An Interview with Geoffrey Dutton

I came to writing fiction while working as a technical communicator in the IT world, but I had written many articles about high tech and politics for some time, publishing them online. Most of my career before that was in academia, where I specialized in visualizing and managing geospatial data (think GIS and digital cartography). My first novel, Turkey Shoot (2018), was prompted by the ongoing refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe. It was an international conspiracy thriller, and set the stage for my next novel, Her Own Devices (2018). Turkey Shoot hadn’t ended well for my protagonists, and out of guilt, I decided to rehabilitate them. I am now working on an unrelated novella and a memoir, and continue to post articles and book reviews on my blog at perfidy.press. I live west of Boston with my wife of 29 years. We have one child, an environmental scientist. For recreation, I forage for and cook with wild mushrooms. No problems so far.

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Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

What prompted my novels and most articles I’ve written is a sense of outrage at how cruelly or indifferently people are treated by those with power over them, which means most of my writings concern politics, economics, and technology. Some relate to personal experience, but most concern my reactions to human suffering and exploitation. In the case of Her Own Devices, it’s child trafficking. For Turkey Shoot, it was how Western nations created chaos in the Middle East and then rejected and stigmatized refugees fleeing from it. This is still a major problem, particularly in the US.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

After getting a master’s in city planning, I worked in a lab developing computer mapping and visualization techniques for fifteen years. This came in handy when writing my novels, as they were set in places I had never been. I could not have written them without constant reference to Google Maps and Street View, which themselves were outgrowths of the work my colleagues and I did in the 1980s and 1990s.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

As it was a sequel to my first novel and interlaced aspects of its plot, at first I called it Recapitulation. However, since its female protagonist is wily and uses digital devices and media to accomplish her goal, I ended up calling it Her Own Devices: A novel or two, which combines those two things.

What part of publishing your book made it feel real for the first time?

Being accepted for publication by an indie publisher. It took two anxious years to get edited and go into distribution, but that gave me time to workshop the manuscript and make it much better.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

I listen to classical music, folk, and jazz as I write, and likely drew from those repertoires for inspiration, but I never considered scoring either novel. That’s for film adaptations.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

I suppose it’s the idea that redemption in this world is possible, but it may come in unexpected ways and take you places that weren’t on your itinerary.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

Getting some good advance reviews helped, but mainly just being able to hold it in my hand and flip the pages.

What creative projects are you currently working on?

I’m finishing up a half-hour video ‘demo reel’ intended to be played at my memorial service once I’m gone. It sounds macabre, but it’s been a lot of fun to capture highlights of my life and times. Eulogies are fine, but I don’t expect my survivors to know all that stuff about my personal history.

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