M. D. ROSA
- Guest Author -
G'day folks,
Today I welcome a very interesting man - M. D. Rosa. Here is some background information and my interview with this high calibre author. Who is Manuel Rosa you may ask?
MANUEL ROSA
is a Portuguese-American
historian and author who emigrated from the Azores to
the Boston area in 1973 with his parents. He employed
his early professional life as a graphic artist working
on books and national magazines including The
Atlantic Monthly and Boston Magazine.
He is also a recipient of the 1976 Boston Globe’s Art
Merit Award.
Beginning in the mid 1990s he
became a leading expert in the digital artwork field and
was a consultant to Prentice Hall Publishing. In the
year 2000, he began a new career in IT with Lockheed
Martin Corporation, contracted with the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences where his
professionalism and high standards of quality earned him
Lockheed Martin’s Lightning Award, in 2002. He is
currently employed by Duke University Medical Center.
For the last 21 years, Mr. Rosa
has investigated and searched out the facts concerning
the discovery of America utilizing a non-biased
scientific approach that has taken him to Portugal,
Spain, Dominican Republic, Poland and many places
in-between in a relentless pursuit of the truth. The new
information he garnered about Columbus resulted in the
publishing of his first book in 2006.
His ability to speak and read in
several languages (including Portuguese, Spanish,
Italian, French and English) has enabled him to search
through original documents and maps and countless books
and chronicles before reaching his conclusions. He is the
first historian in 500 years to present new documents
related to Columbus that had been overlooked in
Portugal. He participated in the DNA studies of
Columbus’s bones and has been invited to present the
findings of his investigations at numerous places,
including
Portuguese universities, the Portuguese Air Force
Academy and at the prestigious Sociedade de Geografia de
Lisboa in 2007 and again in 2010.
On May 16 2012, his lecture
at the Portuguese Academy of History, packed with nearly
200 members of the Portuguese scientific community, who
described his research as “a serious look at the truth
and worthy of praise.”
Mr. Rosa has appeared in various TV documentaries, on
many European TV and Radio interviews as well as on BBC
Radio and WNPR. His book as even been mentioned on
Saturday Night Live.
INTERVIEW
TELL
US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.
I was born into a
family of 7 brothers on the little island of Pico in the Azores, in what
amounted to Third World conditions. We had no electricity, no running water, no
indoors plumbing, we ploughed the fields with a cow and we grew all we needed
to survive on. Of course my parents put a lot of emphasis on studying and my
grandfather, who died before I was born, had been the only person on the
village who could read and write. He left behind many hand-sewn books of his
writings, including a lot of poetry and I became an avid reader. It has been my
passion for reading that led me to accumulate so much material to allow me to
write my books on Christopher Columbus.
WHEN
AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?
In 1991, after having
been living in the USA for nearly 20 years, I read in a book that Columbus had
married a Portuguese noble lady. This strange fact intrigued me. I was born in Portugal and I had never heard
such a fact. It sounded like a lie to me, since Columbus, as we had been
taught, was a peasant wool-weaver from Genoa, Italy, and as we all understand
it, peasants did not marry nobles in the Middle Ages. That’s how my journey of
23 years got started.
WHAT
TYPE OF PREPARATION DO YOU DO FOR A MANUSCRIPT? DO YOU PLAN EVERYTHING FIRST OR
JUST SHOOT FROM THE HIP?
Being that my book, COLUMBUS: The
Untold Story, is a non-fiction work, I must first research and investigate,
then I write about what I discover. Interestingly enough, a lot of my
discoveries regarding the life of Columbus and his 1492 voyage could easily fit
into a fiction book, the likes of Sherlock Holmes.
WHAT
DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
I like to say that I
am not a writer. I am a reader. I have read over 3000 history books, documents
and manuscripts in six different languages in order to acquire the material I
present in my books.
WHAT
IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
The hardest thing
that I find is being able to cut back on unnecessary writing as well as knowing
when something must not be cut. My first book had nearly 700 pages long and
that was about half of the material that I could have presented showing how
most of the “official” Columbus History is false. For my second book, I was
advised by the publisher to make it close to 350 pages. Cutting back all that
material was very difficult to do. In the end, if a reader has no clue about
the subject, they could be left with a lot of disconnected facts.
WHAT
WERE YOU IN A PAST LIFE, BEFORE YOU BECAME A WRITER?
I guess I am still in
my past life, since I continue to work my full-time job as well as continuing
my research into Portugal’s Age of Discovery and the Templar Knight’s involvement
in the formation of the Kingdom of Portugal. However, in my past life I have
been a drummer and songwriter for a Rock n Roll band, and continue to write
songs here and there. My song "NEW
AGE MACHINE" won Runner Up Placement for Song of the Year ( http://syhout.blogspot.com/2013/04/new-age-machine.html
).
WHAT
IS YOUR GREATEST WRITING ACHIEVEMENT?
In a pure creative
sense, I would have to say poetry. I have been writing poetry since I was 8
years old, I have even written poems in my sleep. True, I have woken up in the
middle of the night with a fully formed poem in my mind, several verses of
rhyme just ready to pen down. Many times the poetry just pops into my mind as
if the poem was not mine but, instead, that I have tapped into a poetry radio
station somewhere in the universe and am merely writing it down. There is
nothing that compares to the magic of joining words that rhyme into a phrase
that carries a message.
WHAT
ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?
Currently I am
finalizing the Lithuanian edition of “COLUMBUS: The Untold Story” for release
during the Vilnius Book Fair, Feb. 2014.
WHAT
INSPIRES YOU?
