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WORK TITLE: The Gene Police
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE: FL
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
http://www.smalltownmysteries.com/index.html https://www.bancroftpress.com/press/ElliottLightPressRelease_ChainThinking.pdf
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; wife’s name Sonya.
EDUCATION:Attended University of Virginia.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, novelist, and attorney. Retired patent attorney.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Elliott Light is retired patent attorney. He is also a mystery novelist whose novels feature a small-town lawyer who ends up doing his own investigations. Light grew up in McLean Virginia near Washington, DC, at a time when farms still existed nearby. When he was in his early thirties, Light was a accused of a crime which he said he did not commit. Ever since that time Light has had a skeptical view of the U.S. justice system, especially in terms of the system wanting to get a conviction more than obtaining the truth. Light became interested in writing in the early 1980s when he purchased an Atari 800 computer with a word processing program. “Somewhere in that time frame I started writing just to justify the cost of the computer,” Light noted in an interview for the Whispering Stories website.
Chain Thinking
Light introduced the character of Shep Harrington in his novel Lonesome Song. Like Light himself, the small-town lawyer and private detective wannabe in Virginia has a dim view of the justice system. Unlike Light, who was never even brought to trial, Shep spent three years in prison for a time he did not commit. In the second novel featuring Shep, titled Chain Thinking, Shep makes a somewhat spur-of-the-moment decision to foster parent a chimpanzee. He got the chimpanzee from Sydney Vail, a soap-opera star who is in distress. Shep agrees to baby-sit Sydney’s companion while Sydney attends to business and soon finds the chimpanzee Kikora is highly intelligent.
After a while, however, it becomes apparent to Shep that Sydney has gone missing, and Kikora was stolen from a laboratory where they test drugs. It turns out that Sydney is being hunted for the theft, leading Shep to defend her with the help of some close friends. Mary Frances Wilkens, writing in Booklist, called Chain Thinking “entertaining and enlightening.” A Publishers Weekly Online contributor noted the novel’s “implicit argument for animal, specifically primate, rights.”
The Gene Police
In The Gene Police Shep returns and is approached by his friend, Reggie Mason, a Virginia State Trooper who has a dilemma. Reggie has been using the state’s DNA database for his own personal use, namely to find out whether or not his aunt’s lost baby, John Mason Langard, who was born in 1953, is really alive even though the doctors told his aunt that John died at birth. Reggie has found a match in the data base. The only problem is that it also connects the DNA of Reggie’s potential cousin to the murder of Jennifer Rice, a seventy-eight year old woman.
Shep’s investigation turns up disturbing facts about the hospital where John was born. At the time a prominent eugenicist ran the hospital and was knwnn to share Nazi-like beliefs about race. Shep learns the hospital doctor conducted his own involuntary sterilization program for the black psychiatric patients at the hospital. She sets out to find out who took John at birth and why. Karen Keefe, writing in Booklist, called The Gene Police “a strong mystery supported by its powerful treatment of racial injustice.” A Publishers Weekly contributor called the mystery a “timely look at an almost forgotten dark chapter of recent American history.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 2003, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of Chain Thinking, p. 70; March 15, 2018, Karen Keefe, review of The Gene Police, p. 21.
Publishers Weekly, March 12, 2018, review of The Gene Police, p. 42.
ONLINE
Bancroft Press website, https://www.bancroftpress.com/ (August 7, 2018), “Wife Opens Author’s Eyes to Animal Rights; Author Opens Readers’ Eyes,” “Light’s Mystery with a Message Entertains, Opens Minds on Animal Rights,” and “Biography of Two Reforming Chain Thinkers.”
Publishers Weekly, https://www.publishersweekly.com (July 14, 2018), review of Chain Thinking.
Smalltown Mysteries, http://www.smalltownmysteries.com/ (August 7, 2018), “Elliot Light: About Me.”
Whispering Stories, https://whisperingstories.com/ (July 4, 2018), “The Writing Life of: Elliott Light,” author interview.
