Author Spotlight: Ian Tregillis

Give a man a chance to earn some University of Minnesota degrees and write a doctoral dissertation drenched in computational astrophysics, and what does he do with it? If he’s Ian Tregillis, our guest today at the Gazalapalooza Author Spotlight, he'll get repurposed to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Then, when not grappling with matters nuclear at LANL, he’ll at least write the acclaimed Milkweed Triptych trilogy, contribute meaningfully to the wildly popular and long-lived George R.R. Martin Wild Cards series, and thereafter publish his new and remarkable novel Something More Than Night, featuring among countless wonders the very Voice of God.

That’s an impressive authorial resume for anybody, including (or perhaps especially) a guy who spent a whole bunch of his younger years fixated on something called "radio galaxies." Yeah, we don’t know what they are, either.

In conjunction with the release today of Something More Than Night, Gazalapalooza decided to track Tregillis down and encourage him to embrace the challenge of our toasty Author Spotlight. To his enduring credit, it wasn’t difficult to convince Tregillis to give the Spotlight a go. Rather, it seemed he relished the opportunity to plant himself on our austere wooden chair, under our rows of white hot klieg lights, and get interrogated. A brave physicist, indeed. So without further ado, let’s see where Tregillis’ bravery gets him.

Gazala:    In my omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the one fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and tell why you choose them.

Tregillis:    When I imagine myself stranded on a desert island for the rest of my life, I wonder how I could keep myself from going mad with loneliness and boredom. So I'd try to choose reading that would comfort my troubled soul.

My nonfiction book would be, well, not strictly a book per se, but you could think of it as a real-life epistolary novel. Last Christmas, my girlfriend (now fiancée) gave me a collection of all of our correspondence stretching over the decades. (We've known each other for over 20 years.) I would probably read it over and over until the binding fell apart and I knew every word by heart.

I have two fiction series that I reread every so often. Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber (Corwin's Chronicles: Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, and The Courts of Chaos), and Steven Gould's Jumper books: Jumper, Reflex, and the new Impulse. If I could score an omnibus of either one of those series, that would be my choice for my fiction book. (Particularly if the Gould omnibus contained the forthcoming Exo, which I am dying to read.)

A bit of a cheat, perhaps, but either omnibus would serve me well and stave off the exile-induced madness just a bit longer.

Gazala:    Your new novel is an excellent and gripping thriller, titled Something More Than Night. Inspired by the work of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Something More Than Night is a noir detective story starring fallen angels, the heavenly choir, nightclub stigmatics, dirty priests, swell dames, femmes fatales, and the Voice of God. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us a bit about Something More Than Night, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader.

Tregillis:    Thank you for the kind words about Something More Than Night. It's a book that I wrote entirely for myself, purely for the fun of it, and I hope that fun comes across to readers. The project was something that I had wanted to tackle for years and years (since before I started writing), and it kept itching at the back of my mind throughout the course of writing my previous trilogy. I decided that if I was going to write something for my own enjoyment, I should try to stretch and challenge myself with it. I'm a big believer in writing against obstacles, because it makes me a better writer, and sometimes the result is something I couldn't predict. Something More Than Night was one of those projects.

Also, as a minor footnote, it explains the meaning and purpose of the universe. So there's that, too.

Gazala:    What are books for?

Tregillis:    When asked why she never parted with the books she had read, a friend of mine said something very wise. "I like having large bookshelves," she said, "because they show me where my mind has been."

That was about 15 years ago, and it has always stuck with me. And I think it gets right to the heart of your question. Books are magical objects that turn us into different people by taking our minds on paths we couldn't find on our own. This is true of fiction and nonfiction, of poetry and prose. Sometimes the change wrought upon us is small but worthwhile (we know more than we did about the history of salt, we suddenly understand just how unpleasant the life of a Victorian servant could be), sometimes it's profound (the first time we read Raymond Chandler or Roger Zelazny and realize, holy cow, that is how you write a sentence), sometimes it's sheer joy (when we visit Terry Pratchett's Discworld).

Gazala:    W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?

Tregillis:    Well, far be it from me to disagree with Somerset Maugham on a question of writing. But the truth is that I tend to agree. I've discovered that even though my approach to writing each novel is the same, the experience and process of writing differs each and every time. And, worse yet, I've learned (to my everlasting dismay) that having written one book doesn't actually teach me how to write the next book. What I like to tell people is that writing a book teaches me how not to write that particular book.

Actually, you know what? I do disagree a little bit. Because we do know one of those three universal rules for writing a novel. The first rule of writing a novel is this, and it holds for everybody: Sit down and do the damn work, because that novel won't write itself.

The other two rules are up for grabs. Everybody writes differently, so what might be a rule for me ("The purpose of the first draft is to put words on paper so that the real writing, the rewriting, can happen."), might not be a rule for you.

