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.

Some movies, the best movies, demand an investment not only of time and attention, but of something more, a unique sort of currency, a shaving planed from the heart--all thin, translucent, and curling like a Christmas ribbon--but still attached at one end. If one dips the end of the heart-shaving into the emotional waters of the movie, it becomes a fleshy conduit connecting the viewer with the characters.

I'm not sure I like that analogy (or whatever it is) above, but I am sure that I liked the movie I saw on Saturday about the inspirational tale of three broken men and a broken horse.

Broken by loss and mistreatment, the three men and the horse rally together to overcome long odds to triumph on the track and in life. Seabiscuit came out in 2003, so I'm not very quick on getting a review out, but I wasn't doing the blog back then. When I saw that it was on, I was't going to watch it. I had seen it a few times before. I knew the story. I knew how it ended. I knew that it was a bit of a long gallop from start to end. I image that you know the story, but, just in case, the nutshell version, rendered as blandly as possible, goes like this: Wealthy family loses everything and dumps boy off with a horse racing man. Old horse trainer gets picked up by rich man who has lost his son and whose wife has left him. A small horse with a promising pedigree is mistreated and lives down to expectations, losing races and becoming a cantankerous mess. Men and horse coalesce to form a winning team--with many obstacles along the way. After establishing a winning record out west, they hound the owner of War Admiral until they get a race. There are more complications, but the little underdog prevails. Finally, additional complications arise. Horse and jockey convalesce together and, as underdogs once again, make a miracle comeback.

The overall story is greater than the sum of the parts, and yet, the parts are fabulous. David McCullough's narration and the short, black and white "era" pieces really add to the the atmosphere and illustrate the larger milieu in which the story takes place. The story of Seabiscuit becomes a fanfare for the common man, the triumph of the every man who has had failures and bad breaks in unremitting succession, but who rises to success, to meaning beyond his status. The story will touch you--if you let it. It's like getting smoke in your eyes, but its in the heart.

As for the actors, it is the best thing I've seen Tobey Maguire do. He makes the beaten, angry jockey-mirroring the horse he rides a credible creation. He gets a few nice Shakespearean quotes. Chris Cooper as the trainer Tom Smith oozes patient understanding, long-suffering, and wisdom with occasional wit. He has a number of great lines like, "It's better to break man's leg than to break his heart." Jeff Bridges slips into the role of the owner Charles Howard to give my favorite performance by the actor.

I think the movie works because the writing is superb, and the acting and directing reflect that. I don't think I've ever read the book of the same name upon which the movie is based, but I will read it if I get the chance.

***

Speaking of superb writing. I had some nice experiences with the first book in the sequel trilogy which follows the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire trilogy. First, let me share a couple reviews from two of the books in the trilogy which came in this week:

About Threading the Rude Eye

 Independence Intrigue August 5, 2020

I read this book to my daughters. We loved it. It is a great swashbuckling story of mystery, action and fantasy with a little romance and American revolution thrown in as well. Ready for the continuing saga.

About the second book, Power to Hurt

 Page Turner! (Not to be confused with Will Turner) August 8, 2020

Power to Hurt is book two in an excellent series by the author Stanley Wheeler. Wonderful character and story development that makes you anxious for the next page/chapter/book. The author is a master at historical fiction. Highly recommend!

Back to my points about writing experiences this week. Writing is often a revelatory process. The author is supposed to know what's going to happen -- and I usually do. While the process for me involves roughly mapping out the story in advance, and picturing the ending, most of the stuff that happens between beginning and end springs into being during the actual writing rather than during the planning. Until the words hit the page, I merely see through a glass but darkly.

This week I was faced with a decision about what course a character would take; her decision would be critical to the events of two separate story lines, and she could be in only one of them. Which way would she go? I couldn't decide -- until I reread her actions from an earlier chapter that had not been planned, but which created some interesting possibilities. After reading that, I saw that she had already made the decision. I merely had to write it. The characters know what they need to do. I just have to stay out of their way. Likewise, when a villain made another appearance this week, I had planned for his dramatic and surprising entrance, but when I started writing it the Rule of Awesome suddenly reared its grinning face and rocketed the scene from a 5 to a 9 on the awesome surprise scale. I couldn't believe that that hadn't occurred to me when I had first envisioned it, but it hadn't. Only in the very act of hurling words at the page did the obscuring stone fall away to reveal the true nature of the sculpture beneath.*

Also, daughter's favorite scenes from Clamorous Harbingers: A possible drowning, and an unfortunate brush with cannibalism.

*That's how you mix a metaphor, shaken, not stirred.