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From all the
books you have written, do you have a
favorite?
As to a favorite
among the novels I have written there are several rather that simply
one. "The Simeon Chamber" beside the fact that it is a
fine story, having been written without a contract or a publisher
being my first published work will always stand out in my
mind. "Compelling Evidence" the story that launched the Paul
Madriani series I tend to favor for its humor and the crafting of
character. Two other books outside the series "Critical
Mass" written before 9-11 spelling out the risks we have
ignored for years from the NBC (nuclear, biologic and
chemical) weapons of mass destruction, and "The List" a
thriller-parody of the Publishing industry are among my
favorites.
At
what point in time did you realize that writing was "the thing for
you"?
I knew that I possessed a
yearning to write early in my career. I had spent nearly a
decade as a journalist before and after becoming a lawyer. It
had given me a certain therapeutic pleasure to strike the keys on a
typewriter and later a computer and to convey a story to others,
whether it was reportorial as to the political or legal events of
the moment or grounded in research as a feature piece. Though some
who took exception to my reporting might disagree, I did not engage
in creative or fiction writing until many years later. I was in my
early forties when I undertook to start my first novel which became
"The Simeon Chamber".
What advice would you give to someone interested in
becoming a writer?
As to
advice to others wishing to become writers, the answer is simple;
write. You have to be persistent in your self-criticism,
develop an ear for dialogue and narrative and be willing to toss
material that doesn't work and start again. The real answer is
to rewrite until you have honed your work to a fine edge. Do
not try to sell material until in your honest opinion it looks
and sounds as good as what is at the upper end of the
Marketplace already on sale in bookstores. Read others who are
published, particularly for their strengths. If you're trying
to craft hardedged on the sidewalk crime, read Elmore Leonard for
his dialogue. Also read well crafted screen plays,
Chinatown" and anything by Quinton Tarantino. What you will gain if
you are good are glimmers of technique. It will also help perfect an
ear for what is good and what is not. In the end it is much
better both for your ego and for your prospects of being
published, if you yourself reject the imperfections of that
manuscript and rework them than to have the script rejected by an
editor.
What
is the name of your favorite mystery movie?
My favorite mystery movie, again I hate to have to name a
single favorite. I'll give you several. "Body
Heat",
"L.A. Confidential" , "China Town"; Classics
"The Big Sleep", "The Maltese Falcon", "The Glass
Key".
What
other authors do you enjoy reading?
As to authors of mystery I enjoy reading John D.
MacDonald. Most of my leisure reading involves non-fiction,
history and biography. At present I am reading several books
re-reading Carl Sandburg's Lincoln, "The Prairie Years and The War
Years" as well as "D-Day with the Screaming Eagles" by George
Koskimaki. I find that reading anything about Lincoln that is
well written and well researched to possess a near spiritual quality
because of the subject matter. Certainly this is true of Sandburg.
Lincoln was far and away one of the most unique members of our
species ever to inhabit the planet.
What other types of jobs have you
had?
Past Jobs. Where do I
start? As a kid I did gardening for pocket change in Southern
California. I had six or seven clients on weekends and after
school. I graduated from that work in a tool shop on Las Tunas
Blvd. In Temple City. I repaired Skill Saws, drills and
pneumatic hammers under the tutelage of one of the best people I
ever knew. His name was Jim, he was paraplegic and dragged
himself from his work bench to the public counter using crutches and
braces to deal with crusty contractors demanding that the tools they
were then delivering be repaired yesterday. Jim had been a
glider pilot in the Army during World War II. He never told anyone
how he'd lost the use of his legs, but I think we all knew.
In the summers during college at the University of
California at Santa Cruz I worked with a city crew for the Parks
Dept of the City of San Gabriel, hauling hoses, mowing lawns and
raking leaves. After college and a stint on active duty as an
Army medic in the reserves at Tigerland, Ft. Polk Louisiana and Ft.
Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas I secured a job as a newspaper
reporter for the L.A. Daily Journal, a legal newspaper in Los
Angeles covering a beat in Central L.A. On weekends I did military
reserve duty at L.A. County General Hospital, sometimes on the jail
ward. This was the late 60's. I remember a felon with five
bullet holes in him dragging a bed half way across the ward after
another medic before we subdued him. This was the late
1960's. After eighteen months my publisher at the paper made
me the bureau chief of a one-man news bureau in the Capital in
Sacramento, and in July 1970 I moved north. I attended night
law school three nights a week at the University of the Pacific's
McGeorge School of Law while I worked forty hours a week for the
paper covering the state legislature, the appellate courts, and the
governor's office in Sacramento. On weekends I attended reserve
meetings once a month and in the summers I did medical duty at
places like Ft. Ord, and the tank training tracks at Ft. Irwin in
the Mohave near Death Valley. I also worked at Letterman General
Hospital. During Vietnam while it wasn't combat, it was the
remnants from it. These were places where you dealt with a lot of
blood and broken bodies, entire wards of kids on Striker frames
paralyzed from the neck down because a bullet the diameter of a dime
severed their spinal cord. We had compound arm fractures with bones
through the skin and seven soldiers killed in a helicopter training
accident at Ft. Irwin. Burned flesh has as smell you never
forget, and no, it's not like Napalm in the morning. All of it is
seared in that place in my brain from which I draw my
stories.
Probably the least eventful period of my life was
the seventeen years during which I practiced law, both in private
practice and for public agencies, though two of the three lawyers in
the small firm where I worked died violent deaths, one suicide and
the other murdered by gunshot in his office by an angry husband in a
divorce case. I have practiced in both civil and
criminal courts and spent many years practicing administrative law
for a number of public agencies.
Is there anyone, in particular,
who influenced you?
We are
all influenced by the people we bump up against. If there is a
single person who has made my writing possible it is my wife
Leah She listens to what I write. There are times that
she hears it so many times that she can commit portions to memory
never having read it.
What led you to write mysteries?
Actually the Publisher will tell you
that I write "Thrillers" "General Fiction". In fact most
of my books are who-dun-its, but the mystery genre is so crowded
that many publishers try to break out new writers but
placing
them in the "Thriller" category. What brought me to
writing fiction was the fact that I could not practice law and
continue writing journalism on the side. There wasn't enough
time to do justice to both careers. I decided to
practice
law, because I had a family and it paid better. I decided to
turn to fiction because without a contract I could do it on my own
time table without reference to a news deadline. I came to
enjoy it.
Do
you read reviews of your books?
I can deal with reviews. The secret is never to
accept any of them entirely, good or bad. They are the editorials of
the publishing industry; one person's opinion. Besides anyone
who takes this stuff that seriously needs to get a
life.
How
would you like to be remembered?
As the oldest writer of fiction in the history of the
world. It's the only way I will ever catch up with
Elmore
Leonard in the number of books published.
What do you believe is the
highlight of your career so far?
Staying alive and staying healthy. After all
that's the first requirement for success in any field.
As for
thrills, getting my first book published and being told
that my second novel "Compelling Evidence" was in a heated auction
between the two major book clubs as a main selection will
do.
Do you
write on a fixed schedule?
When I am not answering
interrogatories.
How do you come up with plots?
If I could figure that one out I'd bottle it, sell
it and retire. I get ideas from newspapers, magazines, and
life.
Then you play the great "What if" game. What if this
happened or that happened? If you can get other good creative
people to play the game with you it will undoubtedly improve the
plot. Try a great "What if" party
sometime, that is if
you're not afraid of sharing the yet to germinate seeds of your
storyline.
How do you spend your free time?
When I get some I try to spend it with my family
as they have paid much of the price for my success. As for
hobbies I like photography, and am a fan of digital
photography. I like shooting, big bore pistols, 45 autos and
45 long Colts as well as rifles, military stuff from 1917
Springfields and 303 Enfields to more modern AR 15's. Mostly I
like doing my own hand loads for accuracy on an old single stage
press I bought in 1970 from Simms Hardware in
Sacramento.
Do you have a message you would like to give all your
readers out there?
"Keep
writing - keep rewriting." As Alan Rickman the great Dr. Lazarus
told the geeks in "Galaxy Quest" "never give
up."
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