Some people might call Blue Road to Atlantis a fish story. But it's really a lot more than that, isn't it?

Blue Road to Atlantis Book Review Excerpt Swim with the current. In the underwater world, it's a common phrase. One that the eels, dolphins, sharks and every other sea creature lives by. For the respected marlin, Old Fish, his current consists of a dream to visit Atlantis and his undying love for Migdalia. She was taken out of the water by El Campeon and the Old Fish's heart still aches for her loss. Old Fish carries a deep friend with him, Fishmael the remora. Some call the remora a marlin sucker but Fishmael despises the term, for he feels he is much more than that. Complete Review

Blue Road to Atlantis is no more about fish than Jonathan Livingston Seagull was about birds, Animal Farm about pigs, or Shooting an Elephant about hunting wild game. Blue Road to Atlantis is about how to find your true purpose in life, and about why people so often fail when confronted with a challenge they have all the tools to conquer. It’s written as a parable because non-fiction books only impart ideas, and ideas speak to the intellect. A novel, on the other hand, filled with characters, predicaments and humor, imparts feelings. It gets the reader involved not only intellectually, but emotionally. Novels speak to the heart instead of the brain, and in my experience, it’s the heart that changes lives.

How did you come up with the idea for your new novel?

The idea came to me during my honeymoon, part of which was spent in an Iban warrior longhouse in the Malaysian rainforest. We stayed in the home of the tribal chief, whose husband was at the time trying to improve his English. I happened to have a copy of The Old Man and the Sea with me, and I gave it to him. We got to talking, and I found myself having to explain some things in the book that really didn’t make much sense: Santiago praying to God for the death of the fish; Santiago begging the fish for mercy even as he’s trying to kill it, etc. And I thought, you know what, there are two sides to this story. Then once I had the plot figured out, the book pretty much wrote itself.

"Swim with the current" is a common saying in the underwater world of your book. The phrase can be applied to us all, though, correct?

Correct. Every human being has an inner current, which it is their obligation to discover and follow. To swim against it is possible for a while, but inevitably, your arms will tire and you will drown. This isn’t a personal opinion; it’s the nature of life. On the other hand, if you swim with the current, while that won’t necessarily lead in linear fashion to your dreams of today, it will create an expression of yourself that is your highest self. And that will lead to other dreams, and more important, the years will be happier, more fulfilling and more energized.

Did you feel this manuscript was "the one" that would make you a published author?

Actually, quite the opposite. When it was done, I knew that I had captured something magical in Blue Road to Atlantis, but I had very little hope that anyone would publish it as my first novel. I was convinced that I’d have to write something more conventional and commercial, and get that published. I even thought it was possible that I’d have to write several other books beforehand, and with each one, develop trust among my readers, and slowly move them toward Blue Road to Atlantis before publishing it.

Do you think you've finally achieved publishing success or do you have bigger plans for your writing future?

I don’t know--the question requires a perspective that I don’t have and don’t wish to have. As I alluded to before, anything that distracts from my focus on the essential relationship between writer and words, serves no purpose. I love to write and so I write. I’m as excited as anyone to find out where that will take me next.

What advice would you give to writers, from beginning to published?

Follow your current. Write your own voice. The world doesn’t need another Grisham or Thoreau, because we already have them. And you won’t be as good a Grisham as is Grisham. Second, respect the art and the process, and demand the best of yourself. Never compromise or get lazy. And only once all that smoke clears, turn your attention to the business side of writing, and devote yourself as completely to that as you did to the art of it. Wanting to sell a million books doesn’t make you a sellout. Writing for the wrong reasons, or writing against your current, or writing lazy--that makes you a sellout. Whatever anyone will ever say about your writing, never let them call it insincere.

What will your new fans be seeing from you next?

A writer needs to take risks to fulfill his potential, so the book I’m working on now is very different than Blue Road to Atlantis. I’m hoping to make a pact with my readers: I’ll never write the same book twice if they’ll trust me to know what they expect of me and do my best to deliver it. Toward that end, my next book takes a closer look at the results of ignoring one’s current, but the setting is totally different. Beyond that, I have a list of seven books that I plan to write in the coming years, although I don’t know yet in what order I’ll write them. All I know is that they’ll explore the same unifying principles on which Blue Road to Atlantis, and my life, is based.

Many thanks to author Jay Nussbaum for walking us through the writing process and giving us a sneak peek into his upcoming projects. Find out when you can meet Nussbaum by visiting the FictionAddiction.NET Literary Events Calendar. And be sure to pick up his debut novel, Blue Road to Atlantis, through this site by visiting Amazon.com, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble or visit your favorite bookstore for more details.