Lon Wagner is a former journalist whose editors twice nominated his work for the Pulitzer Prize, including once for a fourteen-part series about the 1855 yellow fever epidemic. His other distinctions include multiple national feature writing awards, Virginia Press Association awards, and National Motorsports Writer of the Year. He graduated the University of Delaware with a degree in English and journalism and obtained a master’s of science degree in applied linguistics from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He has three daughters and lives in Roanoke, Virginia, where he enjoys daily hikes in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
In the summer of 1855, the nation cast its eyes on the working-class port of Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. A ship named the Benjamin Franklin had steamed in from the West Indies harbor of St. Thomas—where yellow fever had hopped from ship to ship that winter—and tied up at a dock for repairs.
The ship unleashed the seeds of an epidemic on an unsuspecting population, and it didn’t take long for the first victims of yellow fever to fall. In the 100 days from late June 1855 until the first frost quelled the mosquito population, residents of the two cities confronted an unknown and unseen airborne stalker that killed one of every three people. The Fever is the never-before-told story of the deadliest epidemic in American history. It’s the story of a summer when the only things that mattered were life and death.
1. Why write this book? What inspired you? And why were you, perhaps, the person compelled to write it?
I wrote the book for two main reasons. The first is the story: Once I learned about what happened in the two Virginia cities in 1855, I could hardly believe that something this devastating had occurred, and very few people knew about it. Many locals knew a tiny bit about it, but very few understood the extent of the suffering. Few realized that this rarely covered part of the US was the nation’s focus during that summer, much like all eyes were on New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina or Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. Norfolk and Portsmouth always seem to be a small part of someone else’s story, and it was time they got their own central role—even in a tragic story.
The second reason was for my three daughters. They had seen me lug around bins full of research for many years, and I wanted to set an example for them, follow through, and write the damn book.
2. What has the reader response been to your book, The Fever? What feedback have you received? Why do you think that is?
The reader response has been both excellent and, so far, not as widespread as I had hoped—but I’m still working on it. John Koehler has addressed me as “Mr. Impatient.” I am delighted that for several weeks the book was ranked number 1 on Amazon in the subcategories of Infectious Disease, Viral Diseases, Communicable Diseases, and Diseases. A lot of readers seem pleasantly surprised that a true history book is also a gripping story. A colleague said it “is like reading a movie.” An Amazon reviewer titled it “a stupendous page turner.” Still, I want to find a way for more people to get hooked.
3. What is your advice to young or new writers embarking upon the journey of book writing? Do you recommend an outline or schedule? What was your process like to write it?
My advice would be to—as a newspaper editor used to say—“start typing and keep typing.” I created a chapter-by-chapter outline, had stacks of file folders, and labeled the research I needed for each chapter. I have a full-time and busy “real job” during the day, so I generally wrote every weekday, beginning at about 5:30 a.m., for a couple of hours, and weekend mornings up until about 11 a.m. or noon. I kept a string of Sticky Notes taped to the side of my monitor and wrote down the date and my starting and ending word count each day—either for satisfaction or negative motivation, depending on the progress that day.
4. Authors often suggest different avenues in the way of marketing. Can you explain what has worked for you? Where did you begin? What are your goals when it comes to selling books?
Well, I was a journalist for twenty-some years, so I understand news and what kind of pitch is going to land with media. I wanted to pepper the Norfolk and Virginia Beach areas with coverage, so I pitched all the major media. I got coverage in the newspaper, two of the three main TV stations, and two radio stations. I also got coverage in my hometown, Roanoke, Virginia, under the hook “local author.” I now want to fan out and get coverage in other cities that play a role in the story: Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, etc. My goal is to sell whatever people consider a lot of books for an author without an agent at an independent publisher. I hope to get an agent for the next one.
5. Publishing your work can be challenging. What would you describe as the most difficult part of the publishing experience, and what was the most fun or exciting part?
It’s been an eye-opener that writing the book was “easy” compared to the work to promote it. If I didn’t have a full-time job, I would be doing hours of outreach every day to promote the book. The most exciting part was the day Koehler said their editors were bullish on the book. It was hard to believe after all these years that it was going to be published. It’s really gratifying to be able to say I’m a published book author.
6. Borrowing from Work In Progress, Sophia Bush’s podcast, what can you describe as a work in progress in your life?
If we’re doing it right, we’re all a work in progress. Over the past seven years, I’ve gone through a painful divorce, learned to be a single parent to three girls (half the time), had some wrenching and humorous dating experiences as an, um, “older” man, dealt with my dad wasting away with Alzheimer’s, gotten engaged to the love of my life, and written this book. One thing’s for sure: I’m living life.