Friday, May 24, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
STALKING G.WAYNE MILLER
http://www.gwaynemiller.com/
http://www.gwaynemiller.com/thund.htm
G. Wayne Miller is a staff writer at The Providence Journal,
a documentary filmmaker, and the author of three horror/mystery novels, a
sci-fi/horror short story collection and seven books of non-fiction, including
THE XENO CHROICLES: Two Years on the Frontier of Medicine Inside Harvard’s
Transplant Research Lab and KING OF HEARTS: The True Story of the Maverick Who
Pioneered Open Heart Surgery, which is in Hollywood development. He has been
honored for his writing more than 40 times and was a member of the Providence
Journal team that was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service.
Three documentaries he wrote and co-produced have been broadcast on PBS,
including The Providence Journal’s COMING HOME, about veterans of the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, nominated in 2012 for a New England Emmy and winner of a
regional Edward R. Murrow Award. Miller is Visiting Fellow at Salve Regina
University’s Pell Center, in Newport, Rhode Island, where he is co-director of
the Story in the Public Square program, www.publicstory.org. Visit Miller at
www.gwaynemiller.com
Bibliography
Fiction
The Thunder Rise trilogy:
–– Thunder Rise
–– Asylum
–– Summer Place
Since the Sky Blew Off: The Essential G. Wayne Miller
Fiction, Vol. 1
(Volumes 2 and 3 will be published by Cross Road Press)
Non-fiction
The Work of Human Hands: Hardy Hendren and Surgical Wonder
at Children’s Hospital
Coming of Age: The True Adventures of Two American Teens
Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie and the
Companies That Make Them
King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered
Open Heart Surgery
Men and Speed: A Wild Ride Through NASCAR’s Breakout Season
The Xeno Chronicles: Two Years on the Frontier of Medicine
Inside Harvard’s Transplant Research Lab
An Uncommon Man: The Life and Times of Senator Claiborne
Pell
Films
Writer and co-producer
On the Lake: Life and Love in a Distant Place
Behind the Hedgerow: Eileen Slocum and the Meaning of
Newport Society
Coming Home
Screenplays
Summer Love
Bishop Bob (with Drew Smith)
WHAT INFLUENCED YOU TO START WRITING?
WAYNE
My love of reading and my parents, Roger and Mary Miller,
both of whom also loved reading and had great respect for the written word. My airplane-mechanic
father was a newspaper man –– read two dailies, the local Wakefield (Mass.)
Daily Item and The Boston Globe, pretty much every day of his life until he
died. In fact, one of his last conscious acts, on his hospital death bed, as I
sat with a laptop writing his eulogy (which I wish now I had let him see), was
reading the Globe’s sports pages (see: http://gwaynemiller.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-dad-and-airplanes.html).
My mother was more into books. She loved the dictionary, and
had me reading it from a young age. We had little money growing up, but she
scrimped to buy me books, including volumes of a children’s encyclopedia –– one
at a time, every week from the local A&P. And she insisted on me learning proper
spelling, grammar and pronunciation, which could be a pain at the age of six or
seven, but in hindsight has served me very well. I wrote my first short story
in fifth grade or so, on my own; it was about creatures living under the sea. I
talk about all of this in more detail at the final interview on http://www.gwaynemiller.com/inter.htm -- starts about halfway down that page.
B.O.C.
AS YOU'VE MENTIONED
IN OUR MESSAGES, YOU'VE MADE YOUR LIVING WRITING NON FICTION. HOW DOES THAT
DIFFER FROM WRITING FICTION IN REGARDS TO YOUR ROUTINE?
WAYNE
Routine is no different, really: up very early, a cup of Early
Grey/green tea and straight to the keyboard. Write, write, write, throughout
much of the day –– also regularly in my head, where what’s been called
“prewriting” takes place. This is my passion, and I love it (it can annoy the
shit out of people around you, I would add, not proudly). Method and means, of
course, are different: fiction and non-fiction. Non-fiction generally requires
much more outreach, to people and places such as libraries and archives.
