After ten labored steps, I turned
around to block the wind and
wipe the snow from my goggles. The
shore, a scant twenty-five
feet away, was almost invisible. I
could picture the headline in the Iron
County
Reporter: “Snowmobiler Finds ‘Tourist’ Frozen on Shank Lake.”
I retreated to the shoreline and
followed it around toward my place.
James M. Jackson
Cabin Fever
Although James Montgomery Jackson blogs for Writers Who
Kill, when his first novel Bad Policy
came out, I interviewed his main character, Seamus McCree, a private financial investigator. Yesterday, Barking Rain Press
released Jim’s second Seamus McCree novel, Cabin
Fever. This time I wanted to interview Jim, not Seamus, because I read this
book as one of Jim’s beta readers and wanted to talk with him about the book
and his writing. Jim characterizes Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, but he set the
timing during dead—cold—winter, a killer onto itself. We’ll start with the
first character he introduces, the U.P. E. B. Davis
In Bad Policy,
Seamus’s Cincinnati home is destroyed. He decides to overwinter at a cabin he
owns in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Midway through the winter his significant
other, Abigail, left. I know Jan (Jim’s S.O.) and you overwintered in the U.P. one
winter. You’re both still alive. Neither of you died from weather exposure,
isolation, boredom, or gunshot wounds. Would you do it again?
We spent the 2006-7
winter at our U.P. camp. In mid-February that winter Jan looked out at a flock
of 100+ pine grosbeaks eating sunflower seed on our deck, beyond to the
pristine snow unsullied by salt and pollution, the sun shining in an azure sky
and asked, “So, what season did we think we didn’t want to be up here?” With
that encouragement I figured we would repeat our one-time experiment maybe
every fourth or fifth year—at least until we became too feeble to risk it.
However, Mr.
Unintended Consequences made a strategic error. I suggested we change our “southern”
residence from the gray, bleak, useless winters of Cincinnati (where there is
not enough snow and cold to do winter things and too much cold and ice to do
anything else) to the lovely, (relatively) warm winters of Savannah. Jan agreed
and now no longer has any interest in staying up north past October.
Do you cross-country, downhill ski or snow mobile?
I love to
cross-country ski. It’s great exercise and a fine way to check out what
wildlife has been around since the last snow. It can be a Zen-like experience when
you get into a good rhythm, but that usually requires maintained trails rather
than the backwoods skiing I like best.
I injured my knees
playing soccer in college, and the doctor told me I was free to downhill ski if
I wanted to try it out some weekend. However, he suggested I call him before I
went. That way he could pre-schedule my surgery for the following Monday. Even
my teenager know-everything-thank-you-very-much brain got that message.
Snowmobiles are
noisy; I prefer quieter activities and ways to travel through the country.
The setting encumbers
Seamus, but it also assists him. Have you ever written setting as character
before Cabin Fever?
Until your question, I
never actually considered winter as a character in Cabin Fever. I thought of it as a metaphor for Seamus’s internal
condition. He is emotionally frozen as the story opens. By the conclusion he
has thawed, but he’s still an emotional mess—just like mud season. With time
and sunshine he can heal, but that’s for later books in the series.
When Seamus finds a naked woman suffering from frostbite on
his cabin’s front porch, he eventually gets help, but Iron County Deputy, Sgt. Lon
Bartelle suspects city-slicker Seamus may have harmed the woman. The woman’s
skin shows evidence of rope burns. Did you interview law enforcement officials
in the U.P.?
I spent a wonderful
afternoon on our deck talking with Sgt. Wade Cross of the Iron County Sheriff’s
Office. I have to say he was appalled at the level of mayhem that I planned to (fictionally)
commit in the county. I also spent a couple of hours with D/Sgt. Jay M.
Peterson of the Michigan State Police in the crime lab in Marquette, Michigan.
Among other things, he’s their fingerprint expert and gave me a tour of the
lab. They helped me understand what roles, based on the crime and their
expertise, time and available material, the county and state police would play.
Iron County’s
Sheriff, Mark Valesano, gave me a tour of the county jail. I showed up one day,
talked with the admin and then waited for fifteen or twenty minutes. Turns out
they were checking me out to make sure I wasn’t related to anyone housed in the
jail, and that I was in fact a writer.
I also spent time in
the Iron County Courthouse watching the trials. The Clerk of the Court and
Presiding Judge both spent time helping me understand how things work in a
county court.
