Untitled Document

Dog Eared 1/2 Price Books Interview
www.dogearedhalf-pricebooks.com
April 2004

It's a pleasure to bring you our interview with Larry Pontius, author of Waking Walt. He's very easy to talk to and it was enlightening to learn some "behind the scenes" information about his Sci-fi, suspense thriller.

Tina and Connie: Larry, we’d like to thank you for being here with us and discussing your novel Waking Walt along with a few other things. Before we get to the questions, however, would you take a few minutes to tell us a bit about yourself?

Larry: Well, let’s see...I was raised in Jackson, Michigan, a small town about 70 miles west of Detroit. I got my BA in radio and television from Michigan State University and then went on to get an MA in Advertising. For what it’s worth, my father who was a factory worker had always said he would pay for four years of college and he did. But when I chose to go on he said, "Great. How you going to pay for it?" That’s how I wore out my first car; driving back and forth from East Lansing to Jackson where I worked as a disc jockey to support myself that year.

The Chairman of the Advertising Department at Michigan State at that time was a man named John Crawford who had retired from a fabulously successful career in the creative department at Leo Burnett Company in Chicago, then the 8th largest advertising agency in the country. I really liked Mr, Crawford and learned a lot from him. That was the primary reason I applied at Burnett when I graduated.

It was only later that I discovered that that sneaky Crawford retained his contacts at Burnett and each year quietly recommended one student. They had my name before I even got there.

So, I became a copywriter. Five years later I became the creative supervisor for the Detroit office of a New York agency that had been awarded the Ford Motor Company account. Eventually I became the creative director for Grey Advertising’s two offices in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

But, as so many of our philosophers have said, we live our life in circles. After staying five years in Australia on what had been a two year contact, I was burned out and facing the clichéd "marriage problems" for which I accept have the credit (by the way, I have two sons, Jonathan and Noah, who were born in Australia and have dual citizenship). I decided to leave not only Australia, but the advertising agency business. (Look for a circle coming here).

I knew that Crawford was gone from Michigan State and the only professor’s name I could remember was Kenward Atkins. So I called him from Australia and asked if he would be so kind as to add my name to the MSU employment list where companies came to look for potential candidates. I said I hoping to find a job as a disc jockey in the smallest town in northern Minnesota.

However, as it turned out, Ken Atkins was now the Chairman of the Advertising Department. He had just lost one of his key professors to industry in the middle of the school year. I couldn’t refuse him, could I? So I became an associate professor of advertising at Michigan State University and learned that the professors I’d had when I was there were not nearly as stupid as I had thought.

It was a fun run for two years, but the itch came back; to do it, not just tell about it. So, I made a short list of corporations that I thought I’d like to work for. It included names like Coca Cola, Kodak, NBC, Kraft and the usual suspects. On the top of the list was the Walt Disney Company. So, being a forward kind of guy, I sent a cold call letter to the then President of Walt Disney, Card Walker.

I didn’t discover until later that the letter arrived on Card’s desk the day the original director of marketing at Walt Disney World, Sandy Quinn, resigned. So, then I became the director of marketing at Walt Disney World and two years later the vice president of marketing for Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

What did I say about circles? After seven years with Disney, I left the company to start my own advertising agency and video production company in Orlando. And that’s what I did until the doctor told me I was going to retire – a little pulmonary problem called COPD, as in smoking too much. Ever since then I’ve been a kept man. My beautiful wife Harriet who I met when I first joined Disney is an executive at Universal Orlando. She’s the one that has given me the time and support to finally do what I told Ms. Harriet Pitts, my high school English teacher that I was going to do.

So, I guess you could say it was all luck that I became an author.

Connie: That's quite a resume you have, Larry. Lots of experiences to incorporate into books!

Tina and Connie: Waking Walt (Disney) crosses over several genres, Sci-fi, Thriller, Suspense. Would you tell us a bit about it?

Larry: You’re right about several genres. Not long ago, a reviewer described Waking Walt as Michael Crichton meets James Patterson. I loved the flattery, but later in the review he made a point that’s relevant here, I think. Today, more and more books cross two or more genres. For example, take the big book of 2003, The DaVinci Code. It’s a thriller. It’s historical. It’s a mystery. It’s a romance. It’s a lot of things.

So, what is Waking Walt all about? According to the liner notes on the back of the book, it’s "a spellbinding take on one of America’s most enduring legends." Have you ever heard the rumor or story that Walt Disney actually never died in 1966; that he’s out there somewhere in cryonic suspension waiting to come back when a cure for his lung cancer is found?

Imagine it’s true. Now imagine that, after nearly 40 years, an experimental drug being tested looks like the answer. The waiting is almost over.

