The advice “write what you know” can be pretty limiting for a writer. In author Michael J. Polelle’s case, however, he decided to learn everything he could about the cult of Mithras in order to write his mystery thriller, The Mithras Conspiracy. Below is my interview with Polelle along with links to buy his book and learn something new yourself.
About the Author and Book
Author Name: Michael J. Polelle (name on book cover: M.J. Polelle)
Book Title: THE MITHRAS CONSPIRACY (Lido Press: 2019)
Genres: history-based mystery/thriller (similar to THE DA VINCI CODE).
Book Summary
When Commissario Marco Leone discovers the corpse of an estranged friend floating in the Tiber, he must overcome a tragic family history and a neo-fascist conspiracy to overthrow the Italian government and unsettle the history of early Christianity based on ancient scrolls discovered at Herculaneum in the Villa of the Papyri.
Book excerpts
Commissario Marco Leone of the Polizia di Stato sighed over the water-soaked corpse in a black cassock lying facedown near the Four Heads Bridge. The Tiber buried its victims no better than Rome buried its past. The writhing whirlpools of the mud-yellow river concealed tree limbs, rocks, and who knew what other dangers. His grandmother used to wag a finger in warning. The overthrown gods of old reached from the past to drown little boys wandering too near. Do they also take down priests?
“The case is yours,” said the carabinieri police officer standing near Leone.
“Not what we agreed to. It’s your turn.”
When he’d joined the police, they told him the jurisdiction between the carabinieri and the Polizia di Stato was like spaghetti—snarled up and slippery.
“Just because a drunk or suicide drowns in the Tiber?”
The officer puffed his chest, which was crisscrossed by a white bandolier. “That’s not important enough for us.”
Not important enough? Everyone knows these presumptuous carabinieri have red stripes running down the sides of their navy-blue pants so they can find their pockets.
***
“Come on, Marco. I’m busy with family this Christmas season.”
He made the sign of the cross with a grin.
“You’re Jewish. You have the time.”
“Then convert.”
Leone shook his head. “I’m leaving for Chicago.”
The top brass of the Polizia di Stato had selected him for a professional enrichment program with the Chicago Police Department. He had to leave in two days if he wanted to escape the hidebound traditions of life in the eternal city. They didn’t call it the New World for nothing.
Review excerpt
Publisher’s Weekly (3/1/19): “Set in the near future, Polelle’s intriguing debut centers on a threat to the Catholic Church from a discovery concerning not only St. Paul but the ancient Mithras religion, which Christianity supplanted in the Roman Empire. . . . Dan Brown fans will be delighted.”
Talking Shop
What’s the best review/compliment that you’ve received about your book?
Reader comments that the novel kept their interest to the very end.
What famous books can you compare to your own?
Dan Brown’s THE DA VINCI CODE and ANGELS & DEMONS
How long have you considered yourself a writer? Did you have any formal training, or is it something you learned as you went?
I have considered myself a writer ever since I finished my unpublished novel, BROKEN LOVE BEADS.
If you don’t make a living exclusively writing, what is your day job? How, in any way, does it relate to your life as a writer?
I’m an emeritus professor of law able to devote myself now entirely to being a full-time writer. The left-brained focus of the law prepared me for research and editing and rational analysis. So all I had left was to work on right-brained creativity and emotional communication through the written word.
What is the most fun part about writing? The most difficult?
The most fun part is the joyous flow of creativity when it comes.
The most difficult is the business of writing, especially since I don’t do social media and am new to marketing. I prefer to spend my time writing. But as an independent publisher I have to do both unless an agent comes to the rescue.
What skills have you acquired or information have you learned from writing?
I suspect I’ve done as much, or more, than a Ph.D. candidate would do in researching a thesis on the cult of Mithras. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preceded me. While a student at Crozer Theological Seminary he did a short paper comparing the similarities of Mithraism to Christianity and considering which religion copied from which. What I learned from all this and my writing is the power of organized religion of whatever human tribe to do great good or great evil while beneath them all lies a common spirituality linking one religion to another.
Did you consult with any professionals or people who lived through a particular event to help you craft your story?
While doing original research in Rome I visited Mithraic underground sites with Sara Magister, an Italian art historian and archaeologist. I also consulted Giuseppe Righini of the Polizia di Stato for information about Italian law enforcement.
What is your most stereotypical writer trait?
My most stereotypical trait is that I must start the day with coffee, preferably a cappuccino at Pastry Art in Sarasota, Florida but in this time of coronavirus I invented my own killer combination of cacao beans and coffee at home.
My least is that I don’t believe in rigid production quotas of a certain number of words or hours each day. I trust myself to follow the rhythm and I know I’ll write just about every day, more or less, without getting obsessed. I also know that if I’m in the flow and don’t write for three days or so, or at least think about the writing, I’ll get uneasy and maybe cranky, like being without coffee for a few days. That’s the signal to get back to writing. And then all is well with the world.
“What If” Scenarios
If your book ever becomes a movie and you get final say over the cast, which actors would you hire to play your characters?
Commissario Marco Leone (protagonist): George Clooney
Nicole Garvey (archaeologist): Nicole Kidman
Lucio Piso (antagonist): Robert Di Niro
If you could have one person that you admire, living or dead, read your book, who would it be?
My deceased friend, Robert Kenison, a lover of literature.
If you could be in a writer’s group with up to four famous writers, who would they be?
Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Mark Twain
Your favorite character that you’ve written comes to life for one day. What do you do together for 24 hours?
Commissario Marco Leone and I start off the day at this favorite espresso bar in Rome. He plans lunch and dinner at his favorite restaurants in Rome and shows me around police headquarters.
You’re given $10,000 to spend on marketing for your book. How do you spend it?
Hiring a market specialist.
Your book becomes a best seller. What do you do next?
Start on the next novel if I have something to say. If not, take off for Europe, if Coronavirus allows, to refill the well of creativity.
You have the means to hire a full time assistant to help you with your writing. What tasks do you give them to do?
Everything having to do with social media. I don’t want to take up my time with it. Doing preliminary research and handling marketing under my supervision. Being a sounding board for ideas.
Just for Fun
Your trademark feature.
A Tilley hat to protect me in the Florida sunshine
One bucket list item you’ve completed and one that’s still on your list.
Completed: wine country in Montalcino, Italy.
Still on the list: Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu
Favorite time of/part of your day.
The morning.
Favorite place you’ve visited/place you want to visit.
My favorite place is Rome, Italy because I’ve visited it enough to be beyond the tourist stage.
Food you’d like to win a lifetime supply of.
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The real thing…not Parmesan knock-offs!!!
The topic you can’t shut up about and the topic you wish everyone would shut up about.
Donald Trump
When time travel is achieved, do you go forward or backward?
Backward. I’d want to see how much of The Mithras Conspiracy speculation I got right.
Buy it!
Buy a copy of The Mithras Conspiracy here, and help support local bookstores. This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.
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