All Hail The True Crime King

- Gary C. King!

 

Gary C. King is one of the world's foremost true crime writers and serial killers expert, a reputation he has earned over the last 33 years with the publication of more than 500 articles in true crime magazines in the United States, Canada, and England. King's many television appearances include Entertainment Tonight, Larry King Live, E!, BBC, Court TV, Inside Edition. I could go on but let's talk to man himself. 

Madame Perry: Welcome to Madame Perry’s Salon, Gary, it’s an honor to have you here. Please make yourself comfortable. My first introduction to true crime books was the reigning queen of the genre – Ann Rule. Let me share a quote from your website. 

 

”King took over Ann Rule’s job as Pacific Northwest stringer for True Detective, Official Detective, Inside Detective, Front Page Detective, and Master Detective magazines, writing hundreds of nonfiction articles under various names until those magazines ceased publication in the mid-1990s.” 

Did you personally know or work with Rule? 

 

Gary C King 

Gary C. King: I do know Ann. I’ve met her several times at conferences. However, I’ve never worked with her, and have never wanted to work with her. Also, I cannot and do not endorse her work because I do not care for it. It’s for those reasons, among others, that I have never asked her for a blurb and would turn down one from her if ever offered. After her days at True Detective ended, she tended to go off in a direction that I find difficult to support. Now that I’ve gotten older, however, there are several things I do not concern myself about: death and dying, book sales, and Ann Rule! Some true crime authors seem to want to emulate other true crime writers which is a mistake, in my opinion, and many have certainly had their introduction to the genre via Ann’s books. A true crime writer needs to find his or her own voice, and his or her own style. I try to avoid most true crime writers as most have only self-serving interests and will do just about anything to further their own careers, including breaking trusts with other writers. A well-known true crime writer who also writes in the Young Adult and fiction genres recently broke trust with me on Facebook, shortly after DEAD OF NIGHT was released.  As a result I’ve had to reassess the importance, or perhaps lack thereof, of being friends with those in the business! 

MP: I’ve read several of your books, Gary, and I’d like to ask you about some of them. How do you choose to write about a particular crime or killer?  

GCK: Yes, I know, Jennifer, lol, which I do sincerely appreciate. It’s always great to connect with readers who like and appreciate one’s work. As for picking a particular crime or criminal, I always try to choose crimes and/or criminals to write about simply by picking those that interest me personally. If a case or a killer does not interest me on some personal level, I simply do not write about. That’s not to say that I’ve never written about a crime or criminal that hasn’t interested me—I have, thanks to editors and their poor choices. When an editor has picked cases for me, that interest at a personal level is missing and it often shows in the finished product and reader acceptance. Editors think they know everything, but I can say with all honesty and sincerity that they do not. Sometimes, more often than not, the author knows best. I tend to prefer writing about serial killers because, frankly, they are more interesting than a typical murder, though there are always exceptions.

MP: Approximately how much time is spent from deciding to write about a specific story, researching it, and the finish line? 

GCK: Usually I spend anywhere from six months to a year researching and writing about a case. That was the typical time spent when writing under contract for a traditional publisher. Now that I’ve gone indie there’s no need to rush because there are no deadlines to meet. I expect that I will be taking longer to finish projects in the future because there is no longer any need to rush.

MP: Are some stories more difficult than others? I’m thinking of Angels Of Death, about 13-year-old Derek King and his 12-year-old brother Alex King who were arrested after their father, Terry King, was bludgeoned to death as he slept. The boys certainly had a less than ideal childhood being abandoned by a drug addict mother and moved around to various foster homes. Yet I got the sense that Terry was trying to keep his boys with him and out of trouble. How does it feel to examine a case of coldblooded killers who are still just children?

 

GCK: Cases involving children, whether they are the murder victims or the killers, are always the most difficult to research and write about due to the emotional aspects involved. Terry King was not an ideal parent, but based on the information I found he was trying to raise his boys as best he could as a low-income single parent. I believe he protected his boys, but they saw things differently, possibly due to outside influences such as Chavez and drug experimentation at such an early age. They saw Terry King as being unreasonably strict, but that was clearly not the case. Those boys came and went as they pleased. In spite of Terry King’s shortcomings, many of which were through no fault of his own, he did not deserve to be brutally beaten to death by his sons and set afire afterward in an effort to cover up the crime. Those two boys seemed incorrigible to me, and had turned into monsters by the time they killed their father. You can read more about this case and the boys after their release from prison on my blog.

 

 

MP: A different situation involving children, and one that the country followed on the news as people kept a lookout for them, was recounted in Stolen In The Night. The relatives and friends of young Shasta Groene and her brother Dylan were thrust into an unthinkable nightmare when their family was murdered and the two children were missing. Shasta was rescued when she was recognized in public and sexual psychopath Joseph Edward Duncan III was arrested, charged and sentenced to death. During your research did you find many situations in Duncan’s history that should have alerted people to the kind of monster he was? Were there things people should have noticed that, had the proper authorities been notified, could have saved this family from such tragedy and heartbreak?

