About Rob . . . Rob Palmer grew up in the cold, cold reaches of northern New York State. Even before entering high school he vowed to find someplace warmer to live. That place is Virginia, in the Washington D.C. suburbs. In addition to writing, he's a lawyer and law professor. While novels are now his top writing priority, he has published numerous newspaper, magazine, and journal articles on topics ranging from the law to culture to politics to writing and teaching. He lives with his wife and teenage son. Q & A You have a new book coming out. What's it about? A: It's called Eyes of the World. It involves the first woman president and a secret love affair. Her lover, the story's main character, is a childhood friend, and they are tied together by a long-ago tragedy. The action takes place during the runup to the presidential election. The hero is framed for murder and has to dig into the president's past to save himself, and her political career. Where did you get the idea for Eyes of the World? A: I started this book almost a dozen years ago. At the time, I really was focused on two things: the secret relationship of the two main characters, and the special problems that would be faced by the first woman president. I never foresaw Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency. I certainly never foresaw Monica Lewinsky! The main character in Eyes of the World is a burn victim. Where did that idea come from? A: One of the first jobs I had was as a porter in a hospital. "Porter" is a glorified term for janitor. I worked the pediatric floor, day shift. There was a girl patient, Paula, only seven years old, who had been severely burned in a kitchen accident. The burns covered most of her upper body. She was in the early treatment phase when I started the job, and I remember her awful screams each morning when the nurses cleaned and rebandaged her wounds and later when the physical therapists worked with her. By afternoon, she was a kid again, wanting to talk and play. A tough kid. Obviously that episode stayed with me. I wanted my main character in Eyes of the World to carry the scars of his early life. It's an important part of the love story, the tragic things in our lives that can bind us together. Why the focus on politics? Have you ever had political aspirations? A: Politics is high stakes and it makes for a good backdrop for a suspense novel. There are so many angles involved, so many different types of characters who can come into play. And I think, on a personal level, politics is just plain interesting. It's competition, and it's very, very public. One slip can cost a race, even an entire career. Just take a look back at that 1988 film clip of Mike Dukakis riding in a military tank. As for my own political aspirations: none, absolutely none. As a character in Eyes of the World says, "Damned politics. It's a disease." Watching the presidential candidates in the current race, you can see how much they want to win. It's barely hidden desperation, really. I've never had that kind of competitive drive. But then I suppose not many writers do. Eyes of the World has an international focus. That was true of your last novel, No Time to Hide. Where do you get the interest in the international scene? A: In college, I majored in anthropology. That's all about understanding culture—the way people structure their societies and individual lives. I'm fascinated by the variety, how one group of people will solve a problem one way and another group, faced with the same problem, will come up with an entirely different solution. I followed up with that after I went to law school. My first work as a lawyer was in international tax and business transactions. Through the years, my law clients have come from all over the world. Learning to communicate with them, to solve their problems in a way that satisfies them, not some predetermined standard I was trained for, has been one of the most interesting things in my professional life. All of that has carried over to my writing. I like to think about how someone from another culture would react if faced with a tense situation, a violent situation, a comical situation, whatever. I believe most readers feel the same way. There's a "coolness" factor to thinking about the differences in people—and the innate similarities. Do you travel much? Do you visit the locations used in your books? A: I do travel quite a bit, several extended trips a year. Sometimes I visit a place specifically for research on a book in progress. Sometimes I go to a place just because it might, someday, fit in a new story. I'm always looking for something off the beaten path, a place that is beautiful and intriguing, the sort of spot readers may have heard of but haven't gotten to yet. Let's go back, to when you were young. When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? A: I can't point to any particular event or moment. I always enjoyed reading, and I respected novelists. I thought what they did, the pure creative aspect of putting stories together, was just awesome. As a kid, it seemed nearly impossible. I got the first glimmer that I might want to be a writer when I was in college. I met some other students who were determined to be novelists, and I thought, if they can give it a try, why can't I? Was there anyone who particularly helped you on your way as a writer? A: I had two English teachers in high school who complimented my writing—and gave good critical suggestions. In college, a number of professors and graduate students stand out in my mind. Though I majored in anthropology, I took a wide variety of courses, from math and physics to philosophy and computer science. One of my creative writing professors was particularly helpful, taking the time and effort to listen to my early story ideas and provide real guidance. Only now can I see how important that advice was. What advice do you have for someone considering a career as a novelist? A: Be committed to the long haul, and expect to do a lot of work that doesn't involve sitting at a computer creating wonderful prose. Success requires research and marketing and dealing with editors—a lot of things you don't think about until you've got that first book finished and are ready to get it into the hands of readers. Oh, and that's another thing. The readers come first, always first. They're the reason we write. What's next? Do you have another book in the works? A: Actually, I've got three projects underway, in various stages. For the past couple of years, I've been working on a novel titled The Sword of the Lamb. The main character is a newspaper reporter. His wife is murdered; he finds her body and is almost killed himself. Weeks later, he uncovers evidence indicating she's still alive. While he tries to solve the mystery, he travels to Greece, where he crosses swords with a terrorist organization. On the run from them, he turns up secrets about his wife, and about his own family, that change his world forever, and put him in even more danger. The second project is spun off from the death of John Kennedy. The story assumes that Lee Harvey Oswald was just a patsy and others planned the assassination. Those "others" would be old men now, still desperate to keep their secret. The main character stumbles on information that could solve the case. As he tries to put it all together, he's drawn into a new assassination plot, that could cost him his love, and his life. The third project is a medical thriller. In it a boy is dying from leukemia. Unknown to him, and to his single-parent father, he's been given a highly controversial genetic treatment. The treatment won't help the boy but could lead to a cure for other cancers. The government, drug companies, private researchers—all want a piece of the action. The boy and his father have to escape and find their way to Australia, to a doctor who is the only one who can save the boy's life. That's a lot of work. I'd better get to it!