Tell us about yourself.

I'm a native New Yorker, but after college was forced to moved to Philly to get into the Teacher Corps (it was either teach or go to Vietnam). I've been in Philly since 1968, though I'm still a New York guy at heart, and get back there as often as possible. While I've got degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Temple University, I consider myself self-taught in all that counts -- my writing, my publishing, my editing. I learned NOTHING of this at college. I'm divorced (been so since 1980) and have three wonderful children. I've been a teacher for 28 years and am taking a sabbatical this year to concentrate on my writing and publishing. After another year teaching, I'll quit and devote all my time to writing, publishing and editing my magazine Gauntlet.

In 1990 I founded Gauntlet magazine, the only mass-market publication devoted to censorship and exploring the limits of free expression. I'd faced censorship and felt this was a topic for which there wasn't a magazine that focused in on that area exclusively. Then in 1993 I began publishing signed limiteds for collectors. One of my first books was Robert Bloch's PSYCHO. I couldn't believe it had never been published as a signed limited. In the midst of the project Bob contracted cancer and passed away shortly before the book saw publication. BUT, he did see all the components, signed tipsheets and was pleased with all we did. At that time I decided this was my niche -- finding contemporary "classics" and publishing special editions, with the author's input, while the author was still alive. I've worked with Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Peter Straub and William Peter Blatty, among others. And, now I'm branching out to newer authors like F. Paul Wilson and Poppy Z. Brite.

Amidst all of this I've been writing short fiction since the mid-eighties, and wrote HUNGRY EYES, my first novel in 1993. Since then I've written one book per year, due to my having to teach during the school year.

Are you coming to mystery writing from another career? And why mysteries? Are you a longtime reader of them?

I'm coming to mystery writing from teaching, as I said. However, I dislike categorization. A prominent mystery bookstore won't carry HUNGRY EYES because they say it's not a mystery. And, the horror writer at Amazon.com won't review my work because it's not horror. Both are right and both are wrong. HUNGRY EYES was reviewed in THE MYSTERY READER as a thriller. It's dark suspense, but thriller is fine. It has elements of mystery, elements of horror (psychological horror), suspense -- it's dark fiction.

Anyway, I write what I do because I'm drawn to thrillers by headlines. When a teacher was killed in Jonesboro by students, I didn't think of the teacher, but of the student the teacher protected. What would be the impact on HER. Even though others wouldn't blame her, subconsciously they WOULD. If not for her, their teacher would be alive. And she might blame herself. Yet, except for a brief mention, there was little said about her. I'm drawn to the impact of victimization on others. How will they react? HUNGRY EYES takes the story of Katie Beers (an 11 year old held hostage by a neighbor in a bunker). My question was how would she respond ten years later? Once I posed this to myself, I fictionalized everything from her original kidnapping to what would transpire later. And for the sequel, EYES OF PREY, I took Bernard Goetz, the New York subway vigilante, and created a vigilante without the racist baggage. I like to get into characters minds and with all they suffered, I can explore how they might respond.

I've long admired mysteries from such writers as Dick Francis, Donald Westlake, Andrew Vachss, John Sandford, Michael Connelley and a host of others. I've been reading mysteries, horror and thrillers since I was a teen.

Tell us about getting your first book published.

My road to publication was a long one. My FIRST fiction were actually plays I wrote for the school I taught at. I wrote five plays (the last on teen runaways was a bit too much for the principal and I wasn't invited to write another -- which is a blessing or sorts, for from then on I wrote for myself without the constraints of having to censor myself).

I then wrote the "Great American Horror Novel" which had great characters, a great plot, a blazing ending (literally), but was HORRIBLY written (sentences that ran for paragraphs and paragraphs that went on for pages). Being familiar with the small press, I started to write short stories. Remember, I'm self taught. There was no book that COULD teach me how to write. No courses that I would take to help me out. There is NO one way to teach writing. There are NO rules. Some writers use an extensive outline. Others, like Clancy, use none at all. Who is right? Both. I was fortunate to find other writers who I corresponded with and sent my work. What I gave and received was CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, which is different than submitting your work to a panel where you're told "this sucks." Slowly, by reading others and learning from those who critiqued my work I found my "voice" and when my short stories began to get to 5000-6000 words, decided it was time to try another novel.

After finishing HUNGRY EYES I was lucky (in theory) to secure an agent, who did nothing for me for 1 1/2 years other than tie my book up at a few publishers. After we parted company Ed Gorman suggested I submit the book to Don D'Auria at Leisure Books, who accepted the book and the rest is history -- it's NOW out in paperback.

Let me go back one step. As a specialty press publisher I know a bit about publishing. Another publisher was going to publish HUNGRY EYES as a signed limited, but became ill. He suggested I publish the book through Gauntlet, and was kind enough to write a letter to those on my mailing list, explaining why I was publishing the book through my own company. It's had two print runs (1000 copies) -- not bad for a limited. And, now with the paperback coming out, I'm hoping for additional exposure.

How did you research HUNGRY EYES?

There wasn't an awful lot of research needed for my first book. I've always been fascinated by serial killers and read extensively on the subject. And, as the book involves the thoughts of both an adult and an adolescent, my years of teaching 5th-8th graders came in handy. And, in all of my books the main characters are usually women. Why from a man? Again, the kids I came into contact with were 10-14 years of age. At THAT age, girls have far more personality than boys (sorry guys, but it's a fact). I was a good listener and the kids I taught easily opened up to me, knowing I wasn't about to blab what they told me to their parents or other teachers. For the sequel I interviewed homicide detectives, as police procedure plays a more important role in that book.

