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CHANTICLEER 10 QUESTION AUTHOR INTERVIEW SERIES
with Award-Winning Author, Michael Cooper
Hello friends, we have another fabulous interview for you today. In 2022, Michael Cooper took home the Chanticleer Grand Prize in the Dante Rossetti Awards for his fascinating novel for his book Wages of Empire. Here, he tells us how Wages of Empire came to be and the subsequent heights it is now reaching! Take a minute or two and get familiar with Michael. You won’t be sorry!
Chanti: Tell us a little about yourself: How did you start writing?
Michael Cooper: That’s kind of a long story, but I’ll try to keep it under 1,000 words…
Having been active in Zionist youth groups throughout my formative years, I emigrated to Israel after graduating high school in 1966. Studying in Jerusalem for the first three years, I attended and graduated from Tel Aviv University Medical School. Then, after living, studying, and working in Israel for a total of eleven years, I returned to the US to specialize in pediatrics and pediatric cardiology.
Michael’s first arrival in Israel (center)
After working for about fifteen years as a pediatric cardiologist in a large multi-specialty medical care consortium, I found myself disenchanted with some worsening aspects of the approach to patient-centered care. While I wasn’t personally affected by these negative changes since, as a sub-specialist, I had demanded and received the opportunity to design my own practice, however, this wasn’t the case for my primary care colleagues. So, I decided to advocate for them. I began tilting against administrative windmills in the form of impassioned letters, but found that I wasn’t getting anywhere. Though I did enjoy the catharsis of writing those letters!
Tel Aviv University Medical School
So, I decided to just enjoy my pediatric cardiology practice, and to redirect my letter-writing to another area of my interest—the Middle East. At this point (the early 1990s) under the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, there was finally a real peace process in the form of the Oslo Accords. But to my dismay, there was a good deal of angry push-back to Rabin’s efforts—both in Israel and here in the US. In this environment, I regularly published letters, opinion pieces and essays in support of Rabin’s peace efforts. Needless to say, I received more than a few angry responses.
Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin (left), American president Bill Clinton (middle), and Palestinian political leader Yasser Arafat (right) at the White House in 1993
And as the peace process moved forward, the resistance to it increased. In the Middle East this resistance came from a seemingly bizarre and unholy alliance: on one extreme, ultra-nationalistic Jewish settlers, and on the other extreme, militant Palestinians such as Hamas—strange bedfellows in their vehement opposition to the peace-making efforts. And this angry resistance spilled over—into Israel, into the Jewish Diaspora, into the Arab street, and into the Arab Diaspora.
In Israel, this resistance reached a fever pitch in 1995 prior to parliamentary elections. Rabin’s efforts were not only rejected by Netanyahu and his right-wing allies, but Rabin was personally vilified as a crypto-Nazi and a traitor to Israel. The risk of his assassination, as assessed by Israeli security services, was high. And, indeed, after a huge pro-Oslo/pro-Rabin demonstration in Tel Aviv on November 4, 1995, Rabin was killed by a right-wing Israeli zealot with two shots to the back.
The shock to the Israel public and the world-wide Jewish community was profound. And after Rabin’s death, and with the ascension of a right-wing Israeli government under Netanyahu, the peace process grew dormant and eventually, died.
For catharsis, I initially turned from writing letters and op-ed pieces to writing historical fiction set in the Holy Land at pivotal points of history. This was also my way of trying to insinuate a message of coexistence and peace into a vehicle that, unlike my previous writing, might succeed in changing a few hearts and minds. I began with historical fiction set in British Mandatory Palestine in 1948—Foxes in the Vineyard. This was followed by The Rabbi’s Knight, set in the Holy Land at the twilight of the First Crusade in 1290. Lastly and soon-to-be-released, is Wages of Empire, largely set in Ottoman Palestine at the beginning of WWI.
Michael J. Cooper examining an infant
Beginning in 2007, I also turned to volunteer work for a US-based NGO (non-governmental organization) offering pediatric specialty services to children within the Palestinian Authority. In doing about two missions per year since then, I’ve attempted to be part of the solution as a pediatric cardiologist for children with limited or no access to care.
As of this writing, recent events in Israel/Palestine would suggest that things have only grown worse. But I won’t be deterred. I will continue to write, work, speak, and advocate for reconciliation and peace. And, in the words of Forest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that.”
And it only took 684 words.
Chanti: When did you realize you that you were an author?
Cooper: In December of 2011—the first time I held my first published book in my hands. I had dedicated the book to my big sister, Adrienne. She had fallen ill a few months before, and I was gratified to have been able to share that moment with her before she died.
Chanti: Talk about genre. What genre best describes your work? And, what led you to write in this genre?
