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CTP (S4EJulSpecial3) How Much Science Should Fiction Dare To Teach
Exploring more of the fascinating intersection of Activism, Community Engagement, Faith / Religion, Human Nature, Politics, Social Issues, and beyond - all in Biblical perspective
We talk with pathologist and author Devin Greene about what makes a medical thriller feel real, and why thrillers run on momentum more than a classic whodunit. We also dig into how to explain hard science like CRISPR in plain language, plus practical lessons about publishing, discoverability, and avoiding spoilers.
• Devin’s path from New York to California and medical training
• What a pathologist does and why TV skews forensic pathology
• How medical thrillers differ from mysteries
• Using CRISPR and gene editing as thriller fuel
• Writing accurate science that general readers can follow
• Why early readers matter for clarity and pacing
• A peek at an eco-thriller direction involving rhinos
• Where to find the books and the author site devengreene.com
• Why similar names can cause search and email mix-ups
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Transcript
00:00Hello, welcome to another episode of Perstitutionalist Podcast.
00:06I am your host, Joseph M. Leonard.
00:09That's L-E-N-A-R-D.
00:12It looks French.
00:13It's not.
00:14It's Leonard without an O.
00:17Thank you for tuning in, as Graham Norton used to say, on his show.
00:24Let's get on with the show!
00:26Hello, everybody.
00:28Oh, I use an app, but I did not want to reschedule.
00:34I've been looking forward to talking with my guest today, Devin Green, D-E-V-E-N-G-R-E
00:45-E-N-E.
00:46And what were you saying about the name to me?
00:50It's got every E you can stick into it.
00:53Exactly.
00:53Whatever you can put in me.
00:54You will also be a clue for Wheel of Fortune, and hopefully somebody will buy an E, right?
01:03Right.
01:03And we'll give an E.
01:06Only E's, yeah.
01:08Yeah.
01:08For the benefit of the transcript, we're laughing.
01:11These are jokes, people.
01:13Okay.
01:14Welcome to the show, Devin.
01:16How are you?
01:17I'm happy to be here.
01:19Doing well.
01:20Before we get into what is a medical thriller, that intrigued me.
01:27That's why I wanted to talk to you.
01:29But before we go there, where were you born and raised?
01:34Just where are you now?
01:35Where are you now?
01:37Significant places you've been in between.
01:40How much time did you spend in prison and for what?
01:44I don't like to talk about that.
01:46Yeah.
01:48It'll be our secret.
01:50Yeah.
01:51Yes.
01:51Let me pause on the recording.
01:55And again, for the benefit of the transcript, we're laughing.
01:58These are jokes.
02:00That's right.
02:00But seriously, indeed, where were you born and raised?
02:03I don't know.
02:04And that stuff.
02:05Well, I was actually born in New York City.
02:08But I followed my parents to California when I was five.
02:13So you could say that's where I grew up.
02:15And I've spent most of my life in California.
02:17A short time in Miami.
02:19I hope you got the hell out of there now, though.
02:24Out of California?
02:26Yeah.
02:27Out of California, yeah.
02:30Oh, I'm still in California, and I love it here.
02:33Oh, it's beautiful.
02:34I loved when I vacationed.
02:37But yeah, I wouldn't go back now.
02:39But there's a lot of beautiful places to live.
02:44But that cost of living is just pathetic there.
02:49Well, I could never afford my house now if I had to buy it, frankly.
02:56But yeah, it is insane.
03:00But you started to say something about Miami?
03:04Yeah, I lived there for a short time.
03:07That's where you spent prison time, right?
03:10People were laughing.
03:12We're laughing.
03:13These are jokes.
03:14You might say it was prison, but that's where I went to medical school.
03:20I like what you did there.
03:23I see what you did there.
03:24That's great.
03:25I love wordplay puns.
03:28That's fantastic.
03:29Great job.
03:31So you have medical background, yes.
03:34Oh, yeah.
03:35Yeah.
03:36Yeah, I practiced as a pathologist, actually, in California.
03:42Yeah, a pathologist as opposed to a pathological liar.
