FAQs

Life of the Eagle FAQs

1. Q: Why did you write Life of the Eagle?
A: My interest in the downside of immortality began years ago when I read a quote from Susan Ertz. The quote was: “Millions yearn for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.” At first, the book was going to be a short article about our modern attitudes toward death. Then it morphed into a story about the growing possibility of much longer life-times in our modern age. Then it morphed again and got away from me and became a book.

2. Q: Why did you name the book Life of the Eagle?
A: I didn’t know what the title of the book would be until I was about half-way through the first draft. I was thumbing through my Bible looking for another reference and happened on the first five verses of Psalm 103—and there it was, a passage describing my main character with his healing touch, the renewal of his strength and his unending life, “…so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

3. Q: What is “the eagle” in the title of the book?
A: The eagle is two things. First: it is a secret name for the main character, a name never spoken but one that will be known by the reader before the end of the book. An alert reader will come to know the meaning of the Shawnee Indian word, “pele’thi.” Second: the eagle is a metaphor for the American Nation. The eagle is one of the most recognized and most powerful symbols of America. It is even printed on most of our money. The next time you see one of the new twenty-dollar bills, look at the face of the bill and you will see an eagle pictured three times. Also, of all the creatures in the animal kingdom, the eagle has the sharpest eyesight—the eagle sees everything. In the book the eagle sees all of American history from colonial times to the present and even, perhaps, a little into the future.

4. Q: Why didn’t you name the main character in the book?
A: The main character lives for many years, yet he always has the look and strength of a man in his prime. He is afraid what the world might think of him, or do to him, if his seeming immortality were known, so he tries to keep it a secret. That means he must abandon whatever identity he has taken up every twenty or thirty years so that people won’t begin to wonder why he doesn’t seem to age. Each time he does this he takes on a new name, a new identity. I thought inventing a new name each time he assumed a new identity might confuse the reader so I decided not to name him at all.
Note to other authors: don’t do this unless you want to experience “death by pronouns.”

5. Q: Do you think it will ever be possible to live such a long life?
A: Yes, and sooner than you might think. Life expectancy in the United States has been extended as never before in the history of the world. In 1937 when the Social Security Act was passed it was assumed that most people would not live more than a few years past the age of sixty-five. Today a male child born in the U.S. has a life expectancy of seventy-nine and a female of eighty-one. Also, scientific advances in things like gene splicing, stem cells and telomerase (a cell enzyme) are bringing the very real possibility of physical immortality closer and closer. It may have already happened.

6. Q: Where did you get the idea for the story?
A: I wanted to illustrate the terrible consequences for someone who, by some twist of the universe, is made immortal. The idea of having to see all your loved-ones, all your family, all your friends, everyone who meant anything to you die, leaving you alone in the world, would be a horrible curse. How could someone in that situation go on living? I believe that no one would be able to do it unless they had a profound, compelling reason to continue to live. So I had to have my central character live on and on believing he was meant to use his unusual gifts to accomplish something important before God would, at last, grant him his greatest wish—his death. He is born in 1737, growing to adulthood in time to see the birth of our American nation. Then he is given a reason to live when he comes to believe God is keeping him alive for some worthy but mysterious purpose. This allowed the story to cover almost 300 years of American history.

7. Q: How long did it take you to do all the research for the book?
A: Not as long as it would have if I lived somewhere else and if there were no internet. There are many resources in Eastern North Carolina where many people are interested in preserving history, particularly nautical history. I taught history and geography for thirteen years so I had a good background and knew where I needed to go for my sources.
There was something else, too—I’m reluctant to say it—but every time I needed something, some information or a bit of insight, it would appear without good reason, just when I needed it. I’m still thinking about this.

8. Q: How long did it take you to write the book?
A: I finished my first draft in five months. Some people find that amazing but it just fell out of me. Then it took me three years to find a publisher. In that time I rewrote (and shortened) the original draft many times.
Another note to other authors: each time the book got shorter, it got better.

9. Q: Do you think the book would make a good movie?
A: I think it would make a great movie. I think it would make an even better TV series because it’s episodic, each chapter changes to a different time and place. Are you listening, HBO?

10. Q: What is your favorite part of the book?
A: That’s a tough one. Having to choose from all the characters and sub-stories would be like having to choose a favorite from all my “little darlings.” So I won’t.

The Short Happy Life of Davey Monroe FAQs

1. Q: Does the short life of Davey Monroe in the title mean that he dies in the book?
A: No. His “short, happy life” refers only to his loss of innocence (but not the loss of his virginity).

2. Q: Why did you decide to set the book in the 1940s?
A: The setting and time in the book are those from my own childhood. I grew up in a suburb of Washington, D.C. in the 40s and 50s so it was easy for me to visualize the world Davey Monroe has to deal with as he grows from age five to age twelve. I also got a lot of pleasure remembering the relative “innocence” of that time compared to today. Children today must cope with adult ideas so much sooner in their lives. I fear what they get is not worth what they have to give up.

3. Q: Is the book autobiographical? Are you really Davey Monroe?
A: No. Although I used some of my own childhood experiences in the story, most of the action and just about all of the characters are out of my imagination. Sure, I had a mother and father, but not Davey’s mother and father. I had a little sister but Davey is an only child. I tried to capture certain traits of the real people I met growing up and put them in some of the book’s characters, but no one in the book is a direct description of anyone who ever lived. For example: The character of the school teacher featured in the book is made up of a combination of several teachers I remember particularly well for their devotion to their profession (and my betterment).

4. Q: Why did you write this book?
A: It didn’t start out to be a book. It was going to be the journal I’d have written if I’d thought of it in my youth. You see, my real father died just before my sixteenth birthday. I knew almost nothing about his early life then and I still don’t know much more today. How I wish he had kept a journal! But I don’t have one of my own to pass on to my children, so I thought I would write one “after the fact.” But it got away from me and I had so much fun making up all these false adventures, I just made it into a novel. I’ve written an explanation for my children and grandchildren so they will get the facts, anyway.

5. Q: What are your hopes for The Short Happy Life of Davey Monroe?
A: I hope every reader finds something of himself in it and that it will bring them pleasure. I know “you can’t go home, again,” but we can all still travel in our imaginations to times and places still deep in our hearts. That’s the strength of this book. I’ve had people, young and old, male and female, all tell me they all found something in it that made them laugh and then cry (and then laugh, again) remembering their own “short, happy lives.” If you want to say something nice about this book, tell me that.

Richard L. Evans

author and editor