Coffee and [no] Cigarettes:
Swinka Interviews M.J Rose
M.J. Rose and I have known each other for a while but never talked about her writing or books. Today, I’m sitting here with her on a brisk spring morning at her favorite haunt on the main street in Greenwich, CT. We are talking about jewelry first because we are ladies who appreciate sparkly things but also, M.J. is explaining to me how she buys jewelry to inspire her for each book. For The Hypnotist, she collected vintage silver petite perfume bottles on long silver on chains. She is wearing three of them. Now that we’ve gotten the necessary things out of the way, we start talking about reincarnation.
Swinka: Have you ever actually done past life regression? Do you know who you once were?
M.J.: Yes, I have. Many years ago, before I even dreamed of writing about reincarnation, I was guided in past life regression through hypnosis. The first time, nothing happened. No images, feelings or anything. Then, I tried it again, and the second time I saw images of myself walking on a path. That’s it – nothing else. It looked like New England and my shoes looked like pilgrim shoes. Not very compelling, is it?
Swinka: So after having this experience, do you actually believe in reincarnation?
M.J.: From my experiences and all the research I’ve done for my books, I really think it’s possible. My great-grandfather was a Kabbalist. That’s how I got the idea for Meer Logan’s father in the The Memorist, by the way. And they do believe in reincarnation. It’s something that was talked about a lot in my family, and we jokingly blamed almost everything on reincarnation. My mother claimed I told a story when I was three years old about being a little boy in Russia that my great-grandfather claimed proved I’d been his cousin back then. You know there are many testimonies about people remembering past lives. My niece, for example, had never met my mother but insists that she knows things about her – impossible things – and many of them are true. Some things remain a mystery, and I think reincarnation is one of those things.
Swinka: This is now getting towards the heart of your books, The Reincarnationist, The Memorist, & The Hypnotist. With the help of hypnotism and unusual objects or memory tools, your characters can experience past lives. I was impressed with Beethoven’s Magic Flute! How did you come up with that idea – research or serendipity?
M.J.: First of all, let me explain. There are memory tools in each book that aid people in finding past lives. The Phoenix Foundation, a reincarnation research institute headed by Malachai Samuels, would like to collect all of these tools. And each book reveals one of these objects. I spend a lot of time researching for each book, but sometimes I feel like they are writing themselves because of the startling coincidences I discover. For example, I was researching Beethoven in a library in Austria and I came across some notes where Beethoven was actually fascinated by Indian philosophy and reincarnation. This type of thing happens to me all the time!
Swinka: You feel like you’re tapping into the collective unconscious.
M.J.: Exactly, there are just too many coincidences.
Swinka: You know that I just love supernatural objects – any magical ones popping up in the future? You know,like fairy-killing daggers?
M.J.: [politely rolls her eyes] Yes, but not fairy-killing daggers. :)
Swinka: Can you tell us at least what’s in your next book?
M.J.: The Hypnotist takes place in New York and Paris. My two favorite cities. And, it is about an FBI agent named Lucien Glass, who investigates art crimes. He has haunting nightmares and tries hypnotism to get to the root of these dreams. This book revolves around a sculpture, a historical heist, and in the middle is the Phoenix Foundation.
Swinka: How many books do you think you’ll write?
M.J.: The books all involve reincarnation and there are some characters and places that appear in the books, but what they all have in common are these mysterious objects that Malachai Samuels wants to collect. There are twelve of those, so there might be twelve books.
Swinka: Just one last question: You’ve been an advocate for authors and have transformed the way books are marketed. What advice can you give to writers out there trying to get published?
M.J.: My advice is this: if you write a manuscript, find an agent, and get rejected by an editor; there is a very good reason that it was declined. Going out and self-publishing is not a solution for a rejected manuscript. Remember to read more than you write!!!
Swinka: BUT you gained recognition by publishing your first sexy novel, Lip Service, online.
M.J.: However, I had an agent and several editors who loved the book but it didn’t fit into one genre. No one knew how to market it. Once it was heralded by readers, the publishers found a way to publish and market it. And there weren’t a lot people doing it then. Maybe a few hundred. In 2009 there were 750,000 self-published books!
Swinka: You’re a maverick.
M.J.: Well, yes, but I also, by the way, still have a day job. My point is that I’d written several manuscripts before Lip Service was published. They will never be published because they are just not good enough, and that’s fine.
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M.J. Rose is the international bestselling author of 10 novels. She is a founding member and board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. She runs two popular blogs; Buzz, Balls & Hype andBackstory.
After selling over 2500 copies (in both electronic and trade paper format), Lip Service became the first e-book and the first self-published novel chosen by the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club, as well as being the first e-book to go on to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house.
