Interview with Dobbsy

There's an all new interview with myself HERE - where you can find out a little more about the mysterious Vincent Stark. I very much enjoyed talking with the lovely Morgen Bailey - check out her website for scores of writer interviews.

Stark Intentions

Take from Scary Motherfucker - the blog of horror writer, Vincent Stark HERE

I am a professional writer – ie, I make my living, or at least a chunk of it from my keyboard. This July will see the publication of my fourth book, my third with Robert Hale LTD – The Ballad of Delta Rose by Jack Martin. Yep I’ve previously written and continue to write westerns. I’ve had some success with these books and next year my first novel The Tarnished Star is to be filmed by Burn Hand Films under the title, LawMaster. And speaking of Burn Hand I recently took a part (and was slaughtered) in the forthcoming horror pic, The Reverend, but that’s another story…and one I’ll talk about another time. Director Neil Jones is also the man who will preside over the LawMaster movie.

And although I am a western writer, man I love that genre, I am first and foremost a WRITER. And I’ve written under my own name Gary M. Dobbs in the crime genre – my take on the Jack the Ripper story, A Policeman’s lot is available in eBook now and soon in print from Solstice Publishing.

You see a writer writes and the genre is irrelevant, but I knew, when an idea for a horror story started developing in my mind, that I would need to create another pen name for my work in the genre. Hence Vincent Stark which I got from mixing Vincent Price with hardboiled writer Richard Stark. I like the idea of pen names – Gary Dobbs is Jack Martin is Vincent Stark.


And the name Vincent Stark will look good gracing the lurid cover of a horror thriller.

Jack the Ripper and the Wild West - new audio interview

I've just been interviewed by the lovely Morgen Bailey for her popular podcast Bailey's Writing Tips - The main subject was my novel, A Policeman's lot but we also took in Delta Rose and the forthcoming movie, based on my work, LawMaster - find the audio interview over on Morgen Bailey's blog,


The direct link to the show is HERE but check out Morgen;s blog, for links to loads of other interviews as well as interesting content. It's a valuable resource for writers both new and seasoned.

The interview is available as part of the Bailey's Writing Tips Podcast via iTunes or whatever podcast platform you use - you can also subscribe to the podcast HERE. Morgen's website is HERE

The interview took place via Skype this evening and we had some sound interference along the way so apologies in advance for that and I hope it doesn’t detract from your enjoyment of the episode.

Jack the Ripper's Back!!!

London 1888

A string of brutal murders

A sensationalist press campaign

This sordid and brutal affair has become part of folklore, Jack the Ripper is seen as a cross between Dr Jekyll and Dracula and the poor women who perished at the hands of the unknown killer, real flesh and blood people, have become generic prostitutes, Victorian white trash, in the mish-mash of fact and fiction. Over the years various theories have been put forward as to the identity of the killer who glides, vampiric cape aflutter, through our consciousness on a miasmal cloud - some have been plausible, others have been laughable.

Lewis Carrol and Arthur Conan Doyle are just two of the most ridiculous subjects put forward as the Ripper.

There are people who have devoted much of their lives to the study of the case - Ripperologists they call themselves and as a collective they are responsible for much of the learned and studious, as well as some of the most bizarre, books on the subject.

Jack has been claimed by the media and treated as any of the villains of Gothic literature - movies have played with the story, Jack has faced off against Sherlock Holmes and Billy the Kid as well as showing up in HBO's excellent, much missed, Deadwood. In comic books the prototype serial killer has become something of a super hero hunting down Victorian vampires. And go into any fancy dress shop and you can get a Naughty Nurse -, er sorry, a Jack the Ripper costume. For an anonymous killer we seem to have a good idea what he looked like.

Currently available my debut mystery/crime novel, A Policeman's Lot published by Solstice Publishing offers yet another take on the Ripper story. And I'm not alone - many writers have used the Ripper within their fiction.

So what is it about the Ripper that makes it okay for us to create fictions around the character?

We would never dream of writing a novel intended to entertain around the likes of Ted Bundy or Fred West, and yet is there a difference? Does the fact that the Ripper killings were never solved make it morally okay to build entertainments around what were, in reality, a brutally cruel series of killings?

I don't know the answer to that.

These questions were very much in mind when I was writing the novel, but I did a lot of research into the crimes, read reams of documents, visited murder sites, almost broke my back carrying books from the library and spent two enjoyable days with a Ripper expert visiting what remains of the murder sites. I felt that if I was going to write this book then I needed to believe the theory the book gives to the identity of the killer and I really do.

