Detectologist:
What made you decide to write this book?
DW: I had written
a chapter on the anthrax outbreak for a non-fiction book on outbreak investigations
by Mark Dworkin and came across a number of interesting conspiratorial
coincidences that I thought would make a good novel.
Detectologist:
Conspiracies? What do you mean?
DW: Well, for
instance, two of the 9/11 hijackers
lived for a while in South Florida near the first anthrax case. On the same day
the case was announced on October 4, 2001, an Ukrainian missile shot down a
Russian commercial airline over the Black Sea. On board were microbiologists
from Novosibirsk. And after the attacks there was a series of deaths of other microbiologists,
some of whom were involved in bioterrorism research.
Detectologist: Fascinating.
What was it like during the actual outbreak?
DW: Did you ever
do wind sprints in high school? Running back and forth over the length of the
gym floor as fast as you can stopping at the foul line, mid-court,
three-quarter court and then full court? We worked long hours after the 9/11
attack doing surveillance for a secondary biologic attack. After that the anthrax
response was like doing a fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth wind sprint.
Detectologist: How
did you cope? It must have been nerve racking.
DW: Humor, but I
think writing the novel was a way for me to bring some closure to the
experience.
Detectologist: The
book matches up an epidemiologist with an FBI agent, how close to reality is
this?
DW: During the
anthrax outbreak we did work closely with an FBI agent, and one of our staff
was assigned to be the liaison with law enforcement. Mailaise does expand on this a bit.
Detectologist: Where
did the inspiration for the epidemiologist, Mackey Dunn and the FBI agent,
Charo Chen come from?
DW: The
characters are composites. A mix of the many people I’ve met, worked with and
known over time. I think it is necessary skill for writers to be observant. As
a friend of mine used to remind me, if you aren’t constantly amused it means
you aren’t paying attention. A lot of my ideas come from everyday situations.
Detectologist: You
decided to self publish through Amazon services. Can you share some of your
experiences?
DW: Sure. I
started Mailaise in 2007. Two and
half years, and several re-writes later I began contacting agents. I got very little
interest. After Mailaise won the Herdsfolk First Novel
Award I found an editor to help me polish it some more. I tried again with
agents, got a bit more interest but no takers. The publishing business has
become highly competitive, with the poor economy and the expansion of ebooks,
agents and publishers are very selective. I have so many ideas for stories I felt like it was time to
be done with this one and move on.
Detectologist: So,
what’s next? Are you working on a sequel?
DW: Yes. I am
close to completing the first draft of a sequel in which Mackey and Charo
investigate a smallpox outbreak in New York City. Then there is the unfinished
first Dunn novel and a novella I wrote between books. I have no shortage of
ideas.
Detectologist: Very
interesting, I look forward to reading the sequel; what’s it called?
DW: It’s a
historical mystery called The Curse of
Cortes.
