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 Interview with Deborah Shlian, co-author of SHOU(To Excel / an imprint of iUniverse, 2000) a gripping story of love, destiny and international intrigue set in China to uncover the secret of longevity. Feature by Nancy Mehl. Read the authors' full biographies. Read our review of SHOU. NANCY MEHL - Dr. Shlian, welcome to The Charlotte Austin Review. Tell us what inspired your newest novel – SHOU. DEBORAH SHLIAN - SHOU the Chinese symbol for longevity was inspired by a number of different events and issues. While working at UCLA as a physician, I met Roy Wolford, a leader in aging and longevity research who feels that an individual’s lifespan can be extended well beyond the allotted three score and ten (70). Today’s average lifespan is 76 compared to age 47 for the typical American living in 1900. Half of all people who ever lived to 65 are alive today and by 2050, there will be 20 times as many centenarians as there were in 1999. I found this concept exciting. The premise that someone living in China in 1989 had finally perfected this secret became the basis for our story. You and your husband Joel are physicians. Does this influence your writing? How? The fact that we are physicians has had an enormous influence on our writing. We have selected medically related themes in all our books so far. Because we have met so many different individuals over the years and learned about their lives from an intimate perspective, we have between us a breath of experiences from which to draw our characters and situations. Even though some people call our books medical mystery/ thrillers, we have tried very hard not to write the same book each time out - so that Double Illusion, our first book is quite different from Wednesday’s Child, our second, and completely different from SHOU, our latest. Most of SHOU is centered in China. The characters, setting, and traditions are so richly drawn. Have you spent time in China? Placing the story of SHOU in China came as a result of our travels to the Far East - to China's mainland in 1985, to Taiwan and Hong Kong several times and to Korea in 1988 as part of a student-consulting project at the end of our MBA program. This project was for a Korean corporation, advising them on how to enter the global pharmaceutical industry. Naturally, we created a subplot in SHOU, involving a Korean company trying to steal the secret of longevity. When we returned from China, we became a host family for some native-born Chinese students at UCLA. Two of these students were especially helpful in elucidating recent Chinese history and culture. They became the models for our main character Chi-Wen and for our student leader, Zheng Tu. Although SHOU is fictional, it is strongly rooted in fact. Every name, date, street name and historical reference is accurate. There are three main intertwined themes that we have tried to explore in the novel: a] Issues surrounding aging and longevity - The Chinese in general, and particularly the people in the ancient city of Xi’an where much of the story takes place, have been obsessed with longevity and immortality for centuries. When we visited the city, our Chinese hosts refused to have us tour their famous Longevity Institute - which only made us more curious. What if the Chinese were in fact, on to something! This thought led us to a second theme in the book: b] Modern (late 20th century) Chinese political history - Chinese students helped us understand that much of this history could be viewed in the context of a generational conflict. Elders have traditionally ruled China and these old leaders were obsessed with power and with their longevity. Many of our student friends viewed the Tiananmen massacre in June 1989 not only as a political struggle, but also as a generational struggle between the ruling Chinese elders and the ambitious and politically outspoken Chinese student leaders. This was interesting to us because historically, age has been less a basis for civil strife and oppression than race, religion and economics. In the fictional context of SHOU, we tried to explore some of the global and political implications of increased longevity. For example, how would the shift towards more older voters affect the allocation of resources? What about the impact of increased population growth on the environment and on the world’s resources? Would the aged suddenly dominate the political process? What quality of life would there be for such large numbers of centenarians? This led to the third theme: c] Cultural differences between American-born and native-born Chinese - Los Angeles has a large population of American-born Chinese. As physicians and as students at UCLA, we knew and became friends with many of them. Once we became a host family for native-born Chinese students, we were struck by the cultural differences between the two groups. In SHOU, we explored this by creating a moving love story between an unlikely couple. Lili Quan is a beautiful, bright assertive American-born Chinese physician raised in San Francisco. She promises her dying mother that she will travel to China to discover her roots. Lili does make the journey, only to become a pawn in a deadly international conspiracy. While exploring her past, Lili discovers much more - including Chi-Wen, a young, handsome and very spiritual Taoist who has been a victim of the Cultural Revolution. SHOU is not your first novel. Tell us about your previous books. SHOU is the third novel Joel and I have written together. The first, published in 1984 by Putnam was called Nursery by the publisher and will be re-released under Double Illusion, its original title. Double Illusion was inspired by a real life incident that occurred in our own hospital where a nurse had been stealing babies for a number of years. Our second book entitled Wednesday’s Child (Simon and Schuster) tackles the heart-wrenching topic of child abuse, based on a real case uncovered years ago in a bedroom community of San Francisco, and told from the perspective of 4 year old child. How is SHOU different from your earlier work? How is it different from other mystery/suspense novels? SHOU is our most ambitious novel to date. The plot itself is more complex. The setting is international with a historical perspective that required enormous amounts of research. Although the writing is still fast-paced, there is more character development and sense of place in this book compared with our earlier work. I think SHOU is difficult to categorize. It is a mystery with unrelenting suspense, but it is also a romance and a modern historical drama. You have chosen to use POD publishing. Why? I initially discovered iUniverse through the Authors Guild with the "Backinprint" program for previously published books whose rights had reverted back to the authors. Since we had the rights to Double Illusion and Wednesday’s Child, we agreed to participate in the program. We have been very pleased with the cover art quality and printing for Wednesday’s Child which came out in December 1999. Double Illusion should be available in early June 2000. I have apparently taken a great risk by publishing a never-before-published novel like SHOU with a POD rather than returning to one of my previous mainstream publishers. So far the jury is out – retail bookstores are still reluctant to stock POD books, and even with the Internet’s increasing popularity, retail is still how most books are sold. My only hope is that readers discover SHOU and agree that it is a good read. When do you find time for writing? Because I have always had a day job while writing, I have to make time either very early in the morning or late at night. On weekends I might write from morning until evening as long as the muse is present. Are you working on anything new? I just completed a medical mystery, which I co-wrote with a physician colleague in Los Angeles. It is titled The Experiment and involves a less-than-ethical experiment on a university campus. Joel and I are hatching a few new ideas for future books including a possible sequel to SHOU. What advice would you give to aspiring writers? I think the business of writing is much more difficult and competitive than it was ten years ago. That means it is harder today for a new writer to break out and become a best-selling author. As long as one understands that and writes out of love for the process, then I would encourage any aspiring writer to write. What are your future goals? My future goal is to continue to grow as a writer, to become a better tennis player and of course, to find the secret of longevity. |
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