HBM
From your CV, it appears that professionally
you are on the forensic side of crime. So one could have expected you would
go for procedural novels, so popular nowadays.
Instead, you are producing classic HB fiction
with a style of story coming straight from the
fifties... (this is not a reproach, believe
me)
Why have you chosen the Hard-Boiled genre?
RH
I grew up with a genuine pulp exposure (I
mentioned Groff Conklin
in my acknowledgement section of JOKER POKER).
I am forty-five years old now, so the styles
of the fifties are not so old for me. Isuppose you write what you grew up reading.
My favorite writers while growing up were
Spillane, Hammett, and Chandler, the MacDonalds (Ross and John D.). Later,
I got heavily into Robert B. Parker. Lately, I have been a big fan of James
Lee Burke, who tends to mix up a lot of lyrical prose with his hardboiled plots, and Stephen Hunter, whose Bob Lee Swagger books may or may not be hardboiled, depending on whether you feel that there should be a PI in there somewhere. I am reading my first Michael Connelly right
now (Angels Flight), and I purchased an Ellroy the other day. So, I'm trying
to keep up with the trends.
As a college student, I did an extensive,
semester-long study of Raymond Chandler, which has probably colored a lot
of my work.
I tend to agree with him that stories should
be dialogue-driven, with clearly defined characters, and that plot is probably
secondary. Simple plots with exciting characters and patter can make for
a great read. Probably only procedurals and hard- (soft and poached)boileds
can survive that kind of approach.
HBM
What was your experience as a writer before
JOKER POKER?
RH
My first two books, GEARY'S YEAR and GEARY'S
GOLD,
both about a purely American form of karting,
enduros (hundred-plus miles per hour laydown go-karts, which I raced for
fifteen years), were both serialized in 'World Karting Magazine' between
1982 and 1985.
I wrote two psycho-political thrillers between
1983 and 1986, one of which was optioned by an agent but never sold, and
the other (strangely, I thought the better of the two) was never even agented.
I may give it another try, but it's rapidly becoming dated.
The central character is supposed to be an
aging hippie who was a reporter during the Nixon/Watergate hearings. By
now, he would have to be in his fifties, and that doesn't fit with the
rest of the book.
Also during the 1984-1987 period, I wrote five
short stories featuring this Pat Gallegher character, and many of these
stories provide the history cited in JOKER POKER.
I went into a latency period after 1987 until
about 1994, during which I was the clinical director in a secure (locked)
facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the most dangerous and violent
adolescent criminals in the state.
When I left this job in 1993, I was genuinely
burned out, and channeled all my frustration into a book which would probably
be considered a procedural, BOBBY J.. It was picked up by a small publishing
house in New York, which failed to send it to print for three years, and
finally cited a lack of funds as their reason for turning the rights back
over to me. It is still listed for sale on Amazon.com, but to my knowledge
not a single copy was every printed.
Then, I got back around to Pat Gallegher, with
JOKER POKER. It was actually finished in 1996.
HBM
Is it due to past bad experience with the
"traditional" publishing sector that you selected for JOKER POKER a new
avenue of the electronic publishing, by using the system called POD (publishing/printing
on demand)?
RH
I acquired an agent for JOKER POKER (under
another title at the time)
almost immediately after writing it.
I believe the agent did what he could, but
Boston is not New York, and in the USA you almost have to have a New York
agent if you are trying to break into the business.
After three years, I decided to reacquire
the rights to market it myself. It was less than a month later that my
attorney and life-long friend told me about the POD approach.
I was an actor for five years between high
school and college, and learned the hard way that the only way to get an
actor's union card was to get a job as an actor, which, of course, required
an actor's union card.
In much the same way, it seems that the only
way to get published in America is to have already been published. This[POD
publishing] seemed like as good a way to get my work in front of people
as any.
HBM
Do you plan a second book with the same central
character, Pat Gallgher?
RH
I have already completed the second book in
this Pat Gallegher series, entitled VOODOO THAT YOU DO (each of the titles
will rhyme). I hope to actively market it this summer 2000.
The third book in the series, JUICY WATUSI,
is about two thirds complete.
The fourth and fifth books are outlined, with
working titles of FIRE FOR HIRE,
and STINKIN' THINKIN'.
HBM
Seems you are going ahead full speed!!...
Besides Chandler and Hammett that every publisher
blurbs on any HB/Noir crime novel they recently published, what are your
favorite crime writers?
RH
Besides the guys I grew up reading,
I would add Robert Crais, Elmore
Leonard, and Jonathan Kellerman.
The latter I like mostly because he and his
protagonist are both
psychologists, like me. Kellerman's works
tend to be more psycho-procedurals, which I would probably be writing if I hadn't had those pulp influences as a kid, but he takes a maddeningly long time
to wrap up his books.
I myself tend to think in much the same way
as the filmmakers of the thirties and forties -- kill the bad guy and cut
to the credits. I never write an epilogue longer than three pages -- just
enough to tie up any loose ends.
HBM
Good spirit! Was also the tradition of most
of the best HB writers of the fifties... No unnecessary "padding"... On
the contrary to what we encounter so many times now, in recent crime books
of soft-boiled (and would-be-hard) inspiration.
I'm really looking forward to reading the
next episode of Gallegher's saga!
Thanks for the very interesting insight RICHARD
HELMS, and all the best for your new Hard-Boiled series.
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Read our detailed review of JOKER
POKER in Hard-Boiled Mysteries
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E.BORGERS -
April 2000 |
