Interview With Author Mitchell Waldman
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the author of the novels THE VISITOR and A FACE IN THE MOON, as well as the short story collections BROTHERS, FATHERS, AND OTHER STRANGERS. My fiction and poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. I also serve as the Fiction Editor for Blue Lake Review.
I grew up in the Chicago area and attended the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, where I received a B.S. in Psychology, the University of Texas at Austin, and Southern Illinois University, where I earned my J.D.
I worked for 27 years as a writer and Attorney-Editor for a legal publishing company, having retired in 2022.
I live in Rochester, NY with my partner the award-winning journalist and poet Diana May-Waldman, author of A WOMAN’S SONG.
We have six children and six grandchildren.
I love baseball, cycling, reading, of course, and a good ale.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My new novel is entitled THE VISITOR which starts “He wakes up in a different body.”
So begins the journey of Ash—short for Pin Asher9919—who awakens on a hospital bed on, he believes, a different planet after an automobile accident took the bodily life of an Earth human named Edward Fleishman. Ash is told he was the victim of a serious brain injury and miraculously recovered from being brain dead in a coma, but Ash feels he knows the truth: his spirit has replaced the distressed spirit of the former Edward Fleishman.
And so Ash’s new life on earth begins, complete with a spouse who is a stranger to him, a body he is not sure how to use, a world he must learn to navigate, and a government he can’t trust.
How did I get the idea for THE VISITOR? It started with an idea about reincarnation. I’d written a story in my last short story collection Brothers, Fathers, and Other Strangers about a Jewish dentist who thinks he was the reincarnation of Hitler. I was fascinated with the reincarnation angle (or was he merely going crazy?) In any case, that idea sprouted into the question Why should reincarnation of spirits be limited to the reincarnation of spirits from Earth? If there are no physical limitations on the movement of spirits and you believe there is life on other planets why couldn’t spirits from other worlds travel into the bodies of Earth-bound humans.
Then I started reading about distressed souls leaving human bodies and the concept of Starseeds — Individuals who believe their souls originate from other planets, star systems, or dimensions and have incarnated on Earth to help humanity and the planet.
Mix that with some purposeful rereading of great dystopian sci fi novels such as 1984, A Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451, mix in the current political state of the government in the United States, and the concept for my new novel was born, starting with the first sentence: “He wakes up in a different body.”
I spent many hours before work and lunch hours starting to build the novel, revising it and revising it until it got to its final form and was, eventually, accepted by my publisher All Things That Matter Press, whose editors gave it yet another final edit or two.
And now, the book has been well received by reviewers and readers on Amazon as a novel blending speculative fiction with psychological depth, as a thought-provoking novel explores themes of consciousness, trust, and what it truly means to belong in a world that feels anything but familiar, and as and emotional and thoughtful book, exploring what it means to be human.
I hope other readers will also find it an interesting and enriching experience.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have a tendency, from years of writing on lunch breaks and before work, of writing in small segments and coming back to work on my stories. This was true of my novel, as well, which required a lot of editing in the end to make sure all my small blocks of writing congealed.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Joseph Heller, Philip Roth, Dorothy Allison, Diana May-Waldman, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Russo, Larry McMurtry, TC Boyle, Larry Brown, Richard Ford, Michael Chabon, Larry Watson, Chris Offutt, Mark Costello, Alice Munro, Frederick Barthelme, Tim O’Brien, Raymond Carver, Jonathan Tropper, Sam Pink, Sam Lipsyte, Andre Dubus, Andre Dubus III, Mark Jacobs
Books–like a lot of writers, I’d have to say, everything I’ve ever read, good or bad.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on a new collection of literary short stories, continuing themes that have been included in my past collections, dealing with family dysfunction, feelings of alienation, and the paths we take in our journeys through life.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
All types of social media sites are the thing, it seems these days, from Facebook to posting on Medium and Substack, Instagram, Goodreads, and such. It’s something I’m still trying to catch up on.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up. It’s a long road to “get there” and “getting there” can mean a lot of different things to different people. Do you want to get your words out there to be read? Do you want to make money, become famous? What is your motivation for writing? A lot of people say they “must write,” which sounds like a writer thing, but really, think about what your purpose in writing is.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
As a writer we have a tendency to bury our heads in our writings. Sometimes you need to lift your head up and see what’s going on around you. Don’t be all-consumed by your work. Live live than just write about it.
What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading OUR STORY BEGINS: NEW AND SELECTED STORIES, a collection of Tobias Wolff’s short stories.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have been tending from moving from purely literary writing to more speculative or experimental work, keeping the same literary themes in my work, as exhibited by my lates novel, THE VISITOR. My new story collection should feature a cross-genre mixture of stories.
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?
CATCH-22
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE
A WOMAN’S SONG
THE SUN ALSO RISES
Author Websites and Profiles
Mitchell Waldman Amazon Profile
Mitchell Waldman’s Social Media Links
Author Interview Series
To discover a new author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!
If you are an author and want to be interviewed just fill out out Author Interview page. After submitting we will send it out in our newsletters and social media channels that are filled with readers looking to discover new books to read.
If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.