This is a trick
question. I would say the highest inspiration comes from emotions. If you want
to get a person inspired to write make them crazy sad or crazy happy.... then
sit back and watch them attack the paper with a pen, bleeding their feelings
into tiny pores of the paper as palpable liquid emotion.
WHAT
GENRE DO YOU WRITE?
My books are all
biographies, thus non-fiction. However, I have some five historic novels on the
backburner waiting to be finished.
DO
YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS?
Know your subject and
know it better than anyone else.
DO
YOU SUFFER FROM WRITER’S BLOCK?
I can’t say I do. I
suffer more from writing more than I need to.
WHAT’S
THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT YOU EVER RECEIVED FROM A READER?
Miltiades
Varvounis, distinguished Greek-Polish historian, researcher and author called my
book "a magnum opus” with
“numerous reliable findings and solid theories would make Sherlock Holmes
jealous. The History of Columbus has many mixed-up facts and personalities, and
maybe the time has come for the discoverer's life to be finally rewritten." -
Source Lithuanian Heritage Magazine, (January/February 2913)
pg. 28.
WHAT
WAS THE WORST COMMENT FROM A READER?
I can’t say that I
have had a worst comment from a reader, but I have had many critics who have
not read my books, yet felt justified in calling the book a work of
pseudo-history.
WRITERS
ARE SOMETIMES INFLUENCED BY THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU?
Yes, if you cannot
experience it, how can you write anything convincing?
OTHER
THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?
I enjoy songwriting.
Wait, that’s writing isn’t it? I dream of one day finding a singer who will
interpret my songs for the radio...
DID
YOU HAVE YOUR BOOK / BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION?
Yes. I feel that the
more eyes look at the manuscript the better off the book will be.
DESCRIBE
YOUR PERFECT DAY.
Write manuscript.
Have the publisher say, “perfect, let’s publish it just as it is.”
IF
YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WITH ONE PERSON, WHO WOULD IT BE? WHY?
Taylor Swift because
we could make beautiful music together. Wait. Is my wife going to read this?
WHAT
WOULD YOU SAY IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO SPEAK TO WORLD LEADERS?
Now you are touching
upon a subject that I have often pondered. I could say a long list of things,
from stop being corrupted, stop keeping the poor down while helping the rich,
stop wars, preach peace, and so on... but one thing I would definitely say is,
Please learn to be like José Mujica, the Uruguayan president, and be a servant
to the people, not vice-versa.
WHAT
ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
I will continue to
push for my book to be published in more and more counties so that the readers
have access to the new information and understand the conspiracy and lie that
the Columbus history was. I also have several historic novels that need to be finished...
DOES
THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY FRUSTRATE YOU?
I guess everything is
relative. Depends on whether one is successful or not. So currently, yes, I am
very frustrated by this industry. I have been trying to publish “COLUMBUS: The
Untold Story” in English since 2005. Yet, I have only been able to publish in
Portugal, Spain, Poland and Lithuania. Yet a book that is dealing with
re-writing our common history and changes 500 years of perceptions needs an
English language version. Otherwise the history will remain the same.
DID
YOU EVER THINK OF QUITTING?
No, I just try
harder.
HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE ‘SUCCESS’ AS A
WRITER.
Success
would mean being able to quit your day job and live merely from one’s writing.
WHAT SHOULD READERS WALK AWAY FROM
YOUR BOOKS KNOWING? HOW SHOULD THEY FEEL?
My readers walk away
knowing that the history of Columbus was a lie.
In fact his name was not even Columbus. They should feel angry that this
lie has been allowed to stand for over 500 years.
WHAT’S YOUR ULTIMATE DREAM?
Wow, that is hard as
I have a head full of dreams, but I will choose hitting the lottery for a whole
lot of money. That way I can fulfill all my other dreams.
WRITING IS ONE THING. WHAT ABOUT MARKETING YOU, YOUR BOOKS AND YOUR
BRAND? ANY THOUGHTS?
Without marketing any book will fail. I market my work all the time in
every possible way I can. In fact, had I not done so, I would have remained
unpublished today.
ARE YOUR BOOKS SELF-PUBLISHED?
No, all my books are
published by formal companies, however, I am considering self-publishing the
English Edition if I do not find an English language publisher in the next 5
years.
DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN FIVE WORDS.
Considerate,
easygoing, creative, tenacious, hopeful.
WHAT PISSES YOU OFF MOST?
Liars and inconsiderate people.
WHAT IS THE TITLE OF THE LAST BOOK
YOU READ? GOOD ONE?
“The Discovery of North America
Twenty Years Before Columbus” published in 1925 by Dr. Sofus Larsen of the University
of Copenhagen. It’s ok.
Manuel with Cavaco Silva,
Portugal’s President, receiving one of his books.
WHAT WOULD BE THE VERY LAST SENTENCE YOU’D
WRITE?
Take care of one another!
ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?
I
would like to thank you, Clancy, for this opportunity to answer such interesting
questions.
Columbus Blog: http://christo-colon.blogspot.com
And
I leave you with this short verse:
DREAM AND STAY STRONG
DON'T BE AFRAID TO BE WRONG
CAUSE LIFE IS JUST A SONG
YOU MAKE UP AS YOU GO ALONG
Cheers,
Manuel Rosa
Clancy's comment: Thank you, Manuel, for sparing the time to be interviewed. I agree with your comments about marketing, and about quitting. I'm sure the many rejections I've received have made me a better storyteller.
Manuel Rosa will give a lecture at Duke University on April 11, 2014 titled ,THE FRAUD OF COLUMBUS’S HISTORY & IDENTITY EXPOSED (Don’t believe the lies your teachers have been teaching you!) at Duke's Perkins Library, 12:00-1:30 PM.
I'm ...
Think about this!
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