(By Beatrice Richardson-Herald/Review) Patrick Vaughn, 29, presents his first novel "The Cure for the Curse”, a story about vampires. The 1995 graduate Buena High School will be signing his books today at the B. Dalton bookstore in the Mall at Sierra Vista. Vaughn is one of approximately 14 other local authors presenting their work today.

Buena High grad to sign copies of his first novel

By Cindy Skalsky

Herald/Review

SIERRA VISTA — Pat Vaughn hadn’t set foot in Buena High School since he graduated in 1995.

That is until Friday, when he returned as a published author and guest speaker in Mary Kohn’s 10th-grade English class.

“I’m supposed to talk about my life as a writer,” he said, somewhat bemused. “I’ve still got a day job.”

Vaughn, a first-time novelist who grew up in Sierra Vista, will join 13 other “local” writers for a book signing from 1 to 4 p.m. today at B. Dalton in the Mall at Sierra Vista. The books available range from westerns, to memoirs to thrillers.

“The Cure for the Curse,” is Vaughn’s expansion on the type of writing he enjoyed back in high school. He calls it a paranormal thriller, or contemporary fantasy.

“It’s set in the present time,” he said, “but there’s supernatural stuff going on under the radar.”

The plot involves a teenage girl whose parents happen to be vampires — but haven’t told her that she is one, too. They fight against this “curse,” but are forced to move from place to place when “bad things happen.” The book picks up when the family arrives in a small desert town in Southeast Arizona.

“It’s not called Sierra Vista,” Vaughn said, “but it might as well be.”

Vaughn believes the book appeals to high schoolers who will identify with the two protagonists, the teen girl and the teen boy she meets upon landing in not-Sierra-Vista.

“It’s not a horror book. I’m not trying to frighten people. I want readers to get concerned about the plight of these people,” he said.

Vaughn’s parents and three of his four sisters still reside in Sierra Vista — he’s lived in Phoenix since 2001 — and his own plight regarding a career took a turn when his parents gave him an ultimatum after he dropped out of Cochise College.

Writing had been — and would continue to be — a hobby. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” said the genial, well-spoken writer, whose next move was to enroll at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. “I sat down and read the course catalogue, hoping something would jump out at me.”

Although nothing knocked him over, he did wind up with a bachelor of science degree in electronic media, with a focus in broadcast journalism.

“They told me I had a good voice and I should go into radio,” Vaughn said.

So he did.

While a student, Vaughn had interned at the local National Public Radio station and soon found a position at a commercial outlet in Flagstaff that operated mutiple formats. He says he very much enjoyed being paid to listen to Diamondback games as well as his favorite music — inserting news breaks, transitions or being silly (Elvis sightings in Flag) during pre-programmed shows.

But “success” was his undoing. After a promotion to drive time DJ on the pop station, a requirement of the new job involved broadcasting live from community events — known in the radio biz as a “remote.”

“I’m not great at extemporaneous,” Vaughn said. “My personality isn’t geared that way. In the studio I would write down every single word I’d say on the air. At the remotes, people would come at me and I’d want to move away. I thought I’d get used to it, but I didn’t.”

Vaughn admits he wasn’t a good journalist either, because he didn’t like having to ask people questions.

It’s no wonder the pressure built until one day in 2000 he up and quit.

“On the air, it’s like a performance, but doing it in real life was unpleasant,” he said.

He decided to try Phoenix, where there might be more opportunities for — he wasn’t sure.

But all the while he had been — and continued to — write.

“I like to focus on telling a story, creating characters that have little bits of me in them,” Vaughn said. “There’s nothing I enjoy more than writing.”

After landing a job as media specialist with the Foundation for Blind Children in Phoenix — where he remains employed — Vaughn eventually completed his book in 2003, then realized he had no idea how to go about getting it published.

Multiple rejections from agents and publishers led him to hire an editor.

“I’m not sure if I want readers to know that my original manuscript was 71,000 words and the published book is 54,000,” the author volunteered.

He regards the three-month process of working electronically with his editor as a worthwhile investment.

“I learned a lot. And after all those rejections I was willing to try anything,” said Vaughn, who is hard at work on the sequel to “The Cure for the Curse.”

Today is not only his first book signing, but it will mark the first time he meets his publisher, Lee Emory, of Treble Heart Books, based in Sierra Vista. “The day I got the contract was the most wonderful day,” Vaughn said. “Then when the galleys came, I wanted to make so many changes. I’ve got this problem. I always think I can do better.”

herald/review reporter Cindy Skalsky can be reached at 515-4611 or by e-mail at cindy.skalsky@svherald.com.