I
have written in these pages a number of times about the works of
Richard Prosch. Until recently he has written mostly in the Western
genre—his stories and novellas featuring the adventures of John
Coburn, the Peregrine; his Holt County series featuring deputy
marshal Whit Branham; and his delightful turn-of-the-century YA tales
featuring inquisitive Jo Harper and her pal Frog. His short story
“The Scalper” won a prestigious Spur Award from the Western
Writers of America.
Like
most writers, however—and in spite of admitting he maintains an
“itch” to do more Westerns—Richard also seeks to flex his
writing muscles and expand into other genres now and then. Toward
this end, he has done work in horror, science fiction, and
contemporary crime.
Most
recently, Richard has launched a PI-like series featuring Dan
Spalding, a former investigator for the Missouri Highway Patrol who
nowadays runs a used record store in touristy Ozark City (think
Branson, MO). Naturally, Spalding's background and his knack for
attracting trouble, keeps getting him involved in “cases” where
he needs to call on his old skills and a growing cast of colorful
secondary characters to help set things right. So far Dan has
appeared in the short story “Spalding's Groove”, the novellas
ANSWER DEATH, FLIP SIDE, and the just-released BACK MASK.
So
what about the man behind these tales of the Old West and modern-day
mayhem? In conjunction with the release of BACK MASK, I got Richard
to sit for a lengthy, enjoyable phone conversation and then agree to
answer some questions about him, his life, and his writing.
Here
goes:
DUNDEE:
Your formative years, up until you went off to college, were spent on
a farm in northeast Nebraska. I know that, to a large extent, part of
your heart still resides in Nebraska and you have used it as the
setting for many of your stories, particularly the Westerns. Will you
please comment further on that—your growing-up years, what
impact/influence, if any, it had on your writing? Did you have
writing aspirations back then? If so, did you get any encouragement
from parents, teachers, friends?
PROSCH:
I logged a great many hours under the wide open sky with not a lot
to think about except the stories I would make up. So the
environment, the landscape, contributed a lot to my imagination. I
can’t say my family paid much attention to my writing, but I had a
fifth grade teacher who did. I wrote a vampire story where blood
“billowed out from the victim’s neck like scarlet ribbons.”
Mrs. Neuharth wrote in the margin, “Gross! But I love it! You could
be a writer someday!” With that positive feedback, I was hooked.
I’ve often given Mrs. Neuharth credit, and I will here again. I
wouldn’t be doing this without her.
DUNDEE:
In college, you met your lovely wife Gina. (Congrats, by the way, on
just recently celebrating your 30th
year of marriage!) I believe you were studying Graphic Art, with an
English minor. Judging by the critical role Gina now plays in your
current writing and self-publishing career—cover design, print
layout, and soon to be co-author—it seems obvious that you
certainly get support there for your writing. The two of you also are
home-schooling your son Wyatt, who is gaining local and perhaps
national prominence in the world of figure skating. The three of you
have a very busy yet very close, enviable family dynamic. Can you
expand more on that, please—your family/working relationships, the
schedule balancing that must be required, etc.
PROSCH:
Gina’s answer would be “we work our butts off,” which is more
or less true. She’s being funny, but it’s no joke. And by work,
she means we put in the time. It’s that simple, and that hard. All
the successful people—I mean truly successful--I’ve ever known
have that in common. They put in the time. Whether it’s at the
keyboard, the musical instrument or the personal relationship. Early
on, we found ways as a family to double-up on the time we spent
together. For example, we wouldn’t be able to homeschool without a
home office.
DUNDEE:
Growing up, your father was an avid reader of science fiction and so
you also read a lot in that genre. Your grandfather, you told me,
read a lot of paperback Westerns. I don't recall you saying whether
or not you read many of those. But in your writing career to date,
you've done very little in the way of science fiction yet, as
detailed in the introduction, quite a lot in the Western field. Most
writers tend to write, at least in the beginning, what they were fans
of reading. Why do you suppose that wasn't the case with you?
PROSCH:
I think westerns offered a fresh landscape to explore. Also, I
started writing westerns with more enthusiasm after Wyatt was born. I
wanted to get him grounded in his family’s Nebraska history, and
our own Wyoming experience. As we explored the real-life west, the
stories just naturally developed. That said, I loved westerns on TV
growing up—The Rifleman in particular.
DUNDEE:
Who were some of your favorite authors growing up? Are there current
authors you follow regularly and/or whose work you find particularly
appealing?
PROSCH:
Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein—those guys eventually
gave way to John D. MacDonald, Robert B. Parker, Steve Frazee,
and others. The list goes on. And there are writers I used to like
that I can’t look at now. Vonnegut is one. And some that I judged
too harshly. Even now though, I would have to put Ellison and
Bradbury at the pinnacle—for their flat out passion for the craft.