 

GCK: Like many pedophiles, Duncan managed to slip through the cracks of a system that was designed to keep monsters like him out of circulation. His earlier crimes, such as those in Tacoma, Washington, should have been ample warning that he was a danger to children. Sometimes, even with the best efforts of law enforcement, the system fails. It failed with Westley Allan Dodd, subject of my book DRIVEN TO KILL and who I interviewed at length before his execution, and it failed with Duncan. As with Dodd, there were several instances in which Duncan should have been kept behind bars but was not. I still have problems with why more information could not have been developed years earlier when the Martinez child was killed in Riverside County, California. They had a description of the man, as well as a description of the car he was driving. Perhaps the descriptions were inadequate to bring about identification and arrest, but one can’t help but wonder if the ball may have been dropped somewhere along the way. At least we can now be reasonably assured that Duncan will never hurt another child. No family should ever have to endure the tragic consequences that the Groene family, and other families like them, have gone through.

 

MP: MURDER IN HOLLYWOOD is about the killing of BonnyLee Bakley, wife of actor Robert Blake with whom she had a child. There are people who have followed Blake since he was a young actor and have all manner of speculations about him and his life. I was surprised at the complicated back story on Bakley. Gary, was her background, failed ambition and career as a con and extortionist fairly well known among Hollywood insiders?

 

GCK: MURDER IN HOLLYWOOD is a book that my editor at St. Martin’s Press chose for me to write about, and it was one chosen by an editor that I actually enjoyed doing despite the fact that the publisher only gave me 30 days to write the book. The publisher helped with the research, and I worked day and night to complete the manuscript. The book was published before Blake’s trial, in which he was acquitted. Though Blake himself was an interesting subject, even without a murder investigation, it was Bakley’s activities or antics that really carried the story. Due to the time limitations involved in writing the book, it was clear to me that a number of people in Hollywood knew about her but boiled the question down to just how much people may have known about her. Bakley’s scam victims knew what she was to be sure, but how much of what she was doing that may have filtered out to the so-called insiders may never be known.

 

MP: A very sad story of another type was that of Yale graduate Kathryn Ann Martini, a young beautiful woman with a bright career ahead in banking. Smart, focused and

 

hardworking, it seems her mistake was falling in love with and marrying Michael David Lissy. Murder In Room 305 details the foul plan of this sleazy, coke-addicted miscreant who planned the violent death of his bride of only a year in order to collect the hefty life insurance policy he’d taken out on her. Did you talk to many of Kathryn Ann Martini’s family and friends? So many people are affected deeply for life after a tragedy like this, aren’t they?

 

GCK: I talked to some of Kathryn’s family and friends, but most of the information came out of public files. Her family was deeply affected by her murder, especially her parents. One of her sisters contacted me after the book’s publication, and related some of their feelings to me. In respect of their privacy and since the information was not contained in the book, I feel I should keep those revelations private. David Wilson, the killer, was paroled in the late 1990s. Lissy, I’ve heard, was paroled in April of this year. Both of those paroles must have added to the hurt and pain experienced by Kathryn’s family.

  

MP:  You already know that every time I start one of your books I want to read the whole story at once! That’s when I send you tweets saying once again you kept me up all night, and your reply is usually along the lines of “It’s my job!”  

Thank you for the excellent research and writing in your books as well as the sensitivity to the loved ones on all sides of the stories who carry the grief and pain for a lifetime. When I first interviewed true crime authors, there were people who accused me of glorifying or sensationalizing crime. So I always add the reasons I read and share the books.  

Yes, I’m fascinated by the unpredictability of human behavior, to put it very simply. However, I don’t believe I’ve ever read an account of true crime where there weren’t several hints, red flags and outright warnings of someone’s potential for violence maybe for years before a crime occurs. And for whatever reason no information was shared or action taken which could have prevented it.  

So I repeat the simple words that if you see something, say something. And if you see or know something but don’t want to get involved – too late, you’re already involved and have a responsibility. 

I wish you much continued success in your career, Gary, and hope you’ll return soon.

GCK: Thanks, Jennifer. I’ll be happy to return here anytime!

MP: Gary C. King's website keeps readers up to date on his books plus videos, podcasts, blog posts, and a page of victims' resources.  Follow him on Twitter and 'Like' him FaceBook. He likes communicating with his readers so leave a comment here. Like most of our guests he'll probably reply.

Buy his books! Oh, and don't forget to keep your flashlight by the bed.

