If you haven’t met Rick Barry, then you definitely need to. He’s authored three novels: Gunner’s Run, Kiriath’s Quest, and most recently The Methuselah Project. In addition, he has hundreds of published articles and short stories to his credit.
But that’s not all, Rick speaks Russian, and served in the home offices of two ministries aimed at the former USSR. 
By God’s grace, I have visited Eastern Europe over 50 times and worked in Christian camps for children and teens.
His experiences have included skydiving, mountain climbing, rappelling, camping in Russia, kayaking, wilderness hiking, white-water rafting, visiting World War II battlegrounds, even prowling deserted apartments in the evacuated Chernobyl district of Ukraine. He believes that all experiences in life provide fuel for a writer’s imagination. And, he has also served multi-terms as president of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) – Indiana Chapter.
In your newest book, The Methuselah Project, was your book research intensive? Did you find some fun facts?
Definitely. In my experience, writing a novel set at any point in past history requires research, especially if the time period is World War II, which continues to interest the public widely. If your details are inaccurate, there are amateur historians who will shoot you down. As bad as that feels for the author, I believe it hurts worse for the reader, who can no longer enjoy the story knowing that the author hasn’t done the homework and doesn’t really know what he or she is talking about. Fun facts that I learned might bore others, but they include flight characteristics of a P-47 fighter plane and historical details concerning Plainfield, Indiana, the childhood home of my hero.
Did you find not so fun facts while researching your book?
The premise for The Methuselah Project involves a hush-hush German experiment that used Allied prisoners as guinea pigs. Although the actual experiment in my novel is fictitious, Nazi scientists truly did experiment on captives, particularly Jews in the concentration camps. Reading accounts of those experiments qualifies as “not so fun.” The experiment in my own story is much less gruesome.
Does coincidence play a role in your book? If so, what was strangest coincidence you experienced and did you use it in your book?
I’m not a big fan of coincidences in fiction, although some authors and scriptwriters lean heavily on coincidence. (For example, the first Star Wars movie. I mean, really? Princess Leia hides blueprints of the Death Star in an android, which “just happens” to end up in the possession of–of all people in the galaxy–her biological brother, whom she has never met or heard of? That’s a biggie. But fans swallowed it.) The closest thing to a coincidence in my book is the fact that Captain Roger Greene ends up in Atlanta, Georgia, where he meets the main female character, Katherine. But because they are not related in any way, and because the shadowy “organization” manipulates Katherine into keeping tabs on Roger, I don’t see this as coincidence. The organization simply used her proximity to give her a mission. If Captain Greene had been in New York, they might have put another member on his tail.
What is the story behind the creation of your book?
Since I grew up in the home of a pilot, I’ve had a lifelong interest in aviation. Also, WW II has interested me since 7th grade. A third spark for this tale is my interest in a well-told story about time travel. These three elements combined in my imagination. Even though Captain Greene doesn’t literally travel in time, he does end up looking young and still athletic many decades after the war, but with a biologically reasonable explanation that satisfies readers who don’t like sci-fi.
What do you like most about writing? What do you like least?
There’s a special literary adrenaline that feels great when the words and inspiration fuse to produce a hot stream of words flowing from my imagination to my fingers and then onto the computer screen. It’s a wonderfully satisfying experience. The least enjoyable? When I’m stuck in the Sahara Desert of imagination. My trail has led me thus far, and I know of another point in the journey I must reach, but am not sure how to get from this dry valley to that point in a way that will intrigue the reader to stick with me.
Are you working on the next book?
Yes, although with frequent delays as I (too often!) must set aside that project in order to freelance edit, or write an article, or translate something from Russian to English to keep money coming in to pay the bills.
Tell us how long it took you to write your book.
About a year. I wrote it in spurts–a half hour or so in the early morning. Fifteen or twenty minutes during my lunch break. Sometimes an hour in the evening. It’s frustrating to close the Microsoft program when you know exactly what the next line will be, but that’s the life of a part-time writer. Anyone who assumes authors are specially entitled people with huge blocks of spare time for writing is kidding himself. To get started as a writer, you must carve writing time out of your day, protecting and using minutes other people will fritter away with Facebook or Solitaire or TV.
What’s next for you in writing?
Many readers have wished for a sequel to The Methuselah Project. I plan to answer that wish.
Well, please keep us updated and let us know the release date. Thank you for visiting with us today. We have enjoyed learning more about Rick Barry.
Please be sure and check out Rick’s website and social medias.
facebook.com/AuthorRickBarry, or on Twitter (@WriterRickBarry)
You share yours and your husband’s story in a memoir called A Gift of Love that released March 2014.
