Q&A (Questions and Answers)
Answers to the most often asked questions. Read straight through or jump to specific Q&As via the hyper-linked Indexed topics:

°°°

Q. Your novel (The Gray Stopgap) touched upon Arab and Middle Eastern themes. Did you anticipate the war in Iraq? Do you have plans to address these issues further?
A. It is generous description to say that I "touched upon Arab and Middle Eastern themes." One of the novel's antagonists is a female Arabian with a decidedly evil value system (which is not exclusive to any nationality). The Middle East was (and remains) an area of political interest and in most respects ideologically foreign to Americans. But referencing political maneuvering and the investing power of Arab leaders hardly qualifies as an indicator of things to come. That is timely in some respects, but nothing more.

I've not planned any further plots concerning Arab, Middle Eastern or even Vietnam War-related themes.

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. Your treatment of the Vietnam War and its veterans seemed grounded in reality and yet far-fetched in some ways. (An allusion to the novel's CIA plot to drum up interest in the war by planting weapons associated with the enemy in the hands of massacred villagers.) Surely not!
A. Outside the world of novels, I recommend reading history and not indulging the tendency to accept as fact that which is liberally seasoned with fiction (note the numerous books that seemed compelled into publication by the movie, The DaVinci Code, and which elicit the factual history from the fictional history of Dan Brown's novel). This is to say that my narrative concerning the experiences and treatment of Vietnam Veterans is, I feel, accurate. For the most part these were men who were heroic under mind-boggling conditions and yet when back in America, were treated like gum on the bottom of shoes. That was a tragedy even exceeding our national misunderstanding of what was at stake. As far as the CIA's employment of mercenaries… Well, this minor part of the novel's back-story, in one guise or another (be they mercenaries, middle men or countries) is not exclusive to American history. However, the key word here is, "novel." Meaning, "fiction."

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. What is "bio-chemical synthetic intelligence?" Where did you hear about it?
A. When writing The Gray Stopgap, I wanted something that was a step beyond artificial intelligence and imagined a "synthetic intelligent" computer extrapolated from my research on the human brain. Admittedly I did not research the "computerized concept" and have since learned that "synthetic intelligence" is generally associated with Artificial Neural Networks, which is still within the realm of Artificial Intelligence. I like to think that I am cleverly imaginative, but obviously I was lucky in getting it just about right.

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. What do you look like? I saw some photographs of you--are those pictures really you? Did you hire a professional photographer? Are your photos airbrushed? Did you hire a makeup artists, etc., etc.

A. The only photos I've released may be viewed on the AUTHOR Page of this site.

The answers to the other questions regarding these photos are, "Yes. Sort of. No. No." It's flattering to be considered attractive by some standards, but let's not get carried away. We're talking about pictures here! The truth is that the the first two are older shots. The first one I didn't even plan. In the production of a wedding brochure of a friend and photographer, I was at the end of the film roll when my friend suggested we burn off the last four or five frames on me. Every now and then luck with lighting and angles produces something that normally takes an entire roll of film--that was one of those times. (Although, at a weight range of 150 to 160 lbs. I've never been as heavy as this first photo makes me appear.) The second photograph shown above was one that I shot specifically for the Gray Stopgap cover--and it has received mixed reviews (it's on the back of the book).The third phtograph was an off-the-cuff number shot at a local college for a feature story.

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. Are you married? Have you been married? Kids? Do you plan to marry?
A. No. No. No and a qualified no (not yet, anyway). A fiction title most approximating this area of my life: Clear and Present Danger.

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. Do you teach photography?
A. My few gigs were more like temporary assignments or seminars. The last was quite a while ago. It was an hour or so long photojournalism session in Downtown Fort Worth, Texas, for the Texas Community College Journalism Association. Called "Blast From The Past," it was hosted by Tarrant County College. Besides, the specialized knowldege I have regarding photography is of little value in this ditigal. Chemcial processing, push/pulling film development, F-stops, metering--all that and so much more is pretty much out the window these days. Once a person knows composition, the camera and computer take care of the rest.

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. How long did it take you to write the Gray Stopgap?
A. Including 8 re-writes and endless editing, it was a number of years--give or take a few hours.

