Tag The Doctor and Mr. Dylan

THE ALMANAC COVER STORY ON AI IN MEDICINE AND RICK NOVAK’S NOVEL DOCTOR VITA

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On June 5, 2019 the Almanac, the home newspaper for the California communities of Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley and Woodside featured a cover story on Rick Novak and his novel Doctor Vita.

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by Angela Swartz / Almanac 

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Dr. Rick Novak poses for a portrait at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, May 23. Photo by Magali Gauthier/The Almanac

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Between his time in the operating room, teaching, and raising his three sons, Atherton resident Dr. Rick Novak has found time to write three novels. 

Novak, an anesthesiologist at Stanford University Medical Center and the Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, the novel “Doctor Vita,” a story about artificial intelligence in medicine (AIM) that goes awry.

It’s a science fiction novel that explores how technological breakthroughs like artificial intelligence and robots will affect medical care — and already have.

This is the link to the Almanac article.

THE MILLIONS article about Hibbing Minnesota authors: Bob Dylan (Chronicles), Vincent Bugliosi (Helter Skelter), Bethany McLean (The Smartest Guys in the Room), Rick Novak (The Doctor and Mr. Dylan)

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A street sign in the childhood hometown of Bob Dylan, winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, is seen in Hibbing, Minnesota

Marie Myung-OK Lee, a staff writer for The Millions, successful novelist, creative writing professor at Columbia University in New York, and fellow native of Hibbing, Minnesota, discusses the proliferation of writers from Bob Dylan’s hometown in this article “What is it About Hibbing?” on The Millions website. For a village of 17,000, Hibbing produced the writers Bob Dylan, Vincent Bugliosi, Marie Mug-OK Lee, Bethany McClean, Kathleen Novak, Patrick McGauley, and myself.

Hibbing is indeed a remarkable town. In addition to the authors above, Hibbing was the birthplace of Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Roger Maris of the New York Yankees, and the hometown of Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Kevin McHale of the Boston Celtics.

Note the yearbook photo (Hibbing High School Hematite, 1959) for graduate Robert Zimmerman, i.e. Bob Dylan:

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Bob (Dylan) Zimmerman’s photo from the Hibbing High School Hematite yearbook, in which he hopes “to join ‘Little Richard.'” For a future winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, his resume of Latin Club and Social Studies Club belie his pending fame.

To dive deeper into Dylan’s Hibbing roots, click on the image below to reach the Amazon link to The Doctor and Mr. Dylan:

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KIRKUS REVIEW

In this debut thriller, tragedies strike an anesthesiologist as he tries to start a new life with his son.

Dr. Nico Antone, an anesthesiologist at Stanford University, is married to Alexandra, a high-powered real estate agent obsessed with money. Their son, Johnny, an 11th-grader with immense potential, struggles to get the grades he’ll need to attend an Ivy League college. After a screaming match with Alexandra, Nico moves himself and Johnny from Palo Alto, California, to his frozen childhood home of Hibbing, Minnesota. The move should help Johnny improve his grades and thus seem more attractive to universities, but Nico loves the freedom from his wife, too. Hibbing also happens to be the hometown of music icon Bob Dylan. Joining the hospital staff, Nico runs afoul of a grouchy nurse anesthetist calling himself Bobby Dylan, who plays Dylan songs twice a week in a bar called Heaven’s Door. As Nico and Johnny settle in, their lives turn around; they even start dating the gorgeous mother/daughter pair of Lena and Echo Johnson. However, when Johnny accidentally impregnates Echo, the lives of the Hibbing transplants start to implode. In true page-turner fashion, first-time novelist Novak gets started by killing soulless Alexandra, which accelerates the downfall of his underdog protagonist now accused of murder. Dialogue is pitch-perfect, and the insults hurled between Nico and his wife are as hilarious as they are hurtful: “Are you my husband, Nico? Or my dependent?” The author’s medical expertise proves central to the plot, and there are a few grisly moments, as when “dark blood percolated” from a patient’s nostrils “like coffee grounds.” Bob Dylan details add quirkiness to what might otherwise be a chilly revenge tale; we’re told, for instance, that Dylan taught “every singer with a less-than-perfect voice…how to sneer and twist off syllables.” Courtroom scenes toward the end crackle with energy, though one scene involving a snowmobile ties up a certain plot thread too neatly. By the end, Nico has rolled with a great many punches.

