With the release of both Dead Mouths
books on the same day, what can we expect from this monumental release?
I would hope that they would signal something ambitious, like Wilco’s Being There double disc, which was
released together after A.M. Now, it wouldn’t
be a big deal to see a band like Wilco do this since they’re a major player in
the indie scene, but to compete with the glory that was Son Volt’s Trace, Jeff Tweedy had to respond in a
big way, or he would have been that other guy in Uncle Tupelo. For me, the
books were always meant to be together as one unit, so it’s not unthinkable
that they’re both out the same day. It wasn’t like I always planned to hold off
until I could do a Guns ‘N Roses Use Your
Illusion. Besides, I won’t be holding the top two spots on the first week
of chart sales. Instead, I want to put the backlog catalog out and move forward
with halfway done projects like Intersections,
The Last Day of Hunting Season, and The
Wendigo Story, which will have a
better name at some point. Sitting and looking at unfinished files, either for
lack of time to write or inspiration to edit, is just depressing.
That both of these books are from the same
work is why they’re the same name? Yes. One book would have been too long
and too expensive for a demo book / vanity printing. I thought about a
different name for book one, but I just couldn’t so they’re both Dead Mouths.
There are many new characters in
these books, but there are a few older ones. Can you tell us about them? First
and foremost is Tony Lucas. He’s the Blanding, Utah, chief of police. I’d
describe him as a conservative man’s man in 2016. I wanted a character that my
dad would like. He’s a great cop, a loving husband, a loyal friend, and the head
honcho protector of his town. If I could be anyone in the story, I would be him
because he balances professional between tough in a perfect way despite his use
of unorthodox means like “wall to wall counselling” and the like.
However, there’s another character
that is more your persona? Yes, that would be Dave Robinson,
who was drafted to be the lead, but as he was always the Roy Scheider in Jaws
figure, it was clear that he couldn’t be the lead for what this story was meant
to be (originally a trilogy, but now much longer). When I jackhammered the
outline and went from a secret passage in a cliff dwelling leading to a single
confrontation with a demon to what it is now, which is much different, his life
became necessary to make S1 happen, but it was necessary in a different way
than I originally made it be.
How
was it like Martin Brody? Well, Brody was a Chief of Police
on an island, but he was afraid of the water. He was forced out into the ocean
and left to his lonesome to confront the shark. The same is true for Kurt
Russell in Executive Decision. Steven
Seagal is wiped out and the desk jockey has to become a military hero. In this
book, Dave’s anxiety and obsessions mix with his office nature to force him to
step up or die. I like that in a character. Here, he’s not a hero in a
traditional sense, nor is he one in an actual sense, but he does get
opportunities to be heroic. Even if other characters will be the real heroes.
Heroism is important for you. It most
definitely is. If we look at large groups of the characters being led to a
place where they will be intersecting in the book Intersections, we see others intertwining here to lead each other
to a good place. Thus, it’s more like Stephen King’s The Stand or The Walking
Dead than The Avengers, but a
character like Colin Jameson, who is the sole focus of The Wendigo Story is a Captain America style superhero for what he
represents and how he can do it. His military commanders, guys like Marcus
Powell and Bart Doherty, as well as other men and women he will end up with also
have power and special powers.
You mention a lot of men, but who are the
women? Well, Charlotte Robinson is one of these women, but she doesn’t know
how she will be yet. The “writer” Susan Mavern is also more a part of the story
than a pair of preludes. In addition, the most central lead female character in
this story so far is Suzie Heilman. She’s more a paranormal source of power who
is intermingling between many lives. And yeah, I’m being deliberately vague to
not give things away with any of the characters, less people won’t buy my book!
Originally, she was a throwaway line that became a character. Now, she’s
kickass!
You have other characters that grew out of
that. I do. Both Charles “Chuck” Johnson and Henriette Fressineau were
minor characters that begged for life and a second chance at living. Both would
have had quick demises in the original story, like an unnamed character
assisting Jack Bauer in 24, but they didn’t, and now they’re part of the new
jackhammered plot because I couldn’t kill them off immediately, like I had
planned.
