A Savage Conversation

I first published Frank Bill in the BEAT to a PULP webzine back in 2009, and have had the pleasure to do so a few more times in the years that followed. From the start, I was taken with the intensity of Frank’s characters; individuals living on the fringe of society, who, often through no fault of their own, are reduced to primitive survival. He doesn’t pass judgment on these creations; instead he props them up, warts and all, showcasing the driving powers behind desperation. His latest, The Savage, continues this raw vision.

Over the years, I’ve stayed in contact with Frank—email here, direct message there—but this interview caught me up to date, finding the Indiana writer on the cusp of new ventures as his debut novel Donnybrook is being made into a movie, currently in production by director Tim Sutton. The starry light of Hollywood’s call hasn’t changed him a bit. This back and forth Q&A took a few weeks while working around the intersection of Frank’s competing schedules: a blue-collar job where he slogs the night shift, training for the run of his life, and his writing pursuits. He remains as candid and humble as ever.

Here's my conversation with Frank at LitReactor.

Interrogation

I'm publishing Glenn Gray's next book Transgemination and he talks about that and a lot more in this interview with S.W. Lauden.

A Broken Interview

Today, I'm beginning an interview with author Court Merrigan ahead of THE BROKEN COUNTRY's release on May 16th—our back and forth will be posted on Macmillan's Criminal Element site. And the ebook pre-order is available now and print to follow soon.

Interview: David Cranmer (That's Me!)

Interview: David Cranmer

Q&A Time

I caught up with an old buddy and asked a few questions...

Drinking with Nilsson, Freaking out Mork, and the Nature of the Beast: Paul D. Marks Interview

Paul D. Marks pulled a gun on the LAPD and lived to tell about it, which makes him uniquely qualified to write noir and mystery fiction. He is the author of the Shamus Award-Winning noir mystery-thriller White Heat. Publishers Weekly calls White Heat a "taut crime yarn." His story "Howling at the Moon" (EQMM 11/14) was short-listed for both the 2015 Anthony and Macavity Awards for Best Short Story, and came in #7 in Ellery Queen's Reader's Poll Award. Midwest Review calls Vortex, Paul's new noir novella, "… a nonstop staccato action noir." He also co-edited the anthology Coast to Coast: Murder from Sea to Shining Sea. His short story "Deserted Cities of the Heart" will appear in Akashic Books' St. Louis Noir anthology, due out in summer 2016, and "Ghosts of Bunker Hill" will be in an upcoming issue of Ellery Queen.

David Cranmer: We are both devoted students of Ross Macdonald. Why do you return to his novels again and again?

Paul D. Marks: I've read all the Lew Archer novels twice and some of them three times. In fact, it's funny you ask, 'cause I'm in the middle of one now. I spent the last year reading/judging for the Edgars and that pretty much took up all my free reading time. Now that I'm free, I wanted something familiar and that I knew I'd like, so I jumped on Macdonald. Sort of "comfort food" for the mind.

Now to your specific question, why do I return to them: I think they say something about life and our lives in America in particular. Lots of people write good mysteries and noir/crime fiction. But the Archer novels are fast paced and carry on Chandler's tradition. They also delve deeper into the psychological aspects of the characters and the stories twist back and forth on each other. There's always something that happened years ago that led to what's happening today, often someone missing...or dead, that Archer has to find or sort out. In Macdonald, the past always affects the present and always comes back to bite you. That's something I relate to and, as someone who's a living testament to the past affecting the present, this appeals to me. I think we're all affected by our pasts, our childhoods, things we did as adults that we wish we hadn't, etc. I think people who say that the past doesn't affect them are probably in denial or very out of touch with themselves. So maybe that-the past is prologue-is one of the reasons I like his books.

In The Instant Enemy, he says, "The past was filling the room like a tide of whispers," and it does, doesn't it?

He also has good insights into human nature, how people behave, become who they are, etc. Too much to go into here. But here's another quote, from The Moving Target, that I think plays to that: "I used to think the world was divided into good people and bad people, that you could pin responsibility for evil on certain definite people and punish the guilty. I'm still going through the motions."-And aren't we still going through the motions?

DC: Tell me of your passion for La La Land. Is it more nostalgic? Bittersweet?

PDM: La La Land-Los Angeles-is a lot of things to me. Yes, nostalgic and bittersweet, because it's my hometown. But more than anything, it's the End of the Road, literally and figuratively.

Route 66 ends near the Santa Monica Pier and you can't go much farther west than that without crashing into the Pacific Ocean, which is sort of what happens in my short story Free Fall. Rick heads west after separating from the service. He meets Gloria (an homage to Gloria Grahame), who steals his heart and everything else he has. In the end, he might have been better off driving his motorcycle off the pier into the ocean. But he's like so many others who come here hoping for a new start that sometimes works out and often doesn't. Ditto for the female main character in my story Endless Vacation, who came to LA with stars in her eyes-and dreams of making it in Hollywood. But who ends up with a spike in her arm, dead in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where everyone from Tyrone Power and Jayne Mansfield to Dee Dee Ramone is buried. And where they show movies on the mausoleum wall on summer evenings, while people sit on graves munching their brie and wine, as shown in my satirical story Continental Tilt.

