Category: Interviews Page 9 of 10

Among the notable folk that Connie has interviewed (partial list) are: David Morrell (3 times), William F. Nolan, Kurt Vonnegut, jr.; Joe Hill; Frederik Pohl; Anne Perry; Valerie Plame; Vanessa Redgrave; Michael Shannon;; Taylor Hackford; Jon Land and Liv Ullman. The interview subjects might be from the world of Hollywood or simply be much-read authors, but her interviews have run in newspapers for 61 years.

“Cloud Atlas:” Read What the Directors Had to Say About It

By Connie Wilson

On October 22, 2012

In Books, Interviews, Movies, Pop Culture, Reviews

The trans-gender Lana (previously Larry) Wachowski pictured on the Red Carpet with Chicago Film Festival founder and director Michael Kutza on October 16th, 2012.

The Brothers Wachowski— (who are now brother and sister, as the 47-year-old Larry has become Lana)—allied with Director/Composer Tom Tykwer (“Run, Lola, Run”) and friends since 1999 when “The Matrix” and “Run, Lola, Run” came out, visited the Chicago Film Festival to screen the festival’s centerpiece film, “Cloud Atlas.” The movie opens wide on October 26, 2012.

Tom Hanks (wearing what looked like a woman’s shawl) and Halle Berry in “Cloud Atlas.”

A sweeping tale based on an equally ambitious 2004 book by David Mitchell, the movie has attracted critical praise tempered with some criticism of its execution. Executing it at all required the trio to travel to Costa Rica and lay out index cards on the floor, in an attempt to reconfigure the way the novel is written.

When Mitchell wrote the sweeping epic, it was puzzle-like. It takes 6 interwoven storylines and spans 500 years and several genres. The novel recounts the 6 interrelated story lines chronologically until the middle of the book. In the middle of the book, the sequence reverses.

Lana Wachowski makes a point during the Q&A that followed the screening of “Cloud Atlas.” (Oct. 16, 2012).

Lana Wachowski read the book and felt it would be a good project for the 3 filmmakers who had been looking for a joint project. Ultimately, filming took place in Germany, Scotland and the Spanish island of Majorca, beginning in September 2011.

Among the pluses for the film: its stellar cast, which includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, and Korean star Doona Bae playing multiple roles. The minuses? Cohesion of the story line and financing. As Andy Wachowski told the Chicago “Tribune” in an October 14th interview, “People were blown away by the concept and blown away by the cast, but they wouldn’t give us any money.” Ultimately, the directors had to ante up 10% of the $102 million-dollar budget.

Brother and sister Lana (47) and Andy (44) Wachowski appear during the Q&A after “Cloud Atlas.”

The division of labor for the interwoven story lines broke down to Tykwer directing the early 20th century composer plot line, the 1973 thriller, and the contemporary caper about an aging book publisher, which provides the comic relief in the film. (When the elderly gentleman, who is intent on escaping from a nursing home his brother—played by Hugh Grant— has committed him to passes the window, he shouts, “Soylent Green is people!” from the Charlton Heston film; one of the many previous sci-fi films whose ideas are recycled, along with “Logan’s Run”.) The Wachowskis handled the 1849 sea story and two stories set in a futuristic world of 2144, which uses “Logan’s Run” Carousel concept of the doomed thinking they are going to their great reward, when they are really scheduled for death. The aerial shot of the look-alike Korean clones reminded of “Metropolis” cinematically.

The 6 story lines were:

1) Dr. Goose (Tom Hanks) administering medicine onboard ship to naïve traveler Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess) in 1849 in the South Pacific. The slave trade flourishes at this time and a stowaway slave figures in the plot. Not my favorite of the plots

2) 1936 Scotland where Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw), a poor musician, reads Ewing’s journals from aboard ship while working for a noted composer. The “Cloud Atlas” composition that Frobisher composes (and the elderly composer attempts to steal) is quite lovely and was actually composed by Tom Tykwer and his regular musical collaborators, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil. Among my favorites of the sub-plots.

3) Luisa Rey (Halle Berry) is a journalist investigating a nuclear reactor and becomes the object of an assassination attempt by Bill Smoke (Hugo Weaving). She hears “Cloud Atlas” in a record store in California in 1973. An interesting plot.

4) Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent), a vanity publisher trying to escape the nursing home his brother (Hugh Grant) has consigned him to in 2012 Scotland. He is considering publishing Rey’s story. The film’s only humorous character.

5) Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae), a Korean clone who toils in Papa Song’s diner in 2144. She sees a TV movie on the life of Cavendish and, from there, goes on to become a revolutionary and, in the primitive island on which one version of Tom Hanks lives, worshipped as a Divine Being.

6) Meronym (Berry) and Zachry (Hanks) on an island in 4th century Hawaii where civilization is primitive, cannibals roam, and Sonmi is worshipped as a Goddess. Needs subtitles.

If comparisons to other films are made, among those mentioned is “Babel” by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, which was critically acclaimed for its complicated storylines that intersect (Brad Pitt and Gwynneth Paltrow starred), but only earned $35 million in profits. Others might mention Daren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain,” which earned $10 million. On the positive side, Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” earned $292 million, so perhaps there is hope for the film to earn more than just plaudits. Another film I would compare this one to is “Magnolia,” that had seemingly random events contributing to plot developments and earned Tom Cruise an Oscar nomination. Others might include last year’s Terrance Malick film “Tree of Life” in the category “artistic films that took on big themes and tried to translate them to the big screen, with mixed results.” [While a critical success, the film was not a commercial success.] As the moderator of the Q&A put it, “An uncompromising work of artistic integrity.” (They probably also said that about “Holy Motors,” one of the worst films ever, but winner of some big awards.)

In the Q&A following the film, here is what the directors shared:

Q: What convinced you to put in 4 and ½ years making this film?

A: (from Lana) We wanted to spend time with one another, so it was actually fun! (She went on to say that the trio had been searching for a vehicle for the 3 of them since 1999). Andy Wachowski interrupted his sister with, “We wanted a movie that tested the most stalwart bladder.” (The film is 164 minutes long).

Added Lana: The book—there was something about it that took my breath away, that was so delicious, that we wanted to savor it. The book touched us because we kept trying to connect. This book speaks to the implied desire to connect and to speak to the future and to be in dialogue with the past…David Mitchell loves literary forms so much. He has this post-modern energy. There’s this way to love storytelling. He has energy and a narrative drive, but he is still trying to explore the human condition in a philosophical way. But you can also make it a thinking and entertaining movie. These don’t have to be separated. You don’t have to say, “This is a thinking movie; this is for people who don’t like to think.” As Lana Wachowski told Rebecca Keegan of the Chicago “Tribune” in the December 14, 2012 interview: “There was a time when movies were funny and sad and dramatic and slapsticky and challenging and thought-provoking all at the same time. That would be one movie. Now you break that all up into a comedy, a romance, and a drama. With ‘Cloud Atlas’ we were thinking: It could be everything.”

Tom Tykwer, the co-director said: We felt very attracted to it because there were a multitude of voices. It was an experiment. If we failed, then we failed. If we can write together, we feel we can do anything together. Identifying ways to get into the novel was a step-by-step process.

This led Lana Wachowski to describe the Costa Rica index card method, (with the cards on the floor.) She said, “We had to re-arrange the way the novel is written. The novel is in bigger chunks. It will have 60 pages with one character and then jump to another character. We felt that would not work in the movie.”

Andy Wachowski: “The whole process was this act of love for the book and our love for each other and that carried us all the way to the end.”

The moderator commented on the line from the film, “Isn’t an ocean a multitude of drops? “ He referenced the many acts of kindness in the film.

Lana: If something so horrific as the Second World War and the Holocaust can’t kill kindness, you will never kill kindness. Extend yourself. This idea is what has really propelled us. Still, as pessimistic as we can be, we don’t think of Pollyanna endings. You believe that there is someone that is going to be affected. It’s a great reason to believe in the future.

The first question from the audience was from a woman who had a good friend who underwent sex change surgery. She asked Lana Wachowski: “Is there a certain significance in your gender change affecting your artistic choices?”