Gazala:    Some disgruntled malcontent keeps beating on my door, bellowing nonsense about unfathomable heavenly crises and a missing ram's horn. I best go humor her until the cops arrive. Ask yourself a question, and answer it.

Tregillis: Q: Ian, do you ever feel the need to pinch yourself?

A:    Why yes, Other Ian, as a matter of fact I certainly do. When a box of author's copies arrives on my doorstep, or when I receive an email from a reader, or when I see something I wrote on a bookstore shelf, or when I'm asked to sign one of my books, or when I find myself casually referring to "one of my books." I took up writing because it was something I enjoyed, but only in my most secret dreams did I imagine that I might someday become a published novelist. I have been incredibly lucky, and I won't let myself forget it.

No need to get so mushy about it, Ian.

Shut up, Other Ian. I can get to you when you're asleep.

Our guest’s estimable erudition is not just entertaining. It’s enlightening. And that’s not to mention the irresistible breadcrumb about his new book Tregillis so casually drops. Did you pay attention? Tregillis says Something More Than Night "explains the meaning and purpose of the universe." Wow. Clearly, this is critical information all of us must know. Each of us can obtain it via Amazon.com, with a mere click right here.

Author Spotlight: Mike Maden

Day and night, CIA drones armed with missiles scour Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan, hunting terrorists. Pakistan is manufacturing its own homegrown military drones for domestic deployment, even as its own people protest American drone strikes on Pakistani soil. China reports glowing test results for its first stealth combat drone. A recent Freedom of Information Act lawsuit reveals federal agencies operate drone missions for a variety of state and local agencies in the U.S. CNN, the Associated Press and News Corporation use drones to shoot video of natural disasters. Drones broadcast Australian sporting events, and capture intimate shots of unsuspecting wildlife doing the things wildlife does when nobody’s watching. In Europe, the smarter celebrity now commonly scans the skies for drones dispatched by paparazzi to document his inevitable faux-pas. The days when American celebrities will be pursued the same way are coming, very soon.

Why should governments, corporations and journalists have all the fun? Right this moment for a mere $64.99 plus S+H, you can order the “Micro Drone 2.0.” Imagine, your very own diminutive technological wonder carrying a camera with both still photography and motion video functionalities, sporting a swiveling lens to surreptitiously capture the juiciest angles of sights otherwise invisible to you. After all, that one guy down the street seems pretty suspicious, so why not fly your little robot around his windows and see what dirty secrets a mere twist of your joystick can expose. Just make sure you keep your blinds drawn tight—he might have a drone of his own.

Disturbing.

Our guest for this edition of the Author Spotlight is Mike Maden, author of the new UAV-centric techno-thriller titled, simply and fittingly, Drone. Maden earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California (Davis), focusing on the interaction among conflict, technology and international relations. He combined his laudable academic achievements with jobs as a campus lecturer, political consultant and media commentator to parlay his work into Drone, a timely and riveting novel exploring the proliferation of modern unmanned aerial warfare.

How good a book is Drone? Clive Cussler and W.E.B. Griffin applaud it with words like “astounding,” and “unforgettable.” Suffice it to say such high praise from such esteemed writers doesn’t come easily.

How good an author is Maden? Well, that’s why he’s here now, squarely seated in our infamously unforgiving wooden chair, steeping in the sharp glow of our blazing klieg light array. So without further ado we’ll get this Author Spotlight underway, and leave you to decide for yourselves what kind of a maestro Maden is with the turn of a keen phrase for your edification and entertainment.

Gazala:    In my omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the one fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and tell why you choose them.

Maden:    For fiction, I’d want to bring my favorite genre book along with me so I’d haul in a copy of the original military-political techno-thriller, The Illiad, by Homer. But I’d want a parsed interlinear Greek-English version which means that for my non-fiction book I’d want a decent Greek grammar. That way I could not only read and re-read the first great literary text of the Western canon in my own native tongue, but acquire another (dead) language in the process. The stories would enlarge my soul even as the language acquisition would hold at bay the debilitating mental impairments of old age, for surely the literary offenses that exiled me to the island in the first place would merit a life sentence. Maybe two.

Gazala:    Your new book is an excellent and gripping techno-thriller titled Drone, centered around the unpredictable consequences of relying on drones to conduct wars officially declared, or clandestine. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us something about Drone, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader.

Maden:    First of all, I can’t even imagine the possibility that your gracious recommendation of Drone—based, no doubt, on your impeccable taste and keen literary insight—would be insufficiently motivating to your audience to make a purchase. (Who is this gentle, misguided soul, and how might they be contacted directly? Sounds like an intervention is called for.)