So Los Angeles is the last stop for many people. They head out here with stars in their eyes, thinking the streets are paved with gold. They often come for Hollywood, or should I say HOLLYWOOD. But they end up working as servers in restaurants or low-end fringy Hollywood jobs. Everybody thinks they're going to be a star, but few make it. So there's something about that proverbial story of people coming here to renew themselves, reinvent themselves that I find fascinating, especially when it doesn't quite work out the way they'd hoped.

And part of it is that I grew up here and my family, at least on my mom's side, goes back a ways. So LA is part of me, part of who I am. It's another friend, relative, antagonist in my life. When I was in college people used to joke that I was one of the few LA natives they knew. Everybody seemed to be from somewhere else, so there is some pride in being from LA. But it's a love-hate relationship with the city.

DC: You have met a number of celebrities. Care to share some of your more memorable encounters?

PDM: Well, I've met a bunch of people through my former job. And when I was starting out as a writer I would do just about anything to get noticed, like write or call people at home if I could get their addresses. I wouldn't do these things today because you'd probably get arrested or at least have a restraining order slapped on you.

And except for one, I'll keep it to dead celebs. Unfortunately, I never met any of the major film noir icons like Bogart, Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott. I did have close encounters of the first kind with Cary Grant and Gene Kelly, but since I've told those stories several times maybe people can just check them out on my website: http://pauldmarks.com/cary-grant-gene-kelly/ . The Cary Grant story, in particular, has an ironic punchline.

I did spend a hard days' night drinking with Harry Nilsson. But to be honest I don't remember a lot about it, see, we were drinking. Hardcore. But I don't remember what we drank, though I doubt it had anything to do with limes and coconuts. What I do remember is him talking a lot about John Lennon and his death. He was very pissed off about it.

And not a star, but a friend of mine knew a friend of Joan Crawford's. I think he was her publicist, but I can't remember for sure at this point. So she took me to his house in Beverly Hills and it was like a shrine or museum to Crawford. He had her dresses displayed on the walls, like in a museum. And all kinds of other little gimcracks of hers. Everywhere you looked were echoes of JC. It was a trip and kind of spooky in a "Sunset Boulevard," preserved-in-formaldehyde way.

I did have an interesting encounter with Robin Williams. I was visiting a friend on the set of "Mork and Mindy" during a rehearsal and I freaked out Robin Williams. They were blocking. No audience. I was the only stranger there, someone he didn't recognize. He was nervous seeing a stranger on the set, having had some trouble with the tabloids.

He asked me if I worked for the National Enquirer. Strange question, I thought. But I can give as well as receive, "Yes," I said, joking. He freaked, though he didn't get nasty or anything like that, just uptight. I finally told him I was kidding. After the rehearsal he apologized. It was fun kidding the kidder though.

I'm also an unrepentant Beatles fan, so shoot me. And I have a friend who said she could get backstage passes for Paul McCartney. So a couple/few years ago I asked her if she could. And she did. So my wife and I got to go backstage, meet everyone and hang out. I'm not really star-struck, but that was a kick! I'll never wash this hand again.

DC: I always thought Abbey Road was their finest effort followed by the eclectic White Album. Your top picks?

PDM: I agree with you that Abbey Road is their best album and I love it. But it's not my favorite album. Until a few years ago I would have said that the American version of Rubber Soul was my favorite. All the songs have the same feeling and sound and it just flows. The British Rubber Soul has What Goes On and I think it ruins the mood to have a country-western song in the mix. It also has Drive My Car, which I like, but again I don't think it works with the other Rubber Soul songs in terms of tone and neither of those are on the American version. Nowhere Man, a great song, is also from that time frame and probably would have been on the American album, but since it was a single was left off. It is, however, on the British album. So I made a playlist of the Rubber Soul that I wanted, which was the American version of the album plus Nowhere Man and minus What Goes On and Drive My Car. It's perfect!

But in the last several years I've added the British Revolver as tied for my favorite with RS. I think Revolver is really the breakthrough album that people say Sgt. Pepper is. Revolver is where they hit their experimental stride and changed everything - and the songs are great. Songs like She Said She Said, I'm Only Sleeping, Tomorrow Never Knows and Eleanor Rigby. Unfortunately Capitol left some of the good songs off of the American version, like And Your Bird Can Sing (despite what John said about it in his hating-the-Beatles-days phase) and I'm Only Sleeping. Which kind of changes the album. So in this case overall I prefer the British version. And during this time they also recorded Rain and Paperback Writer (also experimental in their own ways), which were again left off the album since they were on a single. So I made my Revolver playlist, adding those two songs in, along with Drive My Car (from the English Rubber Soul), which I think fits the tone of Revolver better than Rubber Soul. I know some people will argue these points, but I'm happy.

