Interview with Mailaise author Don Weiss

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.