In answer to your hypothetical question, Drone is unapologetically a member of the species, Techno-Thrillum Militaria. It’s chock full o’ military-thriller violence and the usual tropes of the genre, but that might not be enough of a draw for your discerning reader. In truth, the book is not just about drones; it’s also about identity. The factual drone technology in the novel is absolutely fascinating, but the people who operate those systems are even more interesting. I write about damaged people because I am one myself, and the series protagonist, Troy Pearce, is definitely a wounded man. Troy’s arc throughout the series follows his struggle to answer the question: What does it mean to be a true warrior in service of a government you no longer trust? That’s a variation on a question many American citizens are asking today. Drone poses a number of answers; I leave it for the reader to decide which one is best for them. Don’t get me wrong—I don’t believe in moral ambiguity. There really are bad actors out there who mean to do us great harm. But I do believe in moral complexity, and sometimes my most dangerous enemy in the world is the guy in the mirror staring back at me in the morning when I’m shaving. So what I’m trying to say is this: if you shave, or know someone who shaves, you MUST buy my book. Period.

Gazala:    What are books for?

Maden:    All fiction is a lie, but the best novels can still tell the truth.

Gazala:    W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?

Maden:    Only a moron would argue with a genius like Maugham…so here it goes. There are actually four rules of writing that are quite well known among professional writers, but they are closely guarded secrets. However, because this blog has an extraordinary readership, I’m willing to share them despite the great personal risk it entails. Here they are: 1. Write the first draft. 2. Re-write it again and again and again until you can’t re-write it anymore. 3. Write the first draft of the next novel. 4. Repeat 1-3 until you die. 

Of course, the really advanced writers also lay hold of Pressfield’s Corollary: “Writing is hard work.” And they also cling to Rilke’s Apothegm: “Write because you must.” And finally, every professional writer has had to wrestle through Iglesias’s Conundrum: “You must learn how to write, but nobody can teach you,” which is resolved, in part, by the precept, “You only learn to write by writing.”

The bottom line is that the answer to any question regarding the writing process is best answered: “Get your butt in the chair and write!” It’s really as simple and as impossible and as thrilling as that.

Gazala:    I need to venture outside and deal with the annoying unmanned aerial vehicle buzzing my rooftop. This may take a while. Ask yourself a question, and answer it.

Maden:    I’m often asked what the future holds in regard to drone technologies. The easy answer is: Watch any six random episodes of "Star Trek" (or any other great sci-fi show) and you’ll get a pretty good idea of where this stuff is going, for good and for ill.

In my research, I found two emblematic trends in the emerging technologies, and I touch on each of them in my novel, Drone. I mention these two trends because I think what people really want to know is: Should we be afraid of what the drones of the future might bring? That depends.

The first trend to consider is LARS—Lethal Autonomous Robotics. Essentially, we’re talking about a "Terminator;" a killing machine that operates completely independently from human control, relying entirely on software and sensors to find, pursue and destroy the enemy. There are lots of great reasons why we may not want to let machines fight our battles independent of our control (again, check out "Star Trek") but the logic of war and physics will inexorably drive us to LARS. Why? Humans are always the weak point in combat systems. Our bodies are fragile and not only need protection in hostile environments, but truthfully, hinder the performance capabilities of our most advanced weapons systems, e.g., fighters. Pull humans out of the cockpit and drone planes can fly faster, turn tighter and carry more payload than is currently the case. But there’s another reason to pull human’s out of the loop: our brains are fallible. A moment’s hesitation in a high-speed combat scenario (measured in nano-seconds) might mean the difference between victory or defeat in the battle, and maybe even the war. Don’t forget, the best human chess player in the world was defeated by IBM’s Big Blue, and isn’t chess a war game? Doesn’t logic also suggest that computers, then, should not only fly our jets or captain our ships, but also be the future generals and admirals? As humanitarians and Western liberal democrats, we might shrink at the idea, but our enemies surely won’t. And that’s why, inevitably, we’ll pursue LARS as well.

On a brighter note, another fantastic drone-related technology I touch upon in my novel is neuro-prosthetics.  This is the stuff of pure science fiction, only it’s happening today. (Maybe we should call it “science faction.”) In short, we are now able to jack into the human brain and connect it to a computer interface. (We’re close to doing this wirelessly, by the way.) Why is this exciting? Imagine the medical possibilities. A quadriplegic human whose brain is wired to a computer can be attached to an exo-skeleton suit and with the power of their thoughts be able to walk, run, lift, etc. Dr. Nicolelis at Duke University plans to do this very thing next year at the 2014 World Cup. I can’t wait to see it happen. Blind? No problem. Jack into the brain and wire it to a video camera. (Yeah, I know. "Star Trek.") Deaf? Wait—we already do that one, don’t we? You might ask how this is drone related technology, but think about it: the ability to fly a drone or drive a tank at the speed of thought would be a tremendous advantage in battle over opponents relying on throttles, yokes and steering wheels, wouldn’t it? (Extra points: Which 1980s movie featured a Soviet plane that could be piloted by human thought? Hint: Clint Eastwood.)

