An Interview With Ian Benke
Get yourself a team of great editors. The truth is, no matter how wonderful you believe your writing to be, a book is not an entirely solitary endeavor. Firstly, as a writer, you should immerse yourself in the creative process, and this may mean speeding through grammatical and spelling errors. Your editor has an expert set of eyes, trained to catch any of these mistakes. Secondly, a fresh set of eyes is always essential. No one knows your story better than you, but the editor will read your book as a reader might. Your editor will make sure that your storylines flow, that your characters are relatable, and that your message is clear. I admit, it can be scary to hand your book, your “baby”, over to someone else, but they will help you polish it in a way that is far more difficult alone.
Science Fiction and Fantasy are hugely popular genres. What does it take for a writer today, to write compelling and successful Science Fiction and Fantasy stories? Authority Magazine started a new series called “How To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories”. In this series we are talking to anyone who is a Science Fiction or Fantasy author, or an authority or expert on how to write compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy .
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Richard Horowitz.
From the mind of acclaimed physician and author, Dr. Richard Horowitz, MD comes a new novel: Starseed R/evolution: The Awakening. Dr. Richard Horowitz, MD is a board-certified internist with 30+ years of experience treating over 13,000 patients for tick-borne disorders and complex autoimmune conditions. He is the author of two national best-selling books on Lyme disease (Why Can’t I Get Better? St Martin’s Press, 2013, NY Times Best Seller; How Can I Get Better? St Martin’s Press, 2017, National Bestseller). After years of treating complex patients, Dr. Horowitz felt called to treat a newer, and much larger patient: Mother Earth.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share a story about what first drew you to writing over other forms of storytelling?
When I was a young boy, I used to love reading science fiction. Authors such as Arthur C. Clark, H.G. Wells, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein were some of my favorites. I had posters of the solar system on my wall, glow-in-the-dark stars, moons, and planets on my ceiling and I loved to imagine being a space explorer going to visit these distant planets. It was also around this time that the original Star Trek series was on television, and I was glued to the TV set every week to see Kirk and Spock “go where no man has ever gone before”. One of my favorite experiences as a child was when I met Arthur C. Clark and Stanley Kubrick in person. My father was a surgeon and took care of some rather well-known individuals, some of whom would take visits from various famous authors and filmmakers. One individual, was Roger Caras, a naturalist who had written many books about wildlife and the environment. I remember, in particular, that he would often have wild animals roaming about his home. It was here that I remember sitting around in a large living room in the Hamptons listening to Arthur C. Clark tell stories, while a baby ocelot roamed around the gathering. At one point, the ocelot got scared and must have jumped 10 feet straight in the air, all while Arthur C. Clark was telling science fiction fantasy stories. You never forget these types of wonderful experiences when you are a child. I can still visualize that particular experience to this day. It definitely left a mark on me and planted a seed that has now grown to fruition, decades later.
You are a successful author. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The three character traits that have influenced me the most in my life are loving-kindness and compassion, open-mindedness, and persistence. Please be clear, if I have developed these traits at all, it is certainly not just of my own doing. If I’m honest, I am not the most compassionate person you will ever meet, but I am lucky enough to have been blessed with the presence of great spiritual masters from the Kagyu Tibetan lineage. I have studied with them for over 40 years, and my own evolution would be that of an ant compared to theirs. Their pure desire for beings to be happy and free from suffering has helped me develop my own loving-kindness and compassion. Watching them transcend the conceptual mind to go beyond dualistic existence to understand absolute, not just relative reality has helped me open my mind. Their unwavering diligence in spiritual practice to attain these goals has honed my own persistence. I am eternally grateful to them and must admit that these character traits come from being a good student of theirs, rather than being natural-born.
Further, these teachings have helped me beyond just my personal life, but in my practice of medicine as well. One example that sticks out to me, is when I moved to upstate New York after I finished medical school and my internal medicine residency. Upstate New York happens to be the host of the largest Lyme disease epidemic in the United States. The empathy I learned from the spiritual masters was invaluable, as I learned to “exchange myself with others”, or rather, put myself in my patients’ shoes. I did for them what I would have wanted someone to do for me if I was sick, allowing me to dedicate myself to searching for answers for these sick and suffering patients. Over the past 30 years, I have seen over 13,000 chronically ill patients, and I have developed treatment protocols for Lyme and other tick-borne disorders that I’m not sure I would have found, had it not been for the teachings from these spiritual masters. More than medicine, it was these same teachings on compassion for our world, that gave me the motivation to write Starseed R/evolution, and provide novel climate solutions. When I look back on my life and see the obstacles I have overcome, I realize that their blessings provided me with the scaffolding I needed. If I am in a boat, their teachings on loving-kindness and compassion, open-mindedness, and diligence are my reliable rudder.
