A.    Now there’s a question that covers a lot of territory! I’ll refer you to my web site www.darrellbain.com and you can click on Memoirs in the menu. Since becoming a best selling e-book author, I’ve been asked numerous times about my life and how I became a writer. This induced me to begin a more complete biography than was currently posted anywhere, and the biography grew into my Memoirs, the complete story of my life (or as much as I can tell without embarrassing or hurting other people). Besides using it to answer questions from readers and fans, it will be something to leave my descendents, who have no conception of what life was like in the 1950’s and afterward. It isn’t finished yet, but I’m posting one or two installments per month, and they’re listed in order by month. I guess my memoirs must be fairly interesting, because I’ve already had a publisher ask for the first look when they’re completed. What’s even more interesting is that I’ve received a number of letters from readers who tell me that my memoirs have inspired them to write their own so they’ll have something to leave to their kids and grandkids.

A.    It started from an article my brother sent me, which is excerpted below. That should explain it.

…Scientists have declared that in ten years they will succeed in creating a radically new type of biological weapon. This weapon would be capable of infecting people according to a genetically predetermined marker such as skin color or eye shape. Infection could have a delayed effect or only begin once a certain type of medicine was taken. A recent closed seminar held by the CIA…..

…the most terrifying new possibility is the hypothetical biological weapon that could infect people according to genetic markers. Not only would it allow for genocide; it would be created specifically for that purpose. A recent report by the British Medical Association stated that "the rapid progress in genetics could become the basis for ethnic cleansing on an unheard of scale in the near future.

Excerpts from article in Gateway to Russia, March 2004 by Vasili Sychev

The last sentence in the article is what really got my attention and led to writing the novel. I thought it might help make more people aware of the truly awesome potential for both good and evil in the field of genetics.

I picked people of color and arabs as the two groups the genetic warfare is directed towards simply because prejudice against those two is the most predominate in America today.

A.    The title was a natural. Melanin is the pigment which determines skin color. However, in retrospect, I think I should have used a different title. I found out that the majority of people didn’t know the meaning of the word melanin. That might have hurt sales.

A.    I’m pretty well versed in genetics and the biological sciences since I was a medical technologist for 25 years. I did have to do a lot of research on the mideast and Africa. The hardest part of the research was finding a good vehicle for spreading the virus in the mideast among arabs. I had some help there from a site listing some of the most popular arab cuisine, and the web master was very helpful with one particular question. I’m sorry I can’t give them credit because I forgot where I found the information and couldn’t find it again.

A.    I suppose my medical experience, along with basic training and my time in Vietnam helped the most.

A.    Hmm, let’s see: Science fiction, Suspense/thriller, Humor, Romance, Children, Non-fiction, Fantasy, Erotica and Action/Adventure. However, I’ve done only a limited amount of writing in some of these genres (fantasy, romance and erotica), and did them more or less to see if I could. The Romance was written at the request of my Mother. I really love writing humor but sales aren’t as good there as with other genres. Right now I’m pretty well sticking to science fiction, action/adventure and suspense/thrillers, although the action/adventure novels featuring the Williard Brothers are also humorous.

A.    I wrote my first story when I was twelve and continued writing off and on the rest of my life, but didn’t really get serious about it until the advent of computers. I bought my first computer in 1989 or 1990 and have been writing at a pretty good clip ever since.

A.    About three dozen full length books and a couple of dozen shorts. The short fiction has been collected into two volumes, titled Around The Bend and Back From The Bend.

A.    Yes, I’m working on two novels right now, another in the Williard Brothers series (the fifth) and another science fiction, tentatively titled Warp Point.

A.    The world should be aware that in the near future, genetic warfare will become all too possible. Steps should be taken now in research which might ameliorate the problem.