So there you have it: the possible perils and promises of drone technology. At the end of the day, drones are neutral things. It’s the people who operate them who are the most fascinating, and that’s why I wanted to write a fictional story full of characters interacting with this amazing new technology. Characters like Brother Gazala who, apparently, is still on his roof swatting at drones.

Not only is "Brother Gazala" swatting at those pesky drones, but he even captured one. Said drone is now repurposed to hunt robo-calling sales bots that disregard do-not-call protocols, and dispatch them with extreme prejudice. Profuse thanks to our guest for his invaluable inspiration in this regard. To enjoy the terrific thriller Drone, and perhaps procure some drone-repurposing guidance of your very own while you enjoy it, all you need do is click here to make your wish Amazon.com’s command.

Author Spotlight: Christopher Rice

Given our tastes for the macabre, it's no surprise to attentive readers that Gazalapalooza's favorite day of the Hallowmas triduum is the first one, All Hallow's Eve. It's the yearly night when the delicate veil separating the living and the dead is at its flimsiest. We venture tricking and treating, duly disguised to prevent shocking the souls of our dearly departed loved ones as we gallivant. Clad as fiends or angels, heroes or villains, it's the one night our secret identities can wink without undue remorse from behind the prosaic masks we don the other 364 days a year.

With Halloween bearing down upon us, who better to grace us with a bob under the Author Spotlight than Christopher Rice? In addition to the blood of his legendary and lovely supernatural chronicler mother, Anne, snaking through his veins, New York Times best-selling author Christopher is eminently capable of spooking us all in his own right. And so he does with his brand new novel, The Heavens Rise. No less an authority than Peter Straub assures us The Heavens Rise "...inhales wickedness and corruption and exhales delight and enchantment." Happy Halloween, indeed.

When he's not writing, one of the many ways Rice keeps his hands from idling enough to attract the devil's attentions is when he and his friend, bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, do their Internet radio show. Having sampled and enjoyed its tasty wares, Gazalapalooza can confirm the program is a comedy and variety program as outrageous as it is irreverent. After you're done inhaling and exhaling The Heavens Rise, trick or treat yourself to a helping of "The Dinner Party Show with Christopher Rice and Eric Shaw Quinn." The program streams 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at TheDinnerPartyShow.com, and new live episodes premiere Sunday evenings at 8:00 PM Eastern, 5:00 PM Pacific. Among other irresistible (but completely nonfattening!) hors oeuvres, the most recent episode includes tidbits of adventure and weirdness direct from our guest's ongoing promotional tour for The Heavens Rise.

With all that, we would think Rice should find himself well-prepared to broil magnificently under the piercing glare of our Author Spotlight's klieg light blaze. Shall we find out? Without further ado, let's get this interview underway. 

Gazala:    In my omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the ocne fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and tell why you choose them. 

Rice:    So is the woefully easy way out of this question to make the non-fiction title be something along the lines of How to Survive on a Desert Island? Surely I'm not the first author to use that tactic here, am I? We're doing these questions by e-mail so you're sitting next to me right now shouting, "CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER!" so I'm tempted to make a go of it. But it does kind of feel like cheating. I have to say, one way to answer the question would be to say that I'd take any two books that would help me survive on a desert island, which sounds like an absolutely horrifying proposition for which I am incredibly ill-suited. I'm not sure, when pressed, I'd be considering escape and enjoyment here. Survival would be foremost on my brain. So maybe this a good time to brag about how I do a lot of research for my writing? Or maybe not. I don't know. I could also be a total brown-nosing simp and say that I'd take one of my mother's novels "just to feel close to her, and to home" (sad violin sound). And also, wouldn't someone always pick a book that depicts the kind of bedroom antics they're into? Because...you know, they're going to be alone for a long time and they might need something to...you get me? 

Gazala:    Your latest book is an excellent and gripping supernatural thriller titled The Heavens Rise. In it, three friends must confront an ancient, infectious evil lurking just beneath the surface of the Louisiana bayou. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us something about The Heavens Rise, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader. 

Rice:   First off, thank you for calling my book excellent, which was a pre-condition of my agreeing to do this interview. [Editor's note: Our guest jests!] As for why others should read it? Because if you do read it, I'll make love to you in the grass. And if you don't read it, I'l disappear your family in an instant. Oh, sorry. I'm just in marketing mode all the time these days. I write the books I like to read. I like books that take me right up to the edge of darkness with complex and appealing characters as guides, but don't just drop me into a pit of bottomless nihilism. It's easy to write a dark beginning and a dark ending. The real challenge is making a happy ending out of a dark beginning. The Heavens Rise is that kind of book. It's meant to be a suspenseful page turner, one of the main characters is a city (New Orleans) and its villain is super scary - those are the three ingredients I like in a novel, so I put them in mine. 

