Call of the Valley: Simonds' journey from neurosurgery to novel writing
Neurosurgeons who turn to novel writing at the end of their careers are few and far between. Gary Simonds, who recently settled in Black Mountain with his wife Cindy, is especially unique.
Simonds grew up in New Jersey and spent part of his boyhood in England. All along he wanted to become a minister.
“Helping people under stress was the thought at the time," Simonds said. "Dealing with marriages breaking up, losing jobs, being sick -- all the trials and tribulations that people go through. I often encountered ministers engaging that way within the community and visiting patients in the hospital. By the time I went to college however, I began to sense a relationship with science and majored in biochemistry and religion. From there, I went on to med school and considered all kinds of iterations like being a family doctor, a cancer doctor, a surgeon and so on. When I reached my last rotation and came upon brain surgery, I realized that everything we know and do goes through that organ. It also involves the worst things that can happen to people and the time you spend with families before and after surgery. So there’s a fine line between helping and dealing with all the suffering that goes on when there is nothing you can possibly do.”
Though he had no idea what he was truly getting himself into, looking back he can’t imagine doing anything else. Simonds said he realizes there was some inner “adrenalin junkie” at work treating devastating illnesses, especially as the helicopters kept coming in at the trauma center in Virginia while on call.
In time, he wrote three books on burnout and psychological distress experienced by health care providers. But that endeavor always felt as if he was working on book reports. Later on, through fiction he thought he could be more immersive and heighten what was at stake beyond the limitations of sheer objectivity. And so Simonds began to devise a thriller replete with a spate of mysterious aneurisms afflicting senators and Supreme Court judges at Walter Reed Hospital and necessitating the intervention of a female FBI agent. But it soon evolved into something even more compelling. Given his Anglo heritage and the fact his mother and grandmother believed in ghosts, coupled with the fact as a youngster he was fond of ghost stories himself, it dawned on him that a brain surgeon caught between life and death would be especially attractive to ghosts. Thus the hook and the title taken from Shakespeare, "Death’s Pale Flag."
“Working on this tale was so freeing and a lot of fun," Simonds said. "I’ve always loved playing with words and sentences. I was also exorcising demons and all that over-the-top intensity I’d been through all those years. It was like being on a bridge and reaching out to bring some souls back. Caught between the natural and the supernatural world. What could be more terrifying than that?”
Moreover, his thoughts have turned to his three sons and a concern over what’s happening to young males nowadays and all the trouble they can get into. He’s been considering young adult books and engaging those readers based on characters with the personality of each of his boys. Simonds is also considering an apocalyptic novel with a medical twist. In a sense, none of this would have come about had not his eldest son, a physical therapist, been transferred to Asheville at the time Simonds retired from his surgery practice.
Which brings us to the advantageous “artist colony” setting of nearby Black Mountain. “With a kind of vibe Cindy and I found to be very attractive,” Simonds said. “Peaceful and liberal. We landed a house within walking distance to town. A log cabin above the lake and so cocooning. The trees out back make you feel like you’re nestled in a forest. And the people. Taking in the Big Deal Band at the Ale House, all you have to do is put the regulars in Confederate garb and you can immediately sense the lineage. Everyone we’ve met has been fun to talk to, interesting and a character out of a book. Which, in terms of my current pursuit, is just perfect.”