Pump Up Your Book Chats with Author Tom Weston

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tom weston Originally from England, Tom Weston now resides in Boston, Massachusetts. His works include the fantasy based Alex and Jackie Adventure books, First Night and the Elf of Luxembourg. His latest project is fission, a novel based on the true life story of scientist, Lise Meitner. For more information visit Tom at http://tom-weston.com or find him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/tom.weston.readers

Thank you for this interview, Mr. Tom Weston. Welcome back to Pump Up Your Book. You’re currently promoting a project that is a little different from your usual work. Can you tell us about it and why you wrote it?

A: Thanks for inviting me back. Yes, my latest project, fission, is quite different from the Alex and Jackie Adventures, both in subject matter and style. Fission tells the story of scientist, Lise Meitner. It is quite an extraordinary story and one that also happens to be true. Lise’s claim to fame as a scientist rests on her discovery of nuclear fission, but what drew me to the story was not the science, but the circumstances under which she made the discovery, and the consequences of that discovery for her and the world.

Lise Meitner seems like an extraordinary woman, and yet, I’ve never heard of her. What started you on the path of telling her story?

A: I first read of Lise in the David Bodanis book, e=mc2, and I also was shocked that I’d never heard of this woman. There is a picture of a group of scientists taken at a conference, all men – most of them famous Nobel Prize laureates – except for Lise. Her contributions to science matched theirs; she should have been equally famous and honored. The reasons why she isn’t made for such a compelling story that I pretty much told it to everyone who ventured within earshot. When I had run out of friends and family, I knew it was time to tell the story to a larger audience.

What was it like getting to know Lise Meitner through research and then bringing her person ‘to life’ on the page? What did you do (in terms of research, etc) to be satisfied that you were doing her justice?

A: There were already a couple of biographies about Lise: Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age, by Patricia Rife and Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics, by Ruth Lewin Sime. Both are excellent and I recommend them to anyone who wants to know more about Lise. And both go into her scientific achievements in detail; but I wanted to tell a different story, because I think that her greatest achievement is the example she set of determination and courage.

After her death, her nephew, Otto Robert Frisch had engraved on her headstone the caption: Lise Meitner: a physicist who never lost her humanity. It was the humanity that held my focus; and my research took me in that direction, away from the science. The exploits I describe in the book are heroic and world-shaping, even epic, but I didn’t want my characters to consider themselves as anything but normal, everyday people, who joke, grieve, doubt and make mistakes, just like the rest of us. To get the feel I wanted, I read just as many contemporary newspapers, letters and documents as history books and biographies.

As for doing her justice? At the height of her short-lived fame, Hollywood wanted to make a lurid and factually inaccurate movie about her involvement in the race for the atomic bomb. Lise declared that she would rather walk down Broadway naked than be so misrepresented on the silver screen. I’m a novelist and I want to entertain, but the real story has so many sensational twists and turns that I didn’t feel it necessary to make things up. She believed very strongly in the search for the truth. In that respect, I think I’ve been true to her ideals; and I think she would approve of the underlying message in fission.

Weston Your previous books – the Alex and Jackie Adventures – are YA fantasy. I imagine that fission is far from that. What can readers expect from this story?

A: Although it won’t be classified as YA, fission is no more difficult to read than the Alex and Jackie books. Stylistically, partly because my intent here is different from that in Alex and Jackie, and partly because of the demands of the story, it’s probably a more traditional narrative – there’s no distracting local history sprinkled throughout, for example.

I hope the Alex and Jackie fans will see in Lise the character of the underdog, as were Sarah Pemberton from First Night and Cuchaquichá from The Elf of Luxembourg; perhaps more so, because they were fictional characters, whereas she is not.

I also want to allay any fears that because Lise was a scientist that the book will be the paper equivalent of mathematical equations on blackboards, because it isn’t. There is probably less science in the book than the average Star Trek episode.

In common with my other books, they will find fission is full of intrigue and danger; they will also find fear and courage, heroes and villains, joy and sorrow.

Can you share an excerpt?

A: Max raised his glass of wine and sipped it, to give himself time to fashion a response. He loved his daughters more than any thing else in the world, and indulged their wishes more than an attentive parent should. But business was business, hard and brutal – and no fit place for a woman.

On the other hand . . . Max knew more of Lise Meitner than she comprehended – from Boltzmann – of her papers, her work ethic, and her promise. He put the wine glass back on the table and proceeded to speak slowly and deliberately, as if he had reviewed a theorem and found a flaw.

“If a woman has a special gift for the tasks of theoretical physics – which does not happen often but happens sometimes – and moreover she herself feels moved to develop her gift, I do not think it right, both personally and impersonally, to refuse her the chance and means of studying.”

“Papa says ‘yes’,” interpreted Emma, with glee.

“But Berlin is not Vienna,” Max shook his head. “There is nothing of the comforts or pleasures of Vienna. It is cold and austere, especially so for the gentler sex.”

“Papa says ‘welcome to Berlin’,” interpreted Grete.

Planck took a deep breath, looked reproachfully at his grinning daughters and then fixed his eye on Lise.

“Very well,” said Max. “I shall consent to your admission, on a trial basis, to my lectures and practical courses.”

“Thank you,” Lise managed weakly.

“On the other hand,” hedged Max. “I must keep to the fact that such a case should always be regarded as an exception.”

“Oh, yes, always!” mocked Grete. The twins knew when their father joked, even if Lise did not.

“It cannot be emphasized enough that nature herself prescribes to a woman her function as mother and housewife,” continued Max.

“Father is always lecturing us for not being married yet,” said Emma.

“We are such a drain on the household budget,” said Grete.

“The laws of nature cannot be ignored without grave danger,” said Max.

Right now, readers can read fission before it’s even published. Can you tell us more about how this works, why you decided to present fission that way and when we can expect fission in book form?

A: I had originally written fission as a screenplay and it had received some critical acclaim, including being named a finalist at the 2008 London Independent Film Festival, but while I’m waiting for the call from Hollywood, I wanted to share the Lise Meitner story with a larger audience.

So I decided to turn the screenplay into a full blown novel. The problem with that was I had already had a couple of other projects I was working on, and rather than delay getting the message out, I also made the decision to publish fission in serial form as each chapter is completed.

For our generation, the internet and social networking sites such as Facebook have replaced Strand magazine, and so it made sense to use that platform. And for now, as a thank-you to my fans, online access to fission is free – just visit my Facebook page for details.

We published the first chapter in June and have been uploading 1-2 chapters a week since then. As we speak I have about one third of the novel completed and on-line for people to read. When it’s done, hopefully by the end of the year or soon thereafter, then we’ll go ahead and publish it the old fashioned way.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

A: Some have asked why I would put so much effort into this project and then give it away for free. But, the whole point of fission is to introduce Lise Meitner to people who do not know her. I’d like them to read fission, of course, but they could also turn to the biographies, or even Google to find out more about her, and I encourage everyone to do so.

The Lise Meitner story is so compelling, and I think that it’s important that we keep such stories alive and share them with each other, but her story, unfortunately, is not unique – we can all describe incidents of intolerance and hatred that often fall closer to home. I can’t write about them all, but I did choose to write about this one – this is my little contribution to redressing an injustice.

Thank you for this interview, Mr. Weston. Good luck on your virtual book tour!

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

-- Sheila Roberts, Author of Winter at the Beach