Interview: Andrew McBride

Andrew McBride lives and works in Brighton, on England’s southern shore. He has written six well-received Western novels known for their vibrant settings, realistic characters, and elegant plotting; each features Calvin “Choctaw” Taylor. His first novel, Canyon of the Dead, was published by Black Horse Westerns in 1996 and his most recent, The Peacemaker, was published by Sundown Press in 2016.

Best-selling Western writer Ralph Cotton wrote that Andrew is, “Among the top Old West storytellers.” And Spur Award winning author Robert Vaughan wrote about The Peacemaker: “This was a great book.” 

Andrew was kind enough to take a break from his writing schedule and answer a few questions. The questions are italicized, and as always, the answers are so much more important.

What’s your latest novel? 

The Peacemaker. It’s a western set in Arizona in 1871, when the white man and the Apache Indians are at war. The hero is an 18 year old young man who gets roped into a dangerous mission to talk peace with the most important of the hostile Apache chiefs – Cochise. He guides a duo to Cochise’s camp – a white man and his adopted Apache daughter. Along the way, the hero and the Apache girl fall in love. Fans of the TV Western series ‘The High Chaparral’ will spot I’ve borrowed the basic premise from a High Chaparral episode, but the second half of the novel goes somewhere else entirely. I felt the original episode could be the springboard for a tremendous adventure story. It’s published by Sundown Press and available on Amazon and the usual outlets. 

Without breaking any of your personal taboos, would you give us an idea of what you’re working on now?

I’m not sure I have any personal taboos, I’m not that interesting! I was planning to launch into another novel, but finishing off other projects has put me slightly behind schedule. Right now I’m readying a finished western for some publishers. After that I’ve got to finish off another novel that’s such a complete departure from what I’ve written before I’d have to publish it under another name. Sorry about the mystery but I’m keeping quiet about that one for now. I’ve also got a completed Robin Hood novel I’m trying to find a home for, so I can join my heroes Rosemary Sutcliff and Henry Treece among the ranks of historical novelists. Then I can get properly started on my next novel: a western with an elegiac, end-of-the-west, ‘Wild Bunch’ feel.

What was your first published novel?

Canyon of the Dead. In 1982 I submitted a western called Shadow Man to Robert Hale Publishers. They rejected it – quite rightly, as it wasn’t good enough. A dozen years later an author friend of mine – Philip Caveney – mentioned Hale were still looking for westerns, so, rather than writing a new one I dug out Shadow Man from the bottom of a drawer, dusted off the cobwebs and looked at it again. I re-wrote about half of it, re-submitted it to Hale and they accepted it – only they had another book called Shadow Man coming out. So I re-titled mine Canyon of the Dead. It came out in 1996, 14 years late. As a sort of post-script, I later wrote another one for Hale – again called Shadow Man – and they published it in 2008. So getting one form of Shadow Man out there took 26 years! How do I feel about it now? I do a blog which features authors talking about their favorites of their own books. A lot of authors I contact are very often fond of their first published works. Not only does it mark a breakthrough for us into the public arena, we admire our early work for its freshness and energy even if we’re still working out how to do the job properly – a bit like having affection for your young, if sometimes foolish, self. I have the same affection for Canyon of the Dead, although reading it now, I think it’s probably too busy, there’s too much going on, and the pace is too breathless. As I wrote more, I learned to control my energy and settle down. There’s also one episode in the story – an act of violence I treat too casually - that I wouldn’t include now. But what’s done is done, and I still think it’s a good book and not just a good debut.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

Age 7. Growing up in England in the 60s there was a TV show called ‘Sir Lancelot’ I used to watch – I was nuts about the Arthurian legend even then. I got hold of a notebook and started writing my own stories about Arthurian knights, until I got that little bump of hard skin on your finger you get from holding a pen a lot. After that I just wrote as a hobby all the time, all kinds of adventure stories. Then I started reading. For the authors I liked I used to think: ‘I want to be like them.’ For those I didn’t, I thought: ‘I can do better than that!’

How do you go about writing?

Where: At home on a computer. I know some writers have to write longhand, almost as if they have to feel the ideas coming out of their brain, down their arm, through the pen etc. Doesn’t work for me! For me it’s all about efficiency, getting my ideas onto the page as quickly as possible, which means bashing away on a keyboard on a desktop PC. I feel cramped using small devices like laptops. I’ve never tried writing in places like cafes, too many distractions. I like to work alone in my home study. I find silence oppressive so I usually have music on – something like jazz instrumentals that won’t distract me.

When: About 1991 I committed to being a writer, so since then I’ve turned down full-time work whenever I can, taking part-time jobs that free me up so I can write at least 2 days a week. It’s not always been possible to keep to that, and sometimes the finances have been precarious. In the last 8 months I had a bit of luck and came into some money unexpectedly, so I’ve been able to live the complete writer’s life, writing sometimes 4 or even 5 days a week. To me, that’s the equivalent of dying and going to heaven! This won’t continue much longer, alas, but it has been seriously great while it’s lasted! I tend to work a day shift, writing from about 10 a.m. until whenever in the afternoon the inspiration flags. I rarely write in the evenings, I like my brain to be fresh when I’m hitting those keys. One thing I learned from Phil Caveney, my writing mentor, is that novelists need to have a time / word count discipline. Give yourself a DEADLINE. For example you may decide you want to write an 80,000 word novel in 2 years. That works out about 110 words a day. Make sure you keep to your routine and write those words, otherwise you’ll join the ranks of would-be novelists who spend 7, 9 or 11 years writing a novel. So hitting my daily (or at least weekly) word count, rather than hours spent, is how I measure my progress. 

