Interview With Author Paul Egli
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a retired financial/economics guy whose main responsibilities now are walking my dog, playing golf, and writing nail-biting suspense thrillers.
I have written a lot of books. Unfortunately, most are hidden in binders or on computer media in unfindable locations in my basement.
For example, after my honeymoon in Florida, I wrote a nice suspense story set in Key West Florida. I wrote it while I was working in an office and took a chance of getting fired.
Fortunately, I never got fired but unfortunately, the manuscript has disappeared into the black hole known as my basement.
I also wrote a fun suspense thriller about a space detective – that one is also missing in action in my basement.
I am most proud of a partially finished novel quite a few years ago I wrote about the John Kennedy assassination. I think I could find that one in the basement and someday soon I will revisit that manuscript or that subject and do it right. Writing about that event has always been a high priority for me personally.
The first novel I wrote and self-published is PROPOFOL It is available from the usual places and I think any fan of the suspense genre novels would enjoy it. International crime and intrigue about the illegal harvesting and sale of human organs. (Based on true events)
My second novel, DAD, will be published this summer. It is similar in feel to my novel – excitement, romance, humor, suspense with a slight Steven King flavor. As a pure coincidence, the plot focuses on the tension between Israel and Iran’s and Iran’s quest to build nuclear weapons.
Again, I think any reader who enjoys a good suspense story, would find DAD a lot of fun to read.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest published book is PROPOFOl.
PROPOFOL, by the way, is a very common anesthetic used in the United States, to put people under if they need a medical operation. It works very fast – you get a shot in your arm and you are gone immediately – no need to count backward from ten!
To understand what inspired me to write this novel I have to back up a little.
For me, as a writer, whenever I see something interesting in real life or I get an idea for a novel I write it down on my iPhone.
So one day I am on the subway in Toronto and a man gets on the train holding his laptop under his arm.
I started thinking what would happen if a person (a perfect stranger) sat down beside you on the subway, the person had a medical emergency, and, before the person became unconscious, gave you the laptop and said, “Guard this laptop with your life – don’t let anyone see it or touch it – it has extremely important and dangerous data on it”
And the person is gone temporarily or permanently.
So I took that idea from my iPhone and ran with it – an 87,000-word novel!
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am not sure if this is a habit or unusual but you may find it an interesting anecdote about my writing process.
If everything is going well when I am writing a novel – by that I mean I have a number of solid characters, a viable plot, and the story is developed to a good degree – I stop being a writer.
So I am sitting in front of my computer and the characters are facing some obstacle or trying to accomplish an objective and they are relating to each other and they start to take on a life of their own independent of me.
Instead of being a writer, I become an observer or a journalist – I sit there and watch them acting in their world and doing what needs to be done and I write it down.
It sounds weird but their (the characters’) world and their situation becomes real in my mind and I watch them work the problem and I record it like a journalist for a newspaper who is watching a news story unfold.
This free-flowing state doesn’t always happen but sometimes it does – my characters are in the real world and they are taking the plot where it should go and I am the observer.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have great respect and admiration for many, many authors. When I was at University I got exposed to philosophers and historians and it was an experience I will never forget.
Everyone should get a chance to read the early Greek philosophers. You want to be right there with Socrates when he explains to his students what truth and justice mean.
It is an effort – but an enjoyable effort – to read Winston Churchill’s 4.000 page description of World Was II.
I should talk about suspense writers as that is my genre and your readers might find it more interesting.
One summer I got hold of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep and I couldn’t believe the beauty of his writing and the pure suspense of his plots and how his description of 1930’s Los Angeles made the city come alive in your mind.
The British writer Dick Francis also wrote terrific suspense novels but my favourite author has to be the American writer John D MacDonald and his wonderful Travis McGee character. I am listening to one of his stories now on an audio CD in my car (for the tenth time!!)
In the contemporary world of fiction, writers like John Grisham and Steven King and the late Michael Crichton are so entertaining and so insightful of the human condition that there should be a Nobel Literary Prize category just for writers of their genre.
What are you working on now?
As I mentioned above, I am getting my second novel DAD polished and ready for a summer publication date.
I suspect if it gets a lot of attention and readership, some people are going to be very upset about its content even though it is just fiction. It deals with a very polarizing issue about the Middle East conflict.
But at its core, it is very close to my first book – suspense, danger, humor, some romance, political comments, and wonder and hope about the human condition.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best method is my website https://paulegli.net/
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Writing is a great and noble occupation – get your ideas written down on paper or as megabytes as soon as you can!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You know – no person has ever given me advice about my writing.
On the contrary – many people think the written word and books are obsolete – to be replaced by AI and the transient musings of social media personalities.
I totally disagree – one of the most beneficial experiences a person can have is by reading and sharing the thoughts and experiences of another person as they are expressed in their books.
What are you reading now?
In the world of fiction, most of my reading now is listening to CDs in my car to the authors I love – like John D MacDonald or Stephen King.
This may sound strange, but many nights before I go to sleep I read a chapter or two of my own book PROPOFOL – for some crazy reason I enjoy it even though I wrote it!
In the world of non-fiction, I can’t read the newspapers anymore because I get too upset – there is a huge void of inspiration idealism, and concern for other people in the world now and I get frustrated and angry because there is nothing I can do about it but write my novels.
What’s next for you as a writer?
As I mentioned earlier in this article, I am strongly drawn to writing a suspense novel with a plot that takes place simultaneously with John Kennedy’s assassination.
To do a good job on this project would require a huge amount of research and hopefully in-person interviews all over the US.
I am not sure there are enough vitamin pills on the planet to give me the strength to complete such a task!
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?
Tough question.
Can I cheat a little and bring sets of books?
1. Winston Churchill – The Second World War (6 volumes)
2. John D MacDonald – Travis McGee Novels (21)
3. Book on Building a Boat
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