It was all great
background, but since Cabin Fever isn’t
a police procedural or legal thriller, I took shortcuts to keep the story
moving.
What’s a Yooper?
A Yooper is someone
who hails from the U.P., eh? For a bonus answer, do you know what Yoopers call
people who live in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan (also known as the Mitten)?
I’ll bite, what?
We call them trolls because
they live below the bridge. (The Mackinac Bridge is the world’s fifth longest
suspension bridge and connects the Lower and Upper Michigan Peninsulas.) We
like being called Yoopers; for some reason that I just can’t quite understand, they’re
not so fond of being referred to as trolls.
Seamus tells Bartelle that Abigail left because she couldn’t
stand the isolation. Seamus remained because he had some issues to work out.
Was it guilt due to his last escapade in Bad
Policy, which resulted in Abigail sustaining severe injuries, or was it
about him?
Seamus doesn’t
realize that he’s suffering from a midlife crisis. He quit Wall Street where he
was outstanding but didn’t fit the culture, and landed a job to create the
Financial Crimes Unit for Criminal Investigations Group. That done; CIG still uses
him as a Financial Crimes Consultant, but he’s an alpha type guy and he’s
bored. His son is well launched and Seamus doesn’t know what he should do with
the rest of his life. Nor does he realize the depth of his anger issues
(something you pointed out to him when you interviewed him last year, which he
tried to brush off).
Seamus goes inside himself to find answers. That behavior shuts others
out and causes misunderstandings—as becomes clear later on in Cabin Fever.
Your secondary characters are memorable, like,
jack-of-all-trades eighty-two-year-old Owen. Is there someone you modeled him
after?
Thank you. I have a
lot of fun writing secondary characters. Owen is an amalgamation of Yooper
traits. He wouldn’t live anywhere else if you paid him. He has done about every
job one can do in the U.P. to make ends meet and, despite his considerable
skills, he just scrapes by. If someone is in need, he’ll drop everything to
assist them, but he’s an independent cuss who doesn’t want anyone telling him
what he can and can’t do. He’s the Northwoods version of the Southern storyteller.
I just love listening to the Owens of the world talk of times past or what
happened earlier that morning.
Do you believe that power corrupts?
With very few
exceptions (probably just you and me) we humans are flawed when dealing from
positions of power. As people rise in a power structure they think their brains,
their skill, and their otherwise being special got them there. Once we set
ourselves up as special, it’s a short step to deciding we know better than
others. From there a quick downhill roll finds us justifying our actions as
“for the greater good” or “legal.”
The emphasis in the
West on individual exceptionalism certainly contributes to this thinking. I’m
not a sufficient sociologist to know if it is only Western Culture that sets up
this construct or it crosses cultures. Once our justifications start, they
don’t end well. I think it is true in government, business, churches, family.
Seamus became
disgusted with Wall Street, but he has his own flaws when it comes to making
decisions without consulting others and about what corners he chooses to cut to
accomplish what he thinks must be done.
Some authors write short stories as promotion for their
series. Do you plan to write more short stories featuring Seamus?
The one short story
that featured Seamus, “Accidents Happen,” appeared in the first Guppy anthology,
Fish Tales. I wrote another featuring Abigail, but
it hasn’t found a home. It would be great marketing if I could write more
Seamus shorts. My problem is that I think of him over a long arc. I know his
past; I know what’s going on in his life in Doubtful
Relations and I even have a good feel for trauma I have in store for him in
the book after that. (I don’t yet have an “E” title in mind.)
Short stories I want
to write often relate to a new shiny interest I want to explore. I don’t naturally
gravitate to thinking about Seamus side stories that illustrate his character
or fill in missing pieces of his history.
What’s next for Seamus in your third novel, Doubtful
Relations, a work-in-progress?
Albert Cunningham III, the husband of Seamus’s ex-wife (Paddy’s mother)
goes missing. The only thing the ex- claims
to know is that someone is using his ATM card in the Savannah area. The police
don’t consider it a missing person case because of the cash card transactions,
so the extended family must determine what is going on.
The whole family
becomes involved: Seamus, his ex-, Paddy and his girlfriend Cindy Nelson, and Seamus’s
mother, and Al’s son. Each one has a support cast and not everyone is on the
same page. As with all of my novels, relationships are a key theme, and in this
case some of them are, let’s say, doubtful.
