Former KPLU and NPR reporter Steve Krueger will be the speaker for the Plateau Area Writers quarterly meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. June 8th at the Enumclaw KeyBank building, 1212 Cole St.

Ten years ago, Krueger was holding down the business and labor beat when, in the course of monitoring the events and issues crossing his desk, he got early word of the impending trade meeting. He had a hunch that the World Trade Organization would bring a lot more with it than the average convention. He led a team of KPLU reporters in two weeks of intensive coverage both of the trade talks and the riots they sparked.

Now Krueger is finishing a political action trilogy. The first book will be sent out to Canadian publishers and agents soon. The second and third books are written in first draft format.

The story lines are closely drawn from the headlines.

“I’ve actually had to rewrite substantial parts of the story over the past five years as events overran the plot line, and the details are actually almost always based on reality,” Krueger said in information supplied by PAWA. “I’ve done a lot of research with Canadian and American military officers I came to know while working at KPLU, and they’ve helped create some pretty interesting scenarios.”

The story takes place in 2014. The Islamic Middle East has been unified under a self-proclaimed Caliph who leads his new oil mega state into a nuclear war with Israel. Jerusalem’s secret war-fighting strategy, called the Masada Plan, results in the destruction of the oil fields and shipping facilities, as well as the major cities, of the Persian Gulf. A war lasting less than three hours results in the destruction of 35 percent of the world’s conventional oil reserves…as well as the annihilation of the peoples of Abraham and Ibrahim.

Krueger will talk about the importance of doing deep research to support the adage “you should write what you know.”

“I knew a lot about the issues that make up the novel but in order to tell an authentic story I had to back up that understanding with hundreds of separate research elements,” he noted. “A reporter, after all, is only an expert at reporting…I never served in the military, never captained a submarine, never negotiated an international energy agreement, or lived in France.” 

According to PAWA event organizers, attendees will learn about letting a story grow until it attains a life of its own and hear about using fiction to make a real point. 

“That’s something this book tries to do,” Krueger said. “To explore how fear can drive leaders into making tragically bad decisions.”

For information, visit www.plateauareawriters.org or e-mail pawainfo@comcast.net.