J. S. James

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your hobbies and interests.

My wife, Carole and I get around. Minnesota, Utah, Tennessee, and now Washington. But my home state was Oregon, a great source from which to draw story ideas, settings and character descriptions. Water and dogs stand out for me as great fodder for stories, hence my website teaser “From words and water do mysteries flow.” Then again, dogs always figure somewhere into my storylines. By the way, if you don't know about Vizslas (a Hungarian pointing breed), you should. Our second is a real Lulu. Hence, her name (Lulu Longlegs). Once persecuted by the communists for being considered "the gift of kings," these sleek red dogs are making a steady comeback. Though gorgeous and loving, our version is a mischievous tease and a relentless exercise machine. My writing background is more academic and mundane. While I've written many grants to fund education projects, a few textbooks and several research articles, I now write purely for the fun of it. I chose not to self-publish and held out for a New York publisher. Crooked Lane Books was astute (translation: brave) enough to pick up, help me revamp and publish my first novel.

When and why did you start writing books?

My fascination with lying on paper began with oral story telling for a merit badge in the Boy Scouts, something about a burglar trying to escape the police from a bathroom window, only to get his foot stuck in a toilet with the seat up (a great source of mirth for ten-year-old’s). Later, when I wrote grants to fund projects in Education, my colleagues often suggested I was writing fiction. So now here I am, fully converted to a second career in prevarication.

What made you decide to tackle writing as a career?

Beyond teaching and student advisement, writing permeates most academic fields. Throughout my academic career in education, I wrote research articles, text books and projects in the publish-or-perish mode. All the while, I read fiction for the fun of it. Now, I write fiction for the fun of it.

Which one of your books or characters is your favourite?

In this first novel, RIVER RUN: A DELIA CHAVEZ MYSTERY, published by Crooked Lane Books, it has to be a toss-up between sheriff's detective Delia Chavez and Gus Grise, her conniving boss. As the orphaned daughter of a migrant Latinex family, She represents the grit and stamina of some of the most hard-working members of our society. Gus is pure corruption and a colorful antagonist, the kind a reader loves to hate.

Which one of your books was the hardest to write and stretched you the most as a writer?

RIVER RUN evolved over fifteen or so years from three stories (280, 000 or more words), and several completely different characters (one called The Riverine), settings and storylines. Delia emerged as the obvious choice to tell this story from her perspective after a colleague shocked me with the simple question, "Who am I supposed to root for?" The painstaking result was a tightly compacted action and suspense-driven 96,000 word unfolding of her career and personal struggles, secrets, and crime-solving talents.

Who is your favourite author and book?

At the risk of sounding cliche, I have to go with Harper Lee and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Her exquisite character crafting and the story's timeliness are hard to beat.

What book are you reading right now?

THE WITCH ELM by Tanya French. I'm halfway through and suspect I have the mystery solved. It will be interesting to see whether her tale's ending twists my tail.

Where do you get your inspiration for your books?

RIVER RUN had origins in my adventures and misadventures hunting and fishing in the Willamette Valley with my brother (e.g., you need to get dumped out of a boat only once to learn one of Nature's fundamental lessons). Also, my interest in joining with a writer’s program led to a short story, THE CONCENTRICS, inspired by an incident we experienced on the Columbia River with a pair of irate characters who thought they owned a public hunting blind (The worst way to conduct an argument is when parties on both sides carry loaded shotguns). The human elements of my stories were also inspired by personal experiences in a former career. Several years working with migrant families in the Yakima Valley provided a wealth of character development insight for the protagonist and the remnants of her family in this first novel. "La famila" is a major undercurrent that explains the source of Delia's fundamental fear of rivers. While RIVER RUN was a trial to write, my inspiration to continue writing stems from the good fortune of having the novel take first place in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s mystery/thriller category, and first runner up in the Crime Writers Association’s Debut Dagger contest. Nothing like peer accolades, even when greatly deferred.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

Driving the backroads with Carole in her Thunderbird, especially when the top's down. Hiking with Lulu, our inexhaustible Vizsla!

Do you have any new books in the works?

I'm currently working on a road mystery set in the 1960's that was inspired by wild times at Serra Catholic High School. In THE LONG TAIL, four misfit teenagers drive coastward to crash the class of ‘60 high school jocks’ senior skip day party and end up running for their lives down Highway 101. Bearing deep and not all invisible scars from private school angst and secrecy, Jim, Zelda, Ropo and Gerry abscond toward a fading sunset, packing church keys and enough beer to buy their way into the legendary surf side blowout. On their way to the Oregon beaches, they carelessly cut off a logging truck and kindle an avenger’s compulsion that casts a shadow the length of the Pacific Coast and turns their coming of age stories into tests of survival.