Have you planned a second series?
I’ve considered spinning
off Abigail into her own series. She’s strong enough and interesting enough to
be a series character, but I haven’t taken that idea past something to think
about as I jog.
I do want to do a novel
(probably trilogy) set in the near future that explores what happens when
government no longer functions and corporations are the only entities that can
get things done. I started the first book, wrote 40,000+ words, and realized I
had started in the wrong place and some characters needed to change. That is
one of the risks of being a pantser rather than plotter. I hope to get back to
it once I turn Doubtful Relations in
to the publisher.
Is the aurora borealis visible from Iron County, Michigan?
You betcha, but it’s
more readily visible during winter than summer. We’re currently near the peak
in solar activity cycle so right now there are many sightings. For anyone
interested, there’s a great website for finding out in which parts of the
country the aurora is present. They allow you to sign up for alerts if you are
interested. http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast
I’ve praised you in
person for what a great job you do in your interviews. Readers, don’t you agree
that Elaine has a special talent for this? Thanks for having me and
spotlighting Cabin Fever.
You can order a signed copy of Cabin Fever from Jim's website, or buy the books from your favorite retailer (especially through your local indie store!). Thanks for the interview, Jim. I've enjoyed your books and can't wait for Doubtful Relations.
It sounds like an interesting plot and setting. Thanks for sharing it with us. Also thanks for blogging at WWK.
ReplyDeleteMost excellent interview. I guess Jim would be considered a part time "Yooper". Or "Yooper In Residence". Got it on my Kindle. Just need to wrap up what I'm reading and dig in to it.
ReplyDeleteRicky - thanks for the purchase. Hope you enjoy.
ReplyDelete~ JIm
I read Cabin Fever, and it's a book I just couldn't put down. I read on in increasing dismay and horror as Jim wove his intricate, but totally believable, plot.
ReplyDeleteI've now got Bad Policy on my Kindle, next on my TBR list.
I enjoyed being one of Jim's beta readers. So much, that I keep his original script and took a quote that I liked. Unfortunately, my favorite quote was edited by his publisher and eliminated from the script. Wish that hadn't happened. I changed the beginning quote so readers wouldn't hunt for missing narrative. Oh well, the penalty writers pay. Thanks for the interview, Jim.
ReplyDeleteKM - so glad you enjoyed Cabin Fever. I hope your find Bad Policy to your liking as well.
ReplyDelete~ Jim
EB -- the editing process is so interesting to me -- What changes and why.
ReplyDeleteI liked the snippet you had chosen, but in the end it wasn't quite right for the scene.
~ Jim
Terrific interview, Jim and EB. I was also lucky enough to read an ARC and I must say, Jim, the UP and winter are true characters in the book. And your nature writing is superb - I felt like I was right there with Seamus!
ReplyDeleteThanks Shari -- Cabin Fever is the first time I ever used weather to such an extent, but the story called for it and I'm so glad people think it works so well.
ReplyDelete~ Jim
Great interview, Jim and Elaine. I finished Cabin Fever this week and it had me in suspense and worry throughout. My mouth fell open when I realized something about a certain character that I didn't expect, but I won't reveal that here. As I mentioned to Jim earlier, I lost a lot of sleep reading this book because I couldn't stop reading. As for the mud season in the UP, I'm going through that here right now. Anyway, I highly recommend this book for anyone who hasn't read it yet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words Gloria. Yes, mud season isn't limited to the U.P. - especially in a hard winter like this one. Usually now is the time for it at my place, but we're still frozen with lots of snow still on the ground. Soon though...
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about that "certain character" Gloria! Definitely a "whoa!" moment.
ReplyDeleteWonderful interview, Jim and EB. I have Cabin Fever in front of me and I'm ready to read. Bad Policy kept me reading late into the night because I had to find out what happened next. I anticipate Cabin Fever to be as absorbing and I won't be able to put it down.
ReplyDeleteBig congrats, Jim!
ReplyDeleteKara -- I'm thinking of linking up with one of those energy drinks--you know a promotion buy Cabin Fever and get 50% off CaffeineUnlimited so you can function the next day after staying up all night reading.
ReplyDeleteLOL ~ Jim
Congrats on the new book. Loved your short "Homework" by the way.
ReplyDelete