Then disaster strikes.

In a nightmare for the Disney Company, a ruthless corporate raider launches a takeover attempt, planning to sell off the company’s assets to the highest bidders. And there are no white knights in Disney’s corner.

However, the Circle is still there; the small group of confidants who helped Walt escape death and who have been guarding him and his secret ever since. Even though they’re all old men now, they’re not about to let Walt’s company be torn apart without a fight. And they know just who can lead them. But as they scurry to wake Walt, the Circle discovers there are powerful forces that want the dead to stay dead. However, they don’t know Walt Disney.

I think everyone can take it from there.

Connie: Thanks!

Larry, I’m a big fan of almost all things Disney. Does Waking Walt allow fans to keep reality and fiction separate? Would it change their thinking concerning Disney?

Larry: In fact, that was one of my goals in writing the book: to blur fiction and reality. I don’t know that I accomplished it with everyone, but a lot of readers have said they were left scratching their heads and wondering, "Did this really happen?" There was also a group that wrote to say that they wished it could.

As regards people’s opinions of Walt Disney, I’m really not sure if reading Waking Walt would change their impression. If they think that Walt was a creative genius and a man who cared enormously about children and family values and this country, I think the book would reinforce that kind of thinking. On the other hand, if they think Walt Disney was the pixie-dusted Uncle Walt in Disney publicity releases who appeared on the Disney television show every weekend, they might be in for at least a mild shock.

The Walt Disney in Waking Walt is, as much as I could conjure him, the real man. And just like all of us he has his foibles. He likes a scotch whiskey. He’s been known to curse. He can’t abide mediocrity. And, yes, he has some prejudices. Unlike a lot of us, he also has a unique ability to learn and grow from his experiences.

Connie: Was the Walt in the book, "the real man," taken from research, interviews, or your imagination? Or was it a combination?

Larry: It was a combination. The biographies of Walt have quite of bit of information concerning his life away from work and his attitudes and opinions on a wide range of subjects. Of course, the conversations I had with people who knew him and their stories were a big help. I used those two sources when I tried to imagine how he would react to the situations in the book - finding out about Armstrong on the moon, for example. Or seeing Epcot for the first time.

Connie: And how has the response to your book been from other avid Disney fans?

Larry: I’m delighted to say that Disney fans from all over the world have written me to tell me how much they enjoyed Waking Walt. At the same time, I’m still waiting for the first negative email or letter from any Disney fan or anyone connected to Disney.

Tina: I read that your original idea had been for Walt Disney to come from the past to the present. There are so many "time-travel" fans out there that would have loved that concept. What or who changed your mind and why?

Larry: Actually, that’s a misunderstanding, but I can see why you thought that, Tina. You’re right that my original idea was to bring a legendary character from the past into the present, but it had nothing to do with Walt Disney. And it didn’t involve time travel.

Over lunch with my good friend Marty Cummins, who was at that time was the landlord of my Orlando advertising agency, I explained the "legendary character" idea and he reacted very positively. Then he made a suggestion that changed everything. Marty was a great Disney fan and he knew that I had worked there for many years. What he said was, "Larry, why don’t you wake Walt?" My answer was "Duh!" And I changed gears and did it.

Tina: Thanks for clearing that up for us, Larry. In regards to the concept of the book, this is one book where your imagination could really fly. Were there times you had to rein in your imagination while writing the book so it didn’t take on a too unrealistic feel?

Larry: Yes, very definitely. I worked hard to get readers to suspend their disbelief. At every opportunity I tried to make the settings, the characters, and the science realistic. In many cases it meant a lot of research, but sometimes it was as simple as remembering. For example, the beach house in Melbourne, Florida in the book was actually owned by the Disney Company. I know. That’s where my wife, Harriet, and I spent part of our honeymoon. Of course, since I worked for Disney, I know my way around the theme parks. And, as I think I mentioned before, with my health problems I also know something about hospitals.

Tina: Lots more experience there to tap into.

Connie: As you've said, Larry, you worked for the Disney Company for several years. This obviously would give you an edge, so-to-speak, over researching Disney. Can you tell us how and what type of edge you had?

Larry: You’re right, Connie. Before I started writing Waking Walt, I read everything I could find on Walt Disney and the company. However, working there gave me an insider’s view that no researcher could gain. For seven years I was in the middle of the Disney culture. More importantly, I had the opportunity to know and work with quite a number of people who actually knew Walt Disney. Most of them revered him, some didn’t. But you would be amazed at stories you hear over a couple of beers.

Connie: I can imagine.