My two fave Beatles songs are She Loves You, both because it's so identified with their early phase and is a fun song, and Strawberry Fields - neither of which are on either Rubber Soul or Revolver. But pretty much I like everything they did.

DC: Are any of your characters based on people that you've known?

PDM: Most of my characters are based on people I've known, see or saw in daily life or based on me in part, things I saw or did, thought and felt. Some of them are simply based on observations of people I see here or there, or apropos of the above question, here, there and everywhere. For example, I was in the original Barney's Beanery, a famous LA dive and two guys were playing pool, got into a fight. Beer flying. Pool cues cracking. It ended up as a scene in something I was working on. Both my lead and secondary characters are based on people I've known through the years. But more likely than not they're composites. And then there's part of a name here or there, from people I've known. Bad guys are often based on people I, uh, don't like...

Now for Nature of the Beast I'm not saying I do or don't know any hitmen. But either way, the character of Jack Lake, the hitman, is based on the experiences and world outlooks of people I've known over the years, as well as on parts of my own experiences (and no, I'm not a hitman). We extrapolate traits, characteristics and motivations for characters from our own lives or the lives of people we've known or have come across, even if the characters are different in some ways from the real people. So you can take character traits from anyone and insert them into any character that they'll work for. I may not know any hitmen, but I know some hard people and so their traits make it into Jack.

DC: Are there certain aspects of writing a story that's difficult?

PDM: Making the transition from screenwriting to prose writing caused me some problems. Movies and screenwriting are visual in nature, but there's not a lot of description or getting into characters' heads. When I wrote my first novel (still unpublished and based on a screenplay I'd optioned several times but that was never produced) people who read it said, "It reads like a screenplay," not a good thing. Also, in screenplays you basically cut or dissolve from one scene to another. So transitions were another thing I had to work on. And then there's description. In a script you basically say: EXT. BEACH - DAY and don't have much description of it unless there's something significant that needs pointing out. You're not talking about the glorious colors of the sunset, etc. But in a novel you might want to describe the beach, say what the character/s are thinking, etc. I think I'm better at it now, but still learning as I go.

Another problem I had coming from there was using the omniscient POV. In most screenplays/movies you jump around, see everything from all points of view. So initially I did that in my prose writing. I think I have that pretty much sorted out now, though I might shift POV here and there but in different sections of a story or chapters of a novel. Not all in the same section.

Other than that, writing is hell. Like Hemingway or Red Smith, or one of the many other people this quote is attributed to, said, "Writing Is Easy; You Just Open a Vein and Bleed." But It's Alright, Ma I'm Only Bleeding.

DC: Is it true you were the last person to have shot a film on the MGM back lot? What was that all about?

PDM: Well, I didn't say that. Steven Bingen, one of the authors of MGM: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot, said it about me. And I think it's cool...sort of. But a dubious distinction. In its heyday MGM had, I believe, five backlots in Culver City (part of the greater Los Angeles area). They sold them off over the years and they were developed for housing. The one remaining backlot (gone now too), separate from the main lot where the offices and soundstages were, was Backlot #2.

I was doing a musical (about as far from noir as you can get; but on a more noir level, I did pull a gun on the LAPD and lived to tell about, but that's another story...) - and when you think of musicals you think of MGM. Of course, it wasn't what it was in its prime. And we didn't exactly have an MGM musical style budget. But I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. Kind of like asking someone out on a date - what's the worst they could do, say no. But they said yes. During part of the time we were there Dino de Laurentis was also filming his version of King Kong with Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange. They'd built this huge wall. It was pretty cool. Some of our people hung out with their crew during down times and I took a torch from their set, which I still have. My celebrity torch.

But it was also cool to be on the backlot and film on the same streets and places where Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney and Jimmy Stewart and so many others walked. I know one of the sets we used was in Philadelphia Story and another in Singin' in the Rain. Anyway it was fun, and now I'm infamous as the person who shut the lot down and turned off the lights on the way out.

On God, the French, and Orson: Jake Hinkson Interview

As far as many are concerned Jake Hinkson is the finest noir writer of his generation. From his searing debut, Hell on Church Street, to scorchers like The Posthumous Man and The Big Ugly. Lou Boxer (co-founder of NoirCon) stated, "Keep an eye on Jake Hinkson. He's taking the notion of the sacred and the profane to an entirely new level in noir."

David Cranmer: Is there anything you've ever wanted to be besides a writer?

Jake Hinkson: Not really. I have no other skill. I come from a line of people who either work with their hands or preach (or, sometimes, both). I did construction, and I sucked at it. So maybe I'd be a preacher. If I wasn't a heathen, I probably would have made a pretty fair preacher.

But, no, I never actively wanted to do anything else. I started writing stories as a kid, and I just never stopped.

DC: As a heathen (Merriam Webster defines in part, "not belonging to a widely held religion") do you leave open the door that we may have been dropped off by aliens--some celestial helping hand--or is it straightforward The Big Bang Theory?

