Code
Name: Zeus
1.
What inspired you to write
your book? I am a child of the Depression and Dust Bowl years.
I spent many hours listening to my grandfather and other older relatives and
family friends who were immigrants and children of immigrants. Having traveled internationally
for decades and having friends who are immigrants from six continents, I
believe I offer a unique perspective. Several are neighbors; while others live
in many parts of the country. I believe they are what made this country great;
however, they came over the decades knowing they faced hard work and possible
hardship. I also have strong feelings of how technology has formed
history and is affecting our lives.
2.
What is it about? Code Name: Zeus tells the story of
immigrants and their children and grandchildren who came to this country over a
period of many years. Some were much more successful than others, but virtually
all found a life better than they left behind. My characters become
discontented with the trend of the economics and politics of the country. They
prepare for a future disaster, which eventually happens. A small number of
people survive because of their preparations, heavily dependent on technology,
rather than fail as in Nevil Shute’s On the Beach (1957) and
Mordecai Roshwald’s Level 7(1959) where all human life perishes.
3.
What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book?
An engineer who worked for me years ago had a sign on his phone: “Life:
Problem, solution, new problem.” I want my readers to realize there is no
utopia. Life has always been a struggle and it will always be. Those who attack
the problems of life head on lead more satisfactory and productive lives than
those who do not. I have been to at least a dozen Socialist and four Communist
countries. Those who believe Socialism and Communism provide the path to a
successful future only need follow the trash heaps of history, e.g. the old
USSR or present day Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil. Worse yet: North Korea.
4.
What advice do you have for writers?
Having not written fiction before, other than a children’s book I have
never published, I was concerned about how to discipline myself. Over the two
year period I wrote Code Name: Zeus, I asked writers I know how
they approached the challenge. Everyone had a different process. My approach
was to use my sometimes insomnia to my advantage. Being a fairly
unorganized person, I used an approach I learned from Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
(1974). Bob wrote a couple of technical manuals for an engineering department I
managed as a contract tech writer years before he completed his book. He always
kept his material organized. This approach, especially when writing fiction,
allows the mind to operate freely. I always updated my master copy each time I
wrote something new. This allowed me to write chapters of the story from
different time periods as ideas for the story came to mind. The
biggest problem when covering over a 100-year period is getting the chronology
correct.
5.
Where do you think the book
publishing industry is heading? Being a new writer, I don’t have much experience
with the publishing world. That being said, I think it is becoming a totally
bifurcated market: Print vs. electronic. As time goes on, more and
more books sold will be digital copies. Having been associated with high
technology most of my life, I am beginning to feel like a Latter Day Luddite;
technology is causing life to go out of control. There is too much information
and it is difficult to know the difference between fact and fiction.
Information is increasing exponentially while the human brain is incapable of
expanding on even a linear basis. Furthermore, I still like holding a book
because I already spend too much time on the computer and my smart phone.
6.
What challenges did you have in
writing your book? Staying organized and controlling my characters was
a challenge for me. They seemed to take on a life of their own and sometimes
they created the need for new characters. I knew fairly well the beginning and
the ending of my story from day one, even though I originally set out to write
a few short stories. The other problem, as I mention above, is keeping the
chronology of the story.
7.
If people can only buy one book
this month, why should it be yours? People with a firsthand
awareness of the history of the first half of the 20th century,
particularly from a conservative perspective, are rapidly disappearing. I find
even my children, who were mostly educated during the last 25 years of the 20th century,
are not aware of much of the history of the first half of the 20th century.
They are very well educated but know little of the Depression, the two World
Wars, and for that matter, the Korean War. I often reference two books written
by John Barry, The Rising Tide (1998) and The Great
Influenza (2004) as examples of how deficient our history education
system is. Also, Amity Shlaes’ The Forgotten Man (2007) and Doris
Kearns Goodwin’s No Ordinary Time (1994) show
counter-perspectives of the first half of the 20th century. I
believe I offer a fictional novel connected to a thread of history.
For more
information, please see: http://www.codenamezeusxlibris.com/.
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