Lana: “This is getting very personal right away.” She went on to say, “David Mitchell is not transgender. The novel is not about transgender identities. But we have always been interested in material that transcends convention. And I was probably the first one to say, ‘Hey! That male character can actually play this female role over here.’ (Which occurs when Hugh Grant plays a Nurse Ratched sort in a nursing home). I may have had an attraction to specifically transcending the idea of gender in this film.”

Q: How did you pick who directed what?

A: (Lana) “ In the deconstruction of the stories, the experience is not the same. During that time, your mind is making all these connections. We would find all this interconnectivity in the stories.”

(Andy) “Our feeling is we all directed it together. (Lana made a joking comment about the Directors’ Guild not being quite as flexible, at this point.) It was a four-year process. We shot it together. We wrote it together. We edited it together. We were only apart for 3 months.”

(Tom): “You’re playing a genetic stream, a string in the film.” (There is much talk of déjà vu and the idea of reincarnation would certainly play into the film’s themes.)

Q: Do you experience emotion watching your movie again?

A: (Lana) “It’s a P.R. situation. I would have been crying and my make-up would run.” (She pantomimed crying at the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes”). Lana digressed to point out the Wachowskis’ parents in the theater (the duo is from Chicago) and say, “We’d cut school and go to triple features.”

A: (Tom) “It’s considered to be embarrassing to still like your own movie. There are moments where I think, ‘That’s my—or our—influence.’ The last 1/3 of the film Doona Bae was so unbelievable in the last 20 minutes. There’s this weird way of being touched. I feel like we sort of set the stage. I can still watch it as though I’ve never done it. There were things that the actors offered to us that were really beyond our expectations. I’m still touched.”

Q: What was most daunting: making the book into a screenplay or making the screenplay into a movie?

A: (Lana) “Showing it to David Mitchell.”

A: (Andy) “Making the film was staggering. It was an independent film, with money coming in from all over the world.”

A: (Lana): “Four days before we were to start, another financier went under, and we all had to put up our own personal money. Ten percent of the contingency was our money.”

A: (Andy): “Four days in Halle Berry broke her foot.”

A: (Lana): “It was daunting, but we couldn’t NOT make the movie. It was such an act of love for the material and the actors. It was strangely joyful, even in the midst of everything falling apart.”

A: (Andy) “For every bad thing that happened, a good thing would happen.”

There was some discussion of how excited David Mitchell was to be involved in helping design the futuristic spaceships in the film’s futuristic sequence.

My take:

I enjoyed the film, but I also found it difficult to follow and often confusing. The weakest performances, overall, for me, were from Tom Hanks. His Dr. Goose played like broad farce, and his native on the island seemed to be wearing a woman’s knitted shawl. His gangster (Hanks unleashed the “F-bomb” on live TV on ABC while supposedly speaking in character) was unconvincing. The language created for Hanks and the island natives was also difficult to decipher without subtitles. (I did better with the movie from Iceland that had subtitles.)

The parts I enjoyed most seem to have been supervised by Tom Tykwer (“Run, Lola, Run”) whose “Cloud Atlas” music—so central to the plot— was lush and lovely. His portions of the story were, for me, the best. (I especially enjoyed the comic relief of the nursing home escape featuring Jim Broadbent).

Having said that, the sets and spaceships and futuristic touches that the Wachowski Brothers gave us in “The Matrix” (back when they were still two brothers) were matched here by the visual effects portraying clones in the year 2144 (Method Studios Visual Effects, Vancouver, B.C.)

It will be interesting to see if the film makes back its investment, but at least the Wachowskis —who have been notoriously loathe to promote films at festivals in the past—can now say that their film played the Chicago Film Festival, because they revealed during the Q&A that they submitted student films many years ago that didn’t make the cut.

Silver Cleo Award Presented to Actress Joan Allen on October 14th, 2012 at Chicago Film Festival

By Connie Wilson

On October 15, 2012

In Interviews, Movies, Pop Culture

Actress Joan Allen receives her Silver Cleo Career Achievement Award from Chicago Film Festival founder and director Michael Kutza at the 48th Chicago Film Festival on Sunday, October 14, 2012.

Actress Joan Allen was given a Career Achievement Award on Sunday, October 14, 2012, at the 48th Annual Chicago Film Festival. Interviewed by Chicago “Tribune” film critic Michael Phillips, Allen recounted how it was “4 or 5 years before the penny really dropped for me in film. It took me a while.”
Allen was born in Rochelle, Illinois, in August of 1956 and was voted “most likely to succeed” of the girls in her high school class. She was one of four children and her mother is still alive at 95. Asked by Phillips whether it was true that she got into acting because she didn’t make the cheerleading squad her freshman year, Allen acknowledged that it was.

“I was a cheerleader in middle school, but didn’t make it in my freshman year. So, I tried out for the competitions for one-act plays. As soon as I competed, I said, ‘That’s what I’ve been looking for!’” After high school, she attended both Northern Illinois University and Easter Illinois University, where she met fellow Steppenwolf Theater founding member John Malkovich. Her first role was as Nurse Ratched in “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and she went on to play Laura Wingfield in “The Glass Menagerie” and Linda Loman in “Death of a Salesman” at age 18 or 19. Describing the theater department as “a small drama department to train drama teachers” Allen noted, “College is about being in over your head.” Among other Steppenwolf actors she met in 1977 were Laurie Metcalfe and Gary Sinise.

Her first role was a small part in “Compromising Positions” in 1985. Then, she played the blind girl in “Manhunter” in 1986, followed by successful stage work on Broadway in such films as “Burn This” opposite Malkovich (for which she won a Tony in 1988) and “The Heidi Chronicles” in 1989.
One of Allen’s most memorable roles, and one for which she received her first Oscar nomination, was her portrayal of Pat Nixon in Oliver Stone’s 1995 film “Nixon.” (Allen has been nominated for Oscars 3 times). In 1996, she starred opposite Daniel Day Lewis in “The Crucible” and in 1997 opposite Kevin Kline in “The Ice Storm,” while also the lead actress in the John Travolta vehicle “Face/Off.” “Pleasantville” with Toby Maguire followed in 1998.

Asked if she had ever equivocated about a role
, Allen said: “Pleasantville. I thought I was getting into a rut of playing the wronged wife. Am I getting into the not-good-wife thing? It felt like somewhat familiar territory for me, after my previous roles, but Gary Ross irected it, and he said, ‘No, this one is FUNNY!’”

Q: “By ‘Manhunter’, did you feel you could do both films and stage?”

A: “I did not go thinking it would happen. It just happened. My interest in film developed because it was a bit more lucrative. It wasn’t a goal, but it evolved over time.” (Allen has been in 3 of the highly successful “Bourne” films.)

Q: “What is it like working with Francis Ford Coppola, as you did in ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’?”

A: “Francis likes to rehearse and use videotape. He likes having people improvise. He wants that laid in place before you start. Coppola may have been one of the first to use a monitor. We’d all be looking around and saying, ‘Where’s Francis?’”

At this point, Phillips joked, “Maybe he’s still finishing up ‘Apocalypse Now?’”

Q: “By ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’ were you worried about being typecast?”

A: “I felt I was getting to do the size of the roles I was prepared for. Coming from Broadway, I didn’t understand the lingo.”

Q: “By this point, you’d already done ‘The Heidi Chronicles’ on Broadway, Wendy Wasserstein’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play.”

A: “It was a big deal for me. The year before I had worked with John Malkovich on Broadway for about a year and a half. I was pretty honored to be doing a Wendy Wasserstein play. There’s a lot of work that goes on before. Quite a long preview period.”

Phillips mentioned most of Allen’s roles after clips were shown of many of them and said, “It’s a shame you’ve had to work with so many hacks,” with a laugh.

Q: “What was it like to work with Ang Lee on ‘The Ice Storm’?”

A: “He has a very clear vision of what he wants. I trusted his judgment implicitly. I really trusted his eye. Many actors are from the dailies era, when you could see some of the day’s shooting, but Ang would not allow actors to go. Jeff Bridges (she worked with Bridges on “Tucker” and “The Contender”) really wanted to go to dailies. Now, it’s instant replay on the monitor.”

Q: “Were there any surprises for you in the radical jump cuts and film vision that Oliver Stone brought to ‘Nixon?’”

A: “I usually don’t watch any of my movies again after they’ve come out. Oliver Stone likes the visual assault style, but he was a little more restrained in ‘Nixon.’”