 

 

 

Kerry Dunn Delivers Hip Noir Style With "Joe Peace"

Yes, dear guests, Madame Perry has returned to her salon with more delightful people for your entertainment. This evening you will meet Louisiana author Kerry Dunn, as he talks about his book Joe Peace, and answers questions about his writing style. Now I love a book in the gritty,  noir, hard boiled detective style, especially with liberal doses of whip smart wit and parry. Dunn delivers. So well, that when I was reading Joe Peace on a flight out of Daytona Beach, the lady next to me kept asking me to stop and read out loud to her. She said it was obvious that my book was much better than hers and she wanted to hear it. Now that's a good book.

Joining us in the discussion is Robert Leland Taylor, an author  who definitely thinks outside the norm. Taylor is the winner of the Southern Playwrights Competition for Kentucky Wings in 2002, and semi-finalist two consecutive years in Amazon/Penguin's Amazing Breakthrough Novel Awards, 2009 and 2010 for A Sunday Stroll through the Ant Farm.

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, please. The man’s has a brilliant imagination. Just because he can write about crackhead cops who switch sides and whose souls are soothed only by more crack, more booze and the beautiful voice of Karen Carpenter doesn’t mean it’s autobiographical. I mean, I’m on a diet but I can read the menu.

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.

Mitzi Szereto ~ Pride And Prejudice: Hidden Lusts

Madame Perry:  Mitzi, you look so young, lovely, cute dimples, hang out with Teddy Tedaloo (who, like you, has a deceptively innocent visage ) and you write erotica that makes the pages too hot to turn and too sizzling not to play with that fire! How, and when, did you recognize your brilliant skills in that genre?

Mitzi Szereto:  Thanks for your use of the adjective “brilliant”! Actually, I’ve written poetry and stories since childhood; my first piece of long-form fiction was a gory murder mystery replete with deadly poisons and buried corpses. I’d been writing a variety of things, genre-wise, once I decided to seriously pursue writing as a profession, but it was quite by accident that I started working in the area of erotic literature.

Mitzi and Teddy
Photo: Eric Schneider

From my readings in the genre, I didn’t have much patience for the contemporary works, preferring the more refined prose of the classics. Obviously, that affected my approach to some degree. I come from a fine art background as well, so I’ve always applied myself to my writing as an artist would, using words as my medium rather than paint.

When dealing with material that is more erotic in nature, I think it’s important to incorporate a bit of artistry and lyricism into the prose or else you end up with something that has as much elegance and sensuality as what you find scrawled inside a toilet stall.

MP  When Pride And Prejudice: Hidden Lusts was launched, you had several events scheduled, and some included readings. How was that? I mean, details – please! Were extra fans necessary?

MS  It’s all a blur! I did a ton of interviews; in fact, I don’t think a day went by when I wasn’t doing an interview or being scheduled for one. I was also doing a lot of international traveling during that summer (which resulted in yet more interviews), plus I had an appearance at the Warwick Words literature festival not long after I returned to the UK. My Red Velvet and Absinthe anthology came out not even three months after P&P, so it was a manic time for me. Mind you, it’s always a manic time for me!

MP  According to Wikipedia you’ve written thirteen books as Mitzi Szereto, and six as M. S. Valentine, plus countless other stories in magazines. In your spare time you are a blogger, anthology editor, web TV entrepreneur and public speaker.

Obviously a prolific writer – you must have, in addition to talent, a style, technique or discipline to enable you to do so much and do it so fabulously well. Please share some tips for the rest of us.

MS  I suppose my biggest tip would be to find a research facility that will clone you so that you can do all the things you need to do to keep yourself out there and keep creating new and interesting content. I don’t have a particular technique; I just file away inside my head all the things that I need to do and I try to get as much of it done as possible, always finding that I’m at least two or three months behind on where I want to be.
I suppose as far as discipline, it’s down to this: I know I need to do what I need to do, and somehow or other I do it. It’s an endless trial of frustration to keep up. I think you’ve got to be very committed to your goals and willing to make sacrifices in order to achieve them. This isn’t a nine to five job that ends when you get home from the office—it’s day and night, seven days a week. You’re lucky, indeed, if you can manage to take off an entire 24-hour period without attending to something pertaining to work.

MP  What music do you listen to when you write?


MS  I never listen to music when I write. I need silence. Music is too distracting, as is the presence of people. I’m lucky that Teddy is relatively quiet when I’m working and doesn’t create problems and disruptions. The only downside is, he’s not too cooperative when it comes to making cups of tea. To be fair, it’s a bit difficult for him to reach the kitchen counter without assistance.

MP  What do you enjoy best about your web TV show? Can you talk about your favorite guest?

MS  It’s hard to choose, as I’ve met so many interesting and amusing people for the Mitzi TV segments. I probably had the most fun in “Knees Up Mother Brown,” which was a musical pub night in London. The place was filled with so many colorful characters, both the performers and the audience. For “Baby You Can Drive My Car” I did enjoy flirting with Formula 1 racecar driver and “Top Gear” presenter Tiff Needell, not to mention teasing shoe designer Jimmy Choo. Oh, and Fred Flintstone and I were getting pretty cozy in his log-mobile, too.

