Writester.net

Name: Gordon Basichis
Website: http://www.gordonbasichis.com
Contact: gordon@gordonbasichis.com

Questions:

Q: Where are you originally from?
A: Philadelphia, PA

Q: Can you tell us your latest book news?
A: The first chapter of my latest book SPOOK, will be published in a new anthology called “Lying with Snakes, the Underbelly of Los Angeles.” This is Orange Recording’s, a music label, first attempt at publishing. I am presently shopping the entire novel.

Q: How old were you when you first started writing?
A: I was in my middle teens and got my first professional job working for a small, weekly African-American newspaper called “Nightlife,” that circulated in all the bars and clubs. Since I am white, it was quite interesting moving in and out of the different joints and writing editorials for black community causes.

Q: When did you first realize you had the potential to be a writer?
A: Early teens. Got the fever.

Q: What was your inspiration to write your first novel?
A: I felt I better start to put it out on paper, or else I would explode.

Q: Is there anyone or anything that inspired you to write?
A: It just seemed like a great way to get out of one of those typical provincial urban neighborhoods.

Q: How has your environment/upbringing colored your writing?
A: I grew up a lot on the street, and that experience teaches you how to perceive things quickly and how to capture the essence in its shortest form.

Q: Do you have a specific writing style?
A: Yes, style is very important to me. I was a bit more “romantic,” or whatever, but my style is a little sharper, more succinct.

Q: What genre are you most comfortable writing?
A: I love either fiction or narrative non-fiction. I’m not all that great at fact finding and footnotes, which give you the facts and the details. I would rather capture the truth of the situation, and often you have to go beyond the facts to do so.

Q: How do you come up with the title(s) for your book(s)?
A: I thought it was ironic. I was presented with an front row seat as to what it is like working in the shadow world of espionage. I thought I could go serious, but the situation and the material was far more quirky than serious would allow. Spook had the right sardonic content for someone in my spot.

Q: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
A: Mainly, I wanted my readers to experience that world, without all the nonsensical embellishments you often find in this genre. I chose quirky, because with quirky you can show this shadow world as it really is. I tell people it’s Carlos Castaneda meets the Don Juan of the Spy World and goes on the E-Ticket Ride for five years of his life.

Q: How much of the novel is realistic?
A: Very. But much of it is very difficult to vet, so I must maintain that it is fiction.

Q: Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your life?
A: Yes, it was based on my and my experiences with a man who was very high up in intelligence and defense. He was a consummate cold warrior at the end of his days and in need of someone to teach.

Q: What books have most influenced your life?
A: Garcia Marquez’ “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” is the most influential. The great mix of passion, color, myth and reality. “Auto-da-Fe” by Elias Canetti, is a wonderful influence. A brilliant man who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. I think ten people know who he is. Anais Nin’s “On the Novel of the Future.” Wonderful book. I knew her slightly. She was an amazing and gracious woman. Allen Ginsburg’s “Howl” showed me in my early years just what was possible in literature and poetry. And, of course, Borges. Simply amazing.

Q: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
A: Those above. Jakov Lind comes to mind, as does Julio Cortazar, Robert Coover and Saul Bellow.

Q: What are you reading now?
A: “Imperial Hubris,” written by Anonymous, a former counter-intelligence veteran of the CIA. And “Go West Young F*cked-Up Chick, ” by Rachel Resnick. Wonderful chronicle. So Hollywood.

Q: What new author has grasped your interest?
A: Rachel Resnick. Most of whom I read have been around for awhile.

Q: Is there anything additional you would like to share with your readers?
A: Sure read. It will make you smarter, and you will live longer.