Guest Blog: Mark Rosendorf

Last week I reviewed a sequel called Without Hesitation: Rasner Effect II by Mark Rosendorf. I'm thrilled that Mark has taken time out of his schedule to put together this guest blog.

Last night, I received a review for my second book, “Without Hesitation: The Rasner Effect II,” where the reviewer questioned my sanity. For a writer, this is the ultimate compliment. “Doubtful that a sane mind could ever come up with the twists and turns in these scenes,” she said.

While I enjoyed the comment, it wasn’t anything new. People who know me have been questioning my sanity for years. For the sake of our friendships, I’m going to assume they mean it in the same tongue and cheek way this reviewer does. It brings up the question, though, what kind of a mind do you need to write? Does the quote, “You don’t have to be insane to work here, but it helps” ring true when it comes to writing thrillers?

In my day job, I work as a guidance counselor in the New York City school system at a specialized high school for students who are classified as emotionally disturbed. What makes them so different from everyone else? We all have crazy thoughts. We all have impulses to say or do whatever we want. Of course, we can’t, society frowns on that. My students, however, never learned how to control those impulses. Where we think about revenge and say, “how I wish I could do that,” they act on it, and then suffer the consequences of their actions.

My job, and that of the school, is to work with these teens and try to teach them the social skills they need to fit into society. Part of the training is to teach them that life is not like books or movies, and they can’t always act on their impulses. But, imagine if they could. Imagine if we could. I know I imagine the possibility. In fact, I act on those urges all the time, in my writing. We all have those violent fantasies whenever someone gets on our last nerve, it’s normal to imagine. It’s the reason why the actions of Rick Rasner, Jake Scarberry, Jennifer Duke, even Clara Blue, bring as much admiration as it does scorn for the characters.

Which category do you fit in? Would you hold contempt towards the characters of The Rasner Effect, or live vicariously through them? What would it be like to live in a world where the rules of society don’t apply to you? A never-ending adrenalin rush or an aggressive weight on the conscience? Maybe both?

In the real world, of course, we’d all be disgusted, ostracized and arrested by this sort of behavior. But that’s what makes the fiction world so different.

To see what else is going on in Mark's life, check out his website at Mark Rosendorf.