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Born to Deaf parents, I learned to sign before I could talk. Learning language through my eyes rather than my ears dramatically impacted the way I write. The adage, "show, don't tell," was not just a saying -- it was how I communicated.
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Background
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Although I majored in journalism, I spent much of my college career honing my writing skills under the guidance of the university's writer-in-residence, a wonderfully gifted novelist. He required not only that I dedicate hours each week to intensive writing exercises, but that I regularly read great writers: James Joyce, Thomas Hardy, Edith Wharton, William Faulkner and more. He had me focus on writing short stories, explorations of a single idea in the space of a few pages. Under his tutelage, short stories became poems in prose. The words flowed rather easily, although the novelist's biting critiques sometimes left me wondering whether I should have majored in math. I wanted to progress to novels, but they presented a wholly different challenge. The technical skills required to pace the storyline over hundreds of pages, develop multiple characters that evolve as the story progresses, and craft an intelligent, unpredictable yet compelling plot were quite daunting. I finally told myself that I simply didn't have the time, but the truth is, as a young student, I had neither the patience nor the maturity to write a novel worth reading.
After college, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend Harvard Law School and pursue a legal career, a decision I have never regretted. I love practicing law. But I also love to write, and thanks to an incredibly patient wife, continue to do so.
More than 20 years after graduating from college, I returned to the challenge of writing a novel. I hoped to have gained both maturity and patience, and I thought I had something to say (the story actually came to me in a dream). Nearly three years after first putting pen to paper (writing early in the morning and late at night), I published The Messenger.
I did not anticipate the rewards that followed within months of its publication. A major non-profit organization ordered hundreds of copies to give as gifts to its supporters. I was invited to speak about the novel to a coast-to-coast audience via videoconference hookup. Reviewers in this country and overseas treated the book quite kindly. And most gratifying of all (as my life-long love affair with books started in my neighborhood library), public libraries, including libraries in New York, Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia, have decided to carry my novel. Moreover, a major public library system (serving over 1 million residents) designated The Messenger as a "Good Reading" choice, and even made it one of the select few novels to be featured on its monthly "good reading" list.
In The Messenger, I hope to present something other than a typical page turner. While it can be read simply as a political thriller, for readers who want more, it poses questions that will leave them thinking long after they've finished the last page. I've been pleased that reviewers and customers alike have enjoyed the book, and if you decide to read it, I hope that you, too, will find it both entertaining and thought provoking.
To preview the first 15 pages, visit www.lulu.com/content/958338
To read professional reviews of The Messenger, please visit
http://tcm-ca.com/reviews/2047.html
and
www.forewordmagazine.net/clarion/viewreviews.aspx?reviewID=389
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Accomplishments
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Whatever I have achieved, I owe to others:
My father, who showed me what courage looks like,
My mother, who taught me what poetry means,
My sister, who made me believe in dreams,
And my wife, without whom none of this matters.
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Additional Information
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My upbringing instilled in me a fascination with how people acquire and use language. Meanwhile, my chosen career path has introduced me to the intrigues of national politics. These two strands intertwine in my novel, The Messenger, in which freshman U.S. Senator John Peters vaults to worldwide fame and political prominence following his first speech from the Senate floor. Although he claims to have delivered his speech in English, according to amazed listeners he could be understood by all who heard him, no matter what their language. Some hail him as a prophet; others call him a fraud; most write off the incident as a practical joke. But when the "tongues" phenomenon recurs, several figures, ranging from a political power broker to an archbishop, seek to appropriate the apparent miracles for their own purposes. Senator Peters seeks to downplay any religious significance to the incidents, fearing they will undercut his efforts to be taken seriously as a politician, but exploits his newfound fame by declaring himself a candidate for his party's Presidential nomination. Meanwhile, two men following different trains of thought reach an identical conclusion: the Senator must die. Lurking in the background, a centuries old society known as the Order of Mani keeps watch. The Order believes that it alone holds the secret to the Messenger's true purpose, and it is determined to stop it.
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Favorite Links
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Fairfax County Public Library
Brief bio of the author, with a podcast link to his interview with the library director
The Messenger on Kindle
Electronic download of The Messenger via Amazon's Kindle, for $5.99.
The Messenger
Information about the novel, an excerpt from the back cover, brief information about the author, and a link to Amazon
Entertainment for the Thinking Person
Collections include: Novels that Entertain and Provoke; Studies in Leadership; Mind Expanding Reads; Great Films. Also contains a link to my web page, The Messenger.
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