As for outlines: I usually have a (very) loose idea of what the novel’s going to be about when I start out, a 2 minute trailer rather than a fully developed movie. Some of my novels have been fictionalizations of real historical events, so that helps provide an outline. I tend to write a chapter at a time, and don’t plan much further ahead than that. I know some writers have to get a first draft of the whole novel down before they start revising. I don’t. I write a chapter and then revise it. It’s usually a 3 day process. Day 1 is the grind of the first draft of the chapter, which I find is the hardest part. You tell the tale of the chapter, you cover the story points, but it’s a slog and the writing may not be that good. But on Day 2 you wake up and re-draft it into shape, which in my case is almost always cutting. I may re-write or re-arrange bits but mostly all I do is cut – like pruning a hedge, or clearing the weeds out of the garden so you can see what you’re after. Day 3 is usually easy – polishing, just doing a bit of tweaking and tidying up. Then I sit back for a few days and let the next chapter simmer in my head until it’s ready to be tackled. Which means by the time I’ve finished the whole novel it’s about 80% done, so it only needs some tweaking and further cutting. If ever I get stuck, I might just write myself some notes, along the lines of ‘what the hell happens next?’ Or ‘How do I get my hero out of this fix?’ I do also have a good friend I’ve nicknamed ‘Dr. Plot’ who I sometimes bounce ideas off. If I’ve literally ‘lost the plot’, he usually comes up with something.  

Do you have any specific pleasures, or displeasures, that come from writing? 

I love the creative process, and the artistic side of a writer’s life. I like the way you can sometimes find creative energy and inspiration in adversity. I once sent off a manuscript and had it unexpectedly rejected. I got hold of the rejected manuscript at 10 p.m. The publishers liked the beginning and the end but felt the novel wandered too much in the middle. Partly because I was smarting from rejection, I couldn’t sleep that night. Instead I stayed up and re-read the whole novel end to end and went to bed about 4 a.m. I woke up 6 hours later and immediately started re-writing, with ideas that just seemed to have come to me. In 10 days I’d re-written the whole middle section of the novel. I sent it back to the publishers and they accepted it.

Like many authors I know, I love the creative side, but I find the ‘business side’ a real chore – finding publishers, agents, sending off etc. I personally don’t mind giving readings, but I find other aspects of promotion tedious. I’ve tried to make Social Media promotion and blogging fun, but essentially I would just rather be writing and let someone else deal with all that stuff. And rejection remains unrelievedly horrible. I’ve had many rejections, and it never gets any easier, or hurts any less. That’s when you cling on to the old writing adage: ‘What do you call a writer who never gives up? Published!’’

Are there any writers that inspired—or continue to inspire—your own writing?

Many writers have inspired me. My first literary hero was Captain W. E. Johns, who wrote the ‘Biggles’ series, which I just devoured in my early teenage years. He gets a lot of stick now for not being very PC and maybe he isn’t but back then I enjoyed his books as your archetypal ‘cracking adventure yarns’ – they were a kind of junior level James Bond. Then I moved on to the historical novels of Rosemary Sutcliff. Getting into early adulthood I was a big fan of Ian Fleming and Raymond Chandler. Mostly, I read/still read westerns, thrillers and historical fiction, all of which you could call ‘adventure novels.’ In the western field that would include Gordon D. Shirreffs, Lewis B. Patten, Robert McLeod, Fred Grove, Louis L’Amour, Glendon Swarthout, Thomas Berger, Jack Schaefer, Will Henry, A.B. Guthrie jnr. and Dorothy M. Johnson. Thriller writers would include Walter Mosley, (earlier) Patricia Cornwell, Robert Harris and W.R. Burnett. ‘Classics’ would include Robert Louis Stevenson (he’s still unchallenged, IMHO, as writer of the world’s greatest adventure novel) the Brontes, Dickens, H.G. Welles and Graham Greene. Forgotten writers I was a big fan of include Alexander Knox (who was also an actor) who wrote a tremendous novel about modern-day Eskimo life called The Night of the White Bear; Desmond Corey, who wrote spy thrillers with a hero called Johnny Fedora who was like Bond only cooler – he played jazz piano to wind down from the stresses as a ‘licensed to kill’ secret agent; and Henry Treece. Treece wrote for children and adults. He wrote two novels on the Arthurian legend – The Great Captains and The Green Man - which are still startling in their originality. I’ve discovered some good writers since engaging with Social Media. For example I gave a 5 star review (something I almost never do) to While Angels Dance, a novel about the James Gang, by Ralph Cotton. I also gave a good review to Merrick by some chap called Ben Boulden… 3 writers I have to single out are Elmore Leonard, Matt Chisolm and John Prebble. Elmore Leonard’s Hombre blew me out of my socks. I’d discovered a western writer who wrote prose and dialogue worthy of Raymond Chandler, hence the saying: ‘No one writes less and says more than Elmore Leonard.’ The first series western writer I liked was Matt Chisolm, who wrote the McAllister series back in the 60s and 70s. His gritty, laconic style, with plenty of salty humor, struck me as quintessentially American - then I found out he was British, which encouraged me to write about the west too. I stumbled on John Prebble and his novel The Buffalo Soldiers. This impressed me with not only the quality of the writing but also that Prebble took some of the most oft-covered, not to say romanticized aspects of the Old West – the U.S. Cavalry versus the Indians, the Texas Rangers etc. – and found something new to say about them. He looked at them with a fresh eye, avoiding clichés, humanizing them without trivializing them. Then I found out he was another Brit! Also Prebble diversified – he didn’t just write westerns, but also thrillers, histories of Scotland and co-wrote the screenplay to the movie ‘Zulu’. Which is the kind of writer I’d like to be, although thus far only my westerns have got published.

What do you find appealing about Western stories, as a writer, reader, and viewer?

As a writer I’ve always been drawn to adventure stories set outdoors. I can’t see myself writing an urban novel. I like having my characters tested by the struggle to survive in a wilderness. For me westerns ticked every box – they not only had conflict and action in plenty but also strong dramatic tension because they’re essentially morality plays about the fight between right and wrong.

