Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Philip Fico. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Philip, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The Primordial Resurgence series has been a passion project of mine for the last 7 years. Paleontology has been a special interest of mine since I was a child. Even as I worked my way through college and veterinary school, I found myself always coming back to dinosaurs. I never stopped keeping up with all of the new discoveries and studies in paleontology, even after I got into clinical practice. Occasionally, I would have an experience with a patient and find myself thinking ‘how would this play out with a dinosaur?’ These daydreams eventually turned themselves into a story and became my science fiction series, ‘Primordial Resurgence.’ This series is about a veterinarian working at a zoo with dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Modern media doesn’t contain very many stories with accurate medicine. There is even less media for the veterinary profession. I wanted to fill this niche with a story that would speak to people. Dinosaurs seemed like the perfect conduit for such a story and seemed like the most logical fit.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
One of my earliest childhood memories is watching ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ on Animal Planet with my father. Steve Irwin’s charisma and love for the natural world permeated every episode of that show. His passion for Mother Nature was infectious. I found myself enthralled with his work and wanted to follow suit. I developed a fascination with the natural world and those creatures within it. This love of wildlife extended towards all creatures, past and present. My parents nurtured this interest of mine with every piece of media and science book they could get me. The American Museum of Natural History and the Bronx Zoo became some of my favorite places to visit.
In high school, I landed a job working at a veterinary clinic as a kennel worker. The doctors of this clinic must have found me terribly annoying because I would constantly bombard them with questions about their patients. Why are we giving this medication? What does this lab value mean? I was obsessed. Upon arriving at university, it was only natural that I enrolled into the pre-med course. I was going to become a veterinarian and help people and animals alike. I would soon find that veterinary school was not easy to get into. At the time I applied, there were only 28 schools between the US and Canada. When the rejection letters started rolling in, I was crushed. It began to seem like my dream was going to continue to be just that. Fortunately, I managed to get into Saint George’s University. Getting that acceptance letter was one of the happiest days of my life. I would be able to make a difference.
Once in clinical practice, I realized how strong the human-animal bond is. There is no greater feeling than being able to treat a patient and send them home purring or wagging their tail. People have a fascination with their pets and often an extremely deep connection. This human-animal bond is at the core of my novel series. ‘Primordial Resurgence’ aims to explore every aspect of humanity’s relationship with the natural world around them by using dinosaurs as a proxy. One of the primary goals of the series is to bring modern paleontology to the masses and teach people about all of the amazing creatures that existed in Earth’s past. Along the way, the reader will also learn about how veterinary medicine works through entertaining scenarios and easy to understand explanations of the physiology at play in different disease processes. The series combines accurate veterinary medicine and modern paleontologic discoveries with horror, in depth characters, suspense and a dose of emotional damage.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me one of the most rewarding things as a creative is having someone you don’t know tell you that they enjoyed your work. Seeing a good review from a total stranger means the world to me. It is so amazing to know that someone out there felt your story spoke to them. When you get a positive response from someone you know, it is hard not to feel like they are just trying to be a good friend. There is a nagging feeling that they may not be giving you their true, unfiltered thoughts because of their attachment to you. When someone doesn’t have that attachment, you know that that is genuine. That is real. When they tell you how your story made them happy or inspired them, there is no better feeling than that as an author.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The hardest part of being a creative is the negative feedback you are inevitably going to receive. It is hard not to get discouraged when you see that dreaded one star review or you see that your sales are down or stagnant for that month. I have learned that you can’t take things personally. Not everyone is going to enjoy your work or appreciate what you are trying to do. That is okay. There is nothing wrong with that. Pushing through and continuing to write and promote yourself after negative feedback can be absolutely dreadful. But if you truly believe in a project, you need to take a deep breath and keep pushing forward. You miss every shot that you don’t take. Progressing forward despite the negativity will open doors for you eventually.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Archosauria2021
Image Credits
Dorrance Publishing Co.