Gary Braver’s Flashback: Un(dis)covering the Past.

Jack Der-Sarkissian with Marie Dakessian


Flashback

If you could relive your childhood, would you? What if you had no choice? Jack Koryan is stung by a school of rare jellyfish, whose toxins send him into a coma for several months. When he awakens, he finds that the toxin has left him with extraordinary memory. But he is also haunted by dreams and flash-memories -- some of pleasant childhood vignettes, others of dark violence -- that leave him quaking in horror. Rene Ballard, a pharmacologist, is testing those same toxins on Alzheimer’s victims with extraordinarily successful results that could lead to a breakthrough cure — though some patients have also committed acts of inexplicable violence. Together, Jack and Rene explore a scientific mystery to help explain what is happening to Jack, at the same time uncovering a sinister pattern of lies, deceit, and greed that has left behind a trail of bodies. And several elderly patients who are stuck in a past that they cannot emerge from — or don’t want to.


Gary Goshgarian, the man behind the pseudonym Gary Braver, took time after a recent workshop in Maui, Hawaii, to answer questions for Ararat magazine regarding his new novel Flashback. It turned out that the response to our first question, why he chose a pen name, was already posted on his web site, www.GaryBraver.com, along with the preceding summary of his novel, but he was kind enough to update it:

Authors choose pen names for a variety of reasons. Some want to keep their writing selves separate from their personal selves. Others choose a nom de plume for works that might be of a different genre from what they write under their own name. Others still, like Stephen King, choose a pen name because of overexposure and high productivity. For me -- none of the above. It was my publisher’s choice to go with the pen name. The name choice, however, was mine. And the reason was to fool the bookstore chains.

While writing my fourth novel, Elixir, my agent called to say that director Ridley Scott (Alien, Thelma and Louise, Gladiator) wanted to option the book. That was wonderful news. Seeing high potential in the book, my publisher Tor/Forge (St. Martin's Press) decided to publish a lot more of it than had been published of my previous titles. But they wanted me to go with a pen name for Elixir — in fact, to be debuted as a first novel even though this would have been my fourth. And the reason: They wanted to fool the bookstore chains (Barnes & Noble, Borders, Waldenbooks, etc.) which ultimately determine what books sell in North America, more so than all the independent stores. When the chains order an author’s books, they check his or her sales of the previous title. And since Elixir was to have a much larger print-run than my previous titles, they didn’t want to take the chance that it would be under-ordered. Thus Gary Braver -- new kid on the block.

About the name. My only guidelines were short and front of the alphabet. Short I understood well. Front of the alphabet, it was explained, came from buying-pattern studies showing that customers browsing titles on those front-of-the-store shelves marked "New Releases" usually stopped around authors whose names begin with K. (If you're Zuckerman or Zanini, you're buried at the back shelves bottom.) Yeah, they’ve got it down to a science. I came up with Braver, which is the translation of my grandfather's first name from the Armenian.
Alas, after a second option, Ridley Scott passed on making the movie. Two options by others expired, but meanwhile a fine screenplay was written by Ian Roumain. We’re hoping it will be shot in 2006, but currently the book is up for grabs. That's showbiz. Flashback has also gotten recent inquiries from several production companies, but no takers yet.

What, if any, has the response been from the Armenian community regarding your non-Armenian pen name, Gary Braver?

The usual response is: Why the name change? And: Was it because the publisher wanted a less ethnic sounding name? The answer is no. In fact, my editor has an ethnic (Hispanic) name. The reason had to do with fooling the bookstore chains so they would not under-order books based on the sales of my previous title. Many Armenians are pleased to learn that “Braver” is a loose translation of my paternal grandfather’s name, Garabed. “Brave” or “Braver man” are some of the English synonyms for that name. They’re also pleased that the pen name is in the family.


You mention that Braver was derived from your grandfather’s first name. Where were your grandparents born, and to which village or city did they trace their roots? Did they converse in English or Armenian?

