Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.
Recently, we talked to Gordon Bocher about his writing and his recently released, The Emma Effect, a moving tale exploring the lasting effects of a previous traumatic experience as it looms over the future of a young couple. (read the review here).
I was born on August 4, 1942 in Brooklyn New York. Both my mother and father were second-generation Ashkenazi Jews. I spent the first seven years of my life in Brooklyn and then went to live on Long Island, primarily in Syosset, New York. After graduating high school, I attended Marietta College in Ohio. I graduated in 1964 and did two years of postgraduate work at Ohio State University. I left the educational environment in order to join the United States Air Force which I did on January 2, 1968. I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in April 1968. Eventually I was sent to Undergraduate Navigator Training (UNT) which I successfully completed in September 1969. Before I could go overseas to fly combat, I was diagnosed with both follicular and medullary cancer of the thyroid. I spent four months in the hospital at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and was discharged with a 100% medical disability. 18 months later, I successfully petitioned the Air Force to be reinstated as a fully-qualified navigator. I was assigned as a fire control officer aboard the AC- 130A aircraft. I was sent to Ubon Royal Thai Air Base where I flew 177 combat missions. During my year there, I was shot down aboard Spectre 11 and I am one of three survivors out of that 15-man crew. After combat, I was assigned as an instructor navigator at UNT where I spent the next 4 ½ years teaching celestial navigation. From there, I was assigned to fly rescue for the next three years where I spent 18 months at Kadena Air Base in Japan and 18 months at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. My last active-duty mission was our aborted attempt to rescue the 53 hostages held in Iran. Six weeks later, I left the service on 15 June 1980. I went to work for a private company as a plant manager. I resigned that job because the company was sold to a group with ties to organized crime. I joined the FAA just after the strike of 1981 and spent the next 27 years as an air traffic controller. I retired from all work in September 2008. Since that time, I spent several hours a day learning to become an author. I am still learning. I have pictures, essays and other interesting information which you can find on my website, http://www.stormrider11g.com.
How often do you base your characters on real people?
Very often. Three of the four main characters in The Emma Effect are loosely based on people who I knew from my own experience. General Wheeler’s character is based upon my squadron commander in the 16th Special Operations Squadron (16th SOS). I modeled Dr. house after the psychiatric social worker who was immensely helpful to me and my family in overcoming the effects of PTS. Emma was a compilation of two women that I knew who had the ability to project a feeling of serenity to those in their immediate vicinity.
How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I have three novels which are mostly done. I have a fourth book which is half done and contains some of the same characters found in The Emma Effect. My first book was published in 2020 and is called Stormrider. It is mostly autobiographical in nature and describes the journey from adolescence to manhood in the Vietnam War era. That narrative also corrects many misconceptions regarding the Vietnam War and how it ended. Recently, I finished writing the screenplay for a potential movie of The Emma Effect. Currently, I am writing the screenplay for Stormrider with an eight-episode serial format.
How often you read?
I used to be a prolific reader. I started reading novels when I was seven years old. My close vision deteriorated dramatically approximately seven years ago. I found out that I was suffering from stage IV, Mantle Cell Lymphoma. The physicians who treated me believe that my cancer was caused by my exposure to Agent Orange while flying combat in Southeast Asia. The cancer was centered around both of my eye sockets. I have undergone several operations to remove the cancerous tissue and to help restore some of my vision. I can now see fairly well at a distance, but my ability to read is still greatly diminished.
Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?
First and foremost, I try to be honest with myself and with the reader. I am more concerned with writing something real, whether it be about an emotion or an event, then worry about pleasing a reader. In everything I write, I do my best to make the characters real to myself and to my readers.
What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?
I spent a fair amount of money on acquiring the computer program, Dragon Speak, which allows me to speak my thoughts and have the computer write what I say. I find this particular computer program very helpful because my typing skills are not pristine and because of my limited near vision. The program has its drawbacks, but it is still a worthwhile investment for a physically limited author.
Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?
Yes. JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy was an eye-opener for me. I was devastated when I was first diagnosed with both follicular and medullary cancer of the thyroid. I was twenty-seven years old and had to face not only surviving a deadly disease, but the loss of my ability to be a rated navigator in the United States Air Force. After I returned to civilian life, my brother turned me on to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. When I felt depressed, I found refuge in the pages of this great novel. Tolkien’s descriptive ability was so powerful that I felt that I was in Middle earth while reading his books. On June 18, 1972, I was literally blown out of an aircraft when I was shot down over the A Shau Valley in Vietnam. We suffered a missile strike on our number three engine which caused the right wing to fall off. That led to the aircraft going into a death spiral resulting in creating huge centrifugal forces which literally plastered the crewmembers against the inner skin of the aircraft. Strangely and inexplicably, I took comfort in the fact that I was facing eternity with very good company. My last conscious thought, before the plane blew up and literally spit me out, went back to the third book of Tolkien’s trilogy after the ring goes into the fire. Frodo and Samwise make it to a high spot surrounded by a sea of flowing lava. They hold onto each other and Frodo says to Samwise, “I am glad that you are here at the end of all things.” That was my last conscious thought before the explosion rendered me unconscious. If you want to know more regarding this, then read my other book, Stormrider.
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