Gazala:    What are books for?

Rice:   Books are supposed to be immersive and independent imaginary experiences. Books are sex between two brains, yours and the author's. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's bleh, but you always walk away tired. 

Gazala:    W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why? 

Rice:   I agree. But I like Graham Greene's three things a writer needs to write. A professor I taught for told me this story. When he was a young writing student, he wrote a letter to Graham Greene and asked him what three things he needed to be a writer. Graham Greene wrote back, "A lot of time, a lot of paper and a lot of pencils." The student wrote back, "What's the time for? Writing?" and Graham Greene wrote back, "No. Reading." It might be an urban legend but any urban legend that involves Graham Greene is automatically awesome. Like the one about the driver who picked up a hitchhiker who turned out to be Graham Greene and then he disappeared but not before he left a copy of The Quiet American hanging from the door handle. Wait. I think I'm getting confused. Sorry. I'm in marketing mode. 

Gazala:    That shot glass of Louisiana swamp water I just drank on a dare is making me feel very...strange. While I attempt to gather myself, ask yourself a question, and answer it. 

Rice:    You drank a shot of Louisiana swamp water? Did someone hold a gun to your head? Wait. That's not my question. My question is: Why did your interviewer just drink a shot of Louisiana swamp water while he was interviewing you? Answer: Because you're that boring, Christopher.

No, Christopher. You're far from boring, my charming and erudite friend. I drank that sketchy water because I'm an inveterate risk-taker, often to folly's sharpest edge. That said, one thing not even I am foolish enough to risk is not popping onto Amazon.com to get a copy of The Heavens Rise. To that end, we've created a risk-free way to do so, but putting the book's Amazon link right here.

Author Spotlight: Raymond Khoury Returns

I’m walking down the street, just another day in the suburban jungle of trees and street signs and cell phone towers, my mind on my mission and my mission on my mind. Nothing unusual about that, nothing untoward. My thoughts are all as clear as they normally are, sharply pointed in the right directions. When my boots take me past the local bookstore’s picture windows, suddenly my thinking brakes, and then swerves hard off course. No longer is my brain brimming with the plans and visions that filled it mere moments before. Now it is full of one objective, and one objective only—I must go inside this shop immediately and purchase copies of Raymond Khoury’s brand new thriller, Rasputin’s Shadow for me and everyone I know. Plus several dozen spare copies just in case for any spontaneous gift-giving occasions that might arise, like Thursdays, for example.

I hear you chuckling at my feeble impulse control. But before you mock me mercilessly, I suggest you reconsider the cell phone towers I ambled by so nonchalantly just before the book store’s siren bewitched me. Can it be the Khoury Media Marketing & Manipulation Machine microwaved into my skull an irresistible lust for Rasputin's Shadow?

You say far-fetched? My credit card says ouch. Khoury says ka-ching. (He loves the ka-ching—see below.) Perhaps remote impulse control isn’t quite so far-fetched as you might hope. And using that awesome power to stuff his purse with my hard-earned money, odious though Khoury may be for doing so, is surely one of the more benign outcomes in our hypothetical scenario. He could have beamed any impulse he chose into my head. He could have used the technology to force me, without my knowledge (much less my acquiescence), to buy all the copies of Rasputin’s Shadow I could get my hands on while singing Bee Gees songs and dressed as a rabbit. Or, he could have puppeteered me into acts of arson, robbery, or much worse.

It’s a pity we can’t use this technology to turn the tables on our esteemed guest today as he returns for his second debriefing at the Author Spotlight. Otherwise, we could not only ensure the accuracy of his replies to our questions, but we could make Khoury answer our questions dressed as a rabbit, each reply rendered to the tune of "Staying Alive." But we digress. Brain beam unavailability notwithstanding, we shall get this Spotlight underway.

Gazala:    What is the most surprising occupational hazard to being a novelist?

Khoury:    I work from a home office, so it has be to having a kitchen within easy reach. All day. Every day. It’s there, constantly calling out to you, beckoning you to explore its hidden temptations, luring you with the succulent siren call of—damn, see what you’ve done? Back in a sec.

Gazala:    Your latest book is an excellent and gripping thriller titled Rasputin's Shadow, about a brutal 1916 Siberian mining catastrophe whose deadly secrets rise up again a century later in the person of a remorseless killer roaming the streets of New York City. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us something about Rasputin's Shadow, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader.

