New Jersey native Vincent Czyz is an author whose works inspire readers with mythological and religious elements. Best known for his short story collection “Adrift in a Vanishing City”, he has also penned two novels and many essays. His works have won him the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Prize for Short Fiction (1994), two fellowships and a 2026 prose finalist award from the NJ Council for the Arts, the Truman Capote Fellowship at Rutgers University (2011) and the Eric Hoffer Award for Best in Small Press (2016). His most recent collection of short stories, “Old Man Evil & Other Stories”, features an eclectic mix of 12 tales with an assortment of colorful characters brought vividly to life through the printed word.

 

 

What was it like growing up in New Jersey when you did? How do you think your early years helped shape who you are today?

 My two brothers and I were born in Orange, but we moved to East Orange in 1967, just before I turned 4. Because our sister was wasn’t born until 1978, the four of us didn’t grow up together. I have a single memory of the Newark riots in the summer of ’67: sometime during the night, my father came into my room, lifted me out of bed, and took me to a back bedroom. My bedroom faced the street, and he was afraid I might be exposed to gunfire (shots were audible from our house). Twenty-six people were killed in the riots, so this was a time of racial tension in a place where violence wasn’t uncommon.

The three of us—I’m the middle child—went to Columbian School, which was upwards of 90% black. Most of the time we were treated like the other kids, but now and again someone would pick a fight with us because we were white. Whatever your color, East Orange was a hard place to grow up. Fights were such a part of life at our grammar school there was even a code: “Fight your own battles.” This meant that if two kids of the same age were fighting, no one, whether friend or relative, was allowed to “jump in.” I heard this rule voiced and obeyed without question numerous times. Once there was a clear winner, the fight was over, but no one would interfere until then.

When I was 9 we moved to Wanaque, New Jersey, a suburb surrounded by wooded hills. It was nothing like East Orange. There wasn’t a single black student in our new grammar school, which was probably a quarter the size of Columbian. We hated Wanaque. We didn’t like the way the kids talked, dressed, or what they talked about (hunting and fishing, mostly). We missed our friends and wanted to go back to East Orange. Being the new kids in town, the three of us fought a lot the first year or two. Despite our complaints, we stayed in Wanaque, made new friends, and eventually got used to it. I passed the written and practical tests for a hunting license and even went out a few times armed with a bow or a shotgun—because that’s what every 16-year-old boy in Wanaque did—but I didn’t have the heart to kill anything. I preferred hiking the wooded hills or fishing in one of the nearby ponds or lakes, a pastime I enjoyed until I started feeling sorry for the fish.

Getting a good dose of the urban and semi-rural, plus the camping trips with my brothers and father, gave me a deep appreciation for nature without a negative attitude toward the city. In fact, I have such affinities for both I’ve always been pulled between the two: Do I want to enjoy clean air and quiet mornings, the slowed-down pace and relaxed rural rhythms, or do I want the nightlife of the city, the lively pace, the variety of restaurants, shops, cafés, and the people who frequent them? For a while I seriously contemplated moving to Frontenac, a small town in Kansas that features prominently in my fiction. I wanted, as I wrote in my journal, to have time “to shine my own shoes; clean, paint, fix my own house; brush down the horses; work on my car or bicycle—all of which keeps me grounded, close to existence—that is to say, less distanced by Technology.”

But I never learned to disentangle my DNA from the capitalist-fast-food-hurry-up-New York City virus that infected it. My wife, Neslihan, and I currently live in Jersey City, just across the river from Manhattan, and while I’d like to move somewhere a little quieter and safer, our jobs keep us here. While my upbringing made me more comfortable with violence than I should’ve been, it also familiarized me with black culture. My brothers and I even sang “Aw, Beep Beep,” a Black Power song one of the older kids taught us. When we moved to Wanaque, we went to Paterson six days a week, where we trained as amateur boxers. Paterson was even rougher and more urban than East Orange, so we stayed in contact with our city roots.

What was it like growing up with your brother Bobby? Did his outlook influence you much?

For those who may not know, Bobby eventually won two world titles as a professional fighter. I often get asked about being “in his shadow,” but that wasn’t much of an issue for me because I gave up boxing when I was 14 and switched to wrestling, so we weren’t competing. I went on to pursue writing, still more different from his career path. Occasionally, a local newspaper would write an article on “the fighter and the writer.” Since he was on his way to being famous and I was working in near-total obscurity, I felt lucky they bothered to notice me.

That said, I very much enjoyed having an older brother, especially one like Bobby, who was outgoing and socially adept. I was a little shy, a little introverted, and had a tendency to spend too much time alone in my room. I was a bookworm from about the age of 10 and in many ways preferred books to reality (the way kids today prefer a screen of one sort or another to reality). Bobby forced me to get out of my room and spend more time with friends.

Also, I spent a lot of time in my head and sometimes blundered around in the real world, struggling with simple practicalities, whereas Bobby was at home in the world and, like my younger brother, had a way with motorcycles, cars, and the mechanical. Bobby got me to be more self-reliant and to take more of an interest in the nuts and bolts of things. I often followed his lead in things like music and clothes too, in learning how to act and how not to act. I’m grateful I wasn’t born first because I don’t think I’d have been a good older brother and I don’t think I’d be as sociable or as confident as I am now if it weren’t for Bobby. Geese famously fly in a V formation—the strongest flier among them breaks the wind for the weaker birds. Bobby was like that lead bird for me.

When did you first develop your love of storytelling and writing? Who were some of your earliest influences?

I developed a real love for reading by about fourth grade, which is when I discovered Greek mythology. I became smitten and this led me to read more. In sixth grade I tried to write a nonfiction book about Jupiter—I loved astronomy—so I had a real interest in writing by this time, but not so much in storytelling.

Then I read The Lord of the Rings. Middle Earth virtually replaced the real world, and I started writing a Tolkien-inspired fantasy novel. I filled three, 300-page, spiral-bound notebooks—carefully printing in pencil—with adventures set on the fabled continent of Atlantis. I even drew a detailed map. By senior year in high school, I was typing up a third draft and had finished 100 or so single-spaced pages when I got hooked on science fiction, went off to Rutgers, and lost interest in magic, chimerical races, and wars waged with medieval technology. I wrote a couple of SF stories and started a retelling of Heart of Darkness, which I’d read in high school, set in another solar system.

My two SF short stories were interesting experiments (I didn’t get very far with the novel), but by my sophomore year at Rutgers, I developed a taste for literary fiction and John Updike became a literary idol. I loved what he was able to call up within me through words. I loved the beauty of his sentences and their intimate detail. Samuel R. Delany became another favorite for similar reasons—he wrote about a fictional city so believably I sometimes felt I knew it better than the real cities I’d been in. (Much of what is involved is now called “world-building,” something Tolkien also excelled in.) William H. Gass and Paul West also became big influences. While both wrote stunningly lyrical prose and there’s a lot of brilliant exposition, they were less interested in setting a scene than in making sense of past events and actions. Delany excelled the moment-by-moment unfolding of a scene. I should also mention Millo Farnetti, whom I met in Frontenac. He’s not well-known as a writer, but he taught me a great deal about discarding the conventional sentence, compressing my writing, and establishing a rhythm—a practice notable among the Beats.

What would you say is your favorite story of all?

It’s hard to choose, but I think it’s probably “The Northwest Passage,” one of the stories in “Adrift in a Vanishing City.” I don’t know that’s it’s the best—“best” judgments always make me uncomfortable because there are so many factors to consider and because different readers look for different things in fiction—but that’s probably the one that most resonates with me. It has a pervasive nostalgia and melancholy to it but isn’t unrelentingly bleak. It also brings together most of the characters in the collection.

That said, “Old Man Evil,” the namesake in the collection, is more of a story and is completely self-contained. “The Northwest Passage” loses some of its luster when taken out the cycle of stories it belongs to. Certain connections can’t be made reading it as a stand-alone story,and the characters aren’t fully established.

