A: The growing conflict between personal privacy and the needs of government for information has been wildly compounded by the advent of global terrorism and the dawning of the information age and technology. Only recently within the last two months it was revealed that the government through military intelligence in fact had information gleaned from electronic surveillance regarding some of the 911 terrorists. This information was not developed or further exploited because of legal concerns regarding privacy and unreasonable searches. These are monumental issues to be resolved in a free society and may require new approaches as to how we view information and the level of privacy that is ascribed to it. Do we have a reasonable expectation of privacy when using e-mail or communicating on the internet? Should we assume that government is looking and listening, and guide our communications accordingly? How much freedom and privacy are we willing to surrender in return for security? That has been one of the age old conflicts of the American experiment. It troubled the founding generation just as it does their descendents with the difference that technology has heightened the controversy.

Q: If you could have lunch with anyone, past or present, who would it be, and why?

A: If I could lunch with anyone from the past or present I would gravitate toward two individuals, Christ and Lincoln. Who could resist the opportunity for clarification of the pronouncements and mysteries of the New Testament from the ultimate authority? As the one who has most affected Western Civilization for two millennia the chance to see and converse with Christ would be the most compelling of any encounter I could imagine. With regard to Lincoln, as a lawyer and the closest thing to a patron saint in American politics he has always held a very special place in the pantheon of intriguing historic figures. His life seems a fascinating maze of contradictions; a calm and articulate leader in the face of the fire storm that was the Civil War who endured endless crisis but who suffered from chronic depression most of his life. Lincoln is perhaps one of the few truly self-made men of the American age. He emerged from true poverty on the frontier of the 19th Century, to become self educated, confident, the uncontested master of written American political language to project a view of nationhood that has not been matched through world wars and a hundred-and-fifty years of American history.

Q: Legal thrillers continue to maintain a certain degree of both popularity and panache. While lawyers in general often come under disdain at times, the public is still fascinated with the working of law, and lawyering. What do you ascribe this continued interest in this particular genre to?

A: I suspect that the legal genre generates it popularity and staying power from different aspects of story telling, the ultimate mystery, the “who done it” conveyed in the wrapper of the American legal system with all of its warts and flaws. People are intrigued by the theater of the trial, the traditions and politics of the law, and the often bigger than life characters who populate most courtrooms. In ancient Rome during the period of the great republic, the masses gravitated to the Forum in the morning to listen to the political oration of the time, and spent their afternoons taking in the entertainment of the law courts and the trials which often involved leading political figures and notable families. Nothing has changed. Human nature if not immutable, is at least highly resistant to rules of Darwin.

Q: Are you Paul Madriani? How much of your own personality shines through this popular character?

A: I am not in any way shape or form Paul Madriani. The character of these stories is a phantom of fiction. At times he may take on the mannerisms and characteristics of different lawyers I have known during the 35 years I spent covering the law as a journalist and practicing law. Often it is subconscious when this happens as the character begins to move through the story almost on his own. I can’t tell you how that happens. It is a mystery.

Q: Besides writing, what are your other passions in life? And if you could turn to a second career other than writing, what would it be?

A: I enjoy working with my hands usually with wood, and photography. I enjoy reading history and would probably enjoy teaching history if I had to select another career.

Q: Do you ever feel the urge to write non-fiction? If so, what subject area would it be in...history, politics, culture, inspirational, self-help, etc....?

A: I did write as a journalist covering politics and the law for a number of years, both in Los Angeles and the California State Capital in Sacramento. I have written both feature pieces as well coverage of breaking news. If I could select a non-fiction field it would be politics and history.

Q: Mr. Martini, have you ever been through a 'watershed moment' in your life, that made you change direction?

A: As for watershed periods in life I have had a number of them as often they have marked changes in my career, from journalist, to law student to lawyer and back again to writing, this time as a novelist. For many writers life doing anything else seems a struggle, and I am no exception. I was generally unhappy doing anything else. Though at times writing presents its own set of burdens. It is a solitary activity with little opportunity for collaboration or personal interaction on a daily basis. One lives in the imagination and creates through the mental image of a camera lens.

Q: Growing up in northern California, a very progressive place, must have influenced your thought, and in turn, your writing. Is there some truth to this, that is, did some of your personal life growing up in that area of the country influence your outlook, both personally and professionally?

A: Yes. The Bay Area of the 1950’s and 60’s was a very different place than it is today. In the days of my childhood there was more open space, more farms and distances seemed closer before the sprawl. During early childhood the places I lived were culturally insular, a kind of Italian colony, that was not the melting pot that is the Bay Area today. Mine was a large extended family, with multiple generations living in close proximity and I have fond memories of those times and the places I knew. Life seemed more simple and slow, and everyone in the neighborhood knew everyone who lived there. These memories often seep into my writing. At the age of 10 I was jarred out of these surroundings when my family moved to Southern California. For me this was a sea change in life, though I returned to Northern California in the 60’s to attend university at Santa Cruz. I have very good memories of those times and there is no doubt that they influenced me both personally and professionally.

Q: If you have a book, or books that have made an impact in your life, could you share those with us, and why they did so?

A: There have been books that gripped me and kept me thinking for years after I read them. One was A Study in Tyranny by Alan Bullock, a biography of Hitler, another was Lincoln’s Virtues – An Ethical Biography by William Lee Miller. These two books present a stark dichotomy of the human spirit. I often find myself considering life’s lessons as presented by the authors.

Interview Date: September 2005
Profile and questions compiled by Rosanne L., Matthews Branch Library