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1. Tell us about the first story you ever wrote.
My first novel-length manuscript was a semi-autobiographical book called The $20,000 Renewal. The amount refers to what my first coronary artery bypass surgery cost in the summer of 1983. My second bypass surgery in 2009 cost about five times that much.
In the book, the chapters initially alternate between a psychology professor teaching, jogging, going about his everyday life. When he runs or walks uphill to his office, however, he experiences what he calls his "discomfort," which he manages to attribute to explanations other than exercise-induced angina. The chapters following the everyday life chapters recount odd and often frightening experiences the main character had as a youth.
At some point, the main character discovers the truth about his "discomfort." The remainder of the book examines bypass surgery from the viewpoint of a patient, recovery from the experience, and ultimately, renewal. Along with his wife, he runs and completes his first (and last) 5K race.
At some point after I had written this, a publisher from Memphis visited my university and invited people to give her manuscripts that she would evaluate. Her comment to me was that the book was interesting but what I needed was something more saleable and then my follow-up book could be The $20,000 Renewal.
That comment stimulated me to write Murder in Memory, a book about a serial killer who is a clinical psychologist employed at a university counseling center. As such, he uses hypnosis to create false memories of his murders in one of his patients. Murder in Memory was viewed as saleable enough to get me a contract with a New York literary agent, Jay Garen-Brook, who just happened to be the agent for another Mississippi writer, John Grisham.
Grisham, as you know, went on to fame and fortune. When I sent Jay Garen-Brook an early version of Harper's Bizarre, the feedback I received was something like, "There's nothing here to encourage at all." Readers of the book so far would beg to differ.
2. Which authors have had the biggest influence on you?
When I was growing up, my favorite authors were people such as Edgar Rice Burroughs (I particularly liked the John Carter books, although I read all the Tarzan ones as well), Daniel Defoe, and James Fenimore Cooper. I soon moved on to science fiction, particularly to stories involving time travel. My favorite authors of science fiction included Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and most especially Ursula K. Le Guin.
I've also enjoyed the work of the three Johns: John LeCarre, John Updike, and John Irving. And I can't leave out Stephen King, most of whose books I've read.
Most recently, I love and have been influenced by Anthony Doerr's writings, particularly by All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land, although I've also read Four Seasons in Rome, Memory Wall, and About Grace. From his books I got the idea of writing short chapters, as they seem to hasten the flow of whatever action is occurring, and they also give you a natural stopping point if you're reading before falling asleep. You may have noticed that Harper's Bizarre has 100 chapters in not quite 300 pages.
3. Let's discuss your book Harper's Bizarre. Can you give us a quick synopsis for those who may not know what it's about?
Harper, Alabama, is a small, generally peaceful college town. Harper's Bizarre begins with a brutal, senseless murder. In short order, a high school student with mental illness is encouraged by a friend to poison his whole family. For a while, there's a missing corpse, which precipitates a variety of rumors in the community. Approaching the end, a jailbreak leads to more deaths. An escape from a mental institution and an abusive ex-spouse with a gun set the stage for a final confrontation. Through it all, Harper Police Chief Grady Noland is so challenged in dealing with the trouble in his community that it may have affected his health.
4. Is the crime thriller genre your favorite to write in? Why?
I would add horror to the crime thriller designation, as most of my short stories have been of the horror variety. My choice of subjects has often been in reaction to some particularly troubling event in the community that I've called home for the past 53 years. As to the why, I would say it has to do with my background as a psychologist and to the fiction and nonfiction that I've read over the years.
5. Is the town of Harper based on any particular town or a series of small towns or purely a figment of your imagination?
Harper is a smaller version of Starkville, Mississippi, the home of Mississippi State University, where I was employed for most of my adult life. The rampant spread of rumors has often occurred in Starkville. Some of the characters are fictionalized versions of people I've known and/or observed in my time here and elsewhere. For example, the Peter Dewberry character was based on an art professor I knew.
6. The book connects two real-life murders that were, in reality, unconnected. How did you decide to combine them and why these two murders?
Although they occurred years apart, I found both of the murders particularly troubling. Although I didn't know the people (at the time) involved in the first murder (the poisoning), I found that event incredibly ironic. As I understood what happened, the poisoner was really interested in harming his father who he thought was having an affair. What happened was that he didn't take the poison, his father and sister got violently ill, and the mother died. The mother's death then freed his father to marry his paramour, and the son was locked away.
The murder at the beginning of the book occurred on New Year's Eve, 1987, and happened pretty much as I've described it in the book. I found this murder disturbing because I knew the victim. He was an art professor and for a time shared the building in which the psychology department was housed.
I combined the crimes because I wanted to talk about them both in the same book. Also, it seemed interesting to make the main two perpetrators friends and to have one of them provide the push that led to the second murder.
7. There are a lot of negative influences in this town. Is there a motivational message that you wanted to convey with the story?
Looking at and responding to the BOTD messages I received, it was apparent that readers of the blurb or reviews of Harper's Bizarre perceived greater problems in Harper than I intended to convey. Rampant drug abuse was one perceived problem that was definitely not intended. I did have Stump and Jesse smoke some pot on more than one occasion, and some of the characters smoked cigarettes, but this is light years apart from the impression that several of the BOTD respondents received.
One of the main characters abused his spouse, and another character, perhaps reacting to continual pain with pain-elicited aggression, employed what would be considered child abuse today. Still, I didn't intend for Harper to be perceived as a town with "a lot of negative influences."
8. What's next for you? Any further books?
I'm working on a compilation of my short stories, most of which are in the horror genre. I also have another project set in Harper. Its working title is Max's Memory, and it will incorporate another strange murder that happened locally and was never dealt with satisfactorily.
I like to end with fun questions.
9. What's your favorite part of being a writer?
The feeling of accomplishment when I finish a writing project. For more than 40 years, I have written columns and articles for national coin magazines and newspapers. As a psychology professor, I wrote textbooks as well as journal articles. A couple of the textbooks I had to revise multiple times. Seeing these in print was a thrill, and the royalty checks were also quite reinforcing. Positive reviews of my two published novels and comments from readers have provided additional reinforcement.
10. What's your least favorite sound in the world?
The sound our weather radio makes when there are tornadoes in the area. After that, it would be the tinnitus I've had for many years. The way my wife reacts to annoyances, I've told her that if she had my tinnitus it would drive her crazy.
11. What's your favorite season and why?
I would go with spring. There's the new growth, the greening of long-dormant grass, the cool, but not cold weather. In my younger, pre-melanoma days, I used to enjoy having a garden in the backyard and riding in my sports car with the top down.
12. What's in the trunk of your car right now?
First, there are the reusable bags we religiously carry with us when we go grocery shopping. There's also a First Aid Kit and bungee cords. That's in the trunk. In the frunk of our EV, there are several copies of Harper's Bizarre. I haven't sold any from the frunk, but they're there just in case.