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Wife Opens Author’s Eyes to Animal Rights; Author Opens Readers’ EyesProfile/ Interview/ Story Idea “Having justified our claim to human rights based on cognition, abil-ity to suffer, self-knowledge, culture, and other ‘uniquely’ human qualities, we must now deal with the realization that we may actually share these ‘uniquely’ human qualities with other living things.” --Elliott Light“I DIDN’T KNOW I was marrying a writer,” laughs Sonya Light, speaking of her marriage to mystery author and lawyer Elli-ott Light, “so it took some get-ting used to.” But as their years together passed, and Light began considering the second novel in his trademarked Shep Harring-ton SmallTown Mystery Series, Sonya inadvertently took on a major role. “The idea for Chain Thinking was a by-product of Sonya’s interest in efforts to communicate with chimpanzees through American Sign Language,” says Elliott. “She all but read Roger Fouts’ book Next of Kin to me while I was watching TV, eating dinner, and flossing.” Sonya disagrees that she “followed him around,” but she does concede that “I shared a lot of my thoughts and experi-ences with him.” Soon, Sonya was par-ticipating in an Earthwatch expedition studying five chimps Fouts cares for in a sanctuary built through his efforts, and the seeds that would grow into Chain Thinkingwere taking root in Elliott’s mind. “I WAS LOOKING for a ‘next book,’” says Elliott, “and began to wonder what TO RECEIVE A REVIEW COPY OR FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:Bruce Bortz Publisher Bancroft Press 410-358-0658 bruceb@ bancroftpress.com
“Chain Thinking is two books in one. On the one hand, it’s a won-derful introduction to the plight of captive chimpanzees. On the other hand, it’s an engrossing murder mystery that’s hard to put down. Both elements are packed into a quick and thoroughly enjoy-able read.” --ROGER FOUTS“If public opinion is any indica-tion, the animal-rights movement will continue to gain ground. In May, a Gallup Poll found that 96 percent of Americans believe animals de-serve some protection from harm and exploitation. A surprising 25 percent said that animals deserved the ‘exact same rights’ as people. “But winning the majority of peo-ple over to that idea will be a major challenge. Most Americans still be-lieve that only humans have a soul, and occupy a higher moral rung on the ladder of creation.” —DAVID W.MOORE,THE GALLUP ORGANIZATIONwould happen if a scientist involved in testing on chimpanzees was murdered—who would commit the crime, who would be accused, what the motivations might be, and how Shep would become involved. I surprised Sonya one day with a final draft.” He continues, “Of course, I had a lot of help along the way from people I met via the Internet—a who’s who among primatologists and primate rights advocates.” Sonya, both Elliott’s number one fan and toughest critic, became the first atop a long list of readers enthralled with the mystery’s story. “I was delighted when he came up with the idea to write a mys-tery that would highlight the plight of animal testing and chimpanzees in par-ticular,” she says. JUMP FORWARD SEVERAL MONTHS: the Lights and Chain Thinking have come full circle, garnering praise from the very people who inspired the novel in the beginning, including Roger Fouts and Steven Wise, as well as acclaim from an extensive list of professionals, mystery lovers, and even so-called “non-believers” in the animal rights cause. After his wife opened his eyes to the plight of chimpanzees involved in medi-cal experimentation, Elliott Light took it upon himself to enlighten a wider audi-ence—one he knew other advocates couldn’t touch, but one he could reach as a fiction writer. As Booklist, the maga-zine of the American Library Associa-tion, said, Chain Thinking “never turns preachy.” The fact that the book is an entertaining mystery makes it accessible to wide audiences who just may learn something along the way. “The moral dilemma is part of the mys-tery,” says Elliott, “not a substitute for it.” And this very simple fact is making Chain Thinking one of the most powerful tools an advocate has, in what is truly a breakthrough on the animal rights front. LORI KETTLER, AN ATTORNEY for one of the most visible animal rights activ-ism groups in the world, PETA, says, “I
hope PETA members will order the book from our website store and pass it along to their mainstream fellows. Chain Thinking’s success in the marketplace could mean that many people not neces-sarily in tune with the issue of animal use in laboratory testing will develop a more thoughtful attitude about the whole sordid mess.” The book is also a breakthrough on the mystery front, transcending traditional boundaries of the genre, and becoming what publishers are now calling a “Mys-tery with a Message.” Asked if they have plans to team up again, Sonya gives an enthusiastic “yes, we’re at it again!” To interview this fascinating author about the genesis of his amazing new book, please contact: Bruce Bortz Publisher Bancroft Press 410-358-0658 bruceb@ bancroftpress.com Questions for your interview with Elliott Light 9 What is “chain thinking”? Do you find yourself still guilty of the practice? 9Chain Thinking has a strong animal rights theme. Are you an animal rights advocate? 9 The book is about the legal rights of chimpanzees in the context of a biomedical testing program. Are you opposed to biomedical testing on all animals? 9 Do you advocate vegetarianism? 9 Did Sonya actually help write any part of Chain Thinking? 9 The main character of your books, Shep Harrington, seems to have a visceral reaction to power. To what ex-tent do you share this reaction? 9 Are you Shep Harrington? 9 What is the biggest challenge you face in novel-writing?