In the novel we are introduced to Police Inspector Frank Parade - his beat is Pontypridd, a busy town in industrial South Wales that rests at the foot of both the coal rich Rhonnda and Cynon Valleys. The year is 1904 and the world famous Buffalo Bill's Wild West Circus is in town as part of its European tour. Parade is not impressed and finds Cody a braggard. Cody for his part feels very much the same.

‘We mostly shoot blank rounds of course,’ Cody said, ‘and when we do use live ammunition it’s usually nothing more than buck shot. Doesn’t go too far.’

‘Of course.’

‘And we don’t usually walk around armed. After all this isn’t the Wild West now.’

‘I’m pleased to hear it,’ Parade said with a wry smile. ‘I don’t think we could cope with a gunfight on Taff Street.’

Into this mix comes a grisly series of killings that have their origin in the London Whitechapel killings of 1888. Before the book is over the identity of the killer will finally be revealed, the case solved by a Welsh Policeman and an American legend.

Jenkins didn’t know what the town was coming to – there were policemen everywhere a person turned, and now there were cowboys and Indians riding about shooting people willy-nilly. It was fast becoming the Wild West around here.

The thing I'm most proud of here is that the theory given as to the Ripper's identity is unique, has never been put forward before and yet it's a name that has always been known to those familiar with the case. It also makes perfect sense and fits the known facts and what's more I don't know where it came from. It just developed in the writing and then in the research I found some uncanny details that fitted so well. Since completing the novel I have continued with my research into the killings and I believe now, more than ever, that I may actually have something here. But then I suppose any writer, trying to pimp interest in his book, would say that but honestly I really do...

Jack the Ripper
Case Closed
A Policeman's Lot

Available now - AMAZON, SMASHWORDS, BOOK DEPOSITORY, SOLSTICE PUBLISHING AND ANYWHERE EBOOKS ARE SOLD.



"Then the murders start up, involving a sixteen year old series of unexplained deaths. Throw in a thief, once arrested by Parade, who had threatened his life and had escaped prison by murdering a guard, a number of home break-ins, and superiors who want a fast, easy solution, and you have a fast moving novel that doesn't let up until the end.

And what an end." Author, Randy Johnson

RELATED HERE

Moronic teachers, the police state, Pontypridd and Jack the Ripper - Gary Dobbs Interview

The following interview was originally published in three parts on the excellent, Mack Captures Crime blog. It's the place to go to keep informed on all the happenings in the crime field - I very much enjoyed this interview and thought it would be cool to repost the whole thing on the Archive:

Please enjoy and thanks to Mack Lundy for the great interview

Gary Martin Dobbs is a Welshman living in Pontypridd, Wales, who writes novels set in the American west, who has appeared in Doctor Who, and who has just published an ebook that links Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and Jack the Ripper. Tell me this isn't someone you would like to know a bit more about. Gary graciously responded to my questions which appeared in his inbox whenever a thought struck me.

My interview questions focus primarily on Gary's ebook, A Policeman's Lot, which I reviewed here.

1) Your first two books are westerns (The Tarnished Star and Arkansas Smith. A Policeman's Lot has a western feel with Buffalo Bill's Wild Show figuring prominently. How does a Welsh boy like yourself come to be interested in the American west?

Gary - It all stems from my grandfather who was actually named Jack Martin - I think most men of his generation were weaned on stories of the Wild West, much of which was still there when he was born. I spent my childhood watching every western that was on television and reading my grandfather's western novels once he had finished with them. But I'm also very much an outdoors person and am not comfortable in big cities - give me the wide open spaces anyday and the western genre provides all that. I also don't much like the modern world and I think the western hero is someone who survives by his own skill and doesn't look to the state for support. Freedom and liberty are also very important to me and those values form the backbone of the western genre. It's just a pity they are being eroded in the modern world.

2) A Policeman's Lot is set in 1904 and Pontypridd, Wales is developing into an urban center but to me it still had a frontier feel about it. Was that a characteristic of Pontypridd at that the time? And how is Prontypridd pronounced?

Gary - Firstly I knew I would have to write about a historical police officer - before the days of DNA testing and offender profiling. I think the modern police have lost the respect we once held for them and that's mostly their own fault, over here in the UK they are harvesting DNA for the flimsiest of reasons and hoping the tests will turn up past crimes. Of course for the most part they don't and they end up with another innocent person on their database but that doesn't matter to them. The modern police are creating a culture of "us and them" and they will regret this in the end. In the UK we have a large number of civilian police officers, as far as I can see these are folk with a uniform fetish, and this gives the impression that there are more police about than there actually are. A couple of years ago two of these plastic bobbies, as we call them, failed to intervene when a child was drowning because they hadn't been trained to go into the water. No I could never write about modern policing.

