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Author David Dun Rob Holden: David Dun, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It is a pleasure to have you with us here today. David Dun: Thank you. I'm sure the pleasure is mostly mine. Rob Holden: Let's start this chat out talking about your latest novel The Black Silent. Can you tell our readers a bit about it? David Dun: An old sage disappears. Seemingly he has made a breakthrough discovery related to Archaea a non-fiction organism with life spans measured in the millions of years. A ruthless corporation and Frick its henchman pursue the old man and his secrets in a race pitting Frick against the heroine and the hero. The heroine is the old scientists adopted daughter and the love interest of the hero a retired anti-terrorist expert. Rob Holden: Let's start the discussion of the novel with the "organism" that has been discovered -- one, I believe that has the capacity to effect human DNA. Can you tell is a bit about that? David Dun: Archaea live so long because their DNA does not suffer corruption in the manner that our DNA does. If we slow the oxidation of our DNA we will age more slowly. Secondly, our DNA has telomeres that get progressively shorter with each cell division. Telomerase, an enzyme, prevents the shortening of the telomere but is associated with cancerous cells. The trick is to use telemerase without stimulating cancer. On the average most of the cells in your body are fifteen years old. It's because they divided and replaced themselves. In the story the old man has used the secrets of the archaea to allow more successful cell divisions and also protect against DNA deterioration. In the book we let the scientists go crazy near the end and explain in more detail. Rob Holden: And yet, in the novel, while that discovery certainly has WONDERFUL potential for the human race, there is also a dark. David Dun: Yes. People who understand they are probably going to have productive lives of 400 years duration begin to feel they are not merely human. Additionally, they can amass wealth for hundreds of years, they can influence politics and build power bases that would last normal generations. There is huge envy if there is scarcity of the elaborate drug regimen and the have nots hate the haves. That's only the beginning of the issues mentioned in the novel. Once people have they want it so bad they'll do most anything to keep it. Rob Holden: Now, while the novel is heavily based and grounded in the science, it is essentially a thriller. I would like to talk about your "hero" Sam Wintripp. Can you tell our readers a bit about him,and where he came from.

David Dun: He is Native American and therefore somewhat steeped in Native American mysticism, although that aspect is not emphasized in this novel as much as in prior. He is an odd juxtaposition of science and instinct if you will. And the whole novel is about the tension between the natural life and the technology driven life. Sam was a bit more of a mythic hero in the prior two books. In this book he has a broken body and a bit of a tortured mind. He is no more the perfect fighting machine. He struggles with serious physical impairment. James Bond like no-more he is retired. Resting. Recovering when this horror drops into his life. He is a man who no longer believes it’s safe for a woman to have a relationship with him. So he avoids romantic entanglement. That's the tension with the heroine.

Rob Holden: While reading the novel, Sam struck me as a man with the ability to "embrace" and use technology, but who has spent his recent life all but completely avoiding it. Was this a difficult balance to strike with your main character.

David Dun: Yes, because it requires discussing two competing people in one. Although it’s common in fiction, in thrillers character development must be laser like leaving a trail of landmarks in the readers mind so that the character is vivid. All great characters are complex. The trick is to do it in an action based novel without slowing the action. I'm just learning.

Rob Holden: You did it quite well in this book -- and as you mentioned, Sam's character has changed a great deal from the previous two books he appeared in. Could you tell us why you chose a different direction for him in this book.

David Dun: There is a great danger in over virtuous characters lacking sufficient obstacles of the sort that are within. They all have the environmental obstacles but the internal ones have the greatest power for fascination. Stories are made of elements designed to fascinate. Character is one of those elements. One should be reluctant to give up one of the tools in the tool box by making a uni-dimensional action hero.

Rob Holden: Well, Sam is anything but Uni-dimensional in this novel. A good deal of The Black Silent takes place in and around the Ocean, and I know that you yourself are an accomplished diver. What kind of research did you do -- other than your own diving experiences -- to make your underwater scenes read as vividly as they do.

David Dun: I have gone diving since I was sixteen off and on, and hence have a good store of nightmares. I visited a dive shop in the San Juans and I grew up diving in the area. That part was natural. I have been on the water in the San Juans since childhood and continue to go every year. My wife flew me through the San Juans in a Lake amphibian (she was a pilot) and we landed. Horrifyingly from an environmental standpoint she drove the amphibian right up onto a wild beach. We can research all sorts of things and travel and I often do. But you might as well use what is part of you, sunk deep into your guts. It's easier.

Rob Holden: Apart from being a best selling author, I know that you are also a practicing attorney. We have interviewed a number of lawyers turned authors, but you are one of the very few who has shied away from writing "legal" suspense. Were you -- or are you -- tempted to go in that direction, and why haven't you as yet.

David Dun: Not tempted at all. And after what I just said, you might wonder why. Notice that most of my villains are corporate people. Not always but usually. I'm a corporate lawyer and not a criminal lawyer. The actual corporate people I work with are some of the best people I know. But it's fun to imagine, what if they weren't.So I'm using my background, just not in the way you might think. Most legal thrillers involve criminal law and I know little about that.

Rob Holden: Do you have any ambitions to give up practicing law and concentrate solely on writing or, Like Andrew Vacss and Scott Turrow, do you envision doing both.

David Dun: I envision doing both. My practice is very specialized and very rewarding. Much different that a typical lawyers day.

Rob Holden: Now in our pre-chat discussion, you mentioned to me that your next novel will not have Sam Wintripp as its main character. Is there a specific reason for that.

David Dun: Yes. I want to incorporate strong historical components with the science. I therefore need a character that has a good reason for the extensive expertise. He's a genetic anthropologist in part..

Rob Holden: Your past novels and, it sounds like your upcoming novel, are all extensively researched. I have to ask -- which part of writing do you prefer, the research or the actual writing -- and why.

David Dun: Both but I enjoy writing more than research. I love having all the elements at my finger tips and being able to write. Unfortunately I usually have to do both at the same time..

Rob Holden: You mentioned that your next novel will have strong historical components to it. Can you tell our readers a bit about it -- and when we can expect to see it on the shelves.

David Dun: I have strongly resisted setting a deadline for this book. The publisher of my prior books might like to have discussions about the time of arrival. I've said next summer. I am really focused on getting this book just right and on building the book around historical events. To keep it as factual as possible requires research and so I don't want to second guess that process. Next book, The Bones of Kahn, on the shelf in 2007 sometime. This summer I have a short story coming out in a James Patterson International Thriller Writers Anthology.

Rob Holden: And is there somewhere our readers can go in the internet to keep up with the latest developments in your career.

David Dun: My website. They can subscribe to my newsletter. It's infrequent so there will be no electronic blizzard.

Rob Holden: That is http://daviddun.com?

David Dun: Yes. Love it when readers drop me a line and sign up for the Newsletter. Happy to answer questions..

Rob Holden: David, before we wrap this up, is there anything you might like to say to your fans who may read this chat at ReadersRoom.com.

David Dun: When you are reading know that I usually attempt to use facts over fiction where I can. For me that adds to a thriller..

Rob Holden: Well, it certainly did in The Black Silent.

David Dun: Thank you very much for this opportunity to talk with readers. I appreciate it.

Rob Holden: David Dun, thank you for joining us here today -- and thanks for all your patience -- and best of luck with all your upcoming projects!.

David Dun: Wishing you all good things..




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