Marc Seifer

 

Marc J. Seifer has been featured in The Washington Post, Scientific American, Publisher's Weekly, Rhode Island Monthly, MITs Technology Review and The New York Times. In Europe he has appeared in The Economist, Nature and New Scientist. With publications in Wired, Cerebrum, Civilization, Extraordinary Science, Lawyer’s Weekly, Journal of Psychohistory and Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Dr. Seifer is internationally recognized as an expert on the inventor Nikola Tesla (the subject of his doctoral dissertation). Past editor of MetaScience, A New Age Journal on Consciousness and The Journal of the American Society of Professional Graphologists, his articles have been translated into Spanish, Hebrew, Portuguese, and German. He has lectured at the United Nations in New York, Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, at Kings College, Cambridge University and Oxford University in England, at the University of Vancouver in Canada, in Jerusalem Israel, Zagreb Yugoslavia, Bethesda Maryland, City College of New York, Brandeis University, Colorado College, Wardenclyffe Long Island, LucasFilms Industrial Light & Magic, Cranbrook Retreat and West Point Military Academy.

Dr. Seifer has appeared on the History Channel for his work on the Howard Hughes Mormon Will, on AP International for his analysis of bin Laden’s signature, on PBS and also web radio. His book Wizard: The Life & Times of Nikola Tesla is “Highly Recommended” by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has a B.S. from the University of Rhode Island, five semesters of graphology from New School University, an M.A. from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. from Saybrook Institute. With over 30 years experience as a handwriting expert including a decade of work for the Fraud Unit of the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, he has testified in civil, criminal and federal court. Dr. Seifer is also a writer and visiting lecturer in Psychology at Roger Williams University.

 

 

 

 

"When you're busy trying to make your fortune, being a suspect in a murder case can prove to be quite the distraction. "Mr. Rhode Island" tells the story of Stephen Rosati, a former bodybuilder trying to make his way as a real estate and fitness club mogul. But when he's accused of murdering a drug lord in Florida, his life spirals out of control as Marc J. Seifer details his story in this real-life courtroom drama. "Mr. Rhode Island" is a choice pick for community library Criminology Studies collections and the supplemental reading lists for those seeking a true to life legal tale."  By Midwest Book Review

 

PageOneLit.com: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why? 

Marc Seifer: I grew up on Long Island, NY and my mother often took us to the local library. By 4th grade, which at the age of 10, I had already read Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Moby Dick and The Sea Wolf. So I would have to say that Mark Twain, Herman Melville and Jack London heavily influenced me as a child. The first more “adult” book I read that made a big impact was The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk followed by Herzog by Saul Bellow. 

I was also influenced by the cinema and loved to watch the old movies like King Kong, Captain Blood with Errol Flynn and The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart.

I had an excellent English teacher in high school who read to us the great poems like Charge of Light Brigade and I had small parts in high school and college theater productions. 

The first real writing I ever did, however, took place my senior year of college.  I graduated was in 1970, and that was the year every school in the country struck to protest Nixon’s invasion into Cambodia. That event resulted in a 60-page accounting of this experience on campus titled Student Revolt in America. 

When I was in my twenties, a friend of mine wrote a novel and that prompted me to write my first novel Staretz Encounter, which is kind of a take off on the life of the superpsychic Uri Geller, who I had met and wrote a feature article on. I also became a free lance writer for several magazines at that time, the mid-1970’s and then went on to write a 700-page doctoral dissertation on the inventor Nikola Tesla. This treatise was morphed into the biography Wizard which is a book that has been positively reviewed by Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Scientific American, Library Journal, Nature, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

 

PageOneLit.com: Why do you write?

Marc Seifer: I write for several reasons, one certainly being that I think cinematically, and hope that my books will eventually make it to the big screen. However, I also have an expertise in several fields and have actually written a number of books for posterity. In the case of the Tesla biography, Wizard, I thought it was important to document the accomplishments of such a great but forgotten inventor. 

Since I am a handwriting expert, I felt it was important to put together a book entitled The Definitive Book of Handwriting Analysis which described the true history, breadth and scope of the field. I have written a book on consciousness entitled Transcending The Speed Of Light, which sets out a way to integrate the mind into new models for the space-time continuum. I have also written a novel, Doppelganger, which explains how Germany took over Europe so quickly during WWII. And in the case of Mr. Rhode Island, I thought it was important for the country to understand how inept or corrupt policemen can send innocent men to death row. 

 

 

PageoneLit.com: Briefly tell us about your new novel Mr.Rhode Island: A Harrowing Courtroom Thriller.

Marc Seifer: I happened to have testified in this case as a handwriting expert, so really had the inside track. This was an extradition hearing. A man, Stephen Rosati, was accused of murdering someone in Florida but he said he was in Rhode Island at the time of the murder. Nevertheless, the Broward Sheriff’s Department had six eye-witnesses against him and they also had an alleged co-conspirator, Peter Dallas, who admitted to the crime and said he killed the guy with Stephen. 

How would it be possible for Stephen Rosati to be innocent? I was so amazed to discover that he was, that I thought it was imperative that I explain how such a thing could happened. The story is about the longest extradition hearing in US history.

