StanleyWheeler

 Author Interview

with 

Nikki Nelson-Hicks

Author of The Jake Istenhegyi Detective Series

And Much More

Please tell me a little about your current work in progress.

 I’m working on finishing up the two volumes of the Jake Istenhegyi: The Accidental Detective Omnibus.

 The first volume (available now on Amazon) in a nutshell: Jake Istenhegyi: The Accidental Detective is a pulp noir series set in 1930’s New Orleans.  The first story, “A Chick, A Dick and a Witch Walk into a Barn…” When his best friend, the PI Barrington “Bear” Gunn, disappears on what should be a simple case, Jake sets out to find him and ends up falling into the clutches of dark magic. And zombie chickens. And that’s just the first story.

 The second story, “Golems, Goons and Cold Stone Bitches”, centers around three immortal sisters who entangle Jake in their squabbles to fatal results.

 The third, “Boodaddies, Bogs and a Dead Man’s Booty”, has pirate treasure, swamp monsters, shrunken heads and a vengeful enemy from Jake’s past.

 The teaser is two chapters from the upcoming 7^th Jake Istenhegyi story which is still untitled but has gold, a sex cult and maybe something evil living underground in Los Angeles.

  

Where did you get the idea for this book or series?

 I was at a convention and a publisher named Tommy Hancock approached me with a challenge to write a story for an anthology he was working on, “Poultry Pulp”. The idea was to write a pulp story that somehow involved chickens.

 I had been sitting on the Jake Istenhegyi character since 1998 when I created him while living in Budapest. My kids went to a school on Istenhegyi Ute and we used to joke how that would make a great name for a private detective, “Jake Istenhegyi, Private Eye!”

 When Tommy asked me to write for Poultry Pulp I decided, “Finally. A vehicle for Jake!” And I cranked out “A Chick, A Dick and a Witch Walk Into a Barn…” Unfortunately, the anthology never came to pass BUT Tommy liked the story so much he asked me to turn it into a series. And, voila! There we have it.

  

Do you write in more than one genre?

 Oh, yeah. I have written horror, mystery, weird Western, steampunk, mainstream fiction, scifi, action/adventure.

 If you give me a hook or a contract, I’ll conjure up something for you.

 The only genre I haven’t tackled is Romance. I don’t have the stomach for it.

 

 

Tell me about something that you believe makes your writing unique or worthy of attention.

 The best compliment I’ve ever gotten was a person who told me she was reading my Sherlock Holmes and the Shrieking Pits story on the bus going home from work and she was so engrossed in the book, she missed her stop and had to ride the circuit all over again!

 I don’t write to push an agenda or try to create some kind of mythos. I write to entertain. I write to give you a distraction either while you’re on the bus, in a doctor’s waiting room, or on the toilet. For me, that is the true magic of Story. I write to fill those voids. To take you on adventures when you are bored and give you friends when you are lonely.

 It’s a great gig.

 

Is there anything about your personal history or personality that manifests strongly in your writing?

 I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. It’s something that I didn’t try to manifest but the best kind of magic always happens when you’re not looking.

 The one weird train of thought that seems to be in a lot of my stories is the search of family and belonging.

 I think that can be traced back to my rootless childhood. We never lived in a house for more than a year or two, so I quit even trying to make friends. We moved always at night which I didna’t realize was weird until I turned eleven and realized that most TV families (which were more real to me than my own) always moved in the daylight. There were a few years we lied about where we lived so I could go to school in a better district. That puts a dent on making friends and extracurricular events.

 But it was all good training for when my husband joined the Marines and I became a Military Wife. Moving, never putting down roots, and sometimes not even wasting the time to open up all the boxes before moving again was my reality.

I think that searching for a place to belong resonates in a lot of my stories.

 

 What else would be helpful for readers to know about you?

Cheap, Quick and Weird is my motto.

 

Excluding your own work, what underrated author or book would you recommend that more people read? Why?

 So many! Jeffrey Thomas writes hauntingly beautiful weird stories in his Punktown series. Will Madden is an unseen genius. Todd Keisling is a latent Stephen King. Anthony Rapino writes great spooky stuff. Jaden Terrell writes great crime novels. Paul Bishop writes westerns and crime stories. Mercedes Yardley is a treasure. Jessica McHugh, wow…there’s some fire. Max Booth, so weird. D. Alan Lewis has a flair for pulp. OH! And Grady Hendrix. That guy is a genius.

  

Which of your books do you most highly recommend? Why?

 Depends on what mood you’re in.

 Good pulpy fun: Jake Istenhegyi: The Accidental Detective series.

 In the mood for some Monsters?: RUMBLE. A shady corporation loses communication with its mining camp in the Gobi desert and sends in mercenaries to bring out any survivors. BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU DIG!

 Need a quick cuppa? The Galvanized Girl is a steampunk novella set in Victorian England. Or try my Sherlock Holmes and the Shrieking Pits.

 Want something down and dirty, cowboy style?: Try The Problem at Gruff Springs.

 Want something spooky?: Try The Perverse Muse where I tackle the question: Why do all the women in E.A. Poe’s life die?

 

 

Which break, event, decision, or fortuitous circumstance has helped you or your writing career the most?

 Way back in 2004, I answered an ad to attend a newly formed writers group. Five people showed up. We became the nucleus of what became the Nashville Writers’ Group which grew to have over 200 people. In the coming years, I ran a handful of critique and support groups that ranged from straight Fiction to Speculative Fiction. I met people who have become my very best and beloved friends. And, through them, I met other people who eventually led me to a publisher.

 So, that rainy night in February 2004, on the porch of Café Coco in West Nashville really turned my life around.

 

What question do you wish you would get asked more often?

How do you balance your creative life with your mundane, everyday life?

 It’s not easy. My husband wants to do a panel called, “The Other Side of the Desk: stories from the partner’s POV.

 I think it would be hilarious.

 

 Do you have a catch-phrase or quote that you like? What is it? And why do you choose it?

 Adaptation or Elimination.

 Because it is true. You either adapt or die. That’s the summit of our Universe.

 God, that sounds cold.

 On the flip side, I think the most redeeming quality of the homo sapiens race is how we can adapt to our environment by showing compassion and helping our neighbors to survive in spite of an uncaring universe that truly doesn’t give a damn whether we live or die.

 Humans are best when things are at their worst.

 We’re weird like that.

 

Nikki's Amazon Author Page

***

As always, my thanks to Nikki for participating in the interview. Check out her books at the link above.

This week, between outlining and starting in with earnest on writing the Iago and Atu thread for In the Course: A Promise of Carnage and Flame, the first book in the second trilogy of the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series, I was privileged to record my parts in the Duck Soup Radio Brigade show to be broadcast via the internet on Halloween. (Here is the link to the broadcast. It's free to listen to but you need the advance ticket through the link). There are several talented individuals participating in the show, and they do fabulous voice acting. The second half of the show differs significantly from the War of the Worlds story with which you may be familiar, as our stupendous director wrote a much more interesting second act--which is where I get to showcase my ability to play a rather creepy role through most of the second act. I do several voices in the first act--but those parts are all completely sane.

In my Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series, fantasy and history overlap during the American Revolutionary War. Dragons, gryphons, and other fantastic peoples and beasts may change the destiny of a nation--they will certainly change the destinies of the handful of characters at the center of this epic adventure which explores themes involving magic, power, liberty, and friendship. 

Events sweep Alex and Lucette into the maelstrom of revolution and to the ragged frontiers of the New World. They cooperate with two bands of dragon hunters--whose members come from around the world-- a little person from Portugal and a huge Pacific Islander, and a pair of smugglers along the way.