In Conversation With Author Mark Donahue About His Breakout Book "Stat$"
by Richard Brown– The American Reporter
February 26, 2021
MARK DONAHUE’S NEW BOOK STAT$ has roared onto the literary scene, and has readers clamoring for more. Luckily this clearly prolific writer has written four more phenomenal works, including Last at Bat, Golden Reich, Fat Girl, and Answer Man. Why has Stat$ been such a hit with readers? It’s thrilling plot and extraordinary characters have captured their attention, and kept them engaged until the very last page.
This timely book is destined to hit the bestseller list any day now. We are thrilled that we had a chance to catch up with Donahue, this is what he shared up with us.
Stat$: Numbers To Kill For is a thrilling brilliant read. Where did you find the inspiration for this fascinating book?
I worked in DC for over 3 years and testified before both Senate and Congressional subcommittees. During that process I met scores of legislators and even worked with VP Gore on the “Reinvention of Government Task Force.” Believe me, government needs a lot of reinvention. But being a patriotic sort, I focused on reinventing the GSA, which after working 35 in commercial real estate, I knew something about. After 3 years of work, my team and I came up with a plan to save the government $1 billion dollars a year, provide better services to their agencies, with no government job loss and greatly reduce the time to deliver services. Given such results, I assumed I would have my name put on a building or maybe even my statue erected near the Washington Monument. Instead, I got 4 death threats and learned the depth of corruption, ineptitude, waste and stupidity that infects our government no matter which party is in power. Sounded like the basis of a good book to me.
"After 3 years of work, my team and I came up with a plan to save the government $1 billion a year, provide better services...With no government job loss... I assumed I would have my name put on a building or maybe even my statue erected near the Washington Monument...Instead, I got 4 death threats."
You are a prolific writer, what has it been like to have so many books under your belt, and have them be trending with readers?
My goal was never to be prolific…it was to tell stories that people remembered. Characters that became friends and endings that made people think. I also knew I wanted to produce films and craft stories that could/would be adapted to the screen.
If you could go back in time and talk to your younger self, what would you tell him, and why?
If I could go back in time I would tell my younger self to read more, learn to be a switch hitter earlier in my baseball career, and don’t believe it when my high school girlfriend told me she was on the pill. But writing, no matter your education, is based on your life’s experiences good and bad. My mother-in-law (a wonderful woman) had a saying, “We are a part of all we have met.” Not sure who wrote that line originally, but I understand it better now than I would have 30 years ago.
Having written five distinct works, do you desire each story to stand on its own or have a connection between each other in one way or another?
I set out to write 5 very distinct books and tell very different stories. While I see many successful authors follow a pattern in their storytelling, that approach would bore me. Many authors have a formulaic approach where they tell the same basic story just changing characters, and settings time after time, after time. While perhaps a successful formula, I found reading those authors, I could usually figure out the ending by page 10. I also wanted to challenge myself and write everything from erotic thrillers to baseball-based feel good stories. (Hmmm, wonder if I could connect those two genres? But I digress). In short, I did not aim for a connection between my stories, other than I wanted people to have a hard time putting the books down.
While I was reading Stat$: Numbers to Kill For, it occurred to me that it would made an epic film. Do you envision it as being a film?
As mentioned above, all my books have a companion script, budget and film trailer already produced. I think Stat$ would be an exciting film although after recent events, I may have to add an insurrection scene at the Capital. But who would believe that?
You can find out more about Mark Donahue and Stat$ on Amazon.