Having Teddy co-host with me on the “Bear Necessities” video was also very rewarding, as we covered the Hugglets Teddy Bear festival in London. We met a lot of exhibitors who are actively involved in charities, especially those pertaining to bears. I’d like to hope that I helped spread the word about a lot of great causes with this segment. I should say that not all guests are planned; in the majority of cases they just happen along. Other than the Morris Dancing segment, which I’d pre-arranged with the chaps from the Westminster Morris Men, I usually have no idea who I’ll be interviewing until I actually get out there with my mike.

MP  An American by birth, how did you become a resident, and citizen of the UK ? Has this been a strong influence on your work?

MS  I think I’ve always been British in my heart and soul. Britain is known for being a land of eccentrics, so I fit right in! I moved to the UK in 2001, and quickly became established there. Aside from doing a post-graduate degree, I became a creative writing lecturer at university within a year of having relocated. You have to be resourceful to make your situation work, which is true of most anything, really. I’m not going to say it was easy. Anyone who deals with immigration departments can tell you what a headache it is, not to mention expense. But when it was all over and I found myself being sworn in as a British citizen, I breathed a proverbial sign of relief. So yes, Britain has been a strong influence on my work, even from way before I’d arrived.

MP  Mitzi, when you wrote Pride And Prejudice: Hidden Lusts, is there one character above all others that you fantasized about? And in those lusty fantasies – what well known person would they resemble?

MS  For the purposes of P&P, I will say that Mr. Darcy is the character that appealed to me the most—and we can give credit to Colin Firth’s marvelous and sexy portrayal of Darcy in the BBC TV series as being a strong influence. He embodied Darcy in a way no other actor has and, I believe, ever will. But generally speaking, I don’t make a practice of putting personal fantasies into my work or patterning characters on people I might necessarily fancy or lust after. I’ve done it so rarely that the only time it immediately springs to mind is with my recent short story “The Blood Moon Kiss” in Red Velvet and Absinthe. I patterned the male protagonist after Ian Somerhalder (and yes, I do fancy him!), also using the setting of a popular television series about vampires as a backdrop.

I’ve noticed over the years that many people like to assume that if your content is erotic in nature, then it must reflect upon your own sexuality and proclivities and, as you’ve already referenced, lusty fantasies. I’m not entirely sure why this assumption came about (perhaps it’s been aided by the writers themselves!), but it isn’t an area I exploit. Besides, I write a variety of material that crosses into and blends many genres, so lusty fantasies don’t necessarily have any bearing on the content. Can you imagine if every author of a blood-and-guts crime novel claimed to be inspired by his or her lusty fantasies? We’d have a swarm of literary serial killers on the loose! For me, writing is all about imagination and creativity. It’s our job as writers to create—and I’m just doing my job.

MP You and Teddy are so fabulously busy, I’m delighted you could visit Madame Perry’s Salon. This has been an absolute pleasure, and Teddy, rest assured your required gift basket is on its way.

MS  A gift basket for Teddy? Goodness!

MP  What? You didn't know? You may want to check Teddy's phone bill. It's quite allright, as he'll share with you.

If you are not already living in the exciting world of Mitzi and Teddy, here are some very useful links. You can follow Mitzi on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads and MySpace, and visit her Errant Ramblings blog,  website or go straight to MitziTV . Buy Mitzi's books on Amazon USA, or Amazon UK, Teddy invites everyone to follow him on facebook and twitter, too!

Meet Grant Jerkins, author of A VERY SIMPLE CRIME.

Here we are at last. I am thrilled to introduce author Grant Jerkins, and talk about his book A VERY SIMPLE CRIME. I hope you won’t mind, Grant, but having the esteemed writer, actor and painter Robert Leland Taylor here just seemed a lovely idea.

Mme Perry: A VERY SIMPLE CRIME captivated me because of the well drawn characters, the story, and very sharp writing. How long did you work on this book?

Grant Jerkins: It’s funny, because the published version of the book was basically my first draft, which took perhaps four months to write. During the years of struggle to find a publisher (long before the epublishing revolution), I ended up writing several additional drafts to suit other people’s vision of what the book should be. I even wrote a screenplay version. In the end, it was that first fevered four month draft that made it into print.

Robert Leland Taylor: I notice that you're often drawn to the darker side of human nature. Does this represent a pessimistic view of humankind on your part?

GJ: Hmmm. You’re putting me on the spot with this one. I hate to say I’m pessimistic or misanthropic, but clearly I’m drawn to characters who are. I think maybe I just feel like each of us is born into the dark, stumbling through it as we mature, and that most of us will never find our way out of the dark in our lifetimes. But that doesn’t mean we can’t help each other out along the way. Light a match and share a minute or two of illumination with a friend. But the match goes out and we have to keep moving forward. Alone. In the dark.
MP: Which authors do you most enjoy reading?

