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In the Stone Age Arctic, Osnat, a brilliant, pregnant, quantum scientist knows where she is but she doesn’t know when. A mysterious technology has exiled her and her people across time to a frigid wasteland above the northern radiation belts. She and her husband Simon search for food, warmth, for any kind of help. They find instead a band of indigenous Tunniq who attack, rather than assist. Though she craves vengeance, Osnat realizes that the murderous savages are the help her people need to survive. The conflict between need and ideals tears at her as she learns their ways. Must Osnat become a brutal savage in order to save her people?
Quantum Cannibals is an epic tale spanning five thousand years. Science, folklore, history and ethnography bind Quantum Cannibals into an intelligent, cohesive and action-packed adventure.
Interview with Author Nathan Elberg
When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer/ a storyteller?
My father was a world-renowned Yiddish writer and lecturer. English was his fourth language, and sometimes the forms from the other three languages carried into his English. I helped him smooth things out, and at that point I realized I had some talent putting words together. Years later, I organized a presentation for an Eskimo organization to a Parliamentary committee in Quebec. I wrote the main speeches for the organization’s leaders, and they were very effective. The government gave them what they were asking for, even though it went against a lot of government policies. That cemented my confidence in myself as a writer.What inspires you to write?
Sometimes I recognize a moral dilemma, a problem among people or societies that I have some insight into. No one will listen to me lecturing them. Hopefully they’ll be inspired by my stories. I’ve done some interesting things in my life, and I fit my experiences into the stories. I studied anthropology, worked with Indians and Eskimo. I’ve put a lot of those things into my writing. I want readers to understand that people, that culture.How did you come up with the idea for your current story?
I took a folklore course at university, in which I read about a beloved 16th Kurdish-Jewish woman who was a community leader and rabbinic scholar. She is still revered today, even by Kurdish Muslims. There are many legends about her. I started Quantum Cannibals with one of those legends, and adapted her as my main character.Are there some stories tucked away in some drawer that was written before and never saw the light of the day?
I started another novel based on some travel experiences, but then decided it was too preachy. My writing has been mostly tied up with my Doctoral Thesis these days.Tell us about your writing process.
All my stories start with one idea, one event. As I write it, I imagine what happened beforehand, what happens next. My characters develop as I put them through these experiences, to the point that their personalities play a role in determining events.What is your favorite scene in the book? Why?
Despite the violence, despite the sex, Quantum Cannibals has a spiritual, a religious heart. At the point where the main character has lost everything, and concludes she is losing her mind, she meets God. Not an anthropomorphic, power modeled after ancient royalty. Rather, God is a source of blessing, of understanding. The characters who meet God take it from there.Did any of your characters inherit some of your own quirks?
I don’t get violent when I’m angry at someone, nor do I call people names. I can however, get viciously sarcastic. I’ve been working, somewhat successfully to control this part of my behavior. I was able to apply my sarcasm skills when writing Quantum Cannibals, having characters make viciously remarks when annoyed. There were many such instances in the first draft of the novel. I didn’t want that to be a major part of the books style, so I excised many of them as I revised.What is your most interesting writing quirk?
I generally have my best ideas when I’m in no place to write them down. I can be attending a lecture, paying attention, when the resolution to a problematic scene pops into my head. The solution then flowers into a whole scene or series of scenes, having implications that can penetrate the entire story I’m working on. This often happens on Sabbath, when I’m enjoined from writing anything down or using any electronic device. Sometimes I’ll remember the resolution long enough to mark it down, but sometimes it fades from my mind before I get to it.Do you read? Who are your favourite authors and how have they influenced your writing style?
If the Bible had inspired me as much as Aldous Huxley’s Eyeless in Gaza, I would be too holy to walk amongst mortal humans. All of Huxley’s novels answer deep questions, while at the same time holding the reader’s interest. I should clarify that: they hold my interest. Some parts of his novels have very heavy slogging through philosophical or social musings, with references to classical literature, art and poetry. They’re not for all readers. Working on the unthought premise that other readers enjoy the same things as me, I was adapting Huxley’s style to my own. My editor stopped that. The only things I kept are the brilliance and depth (and modesty, ha!), and having three timelines in the novel.What is the best piece of advice you have received, as a writer, till date?
Print and read aloud whatever you’ve written. It’s the best way to get a sense of whether your writing has a proper rhythm, a proper cadence.What is the best piece of advice you would give to someone that wants to get into writing?
Ask yourself why you’re doing it. Is it to satisfy your ego, as an entertaining hobby, or to turn into an all-consuming endeavor? The publishing industry is mutating rapidly, and the advice you read two years ago is probably out of date by now. You have to know how much time, energy, and money you want to invest in becoming a writer. Make sure you can afford the requisite investments.What would be the Dream Cast for you book if it was to be turned into a movie?
Asenath: Monica BelluciOsnat: Gal Gadot
Taiku: Gary Sinese
Ja’ix: Sean Penn
Wendy: Elizabeth Banks
Aarluk: Sean Bean
If you were to be stranded on the famous deserted island, what three things would you carry?
• A Star Trek food replicator• A solar powered battery
• A tablet with lots of downloaded fiction.
How do you spend your free time? Do you have a favorite place to go and unwind?
What is this “free time” you speak of?Can you share with us something off your bucket list?
I would love to tour India. I am not pandering. I have wanted to go for years, but don’t expect I’ll be able to.Tell us three fun facts about yourself.
• I spent a winter hunting and trapping with an Indian family in the northern wilderness• I’ve been best friends with the same person for the last sixty years
• I’m doing a PhD in religion
What do you have in store next for your readers?
I want to adapt a short story I’ve written into a full length romance novel. Time, time… fooey.Is there anything else you’d like to share with your readers?
If Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned in the Biblical Garden of Eden, God would have found another excuse to kick them out. There is no life in perpetual bliss and contentment. Life is in the disturbance, in the struggles.About the Author:
Nathan on the Web:
Website * Twitter