She lives in Connecticut with Doug Scofield, a composer, and their very spoiled dog, Winka.
The Hypnotist is the third in the Reincarnationist series. It is available now!
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The Books
THE REINCARNATIONIST
Photojournalist Josh Ryder survives a terrorist’s bomb, only to be haunted by near hallucinatory memories of a past life in Rome as a pagan priest whose dangerous congress with Sabina, one of the Vestal Virgins, poses a transgression so serious the lovers will face a certain death if exposed. Scents of jasmine and sandalwood and images of furtive liaisons and violence descend on Josh at will, pulling him to an ancient yet strangely familiar Roman burial chamber harboring the remains of a woman clutching a wooden box.
A trail of present-day murders takes us deeper into a labyrinth at whose heart lies the enigma of a collection of ancient gems or memory stones whose origins trace back to both ancient Egypt and India. The stones’ promise to “assist the wearer in reaching his next incarnation” sets the ancient and modern worlds on a collision course.
The questions of who we are cannot be asked without first asking who we were. And I’ve tried to answer that using my own research into reincarnation theory – as well as the tenets and writings of those who have studied and believed in reincarnation over thousands of years. THE REINCARNATIONIST is equal parts modern-day thriller, historical fiction and love story. With one foot in present-day Rome and New York and another in Rome some 1,600 years ago, my story is about two worlds consumed by the fires of intrigue and passion.
THE MEMORIST
The Dreads are back.
As a child, Meer Logan was haunted by memories of another time and place always accompanied by the faint strains of elusive music. Now the dreads are back. The past has reached out again in the form of a strange letter that sets her on a search to unlock the mystery of who she once was.
With the help of her father – a Kabbalist, known as the Jewish Indiana Jones – Meer attempts to learn the meaning behind her hauntingly vivid memories. What they discover could reveal a frighteningly powerful secret hidden for generations by one of the greatest composers of all time.
With each step she comes closer to remembering the connections between a clandestine reincarnationist society, a lost flute linked to Ludwig van Beethoven and David Yalom, a journalist who understands all too well how the past affects the future.
David knows loss firsthand – terrorism is a reality that cost him his family. He’s seen every solution promised by security experts around the world – and he’s seen every solution fail. Now in a concert hall in Vienna, he plans to force the word to understand the cost of those failures in a single violent act. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
THE MEMORIST is a literary page turner that races across the Austrian countryside and takes you to a Viennesse tear-gas filled auction house, dusty museums, hidden passages deep within the walls of the secret Memorist Society. It’s a journey through the centuries as Meer unravels the mystery behind her own past lives.
THE HYPNOTIST
An FBI agent, tormented by a death he wasn’t able to prevent, a crime he’s never been able to solve and a love he’s never forgotten, discovers that his true conflict resides not in his past, but in a…Past Life.
Haunted by a twenty-year old murder of a beautiful young painter, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work as a Special Agent with the FBI’s Art Crime Team. Currently investigating a crazed art collector who has begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiation that takes him undercover at the Phoenix Foundation—dedicated to the science of past life study—where, in order to maintain his cover, he agrees to submit to the treatment of a hypnotist.
Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to 19th century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him at the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history: the theft of a 1,500 year old sculpture from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
International bestselling author M. J. Rose’s The Hynpotist is her most mesmerizing novel yet. An adventure, a love story, a clash of cultures, a spiritual quest, it is above all a thrilling capstone to her unique Reincarnation novels, The Reincarnationist and The Memorist.
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Paperback Dolls would like to thank M.J. Rose for this wonderful interview, and of course – thank our honorary Doll Swinka.
Learn more about M.J. Rose and her books by visiting her website
Day is a dreamer who has never met a stranger. She is fearless and will talk to anyone and read anything! She taught music and dance and was a singer/actress for years, performing on stages both nationally and overseas. Now married with children, she spends less time singing on stage and more time writing songs at home. But, family life has not completely slowed this chick down. She still loves an adventure and learning new things. She resides in Texas with her family, Great Dane (Sophie), Labradoodles (George & Cosmo) and Chihuahua (Juan Carlos).
Doll Day
I am loving this series! Reading the book lit a fire in me to discover more about the topics touched on in the series. I found myself researching reincarnation on the web when I wasn't reading the book!
Thank you M.J. Rose and Swinka
What a wonderful interview! I can't wait to get my hands on these books…. *silly international shipping*
Thank you M.J. Rose and Swinka for the lovely interview!
And, thank you for having me! And I thank Jim Jarmusch because I nicked his movie title. MJ and I are both x-smokers. :)
Great interview swinks!