They deal with a broad range of moral dilemmas that the settlement of the West threw up: How do you tame a wilderness without destroying it? How much violence is necessary (and how much is excessive) in creating a law-abiding society? How can diverse cultures (for example the white man and the Native Americans) co-exist? All painted on a canvas of great physical beauty and diversity. Which of course is an added strength to the best western TV shows and movies, where the landscape itself almost becomes a character. Look how “The High Chaparral” used Old Tucson and John Ford used Monument Valley. And there’s a lot of tragedy in western history – what happened to the Native Americans, for example, and to the basic environment – that’s the stuff of high drama. Some of the best westerns have an elegiac quality – a sort of lament for a paradise lost. There’s also beauty and poetry in the language, not only the laconic speak of everyday westerners but even in real names. When I first read about the Alamo, and people called Travis, Crockett, Bowie, Santa Anna etc. I was hooked. And you can add to that Custer, Earp, etc., wonderful Native American names like the Comanche chief Talks-with-Dawn-Spirits (also translated as Hears-the-Sun-Rise) the Kiowa medicine man called Sky Walker a long time before “Star Wars”… names to die for!     

If you could write anything, without commercial considerations, what would it be? 

You don’t need to ask me about that, I’m doing it! Anybody who writes in the western genre is writing without ‘commercial considerations’ – but if you love westerns and have to write these books you will. I have written in other genres, two historical novels and some contemporary thrillers/outdoor adventures, but so far it’s only the westerns, which I’d have thought were the least commercial of my product, that have been published.

I know you’re a fan of both Western television and film. Do you have any favorites?  

Actually I’m not a huge fan of TV Westerns. There were lots of them about when I was a kid growing up in England in the 1960s, but I always thought them the ‘poor relation’ of western movies. I don’t like being too negative but they did tend to accept and re-cycle clichés about the western, rather than challenging them. Some of them could also get very soap-opera-ish. You’d catch ‘Bonanza’ for example and half the time the episode would be about a father’s relationship with his son, and didn’t need to be set in the Old West at all. Sometimes you’d catch episodes that were entertaining, occasionally excellent, but not essential viewing.  But my biggest beef against them was their cheap production values. Because of their low budget, many of them were filmed on familiar Hollywood backlots or sound stages, and made little of what is a key western element in my opinion – the landscape, and its physical magnificence. Given my taste in westerns has always run to the outdoor and the primitive that frustrated me. The exception – the one TV Western series I loved – was ‘The High Chaparral.’ It did ‘jump the shark’ sadly, but for its first two seasons the HC was an outstanding show – not only strong scripts and a superb cast, but the location shooting, in Old Tucson, Arizona. That gave the HC not only physical beauty but grittiness and authenticity – the sweat and dust were real! I’ve blogged about my admiration for the HC.

As for film: People ask me ‘What’s your favorite western movie?’ and I can’t answer – there’s too many great ones. A golden period was the 50s so maybe it’s hiding in there. But there were great westerns before – “Red River” etc. – and after – “Hombre” “The Wild Bunch” “Unforgiven” and more. If you had to narrow it right down, I think the two most important people in western film were John Wayne and John Ford, separately (so you could look at movies like “My Darling Clementine” “Wagon Master” and “Rio Bravo”) and together. Of the joint Wayne-Ford westerns it’s hard to find a more perfect script IMHO than “Stagecoach” – the 1939 version – and I’m especially fond of “Fort Apache.” But I can’t pick an absolute favorite. 

If you were stranded on an island and you had only one book, what would it be?

Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff. She was a writer for children who ‘found her voice’ writing about early history – the Romans, the Vikings etc. Here she went into adult fiction with the definitive modern take on the Arthurian legend IMHO, depicting Arthur as a Dark Age British war leader fighting barbarians, rather than a medieval king. It’s incredibly deeply wrought, what one reviewer called ‘a bracing plunge into the heroic world.’ She gets to the essence of the story, which is a universal theme of the sacrificial leader who buys the life of his people with his own life. You find that theme in ‘Beowulf’ too, and in the story of the Alamo. It’s deep stuff, with great battle scenes!

If you were allowed only to recommend one of your own novels, or stories, which one would you want people to read?

The Peacemaker. I like all my first five published books, but they were of necessity short, which meant they had to be action-centric, dependent on a fast pace. With a longer book like The Peacemaker, I could slow down a bit, spend more time on character and atmosphere. I could get into Native American culture. I got to play around with a real historical character (in this case, Cochise.) I was able to write a proper love story, and flesh out the women characters. I could provide what John Ford called the ‘grace notes’ in his movies, quiet, reflective bits where not much happens, but they give the story added richness and depth. I was very grateful to my publishers for letting me do that.

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Thrift Shop Book Covers: "Marimba"

Marimba, by Richard Hoyt, was published as a hardcover by Tor in 1992. The edition that caught my eye is the Tor paperback published in 1993. It’s a Miami crime novel—drugs and vice—and the cover captures the flavor perfectly with pastel colors, palm trees and a red Italian sports car. The artist: attributed to Cityline Communications.

The first sentence:

Topper McRae had an idea that sweet little Lourdes Martinez had something sweet to offer him on the 45-minute run back to the berth at King’s Bay in Biscayne Bay, and his hands trembled as he turned to close the hatch door.

I’m fond of both Richard Hoyt’s novels—Trotsky’s Run is as good as an espionage novel gets— and this period of Tor paperbacks. If a paperback has Tor’s logo on it, it’s a suspense novel published from the early-1980s to the late-1990s, the chances are good I’ll purchase it.

DEAD RECKONING by Sam Llewellyn

Sam Llewellyn is an author I discovered in the late 1980s as a teenager. He wrote a series of suspense novels set in the British fishing village of Pulteney. The novels all have sailing as a backdrop, and by my recollection none of them feature the same protagonist.

