When asked to provide an author headshot for his new book, “Humans Need Three Hands,” park ranger-turned-author Jaya Drats refused.
“A regular, serious author shot is opposed to what the whole book is about,” said Drats, a 1987 UCLA alumnus. “The book is about homocentrism and about human egos. … If I put my face out there, I would be a hypocrite.”
Called “HN3H” for short, the novel traces the post-graduation life of a young man named Kestrel Falco, who travels to a fictional atoll called Halfway and becomes involved in the protection of wildlife.
Drats said he considers the novel to be literary fiction. “HN3H” borrows events from Drats’ own life, including his years at UCLA, where he studied world arts and cultures, and the seven years he spent as a ranger at the Midway Atoll out in the North Pacific Ocean.
Originally named James Aliberti, Drats came up with his alternate name while taking a Shakespeare course at UCLA. He said he read the word “drats” in many of the plays he came across and formed it into an acronym for his passions – “Dance Rock Avant-Garde Theater Synthesis.”
Although the novel is fiction, small events and interactions from Drats’ life found their way into the novel. Drats recalls one incident in particular where he started talking to two girls near Janss Steps – an episode that he worked into “HN3H” as one of Falco’s experiences.
They talked on the grass near Janss Steps, and after some time the girls asked, “Are you familiar with the Reverend Sun Myung Moon?” – at which point he realized they wanted him to join the cult of the famous Korean religious leader.
Although some events were inspired by Drats’ time at UCLA, the majority of the experiences come from the time on the atoll where Drats worked as a ranger.
“Most of the dialogue is taken verbatim from what I heard people say to me or other people,” he said. “That’s why one of the subtitles is ‘What is fiction?'”
He explained that environmentalism, respect for the rest of the world’s species and human cooperation are the central themes which lend themselves to the book’s title.
“You need three hands,” Drats said. “You can’t do anything by yourself, no matter how ruggedly independent you think you are.”
Marlyn Murcia, owner of the startup publishing company Exaggerist Edutainment, received a query from Drats in the summer of 2012 and decided that she wanted to help promote his work.
“Will human nature destroy nature and humans?” Murcia said. “I thought that was an interesting topic.”
As Drats worked on the novel, he sent chapters to his friend Peter Pyle, who currently works as an ornithologist in the Institute for Bird Populations. The two met at the Midway Atoll in the ’90s, where Pyle was working as a biologist. Much of Pyle’s advice, as well as a character based on Pyle himself, went into the book.
“One of my comments to him was to put a stronger female character,” Pyle said. “So he turned me into a female.”
While Drats had planned this novel for a long time, he turned seriously to writing only after budget cuts forced him to leave his job as a ranger. Although the book is published, he said he still thinks of new plot points to add or segments to edit.
“I had to put the book in the living room, so when I walked from the bedroom to the kitchen I’d remember that the book is done, so I wouldn’t keep thinking of the book or feeling anxiety,” he said.
Drats said he currently has an untitled project in the works as well as a children’s rock opera. He said if “HN3H” takes off, he hopes to record an audio book and even make a film, but for now he wants the book to change readers’ relationship to the world around them.
“I’m hoping this book will have an earth-shattering effect,” Drats said. “The next step of enlightenment is to realize that everything we’re doing affects the other species on the planet. I’m hoping people will rethink everything they do.”