JH: To paraphrase what God told Job: who knows?

DC: Have you matured as a writer since your debut, Hell on Church Street?

JH: Oh man. That's for other people to say, I guess. One of the truest things I ever heard about writing is that the more you write the harder it gets. Maybe it doesn't work that way for other people, but it's worked that way for me. You learn from your mistakes, but you also see more mistakes. I've written entire books that will never see the light of day. Those are costly mistakes to learn from.

DC: What was your impression of France?

JH: France was amazing. I can't speak highly enough of the people I met and the incredibly warm reception I got when I was there. We did a seven city book tour, and everyone was so kind to me. I met hundreds of people. It was crazy. They seemed to really love Hell on Church Street and were eager to read The Posthumous Man. It's downright bizarre to be far more well known in France than I am in America-than I am in my home state of Arkansas-but there you are. For some reason, my work has caught on overseas. Who the hell would have ever predicted that?

DC: France has a history of seeing talent we Americans overlook or take for granted. Phillip K. Dick was a good example of our occasional myopic deficiencies. Could you see yourself locating there if that enthusiasm considers to soar?

JH: To your point, the French were the ones who looked at our dimestore pulp novels and our cheapie B movies and said, "This is something unique called noir." Their ideas about noir, in turn, had huge influence on us here. So noir, at least originally, was the result of a French interpretation of an American phenomenon. And I have to tell you, I was shocked at how big noir is in France. Noir stuff there is what SciFi/Fantasy/ Superhero stuff is here. First off, reading is the national pastime in France, so there are bookstores everywhere. (Bookselling is so big there that people go to college to study to become booksellers. Selling books is a career in France, not just a job.) And when you walk into a bookstore half the store is crime stuff. HALF. There are two kinds of books there: noir and blanc. Noir is crime stuff. Blanc is everything else. So, in short, France is like heaven for a crime writer.

Would I move there? I don't know. I absolutely had the time of my life there, and I can't wait to go back when we release the French version of The Posthumous Man. I can tell you, though, that I never felt more American than when I was in France, which, funny enough, only made me love France all the more. So I don't know. There's been some vague talk of maybe going over at some point to do a residency at a college or something. I wouldn't rule out, but it would be a pretty big move. I'm not sure how long I could go without an America-sized cup of coffee.

DC: Michael Kronenberg has done an exceptional makeover to The Posthumous Man cover. Where did you first meet this gifted graphic designer and artist?

JH: Oh man, who is better than Kronenberg? I first became aware of Michael through his work as the designer for Eddie Muller's magazine Noir City. I write articles for them, and Michael's layouts for my pieces were just fantastic. We met and became fast friends. He's now designed covers for three of my books: The Big Ugly, No Tomorrow, and, now, the revamp of The Posthumous Man. Kronenberg is the best.

DC: Here's a wild card last question: like me, you are an aficionado of Orson Welles. Which one of his films do you like best and why?

JH: Welles is my great obsession. Maybe for that reason, it's hard for me to pick just one of his movies and call it my favorite. Citizen Kane is a movie unto itself, of course. There's nothing else like it. Falstaff is his most beautiful, most virtuosic, most moving film. I think it's probably his masterpiece. But to answer your question, let me pick a dark horse, a movie that not enough people talk about: The Trial. It's not for every taste-it's sort of film noir meets European art house with the heart of a dark absurdist comedy--but I love it. It's the Welles film that I've returned to over and over again the last few years. I love the world he creates in that film. It's its own closed universe.

A Conversation with Icy Sedgwick

David Cranmer: I have to confess I haven’t seen too many Western films of late though I’ve heard The Hateful Eight and Bone Tomahawk are continuing proof that the Western remains a viable presence on the big screen. Have you seen them or any other movies worth noting?

Icy Sedgwick: I'd highly recommend The Hateful Eight - I saw it on opening day in the UK and I was so impressed! I also saw Slow West last year, which was a quiet sort of Western, and it's also useful to note how different the contemporary Westerns are compared to the classic films people are used to. Gone are the spats between outlaws and local lawmen, or cowboys out on the trail - the newer Westerns are more bloody, yes, but they're less black-and-white about who is good, and who is bad. Good guys have their dark sides, and bad guys have their own motivations. A lot of people still seem to decry the Western and I think a lot of that is part of the legacy of John Wayne; the modern films are a lot more nuanced, and they're more like historical dramas that are just set in the Old West.

DC: In your latest novel To Kill A Dead Man your character Grey O’Donnell is definitely cut from this new and improved cloth. Where did the idea for him originate?

Icy: A long time ago I'd had an idea to do a John Constantine-style character set in the old West, but I never really did anything with the idea. When I was approached and asked to write The Guns of Retribution, Grey was originally an outlaw, but it didn't sit well with the way he treated people or conducted his business, so his job changed. When I decided to write To Kill A Dead Man, I remembered my old idea for supernatural shenanigans in the old West and decided to give Grey something new to do!