Q: “Were you able to find a way to empathize with Pat Nixon?”

A: “Oh, yes. She had a very difficult life. She took care of her father and brothers by the age of 13. She was poor. There was a tremendous amount of responsibility for her at a very young age. They worked it out in the family so that all the children could go to college, but at different times. She did very well and was very well-liked. She drove an elderly woman cross country in order to get to New York to go to college. I really felt for her. Having grown up in the Midwest, you don’t complain. You pull yourself up by the bootstraps and you just keep moving on. One state department worker saw her dancing by herself, through a window of the White House, one night after a state dinner. She had a lot of loneliness, so I felt for her.”

Q: “What’s the first thing that strikes you after seeing that clip from ‘Yes?’?”

A: “Sally Potter directed it. It was all written in iambic pentameter, so it all rhymed. It was her response to 9/11. You go years before you get a part that gives you those kinds of opportunities.”

Q: “What about ‘The Contender,’ for which you were nominated for an Oscar in 2000?”

A: “Rod Laurie wrote ‘The Contender’ for me. He had been a film critic for a long time in Los Angeles. I was there getting an award and Rod Laurie said to me, in January, ‘I’m going to write a movie for you.’ We were shooting it by August. I think some of this business is luck, and a lot of it is hard work.”

Q: “What about shooting the ‘Bourne’ films?”

A: “I think Paul Greengrass does that breathless, almost incoherent but not quite cutting better than anyone. Shooting a Bourne film is a very long shoot…8, 9, 10 months, versus 28 days for others. I was in Berlin for the ‘Bourne Ultimatum’ and flew back and forth a few times. For ‘The Bourne Supremacy,’ we shot in London. I called and asked Paul, ‘Should I bring my script?’ He said, ‘Oh, darling, of course not. We don’t know what’s going to happen!”

Q: “So, the scripts are kind of loosey-goosey?”

A: “Well, there were writers shuffling in and out, but that’s normal for film. In ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ where she meets Bourne (Matt Damon) for the first time, we shot that scene 4 times. It’s been a very, very successful franchise, so sometimes I think there are disagreements between the producer, director, and others that I am not privy to.”

Q: “Is it freeing to not have to carry an entire project?”

A: “I consider myself more of a character actor than anything. ‘The Contender’ is an extremely ensemble film. I was raised on ensemble.”

Phillips commented, “It’s nice to see an actor who’s a very good listener on camera.”

Allen: “If there’s anything that’s key, it is that the story is paramount. The better the actors you work with, the better you’ll be.”

Joan Allen is now divorced, but has an 18-year-old daughter from her 13-year marriage. She has been nominated for the Oscar three times and also has 30 other wins and 38 nominations for her stage and screen work.

“Live” Radio Interview for New York City Radio Station

By Connie Wilson

On September 13, 2012

In Books, Interviews, Pop Culture, Reviews

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/middayconversations/2012/09/12/author-connie-wilson-on-conversations-live

Check out this “live” interview about “The Color of Evil” done by Cyrus A Webb of Brooklyn on September 12, 2012.

John Saul was “up” as a guest, and Joan Collins’ sister, Jacqueline Susann, and a famous model, so I obviously must have been mistaken for someone else.

Back From Paradise

By Connie Wilson

On September 10, 2012

In Books, Interviews, Pop Culture, travel

My panel: Topic – “Women Who Can Do It All”

I spent a week in Honolulu, Hawaii, presenting at the Spellbinders Conference held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. I’m including some candid shots of the gorgeous surroundings, and the remarks made by 1992 Pulitzer-prize-winning Jane Smiley (“1,000 Acres”) and a quintet of Hollywood screenwriters who spoke of their work on such films as “Golden Eye” (the James Bond reboot), “The Book of Eli,” “The Hulk,” “The Punisher,” and many, many others, including many television shows.

1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley (“1,000 Acres”) lives in Carmel, California, now, with her husband Jack Canning, but there was a time when she was an Iowa (Ames) professor of writing and there was a time before that when she was a student at the acclaimed University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Connie Wilson and Pulitzer-prize winning Iowa grad Jane Smiley.

After “1,000 Acres,” a retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear story set on an Iowa farm was made into a movie with Jessica Lange, Jason Robards and Sam Shepherd, Jane Smiley moved on to write “Moo,” a humorous tale that dealt with politics at the university level. She told a charming story that went this way: “I was flying from Monterey to New York via San Francisco and I fell asleep on the flight. One hour into the flight, I woke up to the sound of laughter. My seatmate was reading “Moo.” I said, “That’s my book.” She said, “No, it isn’t. I bought it in the airport.” I said, “No, I mean, that’s MY book. I wrote it.” She looked at me and said, “No, you didn’t.” Her laughter was the best compliment I ever got.

Author Smiley reads from her book “13 Ways of Looking at the Novel.”

When asked if she would ever consider teaching writing again, Smiley responded, “If I could do it MY way, I’d teach again.”

When asked how it felt to learn she had won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature (in 1992) she said: “My 14-year-old daughter was staying home that day. She was at that age where it is absolutely impossible to have any positive impression of her mom. A reporter from the Ames ‘Tribune’ called up and said, ‘What would you say if you were told that you’d won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.’ I gave her some response. About 2 p.m. the phone rang and some guy from the Washington ‘Post’ called to tell me I had actually won. I said, to my daughter, ‘Honey, I think I won the Pulitzer Prize’ and she said, ‘Hmmmm. Cool.’ Later, in the hallway outside my office at the University, I heard someone screaming, and it was the stringer for the Ames Tribune. They (the Ames Tribune) had scooped the Des Moines Register, who had always scooped them. But, after you win, you go from being a wannabe to a has-been. You are no longer cool—although I never was. I was 16 weeks pregnant at the time, so I didn’t have to run around and go to a lot of things, because I was throwing up all the time, anyway.”

Opening Night Luau.

On writing, in general: “You can be the kind of person who enjoys the process, or you can be the kind of person who enjoys the awards. If it enhances your feeling of being alive, of finding things out, remember that there are never enough awards.”

2012 Spellbinders’ Conference in Hawaii Winding Down: Jane Smiley Speaks

By Connie Wilson

On September 3, 2012

In Books, Interviews, Pop Culture, travel

Connie Wilson & Jane Smiley in Honolulu.

If you grew up in Iowa, as I did, or attended either the University of Iowa (Iowa City), as I did, or Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa), you probably remember when Iowa City graduate Jane Smiley, author of “1,000 Acres” won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. She followed up that tragic retelling of the King Lear story, set on an Iowa farm, with “Moo,” a comic piece that poked some fun at the politics of teaching on a university campus.

Jane Smiley has been in residence at the 2012 Spellbinders Writers’ Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, and her workshop on writing, which I attended, had much valuable information to share with less proficient authors—like me!

It was also fun to hear her tell the story of the day she learned she had won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and other stories from the career of someone who is truly a much deeper thinker than Yours Truly. Jane Smiley (“1,000 Acres”) lives in Carmel, California, now, with her husband Jack Canning, but there was a time when she was an Iowa (Ames) professor of writing and there was a time before that when she was a student at the acclaimed University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Pulitzer-prize winning author Jane Smiley with husband Jack Canning at Opening Night luau on August 31, 2012.

It was this kinship over our Iowa roots (although Jane was born in Los Angeles and raised near St. Louis) that led me to ask her questions about her writing process at the first Spellbinders’ Writing Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Hilton Hawaiian Village that is concluding on September 3, 2012.
After “1,000 Acres,” a retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear story set on an Iowa farm, was made into a movie with Jessica Lange, Jason Robards and Sam Shepherd, Jane Smiley moved on to write “Moo,” a humorous tale that dealt with politics at the university level. She told a charming story that went this way: “I was flying from Monterey to New York via San Francisco and I fell asleep on the flight. One hour into the flight, I woke up to the sound of laughter. My seatmate was reading “Moo.” I said, “That’s my book.” She said, “No, it isn’t. I bought it in the airport.” I said, “No, I mean, that’s MY book. I wrote it.” She looked at me and said, “No, you didn’t.” Her laughter was the best compliment I ever got.”

Jane Smiley at luncheon on September 2, 2012.