Fiction-writing is generally more isolating. You can almost literally disappear
into your head. That’s a whole other discussion.
B.O.C.
WHAT KIND OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A WRITER THAT’S JUST
STARTING OUT?
WAYNE
Absorb Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style,
first published in 1959 and still the gospel. Be sparing with adjectives and
adverbs, as White and Strunk advise. Use active, not passive, construction.
Dialogue is critical. Don’t let momentary rejection and failure defeat you, they’re
part of the game. Listen to trusted friends and colleagues who read your stuff
–– listen, and then decide what makes sense. Don’t bullshit yourself. Don’t be
grandiose. Don’t be cute. Don’t envy other writers. Disregard sycophants and
naysayers. Don’t do it for money or fame. Be patient –– if you’re serious, you’re
in it for the (very) long haul.
And once more: Write, write, write. Then rewrite. There is
no magic formula, but magic can emerge from an active and curious mind, a
vigorous and well-practiced imagination, from energy and desire to work hard,
and discipline. The old 99 percent perspiration v. 1 percent inspiration thing
really is true.
Above all, tell a story, emphasizing character, emotion and narrative. Your goal is to elicit a one-word response from your readers: “Wow.”
B.O.C.
TELL EVERYBODY ABOUT YOUR NEW PROJECTS.
WAYNE
Wrapping up two more collections of horror/mystery/sci-fi
short stories, completing a novel, a non-fiction book due out in the fall from
Simon & Schuster, trying to get a project to the big screen, and an ongoing
series about the impact of digital technology on our lives for The Providence
Journal, http://gwaynemiller.blogspot.com/2013/04/ewave-digital-revolution-projo-series.html.
That’s enough on my plate, right?
B.O.C.
IF YOU HAD THE POWER, WHAT DEAD CELEBRITY WOULD YOU BRING
BACK TO LIFE AND WHAT USE WOULD YOU HAVE FOR THEM?
WAYNE
I’d choose three “celebrities” –– religious figures all. I’d
bring back Muhammad, the Buddha and Jesus, getting them together in one room
for a roundtable discussion. These three “celebrities” have influenced human
thought and history more than any others, of course. And I’d want to include Mary,
Joan of Arc and Mother Teresa in the discussion.
B.O.C.
WE WHO ARE HIS FOLLOWERS IS DEFINITELY ONE OF MY FAVORITE
STORIES. WHEN I FIRST READ IT IN HORROR SHOW MAGAZINE IN THE LATE EIGHTIES, IT
BLEW ME AWAY. WHAT INFLUENCED YOU WRITE THAT STORY?
WAYNE
This was during the dying days of the Soviet Union, when the
Cold War still haunted America and the threat of nuclear annihilation was real,
albeit less dire than during my 1960s childhood, when it was a sword hanging
over us all (even children felt it). So for some time, I’d been fascinated with
real-life dystopian and post-apocalyptic themes –– and then I read Stephen
King’s short story Night Surf, a
masterpiece that, to use your phrase (and to make a bad pun), blew me away. I
haven’t read it in years, but its imagery remains strong in my head. King was
influenced me more than any other writer –– in both my fiction and non-fiction.
But I digress…
So Night Surf
motivated me to try my own stories in that genre. And I wrote many of them,
some published in my first collection, Since
the Sky Blew Off (the title story is indeed post-apoc, along with We Who are His Followers) and some due
in v. 2, Vapors, due out this summer
from Crossroad Press, and v. 3, as yet untitled.
I brought something fresh to Followers, and that was the religious absolutism, a long-simmering
result, I am sure, of my strict Catholic upbringing and parochial school years.
Just look at the old Baltimore Catechism, with its rigidity, repressed
sexuality, harsh and unforgiving god, relentless fear-mongering (of eternal
damnation, for example), etc. In various ways, and still to this day, I have
struggled with separating the extraordinary message of Christ, which is
compassion, charity and love, from the unbending orthodoxy that flows from the Vatican (though
I have high hopes for the humble Francis, patron of the poor and sick). You’re
getting me going here!