“Old Man Evil” revolves around Vance, a thirtysomething with amnesia who’s fled a home in suburban New Jersey and a job in Jersey City and winds up in a shanty town in the hinterlands of New Mexico. He vacillates between these two poles, mirroring the tension I’ve always felt between the urban and the rural. The story questions the nature of evil—was the evil of Sodom and Gomorrah the practices of its denizens or God’s solution?—but there’s nothing extrinsic to the story. That is, there’s no narratorial philosophizing or digressing. One of thethings I like about “Old Man Evil” is that it came from a deep place. This is one of those fictions in which I couldn’t effectively communicate what I wanted to in expository prose; I needed to do it through the action of the story, myth, history, image, symbolism, dream. The dream sequence in the story, in fact, is based on an actual dream of mine that happened to fit in with what I was writing.

What was it like living in Turkey? What do you miss most about your time there?

At first it was frustrating not to be able to speak to anyone, not to understand what anyone was saying. The smallest interactions could be embarrassing. Once, for example, the cashier in a grocery store said something I didn’t understand. I looked at the numerals on the cash register and then at the bill I was holding out; it would more than cover the total, but she repeated, “Bozuk varmi?” I had no idea what she was saying. She got exasperated, disappeared for a few minutes, and came back with more cash for her drawer. I later learned she’d asked me a simple question—“Do you have change?”—but I’d stood there uncomprehending and feeling fantastically stupid.

After spending a couple of years in Istanbul and learning some of the language, I felt more comfortable. I also became enchanted by various aspects of Turkish culture—the music, the sprawling history, the art, the Mediterranean lifestyle. And there are parts of Istanbul where you’re surrounded by architecture that has survived, perfectly intact, for centuries. Even the so-called New Mosque is 363 years old. At night, especially when the moon rises over the city, you feel transported to another time, another world.

Beyond Istanbul there are mountains, deserts, miles and miles of beautiful coast, and astonishing ruins,the remains of upwards of 40 distinct cultures, including Ephesus, probably the world’s second-best-preserved ancient city after Pompeii (this is where Paul addressed the Ephesians). Once, while Neslihan and I were exploring Turkey’s southwest coast, we came upon the stone remnants of an ancient Greek town. It was beautifully preserved in the midst of dense forest, and there was no one else there, not even a guard or a ticket-seller. We wandered the ruins freely, marveling at its semi-circular amphitheater, which was small but in superb condition. If a similar ancient town existed in America, it would be unthinkable that you could have it to yourself—for free.

Another thing I miss is the light. There’s a quality to the light in the Mediterranean that I’ve never seen—or at least imagine I haven’t—anywhere else. I tried to describe it in my journal when we visited Karmylassos, a ghost town built of stone.

“Looking south from a terrace next to the church, there’s a slope about half a mile distant, and the light is so thick it’s a gold mist coming down on a hard slant. The edges of the houses are almost blurred, but the effect, maybe, is more like haloing—except there’s nothing round. Not a crown of light, more like an aura … borealis is north, this is the aura (not aurora) a la Mediterren. You can’t see the water, but you know the sea is there just beyond the hills.

Every house has a chimney and every chimney looks like a tiny tower with 8 windows (about big enough to frame a squirrel’s head) and a peaked cap like a roof on a cottage. Where plaster still smooths walls made of stone blocks, there are often the remnants of paint—red and blue are the only two colors we came across. 

I watch the shadows of tall grass gone to seed sway on a wall. And we wait as though we can see evening falling.’

A variation of this description appears in “Pub Blues,” the first story in Old Man Evil. For a fuller account of our adventures on that trip, including they’re recounted in a letter I wrote to my favorite contemporary poet, Albert Goldbarth, and can be read here:

www.maydaymagazine.com/a-tour-of-ancient-lykia-a-letter-sent-to-albert-goldbarth-by-vincent-czyz/.

Turkey’s allure, though, isn’t just matter of ancient ruins and a celebrated past. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than when I lived in Turkey. I had a job teaching English, which I enjoyed and which paid me well. I had enough free time to write. I had a close-knit group of friends, and in contrast to America, it didn’t take months of coordination for us to get together for barbecues, lunches, day trips, nights out, whatever. We sat in restaurants, bars, or meyhanes for long hours, eating and drinking or listening to live music. We had rambling, sometimes heated conversations about politics, literature, art, history—rarely sports—and the gatherings were international. Our circle included ex-patriots from Australia, England, America, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, as well as Turks. Istanbul was to me, I suppose, what Paris was to Henry Miller. Neslihan, a native of Turkey, and I are still thinking about retiring on Turkey’s southwest coast.

What do you enjoy the most about teaching? What do you hope that your students learn from you?

I enjoy reading new fiction from a new generation, and I enjoy helping shape a manuscript’s final form. When I was a wrestling coach and I saw one of my wrestlers score with a move I’d taught him, it was a great feeling. The feeling is similar when I see the students make improvements in their writing. What I most hope students learn is that there’s no single approach to writing fiction. Rather, there are numerous ways to succeed with a story or novel. Flannery O’Connor’s plain-spoken prose can work as well as Faulkner’s lush Southern Gothic or David Foster Wallace’s cerebral postmodernism. One author or technique isn’t necessarily “better” than another. Do we really think, for example, that Hemingway’s “Old Man and the Sea” would be a better book if it were an avant-garde experiment? Or that Joyce should’ve written “Ulysses” in the style of a Raymond Carver?

What are some of the most daunting aspects of being a writer?

The most daunting aspect of writing, at least for me, is the struggle to put into words what I want readers to see and feel, what I want readers to take away from a given scene or story. There are so many ways to screw it up—you can underwrite, overwrite, churn out banal writing, slip into cliché or come off as contrived or pretentious. You can lead the reader by the nose or be so subtle you leave readers bewildered. You can think you’ve done justice to your subject and conveyed what you’d hoped to only to have someone looking over an early draft tell you, no, that’s not what they got from these pages. Then you’re back at it.

Coming up with a structure, whether for a short story or a novel, can also be daunting. Do you tell the story chronologically or do you use the occasional flashback? Maybe you alternate evenly between past and present. And which point of view do you tell the story from: first person? Third-person? Omniscient? Limited omniscient (in which the only head you’re ever in is the protagonist’s)? Do you alternate between points of view? If so, how often? Or between past and present and multiple points of view? I’ve seen all of these variations and others put into practice—and work. They each have advantages and disadvantages, and you need to figure out the structure that’s going to work best for your story.

And where do you end the scene or story? How much do you give the reader? I try to avoid being prescriptive, by which I mean telling the reader what to think or feel. I do my best to imply what I want a reader will come away with. Still, stating overtly what you want the reader to understand or feel is an easy trap to fall into.

Those are probably the most daunting aspects of composing the work. Then comes launching the work into the world, which, if you want to land a major publisher, means first landing an agent. Even with an agent, the process can take years. My first novel, for example,took about 32 years and two agents to see it into print. I began writing “Sun Eye Moon Eye” in 1985, but it wasn’t published until 2024. For the whole tempestuous backstory, complete with many a “close but no cigar” situation, see my recent essay “Portrait of the Author in the Age of Conglomeration,”which also gives a summary of the last several decades of American publishing (www.clereviewofbooks.com/the-age-of-conglomeration/).

Can you tell us a little about your newest work, “Old Man Evil: & Other Stories”? Are there any particular stories in this one that you enjoyed writing the most?

There’s a simple organizing principle for the book: the first story is set in America, the second abroad, and so on. It’s an eclectic collection, diverging not only in location but in prose style, time period (two of the stories take place in the 19th century), and narrative form. Specific settings are also scattered across a broad spectrum: New York City, a shantytown in New Mexico (and the surrounding desert), Auschwitz during World War II, small-town Kansas, Serbia, urban and suburban New Jersey, Turkey (both city and country). The stories, nine of which were previously published in literary magazines, were written over decades, the earliest being a modified chapter of “Sun Eye Moon Eye”, while the most recent was finished in 2021.

“Old Man Evil,” as I mentioned above, is probably my single favorite story—and the one I most enjoyed writing—but I’m also enjoyed writing the second story, “Chele Kula,” which, translated from Serbo-Croatian, means “Tower of Skulls.” After the Battle of Chegar Hill in Nish, Serbia, in which the Turks won a pyrrhic victory in 1809, the commander of the Turkish army built a tower out of stones and the skulls of slain Serbian soldiers. It was a warning to other Serbians contemplating rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. The story is told from the points of view of a Serbian soldier living in the 19th century, a contemporary American tourist in Serbia, and the ghost of the Serbian soldier.

