An Interview with the Author

by Infinity Press

Infinity: "How come you didn’t want your name on your books? Are you trying to establish some kind of secret identity?"

"Secret identity? Hmm, I don’t know about that, but I’m not on an ego trip so I don’t need my name on the books. The story is about dolphins, I tried to write it from their point of view, so why not ghost write it in the main character’s name? Besides, if the story is a commercial success, some of its revenues will be used to benefit dolphins. So it’s really all about them."

Infinity: "OK, so what inspired you to write this book?"

"In the early ‘90s, my nephew was into ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.’ I saw a TV news story about how the turtles were created and I thought I could do a story about dolphins, I could make it nonviolent, and I could have fun with it."

Infinity: "How long did it take you to write the story?"

"A lot longer than I expected. I started with a cartoon version but I’m not much of an artist and I concluded that a cartoon wouldn’t do the story justice. So then I developed it into three novels. To make it happen, I dropped out of a professional career, which was a considerable financial sacrifice, so that I would have time to write. Still, it took more than 12 years, but I kept going at it. I had the story in my head, and I didn’t want to go through life wondering what might have been if I didn’t tell it. I was also fortunate to have a wonderful woman stay by my side during the whole process. It wasn’t easy for her."

Infinity: "Had you written before?"

"Yes, at the Institute for Local Self Government, but that was nonfiction research, totally different."

Infinity: "What’s the difference?"

"In nonfiction research, you define a problem, conduct research, analyze data, and report findings. It’s quite dry actually. In fiction, you paint a picture in the reader’s mind – it’s more fun, but it requires different skills."

Infinity: "Seems like you did a lot of research for this book too."

"Yes, I’ve read a few hundred books about whales and dolphins, including government reports about the dolphin holocaust. I interviewed prominent marine biologists, officials at marine parks, marine mammal stranding centers, environmentalists, and government officials responsible for dolphins at NOAA. To make it more fun and less academic, I swam with dolphins in the Florida Keys and kayaked with orcas in British Columbia."

Infinity: "So, why did you choose dolphins for your story?"

"I’m a sport diver and I’ve always been interested in dolphins. I think a lot of people are fascinated with them. I knew they have large brains and I thought they would have something interesting to say if they could communicate with us."

Infinity: "You mentioned the dolphin holocaust. Tell us about it."

"If you really want to know about it, you’ll find it in ‘The Dolphins’ View,’ but there were actually two dolphin holocausts. The worst one was in 1986-87 when hundreds of dolphins – about half the coastal population, stranded on beaches all along the East Coast of the U.S. The second one occurred on the Gulf Coast in the early ‘90s."

Infinity: "What caused it?"

"There were two government investigations by NOAA. The first one found substantial amounts of heavy metals and PCBs in dolphin blubber and liver, but concluded it was probably caused by a red tide. The second study was more comprehensive, but also inconclusive, although it did discredit the red tide theory. Subsequent necropsy investigations published in professional journals concluded it was similar to a canine distemper virus.

Infinity: "So, there’s an environmental message in your story?"

"Of course. If you were a dolphin, wouldn’t you complain about oil spills and PCBs in your liver and blubber? But we’re getting away from the focus of the books. I didn’t want to bog the reader down with too much science. I wanted to keep it simple and entertaining."

Infinity: "So, how did you make it entertaining?"

"Just like human characters, my dolphin characters have multiple motives. They’re on a mission with a serious purpose and they’re dedicated to it, but they’re also fun loving animals and developing that part of their personality, excuse me, dolphinality, making them mischievous, pulling pranks, and fun loving makes it entertaining."

Infinity: "It seems like these dolphins are philosophers too."

Infinity: "Thanks, I was hoping you would notice that. I tried to blend a little of ‘The Prophet’ and ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ into the story. One thing my characters say throughout the story is that every day should have some joy. You can’t be too serious about life or it will pass you by."

Infinity: "Why did you make the story nonviolent?"

"Well, you wouldn’t have much sympathy for them if they went around killing people, would you? Besides, compared to us, they are a lot less violent. They have fights too, but you don’t hear about them killing each other or having wars."

Infinity: "OK, but if you don’t have violence or lots of sex, how can you make it interesting?"

"You don’t have to have excessive violence to make a story interesting, but you do need conflict, and there’s plenty of conflict in the story. Besides, don’t you think there’s too much violence in our society? Just look how Hollywood blows everything up in the movies. Cartoons , like the turtles, for example, are violent too. So I set out to write a story without excessive violence. Having said that, there is some violence in the story, there’s some sex too, but my dolphins choose a non-violent approach to address their problems."

Infinity: "The other animals are interesting too. How did you select them?"

"Yes, my favorite is the eagle – proud and cocky and full of himself too. I selected them mostly for their symbolism – the eagle as our national symbol and a species that was once endangered in the lower 48, and the buffalo for a species that almost vanished."

Infinity: "It’s interesting how you combined drama with humor in the story. That’s a tricky combination, but you pulled it off."

"Thank you. The humor keeps the reader entertained, while the drama keeps them on edge – wanting to know what’s going to happen next. Actually, there isn’t a lot of humor in the first volume; most of it is in the second and third, especially at the end of the third."

Infinity: "Why is that?"

"In the first book, I wanted to get the reader grounded, or perhaps I should say wet, into the life of a dolphin so that they could understand the remarkable transformation they go through in order to come to land and how it changed their lives. If you try to do that too quickly and you don’t have the reader grounded, you’ll lose credibility."

Infinity: "Your story is educational too. You’ve got marine science, government, technology, public policy and environmental issues in your story."

"Well, I did try to make it meaningful; fun too. I’d like to think its for kids who have advanced beyond ‘Harry Potter.’ I really think kids will like this story but I hope adults will too. I tried to write it so that it would bridge both adults and young adults."

Infinity: "Hmm. So you want to appeal to young adults. That makes sense. Dolphins appeal to them. What would you say to a teenager who wants to be a dolphin trainer?"

"Good question. My dolphins don’t take too kindly to captivity and I don’t think teenagers would approve of it either if they thought about it. So I would challenge them. Don’t be a dolphin trainer. Be a dolphin savior. Work to keep wild animals wild. Work to protect their habitat, their ecosystem, and the environment we all share. If we can do that, we will not only save them, we will also save ourselves."

Infinity: "Very well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us today."