Can you tell us a bit about the interesting or exciting projects you are working on or wish to create? What are your goals for these projects?
I started writing Starseed R/evolution four years ago, as I noticed an increasing number of kids coming into my medical office stricken with climate grief. A good deal of my patients are young adults. Following treatment, I would ask them, “What do you plan on doing with your life now that you’re healthy”? Quite often, the response was the same, “Nothing, what’s the point”. At the time, there was not a broad awareness of the urgency of our situation. We were still in the midst of an administration that called climate change a hoax. However, the younger generation was acutely aware of the problem. Finally, after a series of kids in my clinic expressed their hopelessness, I decided to do a deep dive into the scientific literature to try and understand their concerns. After spending several months perusing the climate literature, I realized that, unfortunately, they were right. The world was in big trouble. It was at that point that I started writing Starseed R/evolution: The Awakening.
Initially, I wondered whether it made sense for me, a board-certified internist who specializes in Lyme and tick-borne disease to pen a science-fiction novel about the climate disaster. So, I sought guidance through meditation. I asked for the best way to help our planet, and my spiritual teachers let me know that the science fiction format was the best tool to employ! I give a lot of credit to my spiritual guides for the inception and development of Starseed Revolution.
One of the initial goals of my book was to provide a science guide on the climate that the average person could read and understand. However, it was important to me to instill a sense of hope along with the fearful reality, by providing scientific solutions. It was also important to me to take a humorous tone, allowing me to discuss difficult and disturbing topics, without scaring people to the point of despair.
Another important goal was to provide a sense of empowerment in people to make the necessary changes to help the climate. I have been lucky enough to study meditation with both Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist masters for over 40 years, and have been taught some very powerful techniques to access the power of the mind. These are relatively secret teachings on the nature of the mind that were given right before the invasion of Tibet in the 1950s. One of my meditation teachers, the Very Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche, was in Tibet during that time and received these teachings. My wife and I went to Maine for approximately 10 years in a row and were only two of about 100 people who received the direct transmission of these teachings. I decided to put these techniques in Starseed R/evolution, both to help stabilize the readers’ minds, but also to empower them, using quantum physical principles. These techniques are taught by a character in Starseed R/evolution, Master Dorje, the Arcturian magician. If these techniques are practiced exactly the way they are explained in the book, I believe they will be effective. The world now, more than ever, needs these teachings. My goal was therefore to share both scientific and philosophical/spiritual solutions for our present crisis, to help move the Earth forward in a healthy and balanced way.
Wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. How do you define sci-fi or fantasy? How is it different from speculative fiction?
I believe that the two overlap. Speculative fiction generally has an other-world setting and involves supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements. Some define it as a subgenre of science fiction that deals with human problems, rather than technological ones. In my science fiction/fantasy novel there are elements of both. Starseed R/evolution takes place in the future, on our Earth, but discusses other worlds, universes, and Starseed civilizations. Of course, some believe that these aren’t fantasy at all. I have met individuals from the W.I.S.H. alliance (Walk-ins, Indigos, Starseeds, and Hybrids) who have had clear experiences of not being from here, and are able to clearly articulate the worlds that they come from. I have also met individuals who have been abducted by ETs, who are able to describe otherworldly beings they have been in contact with. The universe is much more mysterious than we imagine, and what we now believe to be fantasy and science fiction, may very well be science and our expanded viewpoint of reality in the future.
It seems that despite countless changes in media and communication technologies, novels and written fiction always survive, and as the rate of change increases with technology, written sci-fi becomes more popular. Why do you think that is?
We need to expand our imagination past our human capabilities. Science fiction provides imaginary worlds and possibilities that go beyond our present limitations and allow us to escape into parallel realities where anything is possible. Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world”. So, oftentimes, what is science fiction one day, becomes reality the next. Science fiction provides a platform where we can live in other worlds and experience other people’s lives. More than just an escape, these stories provide a basis for greater empathy and understanding. For these reasons, I don’t think science fiction will ever become outdated. As we expand the bounds of our human potential, realities we believed to be impossible will come into existence.
In your opinion, what are the benefits to reading sci-fi, and how do they compare to watching sci-fi on film and television?