DUNDEE:
Your Westerns tend not to fall so much into the “shoot-em-up”
variety. While there certainly are some bad hombres and a fair amount
of violence—especially in the Peregrine stories, inasmuch as Coburn
is a renowned gunman—the action is not overly graphic and it
usually happens for a reason and comes with consequences. The
characters in your stories, good and bad alike, often come across as
people just doing their jobs (even if those jobs sometimes fall on
the wrong side of the law) in order to try and get by in a hard land
during a hard time ... Simple, common folk, in other words, as
opposed to the larger-than-life, over-the-top kinds of heroes and
villains often found in the genre. How deliberate is that on your
part? Or is it merely a by-product of the stories that come to your
mind?
PROSCH:
It’s absolutely deliberate. I like stories about everyday life and
how, without much warning, a domino falls over and things go on from
there. My heroes have always been the unassuming people who—without
fanfare or notice—stood up and started putting things back to
rights.
DUNDEE:
Dan Spalding is an immediately engaging character in a distinct
setting surrounded by colorful secondary characters. He seems to have
appeared fully realized in your initial story “Spalding's Groove”.
Given his training and instincts, it seems perfectly logical for him
to get involved in the kind of matters does, yet you cleverly avoid
the stereotypical trappings of a straightforward PI set-up. Again,
how calculated was this? What was the genesis for Spalding?
PROSCH:
Gina says Spalding is my alter ego. Maybe he’s somebody who I might
like to be if I had a second run at life. Every day I’m inspired by
friends in the law-enforcement community, the EMS guys, the first
responders, the firefighters—the people who make a real difference
and pave the way for the rest of us. But there’s no way I could
stand the bureaucracy, and neither can Dan. He needs to run his own
ship, his own way, and right there he’s at odds with half the
world. I’ve had some experience with that too.
DUNDEE:
Records and the music industry—current and old—play a big part in
the Spalding books. Are you a pretty thorough records/music nut in
real life, or do you have to do a lot of research for the facts and
observations these stories are built around?
PROSCH:
My mom had this fantastic record collection that I cut my teeth on,
and the passion grew from there. I used to record songs from the
radio on my portable cassette player, and I was a faithful reader of
Song Hits and Creem all through school. A friend once turned me on to
jazz and heavy metal and classic country music—all in one
summer—and challenged me to write for Rolling Stone magazine when I
graduated. I’ve lost track of him now, but when I write the
Spalding stories, I think of my friend and my mom and hope I’ve
somehow done them proud.
DUNDEE:
I know that you follow and support the work of Andrew Vachss, both
his writing and his life's work of protecting and fighting for the
rights of the vulnerable and abused in our society. I know how
strongly your personal feelings are in this area and now a theme of
protecting/aiding the vulnerable seems to be running through the
Spalding books. Care to comment further on this?
PROSCH:
Yeah, I don’t think that was planned as much as it developed
naturally from some experiences in my own childhood. Watching my son
and his friends deal with the culture we now live in really brought
home those memories and sense of responsibility we all should have. I
mean, it’s a shame that so many people spend so much time kvetching
about issues that absolutely don’t matter. Television and sports
and petty political beefs come to mind. Meanwhile they’re out to
lunch on child abuse, neglect, abandonment, trafficking—all the
vile things going on around them every day. The next Spalding book, STAGE FRIGHT, will deal with some of that in a direct way.
DUNDEE:
You, like me, seem to have fully embraced the eBook/self-publishing
movement and you have received wide acclaim for your work. What do
you see for the future of the business? And what can readers expect,
in the future, from Richard Prosch?
PROSCH:
I think the Indie movement will continue to grow and improve. It will
change, as all things do, and some folks will drop out. For me it’s
a chance to share a story more quickly and move on to additional
ideas.
DUNDEE:
It's always a pleasure talking with you, Rich. I really appreciate
your time and cooperation for this interview. I think readers will
enjoy it and will come away knowing a little more about Richard
Prosch and his work. In closing, if there's anything I failed to ask
about that you would like to comment on, please feel free to do so
now. And thanks again.
PROSCH:
I’ve been posting free stories on my blog this summer, and that
will continue indefinitely with a crime story on the first Tuesday of
the month and a western two weeks later. It’s a fun way to
revisit some work that might’ve gotten lost and share something
with a new reader without asking them to part with any cash up front.
I’ve picked up some new readers that way and come up with new story
ideas too. So be sure to stop past www.RichardProsch.com
every few weeks.
I
also want to let you know how much I appreciate the interview and
your kind words of encouragement, Wayne. Writing is a terrific
endeavor and one of the best parts is the friendships you make along
the way. Thanks for a fun interview!
For
readers already familiar with Richrd's work, be sure not to miss the
just-released BACK MASK, now available in eBook and print through
Amazon. You can catch up with all of Richard's work via his Amazon
page, his blog, or on Facebook. I urge you to do so, you'll be in for
some fine reading.
