What is PlagueMaker about?

The story is ostensibly about bioterrorism—a terrorist’s attempt to attack New York City with genetically altered bubonic plague and the FBI’s attempt to stop him. But the underlying story is about two old men who each have an old score to settle. Each man takes a different path to his goal: One man takes the path of bitterness and vengeance, while the other man takes the path of forgiveness. That’s what the story is really about: forgiveness.

How did you come up with the idea for PlagueMaker?

I put together stories the same way a child builds with Legos. I collect a fact here, a character idea there, and pretty soon I have something that looks like a story. The real impetus behind PlagueMaker was the first Persian Gulf War. I started thinking about how much bitterness and anger are left over after a conflict like that—on both sides. It suddenly occurred to me that there are probably some very old men who still harbor bitterness about World War II. A lot of forgiving and forgetting has to take place after a war; that’s what led to the idea for PlagueMaker.

Is any part of PlagueMaker generated from personal experience based on your life or a close friend or family member?

The need to forgive is something everyone can relate to. The chief subplot of PlagueMaker involves a divorced couple who also has a great need for forgiveness. My hope is that, through the struggles of the book’s characters, readers will recognize their own need to forgive and be forgiven.

How long did PlagueMaker take you to complete?

It took 59 writing days spread over a period of about four months.  I know this because I keep a spreadsheet to track my writing! My goal is to write 1500-2000 words per day of clean text—that means text that doesn’t have to be largely rewritten the following day.

The book involves a lot of scientific detail.  What kind of research did you do? Did you find anything out that surprised you?

I did more research for PlagueMaker than any of my other novels. I read many books, downloaded thousands of pages of information from the Internet, and conducted interviews with some really interesting people—like FBI counterterrorism agents and New York harbor pilots. What surprised me is how little I had to make up—most of the book is true, down to very small details. Here’s one example: During World War II the Japanese built a secret bioweapons laboratory in Manchuria known as Unit 731. There they perfected a bubonic plague bomb, which they scheduled to use in an attack on San Diego in September of 1945—but the war ended six weeks earlier. I love to include facts like that in a story—it’s more fantastic than anything I could invent!

Do you have a favorite character in the book? Why?

It would have to be Li, an eighty-year-old Chinese man. Li is what storytellers call a “mentor” character—someone who gives guidance and wisdom to a younger character—in this case, Nathan Donovan. I suppose at my age, I like the idea of having a mentor—so Li was a fun character to write.