Khoury:    Frankly, I’m surprised. I found it really boring and wouldn’t recommend it at all. Unless you’re in the mood for a suspenseful page-turner about an über-effective rogue Russian FSB agent who’s only known as “Koschey” (meaning “the deathless”), shady CIA operatives and “security contractors,” Psy-loving Korean car-jackers and nightclub-dwelling Russian mobsters, all of whom are after something that goes back to the days of Rasputin and that could basically turn a whole city into one big bloodbath. I certainly wasn’t. Any more of that chamomile tea?

Gazala:    Have you ever killed off one of your characters only to greatly regret the death later?

Khoury:    After trawling through my extensive oeuvre (all of six novels), I have to say: no, actually. And I’ve killed a few. Gleefully. Which could be worrying. I did have second thoughts at (SPOILER ALERT) Farouk in The Sanctuary. It was unplanned and totally unexpected and, after I wrote it, it changed a major dynamic in the book, which I think made it a much more interesting book. But I liked poor old Farouk. He deserved better.

Gazala:    If you could take credit for writing one book not your own, God's, or Shakespeare's, which would it be, and why?

Khoury:    Does it come with the royalties? In which case, hello, Harry Potter and ka-ching. If we’re talking in more noble terms: it’s a toss-up between Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and Action Comics #1, which introduced Superman to the world. I mean, how cool would it be to say you invented the superhero genre!?

Gazala:    Who, or what, is the most terrible fiend ever to torment a novelist's imagination?

Khoury:    The notion that after spending over a year working on something you firmly believe in and pouring your heart and soul into it, someone else will have come up with a similar idea and bring his or her book out before yours.

Is it just us, or did Khoury unknowingly half-sing his last answer à la The Brothers Gibb? We warned you this impulse control stuff isn’t as outré as you’d like to believe. So don’t wait for the brain beam to take over your mind and make you do it. Simply click here, and you’ll be whisked to Amazon.com, where you can get your copy of Rasputin’s Shadow on your own accord. You’ll be relieved you did.

Author Spotlight: Geoffrey Girard

Remember your high school English teachers? One of them was the strict grammarian, right? He seemed like he was always on the edge, ready to break into a million jagged pieces if you wandered just a little bit from the tidy corner of Strunk & White. There was the classic lit teacher—she was at least 100 years old and could quote Shakespeare and Dante better than Shakespeare and Dante. And what about the grizzled fireplug who taught you bits and shards about Twain and Hemingway and Faulkner when he wasn’t investing way more energy coaching the school football team, visions of state championships and college sidelines swirling in his head.

But then there was the other English teacher. The cool one, as cool as you dared believe any high school English teacher can be. He seemed to get you, and you seemed to get him, and even though neither of you had a clue about what the other did off school grounds, to this day you smile when you remember what he taught you about reading and writing that matters.

That man is our guest today on the Gazalapalooza Author Spotlight. His name is Geoffrey Girard, and his new scary thriller Cain’s Blood is fresh of the presses. When he’s not teaching English at a prestigious private boys’ high school in Ohio, he’s writing, and winning awards and accolades for what he writes. Exemplifying the latter, no less an authority than the National Book Examiner calls Cain’s Blood, "Compelling and repulsive… A page-turner par excellence."

It appears our esteemed authorial colleague Mr. Girard copes masterfully with the grisly, and the macabre. Cain’s Blood is exhibit one on that score, trust us. Perhaps it’s too much to hope that the piercing beams from our array of unforgiving klieg lights will make the man sweat, or squirm a bit. But hope o we will, as we get this edition of the Author Spotlight underway.

Gazala:    In my omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the one fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and tell why you choose them.

Girard:    Literary practicality wins here. There are perfect books I’ve reread a dozen times (e.g., A Prayer for Owen Meany, Shadowland, Dubliners), but the idea of having to read only one of them for the rest of my life is not appealing. And while The Lord of the Rings is probably the most pivotal fiction of my life, the writing itself ain’t all that hot. So… I’m gonna go with Infinite Jest. I think Wallace is a brilliant writer and thinker. I reread his shorter work often just for the language, but have only tackled Jest once. At 1000+ pages, that’s a lot of ground still to cover a few more times. Broken up, Infinite Jest can be hundreds of stand-alone stories/scenes.  It’s my generation’s The Divine Comedy in a way, I think. So, plenty to think over there.

Since you’ve stranded me alone on a desert island, under those circumstances there is no nonfiction book I’d ever want to re-read other than 1000 Ways to Cook a Seagull. (Ed. note:  despite valiant effort, to date Gazalapalooza’s crack staff of expert librarians has been unable to confirm the existence of this book. The closest they’ve gotten is 1001 Ways to Cook Jonathan Livingston Seagull.)