The story would never have been written if I hadn’t gotten stuck in Nish during a trip through what used to be Yugoslavia. There was one bus a day to Sarajevo, and I missed it. I decided to make the most of it and visited the Tower of Skulls. I spent a lot of time in the one-room, one item museum built around the tower, trying to imagine lives for the men whose skulls were still embedded tower’s walls (most had been reclaimed by family members). By the time I got back to Istanbul, where I was living at the time, I’d already started outlining “Chele Kula.”

There tends to be a story behind each of the stories in this collection. “Hamlet’s Ghost Sighted in Frontenac, KS,” for example, is based on a misadventure with a horse and a hallucinogenic night in Kansas that lasted until dawn. “Contrary Star” recounts a friend’s struggles with drug addiction so faithfully it approaches creative nonfiction. “The Moon Has Fallen into a Well” was inspired by the climax of a tragedy I happened upon in Istanbul. I was part of a writers’ group, and one night, after a meeting, several of us encountered two policemen pulling a sheet of plastic over a body at the foot of Galata Tower. Someone had climbed over the safety rail and jumped from the top. The image of the body lying on the cobblestones haunted me for days, and writing the story became a kind of exorcism. And so on.

What do you think it takes to make an interesting and lifelike character come to life through words?

Observing people closely, taking note of their tics, idiosyncrasies, speech patterns, and the way they interact with others. Listening to people when they talk—always listening—paying special attention to their thought processes, to their motivations, to their justifications for what they do. Also, though, taking the diving bell into yourself, honestly assessing your own desires, actions, and emotional exchanges.

A lot of contemporary writers tend to neglect character. Which is often problematic, sometimes highly problematic, since the emotions in a work of fiction are rooted in character: if readers don’t care about the characters, they’re not emotionally invested in the story. It’s a criticism that can be legitimately leveled against, for example, Thomas Pynchon, whose fiction tends to be populated by cartoonish caricatures rather than characters.

Do you have a dream project you’d most like to bring into existence? What can your readers look forward to next?

My dream project is “Nowhere Zen New Jersey”. A kind of lengthy sequel to “Old Man Evil,” it’s set primarily in the same New Mexican shantytown, but it has a different protagonist and focuses on a new set of characters. Told through several different narrative voices, the novel branches out into Mexican and Native American folklore, myth, and history. There are also letters, poems, and journal entries penned by various characters. Other texts—found objects so to speak—include song lyrics and brief excerpts from newspapers and books. Certain fictional elements, such as the Haunted Pueblo, are presented as historical. This reflects the way legend is often confused with history as well as my fondness for blurring borders, geographical and otherwise, including those between fiction and nonfiction. The novel, which casts doubt on the notion of linear time and emphasizes the importance of dreams, also suggests indigenous/non-Western ways of seeing the world. These are all things that interest me deeply, and I hope at some point to be able to devote a year or two to writing “Nowhere Zen New Jersey’. So far, I haven’t gotten much beyond the note-taking stage.

The next novel I expect to see published is “The Aeon of Forgetting”, a departure for me since it’s an urban fantasy. An ancient soul escapes from heaven and finds his way back to Earth,where he attaches himself to a New York City librarian—Charlotte—who tries to help Ari discover who he was in life while discouraging his romantic interest. The situation is complicated by Charlotte’s heroin-addicted brother and a pair of angels armed with 9mm automatics who’ve been sent to bring Ari back. In addition to dodging stray bullets, Charlotte has to contend with the dismantling of her Christian worldview, which doesn’t survive the answers the angels have for her questions. While there are key elements of genre fiction in “Aeon”, it’s a literary novel that explores art, existential mysteries, and the arresting beauty of the here and now.

“Aeon” was actually in the final stages of production and was due out in August of 2026 (the Amazon page is still up!), but the editor, who also happens to be the owner of the publishing house, kept trying to rewrite it. I kept gently reminding her that the editor isn’t supposed to rewrite the novel as though she were author but to make suggestions in keeping with the narrative voice and the vision the book presents. When she made a drastic change to the climax and gave me an ultimatum—accept the new scenario or walk away from the contract—I opted to keep the original climax. I’m currently looking for a new publisher.

Is there anything you’d like to say in closing?

I would urge readers to be more open to the books coming out of small, independent presses and pay less attention to what the New York mega-publishers—there are only five left—are peddling. The truth is, many accomplished literary authors who didn’t have spectacular sales were pushed to the indies and university presses. So books by these authors won’t, as a rule, get more than a smattering of reviews in barely read publications or much in the way of publicity since few indie presses have a publicist, let alone an entire marketing department, and few reviewing bodies care what comes out of the small presses. It also means sales will be even more dismal for a given literary novel than they would’ve been at one of the Big Five.

And when I mention small presses, I’m not talking about Milkweed or Graywolf or Coffee House, which receive donations from wealthy foundations and are wildly successful by small-press standards. I’m talking about small presses founded by idealistic editors and authors who want to promote literature for literature’s sake, presses such as McPherson & Co., Two Dollar Radio, Unnamed Press, Unbound Edition Press, Dzanc Books, City Lights Books, Turner Publishing, Small Beer Press, Sarabande Books, Etruscan Press, Baobab Press, Braddock Avenue Books, Counterpath Press, Counterpoint Press, Solid Objects (not to be confused with A Strange Object), Permanent Press, FC2, Outpost 19, Persea Books, Spuyten Duyvil, Rain Mountain Press, and Running Wild Press to name a handful, as well as a plethora of university presses.

Almost without fail fiction published by these presses is passed over for prizes. All of which “validates” the publishing choices the Big Five make and perpetuates the myth that, with rare exceptions, all the good writing comes from them. So it’s not just the editors who guard the gates; it’s also the media.

Proof of the impressive work coming out of small presses includes three Nobel Prize winners—Olga Tokarczuk, Jon Fosse, and Han Kang—who were first published in America (or in English) by a small press; in the case of Fosse, exclusively by small presses. But there are many, many other examples. For a fuller rundown, see the aforementioned essay on the author in the age of conglomeration—and don’t overlook the indie presses.

 

Ben Tinsley and his son Jake, 57 and 29, are writing partners. They helm the Tinsley Boys Shared Universe, a line of comic books published by Jason Dube’s Scattered Comics.

The TBSU’s most notable titles are Night Owl, The Blonde Assassin, Genius, and Alternative Narratives.

They are currently running a Kickstarter campaign for the latest comic book installment of “Night Owl”(which gained mention on the Today show in 2009).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ba3-altnarratives/night-owl-2-n-1-1

For those not familiar with your works, can you tell our readers a little about yourselves?

Ben:  I’m a Fort Worth, Texas film actor, singer and former journalist who has teamed with my son Jake to write comic books since 2007 – when Jake was 12.

Jake: I’ve been writing comics since I was able to write, my dad and I started this comic company when I was in middle school and we’ve been rocking on ever since.

Jason: Wow … (reviewing list) that’s a lot of questions. …. I’m Jason Dube writer, artist and publisher.

When did you first develop an appreciation for comics?

Ben: From the beginning. Ever since I was old enough to read, I’ve had a comic book in my hand. 

Jake: Very early, my father was always reading them and it didn’t take me long to become enraptured by the stories I would read with dad’s help and later without.

Jason: I’ve loved comics since childhood.

Do you happen to remember what your first favorite comic was?

Ben: It’s a tie between “Batman” and Detective Comics.”

Jake: It was ”Shazam”, back when he was called captain Marvel, my dad got me this massive book made for kids, it was my favorite for a very long time.

Jason: “Richie Rich.”

Who are some of your influences in the field?

Ben: Denny O’Neil, whose work I studied all my life and taught myself to write using his narrative structure. I even interviewed him by phone in 1995! Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and the late Rachel Pollack. 

Before she died, Rachel worked on a story for Jake and me that we ran twice in a comic of ours known as “Genius”. I believe it was her last published comic book story.

Jake: My biggest comic influences are Stan Lee, Marv Wolfman, Geoff Johns and Joss Whedon, as they wrote some of the best stuff I’ve ever read.

Jason: Most of the original  Image Comics founders, Art Adams, Ramos, and Chris Bachelo.

Why do you think comics have always had such an appeal? How did you come to find yourself involved in creating them yourself?

Ben: Ideally, the words and art of each comic book converge to project a story directly into the brain. All my life, all I’ve ever wanted to do is write comic books, film act, and sing professionally. (I’ve also always wanted to be Batman.)