Both sets of grandparents and my father came from Harpoot, Armenia. They were fluent in Armenian, although my paternal grandmother was the only grandparent alive when I was a boy. My mother was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and was fluent in Armenian and English, of course. Unfortunately, she was too busy teaching my father English to ground me in Armenian. And when I was five years old, they divorced, so what little Armenian I knew was regrettably lost.


Given that you consistently incorporate Armenian characters into your novels, how much "Armenian" can you get into a work and still secure commercial popularity?

Flashback probably is the most Armenian of all my books. Nonetheless, I have Armenian protagonists in all my books. In Gray Matter, my previous book, the investigating police officer is Detective Greg Zakarian, who, amusingly, has to explain what an Armenian is to people who have never met one before. In Elixir, the president of the U.S. is a John Markarian — the John from my maternal grandfather and Markarian from my paternal grandfather. Actually, I should be a Markarian, since Goshgarian is the name of the sponsor who married my paternal grandmother (Mary Markarian) in order to bring to America her three children, including my father, Serop. The change from Markarian to Goshgarian followed after the three children were shipped from a displaced person’s camp in Cuba to Providence, Rhode Island, where they eventually settled. I have no blood relation to any other Goshgarians. In a sense, I was born with my first pen name.


In your current novel, Flashback, protagonist Jack Koryan is orphaned by the age of two following the violently deaths of his father and mother. What, if any, metaphorical parallels should your readers draw to the Armenian Genocide?

Readers are free to draw parallels, as I hope they would. I admit that it was my subtle intention to suggest in the death of one of them (I don’t want to spoil the book’s intrigue) the brutal injustice inflicted on a person of accomplishment — which, yes, is a metaphor of what the Turks did to the Armenians — something best appreciated by Armenian readers.


In Flashback you include at least four different Armenian characters: Jack Koryan, his mother, his father, and his aunt. To what degree are they stereotypical Armenians?

I see no stereotypes in any of them. In fact, I’m not sure what a stereotypical Armenian is.
Jack is an Armenian-American who takes pride in his ethnicity and who grows closer to his ethnic and parental roots throughout the novel. He is probably closer to me than any other of my characters. I had a much closer relationship to my mother than to my father; and Jack’s growing appreciation of his mother throughout reflects my appreciation for my own mother. Perhaps the only ”stereotypical” touch is the mention of matched-marriages, which is more old-world typical than stereotypical.
The other characters — aunt and uncle -- are dead and only referred to in brief. But they are based on my own Aunt Nancy and her husband. By the way, the book is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Rose Goshgarian, and her sister, my aunt, Nemza “Nancy” Megrichian.

The three novels under your current pen name are medical thrillers, which maintain a high level of medical accuracy. Why the interest in medicine?

This is an example of publishers pigeon-holing an author. The third and final Goshgarian book, Rough Beast, is a bio-medical thriller centered on a family whose 13-year-old son experiences accelerated puberty as the result of some secret toxin in the water. My publisher loved the story, which got nice reviews, and said they wanted more of the same — high-concept, cautionary thrillers centered on an American family imperiled by some bio-medical innovation.
So, by default, I was cast as the writer of medical thrillers and spend lot of time doing research into medicine, biology, and pharmacology, then trying to streamline the technical material so as not to blind the reader with science. Much of the time I feel like a grad student poring through technical journals and books and interviewing experts. But, having been at Northeastern University for nearly 30 years, I have friends in different technical departments who help me sound like I know what I’m talking about. I also have a degree in physics, so that I can comprehend some scientific basics or at least ask half-way intelligent questions.
The research is laborious, but I’ve learned a lot. Because I believe that literature should entertain and educate, the challenge is to incorporate technical material that is essential and to discard the rest, even if it is fascinating. The last thing a writer of such novels wants to do is bore the reader with too much scientific patter.


Since I assume that this is not your field of expertise, how do you prepare for each work -- reading, and visiting hospitals and doctors?