GJ: I love the writing of James M. Cain. He’s not as well known today as his peers - Hemmingway, Chandler, and Hammet, but he’s my favorite. John O’Brien. Lawrence Block. Stephen King has been a major influence. Kurt Vonnegut, JD Salinger, and Truman Capote. Flannery O’Connor is a favorite. Right now I’m really enchanted with Donald Ray Pollock and Daniel Woodrell.

RLT: How do you feel about reading your own stuff? Is it a pleasant or unpleasant experience for you?

GJ: By the time a book gets published, you’ve read it so many times that you can’t help but be sick of it. And by that point you can see all the chicken wire, duct tape, and spackle holding it in place. You can’t fathom how others won’t see the awkward stitches where you’ve sewn your creature together. That said, I can still find passages that I enjoy reading and sharing with others.

MP: Do you have a specific process for creating your characters and their backgrounds?

GJ: Good question! I do not have a specific process for creating characters. I know a lot of writers use a system or check lists (What does your character want? What is he/she struggling to achieve?) to create characters, but that seems so artificial to me.

RLT: What aspect of novel-writing do you find the most difficult?

GJ: Beginning. The single hardest thing about writing a novel is starting the damn thing. After that, if you’re disciplined and write every day, it’s not that hard of a process. It’s even an enjoyable process. If you’re not disciplined and you don’t write every day, then the days you do write feel like you’re starting all over again, and it’s just torture.

RLT: Boxers or briefs--and how often, if ever, do you change them?

GJ: Commando.

MP: You don’t have to answer Robert’s last question, Grant, you know he can easily become distracted and take everyone with him.

GJ: I’m sorry, what?

RLT: On a scale of one to ten, one being the worst, how sorry are you for agreeing to do this interview and how badly will it hurt your career?

MP: Mr. Taylor!

GJ: Commando.

MP: Now, now, Mr. Taylor, you promised to behave. Thank you for being our guest, Grant. Tell us the title of your next book, and when we will see it.

GJ: The next book is called AT THE END OF THE ROAD, which sounds a little bit like directions to the town dump, but actually it’s a very personal book about my experiences growing up on an isolated red dirt road in rural Georgia (which was surprisingly violent).

The book is based on a real incident from my childhood. When I was ten, I was riding my bike in the middle of the road in front of my house when a car came speeding around a curve in the road. To avoid hitting me, the woman behind the wheel had to swerve. Her car flipped and rolled, landing on its side. The woman crawled out, bloody and battered. She asked me to help her, but I ran away. I was scared. I was ten years old. So I ran away and never told a soul. The next day I went back and the car was gone. No sign of the accident remained. The woman and her car had just disappeared. AT THE END OF THE ROAD is my imagining of what might have happened to that woman.

The book will be in stores November 1st, and it’s currently available for pre-order wherever you like to buy books. Unless you buy your books out of Robert’s garage. He doesn’t do pre-orders. Still waiting on my copy of Decision Points.

MP: Also waiting on mine. Mr. Taylor? Thank you both for being my guests here at Madame Perry’s Salon. It has been every bit the pleasure I imagined. Much success to you both.

RLT: I'd just like to say that I've read AT THE END OF THE ROAD and was blown away by it. It touched me on a number of emotional levels that I can't begin to describe. I wasn't aware until now that the story was partially based on an actual incident, and this makes it all the more intriguing. It deserves to become a huge success. Thanks for sharing, Grant, and thanks to you, Jennifer, for having me.http://www.grantjerkins.com/.

MP: You can follow Grant on Twitter,  Facebook, or visit his website to find out where you can see him live.

And here's a nice bit of post script: Barbet Schroeder (Barfly, Reversal of Fortune) is attached to direct the film version. Adapted for the screen by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Nicholas Kazan (At Close Range, Reversal of Fortune) and O'Neill Fellowship playwright Terry Curtis Fox (Cops, The Pornographer's Daughter.) Currently in pre-production.

Live From Hollywood And The Pages Of Vanity Fair - Jessica Handler!

And with a title like that I say let's get to it. Author and poet Collin Kelley, a dear mutual friend of mine and Jessica's, is here to talk about her memoir Invisible Sisters and see if she'll dish on the stars.

M.Perry: By the time you were nine both of your younger sisters had been diagnosed with terminal illnesses - Kostmann’s syndrome and leukemia - and you began introducing yourself as ‘the well sibling.” How, and when, did you realize that your family was different from others in this respect?

Jessica Handler: I probably didn’t consciously realize that we were different – and in so many ways, not only medically – until the moment that I said phrase to a doctor. I was nine, and, as you’ll read in Invisible Sisters, was at Duke University Hospital with both my younger sisters and our parents to undergo some lab work to try and figure out how this anomaly – two sisters with white cell disorders on opposing sides of a spectrum – came to be. (No one’s ever figured it out, as far as I know.) I introduced myself that day as “the well sibling.” This is a real term now, but I don’t know if it was then. I doubt it. I think I’d overheard my father say it about me, or perhaps I thought of it then, but it seemed to define my role pretty efficiently.

