Exclusive Interview with

Dan Gallagher

When did you start writing?

A bit in high school (1973-77) but more in college (Virginia Military Institute 1977 - 1981). Most of these were assignments. But some became serious works, such as “Sand Here and There” about a soldier experiencing madness and confusion when confronted with sand that reminded him of combat stress. It became re-worked as “Monster in the Sand” (MITS) a cryptozoology-related short using the “unreliable narrator” style/POV made famous by Edgar Allan Poe. MITS was a psychological and spiritual thriller published in 2019.

What makes writing your passion?

It is how I serve my fellow humans and God. I care whether people grapple with serious issues and also get their money’s worth.

How long have you been writing?

Professional writing has been intermittent, starting in 1992 with financial and business brokerage articles and a few short stories.

What was the feeling when you published your first book?

Wow, you really want to know the emotional battle that ensued? Okay, then:

My first book was a 1997 novel, The Pleistocene Redemption (TPR). TPR was recommended to Ed Gleason at America’s largest Science Fiction publisher, Tor, by two of its bestselling authors, Doug Preston & Lincoln Child. But I learned from my agent, Frank Weimann, that evaluation, inevitable improvements needed and publication would take about two years! Impatience – and ignorance of the self-publishing stigma – led me to self-publish in mid-1998. TPR received twenty-six strong reviews (half pre-publication) and two slams by the end of that year but sold 4,100 copies (net of store excess inventory returned). That’s still strong sales when you consider TPR had just $1,500 in advertising and a dozen small-time tabling events, and a few local media interviews by the end of 1999. TPR was a Writers’ Foundation Best of America Award finalist. What caused organized

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