DC: Even though you didn't set out to write a series character you have a very colorful one in Grey. Any plans on continuing him on in further adventures? And if so would they also be supernatural offerings?

Icy: I have ideas for at least two more adventures; one of them will definitely be supernatural in nature but the other one may be more Gothic and 'monster' related! Eventually I'd like to involve Grey with more indigenous myths and folklore, but I'll see how the next couple of stories go.

DC: Do you need complete isolation to write or could you write in a café, bookstore, etc.

Icy: I often write on my laptop in the living room while someone else is watching the TV. I do put music on, but that's more to get myself into the mood of whatever it is I'm writing - film soundtracks are good. I don't like writing in cafes because I tend to get distracted by people watching, but I sometimes write on my lunchbreak at work. I find some kind of background distraction helps me to focus a lot better than total silence or isolation would. I keep dreaming of going off on a writing break but I know I'd get no writing done!

DC: Can you dismiss whatever writing project you’re on when you’re away from the keyboard?

Icy: Lord no. Even if I'm not consciously thinking about it, some level of my brain is still smoothing out plot points, rounding off characters, or coming up with ideas. Then without warning they bubble to the surface and I have to write it down while I remember! I think it's important to not struggle with the project - you can overthink things, but if you let your brain just get on with it while you're doing something else, then you're always working on it, even if you're not actually typing.

DC: Your website is called The Cabinet of Curiosities. Besides writing what takes up a great deal of your free time?

Icy: I'm working on my PhD, which does entail a lot of writing but it's also research focused, so I spend a lot of time reading books on horror cinema, ghost stories and set design. I also like to sketch and paint, and I knit up a storm while I'm watching TV. That's not always the best idea - I got so wrapped up in the second season of Penny Dreadful that I forgot where I was up to and had to undo sixteen rows of a hat!

DC: What was the last great book you have read.

Icy: I just read Stephen King's Misery for the first time and while I prefer the film, few people do characterisation like King. Even when his plots occasionally get a bit wobbly, the way he puts his characters together just carries them. I don't think I'll enjoy any of his books as much as I enjoy The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and some of his short stories are phenomenal, but I consider much of his writing to be a sort of writing masterclass.

Hero of Mine

A Visit With Wayne D. Dundee.

All Due Respect Issue #3

That's right--we've got another dose of goodness and badness for all the crime fiction people out there. ADR 3 one features one of my favorite authors, Jake Hinkson, whose has a new book from Crime Factory titled Saint Homicide. Plus fiction by Angel Luis Colon, Patti Abbott, Jessica Adams, Mike McCrary, Chris Leek, Rob Hart, Alec Cizak, and Jen Conley. And an interview with BEAT to a PULP publisher David Cranmer. And a whole bunch of reviews. --Chris Rhatigan

A Conversation with Steve Weddle @ the Sunset Blvd

It’s 4:45 in the afternoon, and a handful of barflies are enjoying the cheapest beer on tap at the Sunset Blvd cyber bar. I’m here to meet Steve Weddle, and I recognize him immediately by the flame of red hair and matching beard. I wave and head over to the table in the far corner, hailing the waitress on the way. Sometimes I wonder why I come here with the ‘Ms. Fiorentino’ barmaid’s saucy I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude (appropriately Lizabeth Scott, 1945), and her preference for watching the barking clowns of reality TV shows and listening to the sugary beats of pop music … all of it tilts me the wrong way. But the dive atmosphere is pitch perfect, and I find I’m able to drown out the blaring Auto-Tuned vocals of Miley Cyrus with the sounds in my head of Thelonius Monk’s fingers be-bopping across 88 keys in seamless harmony.

I sit down and ask for my usual Sam Adams. Steve orders a “Jack Daniel’s. No ice. No water. No umbrella.”

I grin at his sense of humor, “So glad you had some time to spare, Steve, before you gotta get back to Virginia. You know, I’ve worked out of the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area for a long time. When I first went there in ‘97, a place like Front Royal or Warrenton was still rather quiet … not the same bustle of the DC metro area. Last year as I drove through, the sprawl had already snapped them up. I guess that’s progress, right?”

Steve rubs his beard, which, honest to holy, is the brightest crimson I’ve ever seen up close. “Just so happens that we were in Warrenton yesterday for a family event. We stopped in the old downtown where my wife went to the knitting store, while I sat in the coffee shop next door and ate some butternut squash soup while I read the paper. The last time we were there, my son and I went to a used bookstore in the basement of some government building, while my wife and daughter hit antiques and crafts stores at the other end of town. I ended up with an old paperback ‘Making of Indiana Jones’ that I promptly mailed to Jay Stringer. Also, I now have one of those cool tweedy caps that the good guys wear in the Inspector Morse mysteries. And yet, they are a sprawling town, aren’t they? A few miles from the little Irish pub downtown you can find a huge grocery store right across the eight-lane from a huge grocery store. Office Max and Office Depot, I’d imagine, are also nearby. That’s the sort of area where you could walk from Chili’s to Applebee’s to Ruby Tuesday’s, if you wanted. Not that anyone in that strip mall area walks anywhere except from car to the automatic doors of Five Below.

