I’m very glad you will consider me for an interview on your blog. There is more detail about my works on my website, www.thefifthprophet.com, and I would be happy to discuss any of this further with you.
I am a retired Professor of computer science and mathematics who started writing eight years ago.
The Fifth Prophet, the first book in my series, is a utopian, apocalyptic, and first alien contact novel. The inspiration hit me one afternoon while I was daydreaming in my backyard about how to defeat the radical Islamic jihad. The entire story filled my head, seemingly from beginning to end. I rushed inside and began to write it down before I forgot the details. I had never written anything but scientific papers before. That Eureka moment was a unique experience, one that has not repeated itself. My next four books were created much more prosaically, with lots of effort. I have just released the second edition of TFP, improving the style with what I have learned about writing in the last eight years, but changing none of the story. I think it is even more relevant to the chaos of today than it was before.
Interview
Adventures Thru Wonderland (Stephanie)
Q.Who are some of your favorite authors, or what are some of your favorite written works?
Dr. A. R. Davis
A. I started reading sci-fi and fantasy when paperbacks cost less than a dollar. I liked Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy, Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, and Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings. Over the years my appreciation for the genre has matured. The works that come to mind now as the most outstanding are Delaney’s Dhalgren, Orson Scott Card’s Ender series, Ursula Lequin’s Tales Of Earthsea, and Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast. But the author I most envy for his style and his stories is Philip K. Dick. The Man In The High Castle, the book, not the TV series, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the book, not the movie Blade Runner, Ubik and the others are metaphysical masterpieces. The book I am currently working on is titled, Perturbations Of The Reality Field, a phrase I picked up in Dick’s fantastic, rambling, and bizarre Exegesis.
Q. What do you enjoy most about writing, and the books you have written?
A. I enjoy going back over the original idea or outline and filling it in, over and over and over. Early in the process there are many gaps and blanks, while good pieces just flow naturally. Later it becomes more of an issue of stitching it all together, and making it consistent. Answering remaining questions and adjusting things to fit them in. Eventually, it becomes a matter of editing the sentence structure and choice of words. It is somewhat like putting a giant jigsaw puzzle together.
Q. Is there anything you find particularly challenging when writing?
A. Point of view is something I struggle with. I find myself wavering between third person omniscient and some sort of first person vision of the events. First drafts seem to come out as if I am the character, so it takes some work to give those people distinct personalities. Eventually, I hope, they develop lives of their own.
Q. Did you learn anything from writing your book(s) and what was it?
A. I’m always learning from the research needed to make the sci-fi part of the books “hard”. But I also have developed a broader appreciation for the complexities of reality while writing about the metaphysical aspects of my stories.
Thanks for asking.
Dr. A. R. Davis
Author of Schroedinger’s Cheshire Cats
and other techno-poetic, metaphysical sci-fi
www.thefifthprophet.com
Blurb for The Fifth Phrophet
Would you be willing to give up all aspects of your public religion for peace on Earth? Is God dead, and man abandoned to his own fate, or is help coming? How much longer will the universe leave us on our own? Do you care what modern mathematics and physics are doing to your everyday reality? Can the human genome be reprogrammed like your laptop computer? This is the story of God returning to earth and choosing a scientist as his next prophet. As at any time in the history of the world, everyday events and global chaos intermingle. Why now? Is God angry enough to bring fire, and nuclear destruction? Is God choosing new believers and giving them a technological rainbow? The Family of Man survives and prospers through war, pestilence, personal dangers, and the Second Dark Ages. Will they succeed and go to the stars, or will the world turn on them? Much of the 'action' is intellectual, mathematical, religious, genetic, political, astronomical, but some people will die bloody deaths. Begin with the first Theorem of the New Deists: Religion is fundamentally evil, and God does not approve of it. Follow the Fifth Prophet and his Family of Man as they attempt to build a new Eden on Earth.
I hope you enjoyed the first of many Wednesday's Weekly Writers interview posts! I have more to come, and if you are an author, or know one who would like an interview and a spot on my blog feel free to contact me! I am also open to interviews with other book bloggers! Email or GoodReads often work best, but I check all my social media sites, so any of those work too ^^ I look forward to hearing from you, and sharing my love of all things books with you!