Light’s Mystery with a Message Entertains, Opens Minds on Animal Rights “Seamlessly weaves together fic-tion and a social issue—animal rights.” --MARTHA GRIMES, BEST-SELLING,AWARD-WINNING MYSTERY WRITERBook Synopsis “She signed ‘chase,’ then ran into the tall grass and hid. It took me a moment to realize she was trying to cheer me up by playing the hide-in-the-grass game. I managed to play with this marvelous creature for a few minutes until I just couldn’t overcome the dread of events to come. As she frolicked and hooted for my benefit, I was struck by the enormity of what would play out during the next twenty-four hours.” From Chain ThinkingChain Thinking continues the story of lawyer-cum-detective Shep Harrington, who made his debut in Light’s first novel, Lonesome Song. But while Lone-some Song was written in classic mys-tery style, and also as an introduction to a colorful cast of characters (including the setting of the Poor Farm, which is a character in and of itself), Chain Think-ing transcends that genre, doing some-thing few authors have successfully at-tempted—marrying an engrossing story with a sensitive social issue. Kikora, a chimpanzee left in Shep’s ini-tially reluctant care, has been liberated from living as the “property” of DMI—a mega medical conglomerate that uses animals like her to test a new anti-obesity pill. Chain Thinking poses many hard to answer ethical quandaries, such as: Can an animal with a difference of only 1.6% of DNA really be the property of a human? And with obesity as a na-tionwide epidemic that has recently TO RECEIVE A REVIEW COPY OR FOR MORE IN-FORMATION, CONTACT: Bruce Bortz Publisher Bancroft Press 410-358-0658 bruceb@ bancroftpress.com
Praise for Chain Thinking "Those who think that stories about legal rights for nonhuman animals have to be boring, tedious, complicated, or abstract are in for a treat in Chain Thinking!” --STEVEN M.WISE,LECTURER,HARVARD LAW SCHOOL“Within this mystery, Elliott Light's reluctant but interesting detective, Shep Harrington, makes his own case for the need to break ‘chain thinking’ and morally look at an important topic for discussion -- the way we treat our fellow creatures.” --NEVADA BARR, BEST-SELLING MYSTERY WRITER“Chain Thinking is two books in one—a wonderful introduction to the plight of captive chimpanzees, and an engrossing murder mystery that’s hard to put down.” --ROGER FOUTS,CO-AUTHOR,NEXT OF KIN:MY CONVERSATIONS WITH CHIMPANZEES;DEB-ORAH FOUTS,DIRECTOR,CHIMPANZEE AND HUMAN COMMUNICATION INSTITUTE“Elliott Light's Chain Thinking is refreshing in the way it offers up a fast moving crime plot wrapped around the fundamental issue of animal rights. It's an exciting read and a great gift idea for those whose minds are not so open on animal rights and the use of animals in scien-tific experimentation.” --ANGIE STEPHENSON,VICE PRESIDENT OF ANIMAL LIBERATION,NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA) “The way to get this issue across to the general public is in this for-mat (a novel) rather than a dry academic study."--NORMAN BAKER,MP,HOUSE OF COMMONSeclipsed smoking as a top health risk, are the lives of a few primates worth the lives of millions of people—or vice versa? Elliott Light knows better than to preach or moralize in Chain Thinking. He lays out the facts, in the form of a riveting story, and lets the readers do the think-ing, concluding, and convincing for themselves—the most effective method of argument in any case. This new fiction is exactly what animal rights groups across the world have been waiting for—a way to make the facts of this issue accessible to everyday people. And it’s exactly what mystery fans have been waiting for—a Mystery with a Message. To request a review copy of Chain Thinkingor Light’s debut Lonesome Song, please contact: Bruce Bortz Publisher Bancroft Press 410-358-0658 bruceb@ bancroftpress.com
Biography of Two Reforming Chain ThinkersAuthor Bio “A campaign against chain thinking does not equate to making us all vegetarians. But perhaps less chain thinking would make the choices we make more deliberate. We hide from the reality of our chain-based relationship with other living things. Animal flesh is steak or hamburger, chicken flesh is breast filet, and medications are not associ-ated with animals at all. We don’t want to know about the primates that we keep in small cages. I am still a chain thinker. I will probably die a chain thinker. But knowing what I am means that my choices are conscious ones. And perhaps that’s the heaviest burden of them all.”