Meet Richard I Levine
Richard I Levine is a native New Yorker raised in the shadows of Yankee Stadium. After dabbling in several occupations and a one-year coast-to-coast wanderlust trip, This one-time auxiliary police officer, volunteer fireman, bartender, and store manager returned to school to become a chiropractor.
A twenty-five-year cancer survivor, he’s a strong advocate for the natural healing arts. In 2006 he wrote, produced, and was on-air personality of The Dr. Rich Levine Show on Seattle’s KKNW 1150AM and after a twenty-five-year chiropractic practice in Bellevue, Washington, he closed up shop at the end of 2016 and moved to Oahu to pursue a dream of acting and being on Hawaii 5-O.
While briefly working as a ghostwriter/community liaison for a Honolulu City Councilmember, a Hawaii State Senator, and volunteering as an advisory board member of USVETS Barbers Point, he appeared as a background actor in over twenty-seven 5-Os, Magnum P.I.s, NCIS-Hawaii, and several Hallmark movies. In 2020, he had a co-star role in the third season episode of Magnum PI called “Easy Money.”
While he no longer lives in Hawaii, he says he will always cherish and be grateful for those seven years and all the wonderful people he’s met. His 5th novel, To Catch the Setting Sun, was inspired by his time in Hawaii.
Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea is Levine’s first foray into the romance genre.
Q & A
Q: Where did you get the idea for your two latest novels
A: For To Catch the Setting Sun, which was released in 2022, It was a confluence of several separate, yet simultaneous, sensory experiences that triggered images which ignited the creative foundation for this story. Please allow me to explain. In 2018 I was on my way to the set of a Hawaii 5-O episode where I was cast as a background NCIS agent. On the way to set I mentally became this agent—giving him a name, a history, habits etc. I pictured him being uncomfortably hot while driving to an investigation because his car air-conditioner didn’t work. So, I shut mine off, rolled down the windows which caused a blast of hot air to rush in along with the smell of a trash pile left along the roadside. Then I began to play some music from the John Dumas CD Kohola Dreamtime and HPD detective Hank Benjamin came to life. After several weeks of repeating this ritual while in the car, a story began to develop and I knew I had my next novel.
With Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea, the idea came as fast as a person could blink. I was literally relaxing on one of the four lagoons at KoOlina on Oahu. And even though the sun was warm, the trade winds were making the palm fronds dance, and the waters of the lagoon were caressing the shoreline, it was the music of Ennio Morricone, Deborah Lurie, Randy Edelman. and Hans Zimmer that took my imagination to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in north Puget Sound, and the love story of Mitch Brody and Jess Ramirez was born. It wasn’t a story that I had been searching for, but it was the story that I believe was sent to me from a higher source. From that point forward, all I had to do was to follow that inspiration to allow the details to develop. It was a fun process and an interesting journey.
Q: What was the most difficult thing about writing this book?
A: Funny, it was the same things as with writing my previous novel: constant interruptions from work or personal obligations, to noisy neighbors entertaining friends or playing loud music to all hours of the night. The worst was having to listen to construction noise or the wail of sirens from emergency vehicles. It was extremely hard and frustrating to find uninterrupted quiet time.
Q: Did you always want to be a writer?
A: From the time I was a small child, I had always found it difficult to verbally express my thoughts and feelings. I was never one of those people who had the ability to fire off a quick retort in the heat of the moment. The perfect response to any situation would always come to me hours later. Writing always came easy. It was a natural and an enjoyable path to travel; an easy way to transform my daydreams into a world that others can experience.
Q: Do you have any words of advice to beginning writers?
A: When I write, I literally do it for myself. It’s my entertainment. I’m the creator and the critic. The end result just happens to be a story, a novel, and a world that never existed until it developed in and moved out from the deep recesses of my brain. I never worry about an idea that comes to me at an inopportune time. If it’s a good idea, I’ll remember it. If I don’t, well, there will always be more to come. I never try to force a paragraph, a sentence, or a word, and you shouldn’t either. If the inspiration isn’t there, go do something else. If you try to force it, you’ll close down the innate pathways to the imagination and become frustrated. Just remember that If it doesn’t flow naturally, allow yourself to step away. Most important, don’t doubt yourself and don’t rush to get the approval of others. Believe that you are a creative genius. Do allow your imagination to sail across the cosmos with reckless abandon and understand that everything you put down on paper is not chiseled in stone.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about being a writer?
A: Playing God. Seriously, getting to create and develop my characters and the world where they live.
Q: What’s your least favorite thing about being a writer?
A: Playing God. While writing my previous four books, there were characters that I had developed a fondness for and never anticipated their demise when they were first created. In each instance, I had to pause for several days to reconcile the inevitable; I was that attached! After I had convinced myself it had to be done, I actually grieved over their passing. Sounds crazy, yes?
Q: Do You have any pets? What do you like best about your pet.
A: I’ve always been a cat person. Found my first one when I was eight. My current kitties, Koa and Peanut butter are rescues that I got from a no-kill shelter on Vashon Island in Washington State.
Q: What genre is your favorite to read?
A: I love history, especially late 18th century America. So both historical fiction and non-fiction piques my interest. I loved David McCullough’s John Adams. If I could go back in time, I would love to live in colonial Boston, New York, or Philadelphia.
Q: Name two authors we might find you reading when taking a break from your own writing?
A: When I was in high school, I was impressed with Ernest Hemingway and had always fantasized living in Key West with a bunch of polydactyl kitties and smoking Cuban cigars while pounding the keys of an old cast iron Royal typewriter.
I also have an affinity for the 1930s-1940s. I love old Bogart and Cagney films, so it makes sense that another author on my to-read list is Dashiell Hammett. In the future, I can see myself writing a noir detective novel.
Q: What are two (or more) of your all-time favorite books in any genre?
A: The first would have to be the George R. Stewart sci-fi classic Earth Abides. Written in the 1950s the story follows introvert Isherwood Williams who, thanks to the venom from a rattlesnake bite, survived a world-wide viral epidemic that wipes out most of humanity. Stewart’s masterful prose easily transports me into the protagonist’s shoes. Oddly, given the state of our world today, I find this story a tad prophetic of what can still occur.
The second book would have to be McCullough’s biopic on John Adams
Q: What do you like best about your hero in Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea
A: The first thing is that even though Mitch really is a hero, he rejects being called one. I like Mitch because, similar to the male protagonists in my other books, he has his faults, he makes mistakes, and he takes responsibility for them. He’s a romantic with a dry sense of humor and he’s faithful to the love of his life
Q: What do you like best about your heroine in Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea
A: Just like in my other novels, my female lead in this love story is strong, independent, intelligent, and at times vulnerable. She’s a fighter with a take-no-prisoners attitude when it comes to protecting those she loves.
Q: How can readers reach you or find you online?
A: I can be found on my Amazon author page, On Twitter @Your_In8_Power, and my Facebook author page Richard I Levine—fiction novelist.
Q: If I was a first-time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why?
A: I would definitely begin with my newest work because it’s “hot of the presses” as they say. I wouldn’t deter anyone from my earlier work be it the four novels of the Ray Silver action adventure series or To Catch the Setting Sun which is a murder suspense thriller set on Oahu.