Even then, though, I knew that our family was normal for us. My sisters weren’t treated differently; they had slumber parties and pets and schoolwork, and lived very regular lives for the most part. It was normal for me to be that calm around doctors, for us to travel to medical centers and be examined. That experience is a little bit like living in the third person voice.

After Invisible Sisters came out, friends who’d known me even during those times told me they’d never known the extent of our story. That’s a testament, good or bad, that’s a reader’s call, to how normal our lives were.

MP: In writing a memoir you must spend a lot of time revisiting past situations and feelings. Did this ever bring about a different viewpoint on any situations for you while writing Invisible Sisters?

Jessica Handler

JH: Oh, of course. You can’t write memoir well when the crux of the story is so fresh in your mind and heart that the work is an emotional explosion rather than a crafted story. Of course there was a great deal of emotion in writing the book, sad and happy, but distance is crucial. I came to understand so much more about my father in writing the book, I think in part because by that time I was older than he was in the story I was writing. I viewed his losses and his reactions as a fellow adult, not solely as a wounded daughter.

Collin Kelley: Is there anything you didn't put in the memoir that wish you had now?

JH: I’m very satisfied with the scope of the book. I worked closely with my editor at Public Affairs, Morgen Van Vorst, who had great insights about shaping the book, which helped me at the time to figure out what I wanted and needed to put in that I had perhaps skated over in earlier drafts. There’s nothing in Invisible Sisters that I wouldn’t tell someone in conversation. That said, there are pieces of my family’s stories that I have omitted due to personal privacy issues and the fact that those bits weren’t crucial to the story I was telling. Those I won’t tell you in conversation. They’re just for me.


MP: It was so exciting to see you in Vanity Fair magazine. Tell us about it. Fun? Did you get to keep the dress? Anything to dish?

JH: The Vanity Fair shoot was amazing fun, and after eight hours on various lawns of the Swan House I was pretty much in giggles the whole time. I didn’t get to keep the dress, but honestly, what would I do with it? I’m a jeans and t-shirt gal. I knew five of the women before the shoot, and had of course heard of everyone, so it was a delight to meet the others. I am a huge admirer of Natasha Trethewey’s poetry particularly, so meeting her was kind of a fan-girl thrill.

Hmm, what to dish... It took two passes with dish soap to get the ‘product’ out of my hair. It doesn’t stand up like that on its own! And I learned that couture comes in two-digit sizes, not just in size four. And I’m wearing my grandmother’s pearls in that shot, because she would have kvelled. I texted my publicist pretty much every twenty minutes to essentially shriek with joy. The whole day was extremely girly.

Collin Kelley

CK: Tell us about working in Hollywood? Can you dish on a famous celebrity encounter?

JH: I’m still so touched and honored to have met Divine; Harris Glenn Milstead. He was a guest on a talk/variety show where I was a production coordinator, and I spent some time talking with him in the green room. John Waters’s movies had been big with my college friends and me. He was kind, soft-spoken, and just so elegant and gentlemanly. And he was wearing a grey pinstriped three-piece suit and a big diamond earring. I just loved him. And no, I won’t tell you here who the rock star at the after hours club is in the LA chapter of Invisible Sisters, but if you ask me in person, I might. The club was Club Zero, on North Cahuenga though, if that means anything to any 1980s archivist-types.

JP: Hmm, maybe when the three of us meet up at Agave for some nibbly things and a few of Collin's stories. Thank you so much for spending time with us, Jessica.

JH: Of course, happy to spend time with. Soon, IRL.

CK: XO Love and smoochies!

Jessica Handler's nonfiction has appeared in Brevity.com, More Magazine, Southern Arts Journal, and Ars Medica. You can visit Jessica Handler's website, or follow her on Twitter.

Kevin Guilfoile, author of The Thousand and Cast of Shadows.

I've been a Kevin Guilfoile fan since his first novel, Cast of Shadows, was published. When he agreed to be a guest in Madame Perry's Salon to talk about his newest book, The Thousand, I knew I'd want one of my more sophisticated and intellectual pals to sit in the co-interviewer seat. So I am pleased to also introduce my friend Ann Guilfoile.

Madame Perry: The Thousand has an intricate web of plots and motivations. A couple of characters we can imagine from real life folks like Johnnie Cochran or Phil Spector. Yet many are original in their personal quirks, burdens and needs. How do you draw or create these characters?

Kevin Guilfoile: Inventing the characters is the fun part, although I'd be hard pressed to explain how you do it. They start as imaginary playmates of some sort. Then you drop them into a situation and figure out how they would react and that's how your plot unfolds. Of course you don't really get to know them until you start writing them, and so frequently you realize that you expected a character to do something that, now that you know her better, she wouldn't do. So you have her do B instead of A and then you figure out how that will change everything that happens after that. That's the way that your characters often lead you to a place that you didn't expect.