—Elliott Light ELLIOTT LIGHT GREW UP outside Washington, D.C. in McLean, Virginia before the beltway encircled the capital city, before farms were turned into hous-ing developments, and before open fields became mega-malls. THE SMALL TOWN OF LYLE is his crea-tion and reflects a mixture of true life and fiction drawn from the place he grew up and the places his relatives and ancestors lived. Among the more color-ful members of his family tree are his great, great, great uncle John Marshall, the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Su-preme Court, and his great, great, great cousin, Thomas Jefferson. ELLIOTT ATTENDED THEUniversity of Virginia, receiving degrees in Electrical Engineering and Law. He’s had an inter-esting legal career, mostly as in-house counsel for high tech companies. He has sold a satellite to China, worked with the founders of the Internet commerce at CyberCash, and written regulations that resulted in the energy labels we see on many appliances. He filed patents and received patents for detecting the status of a device over the Internet, then taught himself patent law, passed the patent bar exam, and is now a practicing patent at-torney. OH YES—HE’S ALSO a mystery writer. Elliott gives a lot of credit for being pub-lished to Sonya, his wife. “Her patience TO SET UP AN INTERVIEW OR REQUEST MORE IN-FORMATION, CONTACT: Bruce Bortz Publisher Bancroft Press 410-358-0658 bruceb@ bancroftpress.com
and ‘tough love’ combined with my ab-horrence of failure made Lonesome Song and ultimately Chain Thinking, possible,” says Light. “She helped me learn where my voice was, what I was good at. Sonya loves a good book and is not shy about giving an opinion. Of course, I was lucky to meet Bruce Bortz of Bancroft Press. The rest is, well, his-tory.” SONYA LIGHT HAS lived a different, but equally eclectic, life. Raised on a farm/ranch in Oklahoma with cattle, horses, dogs, cats, pigs and sheep, she frequently played surrogate mother to the animals’ offspring. When growing up, she played organ and piano, and served as the musical director for her local church. She inherited her paternal grandfather’s wanderlust, leaving home to study Span-ish at Oklahoma State University, inter-spersed with trips to Central and South America (spending some time on a finca in Colombia in what was rumored to be Che Guevara’s turf). She completed her studies at the University of Colorado, where she earned her Masters degree. Sonya taught Spanish and piano, sold software internationally and domesti-cally, managed an office or two, and raised two daughters. As a couple, Elliott and Sonya have traveled to Europe, Af-rica, China, the Caribbean, and most re-cently the Galapagos Islands. Sonya has ventured out on her own to participate in Earthwatch expeditions, working with dolphins in Hawaii and New Zealand (“kissing a dolphin is a truly exciting experience!” she en-thuses), and to Washington state to work with chimpanzees. “WE DON’T DO EVERYTHING together,” Sonya acknowledges. “Elliott had to send me a 20th year anniversary card when I was vacationing without him at the Earthwatch research station in Kaikoura, New Zealand. But we’re a team in pretty much everything we do. We don’t always see things from the same perspective, but, as best friends, we work really well together. Looking at Lonesome Song and Chain Thinking, I see the product of two people working toward a single goal. It’s pretty cool.” SONYA AND ELLIOTT LIVE in Rockville, Maryland with their two much-loved felines, Sasha (pictured) and Sumo. Please visit www.bancroftpress.comto view Bancroft Press’ entire catalogue. To book any of our authors or to receive review copies of our latest publications, please contact: Bruce Bortz Publisher Bancroft Press 410-358-0658 bruceb@bancroftpress.com
About Me
I am a retired patent attorney living in Florida with my wife, Sonya, and our feline, Tsuki. I spent most of my life in the Washington, D.C. area. I grew up in McLean, Virginia before the beltway was constructed. Some of my classmates in grade school lived on nearby farms. McLean had a small town feel to it. Gossip spread without the Internet. Party lines were common. Secrets were hard to keep.
When I was in my early thirties, my life pivoted when I was accused of a crime I didn't commit. My defense counsel and I discussed plans for my likely indictment and possible imprisonment. I could expect to be handcuffed and paraded in front of the media. This experience with the so-called justice system ended after a two year ordeal without an indictment and without going to trial. Even so, it could have ended differently.
Sadly, I will never fully believe that prosecutors, investigators, or the government are as interested in the truth as they are in getting a conviction, an attitude that I share with the semi-fictional Shep Harrington.