Asked about her years as a Professor of writing at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, Ms. Smiley said, “I did enjoy it. When we let them in, we explained it was NOT the University of Iowa (in Iowa City’s) world-renowned Writers’ Workshop. About one-fourth of them said, ‘Oh!’ (with disappointment in her voice). But most were engineers and engineers are used to doing their work. I’d give them writing exercises, like, ‘Eavesdrop for 3 days and then come to class and read what you’ve heard.’ That was hilarious! Or, ‘There are 3 beings in the room and something happens.’ Some of them would write about 2 people and a dog. It was really more fun than work.”
When asked if she would ever consider teaching writing again, Smiley responded, “If I could do it MY way, I’d teach again.”
When asked how it felt to learn she had won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature (in 1992) she said: “My 14-year-old daughter was staying home that day. She was at that age where it is absolutely impossible to have any positive impression of her mom. A reporter from the Ames ‘Tribune’ called up and said, ‘What would you say if you were told that you’d won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction?’ I gave her some generic response.

Jane Smiley, reading from her book, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel” during her conference presentation at Spellbinders’ Conference in Hawaii.

About 2 p.m. the phone rang and some guy from the Washington ‘Post’ called to tell me I had actually won. I said, to my daughter, ‘Honey, I think I won the Pulitzer Prize’ and she said, ‘Hmmmm. Cool.’ Later, in the hallway outside my office at the University, I heard someone screaming, and it was the stringer for the Ames Tribune. They (the Ames Tribune) had scooped the Des Moines Register, who had always scooped them. But, after you win, you go from being a wannabe to a has-been. You are no longer cool—although I never was. I was 16 weeks pregnant at the time, so I didn’t have to run around and go to a lot of things, because I was throwing up all the time, anyway.”
On writing, in general: “You can be the kind of person who enjoys the process, or you can be the kind of person who enjoys the awards. If it enhances your feeling of being alive, of finding things out, remember that there are never enough awards.”

Asked to assess her effect on the lives of others, the self-deprecating Smiley said, “I never think that way. I cannot experience myself from outside.”
Truly a class addition to the Spellbinders Writers’ Conference in Honolulu, held from August 31st to September 3rd, 2012.

Jon Land’s “Strong at the Break:” Another Caitlin Strong Novel

By Connie Wilson

On May 29, 2012

In Books, Interviews, Pop Culture

Jon Land is the author of the Caitlin Strong series, [as well as the Blaine McCracken series (“Omicron Legion” and “The Omega Command”)]. He is a Brown graduate who lives in Providence, Rhode Island. His credits list over 25 books.

In “Strong at the Break,” Land took some of every topical news strand out there and jammed nearly all of them into an action-packed book, “Strong at the Break,” to be followed by an even newer Caitlin Strong book, “Strong Vengeance.” (July, 2012).

The man is a writing machine. The publication dates for his four Caitlin Strong novels: May 12, 2009; June 22, 2010; June 21, 2011, and July 17, 2012. Wow! As someone who labored three years on her first novel, I am impressed by Jon Land’s output! You’d think the man never left his house or his computer, but, instead, we learn that he is very active in martial arts.
Caitlin Strong, a 5^th generation Texas Ranger, has appeared in Land’s four most recent books (of 35): “Strong Justice,” “Strong Enough to Die,” and “Strong Vengeance: A Caitlin Strong Novel” (which followed “Strong at the Break,” my focus here).

“Strong at the Break: A Caitlin Strong Novel” derives its title from an Ernest Hemingway quote, “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”

In an interview by Doug Cobb published in June of 2011 on the online blog “Boomtown,” Cobb asked Land questions about his Caitlin Strong series:

“Strong At the Break featuring Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong, the third book in your series, just may well be the best one yet! It has three–count ‘em, three–main plot lines that at first seem to be unrelated, but you brilliantly tie them all together. There’s the one involving Caitlin’s journey to Canada to assist the Mounties in their efforts to stem the tide of illegal drugs coming into America; then, there’s the one where she’s concerned about and active in stopping the sex slave trade based in Mexico; and, lastly, there’s the one where she attempts to shut down the militant quasi-religious group, the Patriot Sun, headed by Malcolm Arno, before he can start up a second Civil War.

Would you say there is any actual evidence that a portion of the $20 billion Bremer had at his disposal in Iraq may have found its way back to America to fund certain militant groups, or is this more of a very dramatic plausible deduction you have made?” (*Cobb forgot to mention the page-time devoted to Don Imus’ philanthropic gestures towards amputee veterans.)

Land gave great answers to Cobb’s questions, and revealed the scoop regarding his fourth Caitlin Strong novel (July 17, 2012).

The original series, said Land, came about when a need for strong female heroines was articulated to him by Tor/Forge books.

Jon Land Picture In the Cobb interview, Land also said, “But the best advice I’ve ever been given about writing actually came from my martial arts instructor who told me to get out of the way of the story and let the characters do the work. The book’s about them was his advice, not me.”

I agree with this assessment. It is why it has taken me so long to finish the third of the four Caitlin Strong books. I had trouble envisioning Caitlin Strong as “real.” Nor did I believe her “maybe-love-interest” Cort Wesley Masters was a real flesh-and-blood person. I’m not fit to hold Caitlin’s six-shooters, that much is for sure. What a rootin’ tootin’ heroine! And she has almost no sex or interest in same in “Strong at the Break.” One chaste kiss. Talk about denial of one’s basic urges!

A book clearly could be written about Land, an author of over 25 books who also has had a 25-year career in the martial arts. (He is an associate member of the U.S. Special Forces) Land is an affable fellow who also is Vice President of Marketing for ITW (International ThrillerWriters). In fact, the dedication of “Strong at the Break” says: “For International ThrillerWriters, keepers of the flame.” Land has written and produced one screenplay (“Dirty Deeds”) and sold the rights to his novel “The Seven Sins: The Tyrant Ascending” to be turned into a DC comic book series and eventual film franchise.

The uncorrected ARC advance copy I read did not have a cover. It opened with heroine Caitlin Strong helping stop drugs being smuggled in from Canada. This immediately made me think of Melissa Leo’s role in the 2008 film “Frozen River.” But “Strong at the Break” isn’t content to stop with a riveting story about Canadian drug dealers and the slavery of Chinese would-be immigrants and Hell’s Angels, it quickly jumps from Quebec and the LaChance brothers to San Antonio, and we are off to the (Ranger) races. [Texas Rangers, that is.]

I admire Jon Land’s ability to jump around within his novel(s) and keep his places and times straight, all things a writer has to do and difficult, at that. His Phi Beta Kappa/magna cum laude abilities definitely show up in the way he is able to reintegrate disparate plot elements, ranging from the Malcolm Arno quasi-religious group (read Waco), to an amputee veteran who blows the whistle on billions of dollars that went MIA in George W. Bush’s war (Bremer in Iraq), to the kidnapping in Mexico of Cort Wesley Masters’ son, Dylan, who functions as a quasi-son to the unmarried Caitlin.

I don’t begrudge men writing about women, or women writing about men. I just need to be able to believe that the woman (or man) I’m reading about could really exist. They have to seem real. Despite some backstory about Caitlin’s having been present at the face-off outside Pearsley’s Tackle and Gun Shop in Midland, Texas in 1990 when her father shot down a religious wing nut in full view of his teen-aged son (who later becomes a bigger menace than the old man), I just could not get in to Caitlin Strong. I did not buy her cowgirl-who-can-kill with the best of them. I tried, but I just could not. I could believe that the slight Swedish heroine, Lisbeth Salander, could defend herself against far bigger opponents (and hack into their bank accounts, if necessary) but Caitlin just seemed unlikely and unrealistic. Maybe it was all the jumping around in time and place, from Canada to Mexico to Texas to wherever. I would like to see the talented Mr. Land concentrate on just ONE of his many storylines. I admire his dexterity in keeping them all straight, juggling all the balls in the air at once, and pulling them all together by the novel’s end (348 pages later) and I admire his prodigious output.

All I can say to Mr. Land’s rabid Caitlin Strong fans and to the fascinating author himself is that, sometimes, “less is more.” I’d love to see an in-depth investigation of just one of the (many) plot strands thrown out there in “Strong at the Break.” And I’d like to add, “Happy Mutual Birthday!” (with no mention of the year, of course) as my birthday, too, is July 23rd.