Nuanced characterization and crafty details help this debut soar.

BOOKPLEASURES INTERVIEW: “UNVEILING THE MEDICAL THRILLER OF THE YEAR”

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AN INTERVIEW WITH RICK NOVAK discussing CALL FROM THE JAILHOUSE 

Love, Law, and Lethal Anesthetics: Unveiling the Medical Thriller of the Year.

Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest, Rick Novak MD. Rick is a distinguished Stanford physician, holding board certifications in anesthesiology and internal medicine.

His expertise and dedication extend to his role as an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University.

Beyond academia, he serves as the Medical Director at the prestigious Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and is a valued member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in the same region.

Rick is not only a distinguished medical professional but also an accomplished author. He has shared his talents with the literary world through several captivating novels, including The Doctor and Mr. Dylan, Doctor Vita, and his most recent literary endeavor, Call From the Jailhouse.

Norm Goldman: Welcome Rick to bookpleasures.com and thanks for taking part in our interview. Can you share specific instances or experiences from your medical career that directly inspired or informed the content of your book, Call from the Jail House?

Rick: Call from the Jail House is a romance, a story about relationships. The two main characters are busy professionals, a doctor and an attorney, who are recently divorced but still have feelings for each other. The divorce rate in physicians is high (24%). I’ve been divorced myself, and I’ve experienced the enormous swings in emotion a failed marriage imparts on every phase of your life. These emotions drive my Call from the Jail House characters into predicaments they could never have imagined when they said “I do” to each other.

The second experience that drives the plot of Call from the Jail House is that the intravenous anesthetic drugs I’ve administered in my career are potent and wonderful, but when stolen from a hospital, they can kill an individual in minutes, in a fashion that would revolt and fascinate readers.

Norm: Sam Vella’s character undergoes a significant transformation from a beleaguered anesthesiologist to an accused murder suspect. Can you elaborate on the process of developing multi-dimensional characters like Sam in your writing?

Rick: Sam’s dilemma is a common one in America today—he’s an honorable young physician saddled with Herculean debt, with no easy way to repay it. He lives in Silicon Valley amidst astounding wealth, and when presented with the temptation to tap into that level of wealth, he surprises himself by pondering deeds never condoned in the Hippocratic Oath.

Norm: Cicely Vella, Sam’s ex, grapples with her role as a defense attorney torn between professional instincts and personal emotions. How did you approach creating her character and portraying this internal conflict?

Rick: Cicely is an outstanding litigator who rarely loses. She’s become wealthy beyond her dreams. But again, the powerful emotions of being newly divorced have driven Cicely to make success her only love. Sitting on her metaphoric pile of cash, no amount of money is filling the emptiness she feels since she divorced Sam. How can she become whole again? In her mind, the possibility of saving Sam from a life in prison looms as both a gigantic career leap and a relationship mending opportunity.

Norm: The story delves into a high-stakes murder trial filled with desire, wealth, intrigue, and scandal. What challenges did you face while crafting the courtroom scenes, and how did you maintain the tension throughout?

Rick: The first time I was cross-examined by an opposing attorney when I was serving as an expert witness in a courtroom, I held my hands together on the table in front of me. I could feel the pulse in my wrist, and my heart rate was topping 180 beats per minute. Outwardly I maintained a calm countenance, but inwardly I felt fear and confrontation unlike anything I’d felt in an operating room. The courtroom is a battlefield where words are weapons. Attorneys are on their home court. Everyone else—defendants, witnesses, experts, jury members—are involved in this war of sentences. As my career as an expert witness progressed, I became more comfortable with managing inner demons in the courtroom, but I’m well aware of the peril of the unprepared individual on the witness stand. Writing the courtroom scenes was the easiest part of this novel. These scenes were like movies I’d imagined for years.

