Today’s special guest author is James A. Cusumano. He’s here to chat about his new paranormal thriller, I Can See Clearly: Rise of A Supernatural Hero.
Bio:
James A. Cusumano (Jim) is an accomplished leader, entrepreneur, and author, with success in an eclectic list of careers—entertainer, scientist, corporate executive, and entrepreneur. He started his professional life as a teenager during the birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll music as a recording artist, entertaining with pioneers such as Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, and Little Richard.
His strong interest in science eventually guided him to a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, business studies at Stanford University, and a Fellowship at Churchill College at Cambridge University. He worked as a research scientist and then a Director of R&D for Exxon.
An entrepreneur at heart, Jim subsequently moved to Silicon Valley where he co-founded two public companies, Catalytica Energy Systems and Catalytica Pharmaceuticals. The latter company grew in less than five years, from several people to more than 2,000 and had a value on the stock exchange of more than $1 billion before being sold.
Jim next returned to entertainment as an executive producer when he founded Chateau Wally Films and produced the feature film, “What Matters Most,” released in more than 50 countries. He moved to Prague where he and his wife, Inez, bought, renovated, and opened in Chateau Mcely in 2006 as an award-winning luxury castle, spa hotel and forest retreat, chosen by the World Travel Awards as “The World’s Leading Green Hotel.”
Jim has brought international change-makers to Chateau Mcely who discussed the power and potential of accessing higher levels of consciousness as a means to long-term happiness and fulfillment. He is particularly interested in Conscious Leadership and Life Purpose An inspiring speaker, Jim is the author of nine fiction and nonfiction books, the most recent, I Can See Clearly: Rise of A Supernatural Hero, released as an e-book and audiobook on December 15, 2020 and in hardcover on March 16, 2021.
Welcome, Jim. Please tell us a little bit about your new release.
Sixteen-year-old star basketball player, Luc Ponti wins an important tiebreaker game for the Palo Alto Vikings with a three-point basket during the last few seconds of play. He is simultaneously critically injured with a flagrant foul by a player from the opposing team. Luc dies for several minutes but is revived after having a near-death experience (NDE). He inexplicably begins to develop superpowers, which change the course of his life and have a profound impact on the world.
Luc becomes caught in a tangled web of espionage, blackmailed by the CIA to use his powers of remote distance-viewing to spy for them. This creates conflict in his life, most significant—how can he pursue his long-time dream of playing varsity ball for a top college; major in engineering; and possibly go pro after graduation. I Can See Clearly is the story of a talented teenager seeking the Meaning of Life and his Life Purpose, while fighting the grip of the CIA.
What inspired you to write this book?
My life purpose is to share my personal and professional experiences with others as a way to help them develop more successful and fulfilling lives. To this end, I have written several books on creating and using elevated consciousness to manifest benefits into your life as a path to happiness and fulfillment.
In I Can See Clearly, I have taken the approach of weaving throughout the narrative of a thriller novel steeped in international espionage, the fabric of important aspects of consciousness. My intent is to entertain while simultaneously providing useful information. I like to think of this as Wisdom Fiction.
Excerpt from I Can See Clearly: Rise of A Supernatural Hero:
[Dr. Hampton Ross has taken an MRI of Luc Ponti’s brain to see why he’s developing his superpowers. He tells Luc] “ . . . Your entire brain is lit up. It’s as if every neuron is in open communication with all the other neurons in your brain. It’s like a supercomputer—no, it’s beyond a supercomputer.”
“Damn, Is that bad? Do I have brain damage because of my near-death-experience?
“On the contrary, your brain seems to be evolving into a much more advance machine.”
What exciting story are you working on next?
I am working on the first draft of Book 2 in this series. It’s entitled, The Seagull Reckoning and is a spinoff from the hopefully surprising ending of Book 1.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
One way or another, I have been writing most of my life. At first it was business and technical publications and books. In 2010, I began writing nonfiction on how to balance your business and professional lives. Because of my lifelong interest in the science of consciousness, I decided to move on to fiction and find a way to introduce some interesting and useful concepts within the narrative of a novel.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
Writing is my—I love what I do and do what I love. I write full-time, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. I often edit at home in the evenings. I don’t set times, word counts, or deadlines—ever! I have found I can’t access creativity on demand. There are lots of forces that impact on our spirit or consciousness and they must be managed—not always successfully.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I have a mini-obsessive-compulsion. I can’t stand typos and grammatical errors—even in drafts. I word-check every draft before going on.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Growing up in the NASA era and loving math and science, I dreamed of becoming a scientist-astronaut. I joined ROTC in college and applied for astronaut training but was rejected for being too tall!
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I’m the oldest to 10 children—6 girls and 4 boys—one child born every 2 years. My father was a postman, and my mother was essentially pregnant for the first 20 years of my life. So, I started from modest beginnings to say the least. I think it made me stronger and instilled lots of stories—great stuff for a writer.
Links:
www.JimTheAlchymist.Com | Amazon | LinkedIn
Thanks for being here today, Jim.