Ask the Author: John Murnane
Answered Questions (3)
John Murnane
My three novels are all very different, but all draw on my life experiences and address issues that were important in my life. The first was my childhood growing up in the desert and the Vietnam war. The second was the sacrifices scientists make and how science is done telling the true story of how vaccines were first made in the laboratory. The third was using a murder mystery in a cancer research laboratory to educate people on what cancer is and how it is being fought. It also gives the inside story of some of the struggles that scientists face - using my experience of leaving graduate school at one point and starting over because I could not reproduce my mentors result. See my website for more: www.johnmurnaneauthor.com
John Murnane
As a scientist, I have always been interested in making science more understandable to the general public. Now that I am retired, I am researching the origins of vaccination in the Pasteur lab. This will be historical fiction involving the members of his laboratory and how science works in the trenches.
John Murnane
The idea evolved while I was writing the book. I knew I wanted to capture what it was like to grow up in a small desert town in the 50s and 60s, and that it would involve an adventure. However, the story grew as I wrote. I wanted to capture many of the characters and stories that my father told. He knew the test pilots, hermits and miners from being the editor of the newspaper. I also wanted to capture the effect the military draft and Vietnam War. I was drafted, but did not have to serve for health reasons. It made me committed to try to bring the other boys home who were drafted and I became an anti war protestor in college. Finally, I have spent many months hiking in the Grand Canyon and Sierra Nevada and wanted to get across the feeling of the desert and its flora, fauna and geology.
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