Interview Harley L. Sachs

by

Kathleen Loveday

1) Tell us some more about your book Scratch Out.

Scratch-out details a plot to kill everyone in the United States with a junk mail scratch and sniff virus. It demonstrates that such a plot can be carried out by unwitting contractors, just as the 9-11 hijackers could take flying lessons from legitimate teachers without being suspected.

2) This is a very topical subject. Was there a particular incident that gave you the idea for this book?

When I lived in Sweden one of my students of English as a second language was the medical officer for Stockholm County. He told me that in Russia they vaccinated everyone in Moscow in only seven days, a feat demanding that vaccine be stockpiled and always replenished. This is something we were not prepared for ourselves. His great fear was a terrorist attack on the water system. Someone might introduce typhoid fever and before the system could be fixed about 40% of the population might die. I consulted with a colleague at the university who explained that a virus could be transported inside microbaloons. My own experience as a secret agent came into play as well.

3) When you have an idea, do you plot the rest of the book then, or start writing and see how it develops?

Often my books were inspired by dreams that depict a situation. I then have to write the book to find out what happens. In the case of Scratch-out! I went through several revisions as the plot is complex. My biggest problem is that the protagonist will be seen as the villain and I had to work hard to make him sympathetic. He's naive and interested in money, not particularly concerned if what he does is a bit shady.

4) How old were you when you first started writing?

I wrote my first story in the second grade, so I was about six. I didn't publish a book until after I retired from teaching.

5) Do you feel your writing has improved with maturity?

When Ed Goldberg of KBOO interviewed me about my latest book, Murder in the Keweenaw, he said it's my best writing so far, so one does, I hope, get better.

6) Has it become easier to write with so much experience behind you?

It may become easier, but one may be tempted to take shortcuts and gloss over portions that deserve greater details. Another risk is that you begin to repeat yourself, copy your old successes. Dan Brown's plots are always the same. I hope never to repeat myself. My experience as a journalist and teacher of technical writing tends to make my writing sparce, direct, and emotionless. But practice does make certain tasks much easier. One does not have to reinvent the wheel.

7) You have written many books. Do you have a favourite amongst them?

I have an attachment to The Gold Chromosome another Wings publication. It's a funny mystery, but each book has its own moments. I think "what's your favorite character?" is a better question. One author I communicated with said she'd fallen in love with the hunk in one of her romances. In my case I got a big kick out of the Jewish detective in the Wings publication The Mystery Club and the Hidden Witness, so I put him in the latest of that series and put him in a short story, The Great Fortune Cookie Caper, which won a prize. I posted the story on my web site www.hu.mtu.edu/~hlsachs so anybody can read it. It's fun.

8) Is it still a thrill for you to have a book published?

The first time one of my books was published I cried for joy. I get great satisfaction holding a newly printed book in my hand, but then it's time to go on to the next one.

9) Your writing includes articles, short stories and newspaper columns as well as novels. Do you prefer any one type of writing over the others?

Short stories are lots of fun to do but I don't write many and they are difficult to place. The days of Colliers and Saturday Evening Post are in the distant past. I've written so many newspaper columns and 1000 word articles over the years that I can knock them out quickly. Sometimes they're pretty good. If you read Andy Roony's columns you'll see that sometimes he hasn't much to write about and has to come up with something pretty lame. My favorite columnist was Royko of the Sun Times in Chicago. He was awesome. He was so wonderful that when he died the newspapers printed a blank space where his column would have gone. That is the greatest tribute.

10) What do you do when you develop writer’s block?

I don't get writer's block. It's a bit like standing at the edge of a swimming pool and being afraid to jump into the cold water, paralyzed. Better to jump in right away and start swimming.

11) What advice would you offer an aspiring author?

Don't quit your day job. If you wannabe an author, you have to have discipline and be obsessed. Michener said you have to have three things: talent, discipline, and luck. In his case the luck was he was discovered when he wrote about military life in the Pacific. I haven't been discovered.

12) Who are your favourite authors?

I like Parker for his crackling dialogue, Carre for his psychological insights and character delineation, and Hemingway, especially the poetry of The Old Man and the Sea. Unfortunately no American author has achieved the greatness of the golden age writers of Russia before the Revolution. There is no American Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. Melville approaches them but only with Moby Dick. The test is would you read a book more than once? If not, it's not great. There are Jane Austin clubs and Sherlock Holmes clubs, and Hemingway fans.

13) If you could have one wish, what would it be?

I'd like to make enough money at this to be able to take my wife on an Elder Hostel trip, but she is now too disabled to travel.

Thanks Harley, I look forward to reading your book, although it sounds as if it might give me nightmares!