I am a retired patent attorney living in Florida with my wife Sonya and our feline, Tsuki. I spent most of my life in the Washington, D.C. area. I grew up in McLean, Virginia before the beltway was constructed. Some of my classmates in grade school lived on nearby farms. McLean had a small town feel to it. Gossip spread without the Internet. Party lines were common. Secrets were hard to keep.
When I was in my early thirties, my life pivoted when I was accused of a crime I didn't commit. My defense counsel and I discussed plans for my likely indictment and possible imprisonment. I could expect to be handcuffed and paraded in front of the media. This experience with the so-called justice system ended after a two year ordeal without an indictment and without going to trial. Even so, it could have ended differently.
Sadly, I will never fully believe that prosecutors, investigators, or the government are as interested in the truth as they are in getting a conviction, an attitude that I share with the semi-fictional Shep Harrington.
The Shep Harrington SmallTown® Mystery series began with the publication of Lonesome Song in 2002. Before writing Lonesome Song, I was intent on writing action-spy stories. In 1990, I read "The Last Poorhouse In Virginia; An Era's End at the Place Where No One Was Meant to Stay," a story article written by Jim Naughton and published in the Washington Post. The story chronicled the lives of the residents of what had been a poor farm, a place where the unemployed and unemployable were sent to trade work for food. As I chased dreams of writing the next Clancy thriller, the story of the last remaining residents of the Shenandoah County facility continued to haunt me.
I grew up visiting old plantations where my mother's relatives once lived. As a child, I didn't fully appreciate the history of these places or the people I met there. But the experiences were imprinted on my memory.The poor farm in Mr. Naughton's article fused with these memories. I was teased by questions about who might have lived on a poor farm, how they might have arrived there and what was going to happen to them. Ultimately, spies gave way to a story about a small town, a once famous country singer, a collection of old forgotten poor farm residents, and a murder. Shep Harrington, a young disbarred attorney, entered the mix and the story almost wrote itself.
While I work hard to reveal how bad people do bad things, the core cast of the SmallTown® Mystery series works equally hard to remind me of their good intentions and natural humor. I hope you will visit with them soon.
The Writing Life of: Elliott Light
BY WHISPERINGSTORIES · PUBLISHED 10TH MAY 2018 · UPDATED 4TH JULY 2018
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Elliott Light
This week on ‘The Writing Life of:‘ I am thrilled to be interviewing author Elliott Light. Elliott will be sharing with us detail of his writing life, telling us all about his latest book ‘The Gene Police‘, which will be released on 15th May 2018, and answering a few fun questions too.
So without further ado I’ll hand you over to Elliott Light
Elliott Light
I am a retired patent attorney living in Florida with my wife, Sonya, and our feline, Tsuki. I spent most of my life in the Washington, D.C. area. I grew up in McLean, Virginia before the beltway was constructed. Some of my classmates in grade school lived on nearby farms. McLean had a small town feel to it. Gossip spread without the Internet. Party lines were common. Secrets were hard to keep.
When I was in my early thirties, my life pivoted when I was accused of a crime I didn’t commit. My defense counsel and I discussed plans for my likely indictment and possible imprisonment. I could expect to be handcuffed and paraded in front of the media. This experience with the so-called justice system ended after a two year ordeal without an indictment and without going to trial. Even so, it could have ended differently.
Sadly, I will never fully believe that prosecutors, investigators, or the government are as interested in the truth as they are in getting a conviction, an attitude that I share with the semi-fictional Shep Harrington.
Interview male
1) As a child what did you want to do when you grew up?
The snarky answer is leave home. The more conventional answer is make gun powder. Eventually I did both.
2) Who were your favourite childhood authors?
I read a lot of the Hardy Boy series that were published under the name Franklin W. Dixon, although I’m sure they were ghost written by lots of different authors. That was in the 1950s when comic books were the YA literature of choice.
3) At what point in your life did you realise you wanted to be a writer?
In the early 1980s, I bought an Atari 800 computer with a word processing program. The files were stored on a cassette tape that sometimes wouldn’t reload. Somewhere in that time frame I started writing just to justify the cost of the computer. In the early 1990’s when Grisham and Clancy were the rock stars of the paperback, I realized that writing was something I needed to do. The Beatles “Paperback Writer” probably cinched the deal. I actually spoke to Grisham just after he published The Firm. He doesn’t remember me but I recall the conversation pretty vividly.
4) How did you go about following that dream?
A couple of things come to mind.
