Q&A with authorJames Kimmel, Jr.
James, welcome to the B&N.com General Fiction forum.Can you tell us about your novel?JK: First, thank youfor hosting this forum and inviting me. I love to interact with readers. My novel,The Trial of Fallen Angels, is aspiritual thriller about a young lawyer named Brek Cuttler who diesunexpectedly but, in the afterlife, doesn’t remember how or why she died. Whiletrying to solve the mystery of her own death, she learns that she has been chosento join the elite team of lawyers who prosecute and defend souls at the FinalJudgment—many of whom, it turns out, have a connection to her life. In theprocess of presenting cases in a courtroom of eternity, Brek learns theterrible secret of her death and must reconcile the conflicting desire forjustice with the inconceivable possibility of forgiveness.
This is your first work of fiction, but not your first book.
How different was writing The Trial ofFallen Angels from writing Suing ForPeace?JK: I actually wrotethe initial drafts of The Trial of FallenAngels long before I wrote Suing forPeace. In today’s book market, nonfiction is easier to get published thanfiction, so Suing for Peace waspublished first. The process ofwriting the two books was entirely different. Fiction is subtle and, if done well, a form of art. Itrequires a great deal of time, reflection, and inspiration. So much goes intoconceiving characters, plot, and another complete world. Much effort also goesinto phrasing, metaphors, and word choice to evoke emotions and ideas subconsciouslyin the mind of the reader. The Trial of Fallen Angels took me adecade to finish. I poured my soulinto it. On the other hand, Suing for Peace took me a little morethan two weeks to complete. Theywere an intense two weeks, and I poured my soul into that book as well; but Iwas not occupied with creating new characters and describing new worlds. Norwas I trying to be subtle. My task was more straightforward: to set forth aseries of observations and a philosophy. To be fair, though, I could not have written Suing for Peace so quickly without having first written The Trial of Fallen Angels. Suingfor Peace contains a statement of the conflict and philosophy that playsout in the novel. They are, in asense, companions.
Along those same lines, was this release day any differentfrom your first?JK: I don’t think so,actually. Suing for Peace waspublished by a smaller publisher (Hampton Roads) with few resources and reacheda smaller audience. But as a nonfiction book, the media seemed to regard it as somewhatnewsworthy and were interested in doing interviews. The Trial of FallenAngels is being published by an enormous publisher (Penguin/Putnam) and isbeing translated and published on 5 different continents. But despite thegreater expanse of the publishing effort, the media interest seems less so far. I think this is because fiction isgenerally not regarded as newsworthy on its own—unless the person writing it isa celebrity of some sort. So,release day for both books feels about the same. For me, it is a quiet time to stand back and reflect—and tofeel gratitude for all the people who worked so hard to help bring the book tothe public. A single author’s name appears on a book, but there are hundreds ofpeople behind it who helped make the words manifest. Release day is also a time to think about all those who willread the book and to hope that they will accept what has been gifted.
What led to your becoming a novelist?JK: I fell in lovewith writing in high school. I remember feeling psychically broken and rebornwhen I first started reading literature. What the great books could do to theheart and soul of a person while sitting in perfect stillness scanning a pieceof paper was a powerful revelation. I was never interested in books that didnothing more than tell a great story. The novelists that affected me, that mademe weep with joy, were using great stories to tell us something vital about thehuman condition, something that we needed to hear, sometimes to secure ourhappiness, sometimes to secure our very survival. I wanted to be able to havethat effect on people. And over tie I believed I had something important tosay. I also found that I loved theprocess of writing, the challenge, the puzzle, the stillness, the power tocreate characters and worlds, the delight of discovering the perfect word orphrase. Nothing I do as a vocationbrings me as much joy as writing. I also find it to be a way into the soul, apath of self-discovery and Oneness with God.
Are you planning another novel?JK: Yes, I am at workon a trilogy actually—a spiritual thriller that begins with the scientificdiscovery of the human soul. More soon!
Do you still actively practice law?JK: Yes, but I do sonow primarily as general counsel to a company I co-founded called Peerstar LLCthat provides mental health peer support services to individuals with seriousmental illness. In addition toserving as general counsel and Executive Vice President of the company, I amthe Director of Forensic Services. In that capacity, I collaborated with theYale University School of Medicine to develop a forensic peer support programfor individuals suffering from serious mental illness in the criminal justicesystem.
According to your website,you are the co-founder of Peerstar LLC.Tell us about the organization and what led to your co-founding it?JK: I was drawn toforensic peer support services by the idea that individuals can recover fromserious mental illness and the stigma of having a criminal history whensupported by peers who have had similar experiences and recovered from them. Thistype of mental health recovery program, which has strong scientific evidencebacking it, fits well with other research and work I had been doing into whypeople commit acts of violence. I have come to the conclusion thatjustice-seeking in the form of revenge is the primary cause of intentionallyinflicted human suffering and violence—from bullies on playgrounds and thugs onstreet corners to acts of terrorism, torture, and war. A growing number ofbrain imaging studies are showing that the same area of the brain thatactivates when people crave chocolates, narcotics, and sex also activities whenwe feel wronged by somebody and want justice. This suggests that justice-seeking may for some peoplebecome an uncontrollable compulsive disorder akin to addiction. A key toreducing rates of violence might be to begin to identify these people and helpthem. I have developed a nine-step self-help program that combines law andspirituality called “The Nonjustice System” to do this. This is discussed at length in my book Suing for Peace. Forensic peer supportis a way of reaching out to help individuals struggling with mental illness andthis compulsive justice-seeking behavior.
James, thank you for taking time out to let us get to knowyou and your new novel a bit better. Good luck!
Buy the book here visit the author's website here
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder