Dead Man Dreaming by Uday Mukerji will release on 25th September 2019.

I have had the privilege of interviewing him. Read on to know more about Uday.

 

Paperback: 252 pages
Publishing date: September 25, 2019
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1-951214-46-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-951214-46-3
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches

Price: $19.60 (paperback) $7.99 (e-book)

Pre-order at: https://adelaidebooks.org/dead_man_dreaming.html

 

 

Advance praise for Dead Man Dreaming

“Part love story and part life story, Dead Man Dreaming does an outstanding job of capturing the dilemmas posed by advance knowledge of the future in general and medical conundrums in particular. Uday Mukerji excels at closely examining confrontation’s roots in ideology and clashing belief systems. . . .

How characters handle what circumstance gives them—even life-threatening diseases—is one mark of a good read if the story is done right. Dead Man Dreaming is particularly thorough and poignant in its discussions of life, death, and the choices that lie in-between.

It’s a solid, absorbing read highly recommended for readers interested in the foundations of choice in navigating the pitfalls of life and medical challenges—one that superbly examines the foundations of good choices that stem from bad situations.”

— Midwest Book Review (Diane Donovan)

 

Author Interview

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

I was born in India, and I had worked as a creative director in advertising agencies in Singapore for nearly twenty years. However, in 2009, I left all that to pursue my long-time dream—a career in writing.

My first literary fiction—a 2017 Readers’ Favorite Award Winner—Love, Life, and Logic was published by Harvard Square Editions, NY, in November 2016.

My next book, Dead Man Dreaming, published by Adelaide Books, NY, is due out in September this year.

I’m also an ardent nature lover, and I am very passionate about environment protection, pollution control, and the developing technologies in the field. So much so that I was given the full responsibility to run the Singapore Environmental Technology Yearbook—a pet project of the Singapore Ministry of Environment—for eight years.

2. What prompted you to start writing?

Frankly, I never thought I could be a writer. I had always been more of a reader. Although I didn’t major in literature, I always loved reading classics. Some of my all-time favorite books are Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, The Castle, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and The Outsider. I worked all my life in Advertising. But all that had suddenly changed a couple of years ago when I was vacationing in New Zealand. Throughout my whole life, one question had always haunted me: Why am I here? And during those few days, the peace and serenity all around amplified that voice in my head. But instead of jumping on to Google for an answer, I decided to dig deep inside and explore. Soon I started writing, and that’s how it all started in 2009.

3. How did the book “Dead Man Dreaming” happen?

In 2016, Shivani Nazareth, a genetic counselor in New York, published a piece in the US News: ‘Genetic testing before pregnancy should be as common as taking folic acid’. She wrote, while medical societies agree that preconception is the ideal time to offer carrier screening, a recent study showed that only 1 in 6 family physicians or OB/GYN providers offered carrier screening in preconception care. She also wrote that many parents learned they were carriers of rare diseases only after their child was born.

To me, parenting is undoubtedly the hardest job in the universe. Her writing got me thinking why the would-be parents weren’t doing their part before giving birth? Why do we make innocent kids suffer? Was it the lack of information or something else? …I wanted to find out more, and I jumped in.

And that’s how Dead Man Dreaming came about.

4. Why did you base your book on genetic diseases?

Genetic disease is a worldwide problem. Many of those diseases have no cure till date, and thousands of people are dying every day. But I strongly believe it’s avoidable in most cases. Maybe, gene editing isn’t legal yet in many countries, also, kind of expensive for many, but a carrier screening test is legal, and it’s right here. With awareness, maybe, someday we will be able to completely remove many of these single-gene diseases from our gene pool.

5. How much research went into the writing of this book?

Well, I needed quite a fair bit of research for this book, including gathering some personal experiences from victims and their families.

6. How easy/difficult was it to write this book and create the characters for it?

Writing this book has been an emotional journey for me. In spite of having a carrier screening test in place, why weren’t people taking the test? I had to get close to some of the victims to understand the issues. Talking to people who are suffering from irreversible diseases isn’t easy. Basically, I wasn’t offering them anything, except for taking their sufferings to my readers. I’m ever grateful to everyone I came in touch with in this process, and I wish them the best. Their smile, strength, and their support kept me going.

7. How much does your day to day life inspire your character sketches?

How about—almost all? Of course, with some additions and alterations. We experience high-voltage drama 24/7 in our daily life. And like our thumbprints, each person’s life is so different from the next person. Capturing any one of those has the potential of a great novel.

8. What do you do when you aren’t writing?

Just the regular things, I guess—reading a book, listening to music or an audiobook, going out with friends, and stuff like that. But more importantly, I love traveling and nature gazing, so if there’s an opportunity, I’ll be out in the hills or on a beach, chilling.

9. How much time do you spend on your writing on average per day?

I usually write about three/four hours in the morning and again two to three hours after lunch.

10. What do you like best about writing a story?

I can escape to my own world, and every time, it’s a new place with new surroundings.

11. Are you working on any new book now?

I have just started writing another novel exploring—a metaphysical view on life—how everything isn’t like what it seems to be.

12. Finally, what message do you want to share with us readers?

I would love everyone to take a carrier screening test before having children. A positive result isn’t really the end of the world. We can then sit down and discuss our options: sperm or egg donation, gene editing, or even adoption. …Why let the kids suffer? If we all stop transmitting the disease, maybe, someday, those diseases will be totally out of our system. Wouldn’t that be nice?