When I was a teenager, I wrote and drew my own line of comic books. My art was horrible, and I think only two people actually purchased the comic books at the Fort Worth head shop whose manager agreed to sell it for me on consignment. But published is published!

 I still consider those comics Canon and reference them occasionally in the stories Jake and I write for the Tinsley Boys Shared Universe of Jason Dube’s Scattered Comics.

Jake: Escapism, there will always be room in life for escapism and that’s why comics will always be popular. I spent my life since early childhood reading about superheroes and creating worlds and legions of characters to fill those worlds.

Jason: There is no limit to what you can do in comics. (But not in the real world.) I couldn’t afford to buy them, so I made my own.

Did either of you ever imagine you’d still be creating them 17 years later? 

Ben: It’s been an incredible, unpredictable journey. I am very happy that Jake and I still work together after 17 years. We have a lot of comic book writing experience under our belts.

Jake grew up writing comics. It’s made him into a fantastic writer and gives him an incredible view of the profession.

Jake: To be honest we just wanted a good crack at it. We both hoped, but never really planned for any real success, we just wanted to put our art out there.

Jason: Yes.

For those not familiar with premise can you tell us a little about “Night Owl”?

Ben: “Night Owl” is our flagship character. We write his adventures in our comic books and also our one-page webcomics, which we offer online for free.

Night Owl is Zack Finley, a 12-year-old Earth Shaman who protects the balance of the universe. He’s the top magic guy in his universe. He’s latest in a long line of Shamen who have inherited this mantle. “Night Owl” is more a rank than a super hero name. You become Earth Shaman, your title is Night Owl.

Night Owl’s partner is his power animal Grandfather Owl, an immortal, magic-casting, talking owl who can occasionally assume human form. Grandfather Owl has worked with several of Night Owl’s many predecessors.

At 12, Zack Finley is the youngest shaman to ever inherit the mantle of Night Owl. He literally had to die to become Earth Shaman. Zack Finley’s immediate predecessor was his paternal grandfather Mack Finley, known to the world as the Silver Age Night Owl. Zack Finley became Night Owl after being shot to death in a surprise attack.

 Mack Finley resurrected Zack by projecting all of his life energy and Shaman power into him. This brought Zack back to life and transformed him into Night Owl, the Earth Shaman. The effort of bringing his grandson back combined with the numerous bullet wounds he suffered during the attack claimed Mack Finley’s life. Night Owl’s mother and little brother also were murdered the same night.

Zack Finley constantly has to struggle with the PTSD and depression that comes from losing so many members of your family.

Night Owl’s sanctum sanatorium is The Treehouse, a special shamanic shelter connected to the World Tree outside of space and time. It is run by a race of Teddy Bears known as The War Bears. As it turns out, one of them, Cadbear, was Zack Finley’s nanny when he was a child. 

For years afterward, Zack thought the Treehouse was a bedtime story he heard when younger. When his grandfather died, Zack was shocked to learn it was all real.

Meanwhile, Night Owl’s life has been complicated by a mysterious ally – a teleporting, forcefield-covered, blue adventurer known as Blue Blazer. Friend or foe? The answer might surprise you!

Night Owl’s only family member left is his father Ray Finley, an emotionally-distant journalist who seems equally affected by the deaths of the Finley family members.

Night Owl is a member of a super team of like-minded kid heroes named The Knights of Justice. There have been three incarnations of the KOJ, and a Night Owl has been on each one of them. 

The Golden Age Night Owl was on the KOJ during World War 2, and Zack’s grandfather, the Silver Age Night Owl , served on the KOJ during the 1960s. Zack’s version of the KOJ is the only one with mostly kid heroes.

Fort Worth, Texas is the center of all magic and super science in the universe. Magic and super science can only be created within the boundaries of Texas.  Said magic and super science can be taken elsewhere and used, but the ability to create or generate it can only take place in Texas. 

Fort Worth, Texas is the epicenter of all that. Every Night Owl is charged with serving and protecting Fort Worth.

Jake: “Night Owl” is the story of a boy who has been through so much pain in his life, dedicating the rest of his existence to making sure nobody else will have to live with the same pain.

Jason: I describe him as a 12-year-old super hero. 

What readers can expect from the most recent installment of “Night Owl”?

Ben: The first story is kind of a haunting mystery, introducing one new character and revisiting a couple of others. The second story probes into the tragic past of Night Owl and offers a terrifying look into what previously were thought to be silly villain characters.

My favorite quote comes from Love Machine 2.0:  “Time to hypnotize … with my Freaky Spinning Eyes!”

Jake: What started in part 1 as a goofy slapstick grudge match is now unfolding into narrative depth as the story reveals the reason for the fights in balance 1.

Jason: Surreal stories, cool artwork, and epic battles.

What are some of the challenges you face in working together? What would you say is the most useful thing you have learned from the experience so far?

Ben: It’s been a huge learning curve for both of us, but I couldn’t ask for a better writing partner than Jake.

Jake: Most challenging thing? Finding where on paper to put all the overflowing ideas coming from every part of the creative team. Something useful I’ve learned is the art of organization, this field has me very organized and ready for stuff like leadership roles.

Jason: I never felt any challenges. I find it easy to translate their stories into artwork.

What do you hope your readers take away from your various works? 

Ben: Jake and I adore everything we write. I hear a lot of complaints from readers who worry that too many of today’s writers care not about superheroes and comic books. Not so with The Tinsley Boys. We adore comic books and that drives our work.

Jake: I once said as a child that I wanted to make you laugh til you pooped your pants.  In several ways I think nothing much has changed, but instead of just laugh, I wanna make you cry, think and “aw” as well.

Do you have a dream project you’d most like to bring into existence?

Ben: My dream is to successfully lobby the Texas Legislature to formally declare Night Owl “The Official Fictional Superhero of Texas.”

Jake and I have already written several comic book proposals for other companies, including ideas for Batman, John Constantine, and Daredevil. If we’re ever asked to share those ideas, we stand ready.

Jake: My big dream is to write and film an MCU style big budget movie series based on my comic universe, I’d have no issues with intellectual property, so all my characters could be present without any waiting for copyrights to expire.

Jason: Getting to draw comics is my dream project.

Is there anything you’d like to say in closing?

Ben: “Night Owl 2-n-1” is an incredible, oversized comic book on sale for a very low price on Kickstarter right now. It’s a powerful comic book journey written by Ben Tinsley and Jake Tinsley with art by our publisher and longtime artist Jason Dube.

It’s the character that landed Jake and me on The Today Show in 2009! 

Check it out. You won’t be sorry!

Jake: Of fear and love, I fear not that I will die, but that the multiverse created by my own two hands will never find its target audience.

Jason: Thank you for the interview and check out Night Owl in its Kickstarter campaign.

Virginia native Norman Voss is best known as the bassist for The Bret Michaels Band and as vocalist and frontman for Stormin’ Norman Band. 

For those who might not be familiar with you and your work, what would you like them to know about yourself? 

 I love to use music to connect to people and to connect people together. Especially people in need, such as those living in senior homes and those living in the woods. I love to sing in senior homes doing Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis and playing for the homeless. I now do that also on the road, as almost every BMB show has a section with disabled fans. It allows me to make them feel special, even if just for a couple of minutes.

Do you remember when you first discovered your love of music? What was that like? Do you happen to remember what your first favorite song was?

I have several distinct memories of discovering music. One is when my brother bought the Kiss “Alive II” album. First I just looked at the pictures and then I played it and pretended to then be in the band. I was about 12. Later I also became obsessed with Devo and the Vapors.  “Turning Japanese” was probably my favorite song.  Oh, the 80’s!  By the way, I did start playing “Talk Dirty to Me” by Poison when I was 20 years old with my cover band. 

When did you first know you wanted to be a musician? 

Ever since I got my first guitar at 14 or 15 years old (around 1981) I wanted to play music. Ever since then I think I’ve always had a band, or played in a band, in some kind of way. Or at least played music in some kind of way (I’ve sang the crooners like Sinatra at over 500 weddings too).

Why do you think music holds such an appeal to the masses?

I believe music is God’s gift to man to bring us together. When you’re at a concert seeing a band that everyone there loves it is like you are there with your family, or your tribe. It can heal the soul and heal a nation. There is nothing else like it. 