I love both, but reading immerses you in a way that film and television do not. Anyone who has gotten caught up in a science fiction book and lost themselves for hours knows how wonderful the experience can be. When I was a young boy, I spent a good deal of my time reading science fiction and comic books. More than that, I lived and breathed them. I remember running around Rego Park, Queens at 6 years old trying to take off with my cape. I would study magic to learn to levitate (25 years later I actually learned yogic flying from the TM Siddhi folks), and at night, I would go outside and call to the spaceships. Now, years later, my consumption of sci-fi is a mix of reading and movies. My wife and I share the TV every other night. She gets to choose the movie or mini-series one night, and I choose the next. Since our TV is a 4k, 3D television set (chosen specifically for movies like Avatar, as well as Marvel and DC adventures), after 26 years of marriage, she knows exactly what I am going to choose! Hopefully, she’s not getting tired of superheroes and science fiction fantasy quite yet! I am an Aquarius with an Aquarius rising, and anyone who knows astrology understands that I am a bit ‘different’ in the way that I approach life. My major motivation is to help humanity move forward in our spiritual evolution, and I have found that science fiction oftentimes tries to do exactly that by showing the foibles of humanity mirrored in an otherworldly society.
What authors and artists, dead or alive, inspired you to write?
As above, I credit science fiction authors such as Arthur C. Clark, H.G. Wells, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein as early inspirations of mine. Additionally, movies like Blade Runner, Dune, The Fifth Element, and 2001 A Space Odyssey were (and remain) some ultimate favorites. However, ultimately it is the teachings of Tibetan Buddhist masters that have influenced me just as much (if not more) than my favorite sci-fi authors and filmmakers. One particular influence is His Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche. One day, as my wife and I were in India receiving teachings from him at his monastery, he described other worlds and civilizations. He went on to detail that each of us has so many prior lives that everyone in the room had been a Lyme doctor, just as I am, at some point in time (that one still blows my mind). These masters have a deeper understanding of reality as we know it, and when you spend time with them, they can’t help but influence you. It inspired me to take their teachings and weave it into stories like Starseed R/evolution.
If you could ask your favourite Science Fiction and Fantasy author a question, what would it be?
I would have one question for Arthur C. Clarke, and that is whether he’s sure there isn’t a giant supercomputer running the show down here!
We’d like to learn more about your writing. How would you describe yourself as an author? Can you please share a specific passage that you think exemplifies your style?
Although I am deeply serious about helping people and our earth, I am a jokester by nature. I like to make people laugh. That is, in part, why I wrote a humorous sci-fi novel. I feel that laughter really is the best medicine, I have woven it within my writing, based on my own experiences. One great example is the character of Grandmother Helen of Antwar, from Arcturus in Starseed R/evolution. I portrayed her as having come from a civilization with little filter between the brain and mouth (reminiscent of growing up in my Jewish family in Queens). She is portrayed as having come from a civilization where the Arcturians have little filters between their brain and mouth (reminiscent of growing up in my Jewish family in Queens). Here is one example, that I believe highlights the writing style punctuated throughout the entire book:
“I was sixty-three years old when I finally woke up. To be clear, I always knew I was “different,” and although many clues popped up during my life, I never recognized them for what they were.
Astrology was explained to me when I was a boy, but I ignored it.
Most of us born with a sun in the twelfth house have difficulty recognizing
who we are and where we come from, and so all the strange “synchronicities”
that wove throughout my life went largely unobserved. It turns out each such event represented a signpost leading me towards a grand scheme foretold more than a thousand years earlier.
I always had great difficulty believing in things like that.
Such claims were, to me, challenging and somewhat dubious. Tantalizing,
yet more like faint whispers of an early-morning dream. Until my
sixty-third year, I could barely remember any of my past lives. Only hints
and the deep, deep slumber of ignorance. Even when I awoke, it was a lot
to grasp. Suffice it to say, mine was not your average childhood.
We were in Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. The sun
had been shining when we arrived, but then, just as her contractions
started, storm clouds appeared. Pitch-black shadows quickly erased
the heavens as if monstrous Lovecraftian things from space had clawed
ominous charcoal slashes across the sky. Then, swirling winds and a
nor’easter appeared from nowhere, blanketing the streets with more
than two feet of snow.
By all known accounts, it was impossible to see even an inch ahead
of you. Although changes in the climate had led to sudden new weather
patterns — changes to which people had become accustomed, even
bored — this was all a bit much. Everything along the Eastern seaboard
shut down for more than an hour.