I recently reread Dead Reckoning, the first of the Pulteney sailing novels, published in 1987. It’s narrated by Charlie Agutter, from an old Pulteney family, making a nice living designing racing yachts. The novel opens with Charlie receiving a summons to the village’s lifeboat. A sailing yacht, Aesthete, has been caught in The Teeth—a dangerous stretch of reef just off shore. Charlie designed the stranded yacht, and it’s one of only two produced with a new light weight rudder. The dead sailor at the helm is Charlie’s brother.

It appears the rudder failed and a heavy sea dragged Aesthete into the Teeth shattering its hull. The accident hits Charlie hard. He and his younger brother were close and his business is threatened with collapse since most think his new rudder failed. Charlie’s certain the rudder was sabotaged, but the saboteur is a step ahead and Charlie can’t prove anything. The mystery is as much about motive as whodunit. Charlie isn’t sure why the rudder was tampered with; murder for its own sake—to kill his brother or the other man aboard the yacht—or an attempt to destroy him and his business by undermining the rudder design.

Dead Reckoning is a wonderful suspense-adventure mystery. It was fairly (and correctly) compared to the work of Dick Francis by critics when it was released. A slim line suspense mystery with a sport setting. In this case yacht racing, but it is as much an adventure story as mystery, and it is seemingly influenced by the Alistair MacLean style adventure thriller. It is heavy on description, setting (weather is always an adversary), action and suspense, and light on dialogue and whodunit ponderings. 

Pulteney is a perfect setting for the story.  A boom town that was once a place where fishermen made their living from the sea, but it has been bought up by wealthy professionals and industrialists who use it as a place to moor yachts and brag about to their friends in the city. The rub between the old and new residents creates its own tension as Charlie works to solve the puzzle and catch the killer. He walks a tenuous line between both old and new, and isn’t quite trusted by either.  

Everything works in Dead Reckoning, but what sets it apart from its peers is the seamless weaving of both the culture and sport of yacht racing. The plot can’t be extricated from its background, and one without the other would be useless. The setting is exotic and familiar at once. The characters are smoothly realistic in shades of both likability and familiarity.   

Dead Reckoning was published more than 30 years ago and has held up remarkably well. Sam Llewellyn is back on my list of favorite writers.

Thrift Shop Book Covers: "Death out of Focus"

Death out of Focus, by Bill Gault, is a standalone mystery novel published as a hardcover by Random House in 1959. The edition that caught my eye is the Dell paperback published in 1960. It’s everything a vintage 1950s crime cover should be—alluring and beautiful with an encroaching menace, seen here as the darkening background and the monster-like stage lights. The artist: Robert McGinnis.

The first sentence:

He took the new script out to the sundeck and read it there.

Bill Gault published much of his fiction with his full name, William Campbell Gault. Interestingly, the dedication for Death out of Focus reads:

For Richard Matheson whose idea it was

A dedication that makes me want to read this book more than I already did.

Interview: Bill Crider (from 2015)

Bill Crider died February 12, 2018, after a struggle with cancer. Bill was a marvelous writer and a nice man. As a tribute to Bill, the writer, here is a reposting of an interview I conducted during the last week of July, 2015. There are links to a few of Bill’s novels at the bottom of the interview. Buy one and read it.

Bill Crider is the author of more than 50 novels. His first was an unassuming entry in the Nick Carter Kill Master series—The Coyote Connection—debuting in 1981, and he has steadily increased his canon since. He has worked in several genres, including horror, western, and juvenile, but he is primarily a mystery writer. His mystery novels have introduced several memorable series characters—Sheriff Dan Rhodes, Truman Smith, Sally Good, Carl Burns.

His longest running series is The Sheriff Dan Rhodes novels set in rural-Texas Blacklin County. The first, Too Late to Die, appeared in 1986, and the last, That Scoundrel Death, is scheduled for release in 2018. Bill has won two Anthony Awards, a Golden Duck Award for best juvenile science fiction novel, and he was inducted in the Texas Literary Hall of Fame in 2010.

Bill was kind enough, and showed an amazing amount of patience, to answer a few questions. The questions are italicized.  

I have read you were inspired to write by reading the paperback original writers of the 1950s—John D. MacDonald, Harry Whittington, Charles Williams, etc. Do you have a favorite writer, or writers, from that era whose work continues to inspire you?

Those remain my favorites, along with Day Keene, Gil Brewer, William Campbell Gault, Ross Macdonald, Mickey Spillane, and a host of others. I reread all of them now and then, and I’m always amazed at their compact storytelling, their pacing, their ability to sketch convincing characters in a few words.  I wanted to be those guys.

Early in your writing career you wrote a handful of novels under house names, including a Nick Carter title—The Coyote Connection (1981)—and three titles in the Stone: M. I. A. Hunter series. Do you think any of these titles are particularly good, or do any of them have any special meaning to you?

I have to admit that The Coyote Connection isn’t a great novel, but there are a few things about it that I remember fondly. I had a swell time writing for Steve Mertz in the MIA Hunter series. He gave me pretty much free rein to do what I wanted to, so I read a couple of the novels and took off. I picked up several lines from one of Joe Lansdale’s books in the series (a line that he repeats in his brand new Paradise Sky, by the way), and used them as tags for characters. I never thought of these books as slumming or as anything less than my other work, and I did the best job I could with them. I haven’t read them in years, and I don’t know how much revision Steve did on them, but I suspect I’d still be happy with them.

[Editor’s Note. The three novels Mr. Crider wrote for the Stone: M. I. A. Hunter series are: Miami War Zone (1988), Desert Death Raid (1989), and Back to ‘Nam (1990). The series was created by Stephen Mertz, and published as by Jack Buchanan.]

Too Late to Die (1986), which introduced Sheriff Dan Rhodes, was the first book you published under your own name. There are now 22 entries in the series. When you devised Sheriff Rhodes did you intend it to be a series, or was it an “accidental” series?

