Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Jim Musgrave’s work has been recently featured in Best New Writing 2011, Hopewell Press, Titusville, N.J. He was a semi-finalist the Black Lawrence Press 2012 Chapbook Awards. He was also in a Bram Stoker Award Finalist volume of horror fiction, Beneath the Surface, 13 Shocking Tales of Terror, Shroud Publishing, San Francisco, CA. His short story, “Zeru,” is published in Mixer. His science fiction was recently published in SciFi Short Story Magazine, Baton Rouge, LA. He has also published six novels and three collections of short stories at English Majors Publishing. He is owner of English Majors Reviewers and Editors, LLC.
I live in sunny San Diego with my lovely wife, Ellen, and our two Siamese (not twins), Menasha and Lilah, who allow us to live here. We have four children spread around California (it’s a big state), and we enjoy exercising, traveling and teaching (aren’t we all teachers in one way or another?).
I hope you enjoy the novel and perhaps, if you enjoy it enough, you can even recommend it to your friends over the glorious Internet social highway. I wrote this novel because I suddenly, with the help of my students, realized that we are all freaks beneath the skin, and we must learn to understand how to live together without pain and violence.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Freak Story: 1967-1969. This is a book that is part alternate history and family drama. I was inspired to write this book by hearing a song by Marissa Nadler called “Daisy, Where Did You Go?” I then read the biography of the famous Hilton Siamese Twins by Dean Jensen. I have lived these turbulent times in the Sixties (one of the so-called “survivors” to whom I have dedicated this book), so I’m also an “old guy.” However, as I teach college writing and reading, I believe my students may be interested in this book because it examines, in a very personal way, these tumultuous times in the late sixties, and the theme is very prescient for today. For example, I have often shown a film to my classes, from 1932, Freaks directed by Tod Browning, and it is quite popular with them. The featured stars of my novel, Daisy and Violet Hilton, are also in this film, so I believe this generation of young people may be able to understand my theme quite well.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Since I teach, I must write during breaks, so my books tend to be written in “mad rushes of coffee-induced passion.” Luckily, I have enough experience to not believe in the Jack Keroac school of writing and just let it be. I get my work edited, and I also have readers to tell me where I have gone off the beaten track or screwed-up a character’s motivation.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
In genre fiction, I am most influenced by writers like Lawrence Block (mysteries: he taught me to “spring forward and fall back”), James Patterson (thrillers: he taught me to write “bite-sized chapters full of action”), and Thomas Harris (horror: he taught me that villains need not be stupid).
In literary fiction, I think Brian Evenson and Tobias Woolf have influenced me the most.
What are you working on now?
I am working on the second historical mystery in my Detective Pat O’Malley series set in post American Civil War New York City. Here’s a synopsis: Long before the Nazis dreamed of their “final solution,” there was the kidnapping of genius inventor and businessman, Dr. Arthur Mergenthaler, in New York City. He was the richest Jew in the United States, and he was being forced to create the first gas chamber and crematorium to secretly purify the races in the South during Reconstruction. Detective Pat O’Malley is hired by the Mergenthaler family to find this man, and O’Malley soon discovers there are bigger players involved in this world-wide “eugenics movement” than he could have ever imagined. Who is behind this crime, and how will O’Malley stop the perpetrators?
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I like Createspace and Amazon Kindle because they allow the best distribution opportunities for independent authors. They also have a cool spot to get your book recorded for audio book sales. That’s where I met Shandon Loring, who is recording my first historical mystery in the Pat O’Malley series: Forevermore, about the murder of Edgar Allan Poe in 1849.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never give up on your dreams. The best way to write is to keep doing it until it compares with the writers you admire. Also, always get other writers who have been published to critique the content of your work. Never, under any circumstances, get friends or family involved in your work! They will not give you the “tough love” you need to succeed at your craft.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
When I was getting my Masters Degree in Creative Writing at San Diego State University, my advisor at the time, Jerry Bumpus, told me that I would not begin to write my best stuff until I was five years away from college classes. Boy, was he right! It was more like ten years, but I think I’ve finally made him proud.
What are you reading now?
Murder on the Mind, a mystery, by L.L. Bartlett. Also, The Meaning of Children, short stories by Beverly Akerman.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to keep pounding the keyboard and work more on the marketing end of the business.
What is your favorite book of all time?
1984 by George Orwell. I get to live it in 2013!
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