What is it like to get to now get to perform with fellow musicians that you have worked with for so long prior while providing the music for Bret Michaels?

 I’ve known most members of BMB for about 20 years.  So when I learned I was playing with Bret with only 3 days notice I wasn’t nervous at all, since it was with my friends.  Bret was the only one in the band that I didn’t know. (laughs)  We all have a BLAST together and get along great (hence knowing each other for so long), so it makes playing with Bret that much better.  

What have you learned most from your time there so far? 

I think what I’ve learned the most is to enjoy the amazing moments, which happens alot!  From playing on an aircraft carrier, to also playing in front of 40,000 people at various festivals. Also though I’ve learned to treat everyone with respect. From the guy who opens the door for you at the arena to every crew member and opening band. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, everyone deserves respect.  Especially the fans!

Do you ever miss your time at Stormin Norman while out on the road as a bassist? 

Of course I miss not playing with my band, we always have tons of fun. But everyone’s cool with the situation and once BMB touring dies down I’m sure we’ll then sneak a few shows in of our own. 

What is the most challenging issue you face while touring? 

The most challenging issue while touring is dealing with the schedule. For example, we will play some amazing show and after the show we meet and hang out with everyone who came to the show. Then we finally get to our hotel room around midnight, to then have to be in the lobby of the hotel at 3:30am to then drive to the next airport, to fly to the next town, to then drive to the next venue. I shouldn’t complain, as at least the band gets a break before sound check, while the crew will go straight to the venue to set up the stage. Those guys are warriors!

What advice would you offer the musicians of tomorrow? 

To have fun with music. If you treat it like a job it can then get you down. Don’t let this thing that is supposed to bring joy and make you happy bring you down. Or it isn’t worth doing. Play music to connect with people and to spread joy.

What would you say is the best advice anyone ever gave you? 

I remember recently we were just about to go onstage and Bret is in the corner warming up. The band is talking about other bands we were with that night. We mentioned other guitarists who were awesome and drummers who were amazing and he just piped in “you know the only band I care about, this band right here.” It threw me for a second but I realized what he meant. What’s most important is right in front of our noses so just concentrate on that, not all the other things going on around you. 

Is there anything you’d like to say in closing? 

Since I joined BMB we had the privilege to be the backing band for Lou Gramm of Foreigner, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray, Rome of Sublime w/Rome, and Steve Augeri, formerly of Journey. We’ve also had countless other artists join us on stage. What an amazing gift to be able to play with the music legends and the artists I idolized as a kid.  I don’t take it for granted and I’ll always appreciate all of the amazing opportunities that I have through music. Be it on stage with legit rockstars to playing to a 107 year old lady or a guy who lives in the woods.  Each moment in music is amazing.

UPDATE: 2022 Marilyn Monroe Memorial Week Festivities

We are thrilled to announce that, as part of our memorial week festivities, a new documentary will premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Saturday, August 6. “Dreamgirl: The Making of Marilyn Monroe,” produced by Marilyn Remembered club member Ian Ayres, will show at 7:00 PM. We’ve arranged for a special VIP package for memorial week attendees, as follows:

• A ticket to the film
• A VIP tour of the theatre
• A Collectible Souvenir Book
• A Marilyn Monroe Cement Coaster
• Entry to the VIP Reception and One Drink Ticket

The VIP package is $40.00. A single ticket to the film without the package is $15.00. To buy your tickets, visit the TCL Chinese Theatre website here. 

Items from personal collections of Marilyn Remembered President Greg Schreiner and also Scott Fortnerwill be on display at the Theatre Wednesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 6. The pop-up museum will feature items from Marilyn’s film career and her personal wardrobe. Film worn and used pieces from Let’s Make Love, The Prince and the Showgirl, There’s No Business Like Show Business, The Misfits, and A Ticket to Tomahawk will be displayed, along with Marilyn’s personal scripts and evening wear.

For full details on memorial week activities, visit www.marilynrememberedfanclub.com. Here are a few important notes:

• The memorial service will begin at 5:30 PM at Westwood Village Memorial Park, followed by an evening reception. Memorial service reserved seating is currently sold out. However, you may add your name to the waiting list here. 
• The dinner at the El Coyote Restaurant on Wednesday, August 3 and the lunch at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Thursday, August 4 are both sold out. Tickets for the Academy Museum are still available (link on our website). We are recommending at 3:00 PM visit. 

Reminder: Donations for Flowers

We are still accepting donations for flowers for the memorial service. If you would like to make a donation for flowers for Marilyn on behalf of Marilyn Remembered, please send your donation via PayPal to MarilynRemembered@yahoo.com.

All fans donating to the 60th Anniversary Marilyn Monroe Memorial Service Fund will be acknowledged in the memorial service program. Note: Donations must be received by Tuesday, July 26 at 12:00 p.m. PST to be included in the program.

To receive news and updates about the 60th Anniversary Marilyn Monroe Memorial Service, join our mailing list here. You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram. And, as always, we’ll post updates here in our Facebook group.

 

Shane Stanley has a long line of creative ancestry from his Great-Grandfather who was a stage actor in New England to his grandfather, the artist Frederick Stanley, and down to his father, filmmaker Lee Stanley, the drive to create seems to be an inherited trait.

As a child actor he appeared in over 100 projects before moving on to work behind the camera. Best known for his work on “Gridiron Gang” with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson he has produced and directed countless television commercials, music videos, and motion pictures, as well as writing the book, “What You Don’t Learn in Film School: A Complete Guide to Independent Filmmaking” (which is required reading at many of the top learning institutions). His most recent work can be found on the action film, “Double Threat” starring Danielle C. Ryan, Matthew Lawrence, and Dawn Olivieri.

 

What would you say has been your favorite film to work on so far?

You know, every production is special, and the creative experience is never the same. I quip each film is like a love affair. Exciting, new, and gives you butterflies when you get the “go ahead” but soon after starts to become ever consuming of your thoughts, your time, energy, and emotions. Ultimately, you know it will come to an end and leave a lot of scars in the process. You take away so much from each production; the people you meet, the hurdles, the nice surprises, and those scars… oh, there are many scars, (laughs). I would say “Double Threat” is special because we created and filmed the movie during the heart of the pandemic. Six months after being on lockdown, I called writer, CJ Walley and said, “We have a choice; 2020 can kick our ass or we can make it our bitch!” We chose the latter, had a script in six days, casted the picture and called our crew and went out and made a movie in record time. It was being back with everyone that made it so special because we had all been in isolation for over six months and everyone was there for the love of the game and to reconnect with their film family. We didn’t know if we really get anything when it was done or if we’d even be able to finish shooting with so many problems happening on the few other films that were shooting at the same time. We took over 400 COVID tests during our four-week period and not one person popped positive. I accredit the discipline our cast and crew had to see it through to honor our protocols and stay safe so we could cross the finish line.

What was it like to run Charlie Sheen’s production company? You have said you learned too much about life and the industry there. Can you elaborate on that?

My father got me into the business at nine months old where I worked as a child actor and crewed on his films when I was able to start lifting gear and understanding what was happening, and that was a safe, family environment with a lot of love and respect with an atmosphere of unity. Much of the work I did growing up was on his projects or with people we knew so I was sheltered from a lot of the bullshit and drama that comes with the business. I worked in and around my comfort zone until I was about 22, then had the opportunity to branch out into the television network and studio film system. But I was an underling, working on sitcoms as a production assistant or assistant coordinator for a movie of the week so I wasn’t privy to the fights, the casting couches or crazy that seems to infect our industry. When I started working with Charlie, my exposure to ‘real Hollywood’ went from 0-60 in a blink of an eye. I want to emphasize during my time running his production company, Charlie was nothing but wonderful and had assembled a great team. But it was the people I was thrusted into interacting with I hadn’t experienced before that really was an eye opener. Studio executives, agents, and managers, the hanger-oners and all the baggage that comes with it. The things I experienced working with “Hollywood proper” (or Ho-Ho Wood, as I call it) really opened my eyes to the real world and all the things first-hand you only read about. When you’re being flown first-class to Cannes and other prestigious events, you basically have the world at your fingertips and people will do or say anything to get to someone like Charlie and you must filter a lot of that out. Not something that was easy at 22 nor that I was necessarily good at. What’s funny to me is Charlie has a reputation. During my three years working with and around him daily, I never saw him take a drug or mistreat anyone. He’s got a huge heart and yes, he’s a bonified “Hollywood Bad Boy” but one of the coolest human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing who sincerely wants those around him to rise and shine. In our industry its rare a collogue wants you to succeed. Our industry is filled with the most insecure people you will ever meet. Charlie was all about helping those around him to be the best they could be and made sure they got the recognition and introductions to get to the next level. Many of the people who have helped me along the way are people I met directly through Charlie like Zalman King, Cassian Elwes, Avi Lerner, and so many.