When Ruth Cavin, then an editor at Walker, bought the first Dan Rhodes novel, I received a letter (some of your younger readers might have to google that term) from her saying how much she liked the book and that she was buying it. She concluded with, “You are working on a sequel, aren’t you?” While I hadn’t planned on doing a series because I didn’t know that anyone would ever buy the first book, I wrote her back and told her that of course I was working on a sequel and that I’d send it to her as soon as it was done. I never dreamed that I’d still be writing about the sheriff 30 years later, though.

Have you been surprised by the length and success of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series? 

Absolutely surprised. As I mentioned above, I had no expectation that there would be a second book, much less more than 20. I don’t know how much success the series has had. It sneaked into paperback a few times, but it never made any bestseller lists. Ebooks have given it a real boost, though, and now that Crossroad Press has made all the early books available, the series is doing very well, indeed.

Are there any specific rewards or pitfalls that come from writing a long term series? 

There’s a considerable reward in being able to write about characters you enjoy. Writing about Blacklin County is like visiting a real place for me, and I enjoy every trip I take there. I suppose the pitfalls are that there’s a risk of getting bored, but so far that hasn’t happened. I don’t know if the series remains fresh for the readers, but it does for me. In writing about a small county, there’s the danger of the Cabot Cove Syndrome, but what can you do? I’ve joked about it even in the books. Nobody would ever move to Blacklin County. It has a higher murder rate than Chicago.

The rural setting for your Sheriff Dan Rhodes novels is, for me, key to the quality of the series. Is Blacklin County, Texas based on a specific place, or is it entirely imagined?

I’ve lived in three small towns in Texas, in three different counties that are distant from each other in geography and populations, but people in all three counties have told me that they recognize people and places that I write about. I suspect that little bits of all three of them get into the work, but mostly it’s an imaginary place, just as all the characters are imaginary.  

I have been impressed with the continuity in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series. As an example, there is a brief mention of a boy who went missing in the Big Woods during a family barbecue in Too Late to Die, which becomes a significant plot element in A Mammoth Murder (2006). How do you keep track of what has happened in prior novels, and then incorporate it in later novels?

If I were smart, which I’m not, I would have created a “bible” for the series. But as I’ve mentioned, I didn’t know it would be a series at all, much less that it would last for so long.  Add to that the fact that I didn’t know what a series bible was back when I started. So I have to rely on my increasingly unreliable memory. I know that there are a good many inconsistencies in the books, but most readers are kind enough to ignore them. I don’t ignore them; I just don’t realize they’re there. Most of the time, anyway.

Your Sheriff Dan Rhodes novels are character driven with a significant amount of wry humor. Two of my favorite characters are Hack, the dispatcher, and Lawton, the jailer. They give Rhodes grief, and make him work for every piece of information. Their roles have increased over the life of the series. Was their increased role deliberate on your part, or did the characters demand more attention?

I introduced Hack and Lawton into the books because one of the things I wanted to do was have someone talk about all the petty crimes that occur in small counties, and they seemed like the ones to do it. They seemed to be having a good time, and so was I. When they demanded more space in the books, I was glad to give it to them. They amused me, and writing about them amused me. Since I write for my own amusement as much as anything else, it worked out very well for all of us.

Do you have a favorite supporting character in the series?

Hack and Lawton are a lot of fun, but I’m also very fond of Rapper. He hasn’t appeared in a while, and he might never come back, if he’s smart. Every time he’s showed up in Blacklin County, he’s lost another little piece of himself. He might have realized by now that he doesn’t stand a chance against Sheriff Rhodes. At the top of the list of supporting characters, however, is the inimitable Seepy Benton. I introduced him in another series, and when the publisher dropped that one, I couldn’t resist moving him to Blacklin County so I could continue to write about him.

Seepy Benton first appeared in the Sally Good series?

You’re right. 

[Editor’s Note. The Sally Good novels are Murder is an Art (1999), A Knife in the Back (2002), and A Bond with Death (2004).]

Seepy, at least the name, is based on one of your living and breathing friends. Are there any similarities between the real Seepy Benton, and the character?

A friend of mine named C. P. Benton (check out docbenton.com) asked me to put him in a book, so I did. He turned out to be such an interesting character that I couldn't let him die with the series. Seepy, the real guy, claims that the Rhodes series is now the Seepy Benton series.  He's somewhat like the character in the book. They both teach math, and the songs credited to Seepy in the book are all real songs by the real Seepy. They're on YouTube.

A major theme in the Dan Rhodes novels are feral hogs. He was attacked and nearly killed in Too Late to Die, they have a central role in The Wild Hog Murders (2011), etc. I have read Texas has a plague of wild hogs. Have you had real experiences with wild hogs, or is it a nifty device you pulled from the news? 

I used the feral hogs in the very first book, long ago, and for whatever reason (I can’t explain it), they’ve crept into just about every single book since. They finally got a starring role in The Wild Hog Murders, and they’ve been back in minor roles in the succeeding books. I own some land in Central Texas (inherited from my father), and my brother manages it. It’s inhabited by many roving bands of feral hogs. My brother traps and hunts them now and then, but mostly they just do whatever they want to.

Dan Rhodes is a fan of “old and bizarre movies like The Alligator People, or I Married a Monster from Outer Space.” Is this a predilection you share with Sheriff Rhodes? If so, what are a few of your favorites?

Just about every movie Sheriff Rhodes mentions is a movie I’ve seen.  I have a special fondness for The Alligator People, but Plan Nine from Outer Space is another favorite.  I’ve watched more times than I care to admit.

While we’re talking about author-character similarities, do you enjoy Dr. Pepper and Dairy Queen Blizzards as much as Dan Rhodes?

I’m a big fan of Blizzards, although I seldom have one. I’ve been drinking Dr Pepper since as far back as I can remember, and while I might drink some other soft drink on occasion, I’m faithful to Dr Pepper.