First, I wired a 300 baud modem to the game controller port of my Atari 800, connected the modem to our home phone line, and uploaded all my writings to my work computer. The modem ran all night and when I got to work I had a huge text file of unformatted words. Yes, very geeky but pretty cool for its time.
Next I took courses offered by the county adult education system. I remember that of the thirteen attendees, twelve of us were lawyers. The common complaint was the law wasn’t creative enough. We worked with a lawyer who had just published his first book, which of course made him an expert.
What I learned from the course and the reviews by my teacher and my classmates was that my story was bad, my characters were wooden, and the task of writing something that was worth reading was harder than I thought.
It took time but I found a voice and a genre that suited me. I developed characters who interested me. In time, they surprised me with things they said and did. I’m still reading about the craft of writing and hoping to improve on my story telling instincts.
5) What is your writing day like? Do you aim for a certain amount of pages or words before you stop for the day?
I have to confess that I don’t have a writing day, perhaps because my job entailed writing all the time. I think a lot. When I’m at a social function that I’m not enjoying, I’m making mental notes. I suppose the process I use is to imagine story lines or scenes and let them percolate. At some point, I sit at my computer and dump whatever is in my head. Then before I actually go to sleep, I test the idea by imagining it as a video.
6) Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym?
I did, but my publisher liked the name my parents gave me.
7) Do you have any strange habits before starting, or whilst in the midst of writing?
Besides encouraging my cat to join me at my desk, I visualize scenes before I write them. When I’m uncertain about what to write, I will write the word “CONSIDER” at the top of a page and then make a bulleted list of whatever pops in my head. If I write something I like, I sometimes walk away from the computer to consider the consequences that what I wrote will have for other characters and scenes.
8) Do you write longhand, typewriter, or on a computer?
Longhand and computer. I like to write on a legal pad when I’m brainstorming. There is something right brained about longhand. You can draw lines to connect thoughts, circle and revise in a non-critical way. I use my computer to create a more permanent record of ideas that have survived the “good-idea” test. Of course, very few ideas are actually included in a book.
9) How many books have you written? Do you have any unpublished work?
I have two published books that are still available from most retailers. My new book, The Gene Police, is available May 15th.
10) Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I’m a bit of both. I guess the term for that is plantser. I do an outline of sorts that doesn’t always include an ending. Sometimes I have an ending and pantser the beginning. But I’m never controlled by an outline because characters sometimes do things that are unexpected. In fact, I think writers block can be triggered by making a character do something he or she doesn’t want to do. Basically, the character goes on strike until the writer listens and lets the character act freely.
That said, a story needs to be analyzed to determine how to tell it in the most interesting way possible. A story has a chronological beginning. A book may begin “at the beginning” or some time after the beginning. Finding the beginning of the book as opposed to the beginning of the story can be tricky. So if I’m going to plot, that’s the place where I focus my energy.
11) Do you read all the reviews left for your book(s)?
I do read reviews. I received a negative review recently that stunned me for a bit. But in the end, I wrote the reviewer and thanked her for taking the time to read my book. I was disappointed that the book didn’t resonate with her, but that’s the risk that writers take.
One must be cautious about glowing reviews as well. In fact, a well written negative review may offer more useful information than a positive review that just says what you want to hear.
Concerning your latest book:
The Gene Police by Elliott Light
The Gene Police
A Shep Harrington Smalltown Mystery
Author – Elliott Light
Publisher – Bancroft Press
Pages – 264
Release Date – 15th May 2018
ISBN 13 – 978-1610882170
Format – hardcover
Interview synopsis
The Gene Police is a work of fiction that wraps a murder mystery in elements of the eugenics movement. To be clear, it is not a treatise on the subject but should enlighten readers about this little known pseudo science and hopefully inspire some of them to delve deeper into its history, its proponents, and its impact on American life.
The author puts it this way: “My interest in race issues can be traced to growing up in the segregated suburbs of Washington, D.C. My mother’s relatives were slave owners. My great great uncle was a famous eugenicist who was instrumental in the passage of the miscegenation and sterilization laws in Virginia. I’m convinced that if we as society are to rid ourselves of the curse of racism and white supremacy, we need to continue to keep the issue in the public conversation. My hope is that The Gene Police will add to the dialogue about racial issues by teaching readers about America’s fascination with eugenics while simultaneously entertaining them.”
Amazon.co.uk link
amazon.com buy link
12) How long did it take you to get from the idea’s stage to your date of publication?
The simple answer is about three years, but that includes publication delays.
13) How did you come up with the names for your characters?
