Interview With Author Art Isaacs
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m relatively new to writing and maybe a bit older than the usual newbie. I have written four books so far.
I’m a father and grandfather and love being with my family, as we all take trips and vacations together. Over the years, though, my work has taken me away at times. I categorize myself as a ‘well-travelled’ engineer, having worked in over 50 countries so far. I’ve also lived overseas for several years during my career, as well as in several states and spent extended periods elsewhere. There are still a lot of places I have not been and would love to see and experience.
Along with growing up in NY City, this combined exposure has given me some (hopefully) different perspectives on life, people and cultures that I try to utilize in all my writings. I’m also a consummate car buff, having owned and rebuilt many over my life and still have (3) old convertibles of varied years, marques and countries of origin. Those, too, can find their way into my stories. As does music. I love and listen to music of all kinds and like to learn more about the song’s origins, as well as developing my own associations for them as a ‘soundtrack of life’.
My favorite reading and writing genre is Science Fiction and, of the four books that I’ve already written, three are Sci-Fi. The one that was recently (and the only one) published, is a family saga that covers a lot of ground – more than just the 60-year story of members of a fictional family based in a small town in the Florida Panhandle.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book’s title is ‘Morris’.
My main inspiration and influence for this book is my family. Not that any of the stories or characters are based on them, but with my relationship with my wife and children, the closeness of aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins. The support they afford each other and the interactions between us all of different generations and family branches was the basis of my life and ultimately, my writing.
On the title, Morris is actually a character in the book. While I initially did try to build some mystery around who Morris is, it is revealed early-on that he’s actually the main characters’ car. There’s no anthropomorphism, so Morris never speaks, but he’s not just an inanimate object. The point is that he’s passed between members of each successive generation and is part of and present at most key points in each of their very different lives and stories. He is the continuity between them all.
He’s also becomes the one they write to as the substitute for ‘dear diary’, which is really where the title comes from. The idea of Morris as a character was born out of my continuous ownership of an old British sportscar for over 30 years and counting.
The story itself gets its inspiration from many sources, but mainly from the headlines, both current and historical. From growing-up in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, etc. From working in the fashion industry with the interesting and diverse peoples I’ve met and places I’ve been. From the music I’ve listened to and the artist’s stories behind the origins of their songs.
As such, my book touches on many key points and subjects in history, as family members go off to war or are caught-up in the politics of their day with regard to prejudice about race, gender, interracial or same-sex romance and marriages; the changing views on alcoholism and depression, all showing how their attitudes and those of others around them evolve over time. And for each to show their resolve and ability to rise above it all to try to find love, success and happiness, as opposed to merely surviving.
The book is long at near 640 pages and covers over 4 generations. It starts in the early 1960’s with a school assignment to a then teenaged Jessie Peterson to chronicle his summer after complaining how backward and just plain boring life in his small town is. Jessie continues to write throughout his life, even after passing the task on to his daughter, Beth, which she in turn passes to her children Matt and Billie. Each successive generation changes the direction of the story somewhat, adding new situations and adventures with different perspectives that keep it all moving and, hopefully, interesting.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, much of my writing is done at 30,000 feet. That unusual enough? 20 hours each way on planes to Asia, 5-6 times a year gives you a lot of time alone to write and create. The pandemic has me grounded and less time to do this, but I’m finding it.
I also like reading stories that ‘work’, so I make a point to develop the back stories, side stories, look-up details, find inspiration pieces and photos for all my characters and locations as I write a book, even if they are never used. It takes more time, but makes me feel better that what I write can make sense. At least to me, of course. Maybe not everything does, but being new to this, I’m still learning.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
By far, all the science fiction greats like Jules Verne, H.G Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven and Frank Herbert.
What are you working on now?
I’m now in the middle of writing a science fiction trilogy.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Still working on and learning that.
Maybe I’ll have a better answer after I gain more experience and advice.
I can say that I have recently found great people through the Goodreads site that are collaborative and sharing.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. You have something you find interesting subject in your head, put it on paper (or on a screen, as I date myself) and play with it. Walk away and do something else before coming back to it again. Lose it and rewrite it from memory (yeah, I had lost my manuscript file in writing Morris – bad idea).
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Immerse Yourself
It was the mantra of a professor teaching language, but I’ve adopted it for just being part of the way to experience and enjoy the world. There’s a big difference between tourism and immersion, for example. One is being a spectator and the other is being involved with the experience. Same for writing. And reading.
What are you reading now?
I’ve just finished E.K. Frances’ ‘The Dark’, the third book in her ‘Hybrid’ series. The next and final volume will release soon.
I’ll now be starting the third of Scott Kimak’s ‘HIM’ trilogy.
What’s next for you as a writer?
As I said, I’m currently in the middle of working on a sci-fi trilogy.
I’m also starting to play with a supernatural mystery about some strange goings-on over several decades around an abandoned refinery complex.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
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