros.com, and selected bookstores. For more details, readers can also visit Capps’ Web site (swcapps.com).
###
AUTHOR BIO
S.W. Capps is a former TV news reporter. Since leaving the world of glitzy sets and pompous anchors, he’s spent much of his time on two wheels, exploring the country via motorcycle and writing about it. His features have appeared in Rider, RoadBike, and H.O.G. magazines. He lives with his wife and ‘investigative’ dog in the Pacific Northwest, currently at work on a memoir.
SYNOPSIS
- Reagan is in the White House. ‘Black Monday’ decimates Wall Street. And lawmakers kill the ‘Fairness Doctrine’, allowing broadcasters to present news without “honest and equitable” coverage restrictions.
In the midst of it all, Bill Stacy, fresh out of Journalism school, arrives at Channel 8 in Avalon, Oklahoma. His new boss foregoes the interview, handing him a camera, microphone, and brutal first-day assignment—an armed madman is shooting people at the local supermarket.
“Welcome to TV news!”
In the beginning, he’s seduced by the excitement and fame. But over time, he discovers the cutthroat world behind the glamorous newscasts. The infighting. The lies.
But is Channel 8 any worse than its media counterparts? It’s a question he and his coworkers—Katie Powers, a beautiful reporter who longs to network-anchor; Larry Toole, a power-hungry news director desperate for an exclusive; Dick Wilhelm, a money-grubbing owner with a host of enemies; and Julius Candelle, a talented cameraman with dreams of joining Jacques Cousteau—are forced to ask themselves.
As fires rage across Texoma, Stacy flashes from the seen to the unseen, his gut-wrenching journey one of exposition and self-discovery. Braving threats from crooked cops, deranged Klansmen, and an unknown killer, he searches tirelessly for the truth.
But is he ready for what he finds?
