There is no greater fear for a parent than losing a child. It is a nightmare that resides in the deepest recesses of our subconscious, but also an event that we never truly feel will happen to us. In The Wolves of Fairmount Park, a novel that has been described as both "dark and gritty" and "brilliant and beautiful", Dennis Tafoya probes the depths of this tragedy and takes us inside the minds of the parents left behind.
Dennis Tafoya's lyrical, intense, sometimes tragic and sometimes hopeful second novel details the drive-by shooting of two teenagers in a rough Philadelphia neighborhood from four perspectives: Brendan Donovan, a cop and the father of the boy shot and left comatose; George Parkman Sr., another father, this one of the boy who was killed; Danny Martinez, a cop whose job it is to investigate the killing; and Orlando Donovan, the junkie uncle of the cop's kid, who happens to live nearby.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Tafoya and discussing his new book, his influences, and what comes next for a writer who "punches right through to the heart of the action."
If we met on an elevator, how would you convince me to pick up a copy of your new book?
My new book is Wolves of Fairmount Park, and it's a gritty, character-driven thriller about how an investigation into the shooting of two teenagers changes the lives of everyone involved, from the junkie uncle of one of the teenagers to the detective investigating the shooting. It's gotten rave reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly.
It's a true tragedy when a parent outlives their child. What led you to explore such a painful topic?
I think writing allows me to spend time with the things that terrify me most. I think it's almost an indulgence of my superstitious belief that if I imagine the worst, I'm somehow immunizing myself against it. I also wanted to write about my kids, in a way, and how much I admire them. They put a lot of time and thought into trying to be ethical people and doing the right thing. So I wanted that dimension in the book, about the ways we all struggle with the gap between what we do and what we should do. That changes as we move from innocence to experience, but I don't think it ever stops.
Your books seem to explore the darker side of life with the protagonist of your first novel, The Dope Thief, being described as a "low-life" stealing from drug dealers but ultimately seeking redemption. Is this darker world something that you've experienced firsthand, or do you just have friends in low places?
I really don't know many dangerous characters, and my life is pretty solidly middle-class, but I'm drawn to people who struggle, who are limited or compromised and acutely aware of their limitations. I think of them as my people. I think almost everyone wants to do the right thing, even people who are engaged in the worst behavior. I'm always amazed at our capacity for self-deception and self-justification, but I do think we get more desperate as what we are gets farther away from what we hoped we'd be. All of that just fascinates me, and for some reason I identify acutely with people who live on the margins but who want something more from life, even if they can't articulate what it is they want or think they've lost.
What kind of research did you do for your new book?
I spent a lot of time driving and walking around the city, I read tons about the drug trade, and I spent about a thousand hours on the internet. I'm basically a pretty shy person, so I can get access to tons of information I'd find it really difficult to get any other way. But I'm a fiend for research. I spend a lot of time at the library and I'm constantly getting drawn down those internet rabbit holes - cop sites, forums for the families of people in the justice system, sites dealing with guns or drugs or whatever marginal activities my characters engage in. I also spend a ridiculous amount of time on google maps. I love street view, and I'll keep that open while I'm writing about a particular place, even if I've been there a hundred times.
Was there anything particularly interesting that you learned through your research that didn't make it into the book, or something from the book that you'd like to highlight?
You never know what you're going to stumble across. One thing that was kind of serendipitous came up when I was researching the Youth Study Center, which is Philly's juvenile detention facility. I was doing research for "Wolves" about gangs being formed by guys who spent time together in juvie, and I found out that the old Youth Study Center had just been torn down, and that kids were being temporarily housed over on Henry Avenue in East Falls, a neighborhood by Fairmount Park where Grace Kelly was born. Not long after that I got the opportunity to contribute a story to "Philadelphia Noir," one of those great city noir collections from Akashic Books, and armed with those two little bits of information I chose to set my story in East Falls and feature a kid who had escaped from the YSC and was wandering around the neighborhood getting into mischief. So it was kind of cool that research for the novel led to this interesting stuff I could use in the short story. Nothing's ever wasted.
What are you reading now? What are some of your favorite books/authors?
Just finishing End Game, 1945 by David Stafford about the closing months of the Second World War, and behind that I have The Dead Hand, by David Hoffman, about the end of the cold war. They're both nonfiction, and The Dead Hand just won the Pulitzer. I'm obsessed with twentieth century history, basically. Some of my current favorite writers are Ron Rash, William Gay and some other folks who come strongly out of that O'Connor/Faulkner tradition. Going back, I think I learned to write reading E.L. Doctorow, Cormac McCarthy, and poets like Sharon Olds and Adrienne Rich. I took one creative writing class, at my local community college, and I was lucky to be taught by an excellent poet, Bev Stoughton, who really put across the fact that writing is about tension, both on the page and in your process, between risk and a pretty severe discipline about what's working and what's not. It's something I think good poets do really well.
What authors have had the greatest influence upon your work?
I think all the writing I love is stuff I keep going back to because I learn something every time I read it. Annie Proulx would fall into that category, and Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder mysteries, and Elmore Leonard's western stories, and of course Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy just goes in these amazing odd directions and he does all the stuff I aspire to. Especially, I think, trusting the reader by not over-explaining things, trusting that people will get what you're trying to put across, or at least give you the benefit of the doubt and go along for the ride.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers out there?
Find other writers. Show your work to people you can trust, and whose opinion you value. What we do is really hard and really risky, and unless you're just really talented and totally ego-formed you need community with other like-minded people, not just to survive it, but to really enjoy it and get all the good stuff that comes with being creative.
What's something that you've learned about the publishing business that you weren't expecting?
How important networking is to the writer. You think you've written a book that's good enough to get into print and your big job is done, but that's not the way it works. You have to get people to blurb the book, you have to connect with reviewers and booksellers and readers. It's a big job, and it another important reason to seek out other people who have been where you're going. The modern publishing experience requires a lot of DIY. It's tough sometimes, but it also really can be fun. I was extremely lucky to be adopted by some great, generous writers like Jonathan Maberry and Scott Phillips who spread the word about my book and gave me priceless advice. And now I'm trying to do the same thing for other people.
Are you currently working on a new book? Can we get a sneak peek?
It's called Black Horse Pike, and it's about little criminals from rural South Jersey who try for the big time. Things don't go as planned, but then they never do, do they?
Dennis Tafoya 's first novel, Dope Thief, was published by Minotaur Books in 2009. He is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, and the Liars Club, a Philadelphia-area writers group. His second novel, The Wolves of Fairmount Park, will be released by Minotaur in June of 2010, and his short story "Above the Imperial" will appear in Philadelphia Noir, coming from Akashic Books in November as part of their award-winning City Noir series.
Aaron L Brown is the author of the upcoming novel, The Shepherd, and the CTO for a national auction franchise. He is currently hard at work on his next novel, an action thriller for fans of James Rollins and Brad Thor.