Because I’m an English teacher, I first have to familiarize myself with the science. And that means doing preliminary reading on the core technical matters. In Elixir, it was determining just the kind of chemicals that could feasibly be the basis for a fountain-of-youth drug. In Gray Matter, it meant reading up on the brain to determine the exact locus of intelligence — i.e., long-term memory and analysis -- in humans. Then I interviewed experts with two tape recorders (two in case one malfunctions — I’ve learned the hard way! ) then transcribe what they’ve told me and decide which material is useful and which isn’t. For Flashback I have over 40 hours of tapes from interviews with pharmacologists, doctors, nursing home staffers, biochemists, nurses, veterans, police officers, lawyers, and several professors of ethics. And the research is ongoing. When I write the chapters involving the particular technical matters, I go on until I’ve reached the next technical chapter, then call an expert to interview, then write that chapter. The research may go right to the end of the book.




How do you justify your negative portrayal of pharmaceutical companies?

I don’t have a negative view of the pharmaceutical industry in general. In fact, if it weren’t for pharmaceuticals, I would not be as healthy as I am. But the genre requires villainy. And following several recent pharmaceutical recalls, many Americans have grown skeptical of drug companies, which reap outrageous profits while pushing to market flawed products.
Both Elixir and Flashback exploit such bad science and questionable business practice. In each of those novels, characters at the helms of fictitious drug companies are trying market compounds that are lousy with side-effects — the kinds of side-effects that the FDA would not accept. But when the promise is a $50 billion pill, top management might be tempted to bury clinical results in order to cash in, side-effects be damned. And that is where the conflict lies.
And there are precedents. Currently, Merck has withdrawn Vioxx while facing billions of dollars in lawsuits. And one reason is faulty clinical testing, prompted by a rush to market. The same with Phen-fen, which had the miracle-drug promise of weight reduction, yet which resulted in several deaths — something that should have been caught in the various phases of clinical testing. The head-in-the-sand strategy is dangerously reckless. I just pushed it a step farther and made it outright criminal.


Are there any easy formulae for writing a successful medical mystery?

No. Good story, good characters, good writing, and most of all: good luck.


Your website states that your writing career began after a dangerous SCUBA diving trip off the island of Mallorca. While exploring ancient artifacts, your party was attacked underwater by modern-day pirates. Does this experience still have a direct impact on your writing today?

Not today, but it did back when I was writing Atlantis Fire, my first novel, which is set on the Aegean island of Santorini. That experience of being attacked underwater led to that book. It was an extraordinary series of events to draw from and allowed me to air out some complaints about the pillaging of antiquities to be sold to collectors and museums throughout the world.
Most writers have otherwise dull lives punctuated with some rare, extraordinary experiences that might be fodder for a thriller. Atlantis Fire came from one of the few exotic experiences in my life. But most writers aren’t Indiana Jones archaeologists, cops, FBI agents, medical doctors, spies, political officials, high-power lawyers, etc. Their stories are simply the stuff of rich imaginings.



Your novels, Elixir, Gray Matter, and now Flashback, all revolve around the discovery of a new drug that offers more — more youthfulness, greater intelligence, and better or recovered memory, respectively. What is Gary Braver seeking?

What Gary Braver looks for is the next high-concept fantasy that would appeal to the greatest readership — and something beyond power, money, and sex, the trinity of most books. Because I don’t have series characters, finishing a novel is like being fired from a job. And that means coming up with the next major fantasy that will involve science tampering with human biology. Perhaps it’s a reflection of my growing older — the search for eternal youth, more intelligence, a cure for dementia. Perhaps these are fantasies that appeal to many people. Clearly eternal youth is the holy grail of the pharmaceutical industry — something that pounds us in half of the advertising in America: be young, stay youthful, look like you’re 20 years younger, etc. For Gray Matter, that idea came from a CNN poll that asked people if they could change one thing about themselves, what would it be. Remarkably 80% said they wish they were smarter. And as America grows older, so does the fear of Alzheimer’s disease — the demon at the heart of Flashback, a novel which centers on an alleged cure and reversal.