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. Are you writing a sequel? How long will it take for you to come out with something else? Are you working on anything else?
A. I've been at a second Stopgap novel for awhile now. I also lost nearly a half-year of time working on a "co-authored" novel that didn't pan out, and the screenplay for the first novel took its own chunk of time as well. And of course, life has had a habit of getting in the way. I've had one or two other projects but am not at liberty to discuss them.

Here's the skinny on what I can tell you of the second novel: Karns Gray is indeed back, as well as most of the characters from the first go-around. And while there is very little in the way of flashback sequences as used in the first novel, reality in the sequel is somewhat multi-layered--and it is multi-layered even for those in the story who think they know their own reality. I'm roughly 75% to 93% finished (120,000 words thus far).

I expect that half the fun of reading the next Karns Gray novel will be in plot development. I recall an Amazon.com customer review of The Gray Stopgap wherein a guy wrote that it was as if I caught him reading ahead and "tweaked" the story so that he had no idea as to where the novel was going. Exponentially speaking, I'm hoping that this applies to the sequel.

After so many setbacks, I cringe at speculating on the anticipated release date.

As for new work... Other unrelated ideas on which I am working (but are on hold for the time being): A novel tentatively titled Vapor, a Science Fiction piece, the big one I think of as my F. Scott Fitzgerald piece (which also has involved years of work) and La tour Eiffel, which is a potential short story or novel based upon a lithograph given to me as a gift by a beautiful French girl. While I've considered nonfiction, it doesn't provide the intellectual and emotional gratification (or therapy) that writing fiction does.

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. What writers do you read? What are you reading now? What titles do you recommend?
A. Big questions. My all time favorites are Fitzgerald and Hemingway. I love Fitzgerald's subtle attention to emotional nuance and I think his women have such depth that I almost know them. Hemingway, on the other hand, I love for the grit and sweat that I can practically see in his work. There is a virtual litany of current writers as well as non-fiction writers I enjoy reading. My topics of interest include archeology, science, history, religion, theology (to some degree) and action/espionage, of course.

Nonfiction recommendations
(in no particular order):

The Hollywood Standard:the Complete & Authoritative Guide To Script format And Style
Christopher Riley
(The best book/guide of its kind, bar none. If the goal is to produce a screenplay, this book will plainly show the formatting that other books are too inadequate to address. Example topics: How to get into and out of POV shots, types of and ways into/out of flashbacks, what is and isn't appropriate in scene headings, quick cuts, time cuts, hard cuts, match cuts, etc., etc., etc.)

The Physics of Star Trek
Lawrence M. Krauss

Once a Warrior King
David Donovan

The Sabbath
Abraham Joshua Heschel

The Sea Hunters
Clive Cussler
(The Board of Governors from the Maritime College, State University of New York considered this first non-fiction Cussler title in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis and awarded the author a Doctor of Letters degree in May, 1997.)

The Sea Hunters II
Clive Cussler

The Case For A Creator
Lee Strobel

Darwin's Black Box
Michael Behe

Why The Jews Rejected Jesus
David Klinghoffer
(A startling 247 pages, including bibliography, end notes and index. This is the Jewish presentation (by a Jew) for the reasons of Jewish rejection of Jesus, as opposed to the non-Jewish representation of the Jewish rejection. This book also addresses a number of beliefs differing from what I had expected. For example, Klinghoffer reports that Jews believe in an eternal life in Heaven following the resurrection of the dead, salvation as a gift of God and not though deeds (page 100 -101), and sacrifices being expressions of obedience rather than deeds through which sins are forgiven (page 32 and 100 - 101). This book does not detail differences between Jewish groups (for example the Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish, communities). Judaism is allegedly not divided into religious traditions based on theological difference, but rather into a number of groups practicing matters that are not considered central ideas to Judaism. As such, I found it odd that Klinghoffer indicated that some Jews were wrong to think that they didn't believe in things such as "eternal life" (at page 100 and and meaning, "Heaven"). So, on the one hand Klinghoffer writes with the authority of one representing Judaism's central theology, but on the other hand he notes some Jews don't even know what they themselves are supposed to believe. Nonetheless, this is an illuminating and unsettling read of the Jewish perspective and rejection of the birth and rise of Christianity. This is definitely not for the timid or causal reader.)