Which leads me to Parade - the era interests me greatly and of course having Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show visiting was a major part of the plot so that fact along dictated the time. And Pontypridd was very much a frontier town in those days - situated beneath two valleys, the Rhondda and Cynon it was a busy town with a thriving and changing population. I love this town and aimed for it to almost become another character in A Policeman's Lot - I would love to do for Pontypridd what Colin Dexter did for Oxford and Raymond Chandler did for LA.

And Pontypridd is pronounced - Ponty - pri - th.

3) Frank Parade is a police inspector in his mid-thirties. Would that have been young for that position?

Gary - By modern stands Parade would probably be too young for the rank, an inspector would also not be in uniform. But in 1904 the regional forces were very much in their infancy and Parade's army service would have seem him easily attain that rank at such a young age.

Pontypridd

4)A Policeman's Lot has three themes: The life of a policeman in South Wales around the turn of the century; Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show; and the Jack the Ripper solution. Was one of them the starting point?

Gary - Buffalo Bill was but initially Jack the Ripper wasn't a factor and the novel was concerned with a more run of the mill series of murders, but shortly after starting the book I dreamt the entire Ripper plot. I woke up one morning and it was fully formed in my head and when I started checking the facts I found that the theory in the book made perfect sense.

5) Related to question 4, and without revealing any spoilers, how did you happen upon the Jack the Ripper connection?

Gary - There are many people who have devoted their lives to the Ripper case - Ripperologists they call themselves, and no doubt many will rubbish my book. But I say prove otherwise. The case had always interested me and I've always felt the key is in the last murder. In fact I find it hard to understand why that murder was even considered a Ripper killing. The M-O was different to the other killings and the mutilation was horrendous, almost as if someone was trying to hide the identity of the victim. Who and why, I asked myself and found that this new theory of mine, which as far as I know is quite unique, makes perfect sense. Have I come up with an answer to the crimes? Well it makes more sense than the popular Royal Family theory which can be so easily disproved. I mean when you consider the fact that there were actually sightings of the final so called victim after she was dead, then the premise of the novel doesn't seem so fantastic.

6) Are there western and mystery/crime writers that influenced you?

Gary - Louis L'amour is a massive influence, as is Elmer Kelton and Elmore Leonard. I also idolise British western writer George Gilman, AKA Terry Harknet who wrote the hugely popular Edge series. Many of the writers publishing with the UK's Black Horse house, a publisher who also carry my Jack Martin westerns, are superb and are keeping the genre alive over here in the UK. I can't name any of these guys for fear of leaving anyone out. I think the perfect western would have the characterisation of Elmer Kelton, the feel of Louis L'amour and the pace of George G. Gilman - I hope to one day write that book.

Crime is another favourite genre and I love the old American hardboiled stuff - Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane may seem widely differing writers but I love them both. And I recently read The Postman always rings twice by James Cain for the first time and was blown away. Richard Stark is another writer I love for his tough prose style and I think Parker is an awesome creation. Of the Brit crime writers - Ruth Rendell is someone who I love for her plotting and characters, and Ian Rankin created a modern classic with his Rebus series. Peter Robinson's excellent Banks series is also a huge influence. But overall I think I prefer American crime writing and would love to master the art of writing UK crime with the pace and style of American novels. But I think that I am influenced in some small way by everything I read, maybe all writers are. Which proves the adage that the most important thing one needs to become a writer is a voracious appetite for reading.

7) Will we see more of Frank Parade? This is a direct solicitation by the way, he's an excellent character who can be taken far.

Gary - Parade will return - at the moment I am working on a second Arkansas Smith novel and together with the forthcoming Ballad of Delta Rose I will be two westerns in hand. So I plan to take a good year over the next Parade book as the plot is pretty complex. They will all be back, though - Davies, Oakdale and Sweaty Betty. I can't promise Buffalo Bill or Jack the Ripper next time out, though.

8) You write historical fiction and A Policeman's Lot excels in giving the reader a feel for what the time and place would have been like. How do you go about researching your books?

Gary - I thank you for that - making Ponty, as we locals call it, seem real was very important to me. I wanted in some way to recreate the town as it once was as a kind of tribute to the hard-working people who lived and died there. Much of the research was done at the local library but Ponty has a great museum, the staff of which were very helpful. And if you look hard enough the history is still there to be seen. I'm always talking to older people and they are great at providing information and little snippets of colour about a way of life that is sadly gone.

