Featured Interview With Jim Vuksic
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; however, I left home in 1961 to study at St. Mark Seminary in Erie, Pennsylvania, from which I graduated in 1965.
In 1966, I enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and am a Vietnam veteran. Upon being released from active duty, I was hired by the H.J. Heinz Company as a shipping clerk. Five promotions and thirty-three years later, I retired as the manager of the company’s food processing facility in Pittsburgh.
My late wife and I were married in 1970. We had five children and shared a wonderful life together for thirty-five and a half years. Today, I am the proud father of four adult children and have four grandchildren.
I have lived in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania for the past thirty years.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember and have always preferred reading to watching television, listening to the radio, or playing games.
Writing a novel was actually just one of several goals, included in a bucket list that my late wife insisted that I create when I retired. I just wanted to see if I could do it. After reading the manuscript, two of my adult children pleaded with me for months to at least make an attempt to have it published.
Four rejection letters and one publishing contract later, my novel “Levels” was released August 9, 2011.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors are: Jean M. Auel, Kazuo Ishiguro, Gary Jennings, Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, J.K. Rawling, and J.R.R. Tolkein. (Listed in alphabetical order by author, not by preference.)
I have an eclectic taste when it comes to reading.; any genre, as long as the book is technically well-written, entertaining, and thought-provoking.
My inspiration, while writing my one and only novel, was my life experience and the people I have met while living it. Each character’s personality is actually based, at least partially, upon a real person.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
“Levels”* is a post-apocalyptic novel, depicting the end-result of a social experiment, conducted by a group of dedicated men and women, to eliminate all of the institutions, philosophies, and bad behavior in general, which they believed contributed to the downfall of previous societies.
Within three centuries: war, crime poverty, hunger, prejudice, inequality, greed, and vanity have been eradicated. However, they are not the only things that have disappeared. The institution of marriage, the family unit concept, long-term intimate relationships, and religion no longer exist.
The reader accompanies the main character Jonathan and his companions, who have just completed their formal primary education and indoctrination, as they set out to prove worthy of advancement within the various levels of their social structure and discover more about their world and those that control it.
*”Levels” is available in paperback, e-Book download (Kindle/Nook/Tablet), audio book on CD (9 discs), and audio book download – 8 hours listening time, narrated by Stephen Rozzell.
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