Passages follows a man from his childhood in Greece through the challenges of his family’s history to his career as a physician caring for veterans. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The factual history of a naval combat vessel active in the Vietnam conflict provided a motif of connection between principal characters, neatly laying down a plot line that would intertwine their rites of passage. The aging naval combat veteran and the young psychiatrist encounter one another under duress at parallel crossroads in their lives as their therapeutic relationship unfolds.

Can you share with us a little about the research that went into shaping your storyline?

My own training in medicine and the military provided a firm floor for a realistic representation of the formative milieu of the two protagonists. Structured interviews with sailors who were in the fight provided supportive resources on events, equipment, and tactics, and helped sharpen the context of combat events as well as the personal aftermath on the return to civilian life. Drawing on contemporaneous events in the news of Tulsa, Oklahoma served up a scenario for the make-or-break challenge that sets the story line in motion.

What was one scene in the novel that you felt captured the morals and message you were trying to deliver to readers?

Of many scenes that make a statement of conviction, an epiphany for many readers will arise from AJ’s description of the ramifications that the hyperfocus of battle can have on a young man much later in life.

What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?

The likely next release involves four women growing up together on Staten Island and lessons of empathy learned through their deep bonds. Look again in 6-12 months for Four Corners!

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