A Chat with Doug Hewitt, author of Dominion



D.A. Hewitt is an award-winning author of four novels and over a hundred short stories. One novel was awarded a gold medal from the Independent Publishers Book Awards for best regional fiction. He attributes his success to hard work, honing a skill and providing an outlet for his passion for writing.

Born in Michigan, he lived for 25 years in North Carolina before returning to live in his home state. In addition to enjoying sky diving and mountain climbing, he is a proud veteran of the US Marine Corps and has earned a degree in mathematics.

Mr. Hewitt admits to a fascination with the work of Carl Jung and of the Gnostic religion. He’d always thought intertwining these topics in a science fiction novel was a stretch, but one day the storyline of Dominion came to him. He wrote the novel in a stream of consciousness. “It makes sense, tapping into the collective unconscious,” Mr. Hewitt says, “very much like Carl Jung might have predicted.”

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About the Book:

It’s the year 2075. Lunar mining and processing facilities have prospered near the lunar south pole, where the Moon’s largest city, Valhalla, rests on the rim of the Shackleton Crater.

Dominion Off-Earth Resources has beaten the competition into space and is ready to establish its
monopoly with the opening of the orbiting space resort Dominion. But Pettit Space Industries has a secret plan to emerge as a major contender in the commercialization of space. The upstart company is training the first space rescue squad at a secluded off-grid site in Barrow, Alaska.

The rescue squad gets nearly more than it can handle when its first mission involves the Pope, who’s traveling to the Moon to establish the Lunar See. During the rescue attempt, they discover Earth is imperiled by an asteroid large enough to cause mass extinction. Using the unique skills taught during their training, skills emphasized by the great psychoanalyst Carl Jung, these Jungi Knights must elevate their game if they are to save both the Earth and the Pope—while not getting killed in the process.


Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life!  Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process.  Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning?  Where did you come up with the idea to write your book?

My inspiration for writing Dominion came from the work I did developing the Process Map of Consciousness. Many people are familiar with the ideas of ego, superego, and id. But how do they interact? I realized that it’s a process, and just like any manufacturing process, it can be mapped. Wanting to find a venue for the Process Map of Consciousness, I came up with the idea of the first rescue squad in space, a squad that used psychology to develop special skills. From that germ of an idea, my novel sprang to life.

Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

This book was easy to write, difficult to edit. A bit of advice for writers: writing is rewriting. I went through a dozen drafts of Dominion before it was published. Think of revising a manuscript as polishing a gemstone. Until it’s polished, it’s not as spectacular as it could be.

Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

Double Dragon. There are many writer-friendly websites that help authors find publishers within their genres. Finding the right one is just a question of doing the right research.


Q: Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?

Dominion is my third published novel. I also have five nonfiction books under my belt. But the surprise I got with my first book is the same I got with my third. It’s always surprising how big a thrill it is when those first author copies arrive from the publisher. Awesome.

Q: What other books (if any) are you working on and when will they be published?

I’m working on a dark urban fantasy. The working title is Frame of Mind but my wife is strongly urging me to change it to Roanoke. There’s a parallel universe to ours, and a rift opens between them. Much fun ensues!

Q: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

The techniques developed by the space rescue team in Dominion actually work. I know because I went through the same regimen as the characters in my novel. It wasn’t easy. A bit grueling, actually. But I was actually stunned that the techniques work so well.

Q: Finally, what message (if any) are you trying to get across with your book?

I want to show how the Process Map of Consciousness lays out the roadmap to combine the great Eastern and Western religions. Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst, suspected that if it was possible to do such a thing, it was likely come from America. And I think I’ve done just that. For people who want to see the map itself, visit my website at www.StinkyUniverse.com.
  
Q: Thank you again for this interview!  Do you have any final words?

For me, the quest for a deeper level of consciousness is equivalent to the desire for a more fully developed spirituality. The Process Map of Consciousness is key to both.





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