Let’s leave it that I have great respect and admiration for
the good work of the many good and decent followers of Christ today, whether
clerical or lay person, male or female. I have come to really love contemporary
Catholic nuns, including my dear sister friends at a nearby Carmelite monastery
and the Sisters of Mercy, notably those who run Salve Regina University in
Newport, R.I., where I am visiting fellow and co-director of the Story in the
Public Square program, a site and forum and conferences to celebrate
storytelling in all its forms,http://www.publicstory.org/ (yes, that’s a pitch, check us out).
B.OC.
WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE CRIMINAL OR CRIME COMMITTED,
HISTORICALLY?
WAYNE
Can’t name just one. I am fascinated by Lizzie Borden,
Albert DeSalvo (“the Boston Strangler”), Charles Manson, Charles Starkweather
(because of his fictionalized portrayal in Badlands,
one of my favorite films) and a 19th-century Wyoming outlaw named George
“Big Nose” Parrott, whose nose really was big and whose skin was made into a
pair of shoes that you can still see in a museum out there. True story.
B.O.C.
WHAT’S THE BEST AND WORST BOOK YOU’VE EVER READ AND IT’S OK
TO TELL US YOU’RE GUILTY PLEASURE AS AFAR AS BOOKS OR OTHER ENTERTAINMENT.
WAYNE
I wouldn’t disparage a fellow writer by naming her/his book
the “worst.” And I would have a difficult time naming the “best” –– really,
this is all so subjective. I can tell you that my favorite writers include Poe,
Lovecraft and King (no surprise), Jonathan Harr, Ernest Hemingway, William
Faulkner, Dan Barry and Gail Collins of The New York Times, and the list goes
on… My guilty pleasure is Showtime.
B.O.C.
IT SEEMS I’M FINDING CERTAIN MAGAZINES ANYMORE RELY ON A
FORMULA. SUCH AS ELLERY QUEEN AND ALFRED HITCHCOCK MYSTERY MAGAZINE, NOT TAKING
CHANCES LIKE THEY USED TO. HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT AND WAS IT HARD TO BREAK INTO
THOSE MARKETS?
WAYNE
I think mainstream publications do try to play it safe more
than before. Back when I was trying to break into those publications, it was
very difficult –– way more rejections than sales. Which brings us back to the
importance of accepting “failure.” I just kept writing, and submitting, and as I
kept writing, my mastery of the craft improved and eventually outsiders
noticed. The good news is that with the internet and e-books, and
self-publishing, way more opportunities exist today. Still, at the end of the
day, the quality of the story is what makes or breaks a writer.
B.O.C.
WAYNE, I HAVE TO TELL YOU, I WAS AWAKEN BY A SPIRIT IN THE
NIGHT AND IT VIOLENTLY MADE ME PROMISE TO ASK YOU THIS QUESTION OR IT IS
CURTAINS FOR ME. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE JERRY LEWIS MOVIE?
WAYNE
Easy: The Nutty Professor.
LISTEN TO WAYNE'S STORY ON DARK DREAMS "WE WHO ARE HIS FOLLOWERS" AND MAKE SURE YOU LISTEN TO "ALL MY CHILDREN" THAT IS FEATURED IN THE BAD TRIPS DEPARTMENT OF EPISODE 3 OF BLACKOUT CITY.
Monday, May 6, 2013
STALKING SETH HARWOOD
BORDERLANDS
SETH'S WEBSITE
PODIOBOOKS
Seth Harwood received an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and went on to build a large readership for his first novel, JACK WAKES UP, by serializing it as a free audiobook online. He is the author of two additional novels, THIS IS LIFEand YOUNG JUNIUS, and a collection of short stories, A LONG WAY FROM DISNEY. Seth lives in San Francisco, where he teaches at Stanford and the City College of San Francisco.
Audio versions of Seth's novels and stories have been downloaded over one million times.
The Backstory of JACK WAKES UP/Birth of the Podcast Novel
In 2005, Seth started writing Jack Wakes Up. After almost 9 months of working on the novel, he decided he was ready to podcast it. In July 2006, the Jack Palms Crime Podcast Series was born. As JACK WAKES UP was followed by A LONG WAY FROM DISNEY, JACK PALMS II: THIS IS LIFE, and JACK PALMS 3: CZECHMATE, his podcast audience grew into a sizeable world-wide following, as covered by the San Francisco Chronicle here.
