Goodreads asked Wm. Stage:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Wm. Stage My new novel is Creatures On Display, written in 2014-15, and I wrote from deep-immersion experience. The plot in brief: Set in the early 80s, Shaun Malloy, a quirky public health officer with CDC, assigned to the St. Louis STD clinic, is over-worked to the point of burn-out. Routine STDs aside, Malloy and his fellow investigators in the clinic are not prepared when a fatal wasting disease appears and seems to hone in on the city's gay community. Eventually Malloy locks horns with Trey Vonderhaar, a cunning entrepreneur who runs a lucrative, private men's club that caters to the appetites of a privileged class. When official channels of persuasion don't work, Malloy decides to take it upon himself to shut down Vonderhaar's luxury sex hotel and, along with best friend and bondsman Teri Kincaid, isn't above resorting to extreme measures to do so.
You see, I was that public health officer, recruited by CDC and assigned to the city VD clinic from 1978 to 1982, and yes, HIV / AIDS did make its first appearance here during that time. I knew the job was was unique and pretty damn strange so I kept a journal of what transpired both in the clinic and in the field, including screening at gay bars and bath houses. Of course, the job I toiled at for 4.5 years was the jumping off point for the fictional narrative in Creatures, but it definitely brings a realistic feel to the plot.
When I left in July 1982, I began writing this novel, got about 40 pages into it,, then put it aside to start a job as staff writer for a weekly entertainment tabloid here. Put it aside for 30 years. In 2013, I decided to resurrect the unfinished ms. and give it my best shot. I spent several months formulating a new plot, quite different from the previous one, and started writing in earnest. Looking back, I'm glad the book sat on the burner for so long, as I am a much better writer now than I was back then!

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