An Interview with N.J. Gallegos
An Interview with N.J. Gallegos
By Lionel Ray Green
In her sophomore novel The Fatal Mind, emergency physician N.J. Gallegos continues tapping into her background as a doctor, blending horror with heavy medical thriller vibes. The formula worked successfully in her 2023 debut The Broken Heart, and The Fatal Mind leans even more into the medical thriller genre.
Winding Road Stories plans to release The Fatal Mind on October 15, but it’s available for pre-order on Amazon.
Billed as a Black Mirror meets Frankenstein medical horror thriller, the novel chronicles Dr. Aldea Absinthe’s experimental chip-implant procedure that inhibits migraine pain. When Absinthe performs her new procedure on former professional basketball star Shawn Gilbert, he champions the treatment, launching the neurologist to national fame. However, Gilbert’s wife Rachel notices an extreme change in her husband’s personality, prompting her to try and uncover the dark secret behind the doctor’s miracle cure.
The Fatal Mind is a strong follow-up to The Broken Heart, a grim but entertaining story about what happens to desperate wife and mother Casey Philips after she receives a serial killer’s heart via transplant.
Gallegos agreed to an exclusive Q&A interview via email with Lionel Ray Green for The Horror Tree where she discusses the challenges of writing novels, her favorite Black Mirror episode, and the most common cause of migraines.
GREEN: The Fatal Mind is your second novel following The Broken Heart. How do you compare the challenges of writing the two?
GALLEGOS: Having the writing experience from a first novel under my belt was invaluable with The Fatal Mind. I had a better feel for pacing and character development; the editing process went smoother; and I’d (mostly) conquered my feelings of Imposter Syndrome, giving me more confidence while spinning my tale. Having previously worked with my editor — Michael Dolan — on The Broken Heart helped; his suggestions and critiques were invaluable in the process of my becoming a first-time novelist and his teachings rattled around my brain as I wrote and edited my second go-round.
From first draft to publication, bringing The Fatal Mind to life wasn’t nearly as exhausting compared to The Broken Heart, which was obviously encouraging. But I’m fond of the sweat, blood, and tears I shed writing (and rewriting and rewriting) The Broken Heart. Countless editing slogs that reminded me of torturous marathon training in college, tracing the same territory over and over until I wanted to puke, gritting my teeth, digging deep and going for it. That pure grit was missing this second rodeo, a blessing and a curse. I’m a sucker for the struggle, I guess!
GREEN: The Fatal Mind is written from the first-person point of view of three characters – a controversial doctor, a former pro basketball player, and his wife. Your main character in The Broken Heart was also written in first person. Why have you chosen that narrative POV versus others?
GALLEGOS: I’ve written from third person before, usually in my shorter works, but with this POV, I tend to “head hop.” Like how I used to travel in basketball instead of dribbling, it’s a hard habit to break. Writing from first person is more intuitive to me.
Instead of a story told through the eyes of a singular character, Casey Philips, that murderous beauty — writing from three characters’ POVs helped me advance the story in exciting ways, leapfrogging from person to person. Giving the reader a glimpse into three characters’ motivations, inner thoughts, raises the stakes and heightens the anxiety — especially if you’re rooting for characters at odds with each other.
GREEN: Your antagonist in The Fatal Mind is Dr. Aldea Absinthe who performs a controversial and experimental chip-implant procedure to cure migraines. She’s the villain of your story, but you really humanize her to the point where I almost sympathized with her (at least till the ending). How did you feel about her?
GALLEGOS: My heart broke for Dr. Absinthe in this story. The death of her mother inspired her to create technology to help others, leading to the invention of her migraine-curing chip, and she’s not exactly a villain with nefarious motives — she truly believes her work has the power to heal. The problem is: admitting failure not only bruises Dr. Absinthe’s ego and potentially jeopardizes her medical career; it renders her sacrifices and dedication meaningless. One might say her heart’s in the right place, it’s just her delivery that’s lacking.