Gazala:    Your latest book is an excellent and gripping novel titled Cain's Blood, centered on the U.S. Defense Department's use of cloned DNA from nefarious serial killers to develop a new breed of terrifying bioweapon. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us something about Cain's Blood, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader.

Girard:    Thank you for the endorsement.

For thriller/horror fans: Cain’s Blood is Jurassic Park with serial killers. If you’re a serial killer aficionada, you might enjoy. They’re all here: Gacy, Bundy, Dahmer, Fish, etc. And they’re all teens, some of who would scare the shit out of their genetic forefathers. There’s some dark fun to be had. The Ruins author (ed. note: Scott Smith) called Cain’s Blood “deeply twisted,” and R.L. Stine says it “still creeps him out.” Coming from those guys…

For you English-class lovers:  Cain’s Blood is something more like Huckleberry Finn, or On the Road. Two broken characters (a war vet not quite home yet and a teen who’s just discovered he’s the clone of Jeffrey Dahmer) make their way across America (and all that means), figuring out how to deal with each other and themselves, and hopefully come out okay on the other side.

Gazala:    What are books for?

Girard:    Easier than finding a cave to paint on, I suppose. I teach high school English and am always reminding the guys that Art is Art: be it a book, song, painting, dance, video game, movie, etc.  Even when it’s “just” entertainment, there’s usually a legit and worthwhile portrayal/ examination of “being human” within that entertainment. And for those books, songs, etc., that strive to dig a little deeper, all the better. Books are simply one way to do that.

Gazala:    W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?

Girard:    I might make it ten rules to writing to muck it up even more.  Yes, I agree no one knows what these rules (three, ten, or 50) are. I believe Twain has some line to the effect that the three rules are:  write, write and… write.  Other than that, who knows? I’ve been doing this seriously about ten years and have met a hundred other authors, each with his or her own style, methods, voice, habits, weaknesses, craft, etc. And even once you’ve tied it down to one writer, they’ll change it up too. Cain’s Blood was written in an entirely different way than Project Cain (a spinoff I wrote for teen readers). I changed up the devices used, voice, story structure, mechanics, etc. Wanted to try something new for that particular wall painting.  Part of the fun of writing (and reading) is trying new things, even it proves personally unsatisfying in the end.

Gazala:    I'm knee-deep in a robust philosophical argument about nature versus nurture with a weird guy who calls himself Tad Bundy. This may take a while. Ask yourself a question, and answer it.

Girard:    Q: Do you think the science in Cain’s Blood is possible? A: We went from cloning sheep to cloning monkeys in just three years. And that was 15 years ago. You’re asking me to believe we haven’t gone from monkey to human in those ensuing 15 years? That’s absurd. Furthermore, America spends more money researching weapons than it does on medicine, agriculture, manufacturing, education, and transportation combined. And most all of that research is conducted via black budgets with 0.0 regulation or public accountability. I’d say “possible” is fair.

Compelling and repulsive though it surely sounds, we still can’t track down a copy of 1000 Ways to Cook a Seagull. We’re not often stumped—it’s quite disturbing. How can we make this up to you, our very gracious and stunningly attractive reader? By positioning you with the merest mouse click to get your own copy of Geoffrey Girard’s Cain’s Blood right from Amazon.com, that’s how. We overpay our debts, here. You’re welcome.

Author Spotlight: Glenn Shepard

In this edition, our Author Spotlight is aimed squarely at Dr. Glenn Shepard. Shepard is an esteemed medical doctor and retired surgeon whose debut thriller, Not for Profit, was recently released to stellar reviews. As a matter of fact, one of Not for Profit’s hearty endorsements comes from none other than Layton Green, who’s not only a fellow thriller author, but an alumnus of the Gazalapalooza Author Spotlight. Green calls Shepard’s novel “slick and intelligent.” After you read Not for Profit, you’ll see Green made the right call.

Every author’s journey from blank page to published work is unique. For example, if memory serves Shepard is the first combination M.D. / thriller author we’ve hosted at the Spotlight. Shepard wrote his first novel decades ago, while his surgical practice was in full swing and his free time was far scarcer than it is now. At its end it was 1,000 pages long, but that first book was never published. Nonetheless, that book taught Shepard invaluable lessons about the art and craft of writing. Those lessons, combined with the wisdom and professional expertise he gained from his medical practice plus his abiding love for the written word, culminated in the publication of Not for Profit.

In an interview about his new book and writing generally, Shepard said, “All fiction is real life and all real life is fiction.” We’ll advise him to use that thought for a mantra as we strap him into the Spotlight’s unforgiving wooden chair and beam the glaring white heat of our klieg light array at him. Not to worry if the conditions are harsh – there’s a doctor in the house. So with no more ado, we’ll get this Author Spotlight underway.

Gazala:    In my omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the one fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and why you choose them.