Then, as my head crested, the snow stopped, and when I was
born — minutes later, always a thoughtful son — the firmament
cleared, and a double rainbow appeared. At least that’s what I’ve
been told.
My grandmother held me shortly after my birth. I was tightly
wrapped in a mohair blanket. Grandmother was known to have
no filter between her brain and mouth and didn’t disappoint that
first morning.
“He looks like a half-cooked lobster,” she said. “A lobster with a
gross little tufts of hair.” These were the first words to greet me as I
exited, fontanelles screaming with excitement, into human existence.
It’s true, however, that I was not the best-looking baby to ever
emerge from a womb, but when you combine those ice-cold forceps
and the clumsy yanking, it tends to leave you with a misshapen skull.
Red-faced from the exertion, you do, in fact, often look like a half cooked
lobster. My grandmother was simply being accurate.
“This baby,” she proclaimed, “is, without much doubt, the ugliest
slab of human flesh I’ve yet seen. Are you sure he’s ours, Doctor Wilcox?”
“Quite,” my mother’s physician replied. “Look at it this way,” he
said, trying to be comforting. “It can only get better from here.”
Grandmother asked.
“Let’s have a proper look,” the doctor continued. They judiciously
counted ten fingers, ten toes, one head. The puzzled look on my red and misshapen face as I stared up at Grandmother let them all know I
would be “okay.” The doctor pushed and prodded. “Just look at those
clear blue eyes, that royal nose, and the dribble sopping off his chin…a
handsome young fellow in the making.”
Grandmother, I’m told, left the room.
Mother knew he was, as they say, sucking up to her for money,
comparing me to some flash-in-the-pan movie actor, when in truth, as
a preemie babe wrapped in a blanket, I could have easily been mistaken
for a roasted Peking duck gone bad. Even then, I think, I could intuitively
tell this guy was full of crap.
Even so, my birth was something of a miracle. The chemical
burden of industrial pollutants and estrogenic compounds men and
women ate, drank, breathed, and swam in every day had caused sperm
counts to plummet. Those who wanted children often needed the
services of specialized reproductive centers — centers stocked with
healthy eggs, sperm, and hormones to help those who still could still
be healed. Birth rates in 2037 were declining fast, so all of the women
who had come to give birth at Hospital Maimonides were treated
with great respect.
Especially those with natural male pregnancies and money.
As if to prove this very point, a nurse rushed into my mother’s
chamber.
“Mrs. Sobel is crowning!” he wailed. “And the baby, a boy, is stuck.
Please come quickly!”
Dr. Wilcox sighed. “So many women, so little sperm.”
Everyone — including me, I’m told — nodded their heads in agreement.
Even when children were being born, the female variety vastly
outnumbered the males. Perhaps it was Mother Earth’s way of restoring
balance. Fewer children to destroy the planet.
Grandmother returned to the room as Dr. Wilcox was leaving.
“Doctor, I just want you to know, we are grateful for all you’ve
done,” she said. “Our family will finance your new IVF wing.”
“Thank you, oh, thank you,” he gushed.
“And,” she continued, “we would be even more grateful if you
could provide us with the name of a good plastic surgeon.”
It was a pivotal time in history.
In 2037, the news feeds were filled with stories of death and destruction.
Flooding in low-level areas across the globe led to crop destruction
and famine. Heat waves and forest fires made matters worse. Infectious
diseases — like West Nile, Zika, and Lyme disease — were on the rise,
along with some not seen since the Middle Ages. Even the black plague
emerged from flea and rat infestation in major cities. A report published
on December 12, 2018, drew attention to rat infestations appearing in
Washington, D.C., but local health officials ignored the warning.
“We’re used to rats here,” they said. “What’s the big deal?”
Indeed, people were getting dumber by the minute. You know how
you sometimes think, Are people really that dumb? Well, it turns out the
answer was yes, and although the medical journals in the late 1990s
reported the side effects of environmental chemicals, not a single governmental
agency anywhere on Earth paid attention. It was as if they
wanted their people dumb. This was, clearly, not a great time for humans
to survive with any quality of life on the planet.
In any case, the synchronicities pointing to my destiny could be
found in most newspaper headlines the day of my birth on that cold
January morning in 2037. The front page of the Times said it all that day:
GLOBAL CLIMATE SUMMIT IN DAVOS
BEGINS TODAY: IS THERE STILL HOPE?
Based on your own experience and success, what are the “Five Things You Need To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories?” If you can, please share a story or example for each.