What authors influence you as a writer?

I'd have to say Ray Bradbury is my greatest influence -- not because of his style, because I could NEVER write the way he does (I don't have his talent), but his wonderful plots -- especially his early writing. His stories about children ("The Small Assassin" The Veldt" "The Playground" to name just a few, were WHAT I felt about children. And his view of evil in "The Burning Man" fascinated me.

Stephen King influenced my writing of characters. I can still recall minor characters he created that were so horribly wonderful. Poe, Bloch, Matheson, Andrew Vachss and Stuart Woods were a few whose style influenced me. I'm a minimalist -- heavy on character and plot, but when it comes to setting I only explain in depth what is important. A car is a car (with maybe a color). An apartment is often "bare" or "sparsely furnished" because when I read a book, I skip over those elements. I want to get to the characters and the plot. What I loved about Poe was that you created the character in your mind. He seldom told what they looked like and often didn't use names. And when he discussed a scene, you KNEW it would be important later.

I was also influenced by Dean Koontz, who was able to combine genres so wonderfully. And F. Paul Wilson was one of the first writers I read who ended a novel on a downer. In some of his books he so politically incorrect that I couldn't get enough of him. I feel that there are few people who are black or white -- most people are shades of gray. Serial killers, for example, for the most part lead what would be considered normal lives. When they are caught, neighbors are flabbergasted. My characters are multi-layered. The protagonists have warts and the antagonists can engender sympathy. In one of my stand alone books (BORN BAD which I believe Leisure will publish after EYES OF PREY), I have a truly villainous character. I let my children read all of my books and they emphathized with her -- which is what I wanted. Yes, she is vile and she does terrible things, but I didn't want to make her a stock character. I wanted to bring her to life and garner some sympathy for her.

What do your kids think of having a novelist in their midst?

My kids are proud of their old man. They know I'm a bit warped in my writing, but they seem to enjoy the characters and the plot. And, it doesn't hurt that I add touches of my children in all my books. There are any number of humorous incidents (and some not so humorous) that happened to them that make their way into my books. Just ask my youngest daughter about the fish, or a characters love of mustard (which she detests).

What's next?

I've already written two books in what I now call the EYES series (which poses a problem in and of itself. Each of the titles of those books has to have the word EYE(S) in the title. It can be a real pain in the ass. After the sequel, I wrote three stand alone books, but every so often I was drawn back to this one character from HUNGRY EYES. She's such a powerful character. I THOUGHT and PLANNED to tell EVERYTHING about her in the two books. That's why I liked the stand alone novels. I could create totally new characters and tell EVERYTHING I wanted about them.

Yet, after my third stand alone book, I felt in a bit of a rut. I wanted th change genres (or at least mix genres). I wanted to add some supernatural, a la Koontz to the mystery/thriller. I'd done a bit of that in my stand alone books, but I wanted to explore that area more fully. And, the more I thought about this one character the more I felt I'd left out something very important in her development. So, I HAD something to say about her. And, I also had an idea for a fourth book in the series. There are two ways I feel you can keep a series vibrant and alive. If the central character becomes a stock figure, the series dies. One way is to focus on another character, with the series main character playing a lesser role. I did that in EYES OF PREY. The other way is to change genres. In the third and fourth books of the series, there will be more of a supernatural twist.

And, with each book in the series, new characters emerge to become part of a "family" of mine. I can see some of these characters as leads in a book, with the central series character playing a more subordinate role -- yet, being such a strong character she seems to muscle her way in at the most inopportune (or opportune) times. At the moment, I want to play with this series, but I could easily work on another stand alone novel.

EYES OF PREY will be released in September 1999 by Leisure, and as I said, they want to publish my first stand alone book after, so I'm not typecast. And, the last stand alone novel I wrote COULD have a sequel. Lastly, there's no reason why characters from my EYES series couldn't "meet" characters of my stand alone books. They all take place in Philly and all of my stand alone novels involve the homicide unit of the Philadelphia police department.

How can your readers get in touch with you?

Readers can get in touch with me two ways. First, there is my website:
http://www.gauntletpress.com
The website has chapters from each of my two books, an interview that was conducted about six months ago, as well as material about my magazine and the other books I publish. For instance, it lists a book tour I'll be starting in mid-October. I'm off to Colorado October 13, then off to Boston October 23, in the Philly area all of November and then to Perdue the first weekend in December (see any hidden agenda there?). I'll also be in New York at the Chiller Convention Halloween weekend.

And, readers can contact me via email at gauntlet66@aol.com

On my website are various contests. I had one where readers chose the cover for the hardcover of EYES OF PREY. And, I will be having a contest to name the third EYES book. Starting in November, readers can suggest titles. Both the editor at Leisure and I will whittle the ones received down to ten or so and see which readers like the best. At some point I may have readers pose questions to one of the characters in my EYES series, and write the answers from her POV. I very much want feedback from readers. I've told one reader that in the fourth book in the series one character who has run his/her course may be bumped off because that allows me to explore that character in a way I couldn't do when he/she was alive. That person is already trying to figure out who's going to buy the farm. I enjoy staying in touch with my readers and seeing what they like best (least) about my work.

Thanks, Barry, and best of luck! Readers, check out our review of Hungry Eyes.

October 12, 1998