Tina: Since Connie brought up the researching aspects, what type of cryogenic research did you do and how extensively did you delve into it? It’s not something that you hear about on the news daily.

Larry: I did most of that research on the Internet. The two largest Cryonics facilities in the U.S., Alcor Life Extension in Scottsdale, Arizona and the Cryonics Institute in Michigan have very good and detailed websites. I also had some email conversations with Robert Ettinger, founder of the Cryonics Institute and the man started the cryonics movement with his book, The Prospect of Immortality, which was published in 1962.

However, I should point out that Waking Walt is not some treatise on cryonics. In fact, I tried very hard to not get bogged down in the details. I wanted to tell the reader just enough so that they knew was I was talking about.

Of course, the stories in the news about Ted Williams, the baseball star, being put in cryonic suspension probably helped to get people nodding their heads...

Tina: I'm sure it would've been easy to get caught up in that area of the plot...

Connie: Yes, there's a lot going on in Waking Walt. Such as a corporate raider wanting to takeover the Disney Company. What were your feelings concerning that plot line as you were writing the story?

Larry: As many people may remember that’s actually the scenario that put Michael Eisner in control of Disney in 1984; a raider named Saul Steinberg who planned to take over and sell off the parts of the company. In the book it’s déjà vu. Eisner is no longer there and the company is in trouble again.

Actually, I considered several other reasons why Walt might have to come back to save the company, but this seemed the most believable.

Connie: Not only believable, but, as you point out true-to-life.

What are your thoughts of Comcast’s recent proposal to Disney?

Larry: If Comcast or any other company takes over, it will be the end of the Disney legacy. I don’t think it will happen in the end. However, it put a nice spike in the sales of Waking Walt, and for a while I had a lot of media interest; a producer from CNN, a reporter from Fortune Magazine, plus the local media here in Orlando. So, I guess I shouldn’t complain.

Connie: You're right. If anything like a takeover ever happens, it would be the end of Disney, in every aspect, as we know it. And what a shame that would be.

Tina: You’ve had many great reviews and last year you were nominated for The Bloody Dagger Award. Also, late last year Waking Walt was designated Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice by iUniverse and also won the Florida Writers Association’s Royal Palm Award as best speculative fiction book of 2003. Congratulations. Has this in any way affected response or recent reviews of the book?

Larry: I’m really not sure since Waking Walt has had positive reviews ever since it came out. However, I can tell you that the "Award-Winning" posters at book signings seem to get more people to stop and chat.

Tina: And the people who stop to chat with you at the signings, are they mostly Disney fans, or have you encountered fans of the sci-fi and mystery genres who aren't necessarily fans of Disney?

Larry: I've had mystery and thriller fans stop to talk, but it's the Disney connection that usually makes people's eyes light up. Most people have also heard something about the legend that Walt never died, too. Whether they're sci-fi fans or history buffs just about everyone has had some Disney experience and a lot of them are interested in a book that features Walt as a character.

Connie: Did you get any support, or, on the other hand, opposition while writing the book or since its publication from the Disney family or Corporation?

Larry: Support? No. Opposition? No. Still, Waking Walt very nearly ended up in my trash can because of Disney. I sent the manuscript to over 80 agents. Now, not all of them got excited about Waking Walt, but a lot did. However, none of them was willing to faced what they believed would be a flurry of law suits from Disney to stop the book. That’s why I finally had to take control of the situation and publish the book through iUniverse, which is owned in part by Barnes & Noble. The interesting thing is that I still haven’t heard a peep out of the Disney Company or family. My attorney has a theory on why. He thinks Disney chose not to do anything because a law suit could turn the book into a best seller overnight. Exactly the think they didn’t want.

Connie: We're glad it ended up published and not in the trash. I'm not sure it would've been the same if the book or concept had been about anyone else.

Tina: Your cover art is really eye-catching. Did you have any input on it?

Larry: The concept for the cover art came from a collaboration with my 24 year-old daughter, Rebecca, who is probably the most creative person I know. The actual design and computer art work was done by a young artist who was then a senior at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida named Jason Martin. I'm hoping he'll design the cover of my next novel for me.

Tina: Both their collaborative efforts turned out a great cover.

Now, if we can, Larry, we’d like to ask you a few questions regarding some of the other projects you have going. Your poetry for instance. You’ve been published in that area as well. Could you tell us how you came to write poetry? Was it as an outlet or something that simply is part of the writer in you?

Larry: I had my first poem published in my high school newspaper and I’ve written a few more over the years – Christmas cards, things like that. But it wasn’t until I moved to Australia that I really got into poetry. As you suggest, it was an outlet or a special effort. My wife and I were having problems with our relationship and I wrote a book of poetry for her birthday and turned it into a "Rod McKuen" type album with me doing the voice over. It was called "Warm Harbor and Other Places to Hide" and I guess it was sort of a love note. But it didn’t work.

