Right Around the River Blog
Rocketts Landing Featured in Richmond Writer’s New Novel
Post Date: 03-21-2012
At Rocketts Landing, we know all about the great river views and active lifestyles our residents and visitors enjoy. But, once we heard about a local writer featuring Rocketts Landing in his newest novel, Felony Dementia, we were blushing and had to learn more.
Published last October and co-written by Dr. Winfred Ward and Adrien Eissler, Felony Dementia is a medical legal thriller that follows a man named "Same" and his experiences with the disease frontotemporal degeneration -- a progressive degeneration of the brain's temporal and frontal lobes -- as well as his life in Rocketts Landing's 210 Rock. Dr. Ward will do a reading for our Resident's Social Club on March 28, so we decided to sit down for a Q&A and pick his brain a bit. Our edited transcript is below, enjoy!
Rocketts Landing: You’re an infectious disease clinician by day. When did you start your writing career?
Dr. Winfred Ward: Well, I started writing probably 30 years ago with my first published book, The Healing of Lia, but I had written articles and chapters for books before that.
RL: How many books have you published?
WW: My first book came out in 1985 and was a case study written for the general public. Lia was a multiple personality study. I wrote the story with her, which was fun to write, and it was well received and published by Macmillan. Since my last book, I wrote a couple of other books in the interim, one that was picked up but never published, but I became very busy working, enjoying my family, so for a while, writing took a back seat.
RL: What inspired you to write Felony Dementia?
WW: A couple of years ago, I slowed my workload down and decided I wanted to write again — and another novel. I knew this guy, my co-author Adrian Eissler — who is the counsel for the utilities commission for the State of Texas — and knew he was quite bright, entertaining with a sense of humor. I thought he’d be fun to work with, and he said yes immediately. So, I went down to Texas, we wrote an outline, and the rest of the story we did by email.
Before we began to write, we came up with the idea to address the fact that studies show that improving literacy keeps people from returning to institutions. So, we decided to write the book, and we’d give away [copies of our] paperback books to residents of penal institutions, in jails and such. About three weeks ago at a shelter in Austin, Texas, we gave away our book and other books, and the response was overwhelming. We’ve had great feedback from people receiving the books and what it means to them. We will be doing the same thing at one of the jails here in May.
RL: The lead character is dealing with his father’s frontotemperal degeneration. Why did you choose to focus on this disease?
WW: What led us to frontotemperal degeneration is that Adrian’s family has this disease and he lost his father to it. And, I also decided to write something that addresses this topic. The book is a medical legal thriller, me bringing the medical side and Adrian bringing the legal, and the story just grew from there.
RL: Why did you choose Rocketts Landing as the backdrop for your story?
WW: One day, I was cruising around Richmond trying to find a place for the protagonist to live, and I went down on the riverfront and saw the apartments and so forth, nothing really struck me. And then, I went to Rocketts Landing, and they took me up to one condominium and I immediately saw that’s where he should live, because The Boathouse comes into the story also. There is one scene where the protagonist is sitting on his balcony and looking up and down the river, and he falls asleep because it’s so peaceful, and he awakens covered in dew. The Rocketts Landing scenery is just awesome.
RL: What do you hope readers take away from Felony Dementia?
WW: We want them to, first of all, have an awareness of the disease, because it’s much more prevalent than I was aware. And also, when we have done readings and signings, people who’ve read the book didn’t even know this disease existed. They know about Alzheimer’s and dementia, but this disease, which has hundreds of thousands suffering from it, is under the radar and very devastating. Also, there’s an element in the story of a government conspiracy, and we want people to become more aware that [from our perspective] government intervention in your healthcare is not such a good idea.
RL: Do you have any other books in the works?
WW: The next book will also be set in Richmond and will have parts of Texas, too. It will have a small element of a sequel to Felony Dementia, and we are only a third of the way into the writing now.
RL: Anything else you’d like to say?
WW: The story does have unusual relationships and shows how relationships come about, i.e., the protagonist is his family’s sole survivor aside from his half brother who is 10, and we tried to show their closeness. No matter what the affliction is in life, if you’re living under the axe, you live life to the fullest.