Author Steven Verney is interviewed by Dr. Cathy Gorini, Dean of Faculty at M.U.M. on the KHOE radio program “A Chat with the Dean.” Titled “The Best of all Possible Worlds” Steven Verney’s novel is based on his experiences as a teacher of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi‘s Transcendental Meditation.
Steven sprinkles gems of Maharishi’s knowledge before the reader along with threads of life-changing experiences many teachers of TM will relate to while going about the business of bringing enlightenment to the individual and the world and balancing life in the “real world.” Readers have found it difficult to put down this well-written book.
Steven is at work on his second book, about a lama that got away. The main protagonist is also a philosophy professor. I’ve read an excerpt and can’t wait to see the book when it comes out. If it’s anything like his first one, which I thoroughly enjoyed, then we’re in for another treat!
Monica Hadley and Caroline Kilbourn are delighted to welcome first-time novelist and former MIU student B. Steven Verney to KRUU 100.1 FM and Writers’ Voices, as he returns to Fairfield from his home in Massachusetts to join in the festivities of the MUM Literature Reunion being held this weekend, August 30 – September 2. See the press release: MUM Celebrates Literature Reunion 2013.*
In “The Best of All Possible Worlds,” published May 2012, Verney combines story-telling, philosophy, and the history of the TM movement into a unique and engaging novel. Anyone who attended TM teacher training courses in Switzerland or learned to meditate at Amherst in the early 70’s may just recognize pieces of their own personal history in this novel, while younger meditators, and even non-meditators with no connection to those events, will get a much deeper perspective of what all the fuss was about. This interview aired live, Fri Aug 30 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm and replayed, Mon Sep 02 8:00 am – 9:00 am.
If you missed listening to B. Steven Verney interviewed by Monica and Caroline on Writers’ Voices, it is now archived http://kruufm.com/node/16313. You can also download the 58-minute interview: 20130830-Steven Verney.mp3 (53MB). It was wonderful, and some fascinating stories came out in the discussion.
If you went to MIU, Bruce Verney, as he was known back then, was student body president and won the Enlightened Leadership Award. He graduated in 1981 in Philosophy and married fellow student Kay Noble the following year. For the next 24 years, Steve and Kay started and operated three different businesses while raising their two sons. They’ve resided in New Salem, MA and currently live in Wellfleet, MA. This is his first novel.
I highly recommend the book. It won’t disappoint. The ending is mind-blowing! Steven said it took him 18 months to get the first draft down, and 3 years to revise and shape it, with some help from an editor, who curiously enough, turned out to be the person who had taught him Transcendental Meditation in Cambridge, MA decades earlier!
Although Steve is now writing his second novel, this first one is finally taking on a life of its own. David Lynch loved it and gave Steven a quote to help promote the book. “This book captures the thrill and magic of the spiritual path and how things make more and more sense the bigger the picture gets.” — David Lynch, Filmaker
The book will no doubt spread by word of mouth. George Ellis, author of A Symphony of Silence: An Enlightened Vision, said it should be turned into a screenplay. I agree. It’s destined to become a classic. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more of B. Steven Verney.
