Darden North Has Virtual Sit-Down Interview with Angela Wilson on POP SYNDICATE 02/2009

http://www.popsyndicate.com/books/story/virtual_sitdown_with_darden_north/

Book Addict with Angela Wilson
Virtual Sitdown with Darden North
02/06/2009

by Angela Wilson

Darden North takes his medical acumen into the writing realm, thrilling readers with medical mysteries guaranteed to keep them on edge. Today, North sits down for a chat with Book Addict Editor Angela Wilson. Find out more about his writing habits and his latest novel.

Book Addict: Tell us about your latest novel, Fresh Frozen.

Darden: In this contemporary medical thriller, a young policeman and his tormented wife discover that human reproductive tissue can become a fatal commodity. A grisly southern murder, a movie star, and a heist of frozen human embryos draw both male and female readers of mystery and suspense into an intriguing twist of human greed, mental torment, and medical science. Fresh Frozen was released in hardcover in October 2008.

Book Addict:
You are an obstetrician/gynecologist by day. What do you see in your profession when it comes to couples who desperately want children, but cannot conceive? How did their trials become part of this book?

Darden: Fresh Frozen is not based on any one patient or group of patients. My fiction is not a twisted treatise on my medical practice, and I am careful to separate the two. That being said … like “they” say … you have to write what you know.



Book Addict: What do your colleagues think about you writing medical thrillers? Do they ever eye you a bit suspiciously after reading a particularly grisly scene in one of your books?

Darden: I am a more senior partner of a single-specialty, full-service obstetrics and gynecology group in Jackson, MS, which is soon to contain 15 physicians, a cohesive mixture of both male and female doctors – a really great bunch of smart, talented people whom I consider friends. They (as well as our employees) have electively supported my book signings and read my books – and still have not changed the locks to the clinic’s doors. All fifteen of us have outside interests, whether they be hunting, playing golf, raising small and large children, traveling, decorating houses, drinking beer (while not on duty, of course), or watching sports. (Incidentally, none of those aforementioned activities are necessarily meant to be gender-biased.) Several partners have complimented me for my imagination as well as my dexterity in publishing three novels over the last four years, while maintaining a fulltime career as a doctor.

Book Addict: Your novels take place in the south. How much of your Mississippi upbringing in the 1950s plays a part in your writing?

Darden: Every bit of my upbringing plays a part in my writing, but please let me clarify that I was born in 1956 and consider my upbringing to have been in the 1960s and 1970s! Regarding the regional influence on my creativity, I agree with the someone who said that the reason that there are so many southern writers is they we are always trying to explain ourselves. My approach to placing my novels in the South is to write from a contemporary, non-civil-rights-era point of view, which many readers may find surprising and, I hope, refreshing. Whether a character is black or white may be crucial to a storyline in my books, or maybe not. I believe that people who are not truly familiar with us down here or over here in Mississippi and surrounding states would be surprised at how truly well the races presently get along. I enjoy describing the Mississippi terrain, its truly unique buildings and towns (both real and fictionalized), and the people – well, the material for characterization is endless as the absurd are portrayed as believable.



Book Addict: Writing has always been part of your life. Had you always thought you would write novels eventually, or was writing more of a hobby while you put yourself through medical school?

Dsrden: Fortunately, I have never had to rely on my writing for groceries or to pay the light bill, although I did get several hundred dollars in scholarship money to edit the University of Mississippi yearbook, the 1978 OLE MISS, as well as the 1982 MEDIC, the yearbook of my senior year in medical school. Both opportunities gave me a finite taste for seeing my written word and creativity in print. Ob/gyn residency and establishing a private medical practice, as well as raising two children with my wife Sally, put further writing on hiatus. Then sometime around 1985, I started the 10-year hike of writing my first published novel, House Call (hardcover 2005, paperback 2007) and then Points of Origin followed in hardcover in 1986.

Book Addict: What is it like to balance life as an obstetrician/gynecologist, husband and an author?

Darden: I can never waste any time, but I like to stay busy. I’m happier that way. I believe that we were all meant for a purpose.



Book Addict: If you had it to do over again, would you still pursue medicine as your “day job,” or would you go full force into writing?

Darden: One aspect of being an author, of which I was quick to realize, was that most of us writers have a “day job” and plan to hang on to it. Of course, there are the handful of celebrity authors (by celebrity, I mean the ones who seem to do nothing but write and whose books automatically appear in every airport gift shop or grocery store and get the movie deals and recurring spots on late night talk shows, etc.). Whether I ever join that elite group remains to be seen. Hopefully, the odds aren’t too insurmountable. But for me, being a busy physician, particularly one that still deliveries babies, is truly one of the most rewarding jobs a person can have, and I have certainly worked hard to get there. 



Book Addict: Who are you reading?

Darden: P.D.James – The Lighthouse

Book Addict: When can we find your next title in book stores?

Darden: I hope to have a fourth novel in stores in 2010.



Book Addict: Where can we find you on the Web?

Darden: My website is www.dardennorth.com and was redesigned upon the release of Fresh Frozen in October 2008. One can also find me as a Featured Author on authorsden.com as well as on listings with Facebook, MySpace, CrimeSpace, Twitter, Author Book and Event Center, Authors ‘Round the South, and BookTour.com. I welcome reader and friend comments and can easily be contacted through my website http://www.dardennorth.com . My books can be found on .amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, atlasbooks.com as well as purchased through links to stores and online venues through my website.


