What would you like to tell readers about yourself?
* R. Arundel is a practising surgeon. This experience brings realism to the story. The novel asks what would happen if a surgeon were to develop the perfect face transplant. This would allow people to have a new face, in essence create a new identity. You can create the perfect double, the perfect Doppelganger.
Today R. Arundel will be talking about what kind of writer he is.
* I am a fiction writer. I try to make my stories intricate, enjoyable and accessible reads. My writing style is minimalist. I try to use as few words as possible to convey the imagery or dialogue. I think writing is both a craft and an art. The craft can be taught and nurtured. Some great writers are able to rise above this to create art, something that is more than the sum of the parts. That’s the ultimate goal that all writers strive for, to create something special.
* My topics are driven by ideas that are generated by things I have thought about. The Face Transplant arose out of the thought “What would happen if you could transplant a face from one person to the next without any scars.” Most of my stories come from thinking about ideas. I then try to generate a story as the logical conclusion of thinking about this idea.
* I am a very opinionated writer with a strong sense of what I want to say. My characters or stories always have some large underlying theme that they illustrate. The downside of this morality is that my characters can be at times very conflicted but in the end choose the moral path. I’m unlikely to create a story of a flawed individual who doesn’t change throughout the story. The individual would have to come to some epiphany about life, have some insight into their behavior.
* I am a very optimistic writer. I believe in the best of individuals and the ability of all individuals to be better. In The Face Transplant, some of the characters involved in kidnapping Sarah Larsson are very evil. They are the exception that proves the rule. These characters don’t grow. Their depravity is limitless. I was surprised I created these characters, and it is not something I usually do. After I finished the story I was surprised at the evil in the kidnappers. I think they arose out of a need to counterbalance the goodness of Matthew and Sarah who sacrificed so much to help others.
* I have asked myself many times why do I write? I think in the end writers each have their own reasons for writing. I write because I have many different stories that I need to get out. It’s just that simple.
* Dr. Matthew MacAulay is a facial transplant surgeon at a prestigious New York hospital. When his friend and mentor, Tom Grabowski, dies under mysterious circumstances, Matthew uncovers his friend’s secret: a new technique that allows perfect facial transplants. No incisions, no scars. Tom was able to accomplish this monumental feat with the help of Alice, a supercomputer robot with almost human abilities. While trying to find the people responsible for murdering Tom, Matthew realizes he is the prime suspect. He must flee for his life with the help of Dr. Sarah Larsson, a colleague and reluctant helper, who has a secret of her own, and Alice, who helps them make sense of a baffling series of seemingly unrelated events. The clues carry Matthew and Sarah around the world. They stumble onto a sinister plot of monumental proportions that leads Matthew all the way to the White House.
* The Face Transplant is a powerful medical suspense thriller of the first order. The novel was written by a surgeon who weaves politics, medicine, and espionage into a tightly paced, intelligent thriller.
* “My Sherlock Holmes at work again.” Sarah laughs.
* “I know and I don’t care.”
* Sarah smiles at Matthew. “Do you know what you’re saying?” “ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. A progressive neuro-muscular disorder with no cure. You will stop walking one day, and finally, you will lose control of all your muscles.”
* “Not bad, Holmes.”
* “We surgeons aren’t as thick as you think.”
* “Then you know I don’t have long.” Sarah punches in the code to lock the anesthetic machine.
* “I don’t care. I need you,” says Matthew.
* “You know what my life will be very soon, how it is going to end.”
* “I don’t care. I have to take a chance—I have to live. Give me that chance.”
* “In the end I would regret doing that to you. I refuse to have you look after me in the prime of your life. I’m going to be on a ventilator, not able to move any muscle in my body. I’m going to end up being only able to use my eyes. Totally locked in a useless body.”
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