The most recent Sheriff Dan Rhodes novel, Between the Living and the Dead, is scheduled for release in August. Would you tell us a little about it?

In Between the Living and the Dead (the title is based on couple of lines from a Wordsworth poem; classy, huh?) Seepy Benton decides to go into the ghost-hunting business. There’s a haunted house, and of course a murder, and things do get a little woo-woo.

Can we look forward to more novels featuring Dan Rhodes?

A couple of weeks ago I turned in Survivors Will Be Shot Again, which is the next Sheriff Rhodes novel.  It should be out in 2016. I have a contract for one more book, tentatively titled Dead, to Begin With. If all works out it should appear in 2017. After that, who knows?

[Editor’s note. Survivors Will Be Shot Again and Dead, To Begin With were released as scheduled and the final Sheriff Dan Rhodes novel, That Old Scoundrel Death, is set for release in 2018.]

You wrote five novels featuring reluctant P. I. Truman Smith. These novels, and the character, have been positively compared with Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels; specifically the humor, dialogue, and plotting. Was Robert B. Parker, and the Spenser novels, an influence on the Truman Smith novels?

I became a big fan of private-eye novels when I read Hammett, Chandler, Ross Macdonald, and Mickey Spillane long, long ago, so those are the main influences on Truman Smith. As it turned out, when I wrote a p.i. novel, it was nothing like any of theirs but that was okay. I really liked writing those books and hoped they’d be a big success. It didn’t work out like that, but I still think they’re some of my best work.

Truman Smith has a nomadic cat he calls Nameless—a character I very much like. Does the cat’s name refer to Bill Pronzini’s Nameless detective? Or is there another reason for the name?

I couldn’t think of a name for Nameless, so that’s where the name came from, but there’s no question that it’s a tip of the hat to Bill Pronzini and his p.i., in one of the best series of p.i. novels ever.

[Editor’s Note. Truman Smith appeared in five novels: Dead on the Island (1991), Gator Kill (1992), When Old Men Die (1994), The Prairie Chicken Kill (1996), and Murder Takes a Break (1996).]

You wrote two mystery novels with television personality Willard Scott—Murder under Blue Skies (1998) and Murder in the Mist (1999)—and two with former Houston private detective Clyde Wilson—Houston Homicide (2007) and Mississippi Vivian (2010). Do you enjoy collaborating, and are there any elements of collaboration that are specifically appealing, or any that are especially difficult?

The collaborations were a good bit different. With Willard Scott, I was given a sheet of things that the book was to contain, one of which was a protagonist who was a retired weatherman. I decided to give the fictitious weatherman a background very much like that of Scott, and he was a help in that regard. Other than that, the book is all me. With Clyde Wilson, I was furnished a complete outline of the plot for the first book. Wilson was ailing by the time of the second book, and I got only a brief partial outline, but there was enough to work from. Things couldn’t have gone more smoothly either time. It was an honor and a pleasure to work with both those men.

I heard this question in an interview on a BBC program a few years ago. If you were stranded on an island and you had only one book. What would it be?

I’d have to cheat a little and pick The Complete Works of Shakespeare. I have a couple of these around the house, so it’s not as if I’m picking something I don’t own. The infinite variety would be good for me in that situation. Do I at least get a volleyball to keep me company, too?

The opposite side of the coin. If you were allowed only to recommend one of your novels, or stories, which one would you want people to read?

That’s even tougher. The Sheriff Rhodes series has easily been the most popular thing I’ve ever done, and I like to think they’re pretty consistently entertaining. I’d say just read any one of them and see if you like it. If not, no need to read the others. If so, by all means read the rest of them. I have some atypical standalones I like a lot, too, The Texas Capitol Murders being one of them. And I like the Truman Smith series a lot, not to mention . . . . Well, obviously I can’t answer this question.

Finally, we share at least one favorite author, Harry Patterson who gained fame under the name Jack Higgins, and I can’t help but ask if you have a favorite title of his?     

This one isn’t easy, either. The first book I read by Patterson under his most recognizable name was The Savage Day, and that’s still a favorite. I like A Prayer for the Dying equally well, maybe even a little better. I like a number of the books he wrote as James Graham. Again, I can’t stick to just one.

Thrift Shop Book Covers: "The Soul Eater"

The Soul Eater, by Mike Resnick, is a science fiction novel published as a paperback original by Signet in 1981, which is the very edition that caught my eye. Its splashy orange, yellow and green on black and gray is exotic. The small planet at bottom-right makes me wonder. The artist: Paul Alexander.

The first sentence:

There is a world, toward the core of the galaxy, where the evening sky is so bright that most of cities—outposts, really—have never bothered to install artificial illumination.

Mike Resnick has won five Hugos and a Nebula for his short fiction, and written nearly eighty novels. Eighty! And I haven’t read a single one, yet.

Interview: Linda Pendleton

Linda Pendleton is an accomplished writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Her first published work was the non-fiction spiritual book, To Dance With Angels, co-written with her late-husband Don Pendleton. Her first novel, also co-written with Don, was Roulette: The Search for the Sunrise Killer. She has scripted comic books—The Executioner (published by Innovation Comics) and written screenplays. 

Richard S. Prather, the author of the best-selling Shell Scott private eye novels, called Linda’s first private eye novel, Shattered Lens (featuring series character Catherine Winter), “a brilliant debut.” Readers have called her fiction, “surprising”, “entertaining”, and “beautifully described”.

Linda was kind enough to take a break from her writing schedule and answer a few questions. The questions are italicized, and as always, the answers are so much more important.

What’s your latest novel?

That would be Shifting Focus, Catherine Winter Private Investigator—the third book in my Catherine Winter Series. It was published a year ago. It’s in print, Kindle, and audio book, as are the first two books in the series, Shattered Lens and Fractured Image. 