Norm: Scarlett is an enigmatic character in the novel. What motivated you to include her in the story, and how did you explore the intricacies of desire and temptation through her character?

Rick: Can a dynamite-looking sexy young woman control the men that surround her? Yes, definitely. Anyone who denies this fact has never met a woman with Scarlett’s skillset. I fell under the spells of beautiful women more than once in my life, and I find the power of a gorgeous female one of the most interesting forces on Earth. Helen of Troy owned a face that launched a thousand ships. Like Helen, Scarlett inspires passions that can drive a vulnerable man to his doom.

Norm: The novel is described as a must-read for legal thriller fans. What do you believe sets Call from the Jail Houseapart from other books in the genre, and what unique elements did you incorporate into your storytelling?

Rick: Call From the Jailhouse is a romance novel with elements of a noir legal thriller and a medical mystery. The novel culminates in courtroom drama based on true medical facts and possibilities that only an anesthesiologist with a knack for telling suspenseful stories could describe. I love the writing of John Grisham and Scott Turow, but neither of them could pen this story of medical crime.

Norm: The relationship between Sam and Cicely is central to the plot. How did you approach writing their interactions and exploring the dynamics of their complicated past?

Rick: I chose to begin the novel with Sam and Cicely already divorced. Their backstory is revealed piece by piece. I see both Sam and Cicely as good people, outstanding in their professions, but inexperienced and uneducated in the abilities necessary to solve marital conflicts. After Sam’s call from the jailhouse, they both begin to rekindle the attraction that originally brought them together. Can Cicely save him? Even if she could, would Sam be willing to give their relationship a second chance? You have to read the book to find out.

Norm: Sam’s downfall from the mainstream anesthesia field to administering ketamine in dental offices is an important moment in the story. What inspired this particular plot point, and how did it affect the overall narrative?

Rick: The reason for Sam’s downfall from mainstream anesthesia is held out as a secret until the trial. His eviction from hospital medicine is credible. Physicians make mistakes—some of them medical, some of them emotional. Either one can have dire consequences. Sam’s fall from grace was critical for several reasons: it led to his divorce, it led to him driving around in a Chevy Tahoe with a tacklebox full of anesthesia drugs, and it led to his inability to earn the money he needs to pay his educational debt. Enter Scarlett, and remarkably there’s a new pathway toward all his dreams coming true.

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and Call From the Jailhouse?

Rick: Ricknovak.com  reveals more about me and my writing. My second website, clicked on over 2.8 million readers, is called The Anesthesia Consultant —and it contains 300+ essays which aim to inform both laypeople and medical people on anesthesia topics.

Norm: What is next for Rick Novak MD?

Rick: Back to the operating room every week. Back to the courtroom several times a year. And back to my MacBook Pro, which tempts me to set fingertips to the keypad, bringing the next set of fictional characters to life in situations no one’s ever dreamed of.

Norm: As we wrap up our interview, can you offer any insights into your creative process while writing this novel, and what can readers expect from your next literary masterpiece?

Rick: I’m a busy guy. I work as an MD from Monday through Friday, and I’m a single parent to three sons. I ponder ideas and scenes for future fiction every day.  I’ll set those thoughts into print by and by.

Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your endeavors.

Rick: Thanks for your time, Norm!

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CALL FROM THE JAILHOUSE: NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON LINK:

Call From the Jailhouse

Rick Novak’s first novel, THE DOCTOR AND MR. DYLAN

Rick Novak’s second novel, DOCTOR VITA

FROM OPERATING ROOM TO COURTROOM

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A new Call From the Jailhouse review from the Canadian website BookPleasures:

From Operating Room to Courtroom: A Physician’s Thrilling Journey

In his latest novel, Call From the Jailhouse, Rick Novak masterfully crafts a captivating legal thriller that delves deep into the intricate dynamics of love, ambition, and the blurred lines between justice and personal desires. 

