KM Rockwood interviews a "character"

Today on Salad Bowl Saturday author KM Rockwood interviews the main character, Jesse Damon, from Steeled for Murder and the most recent release Fostering Death--that is until Jesse takes charge...

KM has graciously offered to give away one book (e-book or physical) for every ten people who comment on this blog (up to a maximum of five books). We'll keep this open through the Sunday night.  I'll have my partner, Jan, do a random drawing of the winners. To be clear, 0-9 people comment on this blog means no book give away; 10-19 means KM gives away one book; 20-29 means two, etc. Bring your friends, and lets see how many books KM presents to our readers.

~ Jim

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Jesse, thank you for coming to talk with us today. Why do you think the author chose to write a series of books about you? 

Hadn't thought about it. Maybe 'cause you don't hear much from people who live on the edge of society like I do. You know, kind of give us a voice. And Mr. Ramirez, my parole officer, told me he thought it would be a good idea if I came. Your PO says he thinks something's a good idea, you do it if you’re smart.

Tell us a little about yourself.

Ain't much to tell. I picked up a murder conviction when I was sixteen. What you might call a defining moment. So I was locked up for almost twenty years. Now I'm just trying to make it on parole. Not be one of those statistics who was returned to prison. But y'know, they don't make it easy.

How old are you?

Thirty six.

Where do you live? What is it about the area that drew you there?

Rothsburg. That's a small city in western Maryland, up in the hills. Used to have a lot of heavy industry in town, but now the state prison complex is the biggest employer. When I was gonna be released, I got an okay job in one of the factories still open. They get a tax break for hiring parolees. So I just stayed. No reason to go anywhere else.

What do you wish people would know about you?

Not much. Just wish everybody'd leave me alone.

Have we seen you before?

A couple short stories. Nothing you've prob'ly ever seen.

Will you be seeing more of you, or are you stepping out of the limelight?

I'd like to step out of the limelight. But y'know, when you already got a murder conviction under your belt, every time somebody gets killed, they think maybe you done it and come looking for you. There was the time I decided to go to pay my last respects to my foster mother. Big mistake. Turns out she’d been murdered. And of course they thought I did it. That’s in Fostering Death, which was released in August. And then my sometimes girlfriend, Kelly, got beaten up and raped. First they thought I did it, then when that got straightened out and the SOB who did do it was found dead, they thought I killed him. That’s in Buried Biker, which is due out in late December.

What is your perfect evening?

Sometimes I hang out with this lady Kelly who works in the same steel factory I do, same midnight to eight shift. She's got these two kids. Some weekends we go to her place, fix supper. I help the kids with their homework, watch TV, maybe read to them. Makes me feel like a regular guy, not just an ex-con. Then sometimes, after they're asleep, if Kelly's not been hitting the bottle too bad, we go to bed. As close to perfect as I can think of.

Do you feel you were portrayed fairly?

It is what it is. Ain't nothing fair or unfair about it.

Tell us about Kelly. What drew you to her?

She don't treat me different than anybody else is the main thing. And she's all woman. I mean she's built. She works hard, like I do, so she's strong as an ox. And she got curves in all the right places. Long dark hair--I love to get my hands in it. She's the only woman I ever slept with.

What really pushes your buttons?

People who act like they don't trust me or are afraid of me. You don't got to like me. Just leave me alone. And I'm not gonna kill you.

What's your biggest turn on?

When I get to the door of my basement apartment have a key in my own hand to unlock it. I don't got to wait for someone on a control panel to hit the door to open it. And no CO's standing there, watching to make sure I don't mess up. Sometimes I just go out and walk, mile after mile, just cause I can.

Biggest turn off?

Parole. I got to report every week. I got to watch where I go and what I do. They can yank me in any time they feel like it, don't need no warrant or even probable cause. It sure beats being locked up, though. And for a while I was on home detention--that was worse than just parole, had to be in the apartment most of the time I wasn't working. And a lot more expensive, too.

Perfect day?

Any day I'm not locked up.

Biggest fear?

That I'm gonna get my parole violated. Prob'ly for something stupid or something I didn't do. I know damn well I only got the one shot. If I get sent back to prison, with all the backup time I got, I'll never see the street again in this life.

Why should readers be interested in your story?

I dunno. Why’d you wanna write about me anyhow?

The folks who are living on the edge of society, struggling to make it even though they’ve already got a few strikes in the wrong direction—they don’t show up much in books, except as stereotyped bad guys. But we’re all people, with complicated lives and feelings and hopes. I’d like to think that maybe a few readers will stop to consider what it feels like to be trying to make it when  the cards are stacked against you. And maybe give the benefit of the doubt or be a little kinder to people who are having a hard time.

You been asking me questions, but you haven’t told us much about you. Tell me what readers are gonna want to know most about you. 

I've been around enough to know how things can turn against people, especially people who don’t have a whole lot going for them in the first place. When I write, I form characters from people and situations I know and turn them loose, with all their worries and problems and hopes.

I've worked that midnight to eight shift operating steel fabricating machinery and glass melters. After I was in an industrial accident (thank you, OSHA, for your safety standards or I’d be dead) and that type of physical work wasn't possible any more, I worked in other settings, including a state prison and several county lockups (as staff, not as an inmate.) The more I got to know some of the inmates working under my supervision, the more I realized “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” I was fortunate to have had the opportunities and the support I’d had. Not everybody’s been so lucky.

Thanks for letting me have the chance to talk, too, instead of just puttin’ words in my mouth. I got to get going now, but one last question. If someone did want to read about me, or some of your other stories, how could they find the stories?

Musa Publishing puts out the e-books. You can get them at their website, or  through Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords. They’re also available at public libraries that obtain e-books from Overdrive. Dealing with the Demon is a book of short stories available through Amazon, and The Automatic Therapist is single short story, also on Amazon.