Catherine Winter has been a Southern California investigator for several decades. Her late husband was her “partner in crime.” She often works alongside Los Angeles P.D. and is in a relationship with Homicide Commander, John Anderson. She has two favorite homicide detectives, George Smitty and Nick Duran, who play a part in the books. She has seen it all and does not flinch when up against the criminal world. Determined, open minded, at times a little outrageous, she relies on her intuition in investigative work. She claims she will not retire as long as she can hit a target with a .357 slug.

In Shifting Focus, the divorce of an award winning singer and songwriter leads Catherine Winter into the dark shadows of drugs, sex, and power. Determined to find the killer of an entertainment attorney to Hollywood’s elite, Catherine discovers the multifarious and convoluted connections between the singer and several people as she searches for truth and justice. Working closely with the Los Angeles Police Department, and teaming up with former cop and private investigator, Joe Copp, the hunt is on to find a killer. (Joe Copp is Don Pendleton’s character in his Joe Copp PI series—and Joe was always a favorite of mine so I decided to have him give Catherine a hand.)  

As Catherine said, “Greed, power, and sex—that’s all some strive for, all they desire. And eventually it destroys—or kills. Welcome to the world of entertainment, Hollywood style.” 

When I had completed the first Catherine Winter manuscript, author Richard S. Prather asked if he could read it. He liked it so much that he encouraged me to make it a series and gave me this quote: 

Linda Pendleton’s first private-eye novel is a brilliant debut. Shattered Lens is good enough I hope it becomes a series.”  — Richard S. Prather, Author of the Shell Scott Mystery Series.  

It’s also been called a “hard-core mystery” by another writer. Words such as those, I love.   

Speaking of Joe Copp, I’ve heard Don was ill while writing his final Joe Copp novel, Copp in Shock, and you helped him complete it. Would you tell us a little about the experience?

In February of 1991, Don had a heart attack. He was scheduled for a second by-pass surgery (his first in 1979) when he had another heart attack and a “clot buster” was given and caused a brain hemorrhage. He was in ICU for several weeks, and then in a special rehab hospital for several more weeks. He was aphasic, dyslexic, had peripheral vision loss, confusion, and body weakness, etc. At home he continued speech therapy and physical therapy. At the time Don was under contract to deliver the sixth Joe Copp book. We decided that we did not want his publisher Donald I. Fine to know about his brain injury. So after he fired his speech therapist much to her dislike, we started the book, Copp In Shock, with this first line: 

Do you know who I am?

That was the same question Don and been asked many times by his doctor while in the hospital. In the beginning writing of the book, I would sit at the computer and type the story as Don spoke. I had to be fast as he might not remember what he had just written. I discovered something interesting about his writing process. I visualize scenes when I write, and Don had always told me he did not, that he wrote in phrases. And sure enough that is what he did. He’d give me a phrase and I’d have to wait for the next. I would then record each chapter every night and he would listen to it before we would start the next chapter. We had a lot of fun, a lot of laughter. 

One of the early Copp fight scenes I’ll never forget. Don described the scene and I wasn’t sure if he meant a hit to the knees—or chin. He jumped up from his chair and went through the motions of the fight. I laughed so hard that I almost slid off my chair. By the fifth chapter, Don was at the computer able to type and write, but I might have to read him previous paragraphs so he would know where he was. A few more chapters and we made a visit to the speech therapist and showed her the manuscript. She couldn’t believe it. 

Near the end of the Copp story, Don reviewed all my tapes for a wrap up and I’ll be darned if he didn’t catch something that needed to be addressed that I had forgotten from the early part of the book. The brain is so strange. Don recovered 98%. We had the book completed on time and delivered by August. That book is very special to me—and it was to Don.

What was your first published novel? 

My first published novel would be Roulette, The Search for the Sunrise Killer, co-written with Don Pendleton. Police Detective Rebecca Storme, and her husband, veteran Detective Sergeant Peter Storme, both married more to the badge than each other, have inevitable conflict within their marriage, and their careers are put to the test when a psychopathic killer invades their peaceful Southern California community and turns it into a hotbed of fear and outrage. As it turned out this was Don’s last novel. We enjoyed writing it, working side by side, but for both of us, writing the viewpoint of a psychopath was at times unnerving and we’d have to step away from it. We had started writing the book with alternating viewpoint chapters of Rebecca and Peter, but decided against that style.      

New York publisher, Donald  I. Fine was set to publish it, but in his “editing skills” he wanted us to make a few changes regarding the flirtation of our characters. We said no. We believed it was the difference of East Coast vs. West Coast, and maybe old fashioned vs. a more liberal CA life style and social life. Fine was the same old time editor who tried to change Don’s dialogue in Copp for Hire from “guys”—to “fellows.” As Don told him, “You don’t touch my dialogue.” So we turned down Fine’s offer to publish Roulette. Our agent marketed it for a while, but I went on to self-publish.  

I’ve adapted it to the screen and marketed the screenplay to Hollywood for a while, but it now sits on my closet shelf. I did have an agency ask me a few months ago if film rights were available to Roulette, but haven’t heard more.

I recall Larry Kirshbaum, then CEO of Warner Books, had asked what we were working on, and it was Roulette. Because of my background, he wanted to know if writing it was cathartic. (maybe, maybe not). Wish he’d bought the book when we completed it.

Would you tell us a little bit about your background?

My background—I was married to a Southern California police captain for 25 years. He worked his way up the ranks, patrolman, detective, lieutenant, captain, and often acting chief, before retiring. (He skipped Sergeant.) It was a small police department but our lives revolved around that police life. Being involved in that way with cops has given me a lot of insight into police work, personalities, and the good and bad of it. Most of the people were decent people, but there were those who had their problems. I always think about Joseph Wambaugh’s The New Centurions, and how upset that book made me as a young police wife.  Fiction versus reality. It’s a more dangerous world out there on the streets today. 

With your police department insider experience, have you ever considered writing a police procedural?

