Meet the Author Monday: Irene Baron

It’s Meet the Author Monday! Each week we meet a new author and get to know a little about them, their writing process, publishing experience, and tips for other writers. Today we’re talking to Irene Baron, author of Mindreacher.

About Irene Baron:

Award-winning author, photographer and artist,  Irene Baron, uses her global background to provide joy, entertainment and information for her delighted audible listeners and readers. A Top Secret counterinsurgency writer and Director of Aerial Photography for ARPA during the Vietnam War, retired teacher Baron resides in Ohio.

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About Mindreacher

Government agencies fail to find terrorists threatening the United States with nuclear weapons. To remedy that, the new President forms a highly classified operation with an Executive Order. The Virtual ExtraSensory Perception Experimental Research project (VESPER) is created and housed in secret facilities under the JFK runways.

VESPER leaders learn of South African ‘mindreachers’ born several decades ago. Rumored to have the ability to read minds over great distances, no one knows their current locations. A teacher and pilot, Ana Masterson, is identified stateside as a minor telepath. She is hired by VESPER to find a mindreacher and teamed with elite warrior and former SEAL, Major Jon Coulter, USMC. Despising anyone psychic, Coulter reluctantly follows orders to protect Masterson and report to his superiors how telepathy may be used in combat. Supplied with the latest in espionage gadgets, including embedded nano-size satellite tracking transceivers, their search begins in Johannesburg, South Africa. Not wanting to be identified, every terrorist cell places Masterson and Coulter on their hit list.

Readers will find it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction in this Indiana Jones style of friendly beginnings filled with memorable dueling characters, suspenseful changes in venue, exotic scenes, epic actions and a chart busting climax.

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Author Interview with Irene Baron:

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1. What is the first book that made you cry?

I read Heidi as a child and loved it.  When reading it as a mother, I cried all the way through.

2. Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

Mary Knew is the only book I wrote which is not original.  It was taken from the eyewitness and written testimony of Apostle James, the youngest son of Joseph.  I changed it into a historical narrative for ease of reading. This book is full of facts not put into the Bible and which astonish readers.  Most never knew Mary’s parents were visited by angels to tell them about Mary and their Grandson who would become the savior of the world. The Bible doesn’t mention how she was severely isolated ages 1-3 according to God’s directions and taken to be raised in the Jerusalem Temple for over a decade beginning age 3. She was visited and fed by angels every day she lived in the Temple. The story of the birth of a God, Jesus Immanuel, is most unique and has never happened before or since, and never will. 

The Christmas star book is something everyone has wondered about.  I am the only person to find it using NASA astronomy computer programs because most astronomers were looking for a night star.  Astronomers at that time looked during the predawn hours. This book is original in that it is all my research to find the Christmas star. The public wanted to know, so I provided it.It is a coffee table book for striking up conversations.

Mindreacher is totally original.   I used data obtained from my top secret (now declassified) counterinsurgency work in SE Asia. Readers tell me they it is the best book they have ever read or heard on Audible.  For some, the story is so realistic that it is hard for readers or listeners to remember the book is fiction. One reviewer wrote a review as though it was nonfiction. The book has a glossary to explain some of the new spy and espionage  equipment, information and techniques mentioned in the book. Their use it totally original to the point that one reader said, “You are like Michael Crichton reborn!”

3. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?

My first two award winning books were on religious topics. Anything in that vein will be building a body of work. Mindreacher is the first book of the Mindreacher series.  It will have connections to every Mindreacher book that follows.

4. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

The star book I spent 3-years researching the night sky over Bethlehem using latitude and longitude for 6 oclock AM.  Since the ancient astronomers used dawn to observe the sky, that is the time of day that the Christmas star would appear. That research was all by using the 68 NASA astronomy computer programs which were sent to me anonymously from someone at NASA JPL. I don’t know who sent them, but thank them from the bottom of my heart.

The Mindreacher book research and collection of information began when I was flying in Air American helicopters over the Mekong River directing aerial photography during the Vietnam War. During that time I was heavily involved in top secret counterinsurgency work with ARPA helping write a text for the military on what to do when they invaded Thailand during the SEATO agreement if it became necessary. I lived in Bangkok, Thailand over 4-years and did research the total time, especially using information from the ARPA library. Exciting information probably not seen before.  

5. Do you view writing as a kind of spiritual practice?

My whole life has been a spiritual practice.  I am a religious person and believe that our lives are guided by God. Many special events have occurred in my life to allow me to learn more about our Heavenly Father which I won’t discuss, but yes, everything I do has religion at the base.  Even the Mindreacher book has notations and discussion of Christian VS Buddhist understandings.

6. What inspired you to start writing?

I was inspired to start writing when an English teacher in high school read my essays to all her classes. That’s when I figured writing was something at which I excelled.

7. What comes first, the plot or characters?

In my writing, plot comes first.  Characters are developed as I need them and some with their stories are removed to shorten my Mindreacher series of long books.

8. Describe your writing space

Unraveling the Christmas Star Mystery was primarily written during my lunchtime when I taught high school science.  I would take my lunch to school and sit and write the whole time at a desktop computer.  My space was neat and tidy.

The writing space I currently have looks like Einstein’s desk, very messy. I have tons of projects going on at a time and feel so rushed I don’t file everything like I should. I have 2 legal size 4-drawer file cabinets for data and research and a multitude of small plastic file holders which are overflowing for immediate work.  The walls are tacked with notes and “TO DO” lists. Busy place.

9. What time of the day do you usually write?

I write at all times of the day, whenever I have time and the inclination to do so, sometimes awaking at 3 AM with a fantastic idea which must be put to text.

10. Do you hear from your readers much? What do they say?

I do hear from my readers.  They are wonderful. Each book has garnered delightful positive raves from readers and listeners.  Each has a different genre, so there are different readers. The Mindreacher book has astonished everyone with what’s in it. The comments are a delight to read.

To learn more about Irene, here’s where you can find her:

Website: www.IreneBaron.com
Twitter: twitter.com/IreneBaron1

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