Today we talk about tHE ceLL, a book by Dominique B. Hummel published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Dominique B. Hummel to get to know him better, where and when he found the inspiration to write his autobiographical book tHE ceLL, as well as how he felt to read his life on the pages of his book.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- Where and when did you find the inspiration to write your autobiographical book?
I started writing this ‘book’ in Brisbane Australia, during a marriage breakup in 1995, I recall downloading the original draft into a laptop in around the year 2000. I thought I had lost the original essay but by chance during Covid19 isolation I rediscovered the old laptop, rebooted it, and as they say, the rest is plain to see. Being rather shocked reading what I had written 25 years earlier, I decided to entangle ‘the old knot’ as the whole story was practically one endless sentence. Strange, but it was like reading it for the first time, almost as if I had simply been ‘dictated the story’, this without much to do with my own inspiration, but as if someone else was in charge of the composition and finally tHE ceLL was reborn.
- What is the message you want to convey to your readers?
As a very ordinary man, who perhaps had a rather unusual life, it is very difficult for me to be wanting anything more than simply adding my legacy to an unrelenting world of disparities, be whatever those might be, but with a touch of surrealism that could possibly aid anyone to realise what life has to offer, even with the realisation that someone is willing to let go earlier in tHe ceLL, not a great promotional introduction, but through different aspects of personal insight of descriptions, varying between comical and a whole rainbow of emotions, through even some disgust perhaps, but in the end ‘not worth any less than any more’ of anyone’s personal journey which we all have to undertake regardless of our very unique destiny.
- What significant life experiences find expression in your book?
All life experiences are sacred within the realm of one’s existence. Some are somehow more profound once one can differentiate the weight of a thought against the ballast of everyday routine passive activities. In tHE ceLL, Dom and Nicky are one indivisible number, until the very last chapter when, one could say that ‘Nicky has to die’, to let an unfinished life to flow into the future, as Dom the survivor is left to ponder what’s life is all about, alone but safe & sad just the same, without his ‘guardian Angel’, but still ‘alive enough’ to determine passage to a future life where present & past blends rather well with the lively storytelling in tHE ceLL. I wish that anyone reading this book will find some kind of aspiration in it, whether in isolation, or intolerable incarceration, perhaps within the prison of drugs, to reconnect with doors of the ‘freedom loving spirit’ that many seem to forget & then believe that the future is in the dream.
- What sensations did you feel by ‘reading’ your life on the pages of your book?
‘Gratitude and rather spellbound’ that I’m supposed to have written those lines, at times with an unbelievable feeling that someone else (Nicky?) was behind it all. The odd introduction at the beginning, the prison buildup around you, insane revelations, shouting your innocence, drug induced recollections, it’s all there to make you(me) feeling really lost in the first part of the book, but some of the writing will more than likely shock a lot of people, avoid ‘welcome to the autopsy’ if you are squeamish or sensitive to abject insanity! Second part of the novel, if such a title is true or false, is much more about the origin of our struggle, there I really had to relive some all pains, I did cry a few times without shame, but I do feel that it needed to be written, and to be honest, I’m pleased that Europe Books gave me that chance to publish it!
- Are you working on a new writing project, can you tell us about it?
It’s hard to tell if a sequel to tHE ceLL would be necessary and/or in any way possible, due to the terminal effect that the ‘original’ story delivers in the end, but if I ever feel the urge to add anything to my early life story it could possibly be about my world travels soon after after my release, seeing me going to India, in Auroville in particular, then travelling back to Europe, on foot and/or anything available, completely broke, in a journey which took me almost half a year, crossing into Nepal (Kathmandu, Pokhara) , Ladakh (Leh) into Kashmir (Srinagar) Pakistan (Chitral mountains to Peshawar) then across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan (Kabul, Kandahar, Band i amir, Mazar i sharif, Herat) Iran (Tehran. Tabriz) Turkiye (Ankara, Istanbul), Greece (Thessaloniki, Athens then Macedonia, Yugoslavia: Kosovo, Montenegro. Sarajevo, Zagreb, Italy (Venice, Milan, Turin) into France (Grenoble, Lyon, Paris) to England (London). Flew to Canada, briefly in the US, back to London where I got married, New Zealand was next, and finally made it to Australia where I have lived ever since. Yes, I could write many stories about my travels, but nothing will compare with what is in fact ‘my legacy’: tHE ceLL !
Europe Books thanks the author Dominique B. Hummel once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside him on the editorial path that led to the publication of his book tHE ceLL. We wish him the best of luck for his book and for his future works.
To you, my dear reader, may this story interest you, enthuse you and let you connect or re-connect with your life personal journey, welcoming the good and despite the bad we all have to encounter throughout it.
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your Editor!