As the narrative unfolds, readers are introduced to Sam Vella, an attractive anesthesiologist who has recently experienced a divorce from his gorgeous and brilliant Cicely Jackson Vella, a prominent defense attorney based in San Francisco. Cicely has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard, a law degree from Yale, and a former title of Miss New Hampshire. 

The story takes off with a frantic phone call from Sam to Cicely, delivering the astonishing news that he finds himself incarcerated in San Mateo County jail, facing a murder accusation. 

After some self-reflection, Cicely agrees to help Sam, and her decision marks the onset of a thrilling legal drama where justice and love intersect in a precarious dance. 

The story rewinds and takes us back six months to Sam’s life, unexpectedly veering down a new and consequential path, which we soon realize has profound consequences. We delve into how Sam was caught in a passionate yet forbidden affair with Scarlett, an alluring, married woman whose husband is a billionaire. 

The narrative turns dramatically in the novel’s final chapters, zeroing in on Sam’s unexpected entanglement in a high-profile murder trial. The story delves into the complex web of a multi-million-dollar double homicide case infused with desire, wealth, intrigue, and scandal. And as the pages unfold, we find ourselves immersed in riveting courtroom proceedings, where the stakes are high, and the tension is palpable. And just when you think you’ve seen it all, be prepared for an unexpected and jaw-dropping twist that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Novak skillfully explores love, ambition, and the complex interplay between justice and personal desires. The central characters Sam and Cicely undergo profound transformations. Sam’s journey from beleaguered anesthesiologist to unjustly accused murder suspect showcases Novak’s talent for crafting multi-dimensional characters. 

Call From the Jailhouse is a must-read for legal thriller fans, offering emotional depth, intricate character development, and surprising revelations, leaving readers eagerly anticipating Rick Novak’s next literary masterpiece.

Hibbing, Minnesota authors: Bob Dylan (Chronicles), Vincent Bugliosi (Helter Skelter), Bethany McLean (The Smartest Guys in the Room), Rick Novak (The Doctor and Mr. Dylan)

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A street sign in the childhood hometown of Bob Dylan, winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, is seen in Hibbing, Minnesota

Marie Myung-OK Lee, creative writing professor at Columbia University in New York, and fellow native of Hibbing, Minnesota, writes “What is it about Hibbing?” in a recent article published in The Millions.

She writes, “Hibbing is indeed a remarkable town. In addition to the authors above, Hibbing was the birthplace of Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Roger Maris of the New York Yankees, and the hometown of Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Kevin McHale of the Boston Celtics.

“The uncle of one of the kids I sat next to in Earth Sciences in junior high was Vincent Bugliosi, the Charlie Manson case prosecutor and the author of the best-seller about the case, Helter Skelter. Bethany McLean has the distinction of being the person who broke the Enron scandal; she wrote about first in Fortune magazine, and then in the best-selling Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, which was made into a movie of the same name. Rick Novak, M.D., is the author of a medical thriller set in Hibbing that references the newest Nobel Laureate: The Doctor and Mr. Dylan. Frank Riley, author of various science fiction novels, won a Hugo Award for They’d Rather Be Right, which he co-wrote with Mark Clifton — apparently this was only the second time the Hugo was awarded to a novel.

“Who will come out of Hibbing next?”

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Bob (Dylan) Zimmerman’s photo from the Hibbing High School Hematite yearbook.

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Introducing …,  THE DOCTOR AND MR. DYLAN, Dr. Novak’s debut novel, a crime mystery. Publication date September 9, 2014 by Pegasus Books.

On October 2, 2014 THE DOCTOR AND MR. DYLAN became the world’s  #1 bestselling anesthesia Kindle book on Amazon.com.

