I have a split personality. Split personality in the figurative sense not the clinical sense, meaning I am as scientific as I am creative. I have written or drawn since I could hold a crayon. I fell in love with science and medicine in High School. Those qualitative and quantitative minds at times work well together and at times are at odds. Sometimes it is difficult to know which side of my brain is operating the vehicle that is me. But that's when it's fun.
Preceded By Chaos
I was raised by a single mother who was 16 years old at the time of my birth. For as long as I can remember my mother has been my singular motivation to be a better person. Her love and support are the only reasons that I have accomplished anything in life.
I am a rolling stone. A traveling physician and a man with an insatiable wanderlust during my spare time, I spend very little time at my home in South Beach. In the pursuit of gainful employment, my mother and I, did our fair share of relocating when I was young. The nomadic life style from my youth is certainly the reason the I feel so comfortable with my perpetual roaming at this stage in my life. I once told a friend, "The word home to me means a place where I keep my extra underwear because I feel at home everywhere."
I have held an eclectic series of jobs - including working as a studio engineer, corporate minion, bartender, scientist and a teacher - before I entered medical school in my thirties. My multifarious travel and work experiences serve as the source of ideas for my writing.
The female presence in my current story is used to guide my main character. And this reflects how the female presence functioned for me in my early life. I was born to a single mother, 9 years later my sister arrived and soon thereafter we all lived with my grandmother. A house of wise women have always been there to guide me through life; and Mitchell, the main character of my current series, is also guided by subtle, and not so subtle, hints from the women in the series.
During my residency, while living in New York City, I wrote my first three books which would eventually become the first three books of the Preceded by Chaos series. My new book is called ”Preceded by Chaos: Vol. +1". Volume plus one is the second of five illustrated short stories in the series.
Emotion is what sets my pen to paper. Music stirs my emotion more readily than any other form of entertainment. My writing is influenced by music as much as it is influenced by life and other forms of media. I do not think I could have ever written a word without the music of Carly Comando, Alfred Brendel and Max Richter disrupting inertia and fueling my drive to write.
I write illustrated short stories. Illustration has always been a part of me and will always be a part of my writing. I've drawn since I can remember. I love comic books and graphic novels. But, oddly enough, it was two illustrated medical school texts books ("microbiology made ridiculously simple" and "Atlas of Human Anatomy") that that made me realize how much illustration can aid in the creating and understanding of the intricacies of a given subject.
My four literary inspirations are Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, Iceberg Slim and Quentin Tarantino. Yes, there is a film maker amongst my literary influences. When I write a scene I actually see the scene unfold like a movie in my imagination and I then try to explain to the reader what I'm seeing.
I am a terribly flawed person and I only write about flawed characters. The content that I enjoy watching, reading and making the most is the content that reflects the cracks found in the facades of decent people. We live in a beautiful world but, as much as any well intentioned good decision, this beautiful world is the product of bad decisions and mistakes. Take it from a doctor/author born to a 16-year-old single mother.
…Preceded by Chaos: Vol. +1 by M. Wheeler (published by Clink Street Publishing, July 27th, 2017in paperback and ebook ebook) is available to buy online from retailers including Amazon and can be ordered from all good bookstores. You can find more information online at www.precededbychaos.com, as well as following M. Wheeler on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @precededbychaos.