03:46Well, I could be both.
03:48Yeah.
03:48One doesn't exclude the others.
03:49More wordplay, people.
03:50More wordplay.
03:53Yeah.
03:55But, yeah.
03:56Yeah, and I'll just say I was not a forensic pathologist.
04:02A lot of people think of pathology as forensic pathology because they see autopsies and things on TV.
04:10Too much TV.
04:12I was just going to say that.
04:14Yes.
04:15I hope nobody takes offense, but the forensic pathologists are weird.
04:22Okay.
04:26There's my headline for the show.
04:31Controversy.
04:32Stir up controversy.
04:34That's great.
04:35That's great.
04:36Pathologists are weird.
04:38General pathologists are weird, but the forensic ones, you know, I mean, I'm sure many of them are nice people.
04:44Weirdos buried in the basement somewhere, yeah.
04:47They don't get enough light.
04:50Yeah.
04:51I mean, it can be interesting work, but it's not for me.
04:56It wasn't for me.
04:57Hey, yeah, everybody's got their preferences and buying their own little niche.
05:06And, hey, if you're one of those, more power to you, right?
05:10It's just not something for me or you.
05:13Yeah.
05:14Yeah.
05:14So, no, their work is important, but, you know, I mean, a lot of work is important, and I only,
05:21I didn't do a lot of different things that are important.
05:24No job is an unimportant job.
05:27Right.
05:28You know, janitors.
05:30I'm just a janitor.
05:31No.
05:32And I don't go for this word games, custodial, you know, CEO of the custodian.
05:42Yeah, janitor.
05:43There's nothing wrong with that line of work.
05:47It needed an important job in the cog of the cycles of everything that happens.
05:56So, no unimportant work, and apologies, I don't mean to single out janitors.
06:02It's just what popped in my OCD brain.
06:06Yeah.
06:07Yeah.
06:07So, yeah, couldn't live without them.
06:11Exactly.
06:12We'd be living in a lot of filth without them.
06:16Yeah.
06:18Sometimes in my house, I'm living in a lot of filth anyway.
06:21But I always joke, I'm going to lift up my green screen.
06:26Okay.
06:27The ugly couch.
06:29I'm not a hoarder, but I am a slob.
06:32Look at all that crap that my green screen hides.
06:37Well, I'm sitting in front of a screen, too.
06:42For a reason, right?
06:43For a reason.
06:44Yeah, you got it.
06:48And it's not just so I could project my wonderful video backgrounds behind me.
06:55It's to hide the garbage.
06:57At any rate, yeah, medical thriller.
07:01Tell us about that.
07:02Okay.
07:03Well, they can be different things.
07:04You know, I've looked for, you know, there's no real, like, taught definition.
07:08But it has something to do with medicine.
07:10A lot of them.
07:12No, I thought it had to do with nuclear science.
07:15Yeah, that can be in there, too.
07:17Well, true, medical nuclear science.
07:19Yeah, well, pardon me.
07:21I got put in my place.
07:23There is nuclear medicine.
07:25That is a field.
07:26But at any rate, a lot of them, and probably most of them, have to do with, say, a murder
07:34in a hospital, say, you know, a poisoning, or a nurse that knocks people, or a doctor that knocks...
07:44I can understand that, because when I'm sick and in the hospital, I'd like to murder some
07:50people.
07:52We're laughing again, people.
07:54These are jokes.
07:56Yeah.
07:57Well, you know, I mean, there have been some so-called angels of mercy, or not really of
08:03mercy.
08:03They just like to kill...
08:05I mean, they're rare.
08:06I mean, most people in the medical profession...
08:08You're a serial killer in a warped sense of trying to spin it as empathetic or sympathetic.
08:18Yeah.
08:18What you have is not a...
08:21You have no respect for life, and you should not be in that field, indeed.
08:27Right.
08:28So, you know, unfortunately, there's bad people in every field.
08:31I mean, you know...
08:33Even bad janitors.
08:36Yes, there can be bad janitors.
08:38You're right.
