About Me
Chas (C.B.) Shutt
Chas (C.B.) Shutt has been writing fiction for decades. Originally from the Kansas City area, he grew up in rural northeast Kansas. After completing his medical training and residency at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, he practiced as a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist for over three decades.
His other passion besides the practice of medicine was creative writing, and he took courses at the University of Wisconsin and UW Writers’ Institute. He has attended numerous workshops, courses, and writer’s events across the country for the past thirty years. He has won “The Next Elmore Leonard” writing competition at the UW Writers’ Institute, and his most recent novel manuscript was selected as a Finalist for the Claymore Award through Killer Nashville.
In his medical career, Chas chose to practice obstetrics and women’s health in various places across the United States, having delivered babies in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, the most eastern and western locations of the country, and many states in between. With that, he experienced numerous locales, regional cultures, peoples, and thousands of stories, all the while writing novel manuscripts and honing his craft of writing.
Chas writes action and adventure themed thrillers, where he incorporates his love of history and science in the stories. He also writes novels of domestic suspense with an element of romance. All of his novels involve male and female protagonists, and relationships, their interactions, and emotions being at the core of each novel. Whether the stories take place in exotic locales, or small, rural towns in America, the hearts of characters are the “heart” of the story.
He is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Romance Writers of America. Over the years, through these organizations he has engaged with and learned from many bestselling authors of mysteries, thrillers, and suspense.
His latest location of practice brought him back to Wisconsin, allowing him more time to work with his passion of writing and pursuit of publication through larger publishing houses. He currently resides in Door County, Wisconsin, and has recently retired from the practice of medicine to write full time.
When not involved with medicine and writing, Chas loves to travel, explore, learn new places, and about people who live there. Regardless whether a vibrant city and its unique offerings, or hiking, kayaking, traversing through a natural habitat—there is “a story ready to come to life” in there.
My Writing Journey
I have always been “a storyteller”, both verbally and the written word. I’ve been writing since early childhood (some in crayon my mother probably still has!) and an avid reader of both fiction and nonfiction. As a young child, I would sit for hours in front of a bookcase and read the Encyclopedia Britannica and Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia, volume by volume, A through Z.
I know—weird. I have always possessed the love of learning. But I wasn’t bound by books—I was outside adventuring and getting into trouble as most young boys do.
The end result: Stories. Lots of stories, inspired by unlimited imagination, weaving facts with fantasy. However, in college my affinity for the biological sciences fueled a drive to become a doctor and helping people. And my fascination with reproductive biology and how a tiny embryo developed into a human and all the amazing things we can do, inspired me to become an obstetrician and gynecologist. A calling and career I loved and embraced for several decades.
All the while, though, I wrote stories. A creative balance to the technical and analytical side of my profession. Practicing medicine is as much an art as it is science. In the “art of medicine”, I heard thousands of stories. I listened. We all have “a story”. Incredible, inspiring stories.
Twenty years ago, I had the privilege of knowing and learning from the late Michael Palmer, also a physician, and a master of the medical thriller. Michael was a New York Times and international bestselling author. I not only learned a great deal from Michael, but also was inspired by his passion of people and storytelling.
Through him, I met Tess Gerritsen, also a physician. Tess is a phenomenal, talented writer of thrillers and suspense. She is a national and international bestselling and award-winning author whose work has inspired a television series and adapted to the screen. If you haven’t read her yet, check out her work, from her earliest books to the most recent.
Years ago, Michael and Tess taught fiction writing for physicians on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I was hooked. Michael encouraged me to write a medical thriller, and I was learning the craft from the best. Since then, I have had the privilege of learning and receiving feedback on my writing from many incredible, accomplished bestselling authors over the years. I attend conferences and writer events throughout the year, such as Thrillerfest in New York, and have made many amazing connections.
But practicing medicine full time was extremely demanding and time consuming, including delivering babies at two a.m.! I wrote, but pursuing my dream to have my books published through the traditional, larger publishing houses had to wait a while. That route requires connecting with the right literary agent for your work and who knows the industry well. It is a process! A process I am fully engaged in pursuing and accomplishing now.
The old adage was: “Write what you know.” But for me—it is “write what you love.”
I love thrillers, suspense, history, science, adventure, and the uniqueness of various places. I also love people and relationships. Our psychology and our hearts. What people do, and often, what they shouldn’t have done! The “why’s” and the reasons—are major components of the story.
So—I write thriller and suspense novels that incorporate many of these elements.
I am intrigued by the complexities of relationships—and I love a little romance!
I have written several thrillers which are more action/adventure, fast-paced, with exotic locations. There are also several grounded near-future science elements in two of them. But they each involve male and female main characters and the intricacies of relationship, emotions, trust and connections.
Many of my advance readers felt I should expand on that. I did, and truly enjoyed it. I describe my latest completed novel manuscript as a Harlan Coben-style domestic suspense meets a Nicholas Sparks small town love story. I am writing another of that melding of equal part suspense novel and love story.
My genre is thrillers and suspense—with the romantic element. Past secrets resurface, relatable characters, fast pacing, and unexpected twists till the end.
I hope you will join me as I push to the finish line for my books to find their best published homes! This website will be a center hub of all that is new and what’s happening.