But, meanwhile, I salute Jon Land’s hard work and prodigious output.

NATO Protests End with a Whimper, Not A Bang!

By Connie Wilson

On May 22, 2012

In Interviews, Politics

Protesters gathered in Grant Park on Sunday, May 20th, 2012.

I’ve just spent the last four days following protesters through the streets of Chicago. My feet, despite wearing my good walking shoes, are like bloody stumps. The problem was the inability to use the ell or buses, because you could not carry a bag that was bigger than 14” or deeper than 4”. Since I don’t own a purse that small, I’ve been walking.

Later, I considered the fact that I have a bicycle here and could have used it. Usually, I am fearful of all the Chicago traffic. There has BEEN no Chicago traffic to speak of, as the city is like a ghost town. Many South Loop merchants actually boarded up their plate glass windows as though a hurricane were coming.

My new friend, Jonathan Morris, sitting in the middle of an empty Lake Shore Drive, looking south.

The hurricane did not materialize. It was more a rainy day. The protesters did come, but so did the cops. There were more police in the city of Chicago—-10,000, I was told—than at any time in history. The entire state of Illinois sent policemen with special training (3 months of special training) to assist Rahm Emanuel’s troops in quelling any riots. The last thing that was wanted was another black eye for the city of Chicago like that incurred during the Democratic National Convention of 1968.

I still remember watching the DNC on my hospital television set, having just given birth to my oldest child. It was unbelievable! On top of that, commentators Gore Vidal (liberal) and William F. Buckley (conservative) got into verbal fisticuffs that deteriorated into physical fisticuffs, with both men rolling around on the studio floor. (“Listen, you God-damned queer, you say that one more time and I’ll punch you in the face!” to which Vidal responded by calling Buckley a “crypto-Nazi” and they were off to the races.)

Jesse Jackson, preparing to speak at the Petrillo Band Shell on Sunday, May 20th.

No such excitement this time around in Chicago. I muse on the demonstrations of my youth and my misspent adulthood, and I wonder what the difference is. I have some theories, which I will share here:

1) Back in the 60s, the demonstrators were primarily college-aged youth. Why? The draft, of course. Not many of my male classmates were too thrilled about the concept of going off to Southeast Asia to fight the Vietnam War. I couldn’t have agreed with them more, so I, too, drew blood, signed my name on a long roll in protest, and marched to the steps of Old Capitol in Iowa City to “protest.” However, the REAL City of Protests was Berkeley, where I attended in 1965, the hey-day of Mario Savio. I had to smile when I revisited the campus a few years back to find a statue of Mario, who is now deceased. Back in the day, they were hauling Mario off to jail with great regularity. Both campuses (Iowa City and Berkeley) learned that it is too easy to break out bookstore windows during a riot. The Republicans learned this during the Republican National Convention of 2008 when demonstrators, despite heavy security, ran through the streets breaking out windows. So, is it any wonder that some local South Loop merchants just closed up shop, boarded up their windows, and stayed home?

2) In the days of my youth, there was ONE thing being protested: i.e., the war in Vietnam. How many of us remember the chants of “Hey! Hey! LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?” and the “Hell, no! We won’t go!” sentiments? In Chicago in 2012, it’s hard to tell who is protesting what. Of course, there are those who simply don’t like NATO. Then there are signs that declare “Bring ‘Em Home!” (anti-war). Then there was a woman protesting evictions. Another woman, clad all in pink, was trying to secure signatures to run on the Green Party ticket.

The Storm Troopers Await.

Yet another country heard from: veterans of both the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, who were out in force and planning on returning medals earned during a dramatic set-to with the police that took place on Sunday about 4 p.m. at the juncture of Michigan and Cermak Streets, a 2 and ½ mile walk from Grant Park’s Petrillo Band Shell, where the festivities kicked off at 10:30 a.m. with Tom Morello (lead guitarist of “Rage Against the Machine”) playing. It was too bad that the sound system was defective, because Morello was recently voted the 26^thbest guitarist of all time by “Rolling Stone” magazine, but only played for about 20 minutes. I enjoyed the time in the park, as Haskell Wexler, Oscar-winning cinematographer (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”) was in the park with a female camerawoman, whom he introduced as being a “very good filmmaker.” Haskell should know! It was a thrill to meet this icon, the last cinematographer to receive an Oscar for a black-and-white film and still going strong at 90 years young. (I was beginning to feel sorry for myself for being so old until I ran into Haskell.)

Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler, age 90, was in Grant Park interviewing protesters. Haskell was the last person to win an Oscar for black-and-white cinematography. He was the cinematographer for both "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

I struck up a conversation with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. There were three men present who showed me the map of the protest march route: the bespectacled Billy Kelly; the bearded Ron Arm, who served in ‘Nam in ’68 and ’69; and Bill Homans, aka “Watermelon Slim.”

Left to right: Billy Kelly, Bill Homans (aka "Watermelon Slim") and Ron Arm ('Nam, 68-69).

Bill, who was leaning heavily on a cane, told me he grew up North Carolina and Oklahoma and Mississippi, but now lives in Clarksville, about 75 miles southwest of Memphis. He has recorded 12 records, singing the blues, as Watermelon Slim, and his plan this night was to sing at Simone’s on 18^th Street around 6 p.m. The veterans shared with me that the city had provided them with a stage set up in the back of a flat-bed truck. This would be their impromptu stage where medals from veterans who fought in our nation’s wars would be returned in protest. Some of the medals were coming from expatriates who fled the Afghanistan War. (Obviously, they would not be there in person.) When asked how many medals, in all, would be returned, the answer was 35.

Slim said, “I’m 63 and I’m breaking down. I enlisted. My dad fought the Nazis and I knew it was not a matter of if, but of when I’d go (to Vietnam). I enlisted as a truck driver, because I really didn’t want to kill anyone. When I came back, I had a lot of survivor guilt, but I’m not going to take any money from the government. There are young people with their whole lives ahead of them that are coming back in worse shape than I’m in now. I’ve finally got a little house of my own and a woman…although we don’t live together. I’m doing all right.”

When I shared with Slim that I was older than he is, he gallantly declared that to be impossible.

ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) Observers.

Next, I caught sight of a sign that declared that we should all “Rise Up!” Yet the bearer of this sign, Taylor Nimey from Seattle who had come with 10 other Occupy Seattle people, was sitting on the grass smoking a cigarette, which struck me as ironic. I sat down next to him and a young (18 years old, a sophomore at DePaul) journalism student asked if she could speak with us about what we were there protesting. I quickly told her I was not really a protester (although I have been), but was a journalist, as she is training to be. (I spent a fair amount of time telling her she needed a “Plan B” in order to survive financially).

Our bright-eyed bushy-tailed young interviewer asked Taylor some questions and he declared that the protest was, “Definitely a great gathering of people around the world.”

Tom Morrell, lead guitarist for "Rage Against the Machine," who lives in the Chicago suburbs and was named the 26th best guitarist of all time by "Rolling Stone" magazine.

The young interviewer asked, “What do they represent?”

Taylor actually started to make some sense, pontificating about how “money doesn’t do anything but feed greed’ and that the government “Should listen to the people and start making changes to their policies.”

Taylor’s answers prompted me to ask him if he had gone to college, and he had, in fact, attended a junior college in Washington state.

“What do you do for a living?” I asked him.

“I work for the post office,” he shared.

I wondered if Taylor was aware that he was working FOR the very government he was protesting AGAINST. And then he came out with his Big Bright Idea: “anarchist communes.” O………….K……….

Moving on, I spoke with Kenneth Justus, who had been on Michigan Avenue the night before in a strange get-up. There he was again, only this time dressed as a court jester. I began to think that Kenneth is or was a professional protester.

Protester Kenneth Justus.

As someone who attended Berkeley back when Mario Savio was leading protests (now, he’s dead and there’s a statue dedicated to him on campus) and the Free Speech movement was just getting started (1965), I’ve seen some protests.