08:43But another area where my books fit in is kind of...
08:48I look at kind of bigger pictures, for instance, and they're thrillers.
08:54They're not whodunits.
08:55So, a lot of medical thrillers would be whodunits.
08:59Who killed this person?
09:00Was it a poison?
09:01There's a difference.
09:02I'm glad you made that important distinction.
09:06Yes.
09:06So, mine are more thrillers where there's something happening, and it has to do with medicine.
09:12Yeah.
09:12And now we said the word thriller so many times.
09:15My OCD brain, I'm going to have Michael Jackson.
09:18Thriller!
09:19In my head the rest of the day.
09:21Anyway.
09:25But a thriller is more like, you know, as opposed to a mystery.
09:29A mystery kind of, in general, starts with a dead body, and you figure out what happened.
09:35A thriller is something that kind of ticking clock, that kind of thing.
09:41You know something's brewing, and you try to stop it or find out what's going on.
09:46That's closer to a description of my books, and I can just list the different things I've written about.
09:52Actually, the first one I published was about gene editing with CRISPR.
09:58You've heard of it.
09:59Oh, yes.
09:59So, I'm familiar with the...
10:01Yep.
10:02And I actually explained CRISPR.
10:04I think a lot of people don't quite understand it.
10:06It's good you laid that out.
10:08Yeah.
10:09Some who aren't into science-y type things or genetics, DNA type stuff, might not know that exactly.
10:20And I like the fact that you use the word science-y, because that's the word I use to describe
10:26certain parts of my books.
10:28So, there's stuff that happens, and then there's science-y parts that explain the science behind it.
10:35And I really try hard to write that in a way that anybody can understand.
10:41I mean, there's a lot of smart people out there, but they don't have a science background or not a
10:46science background in that particular area.
10:48So, I write things, and then I have other people read it, people that don't have my background, to see
10:58if they can understand it.
11:00Amen.
11:01Exactly.
11:02You don't want to be over everybody's head.
11:05You want to be detailed, but not leave the readers going, what the hell is she talking about?
11:13You got it.
11:15So, I usually have to go through several iterations, you know, where people say, well, I didn't get that, I
11:22didn't get that.
11:23So, I keep it accurate, but I do simplify.
11:29Sometimes it hurts me really bad.
11:30Which is not to say dumbing down.
11:32Some people might get the more complicated technical delivery, but we all, as authors, as an author also, have to
11:46understand we have to write for, unfortunately, a lower common denominator at times to make sure people understand it.
11:57So, those, we're not over someone's head, and at the same time, those who would understand the more complex don't
12:05feel talked down to.
12:08It's a delicate balance.
12:10Well, that's what I aim for, and I think, I mean, you know, people who aren't familiar, they're not stupid.
12:18No, we are all ignorant of that, which we've yet to learn.
12:24That's not an insult to say that.
12:26Yeah, there's a lot of things I don't know.
12:29Amen, I hear you.
12:31Don't ask me to be a janitor.
12:34I would probably mess that up.
12:36You don't know you're the up or down end of a mop, right?
12:41Yeah, and I'm glad you used the word brewing before.
12:46I want to give you a joke.
12:49The people, I'm not going to give away the manufacturer of the coffee makers, a medical thriller where a nurse
12:56poisons others through the coffee and the coffee maker maybe, right?
13:02But here's the joke.
13:03Look, it's a certain manufacturer, it's like Schmuckers, right?
13:08They know their name is odd, and they make fun of themselves.
13:12Well, the name like Schmuckers, it has to be good.
13:15Well, most places you go to now have a certain brand of coffee maker, and that sets up the joke.
13:24I don't get why anyone would want coffee or anything filtered through somebody's buns.
13:33B-U-N-N is the name of the coffee pot maker, you know, and I'm sure they're perfectly fine
13:41people, and I mean no offense, it's just too obvious a lame pun for me to pass up on.
13:49And I bet you don't have one of those.
13:52No, but most of the restaurants I go to do have them, and I make that joke all the time.