9) The spelling and some phrasing have been Americanized, or as you would have written, Americanised. Do you think this makes the A Policeman's Lot more accessible to Americans?

Gary - Personally I think the book should have stuck with the British version, it is after all a Brit set crime novel. However I understand and respect my publisher's decision - we are after all two cultures divided by a common language. And besides I think American spelling is more logical, it's certainly more phonetic. I mean jail and gaol. But the English language is a beautiful living thing that is always adapting. On the differences between UK and US punctuation - this is a pain in the butt and I don't understand why it is so. We should adopt a common system.


10)A Policeman's Lot was published in ebook format. What do you think about ebooks and their effect on publishing.

Gary - I think that eBooks will change the way we read. And I also see that as the market stabilises they provide a great way to bring long out of print mid-range fiction back into print. More and more libraries over here in the UK are starting to offer eBooks and even the Luddites out there are having to admit that there is a great sea change coming. I'm pleased that A Policeman's Lot can be read on so many different devices - it looks great on an iPhone for instance. And although it is still early days for the medium I think it is about to explode into the mainstream and sooner rather than later.

11) I learned about A Policeman's Lot through your blog, The Tainted Archive. You are also on Facebook and Twitter. Do you think that social media is changing how books are publicized and the author's role in publicity? If so, how do the demands to promote your books affect your writing?

Gary - These days I do believe the author's own publicity is paramount and social networking and blogs are a great way of doing this. Of course The Tainted Archive exists largely to publicise my own books but if I simply wrote about my own stuff readers would turn away, which is why I try and make the Archive into an interesting online magazine that people will want to read and keep reading. I put a lot of work into maintaining the site - themed weekends, special initiative etc and posting whatever news I think will interest my readers. I enjoy the Archive and am proud of its standing in the blogosphere. I will, of course, continue to push my own books but others too. And as for the demand of the Archive affecting my writing - I think it does but in a good way. I look at the Archive as a work in progress and I sometimes rush posts to get them out there, not worrying too much about the odd mistake. A blog does not have to be perfectly grammatical - it's a great way though to develop discipline. For instance today I've just returned from twelve hours on set and I intend to place up a few posts later and that's besides the other work I have to do - I guess I'm a workaholic and am never happier than when grafting. Something that me and Frank Parade have in common.

11) I can't leave this interview without asking about your acting. I'm a bit of a Whovian and am envious that you were in the presence of the Doctor, Martha Jones, the Daleks, and you had your photo taken in the Tardis! Tell us about you as a performer.

Wouldn't he make a cool Doctor?

Gary - I've always been interested in acting and any kind of performing - I've done a good amount of stand up comedy and that led to appearing as an extra in TV and film in order to raise some extra cash which is always handy. And I'm always going for any auditions I hear about - often I'm just a bit of the background but sometimes I get the odd line or a piece of action. Doctor Who was great - this was the two part Daleks in Manhattan episode with David Tennant as the timelord. Can't praise him enough - in terms of performance or as a person. It was also great facing off against the iconic monsters. Torchwood was a bizarre experience - I actually did three episodes of that series and enjoyed every minute of it, well apart from filming in the freezing cold and rain all night.  The SF/Fantasy shows are great fun to work on but it is hard work, long days and much discomfort. 

12). Is there anything you would like to tell us about yourself, personal or how you go about writing?

Gary - I grew up in the seventies and had no schooling to talk about - everything I learned I learned from reading. Incidentally my mother taught me to read, I think the school gave up on me. And ever since I started reading I have also been writing, it's something I have to do. I was a solitary child and lived much of my life within my imagination - it's not something I can switch off. I write simply because I have to write. And besides the fact that I write at all is quite remarkable given that my teachers were morons and too busy trying to ram algebra down my throat instead of encouraging creative growth.

Giving it away

I'm always pushing my books on this site, sometimes sneaking in the odd mention in the middle of an article, more often going all in-yer-face with, "hey, buy this book." And even, on times, resorting to begging - oh please, please buy this book...