To reach the Amazon webpage to purchase The Doctor and Mr. Dylan, click on the book image below:

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KIRKUS REVIEW

In this debut thriller, tragedies strike an anesthesiologist as he tries to start a new life with his son.

Dr. Nico Antone, an anesthesiologist at Stanford University, is married to Alexandra, a high-powered real estate agent obsessed with money. Their son, Johnny, an 11th-grader with immense potential, struggles to get the grades he’ll need to attend an Ivy League college. After a screaming match with Alexandra, Nico moves himself and Johnny from Palo Alto, California, to his frozen childhood home of Hibbing, Minnesota. The move should help Johnny improve his grades and thus seem more attractive to universities, but Nico loves the freedom from his wife, too. Hibbing also happens to be the hometown of music icon Bob Dylan. Joining the hospital staff, Nico runs afoul of a grouchy nurse anesthetist calling himself Bobby Dylan, who plays Dylan songs twice a week in a bar called Heaven’s Door. As Nico and Johnny settle in, their lives turn around; they even start dating the gorgeous mother/daughter pair of Lena and Echo Johnson. However, when Johnny accidentally impregnates Echo, the lives of the Hibbing transplants start to implode. In true page-turner fashion, first-time novelist Novak gets started by killing soulless Alexandra, which accelerates the downfall of his underdog protagonist now accused of murder. Dialogue is pitch-perfect, and the insults hurled between Nico and his wife are as hilarious as they are hurtful: “Are you my husband, Nico? Or my dependent?” The author’s medical expertise proves central to the plot, and there are a few grisly moments, as when “dark blood percolated” from a patient’s nostrils “like coffee grounds.” Bob Dylan details add quirkiness to what might otherwise be a chilly revenge tale; we’re told, for instance, that Dylan taught “every singer with a less-than-perfect voice…how to sneer and twist off syllables.” Courtroom scenes toward the end crackle with energy, though one scene involving a snowmobile ties up a certain plot thread too neatly. By the end, Nico has rolled with a great many punches.

Nuanced characterization and crafty details help this debut soar.

Mr. Dylan wins Nobel Prize in Literature

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Because my expertise includes not only medicine but also Bob Dylan’s life and art, I have to stand on a soap box and crow about Bob winning the Nobel Prize in Literature this very day.

He’s the first musician to win the award. The literature prize is given for a lifetime of writing rather than for a single work.

The Swedish Academy credited Mr. Dylan with “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

Sara Danius, a literary scholar and the permanent secretary of the 18-member Nobel academy, which awards the prize, called Mr. Dylan “a great poet in the English-speaking tradition” and compared him to Homer and Sappho, whose work was delivered orally.

Americans should be proud, songwriters should be inspired, and residents of Hibbing, Minnesota, my hometown and Bob Dylan’s, should be awed beyond belief. Their majestic high school in this small iron ore village produced a literary legend.

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Hibbing High School Auditorium, where Bob (Dylan) Zimmerman performed while in high school

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Bob (Dylan) Zimmerman’s boyhood home in Hibbing, Minnesota

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Introducing …,  THE DOCTOR AND MR. DYLAN, Dr. Novak’s debut novel, a legal mystery. Publication date September 9, 2014 by Pegasus Books.

On October 2, 2014 THE DOCTOR AND MR. DYLAN became the world’s  #1 bestselling anesthesia Kindle book on Amazon.com.

KIRKUS REVIEW

In this debut thriller, tragedies strike an anesthesiologist as he tries to start a new life with his son.

