Read More on the New Technology Crime Novel, Virtual Vice by Jason Kays

Today weŽre talking with Jason Kays, author of the new technology crime novel, Virtual Vice. WeŽll talk to Jason about the book and how his experience in information technology and entertainment law influences his writing.

Thank you for joining us today, Jason. Can you please tell our readers a bit about yourself?

A frustrated artist working by day as a lawyer to pay the bills. I've enjoyed expressing myself through the written word since childhood and have played jazz trumpet for 35 years. The two artistic endeavors are symbiotic. I define myself far more as a writer/musician than I do as an attorney. Formal education: bachelor of arts in English with a pre-law option. Took a lot of art history, as well. As a young attorney performing appellate work, I became involved in representation of the convicted Copycat Killer in the infamous Hillside Strangler case. This experience was followed by seven years of work in entertainment law during the apex of the Grunge music explosion in Seattle. That decade of professional and personal misadventures, the 1990's, gave me enough material for several books.

When did you decide to embark upon a writing career?

It was a conscious decision to be less frustrated by writing creatively more often. For years, friends and family had encouraged me to write a book or three drawing from the colorful characters and experiences endured during my work with a prominent, talented but crazed rock promoter. When I transitioned to work in the information technology sector in Seattle, Washington, I met more than a few equally eccentric software entrepreneurs that would provide additional inspiration.

With your law practice, how do you find time to write?

Three family emergencies left me with time to write, as I had to scale back work as a lawyer to divide my time between Seattle and Boston. Life intervened, as they say. I still consult as an intellectual property attorney, but am focusing most of my time and efforts on creative writing. I took a sabbatical from the practice of law to devote myself entirely to turning out this book in a two year period. I'm presently working on my second novel, also a work of creative non-fiction.

Tell us a little about Virtual Vice.

In short, the book follows the rise and demise of a sociopath, Scott White, who transitions from the organized crime of the Cali Cartel to the organized crime of Wall Street. He begins his professional life as one of the largest cocaine distributors on the West Coast. When the DEA closes in, White evades apprehension and launders the drug money by founding an Information Technology startup, Metropoleis III Multimedia. Certain organized crime contingents remain silent partners in his new business. MIII is a Seattle based broadband content provider, streaming audio and video from live rock concerts to subscribers over the Internet. Although business is thriving, its CEO soon falls back to old habits, structuring MIII as a Ponzi scheme and embezzling from investors. When White is found out, he flees Washington for Arizona and mounts a similar scam. As external scrutiny, and civil and criminal suits mount, CEO White begins to come unhinged, as do his progressively more crazed and bizarre business ventures. Targeting the Sedona market, he attempts to tap into the New Age zeitgeist. After several false starts, he uses his broadband media delivery system to back an equally opportunistic religious huckster in peddling a New Age theology to the masses via the Internet. The New Age cybervangelists garner the attention of a global press for all the wrong reasons. The klieg lights quickly put White's silent partners ill-at-ease and all hell breaks loose.

Where did you find the inspiration for this story?

The book is creative non-fiction and 85% factual. It was inspired by my representation as a lawyer of a most unpleasant client during an eighteen month period. That period was followed by five years of intermittent pro bono work with various law enforcement agencies to hold him accountable to investors he had defrauded. This effort, while saving would-be investors millions in losses, did not stop him from running his Ponzi schemes. He continues to this day, active in the Huntington Beach, California, area, having partnered with a real estate developer. Ironically, they are currently planning deployment of a New Age church in Hawaii.

YouŽve written a lot of what you know into this novel. How has your law career influenced what you write about and how you write it?

Yes, some would argue too much of what I know! Haha. Attorneys are wordsmiths by trade. Law school provides you with a toolkit, including an analytical, reductive thinking process, that helped in pulling together the disparate elements in a work of fiction based on real events. There is some legalese and Machiavellian maneuvering in the book the public associates with lawyers, but the book was more influenced by the individual clients, their eccentricities, criminal acts and psychology than it was by the law as an abstract.

How long did it take you to bring this book from the first draft to the final published product?

Three years. Two years to write the book. Eight months to refine it with my editor. Four months of work with the publisher to get the work from galley to published novel.

Were there any special obstacles or challenges you faced during the publishing process?

As this was my first book, the editing was a challenge, but I (almost) always deferred to the wisdom of my editor. From what I've been told by the publisher and editor, this is where most writers stumble. Their ego runs interference between the original work and the end product of a professional editor. The most important advice I can offer to a first time novelist is to check your ego at the door and let your editor do her job. Your book won't serve a purpose, other than journal, if no one reads it.

Tell us about Ian McKenzie. Why will readers like him? What is it about him that they can relate to?

I'm biased here, because McKenzie is largely an autobiographical character. In the book I portray him with both human strengths and frailties. The readers will be able to relate to a flawed human trying to do the right thing. I think in an era defined by financial scandal and white collar criminals, readers appreciate a character that does not partake in that deceit, and attempts to hold those that do accountable without being self-righteous and cavalier. McKenzie is not the central character: Scott White is the protagonist and is a full blown career criminal and sociopath. Most of us fantasize about being the outlaw and coloring outside the lines. A good villain affords us this luxury without risk of prison time, palimony suits or purgatory. White is a charismatic, but there is little to admire about him, save for his tenacity.

Where can readers purchase a copy Virtual Vice?

Please pick up your copy from Amazon.com

Do you have a website or blog?

The book and author website: www.VirtualVice.net and my blog: www.VirtualVice.us.

What is up next for you?

A novel focusing on the shifting roles of sexuality and erotica in American culture with the introduction of the Internet. How erotica made the Net commercially viable and drives much of the innovation in ecommerce and technology today. A look at the colorful pioneers in this market sector and how they left irrelevant the Hugh Hefners, Bob Gucciones and Larry Flynts of the world.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Thanks so much for your time and your terrific website. Thank you, readers, for your interest in Virtual Vice. Please buy a copy and help reform a lawyer.

Thank you for sharing so much about your life and your work with us today. I wish you great success in all you do.