“On the way home, we drove through Culpeper, stopping at a Super Target for electronics we didn’t need and a four-pack of fat-free Greek yogurt.

“I like being able to get fresh spinach-feta bread in a downtown coffee shop and a $6 bag of socks on the edge of town. For me, it’s good planning. Like keeping your living space beautiful by putting the outhouse on the edge of your field.”

I chuckle at his analogy, and expand on the thoughts on bookstores. “I’ve always found good used bookstores in Virginia, no matter where I’ve traveled in the state. And, of course, there are so many cultural highlights like Monticello and Montpelier. I even enjoyed visiting the real Walton’s mountain (no kidding … my wife surprised me with a day trip and we had a lot of fun visiting the area that inspired the TV series). One thing, unfortunately, I haven’t explored in the state is the writing community. What’s it like in your part of VA?”

“Used bookstores seem to be fading away, though, don’t they? I don’t know how they stay in business. Now the biggest surprises I find are in the backs of thrift shops. Writing groups puzzle me. I don’t know what groups you’ve been involved in, but there seems to be one in each town or region around here. You pay $100 a year to belong and that allows you to volunteer a few times a year at their fundraisers. Seriously, though, they seem to have some nice events. There’s one in Charlottesville that I belong to called Writer House, which hosted Chad Harbach the other night. The people I’ve met have seemed pretty cool.

“But what seems the most beneficial to me are the emails and chats, much like this one, in which writers who genuinely care about each others’ work pass around drafts and ideas. Sitting around after MFA classes was good, of course, but I’m not sure how you get that back. Sitting around a fire pit in the backyard would be good, too. Or a bar with a bottomless pitcher of good beer. As it stands, these electronic chats work because you’re not limited by a geographic group. All of us — in the woods of Virginia or Maine or wherever — can be isolated geographically, yet have a handful of talented writers in our genre read our work, listen to our ideas. I’m sure you’ve often found the “virtual” writers’ groups to work better than sitting around a table in the public library, trying to figure out a nice way to tell Nancy that her narrator isn’t believable.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Ms. Fiorentino interrupts us with a fresh round of drinks, “The Internet is a great equalizer. I mean, I was able to ‘meet’ the distinguished likes of Bill Pronzini, Ed Gorman, and Vin Packer and publish them! But back to brick and mortar stores, how was is it to get out there for your first book launch with COUNTRY HARDBALL? Did you imagine everyone in their knickers, break out in a cold sweat, stammer, or was it just plain easy-peasy?”

Steve lifts up the Old-Fashioned glass filled halfway with Jack, “What I hadn’t anticipated about the readings is wondering whether I’ve made it worth the trip for people. You’re asking people to give up a couple hours of their night, drive out somewhere, and so forth. I wonder whether my standing up there and reading a few pages and answering questions is enough reason for people to go to the trouble. I mean, it’s great for folks to head out to an indie bookstore. That alone is worth the trip. I taught college for years and stood in front of a few dozen people who would rather be anywhere than in a tight, fluorescent-lit room listening to me blather on about how American jazz influenced the poetry of Philip Larkin. So speaking with smart readers about a book they’ve read or want to read is much easier. I still stammer, of course, but that’s from the self-medicating.

“You’ve been to readings or giving readings, of course. I’m sure it’s much the same for you.”

I don’t have the heart to tell him I can count my public speaking on one hand, but I draw from what I have in the back pocket of my mind. “I’ve found I get the shakes heading up to the podium and then … it more or less comes naturally. I might waver a little mid-stream when I realize what I am doing, but I can usually right the course with what hopefully appears to be a long, pensive pause. It does help, for sure, being surrounded with like-minded aficionados. Speaking of your peers, The New York Times said, ‘Steve Weddle’s writing is downright dazzling.’ You going to be dining with John Grisham and Martin Amis now?”

Steve rolls his eyes ay my suggestion with a modest ‘yeah, right’ look, saying, “I thought it was mighty nice of The New York Times to run such a positive review. I figure that had a great deal to do with the publisher’s getting the book in front of the right people. I never could have done that. I could have sat there at my desk every morning, typing away, carving away bits of a sentence that didn’t fit. My understanding is that a review like that one in the NYT helps publishers position and market the book. That’s what’s so cool about having a great editor and publisher and publicist and so forth. I sit at my desk and scribble down some sentences, while they go out there and chat with people about this book, send review copies in the mail, talk to film agents, and do all sorts of work I can’t begin to imagine.

“As you know, the legwork it takes to get a book into the hands of readers is monumental. I don’t see how you do it with all the westerns and the Beat to a Pulp site and books, and on and on. It makes me sleepy just thinking about it.”

“Well, I’m just a regular guy, Steve, with hired hands to help me put my pants on one leg at a time.” He courteously laughs at my lame joke. “Slight change of topic, recently Xiaolu Guo, author and film-maker, said American literature is ‘massively overrated.’ What are your thoughts?”

