Q&A with Donald Everett Axinn, author of ALLAN, BURNING

Q: ALLAN, BURNING is your third novel, and your first in over a decade. Why such a long window in between?

A: During the 11 years between writing The Ego Makers and ALLAN, BURNING, I was heavily involved in the making of the movie, "Spin", based on my first novel of the same name. I was the producer and executive producer, and my colleague, Jamie Redford, wrote the final screenplay and directed it. The film was widely accepted, we took several awards, and it ran on cable for more than 3 years. I also published several volumes of poetry both here and in Peru and Mexico. And we have been making an important HBO documentary, "Mann vs. Ford", which will be out soon.

I actually began ALLAN, BURNING about 22 years ago but needed that much time to create a story that I wanted to be fresh and different, and that would incorporate the elements of a modern morality play. I wanted to present the incredible environment of the Everglades, and introduce the reader to how ones survives, or does not, in a strange, harsh and uncompromising world.

Q: Let's talk about Allan Daniels, your protagonist in ALLAN, BURNING. When Allan's plane crashes in the Everglades his life is metaphorically crashing in around him as well. What's his prognosis?

A. The idea and notion for Allan to crash is to kick him out of his complacency, repressing his Miccosukee heritage on his mother's side and perhaps less so, his Jewish heritage on his father's. Nothing more effective than throwing him into the alien world of the Everglades where, coincidentally, the Miccosukees survived the third Seminole War and hid deep in the Everglades where the government was unable to reach them. We want him exposed, stripped of his comfortable surroundings, his family and architectural practice. What does he have to do to survive, what does he learn and does he change?

Q: It sounds like a critical conflict in Allan's life stems from his mixed heritage (Jewish and Native American), right?

A. One of the commanding themes in the novel is how we feel about and value our heritages. We come from countries and backgrounds that tend to lose their meaning. Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents often came here at great sacrifice to become Americans, but also brought rich and important cultural pasts. Allan is an example of a man who doesn't care very much about his roots and avoids involvements, so I force him, not so gently, to confront his heritage. There are significant and far-reaching choices he has to make. There is also mystery in this tale, with struggle and consequences. And several love stories, their surprises, complications and implications. A friendship between two very different men occurs, neither of whom could have possibly anticipated it.

Q: How do you see the struggles of Jewish and Native American cultures comparing?

A. There are obvious struggles for survival in these two ethnic peoples; both suffer from prejudice though perhaps not as much as they have in the past. Indians are getting to the point where they are fighting for their rights on level playing fields. Through college, graduate school and some becoming lawyers and professionals, they are seeing greater successes in the world. They are no longer just leasing their mineral and timber rights but are developing their natural resources themselves. While much remains to be done, the tribes are creating companies and industries, gaining confidence in their abilities, and utilizing the positive results of their determination and hard work.

Q: You delve deeply into the history of the Miccosukee Indians in Florida; do you have a personal interest in Native American cultures?

A. I have always had a deep interest in Native Americans. It began early in a one-room schoolhouse in Arizona, and except for listening to Tonto and The Lone Ranger on the radio, it was my first exposure. I learned that we had the same interests and values. Later, I learned what the United States had done to the sovereign Indian nations, which made me ashamed of this blight on our history. We abrogated just about all the treaties we made with them. We killed many of them because they got in our way. We've taken their land and water and destroyed how they had been living for thousands of years. We've tried to destroy their languages and cultures.

Q: You're involved with an upcoming HBO documentary focusing on the Ramapough Indians in northern New Jersey. What's that about?

A. Jamie Redford and I are producing a documentary about what happened to the Ramapough Indians, a small tribe on the border of New Jersey and New York, only 38 miles from downtown Manhattan. Toxic wastes were dumped on their lands and in their waters over 30 years, resulting in numerous cancers, early deaths and miscarriages. The government designated the area a Superfund site which was later dropped and then reestablished. We wanted to make this story, to recognize the tragedies Native Americans have suffered and are still suffering, and to bring this riveting ongoing legal battle (to which the filmmakers, Maro Chermayeff and Micah Fink, have gained unprecedented access) to the public. The documentary, called "Mann vs. Ford", will be shown after it is taken to film festivals by HBO. We hope it will get the attention from the public and government.

Q: In addition to writing fiction, you are a published poet, a screenwriter, an accomplished aviator, and a successful businessman. How do your various professions intersect?

A: I suppose I'm like a little kid in a toy store in that I find many things and activities fascinating. I believe we can do more than one thing well and I thrive on the variety and balance that my many endeavors provide. There's another benefit for me: my various and diverse activities and "professions" offer me an ever-expanding circle of interconnected ideas. For example, I often find the solution to a problem when I'm flying - whether it's getting a poem right, or a business decision, or making a fictional character more identifiable or believable - they all require analysis, choice and solution. Sometime they are on a conscious level, sometimes on a subconscious one.






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