People who were familiar with the Chicago music scene in the 90s will recognize that the character of Burning Patrick is based loosely on a real person named Wesley Willis. Like Patrick, Wesley was homeless, selling his sketches of El Tracks on the street until he was basically adopted by a rock band, who helped shelter him. They also formed a band around him and fulfilled Wesley's dream of being a rock star.

Ann Guilfoile: How come there are so many characters unlike your sister in your books?

KG: Are you kidding? My books are filled with liars and sociopaths.

MP: In your novel Cast Of Shadows, one character was driven by a religious group. This is a kind of group and person we see occasionally see in the news. However, in The Thousand there is a group of people with a very discreet and cult-like devotion to philosopher mathematician Pythgoras. Where did the idea for this come about?

KG: I was working on the first draft of the novel, and it had many of the same elements of the final one--a young woman with special mental gifts, and the intersection of art and science and math and religion--but something about it wasn't quite working. One night I had dinner with a friend named Tom Morris, who had been a philosophy professor of mine in college. I was spelling out the trouble I was having and he put down his fork and said, "You need to go home and read everything you can find about Pythagoras." Once I did that, the story really began to fall together.



Kevin Guilfoile

 Pythagoras was one of the most influential individuals in history--his teachings were the foundation of modern science, music, math, astronomy, and religion--but most people know nothing about him beyond the Pythagorean Theorem, which he didn't have anything to do with. Plus he was an insane and reclusive cult leader on top of it, who thought his friends were reincarnated as dogs and that it was a sin to eat beans. I couldn't not write about him after that.

AG: On a scale of 9 to 10 how would you rate the influence of your sister in your life?

KG: My sister took me to see Star Wars when I was nine years old. Without a doubt one of the most influential experiences of my life. She also taught me how to ride a bike and introduced me to the music of Boz Scaggs.

MP: Before reading Cast Of Shadows I had read some of your very humorous pieces in McSweeney’s and in a book of essays titled 1001 Damnations. Quite a contrast to your books, which makes me wonder if you have any screwball comedy screenplays incubating in your office?

Ann Guilfoile

KG: I have written a screenplay, actually, which might go into production as soon as next year. It's more a dark comedy than a screwball one. It's about Chicago record collectors in the late 1980s and it's sort of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre meets High Fidelity meets Reservoir Dogs.

AG: If it weren't for your sister, would you be living in a homeless shelter or in the street?

KG: I've always seen myself as more of an "under the bridge" kind of guy.

MP: When you think of your books being made into films, do you have specific actors in mind that you feel would personify the characters as you see them?

KG: That's always a difficult question for me. The reader spends a few days or weeks with the characters, but the writer spends years with them. It's hard to just imagine some actor becoming them. Film is a very different art from literature. I'm not sure what role the author should play in shaping the film (unless he's adapting it himself). Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, two writers/producers from Grey's Anatomy, are working on the Cast of Shadows screenplay. I told them I was around if they have any questions, but I'm more interested in seeing their interpretation of the novel than I am in influencing it.

AG: Where is the $50 you owe your sister?

KG: I paid her back in wit.

MP: How did it feel to have Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times give such a powerful review praising The Thousand?

KG: Ms. Kakutani has been very good to me. She had many kind things to say about Cast of Shadows, as well. Obviously not everyone is going to perceive your book in exactly the same way that you see it, but it's gratifying when someone does, and when that person is the lead book reviewer at the New York Times, you consider yourself especially lucky. It cushions the blow, I suppose, when the next guy doesn't like it as much.

MP: Thank you for taking time to talk with us. We wish you much continued success and hope you’ll visit again.

Get more information on Kevin Guilfoile by visiting Kevin Guilfoile's website, or the Cast of Shadows site, and follow him on Twitter. 

Meet Australian Novelist & Television Host - Sylvia Massara!

Welcome back to my salon where today I'll share another wonderful result of cyberspace, social media and the way we booklovers transcend distance and time (zones.) For this is how I met Australian novelist, screenwriter, and television producer & host Sylvia Massara.

Sylvia Massara

Perry: Welcome to Madame Perry's Salon, Sylvia. We have a lot to talk about. First, I don’t know how you have time to be such a prolific writer, blogger, television show host, and still make time to help other authors. Your three novels – The Soul Bearers, The Other Boyfriend, and Like Casablanca are in print as well as e-books. Why did you choose to add the e-book format?

Massara: I kind of “stumbled” into digital publishing, Jennifer. My initial aim was to get my first two novels published through a traditional publisher, but this was taking such a long time—not to mention the number of publishers and agents who didn’t even reply to my letters of enquiry or submissions! Anyway, for a while I did nothing and as I was working a fulltime job, I pretty much shelved everything. And then I got sick. I developed a lower back/pelvic problem that made it impossible for me to continue working for about a year, and it was during this time that I took solace in the social media.