The first, essential thing that you need to write science fiction and fantasy stories is, simply, a sense of wonder and imagination. Imagination is a deeply powerful tool and will drive your creative engine to construct deep and wonderful worlds for your reader to dive into. At its heart, imagination is play. So, to hone this creative muscle, get in touch with your inner child. Do you remember childhood pretend games? Princess and knights, astronauts and aliens- your mind was capable of imagining entire universes. You are still capable of that! Release any judgment for what you may write, and simply allow your mind to go where it wants.
The second trait I believe you should possess to write is the ability to see our current reality, and the desire to bend it in a way that helps to advance our world. Essentially, writing (and all art) is to hold a mirror up to society and reflect it back onto itself. Through the best stories, the reader will be made uncomfortable in the best way possible. It will allow them to see the errors of the current world, and invigorate them to make changes themselves. That is my truest hope for Starseed R/evolution, that individuals will recognize the urgent climate crisis, and take heed of the solutions I propose.
Something else you must possess, and a trait that I believe is often forgotten in writing, is fearlessness. How terrifying it is to expose oneself and one’s soul to the world through prose. Myself, I was petrified to potentially ruin a reputation I had worked so hard to cultivate my entire life (oh, the perils of being a well-known physician). It takes courage to be a writer, to reveal yourself on the page, and to face the potential of failure. However, it is necessary to take that bold leap and see that fear for what it truly is- a defense mechanism. As humans, it is natural to have these fears of rejection and failure, however, to create something truly great you must face those fears head-on. I promise you, it will be worth it in the end.
The fourth is diligence and persistence. There will be days throughout your writing process when you will want to give up. There will be days when you tell yourself you’re crazy for even attempting such a feat. I often asked myself how I truly believed I could spread the warning of climate change through a humorous science fiction novel- but I persisted. You will too, and you will be grateful that you did. You’ll be grateful that you poured over the page for hours, that you reworked that paragraph late into the night, and that you reviewed thousands of edits.
Finally, get yourself a team of great editors. The truth is, no matter how wonderful you believe your writing to be, a book is not an entirely solitary endeavor. Firstly, as a writer, you should immerse yourself in the creative process, and this may mean speeding through grammatical and spelling errors. Your editor has an expert set of eyes, trained to catch any of these mistakes. Secondly, a fresh set of eyes is always essential. No one knows your story better than you, but the editor will read your book as a reader might. Your editor will make sure that your storylines flow, that your characters are relatable, and that your message is clear. I admit, it can be scary to hand your book, your “baby”, over to someone else, but they will help you polish it in a way that is far more difficult alone.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Entertainment, Business, VC funding, and Sports read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them 🙂
Aspirationally, the President of the United States. I have novel solutions in Starseed R/evolution, based on years of research, and I believe they will help save our planet from climactic destruction. For instance, far north in western Antarctica sits The Thwaites Glacier, and it’s currently melting. So, I would love to sit down with President Biden and discuss solutions like geoengineering the Arctic, before the Thwaites ice shelf collapses putting cities such as NYC, Miami, and other coastal cities across the globe underwater. When I started writing the book 4 years ago, this disaster on this scale was considered science fiction, or at the most, a remote possibility within the next 10–15 years. Now, the newspapers, WHO, and IPCC are giving us a 40% chance of hitting 1.5 degrees Centigrade in the next decade. This science fiction is going to become a scientific reality. In Starseed R/evolution my character Prince Ian of Arcturus has come to save the world. While we may not have a Prince Ian with us now, I believe that if we all come together, we can use these solutions to make our planet a safer and healthier place for everyone to live.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can follow me on Instagram and Facebook, both at @drrichardhorowitz! You can also find my book, Starseed R/evolution: The Awakening on Amazon here!
Thank you for these excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent. We wish you continued success.
About The Interviewer: Ian Benke is a multi-talented artist with a passion for written storytelling and static visual art — anything that can be printed on a page. Inspired by Mega Man, John Steinbeck, and commercials, I.B.’s science fiction writing and art explore the growing bond between technology and culture, imagining where it will lead and the people it will shape. He is the author of Future Fables and Strange Stories, the upcoming It’s Dangerous to Go Alone trilogy, and contributes to Pulp Kings. The CEO and Co-Founder of Stray Books, and an origami enthusiast, Ian is an advocate of independent, collaborative, and Canadian art. https://ibwordsandart.ca
Author Dr. Richard Horowitz On How To Create Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.