Because The Gene Police is the third book in a series, a lot of the character names were chosen in the writing the first book. Some of the names are family names. Others I chose from spam mail. Another source is baby names sites on the internet. I try to fit the name with the character. Starting out, I made a few rookie errors, like having the names of two characters awkwardly similar. Now I keep a list of all of my characters and their ages, birth year and ages at the time of any significant past event that is referenced in the story.
14) Can you give us an insight into your main character(s) life?, What makes them tick?
My protagonist, Shep Harrington, is a compassionate, sometimes self destructive, driven man who seems to attract trouble without actually seeking it. He spent three years in prison for a crime he hadn’t committed. But the stigma is permanent. His life as he knew it may have been destroyed but not his compassion, especially for those he sees as equally mistreated.
Among his most adoring and adored acquaintances are four forgotten residents of the last poor farm operating in Virginia. (Yes, there were poor farms and yes four old folks were apparently living on one under the radar of the state bureaucracy.)
Underestimating Shep isn’t a good idea. He manages, despite his shortcomings, to resolve the injustices he encounters, even if those resolutions are sometimes less than satisfying.
15) Which was your hardest scene to write?
Shep, my protagonist, was left a lot of money, what was once a poor farm, a mansion on the edge of town, responsibility for four elderly people who once lived on the poor farm but currently live in the mansion, and a maze of tax problems stemming from his donations to charities that had lost their 501(c)(3) status. In one scene, the residents of the mansion are all in a dither because they think Shep is planning to leave them. The scene was rich with emotion and stirred some of my personal demons.
16) How did you come up with the title of your book?
The working title, Faded Genes, was actually from a poem that is a clue in the book. But the publisher thought the title didn’t reflect the story that was being told. After some thought, I realized that the eugenicists of the day, those seeking to maintain the purity of the white race, had established themselves as caretakers of the gene pool. They were in effect, the gene police.
17) Did you get a family member/friend to read your work before sending to the publishers?
My wife, Sonya, reads ever thing I writer before anyone else. I sent it to the publisher and then to a friend. I then sent the publisher a revised version based on the friend’s comments. The first draft reader must be someone who will be honest, who is neither patronizing nor competitive. I don’t know that I would provide a manuscript to someone who is also a writer.
18) What process did you go through to get your book published?
I found Bancroft Press, an independent publisher, for my first book. I’ve sent each subsequent manuscript to them to see if they were interested. As it turns out, I’ve been fortunate that Bancroft has published all three of my books.
19) What did you do once you had written the final word in your book?
The final work is marked by both relief and sadness. The relief comes from having a story sustain itself for a few hundred pages without the need for more outlining, tinkering or thinking. The sadness comes from losing the intimate contact with the characters that only the writing process produces. After I finished The Gene Police, I believe I saved the book file, shut down my computer, and went for a walk. I remember feeling as if someone had died, but only for a short time.
20) What’s next for you, writing-wise?
I’m exploring two other story lines to determine if they can fit in my SmallTown® Mystery series. While doing my analysis, I’m reading more about the structure of a good novel, character arcs, and the timing of events. I’m pleased with the three books I’ve written but I want to be a better writer.
duck 3
1) What’s your favourite food?
I love fruit: watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, kiwis, mangos, papaya, plums, apples, bananas, and oranges. Oh, but there’s dark chocolate with hazel nuts. Maryland crab cakes. Ask me later….
2) If you had a box of crayons and you could only choose one, which colour would you choose?
I’d probably pick red. Most likely because all the red LEDs in my electronic gear have warped my color spectrum.
3) What movie could you watch over and over again?
Citizen X. Great flick.
Second choice, The Others.
Third Choice, Dave.
4) What would be the top song on your playlist?
Because, The Dave Clark Five. I’m very partial to Paperback Writer, The Beatles.
5) If you won millions, what would be your first purchase?
I’m sure it sounds corny, but I would make donations to the elephant orphanage outside Nairobi, Kenya and a second donation to primate protection league in South Carolina.
If I won hundreds of millions I’d make sure children have access to musical training even in nursery school. I’d also invest in research into molten salt nuclear reactors because I believe they offer the potential for reducing our carbon dependence while consuming existing radioactive waste.
6) A talking duck walks into your room wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, whats the first thing he says to you?
‘I’m not going to hurt you. I’m a safe quacker’.
You can find out more about Elliott Light by visiting the website/social media sites below.
www.smalltownmysteries.com
@elliott_light
Goodreads
I would like to say a big thank you to Elliott for sharing with us details of his writing life, and for a wonderful interview.