Dr. Nico Antone, an anesthesiologist at Stanford University, is married to Alexandra, a high-powered real estate agent obsessed with money. Their son, Johnny, an 11th-grader with immense potential, struggles to get the grades he’ll need to attend an Ivy League college. After a screaming match with Alexandra, Nico moves himself and Johnny from Palo Alto, California, to his frozen childhood home of Hibbing, Minnesota. The move should help Johnny improve his grades and thus seem more attractive to universities, but Nico loves the freedom from his wife, too. Hibbing also happens to be the hometown of music icon Bob Dylan. Joining the hospital staff, Nico runs afoul of a grouchy nurse anesthetist calling himself Bobby Dylan, who plays Dylan songs twice a week in a bar called Heaven’s Door. As Nico and Johnny settle in, their lives turn around; they even start dating the gorgeous mother/daughter pair of Lena and Echo Johnson. However, when Johnny accidentally impregnates Echo, the lives of the Hibbing transplants start to implode. In true page-turner fashion, first-time novelist Novak gets started by killing soulless Alexandra, which accelerates the downfall of his underdog protagonist now accused of murder. Dialogue is pitch-perfect, and the insults hurled between Nico and his wife are as hilarious as they are hurtful: “Are you my husband, Nico? Or my dependent?” The author’s medical expertise proves central to the plot, and there are a few grisly moments, as when “dark blood percolated” from a patient’s nostrils “like coffee grounds.” Bob Dylan details add quirkiness to what might otherwise be a chilly revenge tale; we’re told, for instance, that Dylan taught “every singer with a less-than-perfect voice…how to sneer and twist off syllables.” Courtroom scenes toward the end crackle with energy, though one scene involving a snowmobile ties up a certain plot thread too neatly. By the end, Nico has rolled with a great many punches.

Nuanced characterization and crafty details help this debut soar.

To reach the Amazon webpage to purchase The Doctor and Mr. Dylan, click on the book image below:

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RICK NOVAK’S BIOGRAPHY

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Before writing The Doctor and Mr. Dylan, Rick Novak worked as a clinical anesthesiologist, medical director, and expert witness in Northern California. Rick was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, the son to a welding foreman and a homemaker. Rick’s mother read two books per week, and Rick developed the same habit, frequently bicycling the four blocks from their home to the public library to pick out new material. He graduated from Hibbing High School in 1972, and was accepted to Harvard College. For his Harvard application essay, Rick wrote a short story about God revealing Himself to two drunks in a Minnesota tavern.

Hibbing High School Auditorium, Hibbing, Minnesota

Rick declined Harvard and enrolled instead at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he received a degree in Chemistry in 1976. From 1973-1977 Rick worked five summers with United States Steel in the iron ore mines near Hibbing. He played on the  United States Junior Men’s Curling championship teams in 1974 and 1975.  

Rick then studied medicine at the University of Chicago School, graduated with an MD in 1980, and moved to California the following day to become an intern at Stanford Hospital.

Stanford University Hospital, Stanford, California

He spent the next thirty-plus years at Stanford, where he served as an intern, a resident in internal medicine, an emergency room faculty member, an anesthesia resident, and finally as an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesia and Deputy Chief of the Anesthesia Department at Stanford.

Rick’s writing career blossomed in the role of Deputy Chief, where he authored a monthly column in the department newsletter. The theme of each essay centered on the differences between the private practice of anesthesia and the university-based teaching practice of anesthesia. He began posting these essays on The Anesthesia Consultant website (theanesthesiaconsultant.com) in 2010. Readership grew, and now hundreds of thousands of people visit the website each year.

Beginning in 2001, Dr. Novak developed an interest in anesthesia medical-legal consultation, a role that drew him into the courtroom as an expert witness.

Rick’s lifelong dream of creating entertaining fiction led him to imagine a story: the plot dealt with an anesthesia complication, a crumbling marriage, a son’s quest for elite college admission, and a courtroom drama, all set in his and Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. Three years of writing and rewriting yielded the manuscript of The Doctor and Mr. Dylan. In 2014, literary agent Anne Devlin believed the story was a winner, and sold the book to its publisher.

Rick continues his work in clinical anesthesia at Stanford Hospital and at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California. He lives with his three sons, Zachary, Theo, and Oliver, and passes on his love of academics and reading to them.

Rick’s second novel, Doctor Vita, was published in 2019. His third novel, Call From the Jailhouse, is due in 2023.