Interview With Author MJ (Mike) Politis, Ph.D., D.V.M., H.B.A.R.P. (human being, aspiring Renaissance person)
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
The elements present in MJ Politis’ works that define them can be best described as humanistic comedy, drama and satire with a unique cerebral edge. Along with being thought provoking, they speak to common experience of struggling people trying to make the world a better, more enlightened and Alive, big A, place. Premises are often unconventional utilizing unpredictable and intricate plotlines to tell stories about complex characters with many internal contradictions. A large portion of the works utilize historical settings which relate situations that we encounter today, as well as being authentic to descriptions of life which we don’t experience in the 21st century. A common but not always present theme in the books and films is…’revolutionary’. Rugged individualists trying to do and implement the right things in a dead, dying or corrupt world. Central characters in stories penned struggle with intensity to make the world a better place, often against ‘too cool to sweat’ and ‘cool to be cruel’ antagonists.
Due to his previous career as a highly prolific senior level research neuroscientist, lecturer and veterinary clinician, many of the story themes are biomedical or deal with issues regarding how science serves, and (when done irresponsibly) doesn’t serve us in the tradition of fellow docs who became writers such as Anton Chekov and Michael Crichton. Stories about Revolutions are heavily represented because of his dedication to initiating and maintaining positive social change that is healthy as well as sustainable. Tales about the Wild West, the Wild East (Russia) and Greece represent a substantial portion of his writing due to his ancestry as well as having lived the first portion of his 73 year old life in the Big (Crab) Apple as a masochistic workahollic and the second half in rural Western Canada owned by horses, who he continues to work for, and with.
Author, 76 novels/novellas. Dir/Writer 25 plus films. Samples, links, award/festival/distribution history on www.longriderpress.net MJ Politis, Ph.D., D.V.M., H.B.A.R.P. (human being aspiring Renaissance person) mjpolitis@yahoo.com
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest…Heart of the Healer: Anatomy of Deception, updating it, given escalating misuse of science and technology, and the sterility of soul that is epidemic in scientists/health practitioners.
Currently adding part 3 to Henry and the Wolf Doctor series, upon seeing even more corruption in veterinary association, taking over of more veterinary clinics everywhere and more untreated animals this year than previous ones.
AND….Cossack Idealist, about a naive, kind and pathologically naive Cossack in WWI whose eyes are open to see the corruption in the world by an herb his genius horse ingested too much of so that said Cossack could transform his homeland into an Enlightened Kingdom. Inspired by…seeing a few too many flaws and deficits in those I work with, and for.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Thank you for this very interesting question. As a fact based fiction writer, I let an idea for a story incubate in my head until what the book is about materializes. Envision the characters, placing myself in their world and….let the fingers guide me to the next step. As a former research scientist and part time veterinarian, logic prevents me from going too far off the yellow brick road. I FORCE myself to write something (at least one chapter) every day, no matter what happens that day, and am rewarded by seeing the fingers produce surprises in plot and character that were not formulated before writing. Find myself in a different world with each book, emerging from each writing session not knowing where I am. If possible, ride my horse every day between writing sessions to let ideas solidify on their own terms, and…perhaps getting story notes from the horse in equinese.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Many. Writers who have ‘mentored’ me most include Nikos Kazantzakis, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, Tolstoy, Chekov and John Steinbeck.
What are you working on now?
Book three in Henry and the Wolf Doctor series.
An intense, independent Native woman scientifically brilliant and tied to her cultural roots with an abusive past fresh out of vet school is trapped into working for old Sawbones pathologically-paternalistic redneck animal doc in a backwater Western Canadian town filled with colorfully-dysfunctional rugged individualists who refuse to be homogenized into the 21st century. Alliances/bondships are challenged by manipulative young Eastern Blueblood Corporate vet who wants to settle family scores with the Sawbones Redneck animal doc and make the old man’s sometimes willing First Nations ‘protégée’ his personal squaw, and the town his prize ‘colony’.
Produced as a feature length film. A book about what the veterinary world is, and should be. An All Creatures Great and Small, with contemporary edge, multicultural theme and Western Canadian setting.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Working on it. Currently have the books on www.lulu.com as they have no restrictions regarding exclusivity (Amazon would not let me have my own website). As I do not have a whole lot of lifetime left (age 73) and write faster than traditional publishers/agents move, I self publish. Am presently working with (and testing out) three hybrid publishers and a book/film publicist. Whatever talent I have is in making good steak, not in producing eye/ear catching sizzle to attract diners to my literary restaurant.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Excellent question! Thanks for including it. Relating in point form:
1. Know your song well before you start singing (yes, I know, stealing that from Bob Dylan)
2. The first line will be hard, the second harder, the third even harder but…if you persevere, you’ll find a better first line or a magnificent fourth one.
3. Everything in the story should be about developing character or moving along/putting twists and turns into plot.
4. Be sure that your protagonist, or any other character you care about, is not a passive passenger in the story. He/she makes things happen by making good or bad choices, then living in the universe produced by such.
5. Do not be afraid of being intense.
6. Let humor (and satire) arise naturally from truthful, honest and intensity filled drama.
7. Be prepared for far more intense work than gleeful play. You may bypass happiness but will experience Bliss in that accomplishment.
8. Do not be afraid of writing long, compound sentences. They can be corrected ‘in post’ later if/as required.
9. Be aware that some people will love your work and some will hate it.
10. NEVER consult or use AI. Yes, you get smooth writing but it lacks Soul, honesty and innovation.
11. Listen to but do not blindly go with what critics say.
12. Do not try to imitate other writers.
13. Know that the marketplace is overflooded, inefficient and is in the service of those who want to make money or instantly sell something that is popular rather than real, or imaginative.
14. Finally…decide if you are a writer who is 90 percent like everyone else and 10 percent querky, or one who is 90 percent ‘out there’ and (on a good day) 10 percent understanble.
15. Wherever you can, invent and use your unique metaphors and ‘sayings’ for your unique characters rather than go with what AI or ‘common speak’ is.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t give up. And continue to tell the truth in writing rather than promoting comfortable and profitable lies. Old cliques but, true ones.
What are you reading now?
Vonnagut, Welcome to the Monkey House.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Do not know yet. Perhaps going back to making films. OR, as is my habit to stay diverse, write something that is different in genre, tone and setting from the last completed work. Or, if hired to write screenplay or book for someone else, what is requested from me.
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?
1. War and Peace.
2. Zorba the Greek.
3. Grapes of Wrath.
4. A blank notebook on which to continue writing.
Author Websites and Profiles
MJ (Mike) Politis, Ph.D., D.V.M., H.B.A.R.P. (human being, aspiring Renaissance person) Website
MJ (Mike) Politis, Ph.D., D.V.M., H.B.A.R.P. (human being, aspiring Renaissance person)’s Social Media Links
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