Paralyzed and in a wheelchair since 1992, David Thatcher Wilson finds travel difficult, so often the places he writes about he has not seen firsthand. He counts on his research skills to make up for this and does it well enough that he’s had another author ask him (for his book SCAM) how he was able to write so clearly, in this case about Haiti and Vodou, as a “white middle-class American who’s never been there.)

The old maxim about “write what you know” just does not apply to his works of fiction, but, after all, how many people do “know” Vodou, Santeria, New Age, Wicca, Rootwork, professional pocket picking, mortuary science, and such to write about it? But Wilson feels an obligation to his readers to ensure that what he writes, no matter how esoteric, is correct and educational. Thus, the research and the interviews with those who do have the hands-on experience.

“It’s research and prayer,” says Wilson.