However, it did serve to get me into other verse type writing. While I was in Australia I also wrote the lyrics to all of the songs in that country’s first full length animated film. And I wrote the lyrics to the songs and produced a 90-minute television special celebrating UNICEF’s 25 anniversary which featured a number of well known artists including Mel Torme, Robert Goulet, Lannie Kazan and others.

And I can’t forget that almost twenty years later I wrote another book of poetry for my beautiful wife, Harriet. It’s called "Buttermilk Sundays."

Tina: You've certainly kept busy on the writing end of things throughout your career.

Connie: With great success, too, it seems. And speaking of busy... You’re very busy writing articles for a variety of online magazines such as MagicalMountain.net, Jimhillmedia.com, and Mickeynews.com. Are they all in reference to Disney?

Larry: Yes, they are all Disney related. Some of them are columns looking into Disney’s current activities; some are remembrances of things that happened in the past. The ones I like the best are a series called "What Would Walt Think?"

Connie: What is your goal in writing these articles? What do you want the reader to know or come away with after reading your articles?

Larry: First, I have to admit that the original reason for the columns was as a marketing tool for the book. Every time a column appears there's a comment about Waking Walt and a link to the website. However, once the articles started getting comments and questions, I realized there were some things I could contribute that had to do with the Disney legacy and what's going on at Disney today. So, that's what I try to do - and also sell the book.

Tina: In addition to your columns, you’re hard at work on another novel titled Future King. Can you tell us something about this story and where the concept came from?

Larry: Future King is actually my first novel. The one I was writing when I had that lunch with Marty Cummins that changed everything. If you’ve ever read or heard of The Once and Future King, that wonderful novel by T.H White which inspired the Broadway play and motion picture Camelot, you might guess what it’s all about. King Arthur. According to legend, when England needs him most he will return from Avalon. Not only Arthur, but Merlin, too. For those interested, Future King is set in the day after tomorrow with Charles the King of Great Britain. Prince Harry is one of the key characters in the book...

Tina: Another book that crosses many genres. Sounds very intriguing. Keep us posted on the release, Larry.

Connie: A few of questions to get to know you better, if that’s all right...With everything you’re working on, Larry, what do you do for down time? Do you have any hobbies or do you collect anything as a way to relax?

Larry: I have a special friend named Samson; a 90 pound Shepherd mix that loves to go for walks. We take a long one at least once a day. I also do a lot of reading. And console myself that the sun is always over the yardarm somewhere.

Tina: Is there any one, special, person in your life that inspires or motivates you to continue writing? How do they keep you going?

Larry: I don’t have to think about that one. It’s my wife, Harriet. All she has to do is keep coming home.

Connie: If you could go back in time and meet Walt Disney, the subject of your book, what would you say to him? What would you ask him?

Larry: I’d ask him to explain his idea for EPCOT (the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) again.

Tina: Why that particular question? Is there some special interest you have with EPCOT?

Larry: Epcot was Walt's last dream. The one he didn't get a chance to make some true.

Tina: Ah, I see.

What authors did you read before becoming a writer, Larry? Were they an influence on you?

Larry: When I was young I read Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged) and a lot of history (Winston Churchill and John Adams) and science fiction (Asimov, Arthur C. Clark). Of course, now that has spread to include everything from Dr. Phil to Sue Grafton and John D. MacDonald, from Crichton to Clive Cussler. I think my favorite author is Mark Twain and he had a strong influence on the way I write.

Tina: Quite a variety of tastes.

Connie: Yes, quite. And Mark Twain as a favorite. Your upcoming book, Future King, kind of reminds me, in a way, of his A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court but in the reverse. In what way did Mark Twain influence the way you write, Larry?

Larry: I think a couple of quotes from Twain might best explain. He said, "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." On editing he had this choice comment: "If I had had more time, I would have written less."

Connie: Those are thought provoking statements. I see what you mean, Larry.

One last question before we let you get back to work. If you could, with 4 words, describe yourself to us.

Larry: Intelligent, romantic, outgoing, sensitive.

Connie and Tina: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer our questions, Larry. It’s been a pleasure as well as interesting. Before we let you go though, is there anything we haven’t asked that you like to tell the readers and fans?

Larry: No, I think we covered it fairly well. Thanks!

Tina and Connie: You're very welcome!

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Larry was so patient and forthcoming with his answers to all of our questions. We hope you enjoyed our conversation with him and will check out his book as well as his website.

Waking Walt is a December 2002, release.

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