I'm looking forward to reading The Creature From Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, by G. Edward Griffin. Originally published in 1994,this is an eye-opener regarding, "the grand illusion called money."

Fiction recommendations
(in no particular order):

Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry
(A Pulitzer Prize winner that moves me to appreciate Life's simple things--as does the French film Amélie. The Fort Worth Star Telegram quoted UCLA Professor of English Carolyn See as saying, "If anybody had any sense they'd throw out Moby Dick and put Lonesome Dove in the center as the great American epic novel. No question about it. His heroes in that book are just terrific. His women are just terrific. And he sustains it for 800 pages" --Star Telegram, 01/08/03, p.6F.)

The Great Gatsby
F.Scott Fitzgerald
(An all time great work of fiction and personal favorite. Buy the "Authorized Text" as it is restored to Fitzgerald's original version--Em dashes and all.)

Raise The Titanic, Vixen 03, Iceberg and other Dirk Pitt adventure novels
Clive Cussler
(As any entertaining author, Cussler mixes fact and fiction to create a rip-roaring read. He differs from typical authors in that he actually discovers many of the shipwrecks and items of historical significance featured in his novels. With the publication of Black Wind, Cussler is "passing the torch" of the Dirk Pitt series to his son, Dirk Cussler.)

Trojan Odyssey
Clive Cussler
(Another in the Dirk Pitt series, seperately mentioned here because it Includes as part of the plot the unusual, but actual theory that the battle for Troy as set forth in Homer's Odyssey was not about Greeks and the Mediterranean but about Celts in England. See Iman Wilken's Where Troy Once Stood for more about this.

The Ashes of Eden
William Shatner
(One of the very best Trek novels I've ever read--and I've read a shipload of them. The follow-ups to this novel were good, but this one was something else.)

A Separate Peace
John Knowles

The World According to Garp
John Irving

The Chronicles of Narnia (including The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe)
C.S. Lewis
(This refers to the 2004 HarperCollins edition that contains the C. S. Lewis essay , “On Three Ways of Writing for Children,” and all seven novels, arranged in the order that Lewis said that they should be read.)

Other books would include nearly anything written by Tom Clancy (as long as it isn't co-authored).

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. Do you make personal appearances or attend book signings?
A. "Personal appearances...?" My goodness, exactly whose press notices have you been reading? I attended the 2002 Los Angeles Book Festival in California, where the occasion called for me to sign a book or two. I'm not opposed to signing books, mind you--I'm honored to do so. And while it doesn't come up all that often, I suppose the oddest incident occurred during a commercial airline flight I took. Thrilled by a pre-flight tour of the cockpit I gave the pilot and copilot copies of my novel. About an hour later the flight attendant casually mentioned the pilot was enjoying the book. "That'll sound interesting on the black box," I responded, "especially when we plow into the ground." She then assured me that the pilot wasn't actually reading the novel, but looking forward to doing so. However, after reaching our destination the pilot waved me into the cockpit to autograph their books. The pilot then reported having enjoyed what he had read thus far. I signed the books while remarking: "Well that explains the turbulence..."

At any rate, that's about it as far as "signing books" and "personal appearances" are concerned.

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
A. Another big question. I don't know that I ever decided it that way. I wanted to write a book and enjoyed making up stories almost--but not quite--as much as reading them. I learned the value of creative writing while in high school and "dispassionate" editing from my college reporting instructor (who was also Director over me on the college paper). Somewhere along the way I realized that this was my thing, such as it is.

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. Is writing the only thing you do, or are you employed elsewhere?
A. No, and sometimes. Take your pick for an answer. My first lengthy employment was being one of a two-person team in the Engineering Film Division of the Universal Blueprint Paper Company--a company now long gone.

My longest employment was about two months shy of a 14-year stint in litigation support.

I've since did some website support work, freelance litigation support, teaching and government work (see the bio on AUTHOR page). I've not reached the level of unabashed fame and filthy riches (I'd settle for moderate success and mere unwashed wealth) necessary to remain out of the workforce. I know it might be a "bubble buster" for some people, but the books you see in bookstores are not all written by writers who are sustained by writing. It's a tough business (during and after the actual writing effort).