When Breakneck Books published JACK WAKES UP in March 2008, Seth's online audience (the Palms Daddies and Palms Mommas) jumped all over Amazon.com and bought enough copies to raise the book to #1 in Crime/Mystery and #45 overall in books.
JACK WAKES UP was subsequently purchased by THREE RIVERS PRESS (Random House) and re-released on May 5th 2009. It received rave reviews from Publisher's Weekly, Michael Connelly, and Marilyn Stasio in the New York Times Book Review.
Now Seth is happy to see his second novel, YOUNG JUNIUS, out from Tyrus Books in hardcover, trade paperback and also as a very special, limited edition.
Now Seth is happy to see his second novel, YOUNG JUNIUS, out from Tyrus Books in hardcover, trade paperback and also as a very special, limited edition.
About YOUNG JUNIUS, Publishers Weekly says:
Set in 1987, Harwood’s searing look at doomed youth chronicles a few pivotal days in the life of 14-year-old Junius Posey, a captive of poverty, ignorance, and misguided social programming in the Rindge Towers, a drug-ridden Cambridge, Mass., housing project. Beginning with his older brother Temple’s funeral, Junius’s extended quest to wreak vengeance on Temple’s killer and make himself a power in his ’hood results in a vicious black comedy of murderous errors. Harwood (Jack Wakes Up) pulls no punches, revealing not only the white death of crack cocaine but the ineffectuality of black liberals who believe their Harvard Law books can cure the malignancy inherent in “forgotten civic ideas” like the Towers and the desire of the Towers’ inhabitants to destroy anyone trying to escape. In the end, Junius’s fate is as old as Aeschylus, the endless cycle of killing “just a snake eating itself.”
Booklist adds:
After his older brother is gunned down, six-foot-three-inch, 14-year-old Junius sets his heart on vengeance and makes for the Rindge Towers, a three-building slum uneasily shared by two rival pushers. What starts as a narrative limited to the point-of-view of the remorseless teen widens—and widens and widens—until it encompasses a huge cast of characters, including kids, cops, and a legion of small-time thugs. Harwood’s cutaway view of a single bloody day in a housing project is an impressive feat, undercut only by the sameness of some of the warriors, who come fast and furious with names like Big Pickup, Black Jesus, and Seven Heaven. Despite these monikers, there’s nothing cartoonish about the story, which powers forward with a blunt and violent vulgarity: “He pushed the door open and headed out to see what the fuck.” There is a mystery here—who really pulled the trigger on Junius’ bro?—but the point is clearly the bad-versus-worse decisions brought on by bloodlust. Given the characters’ brutality, Harwood’s empathy runs deeply indeed.
CHECKOUT HIS NEW BOOK COMING OUT MAY 7TH IN BROAD DAYLIGHT.
B.O.C.
WHAT INFLUENCED YOU TO START WRITING?
SETH
I think my senior
year in college. I'd spent a semester abroad and seen how many different ways
people could live. Realized that I didn't have to be a part of the
"American Commercial Machine" so to speak (though maybe I still am --
I was an economics major in college, if that helps put things together for you)
and came back wanting to create. Once I figured out I wasn't good at drawing or
sculpture, I settled into writing. Now, looking back I can see I've been
writing stories since I was very young. It was basically there the whole time.
B.O.C.
WHAT WAS YOUR
EXPECTATIONS WHEN YOU STARTED THE PODCASTS OF YOUR BOOKS AND WHERE’D YOU GET
THE IDEA?
SETH
I got the idea from a friend who’d been listening to Scott
Sigler. Then Scott himself actually helped me out. He’s been great all along.
My biggest expectation was to just have a place where my book was available to
folks so I could move on from it and start writing the next thing. I wanted to
get it out to an audience and man, did that turn out well! It was also a lot of
fun to do!
B.O.C.