Cooper: I write in the genre of historical fiction with added elements of mystery, action-adventure, mysticism, and a dash of romance. Having lived in Israel during my formative years (between the ages of 17 to 28), I had fallen in love with the immediacy of history that waited for you around every corner. The historical events and, indeed the historical characters also provided the scaffolding of a story that was, at once, very old, and still being written. As I researched and wrote all three books, I was pleasantly shocked by fascinating elements of hidden history, unsolved mysteries, and unbelievably engaging and bizarre characters that practically wrote themselves into the books.
Chanti: Do you find yourself following the rules or do you like to make up your own rules?
Cooper: As mentioned above, the advantage of writing historical fiction is the scaffolding, or to switch metaphors, the loom of the historical timeline you’re working with. As the historical characters move within the fabric of that framework, it’s great fun to weave the fictional characters into the pattern, creating a wonderful tapestry.
As to rules, I would paraphrase a line from the 1974 movie, Blazing Saddles (replacing the word ‘badges’ with rules), “Rules? We don’t need no stinking rules!” (a version of that line appeared in the 1948 film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and before that in a 1927 novel of the same name).
Another and more sophisticated way of expressing the same idea is to quote the great Somerset Maugham, who famously said, “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
Somerset Maugham
Chanti: What do you do when you’re not writing? Tell us a little about your hobbies.
Cooper: Having already gone on and on about my work as a pediatric cardiologist for forty years, I would note that I’ve enjoyed running for the past 45 years, though I now do it considerably less often and am considerably slower. I used to play and perform folk music on guitar, banjo, and mandolin, though when I began writing about thirty years ago, I gradually redirected my creative energies away from music. Now that I’m retired, and when I’m not writing, traveling for research, and puttering around the house, I’m hoping to increase my volunteer work in Palestine.
Michael J. Cooper running in a marathon
Chanti: How do you come up with your ideas for a story?
Cooper: As noted above, the storylines arise organically from the historical timeline and from the different historical characters—creating a portrait that is enhanced by the fictional characters who allow for additional surprises, plot twists, betrayals, loves and alliances. As the book progresses, it’s a pleasure for me to watch the weave tighten as the different storylines are drawn together. I hope it’s also a pleasure for the reader.
Michael J. Cooper with his two First Place Ribbons before one is upgraded to a Grand Prize!
Chanti: How structured are you in your writing work?
Cooper: Not at all. When I was working full-time, I’d get up early to write or do some research for an hour or so. Then while commuting to work (sometimes up to an hour or more), I’d ruminate about what I’d written or read, and made mental notes about plot twists, opportunities for conflict to build tension, or the need for a particular fictional character to do something unexpected. Once at work, I’d scribble these ideas down during gaps in my workday. After work, (and after the kids’ homework, and once they were asleep), I’d write drafts from the ideas that had germinated during the day. Then I’d print out drafts, bring them with me to work or have them with me on family outings, and during quiet stretches of time, and using a #2 pencil with a functioning eraser, I’d read the draft aloud and edit. At work, that might happen during a lunch break while sitting outside (weather permitting). During family outings, the settings for writing and editing were more varied, ranging from video arcades, amusement parks, ski trips, RV trips, etc. Now that I’m retired and the kids are (generally) on their own, I have vast stretches of time to research and write, but again, without any rigid structure.
An early writing session with the kitten looking on
Chanti: How does being an author affect your involvement in your community?
Cooper: During my years as a practicing pediatric cardiologist, I felt that I had a certain degree of “street cred” in my community. And by that, I refer to the quality of being “worthy of respect.” As an author, I feel a certain enhancement of my “cred,” insofar as those who used to vehemently disagree with me about the Israel/Palestine question, now seem more willing to acknowledge an alternative narrative of coexistence and peace instead of confrontation and endless strife.
Chanti: What are you working on now? What can we look forward to seeing next from you?
Cooper: That’s easy. I’m putting the finishing touches on the next book in the “Empire Series,” Crossroads of Empire, which immediately follows Wages of Empire. I’m determined to see it published in 2024. And after that will come the next in the series, End of Empire. At that point, I’ll probably leave it as a trilogy. Or not.
Note from Chanti: Crossroads of Empire is in the 2023 CIBAs!
Cooper won the Grand Prize in the Dante Rossetti Awards for YA Fiction
Chanti: Who’s the perfect reader for your book?
Cooper: Wages of Empire will appeal to a wide swathe of readers beginning with those WWI aficionados who enjoy a thrilling novel of historical mystery with elements of romance and international intrigue. Readers of all ages and particularly young readers will enjoy the classic hero story of a young man coming of age at a pivotal moment in history and risking everything to play a role in the unfolding of history. Likewise, readers coming from diverse backgrounds will appreciate the cross-cultural and universal appeal. And in this turbulent time in the Middle East, readers concerned about the prospects for peace in that troubled part of the world will appreciate an informative and historical narrative of coexistence.
As it happens, Wages of Empire is a novel about war in a time of war—holding up a mirror that reflects on the current paroxysms of violence in the Middle East, and asking the question: What does that history have to do with the present?
In a word?
Everything.
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