ARE BOOKS AND BOOKSIGNINGS RECESSION PROOF? MAYBE THEY’RE JUST AN INVESTMENT OR, PERHAPS, EVEN A LITTLE FUN

Not often a factor analyzed by the national media as it dooms the national and global economy, book signings may be holding their own --- at least around here. Even as my third novel, FRESH FROZEN, was enjoying an October 2008 book release just as the economy was really tanking (not a cause and effect relationship, I’m sure), I along with hoards of other authors and publicists was busy. The goal was to line up and confirm appearances at bookstores, gift shops, art galleries, museums, outdoor festivals, schools, business conventions, family reunions, or any other location where a crowd of potential shoppers was anticipated. (Considering the long lines of folks waiting to vote before and on November 4, it’s too bad that book signings are not allowed at the polls.)

While book distributors may encounter difficulty in moving the hardcover works of even the “major” authors, hopefully books and book signings may prove themselves recession-proof in the long run. Then, of course, there is the issue of e-books, Kindle, etc. However, I’m talking about the never-to-die, old-fashioned aspect of marketing novels and other real books – hand selling. Call me naïve (I’ve certainly been called worse), but this method of climbing the ladder to the bestseller list -- one autograph at the time -- may be the only way to get there.

And that’s just where book signings and other author appearances come into play. I live in what is termed the Deep South, a much-blessed geographical region, which includes a plethora of bookstores in its good fortune. The welcome of numerous hanging-in-there independent and never-will-go-away chain bookstores, as well as a smorgasbord of other bookseller venues, made for me a densely-scheduled book tour during the fall and holiday seasons. Not only was time away from my other career minimized while promoting FRESH FROZEN, but so was gas guzzling.

Again, I'm taking the high road of optimism for the survival of "the book." During my ongoing author appearances, I have sensed that the savvier shopper and gift-giver seems to be taking a closer look at books. One loyal reader shared that even though she and her husband had made a pact to cut-back this holiday season, she had left my new book and a bottle of her favorite cologne on her must-have list. Oh, oh, for only a million more such fans.

Keeping the concept of giving books as a holiday remembrance and if an author’s work appeals to both men and women readers, then the book signing table offers a ready-made gift for both Uncle John and Aunt Cindy, or even both. Of course, this appeal can apply not only to hardcover fiction but also to many cookbooks, collections of nature photography, or the multitude of personal memoirs. Once more, batteries are not required, unless one is trying to read under a flashlight. And while with proper care a well-bound hardcover should last several lifetimes, a first-edition autographed by the author could, and should, escalate in value. (Someone once told me that the true collector of first-editions acquires one signed copy to read and another one or two to put away untouched for investment purposes -- just in case. Occasionally, I’ve sort of jokingly pitched that concept at book signing events but have never had any takers that I know of. On second thought … maybe I have.)

Another illustration regarding the absolute value of books was made the other day while signing in an upscale gift shop: the retail price of a small, breakable, although certainly beautiful, Christmas ornament surpassed that of my hardcover mystery/suspense novels.

Two days after Thanksgiving, I was invited to two local business establishments for a book signing, the locations well apart from each other, and there were plenty of shoppers to go around so as not to create a duel between stores. (Anyway, I’m not sure that either considered having this writer to sign his books to be an exclusive event. One manager even forgot I was coming.) However, in the larger of the stores, the book signing table, which was warmly labeled with the signage Proud to Present --- Darden North, MD --- signing FRESH FROZEN, was located at the entrance in close proximately to the coffee shop. Immediately to the left of me was a similarly-sized table stacked with books written by or about President-elect Obama. Unfortunately, he was not there concurrently to sign his own books. I guess he was busy doing other things, but his presence sure would have increased the buzz in the store. Maybe I could have snatched a few readers away from him as they stood in his inevitably long line.

Politicians and economics aside, any author subjected to a couple of hours of hawking his/her wares must find a sense of enjoyment in the adventure, even if takers are few. For me, the truly most memorable, if not almost painfully humorous, book signing encounters have involved kids. The most recent example involved a grandmother who walked up to my book signing table located just inside the front entrance of another nearby bookstore. All three of my novels were alluringly displayed, including an out-of-print hardcover of my premier offering. The caring woman, who was apparently babysitting during an afternoon of shopping, greeted me with “I want to get your newest book for my daughter for Christmas. I bought one of your other books for her a couple of years ago, but I’m not sure of which one.”
The precocious eight-year-old granddaughter, dutifully standing at the table with her, looked down at the “rare” find of a first-edition copy of my first novel HOUSE CALL, lying there face-up, beaming to the literary world.

As the talkative young girl pointed to my baby, she blurted to her money-spending grandmother, “This one right here is the book my mom already has. She keeps talking about selling it at a garage sale.”

--- Darden

©2008 by Darden North, MD
All Rights Reserved
www.dardennorth.com

Darden North is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist who lives with his family in Jackson, Mississippi. He is the author of three novels: House Call (hardcover 2005, paperback 2007), Points of Origin (hardcover 2006), and Fresh Frozen (hardcover 2008).