Well, we [Linda and Don Pendleton] wrote one, Roulette, and I’ve thought about another, even one with Rebecca Storme [the protagonist from Roulette]. Maybe one day.  

Without breaking any of your personal taboos, would you give us an idea of what you’re working on now?

After publishing three small nonfiction books in recent months, I’m back to fiction. Currently I’m working on a western novel set in the Gold Rush period in Northern CA. I’ve published several nonfiction Gold Rush books that were published in the 1850s, in which I’ve written new Introductions. I’m a native Californian, and I find our state history fascinating. So I’m doing research, which I enjoy, and I’ll see where this takes me. I’m just a few chapters into it. I enjoyed writing my historical novel, Corn Silk Days, Iowa 1862, which was inspired by, and written around, actual letters my great great-grandfather wrote home to my great great-grandmother during the Civil War. Maybe this western will inspire me the same way Corn Silk did.  

I also have a few chapters written of my second Richard McCord Private Eye novel, Deadly Designs. I published the first one, Deadly Flare-Up, in late 2015. I wrote that under L.R. Pendleton—in hopes of overcoming that silent “chauvinism.” I enjoy the McCord character as he gives me more freedom than I have with my Catherine Winter character. He’s a former Southern California district attorney turned private investigator, and a recovering alcoholic.  

Last week I had my cover designer make me covers for the western and the McCord book as inspiration to complete the books.  

Since you’ve written both fiction and non-fiction, do you prefer writing one over the other?

That’s hard to say, Ben. I enjoy both, but I suppose fiction would be my first choice. I become attached to my characters. But nonfiction can have its benefits—like a meeting of the minds—probably more so than most fiction, unless it is the “great American novel.”

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

As a young teenager. I loved writing high school and college term papers. I enjoyed research, kind of crazy, huh? In my early twenties I wrote a children’s story and sent it off to NY. I was rejected—my first rejection slip of several to come. Then a nonfiction proposal for a science book was more promising. The NY editor wanted to see it when I completed the book. Like a dummy, I chickened out and did not finish it. I don’t know if I was afraid of success or of failure. About that same time, I thought I could write a trashy paperback.  Didn’t work out. LOL.      

How do you go about writing?

I sit at my desk and use my PC. I don’t like laptops. I do not outline. I may make a few notes as I go along, but I basically start out from page one and see where it takes me. The only time I write longhand might be in the middle of the night when an idea comes to me. I write chapter by chapter and let the story unfold as the characters move forward. I may have an idea where my story is going, but I let it evolve. I visualize scenes as I write. I love the feeling when the characters take over and write the story. 

I absorbed so much from Don. He was a great teacher, not only of writing, but of life. I still feel his inspiration and I’m sure he’s looking over my shoulder as I write. He used to tell me to believe in my writing—something that was difficult for me in the beginning. At this point in my life, I know my writing will not please everyone, nor does all writing by others please me. But that’s okay. I write because I love to write—and I’d be so bored if I couldn’t. Over the last two years, I’ve had some medical problems, but thank goodness I can still be creative.

Do you have any specific pleasures, or displeasures, that come from writing? 

My pleasure from writing is being able to share it with others. It’s wonderful when someone tells you they were inspired by your writing. It’s heartwarming when a reader shares that with you. It happens fairly often with my nonfiction writing. When Don and I wrote our nonfiction book, To Dance With Angels, the amount of wonderful mail received was incredible to read. For many, it was a life-changing book. And that’s heavy to know your words upon a page have the power to inspire and arouse emotions in that way. Writing gives me personal satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. And that’s enough to keep me at it. I won’t deny that those royalty deposits are always nice, too. 

I have a great cover designer, Judy Bullard, and we’ve worked together for nearly two decades. I also have a great editor. No longer do I have to worry about NY publishers and fighting for owed royalties, or decent contracts, or waiting on agents. And I thank Jeff Bezos and Amazon for that. I’ve also published some at Smashwords to get out to Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple, etc. I’m happy with ACX [the Amazon platform for producing audio books] and Audible, too. I like having control over my books as far as price, covers, and royalties.  

The business end of writing can take a lot of time, and promotion can suck. And of course, I have Don’s books to take care of, along with mine. I have several websites and a few blogs, and that takes time to edit and maintain. So the business end of writing can be time consuming and take away from creative time.    

Are there any writers that inspired—or continue to inspire—your own writing?

Looking back, before my husband, Don Pendleton, I was inspired by Phyllis A. Whitney, Lawrence Sanders, Joseph Wambaugh, Thomas Sugrue, Louis L’Amour, Longfellow, David Viscott, M.D., Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D. 

But Don Pendleton was and is still my inspiration. The year I met him I began taking my writing seriously. At that time, I had two incomplete novels—stories that I had set aside.  (and probably a good place for them). He encouraged and supported me in my desire to write, and convinced me I could do anything I wanted, and do it well. Every day I thank him for that.

When and how did you and your late-husband, Don Pendleton, meet?

Wow, thirty-five years ago. We met in a hotel lounge where Don’s daughter and future  husband were entertaining. As our eyes met, it was love at first sight and scared us both!  Soulmates, yes. If we’d not believed in reincarnation before, we couldn’t help but believe from that moment on.

If you could write anything, without commercial considerations, what would it be? 

I believe I already do that. I write what I want, and hope that there will be others who will choose to read it.

If you were stranded on an island and you had only one book, what would it be?

That’s a hard one to answer. How about a large journal and a supply of pens so I can write?  

If you were allowed only to recommend one of your own novels, or stories, which one would you want people to read?

Another hard question! Shattered Lens, Catherine Winter Private Investigator, I suppose would be my choice—and for those who don’t care for PI novels, how about an historical family saga, Corn Silk Days, Iowa, 1862? My late mother said it was very good. And when you can get that kind of response from family, that counts.  

You can visit Linda’s and Don’s websites: 

http://lindapendleton.com
http://bunchofebooks.com
http://donpendleton.com

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