The President's Henchman is a great title! I really like it. Here's a quick snapshot:
It's only a matter of time--and not that long a time--before the United States elects its first female president. Which will make her husband--what?
Well, if he's the ex-cop who solved the murder of the president's first husband and brought the killers to justice...and if he's not the kind of guy to stand on formality...and if he doesn't want to be the head of the FBI...and if he takes out a license and becomes the first private eye to live in the White House...
That would make him The President's Henchman.
Jim McGill's first case is to find out who is stalking a member of the White House press corps, before that stalker turns the tables on McGill and maybe even threatens the president herself. He also has to be a shadow adviser to a young Air Force investigator who is looking into a he-said-she-said charge of adultery leveled against a female colonel working at the Pentagon, a case with the potential to derail the new president's administration before it has a chance to begin.
The President's Henchman is Joseph Flynn's seventh book, his most powerful story to date. I like the premise and can't wait to read it. It's my kind of thriller.
His previous titles are Farewell Performance, Gasoline Taxes, The Next President, Hot Type Digger, and The Concrete Inquisition.
Joe graciously accepted an interview with me.
With so many genres to chose from, science fiction, horror, western, etc, how did you settle with the thriller genre?
As a young reader, I enjoyed the classics of mystery and adventure by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Arthur Conan Doyle. As a teenager, I picked up the books my older brother brought home. In that way, I was introduced to the likes of John D. MacDonald, Ross Thomas, Donald Hamilton, Ian Fleming, Alistair MacLean. All of these authors had their way with my young, impressionable mind. Even so, I thought I was going to make my way in life as a lawyer. I was on my way to my first day of college when my first story idea popped into my head. I called it Lester's Curse, and it wasn't a thriller at all. It began with the assumption that anyone, even God, can mess up when he tries something new. In this case, God put a little too much follow through into his creation of humanity and came up with Adam, Eve, and Lester. Adam and Eve were the biblical Ken and Barbie. Lester was a gnarly little guy. Hardly suited to be the father of mankind, and not Eve's idea of a hunk at all. The serpent came to Lester and warned him that he was about to become history. Lester went to God and demanded a fair crack at winning the reluctant Eve's affections. A competition was set up, but it was rigged. The outcome, though, was very close, thanks to Adam's self-absorption and Lester getting tips from the serpent. Still, Adam won. But Lester put his curse on Adam, Eve, and by extension the rest of us. He told them. "No matter how beautiful you are, no matter how good you have it, you'll never be satisfied." And isn't that pretty much the way it is?
It was only sometime later that my childhood influences led me back to the mystery/thriller track. But even now I sometimes do what I call "a book without a body-count."
How much research do you do for your books?
I do enough to satisfy me, my editor, and when I'm feeling generous maybe my copyeditor. As to the first part, I do enough research to be comfortable with the subject matter, so ignorance won't get in the way of my storytelling. Seeing a story location first-hand really helps me. I try to keep things fairly real, but I enjoy taking license, too. I write novels not doctoral dissertations.
Many writers claim to be afflicted by "writers block" from time to time. Has it happened to you?
I've never experienced writer's block. I have the opposite problem: I have more story ideas than I'll ever complete in this lifetime.
Do you use a freelance editor? If so, do you recommend it to aspiring writers?
The editor who Variance Publishing hired for The President's Henchman, Bob Schwager, works freelance, along with his wife, Sarah, a copyeditor. It wasn't my place to ask how much they charged the publisher, but I enjoyed working with them; they made my book better; and I'd recommend them to anyone who can pay the freight.
What single piece of advice would give to aspiring writers who haven't broken through yet?
Don't think about breaking through. Think about your writing. If writing is what you are meant to do, you should enjoy it every time you put words on paper. It took me twenty years from the time I had my first short story idea until the time my first novel was published. But I never thought of quitting because my muse kept giving me one story idea after another. In order to get a job that had something to do with writing, I went to work for a number of ad agencies. I wasn't writing my stuff but I was honing my craft.
Do you try to write every day? How does it take you to complete a novel? Do you use outlines?
I try to write at least six days a weeks. Doing so is a challenge during the holiday season and other times when personal demands are high. For a 400-page manuscript, including research time, it takes me about nine months. I have a hard time doing a point-by-point outline; scenes start presenting themselves in detail and that's the way I put them down. As a first step, I write what I think of as a "raw" draft. I just put it all down and don't inhibit myself.
In your latest novel, The President's Henchman, the "First Gentleman" is a private investigator. I would imagine there's a fair amount of conflict between him and Secret Service?
It's a built in source of tension. Celsus Crogher, the SAC of the White House Detail, is both an antagonist and an ally to Jim McGill. They will never be friends, don't really like each other. But there are times when they need each other, and there are moments of respect. Fleeting moments.
Does The President's Henchman have an underlying political message?
The message doesn't really underlie anything. It's right out in front for the reader to see. President Patricia Darden Grant is a moderate Republican, a pragmatist not an ideologue. She has enemies in her own party and allies across the aisle. She has definite ideas about how the country should work. And she's out to be a great president, which means doing big things as the series progresses. Stay tuned.
Can you tell us a little about your screenplay, "Comrades" optioned by 20th Century Fox?
"Comrades" was written before the fall of the Soviet Union. I was intrigued by the fact that the U.S. and (now) Russia are separated by little more than a stone's throw between islands in the Bering Strait. You know, Sarah Palin's: "I can see Russia from my house." In my screenplay, I put fishing villages on the American and Russian islands. Being good capitalists and communists respectively, the two communities have nothing to do with each other. Then the American island gets satellite TV. The Russians have a community TV set, but it's covered by a needlepoint of Lenin; they've never had a signal to receive before. But then they start picking up the programs the American satellite dish is hauling in. (This was back in the days of BIG satellite dishes, which made the idea more plausible visually.) This leads to detente between the islands, a love story, and ultimately a superpower confrontation that the little guys have to resolve.
It was a sweet story Gorbachev went and ruined by making peace with Reagan. But I got even. In my novel, The Next President, I named an ex-circus bear Gorbachev.
What is the most rewarding aspect of being a novelist?
Providing as many readers as possible with a good time, and making enough money to keep the effort going.
Conversely, what is the most arduous?
Arduous isn't exactly the word I'd choose, but it does get psychologically challenging when you know you're doing good work and it's been a while since you've sold any.
What's next for Joseph Flynn?
That's a question for a higher power. A friend in the ad biz once wanted me to see a fortune teller, claimed the woman really had the gift of foreseeing the future. I told my friend I couldn't think of anything more frightening than knowing your future. You'd be locked in with no hope of getting away.
Joseph Flynn was born, raised, and educated in Chicago. Having endured more frigid winters than he cares to think about, he headed west. He's lived in Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Los Angeles again. He loved the warm weather, the blue ocean, and the palm trees. But he didn't like the isolation of living in the remote reaches of the Hawaiian Pacific. Nor did he like the congestion, smog, and cost of living in L.A. So when his daughter was born, he and his wife thought they could do worse than raise her in the Midwest, despite the weather. The decision proved to be correct. His daughter has grown up to be a happy and brilliant young woman. The Midwest has been a productive place for him to write, and write he does!
Contributing editor Andrew Peterson is working on the next novel in a planned series featuring Nathan McBride, a former Marine Corps sniper and ex-CIA operative. Born and raised in San Diego, California, Andrew attended La Jolla High School before enrolling at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a B.S. Degree in Architecture. Andrew and his wife Carla, live in Central California. More information about First to Kill by Andrew Peterson, can be found at AndrewPeterson.com