 

 

PageOneLit.com: Who is Stephen Rosati ?

Marc Seifer: Stephen Rosati is a former Mr. Rhode Island body building champion. He also owned a health club, spent a year and a half as a male dancer in Florida, but mostly is and was a normal businessman, involved in real estate, building and selling new homes and working on other entrepreneurial ventures. Presently, he is involved in setting up concession stands at parks and recreational areas.

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com: How did you research for  Mr.Rhode Island: A Harrowing Courtroom Thriller?

Marc Seifer: I started by interviewing Stephen Rosati, who had spent a year and a half in jail for a crime he did not commit. I had him tell his entire story in chronological fashion. I also interviewed in depth the parents, Carl and Esther Rosati, Stephen’s defense attorney, Jack Cicilline, another accused individual, the father of the dead man, and several prosecutors. On top of that I had the entire courtroom proceedings which ran to 1,400 pages, the actual 1,500 page police log which led to Stephen’s arrest, about 200 newspaper articles and also depositions of all the principals involved including the cops who put this bogus case together. 

 

 

PageOneLit.com: What makes Mr.Rhode Island: A Harrowing Courtroom Thriller stand out among all of the other novels out this summer.

Marc Seifer: First of all, Mr. Rhode Island is not a novel. It is a completely true story. What makes it stand out is precisely because it is true. Consider for a moment what it would take to frame a man for a murder he did not commit and get 6 witnesses to testify against him. Now consider framing three men for the same crime when two of the men had never met and one was 1,500 away when the murder took place. This is mind-blowing story and that is why I think it is a good read.

 

 

 

PageoneLit.com: If Hollywood called you today and said they wanted to turn Mr.Rhode Island: A Harrowing Courtroom Thriller into a film - Who would you cast and why?

Marc Seifer: I would cast Matt Damon because he, much like Stephen Rosati, represents everyman. The film would start out much like the book. A normal well-dressed businessman with a solid build is in the midst of negotiating a $26 million dollar quarry deal with a British concern when all of a sudden five policemen enter his office and arrest him for a murder he claims he knows nothing about.

 

 

PageOneLit.com:  You have over 30 years experience as a handwriting expert and have appeared on the History Channel for your work on the Howard Hughes -- Tell us a little about your career and how it has helped you writing novels.

Marc Seifer:  As a handwriting expert I often know things that no-one else knows. I also think cinematically and certainly am aware of that realm when I testify in court. I enjoy great stories whether in the cinema or as a reading experience and so mine my life for material. I have written two novels which to some extent are based on intriguing aspects of my own life, and I have written this true life courtroom drama. I would say that I write the kind of books that I would want to read. Overall, I have received many fine reviews for a number of my works and that has helped verify my inner voice which enjoys so much the process of writing, re-writing and producing the kind of books that are not only enjoyable, but are enlightening as well. 

 

 

PageOneLit.com: Explain what today's politicians are ignoring that our founding fathers put in place.

 Marc Seifer:Separation of church and state. The last few elections have been determined to some extent by infiltrating our places of worship. I also think that our politicians do not have the backbone that statesmen from the past have. They tend to cave and bend with the wind. One example that comes to mind was eliminating some of the constraints that were in place for the banks and Wall Street. 

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com: What do you hope to achieve with Mr.Rhode Island: A Harrowing Courtroom Thriller?

Marc Seifer:  I think that the book deserves to be read by criminology and law students. I think it is an unprecedented and classic story and hopes that it gains recognition in that arena as well. My ultimate hope is that law enforcement officials become more savvy so that inept of crooked cops do not gain the kind of power that was achieved in this story, a power so great that they made honest prosecutors and judges do their bidding in helping to send several men to their possible execution.

 

 

PageOneLit.com: What was the last book you read?

Marc Seifer: The Island in the Center of the World by Russell Shorto. It is the story about the history of Manhattan island. I grew up in New York right near the city, but frankly, knew almost nothing about how the Dutch founded the island. It is a very fascinating read.

 

 

PageOneLit.com: What's next?

Marc Seifer: I have just completed a new novel entitled Doppelganger. It is the story of the Maxwells, a Jewish family who try to maintain their small airline in Germany through both world wars. Naturally, they lose their company during the Nazi period and their company gets absorbed into Lufthansa. Now we jump ahead 50 years and one of the original owners, now in his 90’s, wants the company back. There was a bit of serendipity in the writing of the book because one of the main characters, Simon Maxwell, flies for the Germans during WWI. Thus, he flies with Hermann Goring who also was  WWI flying ace. This gives the Maxwells some measure of protection as the Nazis seize power and Goring is thus a major character in the tale.This is a major family saga along the lines of the kind of book that James Mitchner would write. I have high hopes for it.

 

 

PageOneLit.com: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing?

Marc Seifer: I collect stamps and that has given me a keen understanding of history and geography. I also travel and have used my trips to places like Germany, Venice and Amsterdam to help set the stage for Doppelganger. In the case of Mr. Rhode Island, we travelled to southern Florida to see the area where the murder took place and this also helped in setting the book in its proper frame.