FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When VENGEANCE IS MINE came out in July of 2013, you were within a couple of months of being seventy-two years old. Why did you wait so long before writing a novel ?
Well, the truth is, I never aspired to become a novelist. I always thought of myself as more of a nonfiction writer, and since I began writing op-ed pieces for the Fresno Bee back in 2007, I just assumed anything I wrote would be in that genre. That does not mean that nonfiction was all I read over the years. Going back over the past six decades that I have been a voracious reader, I would guess that I've read as much fiction as I have nonfiction. But around 2009-2010, my son, Gary, and my wife, Lonna, were both on my case to write the definitive, real story surrounding the scandals that engulfed my father back in the early '50s. They thought that I owed my family, including subsequent generations to come, an official history of the tragic events of those years while I was still around and, hopefully, coherent enough to take on the task. By then, there were only three of us left who had a front row seat to the entire spectacle, the other two being my brother, Don, and my former sister-in-law, Elaine Koher, who was married to my oldest brother, Bob, during the 1950s. So, in 2010, I wrote a family history that focused on the period 1949-55 and distributed it among family members and a limited number of close friends. It was well received, so I decided to to see about getting it published. The effort proved futile. A prominent literary agent in San Francisco told me that, at 28,000 words, it was too short by half, and that the only realistic option I had to make it appealing to people who didn't know me or my family was to turn it into a novel. "In fact, it already is a novel," he said. "It just happens to be true." I thought about this for a month or so and finally decided that, given the fact that there were four or five questions concerning my father's activities during those years that were never resolved, I could get creative and, combining fact with fiction, come up with a novel. By the time I was finished writing in 2013, Vengeance Is Mine was 112,000 words, which, in the final draft, was cut to a little over 100,000 words, or 360 pages in trade paperback. So, you might say I became a novelist through the back door.
We know you are passionate about reading and writing, but certainly you have other interests, other passions. What are some of your likes and dislikes?
I like morning coffee, Catalina Island, Dodger baseball, good conversation, white wine, classical music, dixieland jazz, Charlie Chaplin, the California Central Coast, and "The New Yorker." My idea of a good time is to go out to dinner with friends and then to a movie or a play. I dislike religious fanatics and political zealots, urban sprawl, artichokes, gated communities, reality TV and roller coasters.
Which books, both fiction and nonfiction, have had the greatest influence on you, or have given you the most enjoyment?
Among my favorite books are "The True Believer," by Eric Hoffer, "Sapiens," by Yuval Noah Harari, "Guns, Germs, and Steel," by Jared Diamond, "Team of Rivals," by Doris Kearns Goodwin, "The Brothers Karamazov," by Fyodor Dostoevsky , Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations," Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and "Macbeth ,"Stuart Chase's "The Tyranny of Words," and the poems of Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Frost."
Your favorite movies?
My favorite is that 1958 classic "The Bridge on the River Kwai," but I also love to watch "Casablanca," "High Noon," "Moonstruck," Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby," Hitchcock's "North by Northwest," "The African Queen," and that marvelous musical from 1952, "Singin' in the Rain."
Any other thoughts?
Yes. In these troubled times I like to remember Goethe's advice: "Enjoy what you can, endure what you must." Also, Shelley's wisdom, "Fear not for the future, Weep not for the past."
Well, the truth is, I never aspired to become a novelist. I always thought of myself as more of a nonfiction writer, and since I began writing op-ed pieces for the Fresno Bee back in 2007, I just assumed anything I wrote would be in that genre. That does not mean that nonfiction was all I read over the years. Going back over the past six decades that I have been a voracious reader, I would guess that I've read as much fiction as I have nonfiction. But around 2009-2010, my son, Gary, and my wife, Lonna, were both on my case to write the definitive, real story surrounding the scandals that engulfed my father back in the early '50s. They thought that I owed my family, including subsequent generations to come, an official history of the tragic events of those years while I was still around and, hopefully, coherent enough to take on the task. By then, there were only three of us left who had a front row seat to the entire spectacle, the other two being my brother, Don, and my former sister-in-law, Elaine Koher, who was married to my oldest brother, Bob, during the 1950s. So, in 2010, I wrote a family history that focused on the period 1949-55 and distributed it among family members and a limited number of close friends. It was well received, so I decided to to see about getting it published. The effort proved futile. A prominent literary agent in San Francisco told me that, at 28,000 words, it was too short by half, and that the only realistic option I had to make it appealing to people who didn't know me or my family was to turn it into a novel. "In fact, it already is a novel," he said. "It just happens to be true." I thought about this for a month or so and finally decided that, given the fact that there were four or five questions concerning my father's activities during those years that were never resolved, I could get creative and, combining fact with fiction, come up with a novel. By the time I was finished writing in 2013, Vengeance Is Mine was 112,000 words, which, in the final draft, was cut to a little over 100,000 words, or 360 pages in trade paperback. So, you might say I became a novelist through the back door.
We know you are passionate about reading and writing, but certainly you have other interests, other passions. What are some of your likes and dislikes?
I like morning coffee, Catalina Island, Dodger baseball, good conversation, white wine, classical music, dixieland jazz, Charlie Chaplin, the California Central Coast, and "The New Yorker." My idea of a good time is to go out to dinner with friends and then to a movie or a play. I dislike religious fanatics and political zealots, urban sprawl, artichokes, gated communities, reality TV and roller coasters.
Which books, both fiction and nonfiction, have had the greatest influence on you, or have given you the most enjoyment?
Among my favorite books are "The True Believer," by Eric Hoffer, "Sapiens," by Yuval Noah Harari, "Guns, Germs, and Steel," by Jared Diamond, "Team of Rivals," by Doris Kearns Goodwin, "The Brothers Karamazov," by Fyodor Dostoevsky , Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations," Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and "Macbeth ,"Stuart Chase's "The Tyranny of Words," and the poems of Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Frost."
Your favorite movies?
My favorite is that 1958 classic "The Bridge on the River Kwai," but I also love to watch "Casablanca," "High Noon," "Moonstruck," Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby," Hitchcock's "North by Northwest," "The African Queen," and that marvelous musical from 1952, "Singin' in the Rain."
Any other thoughts?
Yes. In these troubled times I like to remember Goethe's advice: "Enjoy what you can, endure what you must." Also, Shelley's wisdom, "Fear not for the future, Weep not for the past."