Killing isn’t easy, is it?!! Not at
all. The most violent death in the books took me to a month-long break from
writing. After that, it’s easier, but it feels real to hurt an imaginary
character in that way. This death rattled me, even with its toned-down writing.
Without giving the plot away, was this a
main character? Well, I can’t give it away, so I’ll just say the character
isn’t as quick to enter and leave as a “Random Cop #8,” if that’s what you’re
asking!
What about the Greers?
It was essential to allow the history to develop and grow. I wanted to be true
to a conservative desert ranch feel with a little bit of mystery. I also wanted
the family to be likable, but I wanted them to be conflicted and able to make
heel turns if necessary. That they’re not easy to pin down makes the book go
forward into suspense.
As for your villains, what were you going
for with them? With Smothers, I wanted stock evil with the potential for
complete evil like Senator Palpatine in the Star
Wars movies. By the way, the voices of Kaldac and Ralph Richards often
sounded like the Emperor to me when I was writing their parts in Eureka in Flames. As for Thurman
Strong, he was always villainous, but he was never the arch-nemesis to what was
going on; he just made it happen. Gary has evil in him, but there is just a
lost middle-aged man in him. He’s like many bosses. People don’t always like
them, but he’s not deliberately scheming to destroy the world. As for the
demons and Visions of Clouds, they get to be and breathe, but their histories,
other than what’s revealed in these first two books is part of the book after Intersections, which is called A Lot of People Die.
A lot of musical and baseball things happen
in this book, which seem like personal interests, but they aren’t, or are they?
Benson Villaneuva and Chico Gutiérrez are both central to Intersections after being background “noise” here. You may not be a
baseball fan or a fan of an indie rock band, but both are needed to move the
plot through to Season Three’s all-out action fest that is coming. Trust me;
your patience will be rewarded. That said, all of the music that’s here means
something to me, so I would support the bands or listen to the music to hear
connections that I was intending.
So what’s different here than the quick and
dirty standalone Eureka in Flames
than here? Well, the characters had to live and breathe instead of action
from the first page to the last page. The older Greers; Harlan, Archibald,
Ethan, and Willard, had to live again to make Harvey who he is. Barry Greer
also had to be mentioned with members of Tony Lucas’ now deceased family to
understand later chapters. Dave and Charlotte’s Pennsylvania lives and Suzie’s
upbringing, from Japan to America, had to be told. Predetermined intersections
and fate needed to prepare the characters to be together, both now and in the
past. How can we care for characters if we don’t know who they are?
This is something you learned from
literature, right? Yeah, I’m a goll-danged Russian novel,
but I’m also The Walking Dead. I’m an
M. Night Shyamalan movie. I’m influenced by Nathaniel Hawthorne short stories
as well as Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and George
Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant.” I’ve said it before, but I also follow the
guidance of Aristotle’s Poetics for
rules. Nevertheless, for as literary as I once was with Orwell, Faulkner,
Dostoevsky, and the like, now I prefer Destination America shows and straight
forward history done well.
Is the character Wolf a product of
history? Somewhat. He’s based on a man that I met at Ute
Tribal Park in 2003. That guy was desert-hardened and cool in an older, tough
guy kind of way. I think Wolf does him well. I also want Wolf to be a voice for
Native America and a hero for a history that I find very intriguing.
Dead Mouths is based on history, right? I
mean not completely, but… Yeah.
It was based on Waldo Wilcox’s news story of giving away his land, which housed
many undisturbed Native American ruins, which led to this book. I said, “What
if he did it because the land was haunted?” I mixed in some things I had read
about cannibalism at Cowboy Wash, which mixed with my later on reading of
Christy and Jacqueline Turner’s Mancorn. Between that and a healthy love for
the archaeology and geology of the Colorado Plateau’s wilderness mixed with the
supernatural, you get Blackrock Canyon.
So what would you say to someone getting
ready to read about 680 pages over two books of your story with the promise for
much more to come in the indefinite future? Enjoy! I hope to have Intersections ready for Christmas sales,
but all is depending on when I do The Wendigo Story and time between teaching
and a planned surgery that is coming in December. I’d also say, “Thanks for
supporting my writing dream.” It means more than most people will ever realize.
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