Author Interview with Julian E. Farris

First of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, an educator and now first-time novelist, I grew up among ultra-conservative  racist and homophobic attitudes during the 1950s and early 1960s and saw first-hand the corrosive effects on individuals who were different because of their skin color or sexual orientation. Two events in particular provided the tipping point in my education—the suicide of a friend at the University of Florida in 1958 during the state's purge of  gay and lesbian students and teachers, and "Ax Handle Saturday" in  August of 1960 when white supremacists with baseball bats and ax handles  attacked young black activists engaged in a sit-in. These two events influenced the next thirty years in my personal development and to the writing of my novel, The Sin Warriors.

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Author Interview with James Tenedero

Hi James, first of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself.

Thanks, Patrick; I’d be happy to. I’m currently a PhD student at McGill University in Montreal, where I’m studying processes of organizational learning and innovation in the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. I’m in the final stages of the doctoral program, so my research generally keeps me fairly busy these days, but I still devote a substantial amount of time to my fiction writing and to promoting my most recently completed novel.

Like most of your readers, I’ve been a writer of some kind for as long as I can remember – my creative writing assignments in grade school would inevitably end up in long stories with fairly detailed character development and (what I think were) pretty sophisticated plot lines. I’ve tried to maintain that rigour as I’ve matured in my writing, but there’s always more to learn about the craft.

As far as my professional life goes, I’ve worked in corporate finance, strategic planning and analysis, and management consulting roles in the past. My aspiration after the PhD has been completed is to find an academic position that will allow me to continue to teach and research in the field of management.

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