We’re excited to share a new to me author today on the blog! I actually picked up this ARC when I was at BEA this year! I read the summary and was immediately intrigued! Here’s a bit about the book!
Panacea by F. Paul Wilson (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Published by Macmillan on July 5th 2016
Genres: Fiction, Medical, Supernatural, Suspense, Thrillers
Pages: 416
Medical examiner Laura Hanning has two charred corpses and no answers. Both bear a mysterious tattoo but exhibit no known cause of death. Their only connection to one another is a string of puzzling miracle cures. Her preliminary investigation points to a cult that possesses the fabled panacea--the substance that can cure all ills--but that's impossible.
Laura finds herself enmeshed in an ancient conflict between the secretive keepers of the panacea and the equally secretive and far more deadly group known only as 536, a brotherhood that fervently believes God intended for humanity to suffer, not be cured. Laura doesn't believe in the panacea, but that doesn't prevent the agents of 536 from trying to kill her.
A reclusive, terminally ill billionaire hires Laura to research the possibility that such a cure exists. The billionaire's own body guard, Rick Hayden, a mercenary who isn't who he pretends to be, has to keep her alive as they race to find the legendary panacea before the agents of 536 can destroy it.
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Describe PANACEA in 5 words.
Globe-hopping Fortean mystery-adventure-thriller (Ha! Only 3 words since hyphenates count as one.)
How did PANACEA come about, what was your inspiration? What made you think you had to write this story?
I like plots with high stakes. A panacea – a true cure-all – would change the world, and not necessarily in a good way. Yes, it would be wonderful on an individual basis, the curing of the incurable. But healthcare accounts for about 20% of the US economy. Imagine suddenly adding 20% of the population to the unemployed. Plus all the extra people living long lives instead of dying young, having more children, who are having more children…we’re talking a global catastrophe.
But the real challenge of the novel was selling something as impossible as a panacea to my readers. I have smart readers, and a panacea breaks all the rules of medicine and biology, even physics. I struggled with that for years until the answer popped out of the dark. (Truly: one of those 3a.m. epiphanies.) Once I had that, PANACEA flowed out.
Can you share (without spoilers) a line or section of PANACEA that is your favorite?
“You ever think the panacea might exist because we’re able to have the opinion that it can’t?”
“Can’t what?”
“Exist.”
Was she hearing right?
“Could you repeat that?”
“Okay. Did you ever think that the panacea might exist because we’re able to have the opinion that it can’t exist?”
It made even less sense the second time.
Yeah, a WTF question, but the backstory of PANACEA hinges on it. It begins to make sense as the story progresses.
People often say that you should write what you know, did you do that with this story and if so what parts of your life influenced this story?
Writing what you know is all fine until you’ve run through all your life experiences and have pilfered all your friends’ and relatives’ experiences, and then where are you? PANACEA is my 55th book. You can’t write 55 books from experience. Ya gotta make up shit.
Healing is a recurrent theme in my work. The title of my first novel is HEALER. THE TOUCH is about healing, so is THE FIFTH HARMONIC. In PANACEA I continue that theme, but from a different perspective. They’re all part of my Secret History of the World.
When you’re not writing, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Reading other folks’ thrillers, or thinking about writing. (I have OCD)
Do you have any strange writing habits?
I have an app called Freedom that locks me out of the Internet for a customizable period of time. I lose all sense of time when I go on the Net to look up something. On my way to check the differences between C4 and semtex I look in on my email and FB and Twitter and 20 minutes later I still haven’t Googled semtex. I usually set Freedom for 45 minutes at a clip. It helps my productivity enormously.
What are you currently reading?
THE RED RIGHT HAND by J. T. Rogers – a famous murder mystery from the early 1940s that I’m finding massively overwritten (but then, I find almost everything overwritten).
Any advice for aspiring writers?
Don’t overwrite. Seriously. It usually comes about as a result of lack of confidence – lack of confidence in yourself and lack of confidence in your reader’s ability to “get it.” Readers do get it. You don’t do any favors for them or yourself by leading them by the hand every step of the way. Better to underwrite a little and leave them some space to make an intuitive leap. They’ll be more engaged if they’re active participants rather than passive recipients.
What’s next for you? Are you working on anything right now that you can tell us about?
A sequel of sorts to PANACEA – same protagonists, different maguffin. First draft done, out to beta readers. Still needs work.
Tell us 3 random facts about you.
1) I have a weakness for puns – the worser the betterer.
2) I’ve decided to live forever. (So far, so good.)
3) I detest defecation. I yearn for the day when I can suspend a quantum black hole in my rectum and never again be forced to engage in such an offensive and malodorous enterprise.
Favorites
Favorite Song (right now): I just played “Tried So Hard” by the Flying Burrito Brothers 3 times in a row, so I guess that qualifies.
Favorite Book (right now): DARK MATTER AND THE DINOSAURS
Favorite TV Show/Movie: “Game of Thrones” (before that: “Justified”)
Favorite Word: gallimaufry
Favorite Color: green
Favorite Curse Word: wankerati
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