Rabbit in the Moon
by Deborah and Joel Shlian

List Price: $24.95
Pages: 357
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781933515144
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing

Deborah and Joel Shlian have collaborated in both their vocations and avocations.They practiced medicine together in a large muispecialty group before returning to UCLA for MBAs. They have since balanced medical management consulting with writing – both non-fiction and fiction. Rabbit in the Moon is their third medical thriller.

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Q: You have both shared an uncommon degree of connectedness in your relationship, choosing not only to live together, but work together as well.  How does this mutual pursuit of goals enhance the journey?  How does it affect the outcome?

Joel: We know we’re an unusual couple. We’ve been total partners in almost everything we do both professionally and in our avocations. Our marriage has been our #1 priority since we met 37 years ago. As you point out, ours is an  “uncommon degree of connectedness” but for us, it works. We are really best friends. I know that no matter what, I can count on Deborah to be there for me and vice versa. And that’s made all the difference when there have been stresses in our lives that have tested our strength or situations that have created opportunities. Facing these issues together has made the journey that much more exciting.

Deborah: We’re extremely lucky that our relationship enhances the other rather than creating conflict. You could say that for us, the sum is greater than its parts. We have always encouraged each other to pursue our passions – whether in work or play.  For example, for over a decade we enjoyed practicing medicine together in a multipsecialty group, but when the opportunity came along for me to take an administrative position at UCLA, Joel encouraged me to challenge myself. And when he was tapped for increased responsibility in the medical group, I was his cheerleader. Some of the more interesting paths we’ve pursued have been a result of our urging the other to get out of our comfort zone and try something new. When my boss at UCLA suggested my getting an MBA degree, it was Joel’s enthusiasm that got me to agree. Then knowing he had always had an interest in finance, I encouraged him to enroll as well. We were the first couple to complete the MBA program together at UCLA.

Q: Values tend to evolve and mature with experience.  In what ways have your shared values changed, compared with the early days of your marriage and work partnership?  Were there key events that encouraged this shift?

Deborah: As Joel said, from the beginning of our relationship, our core value was to make our marriage the focus of our lives. That hasn’t changed from the early days. It’s been the factor that has most influenced decisions we’ve made in both our professional and personal lives. For example, each of us has had opportunities to take corporate medical jobs that would have required travel and significant time apart. We chose not to pursue those. And it is certainly true that those decisions hindered career advancement in traditional medical executive roles. However, because we knew we liked to spend time together, we pursued more entrepreneureal paths. After completing the MBA program we started a medical consulting and recruiting company (Shlian & Associates, Inc) which turned out to be enormously successful. I always think of the Robert Frost poem about the road less traveled: “Two roads diverged in a wood and I-I took the one less traveled by-And that has made all the difference.” Maybe because we were on the road together, we haven’t been afraid to take some of those less traveled routes.

Joel: I think we’re also lucky that we were able to grow up together. Looking back we really were kids when we married! Now, of course, I understand our parents’ concern that we hardly knew each other when we got engaged in 4 days and then decided to marry 6 weeks later. But we were young and never doubted that we’d be successful. Neither of us came from wealthy homes. Instead, our families emphasized education and hard work. Those shared values have not changed as we have aged and matured as individuals. If there has been a shift since we hit “mid-life”, it is that with the recognition that we aren’t going to live forever (unless, of course, like Dr. Ni-Fu Cheng in our novel, someone does discover an elixir of life), we need to focus a little more on those things that are really worth our time and energy. And that’s hard for us because we have so many interests in addition to our writing - health policy, history, tennis, photography, travel, reading, spending time with friends and family – just to name a few.

Q: Although changing careers is not entirely uncommon; the move from hard science to a creative pursuit such as writing fiction represents a significant shift.  Please share the background leading up to this decision and the ways this work shift has affected you on the personal level.

Deborah: I was always interested in writing - even as a youngster. I wrote plays and poetry from grade school through high school including several musicals produced at summer camp. The recognition I received from teachers and classmates was certainly a great motivator. However, I also loved science and wanted to be a physician like my father. He told me that I could always be a writer after becoming a doctor, that there were many well-known writers who were also MDs. Unfortunately, medicine is a strict taskmaster, requiring one’s total attention and passion. So, while I wrote scientific articles and chapters in non-fiction medical texts while practicing medicine, it was only after I left full-time practice for administration that I found the time to write my first novel.

