Bio of Dr. David Gelber.

Dr. David Gelber is a General and Vascular Surgeon practicing in Southeast Harris County since November 1990. He is a senior partner with Coastal Surgical Group. Dr. Gelber was born in 1958 in upstate New York, the seventh of nine boys. He attended college at Johns Hopkins University and medical school at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, graduating in 1984.

Training in general and vascular surgery started at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas and completed in 1989 at Nassau County Medical Center on Long Island in New York.

As a partner in Coastal Surgical Group he has practiced in the Southeast Houston area for more than eighteen years. He has served as Chairman of the Department of Surgery and as President of the Medical Staff at Bayshore Medical Center in Pasadena Texas. He was recently named one of America’s Top Docs for 2008 by physician rating service Castle Connolly.

He is married with three teenage children, four dogs and twenty four birds.

He began writing in 2006 and released his first novel ITP: Future Hope in January of this year.

                                                     Dr. Gelber is interviewed by fellow author Brandon Barr

Today we're interviewing writer (and surgeon) David Gelber, author of the science fiction novel, Future Hope.

First off, I dig the cover on this book. The old fashioned 1930's version of a spaceship is sleek, nostalgic and beautiful. Something about that old science fiction art that was completely free to imagine wild starship designs (not to mention strange monsters living on mars and whole universe of adventure). The reality wasn't quite so captivating--artistically that is--in my opinion. The moon just a bunch of dust and rock? No crater creatures?

Anyways, onward to the interview!

BB: Hey David, nice to have you on the Christian sci-fi blog. Tell us about yourself.

David: My day job is as a surgeon practicing in the Houston Texas area. I was raised in upstate New York, number seven of nine sons. WE were a secular Jewish family. I became Christian at age forty. Christianity struck me as the natural extension of Judaism; really the fulfillment of the Jewish religion. I am married to a wonderful woman, (almost 25 years) and have three teenage children.

BB: When and why did you start writing fiction, and what stories have inspired you most?

David: I started writing in 2006. I had done a little bit of writing in high school and college and thought of becoming a writer, but I decided to take the easy way out and so I became a surgeon. My favorite writers and those that influenced me the most are Dickens and Hugo, particularly “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Les Miserables”

BB: Your novel, Future Hope, has a beautiful cover, how did you come by it?

David: The idea of depicting a spaceship rocketing towards the Garden of Eden came from the cover designer for the original version of the book. The design was modified by the graphic artists at Greenleaf Bookgroup to its present presentation.

BB: Is Future Hope your first book? Did you write anything before Future Hope? Short stories?

David: Future Hope is the first thing I had written in probably thirty five years. I had the idea for the story and some of the characters kicking around in my head for years before I finally put it down on paper. Since then I’ve written a sequel “Joshua and Aaron” and I have about twenty essays that are posted on my blog “heardintheor.blogspot.com”. There’s also a few chapters of “Little Bit’s Story” on my web site. I’m slowly working on this story and posting chapters at www.itpfuturehope.com.

BB: What's Future Hope about?

David: Future Hope starts with two quotes from Genesis, the first God addressing Adam and Eve forbidding them to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of  Good and Evil and the second Satan tempting Adam and Eve. The story, as all of humanity’s history can be viewed, depicts the culmination of this struggle between good and evil. Set in the year 2156 the world of that time has solved most of the problems of disease, hunger etc, but at the price of eliminating God and religion from society. The problem of dwindling resources leads to the first voyage through Interdimensional space looking for new worlds to colonize. The pilot, Major David Sanders, ends up in the Garden of Eden, but one where mankind never suffered the Fall. The story follows his struggle to return to earth, a struggle that leaves him a very changed man. The basic question that arises is “Which is better? God’s ways or man’s ways. It is left to the reader to decide.

BB: Your novel is cited as "eco-friendly". How does environment play into your plot?

David: The earth of the future is being depleted, while Eden is a rich, lush garden. There is a message that the depletion of natural resources comes with a great price.

BB: What was your journey to publication for this novel? Any speed bumps? How did you finally get the novel published?

David: I originally self published and then had it published through Greenleaf Book Group. My father, who is almost 95, really enjoyed it and I wanted to have it published while he was still able to read it.

BB: From your perspective, why do you think Christian sci-fi, fantasy, and other "speculative" sub-genres aren't well represented in the Christian community?

David: I think there is a perception that such genres cannot coexist with Christian values, an idea that is certainly false. Future Hope is definitely Christian, but is not whitewashed of any of its “edgy” components.

BB: Now's your time to stand up on a soap box and offer any sage-like thoughts. Is there anything cultural, political, literary, philosophical, or otherwise that's heavy on your heart?

David: The history of mankind can be viewed as a race either towards or away from salvation. When mankind suffered the Fall they chose Satan and a desire to “be like God” over a future walking with God. God has been gracious to send his Son to live and die for us through the Cross. The message of  “Future Hope” is that a world heading at light speed away from God will end up desperate and deprived. The true future hope is the hope that we have in Christ.