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.