The good doctor Absinthe is complex and morally gray; just how I like my fictional women. I rather enjoy showing the reader enough to make them empathize with someone committing horrible acts for good reasons. I initially wrote Dr. Absinthe as less brutal but after feedback from Michael, I leaned into her latent wickedness and in truth, was worried it might lead the reader to dislike her. The climatic scene at the end of the book with the Gilberts underwent a major rehaul, painting Dr. Absinthe totally ruthless in the pursuit of her goals.
GREEN: As a doctor yourself, do you know if there are procedures now or on the horizon similar to Dr. Absinthe’s chip-implant procedure for migraines, or was that completely your creation? Your novel made it sound very plausible. I know brainstorming sessions with your wife Ashley sparked the idea, but was there something you read or watched that inspired the chip-implant migraine storyline?
GALLEGOS: Vagal nerve stimulators were kind of the inspiration for the migraine chip. These devices work by sending electrical impulses to the vagal nerve and are used to treat epilepsy, help with rehabilitation after strokes, and … can help with certain types of headaches! Initially I conceived of a story where someone “hacks” the chip to further their own agenda (mind control, etc.) after learning that people can hack into medical devices like pacemakers, but rather liked exploring Dr. Absinthe’s hubris and its unintended deadly side-effects.
I’m absolutely crazy about the Black Mirror series and two episodes — “The Entire History of You” and “Men Against Fire”—had a profound impact on me and inspired this work. Both feature technology designed to further humanity that instead destroy (in different ways). This; reading medical thrillers and horror; and spit-balling with Ashley led to the creation of The Fatal Mind. Ashley enjoyed how The Fatal Mind was more overtly medical than The Broken Heart, filled with grisly bedside procedures and uncertain, non-FDA-approved technology. It tickles that thriller bone buried within her.
GREEN: Sorry, but I have to ask. What’s the most common cause of migraines and what’s the most common way to treat them?
GALLEGOS: I’d say probably tension headaches. Bad posture, poor sleep, dehydration, and days spent staring at computer or phone screens wreak havoc on the body, leading to chronic headaches. Tylenol, Motrin, and Excedrin (Tylenol mixed with aspirin and caffeine) are the old standbys but often people require IV medications that we dub: the migraine cocktail, usually composed of an anti-inflammatory, nausea medication, and some lovely Benadryl. And don’t frown over bad headaches … sometimes you can get Botox for chronic ones!
GREEN: The Fatal Mind is billed as a Black Mirror meets Frankenstein medical horror thriller. As I was reading it, I was thinking this story would make an awesome Black Mirror episode because of its plausibility. Are you a fan of the Black Mirror TV series and do you have a favorite episode?
GALLEGOS: I LOVE Black Mirror. It perfectly blends sci-fi and horror, harkening back to The Twilight Zone I grew up consuming. I’m so happy you asked this because I will take ANY opportunity to shout about my favorite Black Mirror episode: “San Junipero.” I watched it for the first time after a tough night shift in the ER and sobbed. It’s one of the only Black Mirror episodes with a happy ending and follows two women who fall in love in a virtual reality of sorts. If you haven’t seen it, I assign you homework to watch it.
GREEN: The last sentence in The Fatal Mind is such a killer line. Without giving anything away, at what point did you know that was going to be the last line? Also, did you go “boom, baby” after typing it?
GALLEGOS: I cackled when I wrote that line, so you were pretty close! I tend to write a story from beginning to end but this was one of those rare times when I knew how I wanted to end the book and penned that chapter rather early on. Plus … I love a good cliffhanger that leaves the potential for a sequel.
GREEN: After the releases of The Broken Heart in 2023 and The Fatal Mind in 2024, do you have any other upcoming projects or breaking news you’d like to share with your fans?
GALLEGOS: I’m currently 10 pages into the first draft of The Broken Heart sequel so there’s that! I also have another novel I’m working on featuring a medical examiner who stumbles upon a crooked plot enacted by a family-owned hospital; also, in its first draft. I’m currently working on what we’ve entitled The Revolver Project, a collection of novella-length stories written by a group of six authors, featuring the same revolver in each story. My character is a woman suffering a spinal cord injury bent on revenge … you might see where the revolver comes in, eh?
LINKS:
N.J. Gallegos – Horror Author by Day, ER Doctor by Night (njgallegos.com)
The Fatal Mind – Kindle edition by Gallegos, N.J.. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