Shepard:    The nonfiction work I'd choose is Gray's Anatomy. In med school, there was so much to cover in a limited amount of time that just the highlights were spot-lighted. In between these were millions of bits of overlooked minutia that are quite fascinating and worthy of study. I'd love to have unlimited time to enjoy this. David Foster Wallace's book, Infinite Jest would be my work of fiction. It takes time to read and understand this work. Each time I start it, there are many things occupying my mind and I always put it down to pursue pressing objectives.

Gazala:    Your new book is an excellent and gripping novel titled Not For Profit. It follows plastic surgeon Dr. Scott James as he struggles to clear his name of two murders of which he's been falsely accused, in a setting deftly spiced with love, violence, sex, mystery, orchids, and renegade drones. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us something about Not For Profit, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader.

Shepard:    Three things motivated me to write this book. The first and principle one was that some not for profit hospitals have used their tax exempt status to enter markets in hospital services and even in areas remote from hospital care and compete successfully with tax-paying individuals and groups, in many instances claiming the bulk of the market share. I can understand that the price the hospitals pay for buildings, equipment, and products necessary to run the acquired properties and services are tax deductible for hospitals as well as private individuals, but what the public doesn't know is that the out flow of dollars to these entities magnifies the unrelated cost each patient pays for the hospital services. And the salary paid to the executives may not be the $250,000 the newspapers report as their salaries (the figure given in the book for the salary of the fictitious chief administrator), but a figure hidden in the multitude of corporations within a single hospital group. This is a work of fiction. I am not blowing a whistle on any group as no individual can stand in court and face any billion dollar hospital. But I call attention to the high cost of hospital services that in my belief relates to the expensive expansion of hospitals beyond primary patient care that has the potential of ballooning the executive compensations of the hospital leadership.

The second thing I want people to be aware of is the importance of drone warfare in protecting America from terrorists. I applaud the headlines telling almost daily of the accomplishments of our drones.

Thirdly, I want my readers to share with me the horrors of terrorism. I used the character Ethel Keyes to convey this message. A brilliant woman’s fear of the torture she would face if she disobeyed her bosses led her far beyond the limits imposed on her by her own conscience. Several readers objected to the violence I portrayed. Describing what terrorists did to the book characters, in my belief, equates to the actions of real life. But we don't want to see this violence. Like in the recent Boston bombings, people read headlines and are mad that people died and many were injured. The close-up images of the horrible injuries at the scene are purged from the TV reporting. People don't want to see the anguish and suffering at the scene. They're happy to gloss over the actual horrors and just count the numbers dead and wounded. So with terrorist attacks all over the world. The suffering is censored from our eyes. I did no censoring. I hope people were horrified and will open their eyes.

Several readers objected to the book's sexuality. Ethel Keyes' prior sexual experiences were all tainted by her poverty and the wealth promised to her by the terrorist, Omar Farok. I showed a real, romantic relationship that changed her negativism about sex. I felt it necessary as the first step in her recovery. I thought it important for readers to be with her in this part of her journey. You'll see this in my future books. I plan to use her again. You'll see how this talented woman has benefited from the positive sexual experiences of Not For Profit.   

Gazala:    What are books for?

Shepard:    Good books serve for self-understanding. I become one with the main characters and try to see the world as they see it. Sometimes, it is not with the same perspective as mine, and a good book gives me a better knowledge of differing points of view. Some flow with my points of view, and reinforce and sometimes even modify my way of thinking. I like books that make me think. I hope Not For Profit makes people think beyond the "yellow brick road" of the plot.

Gazala:    W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?

Shepard:    This statement says a lot about the manner of Somerset Maugham. It makes me think. Think deeply, as do his writings. His is a rare talent. I enjoy reading him over and over again. Another of his great quotes is, "Life isn't long enough for love and art." And it really isn't.

Gazala:    An unmarked black drone has been circling a couple hundred yards over my rooftop for the past 15 minutes. While I'm dusting off my sniper rifle, ask yourself a question, and answer it.

Shepard:    A black drone! At a hundred fifty yards! It's small. I can take it with my .223! A well placed shot in the engine will knock it out of the sky! But wait. Is it on an intelligence mission tracking a terrorist group working in this area? Or is it controlled by a terrorist group surveying the military establishments in eastern Virginia? Or, just maybe, it's from a Not For Profit outfit that didn't like my book? I take aim on the unmanned aircraft. My finger is on the trigger. If it fires a rocket toward me, I'll pull the trigger. Maybe, I'll be killed. But at least, I'll take that sucker with me!

“All fiction is real life and all real life is fiction.” Based on his last response alone, it seems Doc Shepard may be onto something. You’ll think so too, after reading Not for Profit. We’ve made it easy for you to get your very own copy of the book from Amazon. All you have to do is click here. Happy reading.