Why do you think it is important to be able to learn something from both the good and the bad moments that we encounter in life?

Life is unkind and sadly, now more than ever filled with a lot more of the bad and the ugly as opposed to the good. I have always learned and grown from adversity, my mistakes, and getting sucker punched and try to take those lessons with me moving forward for the simple reason of not making the same mistakes twice or how to make sure you don’t get yourself in situations that will put you in a bad place. One thing I really pride myself on is how people are treated on our sets. Yes, we’ve encountered our share of assholes and when we do, make sure we don’t involve them anymore, but I have found respect and kindness go so much further than a sharp tongue or tossing hot coffee on someone because you’re not getting your way, or in most Hollywood cases, are so bloody insecure about yourself, take it out on others to feel better. We’re a film family and yes, family has its ups and down but it’s from the bad I have seen that makes me really strive to have something different on our sets and how we conduct ourselves.

How did it feel to be back out filming after the COVID lockdown? Oh, it was wonderful. Almost like a reunion of dear friends, everyone coming together who had been apart for too long. It was almost like a movie within a movie where the end of the world is near and there’s only the few survivors who have outrun whatever the boogie man is, and you don’t know what’s happening to the rest of society. We had built our own bubble for a month and a half, and it was really kind of special. As I said before, it was evident people were there because they missed it and really wore their heart on their sleeves. Due to the mandates placed upon us by the unions, with super skeleton crews and all the other COVID protocols, we all had to wear several hats. I usually run a very thin crew which usually consists of 30-40 people. But we never really exceeded twelve, so it was imperative everyone did their part and when you were done with your work, look around and see who you can help. I even looked over at one point and saw one of our stars helping the grip department tear down C-stands. I mean where do you see that on a non-student film?

How do you think the COVID experience will change the film industry of the future?

I think it was a reminder that we can do so much with so little. I think COVID will be with us for quite some time in one way or another and we will feel the sting of it for the rest of my life anyway. But like in so many other ways, things eventually go back to ‘normal’ as it has in society, it will happen in the industry as well. There’s still mask mandates and testing and certain protocols, but now that we’ve learned to function and interact with COVID, were not as scared or freaked out by the unknown. I know filmmakers and actors are doing everything they can to get away with not following the rules set upon us and ya know, I don’t blame them. I didn’t say I agree, but I understand. The costs for us to follow COVID protocols on “Double Threat” were over $40,000. That was a huge hit, especially on such a tiny film that we went into way underfunded and really cut into our production value. I just wrapped a film; “Night Train” and it was just as bad, but we had a proper budget so were better prepared and had the padding. But it keeps me up at night thinking about what we could have gotten additionally with that kind of money put ON the screen and not going into putting Q-tips up people’s noses and having someone on set reminding us to keep six feet apart. I can say proudly with a much bigger cast and crew, again we got through that film without a single positive test.

Do you think most people in the industry will have a different view of their work and what they hope to accomplish with it

I think for us ‘indie-rats’ yes. For sure, because if you’re following the rules – spending a ton of money that won’t go to the screen which in turn will often cause you to keep your crews smaller I can’t imagine how it couldn’t change your mindset or approach. Will if effect Hollywood proper? Well, “Jurassic World: Dominion” was the first studio film to go into production during the pandemic and besides the inconveniences, they had endless resources and a full staff because they could afford it. When you make a $200 million film, adding a few hundred thousand dollars to a line item that says “COVID” on the budget isn’t a big deal as compared to us little guys who may have $500,000 or less to make a film and it can really hinder you.

What did that whole experience teach you about the importance of entertainment in general?

It reminded me that it’s ‘only a movie.’ While filming I lost six people very close to me to COVID and that’s not including family members and friends of our cast and crew. We were dealing with the George Floyd protests, various riots, an insurrection, etc. etc. So much shit was going on – and constantly – yet here we were in the middle of the desert playing in the dirt like a bunch of kids. We’re a blink of an eye to the hands of time and, especially now with everything going on and so quickly so it makes you think; “do we really matter other than offering 90 minutes of escapism to the few that actually tune in to see what we’ve made?” My money says, “no.”

What is the one thing you dislike most about the entertainment industry and what do you love most about it?

What I dislike most is also in part of what I love the most, the relationships. I dislike the superficial relationships. You know, when you’re hot, you’re hot. When you’re not, well… It’s kind of like that in every industry but with entertainment in general there’s a lot of fluff and relationships built on sand. I get it, from the crew standpoint you work from gig-to-gig, so you bounce around a lot and it’s hard to set roots. But on the executive side, it’s all bullshit. When they need you, there are times the phone rings off the hook, and you’ll get over 300 calls or texts a week and when they don’t, crickets. You may only hear from your wife or mother until well, you know, your next project starts up. I just wish people could be more genuine or transparent in this industry and I think what pisses me off the most, is when they do ignore you for months or years at a time, they have no shame and calling you when they need you again. I get it, it’s like that in life a lot, but it’s such a small industry and you encounter and need the same people often through the years, I just wish it wasn’t so full of superficial cons.

As someone who must be constantly moving, what do you like to do when you finally take the time to relax?

Ha! That’s funny. Relax… yeah, sadly that’s not in my DNA. My poor wife. When I finished up “Night Train” in April, I told her I would take the next couple months to chill and do whatever she wanted to do until late June, when I start prepping my next picture. It’s now mid-June and I haven’t had a day to do anything but work. She’s amazing and gets it, but it pains me that my work is never done. We do take time for each other every day, but we scrapped a trip to Europe with some dear friends last minute because of the responsibilities that arose and production’s need for my involvement in casting and location hunting if we wanted this picture I’m shooting to happen. It’s been that cycle for me since 2003 and I can say honestly, I have not had a real vacation or check out from the grind in almost 20 years.

You most recently released “Double Threat.” Can you tell us a little about that one?

Well, it’s about a woman living with a split personality disorder who gets entangled with a strait-laced man on a pilgrimage to scatter his late brother’s ashes. Problem is, she’s being hunted by the mob, so this poor guy’s self-healing road trip becomes hell on earth. What we learn is one side of her is the sweetest, girl next door woman you could ever meet but when the shit hits the fan, she becomes a lethal assassin. One thing I am most proud of, and it isn’t my doing, is our star, Danielle C. Ryan did all her own stunts. Matthew Lawrence did as well, which was primarily driving during our chase scenes but Danielle, wow. Check out her fight scenes and horse-riding skills and tell me that isn’t mind blowing. That’s all on her. She’s the real star and special about this film, it isn’t me.

Do you ever get nervous about how films will be received by the public?

No. Of course you would like a film to be well-received and loved by all and do remarkably well. I have been very fortunate to be a part of some very successful projects and some stinkers I wish did better. But you know I learned something about 15 years ago… they’re only movies and the only difference between a hit and a stinker is you get more ‘atta-boys’ than you do on the duds. The ride lasts just about as long and people move on to the ‘next’ a week after the film comes out regardless, so I have learned not to get wrapped up in reviews or public opinion. I just love making movies with the people I love and if the public gets excited about it, great. If not, I know I loved the experience and I hope those involved did too. Of course, you’d love to be loved, but as I mentioned early, we live in such fast-moving times, by the time you revel in the success of “Top Gun: Maverick”, we’re all pumped about “Jurassic World: Dominion”. Next week it’ll be another “Star Wars” installment or a Marvel movie. You just can’t keep up and love you or hate you, the world will move on and quickly.

Your next film “Night Train” is also an action film. What was it about this story that made you want to bring it to life on film?

