Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
A1. My name is Leith Campbell MacArthur. Leith is the name of a river in Scotland, and I’ve always been thankful to my mother for having had the courage to give me a unique moniker. I live in Greene, RI, on a beautiful piece of land surrounded by woods and water. I love animals, most particularly dogs. I’m of the belief that dogs were put on this planet to show us oft-confused humans the true nature of love and devotion. Speaking of love; I’ve been blessed by the most amazing woman I’ve ever known (beyond my mother, of course). After having spent five of my eight decades feeling lost, my wife Katira has gifted me with true love. I was lost, and now I am found.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “An Artificial Life”?
A2. The most difficult aspect of writing my memoir “An Artificial Life” was telling the truth. I am a recovering addict. I abused drugs for nearly five decades, and telling the truth about the insane and sometimes terrible things I did while using drugs took a kind of courage I did not know I possessed.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
A3. As a child, I was profoundly influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson. His stories of humanness, heartache, and triumph temporarily relieved me of my suffering. Because of Stevenson, I began writing short stories at the age of eleven. As a teenager, Dashiell Hammet, Ross Macdonald, and John D. Macdonald helped me to express, through writing, my anger about injustice. When I was older, Robert B. Parker helped me to round out my fictional protagonist, William Snow, for my series of suspense thrillers. Although my writing pales by comparison, I learned how to create vibrant scenes by reading every book ever written by James Lee Burke, Master Storyteller.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
A4. The area around the White Mountains of New Hampshire contains some of my favorite places on earth. Before our family fell apart, my father took us on epic driving trips throughout New England. Whenever we were in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, I did not want to go home. I loved those mountains. As an adult, I went on to climb many of them.
Q5. What inspired you to write the book ‘The Man On The Moon’?
A5. For three consecutive summers, I vacationed in Pleasant Bay, Nova Scotia. Because Pleasant Bay is the most tranquil place I’ve ever been to (the population is about 100), I wondered what it would be like if I were to uncover some unspeakable horror buried in the town’s history. Out of that wondering came the fifth book in the William Snow series, “The Man on the Moon”.
Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ‘An Artificial Life’?
A6. Writing “An Artificial Life” was a grueling process. I began writing about the havoc I’d wreaked in my life (while dodging my own bullets and praying they wouldn’t kill anyone else) in the fall of 2012, which was when, at the age of sixty-six, I finally got clean. I finished “An Artificial Life” in May, 2026. Therefore, it took fourteen years to complete.
Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?
A7. My books can be purchased at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, or at my website LeithMacArthur.com
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘The Finding Man’?
A8. Coming up with the cover design for “The Finding Man” was easy. All six books in The William Snow series have the exact same image on the covers. The only difference is the color. The image of the hand coming up out of the water on those six covers is the opposite of the hand coming down out of the sky on the cover of “An Artificial Life”. The common theme is, “getting a hand”.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself.
A9. Keeping my writing fresh is easy. I write “the truth”, whether it be the actual truth in the story of my life, or the created “truth” of the stories in my head. Even though I have been blessed with an active imagination, I do my best to write stories that come across as possible.
Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
A10. The most valuable piece of advice I’ve ever been given regarding writing is this: read, read, READ!
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