Q: Is there really an N'dorobo shaman on Mt. Kenya, and if so, have you ever seen him?

A:  Yes and yes.  The first time I saw the shaman was in 1974 when I was coming up the Sirimon River route.  It was around dusk and I had been hiking in the forest and came upon this man dressed in colobus-monkey skins, strangling a goat--apparently making a sacrifice to N'gai--their God who lives on the mountain's summit.  It was very eerie--outside of my experience base.  The second time was in 1980 at Kami Tarn--about 15,000 feet over some tough ground.  I was relieving myself outside the tent about three in the morning when I heard walking across the frozen scree.  There was the shaman, his monkey-skin cape flapping in the breeze, wearing  those cheap sandals made out of old tires.  It was almost exactly how the scene was portrayed in the book.

Also, my friends Vince Fayad and Ian Allan have seen the shaman on the top of Neilion--at nearly 17,000 feet over technical ground!  The shaman was somewhat of a fixture on Mt. Kenya in the 70's and 80's.  Despite where he was sighted on the mountain, he would, somehow, always be at his cook fire outside of Naro Moru in the early morning.  I have no idea how that is possible, unless of course, one could . . . dream.

Q: If the shaman is real, is or was Jimmy a real person?

A: Yes.  The real Jimmy, whose name I will not use, was a member of UDT-21--precursors to the U.S. Navy SEALS.  His missions in Kenya during the Mau-Mau revolution may still be classified.

Q: Is it true that Jimmy's character was initially written out of the book, and was later written back in?

A: Yes.  I had the real Jimmy read the prologue and the chapter he was in--mostly as a reality check.  Well, Jimmy missed (killing) his man twice.  That really bothered the real Jimmy and he became very agitated with me, saying, "Gary, it wouldn't have gone down that way--no !@$X& way.  I woulda popped his ass on the first go."

I kept trying to tell him it was only a novel, but he remained really bothered by his character's failure.  So, I wrote him back in and his character became quite important.  Jimmy is also back, large and in charge, in my second and third novels, Prophets Reborn and Eden of Ophir.

Q: Where did you come up with the main pretext of the novel--that being the process of dreaming as done by the N'dorobo?

A: That is a very touchy subject--quite raw even these decades later.  In 1978 I was on Mt. Kenya and contracted high altitude pulmonary and cerebral edema.  I was in very bad shape.  Days later, still trying to get down the mountain, I quit breathing--and I had a death experience or as some would suggest, a near-death experience.  Regardless, there was one point where everything of reality ceased to be.  It was as if reality was nothing but a huge, empty canvas.  As odd as it sounds, I somehow came to the understanding that I must dream myself back to life--dream back a whole life history--dream back a . . . reality.  

When I was first released from the mission hospital in Nyere, reality was rather thin and transclusent.  For the weeks and months that followed, I felt as if my reality was somewhat transient.  I harbored a definite belief that I would awake from this dream and find myself dying or dead beneath Firmon's Tower on Mt. Kenya.

So, I figured, reality really has no bars, especially if one is approaching death and what if one could manufacture a state so removed by the barriers of the here and now, that one may dream their own . . . reality.  Hence, the dreaming of the N'dorobo was created--made possible by the Kidogo Kifu--the Small Death.

Q: How would you characterize your novels.  Do you follow any themes or patterns when writing a novel?

A: My novels, through an action-adventure venue, deal with very large questions or issues we have as people.  I'd like to think my novels are action-adventure novels with strong, philosophical backbones.

I think during the quiet times of our lives, we consider very big questions.  What is reality?  Is God real?  Is my God real, but yours not?  Where did we humans really come from and for what purpose?

These are the questions that Gabe Turpin novels address--amidst the assassination plots, international intrigue, action and adventure.

Also, I believe in exotic locations.  I have been blessed with a rich life of travel to some of the very wild places of this world.  I want my novels to literally transport the reader to these exotic places--places they will likely never experience.  I want them to see, feel, hear and smell the forests of Mt. Kenya--the plains of the Maasai Mara--the dark temples of Buddhist monasteries of Koyasan, in Japan--the bustling streets of Istanbul and the wonders of Topkapi Palace.  We need to know these places--it is like giving a gift to my readers.