As someone who ran alongside the protesters in St. Paul as they broke out windows (despite the George W. Bush attempts to heavily fortify the city and also staff it with storm troopers), I did not find the NATO

Kenneth Justus on Sunday, May 20th.

demonstrations to be very intense, very well-organized or very effective. Some of the people leading certain groups were from out-of-town and would take wrong turns. The police were not letting the protesters cross the bridge and disrupt the Miracle Mile (one protester whose first name was “Taylor” was arrested for pushing a bicycle policeman’s bike against his chest, and I wondered if it was the “Rise Up” Seattle Taylor). I also witnessed demonstrations in Denver at the DNC in 2008 and also at rallies for George W. Bush and John McCain, and there was none of the enthusiastic vigor or over-the-top violence. This was undoubtedly viewed as a good thing by the PTB. Nobody wanted Chicago to come off as a town full of over-zealous storm troopers who would just as soon bash your head in as look at you, as they did in 1968. I am among that number, so I am not upset that there were so few real “moments” during the past 3 days of the NATO summit.

Grant Park, May 20th, 2012.

The only problem was that my reports from the front made everything sound so tame and well-behaved that the world, watching the few who were arrested or carted away (the technique being to cut the trouble-maker from the pack and get them away quickly, in a surgical strike), especially my very nice editor in Denver for Yahoo, couldn’t quite figure out how it was that I was seeing such a very different series of events.

I can’t figure it out, either. I think that more mature people do not take the risks that

Lawyer observers.

young people took in the 60’s, when it was their life on the line. I think that the “mix” of causes contributed to the disorganization and the failure to have an overriding cause. Yes, people are angry that the policies of our government seem to be widening the gap between the rich and the poor, and the poor are definitely paramount amongst the Occupiers. If you were to see how they must exist to occupy, you would understand that Occupying is not a pursuit for sissies (like me) who love their creature comforts. How many among us would willingly go without a shower or a bath or washed hair or brushed teeth for days on end? Not many, I’m sure.

The one “big news” story that came out of the NATO summit was the plot to use Molotov cocktails on Obama’s headquarters and to shoot an arrow through Rahm Emanuel’s house window. The 3 brainiacs who thought this up were not from Chicago.

They were also not students. One was 27; one was 25; one was 20. Only the 20-year-old sounds like he fell in with the wrong crowd. The others sounded like professional trouble-makers. One, in fact, quit his job as a cook to “occupy” in a variety of cities. There was also talk of a 37-year-old unemployed social worker who was arrested and of a Wisconsin man who was driving around Canal Street with rounds of live ammunition on the back seat of his car.

This group of young people was excited to have their picture taken on the closed down Columbus Drive.

Tomorrow, it’s all over and the city will return to normal. So much for my strolls through Grant Park after dark, alone. It was truly safe there this past 3 days because most of the police on duty were lolling around there. I saw a uniformed officer using his cell phone to take pictures of a man walking his 2 little dogs (terriers). I said, to my companion: “There ya’ go. Your tax dollars at work!”

“Show Me” State Native Peter Giglio Answers 10 Questions Re His Writing Career

By Connie Wilson

On May 17, 2012

In Books, Interviews, Pop Culture

Peter Giglio, Missouri native & genre author.

Peter Giglio is a Pushcart Prize nominee, as well as a screenwriter, novelist, and anthologist. He has contributed short stories to several anthologies and edited “Help! Wanted: Tales of On-the-Job Terror.” As Executive Editor of Evil Jester Press and a member of HWA (Horror Writers’ Association), he is a new voice on the rise in the genre. He is the author of three long works of fiction: Anon, Beyond Anon, novellas, and the novel The Dark (with Scott Bradley).

Pete is pushing the horror envelope. Witness his two novellas: “A Spark in the Darkness” and “Balance.” The first novella deals with vampires; “Balance,” just out, focuses on zombies.

Pete’s first novella, “A Spark in the Darkness,” was a lyrically-written vampire tale from Etopia Press that profiled Edie Novak, a lost woman on a picaresque journey. Divorced from Colin Novak, on a cross-country hike she meets her destiny in the person of Randy Facinelli, a kind truck driver who gives her a lift at a roadside cafe. As the plot progresses, we learn that Randy is a vampire, turned in 1921 during the Prohibition era. His bite transforms Edie into a goddess of sorts—although goddesses are near-prisoners in this new world. Edie tries to escape from Randy and is also affected by her separation from her young daughter, Gail.

In “Balance,” by contrast, the balance of the entire world seems to be shifting as a virus known as the Blast Flu lays waste to humanity and zombies attack humans. The basement scenes will satisfy those with a taste for the gruesome, with horrifying scenes like the one where Giglio tells us about creatures with “eyes milky white, maw lined with serrated teeth, skin ashen gray…”

Here are 10 questions answered by this new rising voice in horror fiction:

Q1) You worked at other jobs for 15 years in what you refer to as “corporate America.” Tell us about some of them.

A1) “I worked mostly in the financial sector as a mid-level sales manager. I worked out my feelings of corporate America in ‘Anon.’ Now I’ve moved on.”

Q2) Your father is also a writer and has published a new book. His focus, however, is different from your own. Give Dad a free plug. Tell us about him and his new book.

A2) “Dad’s latest book is ‘Call Me Tom: The Life of Thomas F. Eagleton.’ Dad is a respected historian, and his other books include ‘The Presidency of John F. Kennedy,’ ‘Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man,’ and ‘Truman in Cartoon and Caricature’”

Q3) In “Balance,” your newest novella, you ask the question, “Does love have to die? If it’s strong enough, does it have to die when we die?” Can you expand on that thought? What made you include it as a dominant theme in this zombie novel?

A3) “Geoff is consumed, to the point of obsession, by feelings of love. We’ve all probably been there before, right? Well, I have. It was a matter of channeling the intensity of that feeling into a character who thinks he’s noble when, for the most part, he’s really being an idiot. His words in that scene are less important that Cass’s actions. She’s really the hero of ‘Balance’. To expand on those lines of dialogue: Geoff is in pain and doesn’t want his pain to end. If his pain endures, his love endures. If his love endures, he’s validated. Cass is the embodiment of his validation, a corpse who still loves. But it’s Geoff’s situation that makes her realize how wrong she is to continue loving someone who doesn’t love her. Balance is the theme of the novella: The balance of love; the balance of nature; the balance of the psyche; and the balance of POV in a zombie story. My mission was to tie these four things together, and to do it in a novella rather than a novel.”

Q4) Missouri is one of the settings for Balance. Tell us about your Missouri roots

A4) “I was born in Springfield, Missouri, and I lived in Kansas City and Saint Louis for a few years apiece. Missouri is an interesting state, half-south, half-north. Springfield is in the southern half, that which is commonly referred to as ‘Missour-ah’ by natives. Several other residents refer to the Show-Me State as ‘Misery.’ Love it or hate it, Missouri is a strange place, the center of the United States, a conglomeration of our best and worst angels.”

Q5) When you were in school, like all of us, you had good teachers and bad teachers, no doubt. Tell us, in particular, about one specific example (no names necessary) of a teacher who influenced you, either for better or for worse.

A5) “I had a high school English teacher who was very mean. She was the type of teacher who shot down her student’s ideas and interpretations with anger. She frequently made me feel stupid, even though I loved reading and writing more than anything. She never found my opinions interesting, never encouraged me, never had a nice word to say, never gave me a grade greater than ‘C.’ My first English professor in college handed my first story back with a big red ‘A’ on it, and several comments like ‘Yes!’ and ‘Brilliant!’ I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”

Q6) You work with time in your novellas in unusual ways….ways different from other writers like Stephen King, who spell out the day of the week, the month, the year, even the time of day. Explain your method of placing a story in time (always a chore for a novelist). Was this a conscious decision, or is it a somewhat new, experimental technique you are attempting to bring into the mainstream?

A6) “Novellas are different than novels. I’m more traditional when it comes to novels. ‘The Dark,’ for instance, spells out time of day at the beginning of each chapter, and the book takes place entirely over one night. With ‘A Spark in the Darkness’ and ‘Balance,’ I thought I could tell the story more effectively if I lost the adornments of a novel. I took out all the working parts that, in my estimation, were prosaic and had little impact. My goal was to tell a novel size story in about 20K words. I think I succeeded both times out. Both books are pure story with no filler. Dates and times can be important to a story, they certainly are in ‘The Dark,’ but they aren’t in ‘Spark’ or ‘Balance.’ I went with a cinematic structure for both. ‘Spark’ has a non-linear, Tarantinoesque delivery system, which makes it punctuate effectively. ‘Balance’ is far more linear—a true exercise in concision.