This is how I discovered the world of digital publishing. You know how it is, one thing led to another, and suddenly I was engrossed in formatting my novels into e-books. So my intent was to self-publish in e-book format, and later bring the novels out in paperback.

So far, The Other Boyfriend is out in paperback as well as e-book format. I wanted to test the waters and see what sold best. To date, my e-book sales far outweigh my paperback sales, so now I’m thinking that I will stay with the e-book formats; at least until Hollywood discovers one of my books and makes it to a movie, and then I’m sure that a traditional publisher or two will approach me for the book rights. LOL.

Perry: While reading The Other Boyfriend I truly enjoyed that I could ‘see’ the characters because they were so well drawn. Their dialogue, mannerisms, and settings were vividly described so I felt that I was in the scene live and in person! How much time is spent developing the characters for each book?


Massara: This varies with every writer. With me it happens fairly quickly. In the space of a couple of hours I’ll have most of my characters mapped out. You see, my characters live inside my head all the time, and I guess it’s a matter of who shouts the loudest to come out and be written in a novel. I told another interviewer only the other day that she should call me “Sybil”!

Perry: Actually, Sybil came to mind when you were describing the characters shouting at you from inside your head. In the past few years video book trailers have become quite the clever marketing tool for authors. You have three great ones, and I especially enjoyed the one for Like Casablanca. Do you create them yourself?

Massara: Yes, I do. This is courtesy of that illness I had. During the time I was ill, not only did I learn to publish digitally, but I also learned a lot about social media, blogging, making and editing videos and promoting my novels through book trailers.

I love being creative; whether it’s writing, filming videos or making trailers. I’ve always been a creative person and I guess always will be. So now you see why I walk around with all these characters inside my head. LOL. I am always engaged in some creative pursuit.

Perry: You are the creator and host of The Lit Chick Show. Entertaining, funny and sharp, TLCS is a virtual television show where you interview authors. Is this your first foray into the broadcasting milieu?

Massara: I’ve never had a talk show, if that’s what you mean—not even a virtual one. But from age 5, I always wanted to be an actress. This was my primary dream, but unfortunately I didn’t follow it. Acting is always seen as an insecure career, and out of all the actors in the world, I’ve been told that only around 2% can make a fulltime living out of it. Mind you, it seems the same thing applies to authors!

Having said this, I polished off some ambitions when I was younger. During my late 20s and early 30s I was involved in writing screenplays, and a few of them received recognition from some well known Hollywood names, but I guess it was not my destiny that the screenplays would make it to film. Lots of screenplays end up on the shelf. Hollywood proved to be rather fickle and I was disappointed, to say the least.

The one thing I did, which I thoroughly enjoyed during this time, was acting. At the late age of 33 years, I finally decided to get some acting gigs and I was lucky to land a few TV commercials, documentaries and bit parts in a few TV series. One of them, which I’m not sure if it’s known in the US, was called “Home and Away”. This is a soapy, and the springboard into Hollywood for Aussie actresses Melissa George (Amityville Horror) and Isla Fisher (Confessions of a Shopaholic).

I was lucky to be in a scene with Melissa George in “Home and Away”, where I played the part of a sales assistant in a maternity-wear store, and where I helped her pick out a dress. And regarding Isla Fisher, I didn’t work directly with her, but I shared the same make-up trailer with her and we had a really nice chat. The other evening I watched “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and I sat there thinking about the time I met her and how nice she was to me at the time.

But back to your question, The Lit Chick Show is my first foray into broadcasting on my own, and something I enjoy doing in order to support fellow authors promote their work. I love doing the introductions and better still, interviewing face to face if the author happens to be on my side of the world. I was very lucky to catch Mark Coker, CEO of Smashwords, when he was out in Sydney as part of his mini-world tour and he very kindly agreed to feature as a special guest on my show. I was so excited that I made him an honorary Aussie on camera!

Perry: That’s why you are so natural in front of the camera, and your guests seem comfortable as well. Sylvia, I’m so glad you joined us here at Madame Perry’s Salon. We’re looking forward to more books, more episodes of The Lit Chick Show, and for your books to be made into films. I hope you’ll have a part for an American actress. You know, a modern mix of Rosalind Russell and Eve Arden. Just a thought.



Jennifer 'Mme' Perry



Massara: Jennifer, the minute any of my books become movies you are guaranteed a cameo role right alongside of me :-) In the meantime, I would love to feature you on The Lit Chick Show so you can come and tell us all about your wonderful Salon.



Thank you for featuring me on Madame Perry's Salon; I think this is a wonderful place to be and I feel honoured. You've made me feel much at ease and very welcome.



 Perry: An invitation I am thrilled to accept. Thank you.

You can buy Sylvia's books in print, download them, watch The Lit Chick Show, plus follow her on twitter, facebook, and LinkedIn.