14:00And to anyone and everyone that gets a cup of coffee that I've not interacted with, I tell them that
14:07joke.
14:08Okay.
14:11Good, clean, six-year-old-ish potty humor, right?
14:16Oh, yeah, I'm familiar with that type of humor because I have some young grandchildren.
14:22Yeah, yeah.
14:24Hey, it's even clean enough you could tell the grandchildren next time you're at a restaurant, right?
14:30Right, right.
14:32Anyway, I, again, my OCD, ADHD, brain, rabbit holes open up.
14:39I go off the beaten path all the time.
14:42Back to medical thrillers.
14:45Back to medical thrillers.
14:45How many do you have?
14:48Well, I have six published, and I'm almost done with my seventh.
14:53And I'll say the seventh, I veered away from actually medical.
14:58It's just a thrill.
14:59This is more of an eco-thriller, okay, the one I'm working on now.
15:03Now, it's still got science-y stuff in it, okay, but it's not medical.
15:12It's not human, okay?
15:14Okay.
15:15Yeah.
15:17Leave the T's right where you left it.
15:21Okay.
15:22Let's not give too much away.
15:25Well, actually, it's not really a T. It's really about rhinos, okay?
15:31It deals with rhinos.
15:33Not politicians in D.C. Republicans, no.
15:38Real, actual rhinos, not the R-H-I-N-O kind, not the R-I-N-O kind.
15:45You got it.
15:46But, yeah, like I say in my how to write a book and get it published, tips and techniques,
15:52you don't want to give too much away about a future publication until it's ready to come out.
15:59Yeah.
15:59Well, even when it's out, I always have a hard time, you know, you know you have to write things
16:05to get people interested in your book, but you don't want to, what you want is for people to know
16:11nothing about your book and just read it.
16:14But that's not going to happen.
16:15People want to know something about what it's about.
16:21In fact, now, you may not know this, but there's a number of people, including my sister-in-law,
16:28who reads the end of a book.
16:31Oh, oh, oh.
16:33She will not read a book.
16:35You know what I do to my books?
16:37I purposely put something in the back for people like that.
16:41Ha!
16:41I caught you.
16:45Well, good.
16:46Now, stop reading the back and go to the front where you belong.
16:50She does that with movies, too.
16:54But she trusts Hallmark movies enough to just watch them because she knows they're not going
17:02to have a sad ending.
17:03They'll always have an ending that she's happy with.
17:07Well, that's boring.
17:08The same old happy ending stuff.
17:13Yeah, well, that's what she wants.
17:16So that's why she reads the end of a book.
17:21Most people don't do that.
17:22But actually, after she mentioned that to me, you know, I kind of looked into it.
17:26And there's a certain percent of people, like maybe 10% of people.
17:31Yeah.
17:32And it's why I do that in the back.
17:34I put stuff in the back of the books beyond the story.
17:38So the snoopers like that aren't getting the end of the book when they go to the back of
17:44the book.
17:45Oh, that's a good idea.
17:47And everybody lives happily ever after.
17:49Yeah, the end.
17:51Well, why do I need to read this now?
17:54Right?
17:54Yeah.
17:54Yeah.
17:55No, sorry.
17:56Yeah.
17:59So your books are available on Amazon and everywhere, I take it?
18:04They're available everywhere.
18:06If they're not in your bookstore, the bookstore can order them.
18:10They're all out on eBooks.
18:13They have Booker ISBNs, which means, yeah, anyone can order them anywhere.
18:19Yeah.
18:20And I do have a web page, if anyone's curious.
18:24Yep.
18:24Given that, that's usually what I ask at the end.
18:27So, hey, let's start to wrap it up.
18:29I think we've covered a lot.
18:31So the website is?
18:33It's Devin Green with lots of E's.
18:38Yeah.
18:39D-E-V-E-N-G-R-E-E-N-E dot com.
18:43All right.
18:44And let me just say, there is another Devin Green out there who doesn't have an E at the
18:52end.
18:53Oh.
18:54And she's a very edgy comedian.
18:58I'll just say edgy.
19:00Okay.