“I’ve been seeing more and more people say they want to read more international books. I just started THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS by Kiran Desai, which is swell so far. And I’ve enjoyed OUT STEALING HORSES by Per Petterson and WHISPERING MUSE by Sjon and much of the Haruki Muramki. I just ordered two of Xiaolu Guo’s books, so I’m looking forward to that. I’m sure I could fill my house with authors I’ve read from the UK and North America, while I could probably fill only a shelf or two from others. French and German, sure. Italian. But have I ever read an author from Malaysia?

“As for ‘overrated,’ I’m not really sure what they mean by that. She said that seven of the ten best novels listed in an Italian newspaper were American novels. OK. Why is that? Who picked the list? Italians? Do the Italians prize American novels over works of fiction from Chile? I don’t know. Why would they?

“Is it easier to sell a book worldwide if the book is in English? I’m not an international bookseller, but I’d bet it was easier.

“What I appreciate, from a completely self-serving point of view, is that when people start to have these discussions, I’m pushed in a direction that helps me discover new writers, new voices I hadn’t know. That’s how I ended up reading the Sjon, thanks to a discussion about international authors. So, my thought about the argument is, you know, ‘thanks.’”

“That’s a good point,” I reply. Ms. Fiorentino turns up the volume when a Justin Bieber tune starts playing. I lean in closer, shouting, “You’re popular within the social networking circles. Do you mind shedding some light on authors, readers, etc. who you’d recommend following?”

Steve signals for the check. “I don’t know about ‘popular,’ but I’ve certainly been thrilled with all the folks I’ve met online. Most of them, I mean. Many of them. Anyway, in addition to you, of course, worth following would be everyone in my Twitter feed and my RSS reader. Well, not all of them. I guess I should weed some out. Narrowing it down, I guess, you’d want to keep an eye on who the most active and inter-active people are. Who are the most engaging? I also like to have a variety of topics, as well as voices. For example, Chris and Kat Holm have recently shared great literature news and songs and general interest articles. I find myself interacting with readers and writers who I don’t really know that well, but said something interesting while I was looking.

“That’s the rough thing about Twitter and Facebook, isn’t it? You have a paperboat with brilliant scrawls floating down the stream. If you’re not looking down the hill at just the right moment, you’ll miss it. Then, maybe you see someone say something about the thing someone said. So you have to look back on the thread to find out what the original hullabaloo was. So, that’s kind of a pain, isn’t it?

“What’s wonderful, though, is seeing people who are really enthused about a thing and you get to check out a writer or band you didn’t know existed. The trick is popping in and out and still keeping time to read and write yourself.”

“So true,” I yell in agreement, the Bieber tune coming to a close, as was our tête-à-tête. While we walk to front door, I ask a parting question, “Are you a Belieber, Steve?”

“I saw a video of that guy as a little kid playing the drums and he seemed to have some real talent there.”

I nod my head, admiring his diplomatic approach. A cliché comes to mind, one that holds true—a southern gentleman. We shake hands and with that I watch the Old Dominion Troubadour exit into the fading sunlight of the day’s end.

Eric Beetner @ the Sunset Blvd Cyber Bar

I met Eric Beetner at the Sunset Blvd cyber bar—a close quarters, noirish dive that was appropriately sparse for 4:00 in the afternoon. Just us and the Linda Fiorentino brunette who was glued to a TV talk show in between serving our drinks. I ordered a Sam Adams and Eric had a water. I raised an eyebrow and he smiled, saying, “I know. A disgrace to crime novelists everywhere.”

I laughed and said, “Hey, sorry I didn’t make it to Bouchercon, man. It sounds like I missed all the fun. What was the highlight?” I slugged back half of my beer.

"Bcon was fun. About as much fun as you can have in Albany. I really enjoyed the two panels I was on, the one I moderated about Film Noir was great and the one I spoke on about hardboiled writing was fun too. I'd say the highlight though was the mini Noir at the Bar-esque reading I held in the Authors Choice room. I had no idea if anyone would show up and once I started asking writers to come read I was overwhelmed by the response. I ended up having 25 readers, I think. It meant we did it speed dating style and everyone had about 60 seconds to read a snippet from a book and then everyone generously donated a book for a giveaway.

"The best moment was when it came time to head to the room and see if anyone would show up. I rounded the corner and the hallway was jammed with people like The Rolling Stones were performing inside. It was standing room only! Of course, the flyers I made that offered FREE BOOKS probably made all the difference, but I hope people found a few new writers to add to their list."

I shook my head with a smile. "How do you do it! Does it come naturally to get out there publically and read and sell books?"

"I really don't mind public speaking and interacting with people. I'm fairly antisocial in the larger scale - I don't care for parties and stuff like that - but with the right crowd of like-minded people I don't get shy or lack for things to say. I will say I have a hard time selling myself. I'm sure I've sold way more of other peoples books in talking to readers because I'm so much more likely to go on a rant about how great Jake Hinkson is or how much I loved Angel Baby by Richard Lange or Owen Laukkanen's books. I don't like to suggest my own books to anyone, but that could be my deeply ingrained Iowan humility.

