Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the Cypres Family Distinguished Professor in Legal Studies in Business at Hofstra University’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business, a New York attorney and the author of non-fiction, fiction and poetry. To date, I have published eight textbooks on law-related subjects and two trade books on computer-related subjects through traditional publishers. I have also self-published four short story collections, two poetry collections, and two general reference books on intellectual property. I recently completed my first novel, Hire Lernin’, to be published by the summer of 2021.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I published two books in the past two months–Echoes of Dawn at Dusk: Collected Poems, Volume 2, and Echoes of the Mind’s Eye: 13 Speculative Fiction Short Stories. My latest completed book, however, is Hire Lernin’, my first novel that deals with the experience of a naïve, idealistic young lawyer who takes on the position of academic dean at a for-profit business school in New York City in the late 1980s unaware of the nature of the industry. He immediately sets out to implement meaningful changes to update stale courses and dated curricula without resources other than his own ingenuity, entrepreneurial spirit and hard work. Despite the odds, he quickly achieves unprecedented professional success , but the misalignment of his personal vision with that of the for-profit educational institution he serves creates personal and professional conflicts with unexpected consequences. The novel is fiction inspired from my experience at the start of my long academic career in circumstances similar to those faced by the protagonist. The issues it raises about both for-profit education and traditional non-profit community colleges and associate-degree-granting institutions that formerly provided non-academic, meaningful, affordable career training for students seeking skills-based training to make them marketable to employers in a short time are real, compelling, seldom explored and worthy of an open discussion that can lead to needed meaningful change.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
For my poetry and fiction, including my forthcoming novel, I compose at the keyboard. I do not use notes, outlining or engage in character development before I write. I have a general idea of where I want to go with a story or theme (usually) but more often than not the writing flows and moves freely in its own direction. I have very eclectic tastes and competencies, and because I write about things that I both know a good deal about and care about, my writing process is organic. Ideas flow onto the page and usually organize themselves like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle falling into place on their own.
My non-fiction, of course, is different. But even there I usually work from a very broad outline and directly from notes to what can be hundreds of hours of research. To clear my mind from intensive writing sessions, I often switch from a fiction project to non-fiction ones–and sometimes even take breaks to play a video game or work on some mindless chore like shoveling snow or mowing the lawn.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
For my fiction in particular, the list is quite long and varied–from Beowulf in the original old English, to Chaucer in middle English, to Shakespeare, Milton, Cervantes, Dante, Dickens, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Mary Shelley, H. G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Miller, George Bernard Shaw, Tennessee Williams, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Robert A. Heinlein, Roger Zelazny, Terry Goodkind, Rod Serling, George R. R. Martin, Poul Andersen, Isaac Asimov, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and on and on through scores more. In my poetry, I have been influenced most by Shakespeare for his sonnets (and in drama for his plays), Milton, Pope, all the British Romantic poets–but especially Wordsworth, Blake, Coleridge and Shelley–Tirso de Molina, Federico Garcia Lorca (both for his poetry and plays in the original Spanish) and countless others.
What are you working on now?
I am putting the final editing touches on my first novel, Hire Lernin’–the complete first ten chapters in draft form are available for free preview at both Booksie (https://www.booksie.com/644807-hire-lernin) and Wattpad (https://www.wattpad.com/story/255625705-hire-lernin%27). Both sites also offer many samples of my published work–fiction, poetry, and law. Booksie features many sample poetry readings from both of my poetry collections.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I do very little promotion or advertising of my self-published work beyond my Twitter, Facebook and blogs as I am unwilling to spend the significant amounts of money for advertising and promotion that are required for significant results that nevertheless seldom pay for themselves in terms of actual sales. I also refuse to pay for “professional” reviews–a common practice these days. My textbooks are promoted by my publisher. My professional scholarly writing in refereed academic journals and law reviews is accessible in journals by subscription in libraries and is usually also either publicly accessible through publishers’ sites or through the Lexis/Nexis and West Law legal research databases.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read broadly but write in your own voice. As writers, we are each as unique as snowflakes. Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery; it is at worst plagiarism and at best a grainy, false imitation of someone else’s art. Each of our voices is unique and contributes to the ongoing symphony that is humanity’s combined printed works. Write about things you know well and care about, but try to stay clear of the unholy trinity of me, myself and I in your writing–unless writing a memoir.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what you know.
What are you reading now?
I’m re-reading A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin and A Grateful American by Gary Sinise. A three-novel, The Anna Davies Mystery Series by Rita Lee Chapman, is next on my reading list having just bought it on Amazon after purchasing the first book in the series, Missing in Egypt.
What’s next for you as a writer?
On my law-related professional writing, I hope to expand my A Primer on Immigration Law and Compliance mini-textbook published last year by Textbook Media Press and/or a general reference book on immigration law. Two scholarly articles completed this past fall will be out for review this spring– López, V. D., Avoiding the Legal Landmines Attendant to the Process of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Form I-9 Compliance, and López, V. D., When Legal Systems Clash: Why Foreign-Born Residents Fall Prey to Unscrupulous Notaries Public and What Can Be Done to Prevent It.
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?
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, the Complete Works of William Wordsworth, and the best survival guide I can find.
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