19:01All beyond edgy.
19:02A little blue, maybe, or a little foul.
19:06A little or a lot.
19:07Yeah.
19:08And that's not me.
19:09I hear you because I have to joke all the time.
19:13I am Joseph M.
19:15Leonard, not Lenard.
19:17It looks French, but it's Lenard without an O.
19:20And Joseph M.
19:23Leonard, because there is a Joseph Lenard out of South Carolina who is also a Christian author.
19:32So I am not he, he is not me, and you won't confuse either of us for Shakespeare, I like
19:39to joke.
19:40But yeah, I get you.
19:42You've got to be careful with names now.
19:44The name gets just too close.
19:47It could cause a problem.
19:49Like, I get emails all the time about the other guy.
19:53What did you mean in the last so far when you said that, no, not wrong guy?
20:00Yeah.
20:02So actually, the other Devin Green, I would say, is more popular than me, because if you
20:08put in my name with the E, sometimes it'll say, did you mean Devin Green with no E?
20:15I get that all the time.
20:17Google is definitely an issue for me, because there are a lot of Lenards with the O in the
20:25name.
20:25And, yeah, an actor, I forget, that was in the Star Trek one movie, Mark Leonard, L-E-O-N
20:37-A-R-D.
20:38So they assume, do you mean L-E-O-N-A-R-D?
20:43No, I typed in L-E-N-A-R-D for a reason.
20:49So, yeah, I hear you.
20:51I get you.
20:52I get it.
20:53That's why, like, my The Book of Kennedy, subtitled Project Carpe Diem, I have to tell
21:02people, make sure you put in the whole title, The Book of Kennedy, Project Carpe Diem.
21:09Otherwise, guess what?
21:10They get a bunch of JFK books.
21:13This has nothing to do with the Kennedy family.
21:15That happens to be her first name, not the last name, right?
21:22So, yeah, I hear you.
21:25I get that.
21:27Uh-huh.
21:27Yeah.
21:28Yeah.
21:29So, anyway, one of these days, she's not really a writer.
21:35She has one book out.
21:37The other Devin Green, I'm sorry.
21:38The other Devin Green has one book out.
21:40And she's mostly got videos and things like that.
21:44I've looked at a few of them.
21:48Yeah.
21:49But still, yeah, there's that bleed.
21:51So, I hear you.
21:53I get that.
21:55And it can be a problem when you're trying to promote your stuff.
22:03Maybe change it to G-R-E-A-N-E.
22:07Get an A in there.
22:10Too late.
22:11I'm done.
22:12You know, I chose the name because I thought it'd be easy to remember with all E's.
22:18I just thought that, you know, but then it turns out people forget to put the E on the
22:23end of my last name and, you know, anyway.
22:28Okay.
22:28We'll wrap it up there and say thank you, Devin Green, with all E's and including an E on
22:36the end for your time.
22:38It was a great discussion.
22:41Well, thank you, Joseph M. Leonard, without the O.
22:45It's been fun.
22:49I try to keep things light.
22:51There's enough seriousness.
22:53You know, everything's so serious.
22:55You gotta keep a sense of humor, though, or at Cypher's Hills that you once sang, right?
23:01Insane in the Membrane.
23:05Take care.
23:06God bless.
23:07Okay.
23:07You too.
23:07Bye-bye.
23:13Bye-bye.
23:33Bye-bye.