What I have been focused on for the past few years and plan to continue with is making movies about strong female characters. I want to take the Hal Needham approach of his films from the 70’s like “Cannonball Run” and “Smokey & the Bandit” but put the women in the driver’s seat and let the boys ride shotgun and “Night Train” does just that. A single mom struggling to make ends meet as a Hollywood teamster evades capture by a ruthless FBI Agent while running black market medical supplies in her legendary souped-up pickup truck. The FBI agent is also a woman, hence “Smokey & the Bandit”. We have our star also as part of the 200 MPH Club, so we had 10-time World Record holder Valerie Thompson ride her motorcycle for us at almost 200 MPH, the ONLY stunt Danielle C. Ryan didn’t do in our film, as we really like to let women in our films show the world what they’re made of and capable of doing.

What do you enjoy most about working on action films?

I love that no matter what is scripted, you always, always get something different that you’d never expect or prepare for – and in a good way. The fight scenes in “Double Threat” are second to none. Trust me. The chase scenes in “Night Train” are even better. What was interesting about “Night Train” was that the script had about a 10-page chase scene written in that was very good involving our two heroines. But while shooting, it took on its own personality and we ended up going in an entirely different direction with it, which I think plays out much better. You don’t get that kind of element of surprise when doing drama or rom coms. But when you break out the heavy artillery, you strap in, hope for the best, prepare for the worse and expect the unexpected which has always been a huge blessing for me, and a hell of a lot of fun!

I understand you will also be directing a studio film on a romantic comedy next; can you tell us more about that?

I can’t talk too much about it (yet) because with those contracts come a lot of NDAs, but I will say it’s a great project I am really looking forward to being a part of. It’s a faith-based film but with a lot more edge, romance, and action than the studio or genre is used to which is why I think they called on me. I was absolutely honored and humbled that they did, and I only hope that I can do them proud and do the story justice.

Do you think it is important that a filmmaker work across as many genres of film as possible?

To a point, sure. I am not someone who would pursue Sci-Fi or horror. They’re not my thing and I don’t really have a passion to do them. But there are so many genres out there and I have done work in most, so I think it’s good to flex those muscles when the opportunity arises. I like to be stretched and you never know where or what it can lead to or bring in the future. Either way, I am embracing it with my whole heart and am excited about it and the new relationships I am making along the way. One thing for sure, is I am out of my comfort zone, especially when it comes to the pre-production of the film because its studio backed. I traditionally am involved from concept-to-delivery of a picture and the script was brought to me with a partial cast in place and a Line Producer and film editor were part of the package as well. I do all my own line producing and editing myself on my in-house films, so it’s kind of strange to just focus on the directing and helping as much as I can in producing it, which I do from soup to nuts traditionally.

Is there any one genre you enjoy working in more than others?

I love our action comedies and action thrillers. I am not going to lie, those are my favorite but again, I enjoy a challenge and working out of my comfort zone, so I am always open to work in different genres. Again, Sci-Fi and horror, I am not interested in, but you have adventure, romance, comedy, action, thrillers, drama, and the like out there and I love to work in all of them and am open to explore ways in doing so quite often and several are in deep development for the future.

How do you decide which projects you want to bring to life on film?

As an indie-rat I’m lucky if I get to make one, maybe two films a year. Each of these films will take 18 months out of my life from start to finish, so I must really think things through. Is this something I want to work on for the next year-and-a-half? Is this a story, characters, and a film package which I will be editing for several months I can stomach sitting through 300 times until it leaves the nest? Is this something I will (hopefully) be proud to put my name on and is it something that will translate abroad and earn our financiers a return on their investment? I don’t make movies for North America, red carpet events in Hollywood, or Instagram likes during the process. I make movies I hope we can sell around the globe. There are roughly 54 territories and 172 countries that buy films. North America is one territory consisting of mainly the US and English-speaking Canada. So, I consider if the genre or story is going to translate. I involve sales agents and distributors early on to see if it checks the boxes and we think globally for casting. Just because we don’t go after the A-listers, it doesn’t mean our cast ensemble isn’t a valuable package overseas. Often our cast consists of people who are huge stars in far corners of the globe, recurring on TV series from yesteryear that are broadcasting in over 100 countries every day. So here, maybe an actor is known and maybe they’re not, but globally they can carry a lot more weight. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve gone into some projects knowing they wouldn’t make a dime overseas and “Gridiron Gang” is a classic example. But when you have a star like Dwayne Johnson and it becomes HIS passion piece and a studio is committed to throw tens of millions of dollars at it and assures you 3,200 hundred screens in the US alone, it’s a different animal. When you make an indie, especially now, you’re looking at a cable TV or a streaming deal domestically but overseas you can really make a huge splash in theaters, television, and brick and mortar video stores which still have life in several territories. I also think long term. Is this a film that will help bolster our catalogue 10, 15 or even 20 years from now so collectively, we have a great package of films we can re-sell for many years to come. As I’ve grown older, I of course want to make films I enjoy or would want to watch that I can execute within the budgets I can secure funding for but also, I really look at the business side of things before pulling the trigger. I have just been lucky lately to be able to make films that for me, get me excited and check those international boxes to give our investors the peace of mind.

You asked how we decide on which projects we want to bring to life. That is a great question and one I explain often to writers in my classes, especially who are shopping their scripts around and wonder why it’s so hard to get a movie made. I break down for them that their own passion piece must go through so many business decisions from a committee of folks who if they miss, and produce something that tanks, they cost a studio millions of dollars and everyone their job. Much like in the music business of old, if an A&R rep says “no” they’ve got a better chance of keeping their job. Writers especially are so myopic and every one of them believe they’re either sitting on the next “Whiplash”, “Game of Thrones” or whatever the flavor of the month might be. I love the passion and would never want to extinguish anyone’s hopes or dreams for their work to come to fruition but very rarely a non-produced writer really sees the big picture and all the elements that go into deciding if a film is globally marketable or can translate or is worth a company’s time to invest in.

Is there anything you’d like to say in closing?

Thank you for such a great interview, Tina. I always enjoy getting questions from you, they come from a pure heart and from someone who cares – and it’s evident. I look forward to our next.

“Double Threat” can be found on the Amazon Prime, iTunes, InDemand, Vudu/Fandango Now, Vubiquity, Dish, Hoopla, Microsoft Store/Xbox, Google Play, DirecTV, and Redbox platforms.

 

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — On January 15, 1947, the Black Dahlia murder hit Los Angeles like a bombshell. The savage death of beautiful 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, an aspiring starlet and nightclub habitué known as the “Black Dahlia,” commanded the attention of post-WWII America. In the seventy-five years since her murder, the Black Dahlia has become a magnetic icon in American pop culture, a mythical symbol of noir Hollywood. With Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia, acclaimed author John Gilmore plumbs the dark core of this terrifying story. Here is the real Elizabeth Short—the enigmatic Black Dahlia.

The Black Dahlia murder—unlike such earlier headline-grabbing cases as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the Lindbergh kidnapping—was the first to grip the psyche of post-war America with its stark carnality. The question of who killed the Black Dahlia stands today as one of the most intractable mysteries in the annals of true crime.

Director David Lynch described Severed as “the most satisfying and disturbing conclusion to the Black Dahlia case. After reading Severed, I feel like I truly know Elizabeth Short and her killer.” In his hard-boiled yet haunting prose, Gilmore evokes some of the spookiest corridors of old-time Los Angeles, the wartime world of Hollywood bars, dance halls and rooming houses where, as the author puts it, “no one remembers the names.” Severed also unfolds the tangled inside story of the police investigation into the murder and the Hearst-stoked media frenzy that paralleled it.

Severed remains the first non-fiction book to offer a documented exploration of the Black Dahlia case endorsed by law enforcement and forensic science experts. Gilmore reveals the twisted psychology and down-and-out life story of the murder suspect, including transcripts of his taped “indirect confession.” In his book The Cases That Haunt Us, legendary FBI profiler John E. Douglas (author of Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit) states that “Gilmore has done extensive research into the Short case. . . Had Detective St. John had the opportunity to interview Arnold Smith, the outcome might have been different.”

Publishers Weekly declared that Severed “delves deeply into one of Hollywood’s most celebrated murder cases.” Through Gilmore’s relentless spade work, the spectral luster of this most spectacular unsolved murder in American crime history seems not diminished but enhanced. The updated third edition of Severed includes a new foreword and afterword, expanded photo section, index and never-before-published evidence and forensic material from the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office. Ultimately, John Gilmore boils down the undying allure of the case to this haiku-like equation: “The pale white body severed in two and left for the world to view, and her name: Black Dahlia.” 

