FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. Where did you get the idea for this book?

One morning in 1994, probably because I had been reading so
much about how the Internet was going to change everyone's life,
I woke up with the beginning of my story in my head: a supposed
"Immortality" formula is mysteriously broadcast over the Internet!
I wondered what would happen next. I had also been hearing HMO
horror stories for years (and I continue to hear them), so I devised a
plot to explore how HMOs, pharmaceutical companies, and doctors
might conceivably react to remarkably good health news. The
Congressional scandal investigation and presidential commission
seemed to follow naturally. As I wrote, I found that I had to include
multicultural issues, race and ethnicity, income disparity issues,
religion, exercise programs, old age homes, families and children--
any many aspects of our society that reveal how Americans do or
do not care about each other. Since we seem to care differently
in public than we do in private, I created a private group, a kind of
inner multicultural circle, so that I could explore the issue from the
public and private sides.

2. How long did it take you to write?

Two and a half years, off and on, spending weekends and summers.
I also received a semester sabbatical from Fairfield University to
finish the book and work on getting it published.

3. Do you think your book has been prophetic?

Yes, to some extent. Often my plot seems vindicated by news
items. The other day I heard a commercial that began,
"In the future . . . we'll live to be 200 and we'll look 30."
Somehow this commercial did not mention Social Security.