You might think that Milwaukee novelist Phil Nero would pick a subject for his first novel that's relatively safe; in other words, easy to digest and -- more importantly -- easy to get published. But considering the Milwaukee journalist has been working on his rookie project since the early '90s, he made the decision to go big or go home.
Nero picked big. "Twice Upon A Time" deals with time travel, anti-war sentiments from both Vietnam and "Operation Iraqi Freedom," romance and the mind-twisting possibilities of meeting oneself, 33 years in the past.
A little science fiction, but mostly about life's second chances, "Twice Upon A Time" is a stimulating and quick read.
A transplanted New Yorker-- which where the novel takes place -- Nero now lives in Milwaukee. We caught up with him before his Jan. 24 book signing at Harry Schwartz Bookshops in Shorewood.
OMC: You picked some weighty issues for your novel, didn't you?
Nero: I don't know. It got to be more fun as I progressed through the book. I knew where I wanted to start and where I wanted to end. It started out very hard for me, but then I got to like the characters. It was written at the time of the first Gulf War, so the Internet wasn't there. The research component was a bit more difficult. I used microfiche. But fiction is hard. I had the general idea that I wanted to write about a military man who went back in time and had to rethink all his values. And I knew I wanted to end at ... well, I won't spoil the ending.
OMC: The book felt historically accurate. Did you have work hard to be so detail-oriented?
PN: I was there, I lived through it. There were things like a digital clock or an electric gas pump that weren't there. I remember the price of a loaf of bread. But I did have to research the outcome of the Kentucky Derby that year.
OMC: It seems like some of your own personality was injected into this book. And you went into great detail about horse racing, for example. Are you horse racing guy?
PN: I worked for three years in Saratoga Springs, so it's hard not to be.
OMC: What about the Kent State stuff?
PN: I think that ranks right up there with the Kennedy assassination for people who are of a certain age. They were two of the things in life in which I remember where I was (when they happened).
OMC: For someone who wasn't in the military, how did you create the realistic protagonist, Col. Ellis?
PN: I knew some military guys growing up. I spent two years at a military school. I knew some who were discerning people, who didn't just take orders. But lets face it, we live in a very military-oriented society, it's not hard to grab an image of a modern warrior and run with it.
PN: Back when I wrote it and shopped it around to publishers, I couldn't get a tumble. I just said, "Screw it." I raising kids, I was busy, I was a single parent. Ten years later, this turkey starts another war, and I think I've got a contemporary war novel if I just go back and update it. I had to be careful about some anachronisms, but everything else was there. It was a better time to question the war, since it was more like Vietnam. So this politician that I detest actually gave me a gift. It's a gift I'd rather not have, since there are a lot of young kids are dying.
OMC: How did you straddle the line between getting preachy and telling a good story? Did you have to avoid pushing your politics too hard?
PN: To the extent possible, I made the opinions the opinions of characters, not didactic narration. The passages in the book where the omniscient voice is offering an opinion are rare.
OMC: Why did you write the novel?
PN: There's a part of me that's an artist, apparently. I didn't always know I was a writer, but I always acted like one. In fourth grade, I wrote the Christmas pageant. It got rave reviews from all the parents.
OMC: Ultimately, how did you get the book published?
PN: I looked up independent publishers on the Internet. I have a golf book, also. That was a collaborative effort, and I was looking for another publisher. I looked at one, Community Press. I called them up and told them about my problems with the golf book. In the course of that conversation, (the publisher) asked me to tell her about my novel. She said she wasn't really interested in the golf book but wanted to see a copy of the novel. And the rest is history.
OMC: What are the expectations for an independently-published book?
PN: I don't know, I'm going down this road for the first time. I'll tell you when I know how the movie pitch is going. I'm also writing a second novel. One of the characters (from "Twice Upon A Time") is the protagonist. This next book starts a little bit in the future, in Omaha. People wake up and there's a spacecraft parked in the sky.
OMC: So, you're heading into more science fiction?
PN: ("Twice Upon A Time"), I think, is more speculative fiction. A guy travels through time. But if you suspend disbelief, everything else is a novel. It just takes a moment and turns it on end.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