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. Some of the passages in The Gray Stopgap seem very emotionally driven. Are there personal experiences in there? How much is fact-based?
A. Like most writers, I often draw from experience. Since I am by nature an emotionally reserved individual toward most (but not all) people, the book served as an outlet during some difficult times. So yes, emotionally, I am plastered all over that book. To what degree that plastering is accurately reflective of me will remain one of life's little unimportant mysteries.

With regard to "fact-based" material in The Gray Stopgap, there are four categories to address: Hardware, people, politics and places. The "Note From The Author" section at the back of the book addresses hardware and only three clarifications come to mind: The Dodge Dart was based upon a car I had purchased to refurbish, the red MGB was written into the story before I even owned a white one, and Gray's yacht existed insofar as Elco actually built a model of that design. With those caveats in mind, any hardware not listed in that "Note" section is either fiction or a fictionalized extrapolation of existing hardware.

With regard to "people" I utilized a few "real world" names to varying degrees, but the characterizations portrayed are, of course, fictional.

The "Note" section also addresses politics and I've nothing to add.

The places--or settings--in The Gray Stopgap are most nearly always fictionalized buildings occupying actual locations. Specifically, the Professional Building is a generalization of an area containing several similar buildings; the OSCTO airplane hanger is a fictionalized building on an actual site, as is the Nova Complex, Sam's Boat Yard and all the private residences. And lastly, Aysien Island is completely fictional, its name derived from someone I photographed while taking high school senior portraits somewhere in Texas.

BACK TO O&A TOP

Q. Do you have any pointers or advice for the would-be writer?
A. For starters, don't look to me. However, I have come to understand this: Whatever a writer must do to keep the wolf away from the door, it is like an ancillary function of being a writer. At the moment you step back to examine your work's veracity, you are anticipating an audience and you should then approach writing like a job. Whether it materialistically compensates you for the effort expended is relevant only in so far as if it doesn't (and it most frequently does not) you'll need the ancillary function of a job that does.

However, from a practical point of view, a job or occupation outside of writing is not something that should be viewed as merely "ancillary" to writing. In other words, don't give up your day (or night) job just to write: And don't treat your "real world" employment as though it exist only as a layover. You may actually be a writer--meaning that is what defines who and what you are--but this doesn't preclude being a fine employee for an employer. Write like nothing else is important, but work like writing is unimportant.

I think it is very important to not fall prey to the idea that writers are inspired by some Muse, or are "born" rather than "made." I am not (yet) a Pulitzer (and by the way, that's pronounced like the bird) or Nobel Prize winning author, but I am qualified to say that writing is a skill. Whether you have a propensity toward writing, it is best learned through doing and even better learned under the tutelage of journalism (if possible). Inspiration--or the Muse--is nothing more than the second wind or "groove" a writer falls into after being at it awhile. If you want to know what writing is and how to "get going at it," I suggest reading Thinking On Paper. It's a great "myth" breaker and had I encountered it sooner would have realized why I wrote my scholastic papers in ways not recommended by the instructors.

The admonishment that, "Pride cometh before a downfall," is nowhere more true than for the writer who wants to be perceived as a writer. Nearly everyone has a preconceived notion of what a writer is, what a writer does, what a writer should be doing and how a writer should live. Those notions usually involve details that are more glossy than reality. The admonishment that, "Pride cometh before a downfall," is nowhere more true than for the writer who wants to be perceived as a writer. Nearly everyone has a preconceived notion of what a writer is, what a writer does, what a writer should be doing and how a writer should live. Those notions usually involve details that are glossier than reality.

The truth is that writing is a lonely, labor-intensive, detail-oriented life that non-writers do not appreciate. You spend months of your life immersed in hundreds of details that, if fictional, must mesh without plot contradiction. And all of this is for naught if, in the end, readers become aware of you or your morality instead of each character and his or her morality.

Writing is an effort in making yourself invisible through your work. Subsequent to that any self-characterization in contradiction to perception is a reality falling upon ears made deaf in proportion to the success of your effort.

--DL Tolleson

BACK TO O&A TOP