Author Profile:
Mark Fabi
Q: Where did you learn to spell?
A: I assume that's a snide reference to my title.
Q: You're quick. Why Wyrm?
A: I thought the archaic spelling was suggestive of one of the older meanings of the word.
Q: To wit?
A: Dragon.
Q: So, your book is about dragons, then?
A: Dragon myths, actually. But it's also about artificial intelligence, computer viruses, the Internet, and the end of the millennium.
Q: That sounds pretty ambitious for a first novel.
A: I think it was Robert Heinlein who said that anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Q: So, you like Heinlein. Are there any other writers who've particularly influenced your work?
A: Probably everybody I've read, to some extent, but the major influences in Wyrm include Lewis Carroll, Charles Darwin, Sophocles, Carl Jung, Julian Jaynes, Raymond Chandler, Douglas Hofstadter, Roger Zelazny and Monty Python. And the Revelation of St. John.
Q: If you have to steal from that many different sources, wouldn't it be easier just to write something original?
A: I prefer to think of it as "research."
Q: One last question: I understand that in your day job you're a psychiatrist.
A: That's right.
Q: What's your professional opinion of people who interview themselves?
A: It's not a good sign.
Q: I didn't think so.
Photo of Mark Fabi © Mark Fabi