A devastating car accident. A rare blood type. Courtney Leigh Pahlke found her life put on hold when she was rear-ended by a car traveling 55 miles per hour in 2016. She suffered severe injuries to her neck and back, taking two years to recover, much of it spent on bedrest.

“During that time, I was in a really bad depression because I’ve always been a workaholic, and it was not easy to not be able to get out of bed or do anything for such a long amount of time,” said Pahlke, who serves as an ownership partner at Top Coverage, an automotive restyling shop in Chicago.

A Fresh Idea

Technically, Pahlke had to take what life threw at her laying down during those months of recovery, but she spent her time doing anything but wallowing.

The car accident revealed Pahlke’s blood type to be extremely rare—so rare, in fact, conspiracy theories abound about aliens and unknown origins regarding Rh-negative blood.

Pahlke began researching blood types during the months she spent recovering and discovered there were hardly any books on the subject.

“I thought, ‘Wow! I might actually have a fresh idea,’” she said.

That’s the moment Pahlke decided to put her college minor in creative writing to use, and she began plotting an 11-part pre-apocalyptic science fiction thriller.

Writing the book became a form of therapy throughout Pahlke’s recovery.

“I wanted to make the writing as realistic as possible, so I spent a year researching, which literally saved me from my depression because I kept my mind occupied while everyone else is at work living a normal life,” Pahlke said.

Published Author

The book—titled Life Force Preserve Book 1: Anna and the Resurgent of the Precious Blood—was published in May and is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, and other major retail outlets. The plot centers around characters being followed by agents keeping them safe from an unknown assailant attempting to kill those with the Rh-negative blood line, which the book explains could be used to cure viruses.

The science fiction thriller has received plenty of attention from readers and critics, according to Pahlke.

“I want to make everything really interactive with my readers and people who follow the series,” she says. “It’s very science fiction but it’s also very much a mystery. So far, people seem to be taking a liking to it. Now, I just need to promote it more.”

Pahlke’s full-time job is running Top Coverage, an automotive restyling shop in Chicago, with her brother, Garrett Pahlke. Their father, Henry Pahlke, started the company in 1975 and handed the reins over to the siblings who continue to grow the family business.

Pahlke is responsible for all of the company’s marketing, web design and social media presence, as well as anything else that needs doing.

“The accident was hard because my whole life has been Top Coverage,” Pahlke said. “As a person with an entrepreneurial background, I had to do something to keep me occupied.”

How to Flex

As Pahlke’s body was recovering, she was flexing what she says are her writing muscles.

“I met with another author I’m collaborating with on another project and he was telling me how you have to exercise your writing muscles by writing a little bit every day. If you don’t keep it up you’ll be out of writing shape,” she said. “I have a good stride going and I don’t want to go backward so I’m using that muscle.”

Pahlke flexes that muscle with her creative writing, but also through writing articles for THE SHOP magazine. The experience has helped her realize the therapeutic attributes of writing.

“Anytime I went through something rough in life, I didn’t realize it until now, my way to manage stress is to write and to help me clear my mind. It’s like a healthy serum for me,” she said. “This book is what kept me going when I was at my worst. The dedication in my book is to my readers telling them that when life stresses them out they need something keep your mind going strong and occupied.”

Writing the first Life Force Preserve book also provided Pahlke closure and healing after the accident.

“There was one chapter, after I finished writing it, that there was closure and I started forgiving the girl that caused the accident. It was healing for me,” Pahlke said.

The Beat Goes On

For Pahlke, now it’s all about balancing her writing and running Top Coverage.

“I guess I eat, sleep and dream Top Coverage, and some days I feel like I’ve hit my limit, but I enjoy writing so much because it doesn’t really seem like work. It’s my balance to Top Coverage,” she said.

Pahlke has the next three books in the Life Force Preserve series outlined and planned out.

“It’s so much fun when you know the route you’re going to take,” she said. “It’s such a beautiful thing to create people and have the freedom to make up your own little world.”

The idea came to the Chicago writer while she was on bed rest for nine months

Chicago, Illinois – New Chicago author Courtney Leigh Pahlke is publishing an apocalyptic science fiction series that is based on a startling discovery about her blood type while being hospitalized for serious injuries from a major car crash.

Pahlke was in her hometown on a country road, heading to a family party. While waiting to make a left turn, a distracted driver drove into the back of her Jeep at the projected speed of at least 55 mph.

“My life changed in seconds. One second I’m enjoying the summer breeze and before I know it, I’m hearing and feeling crunching metal.”

Pahlke's life took a different turn that day. Suffering both neck and back injuries, she spent close to two years recovering. Once coming to terms with how long her recovery could take, Pahlke researched diets and foods for decreasing inflammation. A friend suggested the blood type diet. Pahlke didn't know her blood type but found it from hospital notes. When she Googled her blood type, her jaw dropped.

She discovered her blood origin was unknown, which was also a topic linked to many conspiracy theories. For the next six months, Pahlke researched the topic and came up with an idea for her first novel. She took bits and pieces from each of the horrifying conspiracy theories and drafted an outline, deciding one day she'd write the story.

In April 2017, Pahlke had back surgery. Faced with more healing time, she wrote the first book. According to Pahlke, this novel saved her. She said she experienced serious depression by the third month of bed rest and did not know how to make the time pass.

"I was scared and also learning how much your spinal cord links to the movement of your arms and legs. There was a point I felt the electrical jolts from nerve pain down all four limbs. I guess researching and outlining a potential novel kept my mind occupied. It gave me hope. After back surgery, I took all of my bottled up frustration and poured it into a book."

Pahlke says completing the book gave her closure from the accident. She's excited for her first book “Anna and the Resurgent of the Precious Blood” to come out May 13th, 2019, and is ready to start the next character novel in the Life Force Preserve series. Visit Courtneyleighpahlke.com for more information.

Science fiction and medical thriller enthusiasts worldwide can purchase “Anna and the Resurgent of the Precious Blood” on Amazon, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, eBooks2go, Google Play and Kobo.

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Courtney Pahlke graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in psychology and a secondary in creative writing. She worked at the Crisis Center in Iowa city leading to graduation day, where she went back home to Illinois with a plan. Courtney hoped to gain her masters degree in forensic psychology at a school in Chicago, while working for her dad, to pay for school. After the first year working for her dad’s company, she decided not to continue on with school and grow the family business instead.

When Pahlke is not brainstorming the next plot for the Life Force Preserve series, she is growing her father’s empire with her brother Garrett at Top Coverage, taking pictures of food and her city, or taking a crack at a new recipe.