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Print Marked Items
Light, Elliott. Chain Thinking
Mary Frances Wilkens
Booklist.
100.1 (Sept. 1, 2003): p70.
COPYRIGHT 2003 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Sept. 2003. 224p. Bancroft, $19.95 (1-890862-21-5).
Small-town lawyer Shep Harrington should have known nothing good could come of a sudden visit from a
stranger. When former soap-opera star Sydney Vail lands on his doorstep all keyed up, Shep figures he
should help the damsel in distress, going so far as to agree to baby-sit her companion, a very intelligent
chimp named Kikora. Problem is, Sydney doesn't return, and soon Shep learns that she stole Kikora from a
drug-testing laboratory and is being sought in connection with the murder of the lab's head scientist, with
the help of close friends, a very persistent investigative reporter, and one crotchety old attorney, Shep
decides to help defend Sydney, all the while becoming enlightened about the plight of laboratory animals.
This second installment in Light's Shep Harrington series presents a respectable balance between the
mystery and the cause, never turning preachy yet always making clear Light's stance on the issue.
Entertaining and enlightening.
Wilkens, Mary Frances
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Wilkens, Mary Frances. "Light, Elliott. Chain Thinking." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2003, p. 70. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A109906978/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b563afe1.
Accessed 14 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A109906978
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The Gene Police
Karen Keefe
Booklist.
114.14 (Mar. 15, 2018): p21.
COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
The Gene Police.
By Elliott Light.
May 2018. 208p. Bancroft, $25 (9781610882170).
Lawyer Shep Harrington is back after a 15year sabbatical (Chain Thinking, 2003). Reggie Mason, an
African American state trooper in Virginia, confesses to Shep that he's been using the state's DNA database
for personal use. His aunt lost a baby in 1953, but she's always secretly believed that the baby was taken
away or murdered. Given that the creepy hospital where she delivered the child was known for the
involuntary sterilization and psychiatric commitment of black patients, it's not that far of a stretch. When
Reggie finds a match in the database, he knows things are going to get a whole lot more complicated. Also
complicated is Shep's life since inheriting a large estate from the country-singer father he never knew. In
fact, a photo from the estate's days as a poor farm may be the key to what happened to Reggie's cousin. A
strong mystery supported by its powerful treatment of racial injustice.--Karen Keefe
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Keefe, Karen. "The Gene Police." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2018, p. 21. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A533094436/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=24f1d35f.
Accessed 14 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A533094436
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The Gene Police
Publishers Weekly.
265.11 (Mar. 12, 2018): p42+.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Gene Police
Elliott Light. Bancroft, $25 (208p) ISBN 978-161088-217-0
In Light's thought-provoking third mystery featuring attorney Shep Harrington (after 2003's Chain
Thinking), Shep's Virginia state trooper friend, Reggie Mason, comes to him with a problem. On the behalf
of his Aunt Betty, Reggie has done a search in the state DNA database to see whether the child Betty bore at
Sweetwater Hospital in 1953, John Mason Langard, whom the doctors told her died at birth, is in fact alive.
Reggie found a match for Langard, but it connects his cousin with the recent murder of 78-yearold
photographer Jennifer Rice. At the victim's house, Reggie discovered a 50-year-old photo taken at Shep's
home in rural Lyle, Va., which back then was a poor farm. The photo could have relevance to the murder
case--and the fate of Betty's son. Shep agrees to try to find out who took Langard as a baby and why. In the
process, he learns that Sweetwater was run at the time by a prominent eugenicist, who shared Nazi beliefs
about race. Light's timely look at an almost forgotten dark chapter of recent American history, when doctors
experimented on those considered racially inferior, more than compensates for the routine mystery. (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Gene Police." Publishers Weekly, 12 Mar. 2018, p. 42+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A531285097/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d0a7c3db.
Accessed 14 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A531285097
Chain Thinking
Elliott Light, Author Bancroft Press $19.95 (211p) ISBN 978-1-890862-21-3
MORE BY AND ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
In Elliott Light's Chain Thinking: A Shep Harrington SmallTown Mystery, the second book (after 2002's Lonesome Song) to feature the rural Virginia attorney, Harrington's hasty decision to become a foster parent to a chimpanzee leads to his playing amateur detective in a murder case involving the chimp's rescuer, a beautiful woman with terrible facial scars. A blurb from Martha Grimes should elevate the profile of this one above the usual small-press level, as will the implicit argument for animal, specifically primate, rights.