Yes, dear guests, Madame Perry has returned to her salon with more
delightful people for your entertainment. This evening you will meet Louisiana
Joining us in the discussion is Robert Leland Taylor, an author who definitely thinks outside the norm. Taylor
Before we
begin let’s buckle our seatbelts and read this description of Joe Peace.
Twenty years ago, Joe Peace was an ace
homicide investigator for the Austin Police Department, until his penchant for
cocaine and a disastrous affair with his partner Cassie Dugan buries him at the
bottom of the APDs burnout brigade. In Austin, Texas, the psychotic founder of
the most powerful drug cartel convinces Joe the cash is greener on the other
side of the fence, and Joe becomes a player in the drug scene, buys a mansion,
and collects beautiful coeds like butterflies, but the party ends when new
details of Cassie’s death surface, opening wounds long scarred over. Other
crews muscle in on Joe’s operation, and he’s trapped in the twilight between the
cops who want to take him down and the kingpins of the street who want to take
him out. Joe Peace is a
gallows-humored tale of revenge and redemption with noir-like dialogue and
slippery morals, along with action, suspense, and soul.
Kerry and Robert, welcome to Madame Perry’s Salon. I’m thrilled to have
you both here. Robert, why don’t you begin?
Robert Leland
Taylor: I love the gallows humor in Joe Peace. Has humor always
been a major element of your work?
Kerry Dunn:
Thanks, Robert, and the feeling is mutual, by the
way. For sure, humor is what I start with. The problem I had in my previous
novel attempts was that humor was the only thing there; characters, plotlines,
dialogue, none of it mattered if I was engaged in setting up a joke. Fun for
the writer, I guess, but wet charcoal for any poor bastard unlucky enough to
read the thing. What I finally learned to do was utilize humor in the act of
telling the story. This book has some tragic things going on, if you stop and
think about it, and the last thing I want to do, as a writer, is make anybody
stop and think. Humor helped me do that.
 |
| Kerry Dunn |
Madame Perry: Tell us
about writers who have had a strong influence on you and your style.
KD: Well, Danielle Steele, Mary Higgins Clark - nah, just fucking with you.
Elmore Leonard, of course - the way his characters talk and relate to each
other. That interplay is sometimes better than the plots of his books, though
in his golden age when he was coming up with "Freaky Deaky" and
"Glitz" and "Bandits", everything worked so well together
he could do no wrong. Don Winslow is a big modern influence - his slangy,
insider dialogue, the way he digresses (I love to digress when I write, much to
the chagrin of my editor), and how he can take bad people and find the good in
them. Dennis Lehane's brooding noir taught me that you can write about emotions
and not bore the daylights out of the reader. Wow. Dashiell Hammett, who I like
to parody at times. Raymond Chandler for the byzantine way he goes about a
plot. Tim Dorsey, for his silliness. It's a long list. I love to read. I
devoured Stephen King's books as a teen, and though I stopped reading him by
the time I graduated high school, his "On Writing" is the most
indispensible guide I've ever found. I read it three times a year.
RLT: It seems that every writer I've met has a different technique for beginning a novel. Some outline, some wing it from start to finish. Which camp are you in?
KD: I'm a winger, man. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I sit down
with my laptop. I used to try to plot things out, but for me the writing always
ended up too technical. It was a case where I'd build some steam, but because I
had Doris getting murdered in Chapter 5, and here it was Chapter 4 and Doris
hadn't even been introduced yet because I have a tendency to ramble (much to
the chagrin of my editor), nobody really cared when she was strangled or
whatever. When I plotted, I had too many props. So, the first draft, I just go
on and see where it leads me. The second draft is where I more or less try to
find a straight line between things. And then I trash it all and start over
with the third draft.
MP: By now
Joe Peace has had several reviews. Which have surprised you the most?
KD: All of them. I didn't have high hopes for this book, at least when I was
being honest with myself about it. They say, don't write unsympathetic
characters. They say, don't use flashbacks. Joe Peace was a book where I
finally went, "You know what? I'm not a kid. I've followed these rules all
my writing life and it got me exactly nowhere. So I'm going to throw all that
out the window and see what happens." So, when I get reviews where people
write "you wouldn't think that you'd like a character like Joe Peace, but
you do", I got to tell you, it makes me very happy, even though I have no
idea how that happened, and I don't want to know. I'm just glad it did. Of
course, it helps to have the world's best editor/publisher in Sheryl Dunn (no relation) to tell me when the parts
break down.
RLT: Do you remember what age you were when you began writing and who/what inspired you?
KD: I always loved to write. Love playing with words. You know how, when you were
a kid and it was a blistering summer day and you'd scrape together enough
change for a candy bar, and then you'd eat it outside and let the chocolate
kind of melt and rub it on your fingers and squish it all together? That's how
I feel about words. I was blessed to have parents who didn't scoff when I told
them I wanted to write, and I was going to write, and friends who didn't think
I was saying I wanted to write as a means of picking up women who thought I
might be either intelligent or sensitive (hint: I was neither, alas). My mother
is a very talented writer, though she put it aside to raise nine kids, and I
remember when I was in grade school she read me some of her stuff and I was so
excited to find out that part of her life that was stored in boxes. I try to
keep it a secret, but lots of things inspire me. It helps that I was too
stubborn to quit when I should have, and that determination I get from my
father. The next time he gives up on something will be the first time. I don't
have it in every phase of my life, but when it came to writing, you could cut
off my hands and feet and I'd peck away with my nose.
RLT: Can we expect a sequel to Joe Peace anytime soon?
MP: Robert, that was
my question.
KD: Oh, you can expect it all you want:) Yeah, I'm working on it now. I'm a
stop/start kind of writer and it took me a long time to come to terms with
that. You know, they say you have to write every day. No can do. I have to pick
my spots. I write in very, very long sessions, at odd hours of the night. I
don't write much in the summer. Fall and winter make my fingers fly.
RLT: Are you
anything like the wise-cracking, lovable, corrupt character that you portray in
the novel? Because if you are, Kerry, so help me, I'll shut this interview down
right now and have you arrested in a heartbeat.
MP: Oh, Taylor
 |
| Robert Leland Taylor |
KD: Get a room, you two. I'm a pretty boring dude. I don't know any cops, and
I don't know any criminals. I work on computers, for Christ sakes. But I read a
lot, and I see a lot of movies, and I'm big into the anti-heroes. However, I
have a hard time being serious, or striving for profundity. You have to be born
with profundity, and it ain't me you're looking for, babe. What helped me get
into Joe's head was switching from third person to first. I'd never done that
before. It allowed me to pretend to be this cat who owned a big house, and was
all kinds of illegal, had serious dependency issues, and was still, on some
level, well-liked by at least a few people. Mostly, Joe became a friend who I
wanted to help get out of a tight spot, but he had to learn to help himself
first. So I'd say, at least in that regard, that I have been more influenced by
a made-up criminal than anything I put into him as a writer. Even if he still
owes me money.
MP: This was fun, but I believe someone’s ride is here. I hope you’ll
both return, and that I can persuade Robert to talk about his books and plays. Thank
you both for being here.
You can get Kerry Dunn’s book, Joe Peace, on Amazon, and follow him on
Facebook and Twitter.
