Why did you write your book, Dot Matrix Apocalypse? I liked the love interest that runs throughout but the real science and the overall concept is, well, frightening. What made you write it?
"I couldn't refuse it. It was roiling in me and the story spun its way out. I felt so strongly about the dangers and calamity that I saw unfolding every day that I could not address them just as observations or ruminations. That was too passive.
I also could not help but see the impact on the average person, on a young couple full of hope for their future for example. Despite the mess the world is in, at heart I am a romantic. I believe that young love will triumph but it is not easy and maybe it won't, can't, triumph in these circumstances. My book is a love story. It is a tough time to be in love.
The energy to write was provided in late 2014, in November. I began to see in the media and to read in journals, articles that at first appeared to be unrelated, but in fact were strongly related. No one else was commenting on them or tying the things together because they seemed to be disjointed and diverse and coming from very different cultures; Russia, China, Germany, the US, all unique in culture and interests or so it seemed. China printed some houses, yes, 3D printed houses. The United States put online for the world to see, the full genomic sequence of over 3000 viruses and at about the same time announced that they had made real viruses from scratch. The next month, a different laboratory made the Spanish flu virus that killed 100 million people in 1918, but they made it stronger and more transmissable. Local and state laws began mandating vaccinations to the degree that uncooperative children would be denied entry to school if they did not vaccinate. These items added up to a very clear picture. That is my book. It is set in Moscow, Vancouver, Mumbai, Shanghai, London and many places of intrigue. The spy culture of the cold war is certainly alive and well and we see it strong in the pages of Dot Matrix Apocalypse. There is fantastic technology in use. This technology is not fantasy or the future. It is used today and it surrounds us. Remote mind manipulation, remote suppression of ethical considerations, dust sized spy machines, they exist. Every day the evening news corroborates my vision of where the spiral is taking us. This is a book that no-one else has written. It is not about ISIS. There is not one zombie or monster, or amazon woman, well maybe one, nor are there spooky anecdotes of mysterious things seen in the sky. Hm. That's an idea isn't it. Zombie vampire aliens escaping their exploding star and landing on earth as a virus against which we need mandatory vaccination. Next book."
What is your writing process?
"I form a complete idea from start to finish in my mind before I start on a page. Every character, every characteristic, every plot angle, every moral message. Must have a moral message.
I spend more time researching than writing. If I describe a west wind blowing off the water, I research that city to make sure that yes, that hotel faces west, yes the temperature of the water and air in September are such and such and the sun sets at such and such time at that latitude and yes that date is a local holiday and so on. I then speed type it to get it out as fast as I can which in my case is slow. I really like being a slow typist. The characters grow and flesh out from the time it takes to set them down, the scenes elaborate in my mind as the letters form words and the whole thing grows. My main worry is that I might never finish a book because I love the writing so much. It is also a danger to rewrite everything to make it better because your gut expressions are usually the best ones even in simplistic tones.
I don't get tired from doing it. I will work ten hours standing at the keyboard and then remind myself that I have not eaten. Healthy, huh?"
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