23:36Coastal kisses, then the drop I can't protect
23:39Way up high
23:41Then you leave me hanging there
23:45One hand up in the sky
23:47One foot out of nowhere
23:50You spin me fast
23:51Like a car on the freeway
23:55Wind in my hair
23:57And I forget my name, babe
24:01From zero to fun
24:03To a total mess tonight
24:05You smile at me
24:07And I'm already in the right
24:10I should know better
24:12But I don't back down
24:14You lean in close and you shake my ground
24:16One more look and I'm gone again
24:19I hear your name and I give in
24:23Baby, I love you
24:25Deadly side effects
24:27Deadly side effects
24:30Deadly side effects
24:32Up, then down
24:35You hit my chest
24:38Baby, I love you
24:43Deadly side effects
24:45Deadly side effects
24:51Deadly side effects
24:54You got that speed
24:56I can't keep in my lane
24:58Every little touch turns my calm into rain
25:00I laugh too loud
25:01Then I trip on the floor
25:03One taste of you
25:04And I want a little more
25:05Fast in the light
25:07Then you vanish out my hands
25:08I keep on falling like a planet again
25:10You're the spark
25:11And the mess in my veins
25:13I swear I'm fine
25:14Then you call my name
25:16I should know better
25:17But I don't back down
25:18You lean in close and you shake my ground
25:21One more look and I'm gone again
25:23I hear your name and I give in
25:27Baby, I love you
25:30Deadly side effects
25:33Deadly side effects
25:35Deadly side effects
25:37Up, then down
25:40You hit my chest
25:42Baby, I love you
25:48Deadly side effects
25:50Deadly side effects
25:55Deadly side effects
26:09If loving you is a risky game
26:14I'll take the hit
26:16Say it all the same
26:20One more spin
26:21One more wild ride
26:24I'll break the lid
26:27Every single time
26:32Baby, I love you
26:34Deadly side effects
26:36Deadly side effects
26:39Deadly side effects
26:41Up, then down
26:44You hit my chest
26:47Baby, I love you
26:52Deadly side effects
26:57Baby, I love you
27:00But you come with
27:02Deadly side effects
27:04Like rollercoaster rides
27:06Way up high
27:07The massive drop dive
27:09You turn me into a mess
27:13Fast
27:14Flying car
27:16On the freeway
27:18On the freeway
27:18Wind and convertible hair
27:21From zero to fun
27:23To total wreck
27:25Deadly side effects
27:31Deadly side effects
27:55They say too much of a good thing
27:59Always cut straight through
28:02Bad habit in a black dress
28:04Bad habit in a black dress
28:05Guess that habit is you
28:09They call it poison in my veins
28:12Like I don't already know
28:16But I keep tipping back your name
28:18And I can't take it slow
28:22They say too much of a good thing
28:26Is a bad thing
28:28But I don't care
28:30I swear
28:32I wanna overdose on you
28:35If every little taste of you
28:40Is damaging
28:42Let it hurt
28:44I swear
28:46I wanna overdose on you
28:50They tell us to behave
28:53Like we're supposed to
28:58I do not care
29:00If loving you
29:01Will send me to
29:03My grave
29:05Too much of a good thing
29:09Is a bad thing
29:11Then baby let me overdose on you
29:19Your lipstick on my collar
29:21I could want in flair
29:22Your number on my mirror
29:24I still leave it there
29:26They preach about the consequence
29:28I just crave your touch
29:29If this is running out of time
29:31Why do I need it so much?
29:34Give me every red flag
29:36I'll paint them on my walls
29:37Every late night fight
29:39I'll answer every call
29:42If this is how I disappear
29:47At least I disappear in you
29:49At least I lose it all
29:53They know who I was ruined by
29:57By you
30:00They say too much of a good thing
30:04Is a bad thing
30:06But I don't care
30:07I swear
30:09I swear
30:10I swear
30:11I wanna overdose on you
30:13I am every little taste of you
30:17It's damaging
30:19And let it hurt
30:21I swear
30:23I wanna overdose on you
30:27They tell us
30:29They tell us to behave
30:31Like we're supposed to
30:34I do not care
30:37If loving you
30:39Will send me to my grave
30:42Too much of a good thing
30:45Is a bad thing
30:49Then baby
30:49Let me overdose on you
30:59Like and subscribe
31:02To Christitutionalist Politics Podcast
31:05And share episodes
31:07We need your help
31:09Thank you for having tuned into
31:12Another Christitutionalist Podcast Show
31:16I really appreciate that you stopped by
31:20Again, please like, share, subscribe
31:24We need you to help spread
31:27The Christitutionalist Movement
31:29Thank you again
31:31Take care
31:32God bless
31:33Love you all
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