Michael Panush has a new book, Dead Man's Drive! He has stopped to talk with me about this new series.
Beth: Hi Michael ,please tell us about Dead Man's Drive.
Michael: Dead Man's Drive, the first book in the Rot Rods
series, is a 1950s Urban Fantasy set in sunny Southern California. It's about
Roscoe, a hot rod-riding zombie who works with a bunch of supernaturally adept
drivers out of a garage called Donovan Motors and keeps the town of La Cruz
safe from occult threats. This story is about a ruthless businessman, Reed
Strickland, wishing to move his company in La Cruz and bring the drivers down.
Strickland's got hidden motives for the expansion, and Roscoe has his own
mysterious past, which will all be revealed as the battle for La Cruz begins. Dead Man's Drive has got fast cars, B-movie
monsters, and a lot of action – hopefully it's got some heart too, even if
Roscoe's heart isn't beating.
Beth: That sounds like fun! I love B-movie monsters -especially the Creature From the Black Lagoon maybe he'll make an appearance :) It seems like all three - the 1950’s, hot rods, and
zombies -- go hand in hand. What made you want to write a book set in that
time-period?
Michael: I love using the 1950s as a
setting. We have an image of the 50s as some kind of peaceful, American Golden
Age – with white picket fences, happy families, and teenage romance around
jukeboxes. The reality is more complex, with this dark undercurrent running
under the era. That undercurrent appears in two bits of popular culture, Horror
and Noir. For Horror, you had EC Comics and Cold War paranoia fueling B-movies
and for Noir, you had writers like Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson showing
the darkness inherent in the American Dream. Combining 1950s Horror and 1950s
Noir seemed like a natural fit. There's lots of subcultures in the 50s as well
– gearhead greasers, beatniks, minority cultures like the Mexican zoot suitors
– and they also didn't fit in with 1950s Suburbia. Showing that was very
important in Dead man's Drive, which
is ultimately a story about conformity and those who resist it.
There's something special about
Post-War Southern California as well. It's a great confluence of all these
crazy elements – gangsters like Jack Dragna and Mickey Cohen, Golden Age
Hollywood, the LAPD, the Black Dalhia Murders, the Zoot Suit Riots, Japanese
Internment, the Okie Migration from the Great Depression -- that it seems like a kind of ultimate
setting. I'm a big James Ellroy fan as well, so I'm sure that's part of it
too.
Beth: That's awesome. It's great that you write what you love. How many books have you written?
Michael: Counting Dead Man's Drive, I've written eight books. Three of them form the
Stein and Candle Detective Agency series, which also mixes up Horror and Noir,
two are the Jurassic Club series, which is about an island full of dinosaurs in
the Twenties and Thirties, and two are the El Mosaico series, about a
Frankenstein's Monster-like bounty hunter in the Old West.
Beth: Who inspired/helped you the most?
Michael: Definitely my parents. I've been
writing since Freshman Year in high school and my parents have always been
supportive. They've worked as editors, critics, publicists, advisers, and done
tons of other things for me. Without their help, I probably wouldn't be
writing.
Beth: What are your five favorite books and why?
Michael: Ah, jeez, that's a tough one. I'd
say that my top five (in no particular order) are the following: LA Confidential by James Ellroy for
completely sucking me into a crazy mystery and capturing the nastiness of
Post-War LA, Perdido Street Station
by China Mieville for showing that you can write a great, imaginative fantasy
story and still be socially conscious, Foucault's
Pendulum by Umberto Eco for showing me how much you can play with history, When the Women Come Out to Dance by
Elmore Leonard (a short story collection, actually) for having some amazing
crime stories that also reveal some deeper, darker truths about America, and Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett for
letting me see the true corruption of the past.
Beth: What a list! What are you working on right now?
Michael: I'm getting ready for the fourth book in the Rot Rods series
(books two and three are already done), and I'm working on a new series about
robots, while also writing some prequels to the El Mosaico series, which are about
Vikings and pirates. I'm a pretty busy writer and like bouncing between several
different projects.
Beth: What were some of the obstacles you encountered while
writing your book and how did you overcome them?
Michael: Just finding time to write is a big
one! Thankfully, I'm disciplined enough that I can always find time. Still,
there's been a lot of times when I get home and I'm tired, and I don't want to
sit down and finish a story or a summary – but I make schedules for myself and
I keep my deadlines.
Beth: I hear ya! Finding time is a big obstacle for me too. Last question
if you had to give a one-hour lecture to a hundred 13 year-olds….what would be
the topic of your lecture? Why? Michael: Look, you're speaking to a guy who worked as a teacher's aide in a middle school and was in charge of creating lessons for the Creative Writing class. I can handle thirteen-year-olds. A hundred of them is a little tough, though. Would I have help? Anyway, making a bunch of kids sit around for an hour while you give some speech is a recipe for failure. Keep your lessons short is my motto – like fifteen minutes at most. I'd probably have a variation of the most successful activity I did last year. The students worked in teams to create fictional characters for a fighting tournament. After they created their characters, they engaged in debates in front of the class, with everyone voting to decide the winner. Eventually, we had a champion. Thirteen-year-olds like working with their friends and they like competition, so this was great at having them think creatively, and use debate skills. I'd probably do something like that.
Interesting answer. I ask that question to everyone I interview because I like to see what words of wisdom authors and artist want to share with the impressionable. I pick thirteen because I believe that is the no-bullshit age! Thanks for stopping by Michael it was a pleasure meeting you and I look forward to reading Dead Man's Drive!
Dead Man's Drive Blurb:
La Cruz looks like an
average Southern California small town in the 1950s Post-War Boom, but it has
some dark secrets - and its guardians. They are the supernaturally adept
drivers of Donovan Motors, including former Okie bank robber Wooster Stokes,
Zoot Suiter and part time shaman Angel Rey, college girl and burgeoning
sorceress Betty Bright and --their latest member -- an amnesiac zombie known
only as Roscoe. The drivers stand between La Cruz and chaos with only their
wits and some fast hot rods to help them hold back the darkness. But an
onslaught of demonic attacks heralds a new danger. Reed Strickland, a ruthless
tycoon with unholy assistance, seems intent on making La Cruz his. Only Roscoe
and the drivers can stop him. But Strickland's allies stir painful memories in
Roscoe and even an undead gearhead is no match for his own past. Roscoe will
need to overcome his memories, stand with his friends and keep his motor as the
battle for La Cruz begins in a tale of white hot vehicular action, arcane Noir
and Hollywood horror that reveals the rotten heart of California's Golden Age.
And the CQ Page: http://curiosityquills.com/published-authors/michael-panush/
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