Q7) Your first novella, “A Spark in the Dark” was about vampires. “Balance,” on the other hand, is about zombies. Pete’s personal preference: Vampires or zombies? Why?

A7) “Vampires have cognitive reasoning; therefore, they are evil. Zombies, most of the time, are things with no choice, generally obstacles rather than forces of true malice. I have no preference, but I do take issue with the rampant lack of originality in much zombie and vampire fiction. With ‘Spark’ and ‘Balance’ I wanted to stir the pot, take vamps back to monster status and humanize the zombies a bit. But I also wanted to respect both subgenres.”

Q8) You and your frequent collaborator Scott Bradley are shopping a screenplay, “The Night They Missed The Horror Show.” Writing a screenplay is quite a bit different from writing “long,” as with a novel like “The Dark” that you are currently working on with Scott Bradley or your somewhat shorter novellas “A Spark in the Dark” and “Balance.” (January, 2012). Which format do you prefer and why?

A8) “I have no preference. The processes are different, sure. But writing is writing. You work with what you have until it works. Screenwriting is very freeing because you don’t have to worry about prose. Movie scripts are pure story. That energizes me. But I love, love, love prose. Painting a picture with words really turns me on.”

9Q) You like cats. Scott likes cats. I like cats. Why do you like cats, and do you prefer them, as pets, to dogs or other animals? Do you have a cat now?

9A) “I have three cats. I prefer them to other animals—hell, I prefer them to humans most of the time! But I love dogs. I even love humans most of the time.”

Q10) Tell us about your next project and your longer-term goals and aspirations.

A10) “I have two novels coming out in June: ‘Beyond Anon’ (the sequel to my first novel) and ‘The Dark’ (with Scott Bradley). Several short stories that Scott and I wrote are coming out soon: ‘Angela & the Angel’ in Trent Zelazny’s ‘A Splintered Mirage’; ‘Eyeballs and Assholes in El Paso’ in Alvaro Rodriguez’s ‘Border Noir’; and ‘Straycation’ in John Skipp’s ‘Psychos’ I’m currently in development on several things with Scott Bradley, Eric Shapiro, as well as a multitude of solo projects. I work 60-70 hours a week. My goal is to be a ‘New York Times’ Bestselling novelist and a respected, go-to screenwriter. I’m not shooting for the mid-list, but if I end up there I’ll be happy.”

Ten Questions for True Crime Author R. Barri Flowers

By Connie Wilson

On May 12, 2012

In Books, Interviews, Pop Culture

Writer/Criminologist R. Barri Flowers.

R. Barri Flowers, Michigan State criminology grad who has written both true crime stories and fiction, has co-edited a new anthology of short stories entitled Murder Here, Murder There. Flowers is an award-winning bestselling author of mystery/thriller fiction, with titles including Murder in Honolulu, Murder in Maui, Dark Streets of Whitechapel and The Sex Slave Murders.

Flowers has edited two American Crime Writers’ League anthologies, as well as a true crime anthology, Masters of True Crime, and has been interviewed on the Biography Channel, Investigation Discovery, and ABC television.

Co-editor of Murder Here, Murder There is Jan Grape, who is also the author of novels such as Austin City Blue and Dark Blue Death, featuring Austin policewoman Zoe Barrow. Her most recent non-series novel is What Doesn’t Kill You. A finalist for the Edgar, Agatha, Shamus, she won a McCavity for co-editing the nonfiction book Deadly Women.

I asked R. Barri Flowers to respond to 10 questions about his work, his life, and the new anthology Murder Here, Murder There (Twilight Times books) and here are his responses:

Q1) What author or books have greatly influenced your own writing?

A1) “Many great authors come to mind, including Robert Ludlum, Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane, Daphne du Maurier, Thomas Hardy, Sidney Sheldon, Barbara Taylor Bradford. With respect to books in particular: Celebrity by Thomas Thompson; 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff; Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy; and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.”

Q2) You have several recent murder mystery titles set in Hawaii (Murder in Honolulu, Murder in Maui). Do you ever feel that Hawaii, as a general rule, has far fewer murders that are less heinous than, say, the state of Michigan where you went to college? I could phrase this as: “Detroit vs. Honolulu. Compare.

A2) “There are far fewer murders in Hawaii than in Michigan. For example, in 2010, there were 24 murders in Hawaii compared to 558 murders in Michigan. In Detroit alone there were 308 homicides in 2010. Because murders are not an everyday occurrence in Hawaii, it makes the setting that much more intriguing for murder mystery and thriller novels.

Q3) What do you most want readers to know about Murder Here, Murder There?

A3) Good question. What I want readers to know most is that the ACWL’s Murder Here, Murder There mystery anthology has 19 really good tales of murder, mystery, suspense and thrills that are every bit as captivating as the ITW and MWA anthologies on the market. An excellent introduction is done by John Lutz, an Edgar winning, bestselling mystery novelist who has seen some of his material, such as the erotic thriller Single White Female, adapted to the screen. John contribute a wonderful story to the collection and other excellent contributors include Edgar nominee Bill Crider, Jay Brandon, Noreen Ayres, Agatha and Anthony-nominated Kris Neri, Shamus nominated (and co-founder of ACWL) Robert Randisi, and fellow ITW members Twist Phelan, Taffy Cannon and Dakota Banks.

Q4) What has replaced “Prison Break,” which you said was one of your favorite TV shows, in your television watching? Recent favorite series?

A4) Another great question. These days, I am enjoying “Criminal Minds,” “Once Upon A time,” “The Killing,” “Missing,” Army Wives,” “Awake” and “Hell on Wheels.” Other recent favorites include “Luther,” “McLeod’s Daughters,” “Bad Girls,” “CSI,” “Ringer,” and “Cold Case.”

Q5) What is the most heinous crime you’ve personally written about?

A5) “The most heinous true crime I have written about is the horrific tale of serial killers Gerald and Charlene Gallego in my international bestseller, The Sex Slave Murders. The husband-wife couple murdered 11 people, including an unborn child, as part of sex slave fantasies. It was difficult to write about, but as a professional, I had to distance myself from as much of it as possible and focus on telling a story that needed to be told.”

Q6) What is your next solo writing project?

A6) “My next published solo work comes out in August, 2012, as the aforementioned true crime anthology, Masters of True Crime: Chilling Stories of Murder and the Macabre, which features 17 chilling true stories by some fantastic true crime writers such as Harold Schechter, Carol Ann Davis, Katherine Ramsland, Robert Scott, Michele McPhee and Burl Barer.

Q7) What recent movies or TV series have impressed you with their accuracy in detailing crime scenes, if any?

A7) “Most movies and television series stretch credibility in their accuracy with respect to crime scenes and investigations, given the confines of Hollywood and the fact that the crime and its resolution usually is wrapped up in less than 2 hours, where in real life it can take weeks, months, or even years to solve a crime. Movies that have impressed me include: “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Kiss the Girls,” and “In Cold Blood.” Television series that have done a pretty good job with crime scenes and investigating murders include “The Killing,” “Midsomer Murders,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Prime Suspect,” and “Criminal Minds.”

Q8) Tell me about your education?

A8) “I am a graduate of Michigan State University with a B.A. and M.S in criminology. My thesis was entitled “Criminal Jurisdiction Allocation in Indian Country.” It explored the types of crimes on Native American land and who has jurisdiction over criminal matters between the federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies. I also am a recipient of the prestigious Wall of Fame Award from Michigan State University’s renowned School of Criminal Justice.”

Q 9) Who are the writers represented in the anthology Murder Here, Murder There?

A9) ” The authors represented include Bill Crider, Margaret Coel, Edward Marston, Twist Phelan, Jay Brandon, Dakota Banks, Robert Randisi, R. Barri Flowers, Joanne Rochester, Meg Chittenden, John Lutz, Kris Neri, Claire Carmichael, Taffy Cannon, Lauren Haney, Valerie Malmont, Jim Ingraham, Marlys Millhiser, Noreen Ayres and co-editor Jan Grape. The book is available from Barnes & Noble and is published in all formats by Twilight Times Books.”

Q10) Any last words? Anything you’d like to add to the interview?

