Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.

Hi! I’m Jonathan, and this is my first novel. I’ve also been published in a collaborative photography book “A Picture is Worth 1000 Words” by Thomas Brath, so check that out! I’ve always had a love for writing, journaling, or just simply putting my random thoughts down on paper. Eventually my thoughts began to stretch out an become more cohesive to the point where I felt comfortable to share what I wrote with a close friend; she encouraged me to push further.

As for me as a person, I grew up in New York City and Central New Jersey, 9 years in each place. My college days were spent in Philadelphia. Twice I’ve lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, both times fleeing from there in a frantic cross-country trek to the west coast. Southern California for the first 7 years, and I’ve been in the Pacific Northwest for the past 5 years. I mostly just wander around my neighborhood with my dog Moab and work when I have to.

Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “Be Prepared to Die”?

Finding the proper tone and mood often proved difficult. Like any writer, I take from what I know, what I’ve lived. But I need to be in a somewhat cheerful mood if I’m sitting down to write. The challenge with this was the need to essentially “get into character” since I was writing the story from a first-person perspective.

Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?

I’ve read a fair amount of varying philosophy throughout my life, and that has always influenced what I write, and to a certain extent, how I write. But as I’ve developed my writing from incomplete thoughts to a published book, several books and others have served me well with their inspiration. The first was probably Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’, a bit cliche I’m sure, but reading that book over a decade ago was what reignited my passion for reading fictional literature. It’ll be overtly apparent to any reader of my book; Albert Camus is immensely influential, almost to a comically nauseating level. Reading John Muir while I was working on this book also encouraged and directed much of what and how I wrote.

Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?

Of all my travels around the United States, it would be hard to decide on one specific location, so I would have to say the deserts of California. I say deserts, plural, because there are so many varying types of deserts there, and that is what makes it so special. If there is one singular location though, that can optimize life in California away from its crowded cities and shorelines, the desert entrance into Yosemite’s alpine region that sits above Mono Lake. But not just the entrance, the descent out of that Valley Wonderland is really quite the unique experience.

Q5. What inspired you to write the book ‘Be Prepared to Die’?

I had begun writing a different book, in which the main character of ‘Be Prepared to Die’ plays a large roll in. A friend recommended I discuss more about their backstories in that first book I was writing. I didn’t think short descriptions of their histories would do the depth of their characters justice, so I began constructing a prequel storyboard.

Before all this, another friend had come up with the idea that I should write and publish a raw, unfiltered journal. So, I wrote that, and honestly, it was wonderful, and I wish I hadn’t let my emotions destroy it. But it was also very personal. This is not to say I was opposed to putting my personal life on public display this way, it just seemed, for comparison, like I would be trying to sell a self-portrait.

So, I decided to lend my life off to a fictional character. I wrote a few short stories. They’ll still be utilized one way or another. But for this book, what actually sent me down the path toward publication, it was the words I wrote after ordering an Old-Fashioned Roulette cocktail from the whiskey bar near my house. The ‘roulette’ was just the bartender’s choice on the whiskey used. She picked the cheapest whiskey they had. This was the raw quote, the one I wrote the moment I sat down that day, with the intent to write a novel, as I tasted the sharp astringency of a cheap liquor…

“She basically loaded the bullet into the chamber that would be the first shot to fire when the trigger was pulled. There was no spinning of the cylinder, no blind chance, it was murder. Sure, I knew the chance of death was one in six, but no one ever talks of those five chances at life. In this case though, my chances were more like one in a hundred. They say to not waste good liquor on mixers. Sure, I agree. But I’d add, don’t waste a good cocktail on cheap liquor. This hangover tomorrow will be the death of me…”

Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ‘Be Prepared to Die’?

That sort of depends on whether the question is this book or a book. I wrote that first paragraph sometime in the Spring of 2021 and had a complete manuscript by early Autumn in 2022. But it was the Summer of 2018 when the idea to write something that resembled a personal journal of my life was born.

Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?

All of the large online retailers will have my book available in paperback ($16.99) and eBook ($7.49) formats. It can also be purchased by author direct from my Etsy page, shop name “TheBottleRocketPress” ($16.24), shipping included.

Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘Be Prepared to Die’?

For the longest time the book was going to be titled ‘The White Curtain’, named for the quasi-inanimate antagonist of the story. But upon seeing the first cover from the publisher I used, I realized that regardless of the tone I had in my mind for what “The White Curtain” represents, others would read it as ‘flighty and airy’.

One day I was walking to work, listening to a band, Streetlight Manifesto. It was a long instrumental part of the song, but the rhythm matched the chorus, and though I had heard that song likely well over a hundred times, the chorus lyrics escaped me “you’ll be left behind” and in my mind I resolutely sang “be prepared to die”.

As for the cover, my initial intent was a white curtain or cloth of some kind that looked tattered and ominous, somewhat covering the image of a sailboat trailing off toward the setting Sun. After a few discussions with the design team, I provided a few images, the two being used for the cover being my first choice for each part of the cover design. The dingy room is meant to represent the Room in the Underground and all of the reality of my life that was placed into the book, while the illustrated sailboats represent carrying the story off into the fictious waters of literature and the protagonist’s search for freedom.

Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?

I find it’s best to write my thoughts by hand, out at bars or restaurants, or in a park. After having spent so much time with this book, transcribing my handwritten journals, I’ve started to alter my process, where now I’ll write a few starting paragraphs, but continue on with the thoughts at home.

Constantly reading while I’m writing also helps the flow of my stories to not become stagnant. I’m a big believer in the concept that all ideas come from other ideas. Sometimes it’s tone, sometimes it’s structure or something else, but other novels are an excellent source of fuel to ensure readers aren’t stranded in a monotonous book.

Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?

I think most of the advice carried over from my years of art training and photography. But I think that advice rings just as true for writing and any other art. Create for yourself sure, I think that is an important part of art. But also, create for others, not with the intent to sell, but with the intent to share. I think any good piece of art, novels included, should allow the audience to see themselves in the artwork, and not just the creator.

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