Ask the Author: Derek Davis
Answered Questions (5)
Derek Davis
Rajeev--I honestly don't recall what I meant by/was referring to with that--in fact, I wonder if I didn’t stick it in the wrong review. I'd go back to "Lord of the Sea" to check, but it's not a book I want to plow through again. Don't struggle over it, just assume I don't know what I'm doing. I assume that a lot and find it very helpful in getting through the day.
Derek Davis
David, thanks for the note. I don't know that I have anything specific to ask about your father, but delighted to find the connection. I first read Doodah years back (I think it was on sale through Daedalus Books?) and it sank into me. Then, as always, I must have given my copy away and had to track down a replacement to reread, which is when I posted the review.
There's just such a peculiar intensity to the book. It's one of the best examinations of mind-control, which is usually put in a religious, rather than business context. But of course, a corporation or any large, sheltered community can become "religious" in that fearful sense. And, of course, it couldn't be more relevant than the crap we see going on today with politics and social upheaval. I hope we'll weather it, but god knows.
There's just such a peculiar intensity to the book. It's one of the best examinations of mind-control, which is usually put in a religious, rather than business context. But of course, a corporation or any large, sheltered community can become "religious" in that fearful sense. And, of course, it couldn't be more relevant than the crap we see going on today with politics and social upheaval. I hope we'll weather it, but god knows.
Derek Davis
I don't think inspiration had much to do with it. I wrote Robert Benchley-like bits as a teen just for the hell of it, worked on the campus paper at UPenn, dropped in an out of making mostly minimal money at feature writing, then captivated completely by "Gravity's Rainbow" and spent way too many years trying to write my version of it (ha!). Since then, realized I'll never make money at anything, it's not in my nature, so just plug along with false starts and a few completions of work that I enjoy doing, even when it drives me batty.
Derek Davis
A most confusing (to me) novel about a brilliant, very angry young woman with the apparent ability to change the probability of outcomes. Or so she thinks until she thinks about it more clearly. Totally rewriting some segments for the third time.
Derek Davis
Middle Earth and walk the mountains. Not too different from where I live and what I do now. I'm where I want to be.
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