A10) “I enjoyed the interview, and I thought you gave me some great questions to ponder. As a writer with a broad range of fiction and nonfiction books on the market, in print, E-book and audio book, I encourage readers to explore them and see what captures their fancy.”

Ten Questions for Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner

By Connie Wilson

On January 30, 2012

In Interviews, Politics

The following ten questions were asked of Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner on Fahreed Zakaria’s CNN television show “GPS” —Global Public Square—on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Q1: What is the United States economy going to grow at this year?

A1: “There are no oracles in economics and it’s still a pretty uncertain world, but I think the conventional view of the US now is that we’re growing between 2 and 3%, and I think that’s a realistic outcome for the U.S. economy, as long as we see a little more progress in Europe, and as long as we don’t see a lot of risk come up from Iran and the oil front.”

Q2: That scenario of 2 to 3% growth seems a little different from what Ben Bernanke thinks growth is going to look like. If you read the statement Ben Bernanke put out — to put out a statement almost guaranteeing that rates are going to remain where they are until almost the end of 2014 suggests that they don’t see any growth, any robust growth, for a long time. Are they wrong at the Fed?

A2: ” I’m not a forecaster, so my views aren’t worth much, but I think if you look at both the Feds forecast and the consensus of private forecasters in the business economy among economists, if you look in that cluster, it’s still pretty dependent on how the world unfolds. Again, I think it’s worth recognizing that we still face tremendous challenges in the country. We’re still repairing the damage left by a devastating financial crisis. Unemployment is still very high. Housing is still very, very weak, construction is still very weak. People still have too much debt. We’re bringing that down. That’s still gonna’ take a while to repair. That still has had a great impact on the fortunes of ordinary Americans.”

Q3: There is a very well-established narrative now among the business community in the United States that there would be a much more robust recovery, the U.S. economy would be recovering faster, if there were greater certainty, if people were willing to invest and the reason they are not is that there is sort of a tsunami of regulations, uncertainty about the tax policies, uncertainty about the deficit and above all that the economy is being thrown this huge array of legislation, that this is what is holding the economy is back.

A3: “I don’t think there is much basis for that line of thought. It’s true that we are putting in place tough new guidelines in the financial sector, we are trying to change the way the health care system works, and we are trying to change the ways Americans use energy and those are necessary, desirable, and very important for the long-term recovery of the United States. But I think if you look at the evidence about how the economy is doing and about how the business economy is doing, in particular, the reality does not justify that sense, so just look at the things you can use to measure basic health, business health. Profitability across the American economy is very, very high—higher than the pre-crisis peak—if you look at investment as a measure of confidence…private investment in equipment and software…it has grown more than 30% since the trough in the first part of 2009. That puts it up 22%. There is broad-based investment in energy, in agriculture, in manufacturing. Not just high tech manufacturing, but in heavy manufacturing. I was at a Seaman’s plant, a new plant, in North Carolina this week, which is building Seaman gas turbines and generators for export, and they’re doing that because they see in the basic fundamentals of the productivity of the United States, even with all our challenges, this pretty compelling competitive advantage relative to where else they are produced. So, I think if you look at the basic health of the American business sector it’s much stronger than anyone would have thought at the peak of our crisis, and stronger than many of us hoped.”

Q 4: While business productivity is up, manufacturing is up, unemployment still remains a huge challenge. Many businesses have become more productive because they’ve taken costs out of the system, they’ve managed things better. How do you get the American job machine going again?

A4: “The biggest drive of how fast the unemployment rate comes down is how fast we grow. And the biggest determiner of how fast we’re going to grow now is really going to depend on these two fundamental factors. One is what’s going to happen in the world, meaning in Europe and in the Gulf because of oil and, frankly, just to be direct about it, if the Republicans in Congress decide they want to legislate things that are good for growth in the short term. So what we think the right economic growth for the country is is to legislate a set of investment incentives that encourage things that are going to be good for long-term growth: rebuilding America’s infrastructure, education, more spending on innovation, basic science, better skills for Americans, tied to long-term fiscal reforms that restore sustainability. If we were able to legislate for those things in the short term that would make a big difference for confidence, that would make a difference for this rate of growth of the American economy in the short run. But, to be realistic, it’s going to take a long time still for us to repair the damage, particularly on unemployment, that caused the crisis. But the private sector has created 3.2 million (new) jobs and job growth has resumed. That’s actually pretty strong recovery in the job sector compared to the last 2 recoveries; it’s pretty strong, given the aftershocks of the crisis. We all want it to be stronger, though.”

Q5: Most people who look at the American tax code, which is, with regulation, 10,000 pages long, one of the most complicated in the world, believe that the key to reforming the tax code is broaden the base, eliminate the deductions and loopholes, lower the rates. Isn’t the president’s proposal in the State of the Union message taking us in exactly the opposite direction?

A5: “Not at all. The president’s proposals, which are focused on a set of investment favorable reforms in the investment sector, focusing on manufacturing and investment, and on a modest but necessary increase in the effective tax rate paid by the richest Americans, those 2 things I think are going to come, realistically, in the context of broad reform. What we’re going to try to do is to lay the foundation for tax reform, we can produce a more simple system (lower rates, broader base, more simple, less distortions….

(Fahreed, interrupting, “Why not just propose tax reform?”)

A6: “Because we have to start with principles for a framework and we have to be specific about those things which should dominate the debate. Again, I wish it were different for us, but the basic crude fiscal realities of the United States now, (and we have to recognize that we have to govern within those limits), means that when we do tax reform, we’re going to have to be helping contribute to deficit reduction. We don’t have the ability to offer the American people or the American business people a net tax cut. That is beyond the capacity of anybody realistic about our constraints, but again, just to put it in perspective, our fiscal problems are daunting for us, in the long run, but they are much more manageable problems than faced by almost any economy around the world. And it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that, given the high level of unemployment, given the very bad outcome for median income in the United States over the last 30 years, 20 years, 10 years, given the just appallingly high rates of poverty in the United States, given the competitive challenges we face that are going to require pretty significant investments in infrastructure, and in education, you have to take a much broader approach and we’re not going to solve our problems in this country by thinking they are about how we restore fiscal sustainability. That’s part of it, but it’s not the dominant challenge we face as a country.”

Q7: Does that suggest that austerity is not a path to growth?

A7: “I think the debate over austerity is mostly exaggerated. The people who talk about economic problems as being things you can fix by austerity get the main things wrong. It’s true, however, that in most of Europe, there are going to be significant budget reductions. They will not work if there is not a stronger commitment standing behind the European endeavor and, you’re right, the country will face the fact that austerity will feed the decline.”

Q8; Did you talk about the US/China trade in a way that you think will see results?

A8: “We’ll have to see. We measure people by their actions. China does provide a unique problem. They are still overwhelmingly dominated by the state and they still keep their exchange rate below fundamental and have for some time. Although China is, in many ways, is beginning to have a manufacturing presence that is major, they are supporting that presence in ways that are very damaging, not just to the economic factor, to the trade but to the political support around the world in order to support a more fair system around the world. I do think that China believes that it’s in its interests to try to make this broader system work. Of course it depends a lot on its access to our market and to other markets around the world and we hope that these markets are enough of an incentive to them to make more progress in these reforms.”

Q9: You announced recently that you would be leaving at the end of Obama’s first term. Was that your idea or his?

A9: “An excellent way to pose that question. Generally, anybody who takes these jobs serves at the discretion of the president. And at a time when we face so many challenges, so much pressure, and you have these things, you have to do them. And when he asked me to stay, when I thought it was the right time to leave, I agreed I would stay, and I agreed I would stay until the balance of his term, and he accepted that aspiration of mine. And that’s where it’s gonna’ come out, I think.”

Q10: What are you going to do next?

A10: “That feels like a long way away. Again, we’re in Europe and I know the eyes are all on Europe, but here living with terribly challenging and hugely consequential economic choices, we have a lot of unfinished business, even on the financial reform side and a lot of foundation laying on the things that are good for growth and investment in the United States, not just for the long-term fiscal economy, so I feel like we have a long year of hard work. It’s a political moment in the United States and people are skeptical if we can do anything but our judgment is that we still have a chance in some of these areas to make some progress, and I’m going to focus on that as long as I can.”