Joel: I never actually thought about being a writer. I was interested in medicine as a kid and focused on that goal exclusively. Along the way, I was an editor on my high school paper and while practicing medicine, did write medical journal articles, a health column in a local magazine, some of the copy for Art Ulene’s Today Show spots, as well as a few non-fiction medical books including a self-help handbook for national Blue Cross/Blue Shield with Deborah. It was only after more than a decade working as physicians that we considered writing a novel. We initially planned a nonfiction book about the rise of managed care (we had practiced in one of the oldest HMOs in the US and felt we had a unique perspective on what we saw as a revolutionary change in medicine). Unfortunately, publishers in New York in the 1980's had barely heard the word HMO and told us that the concept would never fly east of the Rockies! So, when a friend suggested writing a novel and weaving our concerns within a story, we got to work.  Since then we have written and published three novels  - Double Illusion, Wednesday's Child and our latest, Rabbit in the Moon which will be released in hardback in June, ’08. We also optioned two screenplays from our first two novels

Q: Even without an elixir for long life, we are living longer than ever before due to advances in medicine.  What changes do you foresee for the current and future generations of retirees as a result of longer lifespans? Related to the previous question, why do you think it is important for individuals to allow themselves to explore new ways of being throughout the lifespan?  How do your thoughts relate to issues of longevity and personal growth as reflected by your characters?

Deborah: You’re absolutely correct. In 1900 the average American lived to be just 47. Today life expectancy in this country is around 77. Those reaching 100 years of age (centenarians are one of the fastest growing group in America. Today there are about 55,000 centenarians. By 2050 there will be 20 times as many. And what’s interesting is not only are those with good genes living longer, but new research just reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that even people who develop heart disease or diabetes late in life have a shot at reaching the century mark if their doctors aggressively treat these older folks’ health problems rather than taking an "ageist" approach that assumes they wouldn't benefit. Many of these so-called “survivors” were found to function nearly as well as their disease-free peers. This of course has implications for the cost of healthcare rising even further as more resources are directed to those over 85 with chronic disease. Will this, as Dr. Cheng in our book asks, create a generational conflict with young and old vying for strained resources or will (as Joel and I hope) society recognize the value of keeping people living longer and elect to allocate more of our GNP to healthcare in general? Of course, along with aggressive healthcare is the willingness of individuals to adopt healthy lifestyles – even at an older age. I think of the patient who says: “if I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.” Certainly every study has confirmed that people who avoid smoking, obesity, inactivity. diabetes and high blood pressure greatly increased their chances for living into their 90’s and beyond

Joel:. Because there is such a good chance that an individual will have a longer life than one’s ancestors, there is a need to pace yourself through the journey- not to use up all your enthusiasm and passion for learning, exploring new options, by the time you hit mid-life. A little more than decade ago, the first baby boomers (those born between 1949 and 1964) reached age 50. This group is determined to redefine aging: 60 is the new 40; perhaps 70 will be the new 90!  Both technology and societal/cultural norms are changing at an accelerating pace. Just as an example, the widespread use of the Internet among boomers will enable them to remain active and fully integrated into society politically, socially and intellectually throughout their lifespan. The increasing isolation that our parent’s generation often experienced, as they aged, will be a thing of the past. The elderly will easily be able to maintain relationships and participate in such things as book groups, support groups, political discussion groups etc. regardless of their physical surroundings. This technology alone, will lead to a much richer and more stimulating aging process in which the elderly can remain fully engaged through their later years. 

In our novel, Dr. Cheng spent most of his life seeking the secret of longevity only to finally question whether mankind was truly ready for this remarkable life extension. Simply extending longevity, as we are already doing, without a society's concurrent political and economic commitment to allocate its' scarce resources, is really a fool's errand.

Deborah: In writing Rabbit in the Moon, we started with this premise: if someone came up with a breakthrough that could at minimum double man’s lifespan, how would the world react; what might people/governments/corporations be willing to do to obtain it? In our story, we explore the various motivations of each of the characters who desire the secret- from Halliday, the renegade CIA man; to DeForest, the Texas billionaire octogenarian; to Carpenter, the VP of an ailing US pharmaceutical company; to Dylan, the ambitious young scientist; to Kim, the heir of a Korean choebel; to Ng, the Macanese pirate; to Lee Tong, one of the new breed of Chinese mainland entrepreneurs; to his father, General Tong and fellow Long Marchers in the Chinese leadership. We hope that our fictional story will engender some serious conversations about the whole subject of longevity.

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