Featured Interview With T.B. O’Neill
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’ve always longed to write fiction. But as a practicing criminal lawyer, I was writing constantly at work and had little energy for the avocation until I retired and started writing. Today, the craft invigorates my day. I habitually go to the word processor each morning (between 6 and 7), after my coffee and email duty, and write for the next four to six hours. I have a study where I do my dirty work. In the afternoon I work in my orchard in Northern California, looking up now an again to view the purple mountains. Joe, my dog, is by my side. My best friend and wife, Beth, encourages this avocation, knowing the value of creative work.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I couldn’t read until ten. Was practically illiterate at eighteen. Self-taught, I started reading in the Army and soon got hooked on the Victorians, then the 20th century Americans, and finally the great Russian novelists.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’m a slow and careful reader. For modern writers, I love Cormac McCarthy best, but also John Irving and Pat Conway. More recently Hannah’s Nightingale, and especially Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See, whose book set my mind ablaze. So I guess you’d say I like rhythmic writers, those who feel the language as they tell their story.
I’ve recently read We, the Russian classic, and The Handmaids Tale. Just finished Homo Deus, Ordinary Grace by William Krueger, and Fleet, by Brian Marshal.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The inception for the idea of Slugger came from my experience as a criminal trial lawyer and wanting to give folks a view from behind the courtroom scene. On Wealth of a Nation, the idea came as I was sitting on the porch one evening, contemplating how technology, robotization, globalizing, and immigration have each contributed to a changing workforce. Then I asked myself, what will happen when the jobs are gone? When work becomes an option? Can we find dignity without it? I sat down the next day and started to write, not knowing where it would take me. So, that’s an example of how a concept turns into a novel.
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