Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing books since I was six, starting from an adventure novel about a bear and a koala (titled Banana & Ko). ‘A Diamond in the Rough’ is my first published novel, but there are a few other projects I’ve been working on.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
‘A Diamond in the Rough’ is the first book in a seven+ series.
Defects are imperfections, really, but that’s what makes them so special. Take a nitrogen-vacancy center, for example, which happens to be a point defect in diamonds. At first glance, they’re merely glitches, imperfections, but you could utilize them to do so many things like designing qubit systems for quantum computing or spintronics. It’s essentially these defects, these flaws that empower them to do great things… great things you could never expect a perfect crystal to do.
And I relate a lot with these defects myself, because I’ve got so many flaws. But I know I’ll always be a diamond in the rough, like the title of the book suggests, not that perfect, carved diamond – carved by the knives of what the rest of the world deems decent. And I’ll have to learn to be grateful for my flaws, which are, in a way, that makes me different from all the other diamonds.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Personally, I find words that end with -ctic to be largely intriguing. And for no reason in particular. Well, the only reason that I can find is that such words cause a rhythm that resonates throughout my mind, elevating my soul and spirit to the highest heights. Okay, I might have gone a little too far, there. But what I’m basically saying is that those words withhold a poetic characteristic that comes to me as very unique. The clicking sounds of such words click into my mind like those words belong right to me. Examples of such words would be arctic, eclectic, and hectic. Hectic, for some reason, is my least favorite of the three, but it seems the most useful in everyday speech. As for eclectic, the triple c-s give it an extra tinge of specialty, like the chocolate chips on a mint chocolate chip ice-cream. Just feel the rhythm and the rhyme. And I give extra point when the word that follows the -ctic words begins with a “c.” Naturally, “arctic cool” or “eclectic collection” are amongst my favorite phrases.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have a habit of stealing like an artist; whatever I read shows up in my writing, one way or the other. Classic novels like ‘The Scarlett Letter’ and Shakespeare’s plays influenced me a great degree. I even had my own drama club dubbed “Shakespeare: Shake the Atmosphere” back in junior high. Other than that, I consider ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ to be my all-time favorite novel.
What are you working on now?
I am researching on fields related to mechanical engineering, materials science engineering, and chemistry. I hope to come up with a few projects regarding designing nanoparticles, and green technology.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I try to reach out to friends all around the world to read and review my books.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
“Subway Veggie”
It becomes clearer what we’ve never taken into account when we remove what seems crucial to the naked eye. The Subway Veggie is not a “lack” of the special ingredient; rotisserie chicken, avocado, egg-mayo, pulled pork, turkey, shrimp, bacon…whatever you name it. But it’s rather, a revolution, an unfolding of secrets, but a kind of secret that has been present all along.
I’d rather call it Subway Cheese.
There’s an aha-moment, a moment of epiphany once you bite into the sandwich; it is not at all what you would expect.
It shows us how much we’ve been missing when we were focusing on that one special ingredient.
With normal sandwiches, you always wonder where the cheese is really, mixed somewhere in between the other ingredients. You’d have to add a few more slices to really feel the cheese – a single layer wouldn’t do.
But in the absence of the ‘main topping’, all comes to us clear – the tastes, smells, and the crunching freshness of the individual vegetables become much more explicit – all the things we’ve always taken for granted in the past. And the cheese, salty and rich, deep and white and with a plaintive creaminess – oh, you can feel every bit of it. The very cheese you couldn’t really taste, not once or ever in the past. And without doubt, it is there, and you can appreciate it…in a way you never had.
At the bottom line, we may often face ‘a lack’ of many things in life. But a lack is quite not always a lack. For, for every lack, there is compensation. Whatever we have left becomes only clearer, more certain, and we are left to derive a new sort of value from these elements, regardless of how generic they may have seemed beforehand.
Just take winter for instance. In the dearth of warmth, we can find joy, a new kind of joy, in cozy theaters or a cup of hot chocolate, or the relief that a fuzzy blanket could bring. And all the holiday excitement snowmen could bring, along with mittens and scarves, icicles and ice-skates. No, all that wouldn’t be possible without warmth, that special Subway topping we were always only too eager to get.
And now I guess it’s up to us to cherish what we’ve got left and wonder about all the other things we may have always been taking for granted. The cheese, the vegetables, that part in life we’ve been quite forgetting – no, I don’t think they’ll ever feel quite the same, not anymore.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
People who are upset, forlorn, angry, or afraid need other people to listen and care for them. Because sometimes, you can’t pick yourself back up on your own, after falling down. Some say that people never change. But that’s not true. Some things never change, but some things never stay the same.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading thick books filled with science, math, and engineering equations. I’d like to start reading a few more novels when I get the time.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I will be focusing on the next string of books – The Prince of Magnets, A Strange Cliffside Factory, A Chiral Universe, Something Denser than Love, and Schrodinger’s Lost Cat.
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?
I’d bring a tome full of survival tactics that’d prove likely on the island. Another would be the thickest possible novel that I can bring along to give me solace during my stay. The last two would be technical/scientific scripts or study material – If I’ve got a lot of spare time, I ought to be doing some research.