"I co-host the L.A. chapter of Noir at the Bar (with brilliant writer Stephen Blackmoore) so I've seen a lot of readers come through and some really struggle with reading in public, let alone speaking extemporaneously, but I rather enjoy it. People have said I'm good at moderating panels and such."

I raised my beer and nodded my head. "That Blackmoore can spin a yarn. I’m still reeling from City of the Lost. Speaking of sharp plots, where did you come up with the idea for 'The Year I Died Seven Times'?"

"It's not my normal way of working, but as I recall that one started with the title. I keep a lot of ideas and random thoughts around and that one stuck. I just had to write a book around it. I ended up on the story of this guy, Ridley, who goes off on a search for his missing girlfriend who he realizes he knows very little about, and ends up getting into mess after mess that literally kills him at every turn.

"The hardest part was finding different ways of killing him off that he could come back from. It's not a zombie novel. He just ends up legally dead for a few moments each time. But those options are limited, which is why it's not the year I died twenty times.

"It was a challenge trying to keep up the tension while the reader knows he is going to die at the end of each adventure, or in this case the end of each installment of the book. Hopefully the trouble he gets up to in between is fun and suspenseful enough to bring the readers along. And I'd bet there are a few deaths that would surprise people. In a way, there's a fun little bit of reader participation that works in the same way as a traditional mystery where a reader enjoys guessing the who in a who-done-it, only this way you have to guess how Ridley is going to die each time. Readers should absolutely feel free to play along at home, maybe make some bets with loved ones."

My phone beeped and buzzed. I picked it up without looking at it, saying, "It’s a great idea … it’s like an interactive story in a pocket size book! Well, thanks for dropping the book at BEAT to a PULP’s door, amigo. It zips right along and offers us a chance to do something different with seven installments released over the next year." I checked my cell. A text from my Charmer came in asking me to stop for milk on the way home. Made me think. "I gotta ask, how do you find the time to write with two kids and a full-time job?"

"The short answer is I don't sleep enough. Really I think it's that old adage, 'A writer writes.' It's just something I do because I like doing it. I feel like I'm too slow. When I get on a run and get focused on a book I do a good job of writing almost every night. When I'm not working on something I have no problem with taking time off. I don't think you need to write every night all the time. It leads to burnout.

"Last year I felt like I was moving slow all year but when I looked back I wrote (and published) two novellas, a complete novel (now under submission) wrote half a novel and then scrapped it, wrote about half of another novel with my co-author (we're almost done!) half a dozen short stories for anthologies and I think there was a novel I finished in January that I'd started late 2012. For me, that's slacking. Man, I have issues. No matter what we will all be lapped by Stephen Graham Jones.

"But I will give credit to my wife and my kids for giving me the time to write. They all go to bed by 9:00 or 9:30 every night so I'm free to both watch what I want on TV and then go write until about 1 or 2 am. And they let me sleep in until about 8. So, yeah, I'm gonna die young. But y'know, I'll have all those books as my legacy.

".... Oh dear, I've made a huge mistake ...."

We finished our drinks, tipped handsomely—our hostess still lost in a custody battle show—and headed for the exit when a barfly waddled in. I stepped back as Eric held the door. On the street waiting for our respective taxis, my mind wandered to one last thought, "Would you still write if you could look into a crystal ball and see that you weren’t going be that big-time author, you know, like on the NY Times Best Seller list?"

"What the hell else am I doing now if not that? I know for sure I'll never be that guy. I'm fine with it. I'm lucky enough that I don't rely on writing to support my family and I like my day job. I have already had more success than I expected in fiction writing. I already spent a decade grinding it out writing screenplays, taking meetings, making deals, getting paid now and then and I came away having nothing to show for it on screen, but 17 feature length screenplays and a few TV scripts finished. I don't consider it wasted time. I was writing and finishing stories. I got better (I hope) and I learned from my mistakes. If novel writing never gets me to a higher level than where I am now I'll be okay. Obviously we all have aspirations, and I'm no different, but it isn't about money, though that would be nice. To be included in the conversation among writers I admire and can consider peers has always been my goal.

"I write mostly for me. I have an idea and I want to read that book so I write it. Does that make it much more than a hobby? Maybe not. But reaching an audience has been a privilege and something I can build on. We all write to be read. I want readers and I want to entertain. But would I still write? Almost certainly. I'm also not one to sit on the sidelines. I want to make things happen and get work out there. I may end up someone who writes and no one reads, but I'll still be writing and finding suckers to put it out. Um, not that you're a sucker, of course...."

We eyed each other thoughtfully for a split second and then both had a good laugh.

“Pleasure to publish your work, Eric," I said, shaking his hand as we said our goodbyes. I caught the red eye back to New York, reminding myself to get milk.

And that, as they say, is that.

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