But I thought I'd do something different and push my fiction that is available for FREE online - You'll find links to it all in the right hand sidebar. There are two Jack Martin westerns out there, A Man Called Masters and The Devil's Right Hand. And there's also a mish mash of stuff written as Gary Dobbs - from the urban hardboiled crime of  Loose Ends, Rhondda Lives, Rhondda Lovebite and The Man with the Sun in his Eyes. To the horror of Cissie's Heebie Jeebies and the bizarre something of, The Way to a Man's Heart , Happiness is a Warm Gun and 614

And so there we are, some shameless plugging for free stuff - course that does allow me to say, if you like any of these stories then how about buying...... CENSORED

Interview - iJack takes to the range

I love the punky philosophy behind podcasts - do it yourself and cut out the corporations who have ,until the empowering nature of the Internet, controlled our media. There are as many bad podcasts out there as there are good, but the best podcasts can stand shoulder to shoulder with any professionally produced media and are often more entertaining. They have no advertisers to answer to, no controllers setting the agenda but are produced out of sheer love for the subjects they cover.

One  podcast I never miss an episode of is Bailey's Writing Tips and I was pleased to step into Jack Martin mode for an interview with host, Morgen Bailey - the episode can be heard through iTunes or via Google Feeds  HERE. Check it out for some great western chat and news of a certain western movie which is in the very early stages of development.

Arkansas Smith continues to ride the range

There's a new review my novel Arkansas Smith over on Bloggincurly - HERE

"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this western, the second by Mr. Martin/Dobbs, the first being The Tarnished Star, and would recomnend it without a second thought. It carries you right along, and before you know it,  you've read the the whole thing and want more."

Jack the Ripper: The Solution

London 1888

A series of brutal murders have the city terrified and the police baffled.

The murders have never been solved.

UNTIL NOW

Think you know the Jack the Ripper story?
Think again!

Inspector Frank Parade carries out his daily duties in the Welsh industrial town of Pontypridd, duties complicated by the unprecedented presence of 500 members of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show encamped outside the town, not to mention the thousands attending the show every day. A series of depraved murders quickly makes things even more complicated. Buffalo Bill stands squarely in his path when Parade tries to investigate the likely possibility that one of the hundreds of show members is involved. And soon enough Parade’s own superiors are blocking his inquires, too. Still more deaths occur as Parade sifts through the thin evidence available and finds a trail that may lead to the perpetrator of the most heinous crime of the 19th Century—London’s “Ripper” murders.

Shocking revelations come thick and fast.

http://www.amazon.com/A-Policemans-Lot-ebook/dp/B003T0G1SS

The greatest criminal mystery in history is about to be solved by a Welsh copper and an American Legend.

Five star rated on Amazon and Good Reads

A POLICEMAN'S LOT NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON UK KINDLE STORE

The eBook is now available on Amazon UK as well as the US site.

Read a free extract HERE


Visit the POLICEMAN'S LOT WEBSITE


Read the reviews on Good Reads


A fine turn of the century police procedural.

Inspector Frank Parade Of the Welsh town of Pontypridd heads a two man force. Law enforcement is tough enough, but now he has the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show set up outside of town, drawing thousands of people to the shows.

To top that off, murders start to happen, people with their throats cut wide open. A thief he'd arrested once had broke out of prison, killing a guard, and had sworn vengeance. A series of home thefts were ...more

I'm going to be ill next week...AND HERE'S THE NEW DOCTOR WHO

My first acting gig of 2009 has finally come in - I've a small bit in the BBC's Casualty - one day filming as a patient but hey's it's work. I mean I get to lay in bed looking ill (which some would say is my strongest skill) and get paid for it.

The Pic here is my new publicity pic - I was going for the mean moody geezer look...I think.


Wanted to comment on the new Dr Who

Matt Smith, 26 years old....
He does seem rather young for the part - I was hoping they would have gone back to the days of a older doctor and picked me - but then Peter Davidson was only 29 when he took the role and he was great - though, the actor when recently interviewed told the BBC that he still feels he was too young and would do it differently if playing the part these days.

David Tennant is a hard act to follow and Matt Smith has his work cut out - but fingers crossed, young or not the actor certainly looks the part and is definately a talented performer.

The Tainted Archive is rooting for you.



(Pictured left - Guess, this is as close as I'll ever get. Me on the TARDIS bridge during filming in 2006)


Also Doctor Who related and for UK readers.

Across it's massive range of stores that seem to stretch all over the UK - Tesco are offering a box set of four doctor who paperbacks for the sum of £5

Good Value but what is of interest to Tainted Archive readers is that one of the books Peacemaker by James Swallow is a Western.
The other titles are The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier, Revenge of the Judoon by Terrance Dicks and Wishing Well by Trevor Baxendale.

Expect an archive review of Peacemaker soon.