DO YOU SCAN THE
NEWSPAPERS OR INTERNET SITES, OR EVEN TV FOR IDEAS?
SETH
No. Not so much.
B.O.C.
TELL EVERYONE ABOUT
YOUR NEW PROJECT
SETH
My new book is In Broad Daylight. It’s out on May 7th. In
Broad Daylight, is the story of FBI agent Jess Harding chasing a serial killer
across Alaska during the summer white nights. This baddie leaves brutally
beaten victims and cryptic messages scrawled across his crime scenes in blood.
Five years ago, Jess Harding hunted him in her first big case and got nowhere.
Now, she’s bringing her A-game. Soon,
though, she realizes that some of his messages are calling her out by name.
She’s not sure if she’s the hunter or the hunted.
If you’ve already heard the podcast of In Broad Daylight,
you know this is an awesome thriller full of kick-ass violence, pulse-pounding
suspense, and a wild trip across the Great Land. If not, it’s free just like
all my stuff. You can go listen at Sethharwood.com or over at Podiobooks. Tell
‘em Mark sent you.
B.O. C.
JACK PALMS IS DEFINITELY ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS IN
RECENT CRIME FICTION. VERY GRITTY
CHARACTER, BUT I THOUGHT THERE WAS SOME HUMOR TO IT AS WELL. WAS IT HARDER TO WRITE JESS HARDING THAN JACK
AND WILL THERE BE MORE OF JACK?
SETH
It actually wasn't that difficult. Yes, more Jack Palms to
come for sure, but also more Jess Harding! I visited Alaska in 2011 and was
just so taken with the landscape there I knew I had to set a story in it. Also,
I'd been really impressed with Stieg Larssen's Millenium Trilogy and loved the
Lisbeth Salander character. I wanted to try writing from the point of view of a
female detective and Jess Harding was born.
I think I started with JACK really from the ground up,
thinking of this down and out actor leaving LA and going through all he did.
Really, these events don't even happen in the book--it's all precursors. Then,
as I was writing it, all the action Jack found himself in the middle of just
made for such a parallel to his crazy movie (which was actually a lot of the
point, I think), so it made sense to me, once he was in those situations, for
him to draw on his acting. Like, could he fake his way through it with the real
players?
I think I just had fun writing him as a character and
exploring how he'd handle himself, that that part of the writing process came
organically and may be to blame for the "effortless" quality of his
ways.
B.O.C.
WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE
CRIMINAL OR CRIME COMMITTED, HISTORICALLY?
SETH
Criminal? Michael Condiff
Crime: Robbing a bunch of casinos and hotels in a short
stint. See CrimeWAV 40
http://crimewav.com/?q=content/episode-40-michael-condiff-confessions-casino-bandit
B.O.C.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO WRITERS STARTING
OUT?
SETH
Write as often as you can, every day if possible. Build your
game plan for the long haul. Submit often. Write. Write. Write. Read. Read.
Read.
B.O.C.
WHEN IT COMES TO
CRIME FICTION AND NOIR, WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL CHARACTER?
SETH
Jack Palms, of course!
B.O.C.
I HAVE TO SAY, YOUR OWN PODCAST CRIMEWAV, IS
ONE OF THE BEST AROUND. YOU EVER RUN ACROSS WRITERS WHO TURN YOU DOWN WHEN YOU
ASK THEM TO READ THEIR WORK, OR DO THEY APPROACH YOU?
SETH
I usually ask people I know or crime writers I come into
contact with. So far, I’m getting a really high level of positive responses
from them.
B.O.C.
ONE FINAL QUESTION.
AND I’M GONNA TELL YOU SETH, THIS IS A CARRER BREAKING ANSWER, SO ANSWER
TRUTHFULLY, AND MAKE SURE IT’S THE RIGHT CHOICE. YOUR READERS WANT TO KNOW THIS
MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WHOLE WORLD. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE JERRY LEWIS MOVIE?
SETH
The Jerk! Or is that Steve Martin?
CHECKOUT SETH'S WEBSITE AND HIS GREAT PODCAST!
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