About the Author:
John Gilmore has been internationally acclaimed for his true crime books, literary fiction and Hollywood memoirs and biographies. Described by the Sydney Morning Herald as “the quintessential L.A. noir writer,” it is fitting that Gilmore should be the one to have penetrated the mystery of this archetypal Los Angeles murder. Gilmore’s father was an LAPD officer at the time of the Black Dahlia murder, his mother was a would-be starlet with MGM and Gilmore himself was a rebellious young actor in the ’50s, carousing with the likes of James Dean, Dennis Hopper and Vampira. John Gilmore died in Los Angeles in 2016.

Available online:
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1878923315/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_2ABTFH9MK4X17TS9VG7W
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/severed-john-gilmore/1100238397?ean=9781878923318
Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/books/severed-the-true-story-of-the-black-dahlia-9781878923318/9781878923318

Contact:
Stuart Swezey
Publisher, Amok Books
323-219-0363
www.amokbooks.com

SOURCE Amok Books

Jerry Payne is a well-known and beloved native of Fairmount, Indiana. He is, of course, the inspiration behind Jerry Payne Days which features a vintage tractor show. He was the owner of the Shell Service Station, which later became, Payne’s Service. Growing up in that same business he became acquainted with James Dean via the friendship of their fathers. It was an honor to have the chance to put some of those memories down in writing. Many thanks to Mark Kinnaman for taking the time to record his answers for me as I couldn’t be there myself.

Tina Ayres: What was it like growing up in Fairmount when you did? What are some of your most fond memories of those days?

Jerry Payne: It was a wonderful experience. I was born in 1939. I got to finish high school at Fairmount High School. Life was simple then. World War II was over and the Korean War hadn’t started yet. Life was simple. It was simple that I can’t explain how simple it was. Anyone could find a job. I had a friend who worked at the RCA the last two years that we were in high school. Fisher Body came to town. One of his friends said, “They’re hiring at Fisher Body. Let’s go put in an application.” They went to put the application in and as soon as they filled it out the guy said, “Do you want to go to work?” So he worked in two factories the same day, and retired from Fisher Body after thirty years of service.

Tina Ayres: What do you love most about living in Fairmount? Why do you think it has such appeal to so many people from all over the world?

Jerry Payne: The most fond memory was that life was simple then. There wasn’t anything that couldn’t be achieved. If you decided to do something you could get it done. It is the hub of the universe. There is no other town this small in the United States that people from all over the world come to visit. It is a friendly place and life is still simple here. People from all over the world come here and enjoy the simple life.

Tina Ayres: What was it like to see your father at work? What would you say is the most important thing you learned from him? How did it feel to follow in his shoes by running the station yourself? Do you ever miss that?

Jerry Payne: It is the hub of the universe. There is no other town this small in the United States that people from all over the world come to visit. It is a friendly place and life is still simple here. People from all over the world come here and enjoy the simple life. The most important thing I learned from him was honesty. Running the station, it was something I grew up around and doing. We served three generations of people in Fairmount and it was probably the most heart wrenching decision that I ever had to make to decide to close.

Tina Ayres: Is it true that he and Winton Dean were friends?

Jerry Payne: Yes.

Tina Ayres: Do you happen to remember the first time you met James Dean?

Jerry Payne: When his mother passed away he came to our house with his father. We spent time just talking. We were always long time friends with the Deans and the Winslows. My grandfather and his grandfather farmed together as well as having a trucking business together. When James Dean went to high school he parked his motorbike here to keep the kids from messing with it. And when I saw him on the screen it was the same guy I saw at my house or at the service station.

Mark Kinnaman: And you sort of married into the Dean family. Your wife was a Dean right?

Jerry Payne: Yes. She and James Dean shared the same great grandfather.

Tina Ayres: I have heard tell that Jimmy would often stop in with his father when Winton would be visiting your father. How would the two of you pass the time on those occasions?

Jerry Payne: Kicking rocks. We lived on a gravel road we’d go out kick rocks. Took a quarter, we lived close to a railroad track, we took a quarter and laid it on the track, let the train run over it and smash it. We talked about whether or not we liked Lee Riders or Levi’s 501’s. He chose Lee Riders because they had a zipper fly he didn’t like the button fly.

Tina Ayres: Do you have any stories to tell of him that people might be surprised to hear?

Jerry Payne: Not really. He was just like anyone who you grew up with that you saw daily or occasionally and when I saw him on the screen I was amazed at how in “Giant” he was introduced with the same sized lettering as Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson.

Mark Kinnaman: Adeline Nall told me, “If you want to see what Jimmy was like watch “East of Eden” because it is just Jimmy on the screen.” Did you think the same thing when you saw it?

Jerry Payne: Oh yeah. Her direction, she was our drama coach and speech teacher, and her direction is to know your lines, know the position that your stage position should be, and just be yourself. As soon as you do something other than that you will look like you are acting. And he blew Lee Strasberg out of the water at the Actor’s Studio in New York by just being himself and taking the direction as he was supposed to be on the stage or on the screen.

Tina Ayres: Did you ever get to see him the few times he made back to Fairmount after becoming an accomplished actor?

Jerry Payne: Yes. They always had a Sweetheart Dance at the high school on Valentine’s Day or near Valentine’s Day. He came by got some gas. Said, “Are you going to the dance?” I said, “No. I got to stay at the station and work.” The photographer was with him. He introduced me to Dennis Stock. They went to the dance.  Many, many of my classmates were there and in pictures that Stock took.

Tina Ayres: How did you feel upon learning of his early passing?

Jerry Payne: My mother was friends with the telephone operator in town. When the Winslows got the call that he had been killed the telephone operator called my mother. I can’t remember what time it was. I was in bed asleep. She came in and woke me up and said that Jimmy had died. So we were the second group of people to know of his passing.

Tina Ayres: What is the one thing about him that you remember most?

Jerry Payne: How do you describe what you know about a friend that you’ve had for many years? He was nine years older than I am and he always treated me as an equal. When you were having a conversation with him he was always on stage. He might laugh uncontrollably while you were having a conversation, or he could cry tears just like that. And he might start crying, but he always wants to know what your reaction would be to what he was doing at the time.

Tina Ayres: How do you think he would feel about the annual festival held in his honor?

Jerry Payne: It is awfully hard to say. I don’t know. I wouldn’t be able to answer that. I wouldn’t know how he’d feel.

Tina Ayres: Why do you think people are still so fascinated by his life?

Jerry Payne: He was good looking, very personable, and when you saw him on screen you were looking at what James Dean would be like if you were talking to him. Our nephew Victor Dean and our daughter Jenny Payne were born on February 8 like he was so February 8 is an important date in the Payne and Dean family.

Tina Ayres: As someone who has been blessed with a long life, what do you think is the key to a life well lived?

Jerry Payne: Honesty.

Tina Ayres: How do you hope to be remembered when your own time comes?

Jerry Payne: I just want to be remembered as plain Jerry Payne.

Mark Kinnaman: Who sold candy to the kids? You told me one time you sold as much candy as you did gasoline.

Jerry Payne: Almost. Sold a lot of candy. The grade school is just a block away and the high school was two blocks away. Sold three musketeers bars to Jim Davis, the Garfield creator. It was always good to visit with the kids when they came through. There are people who have been candy customers here that have told one or two generations after who I am and I have complete strangers say, “Oh hi Jerry.” It makes me wonder how they would know me without me knowing them. That is part of Fairmount’s friendliness. Everybody in Fairmount is very, very friendly and we welcome everyone that we see that comes through town. When the station was open, after James Dean’s death we knew every car in town and anyone that was a strange car would pull up and without them asking I’d say, “Okay, turn here…go out follow main street on out to the cemetery go across the little bridge to the first driveway that goes in, turn right and his grave his right on top of the hill on the right hand side. Fairmount has always been a very, very friendly place to live and as with all little town if you don’t know what you are doing your neighbor does and they will tell you. When the Museum (The Fairmount Historical Museum) was founded by Hugh Caughill and Harry Mahoney, they did research and there are more people from Fairmount who have changed the world, the way it is than any other place per capita in the United States. There has been authors, there have been artists, Olive West is an artist that is known worldwide, and Mary Jane Ward is now being given credit for psychiatry as we know it today from her book “The Snakepit.”