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- An Interview with
- Memphis Author
- Bob Levy
- by Robert L. Hall
I love to see a local
author come out with a new, exciting book.
It is particularly refreshing to see him deluged with friends and
fans alike that support his work on television and in the newspaper.
I saw both this week in the media.
Then, to clinch everything, I get a call from my sister, Debbie,
who works in a library.
Sis: “Have
you tried to contact Bob Levy yet?”
Me: “Uh,
no. I’ve been a little
busy. . .”
Sis: “Well,
he’s out with a new book. Isn’t
that what you do? Interview
people who
have written new books?”
Me:
“Well, yeah – you know that.”
Sis: “So,
what’s the problem?”
Me:
“I’m on that.”
Sis: “Okay.
Bye!” (The phone slams down in my ear.)
So, okay.
Here’s what I found out about Bob.
Bob Levy is a retailer
with Oak Hall, specialty-clothing store founded by his
great-great-grandfather in Memphis, Tennessee in 1859.
He graduated from the University of Virginia with a business
degree. He is also the author
of From the Coin’s Point of View,
a Roman history/short story collection.
He is at work on his second novel.
He is married, with two boys – one in college and one in junior
high.
Bob,
how long have you been writing and how did you get started?
Eleven years.
I wrote a series of ancient Roman historical short stories for the
ancient history magazine, The Celator, from 1989 through 1992.
They were published in the monthly periodical at the rate of about
three per year. In 1992, the magazine editor inquired if I would like to see
the articles compiled in hardcover. I
jumped at the chance. I added
lots of historical reference material and From
the Coin’s Point of View was published in 1993 as a coffee table
size hardcover, taking its name from my magazine column’s heading.
Just as the book was about to come out, I got an idea for a novel.
. .
My experiences with
agents read like your average writer’s: rejection, rejection, rejection!
One in particular (a form letter of course) stood out.
Dear
Author,
We thank
you but cannot answer personally. Last
year we received 4,300 queries. Of
those, we asked to see 12 manuscripts.
Of those 12, we signed 2 new writers.
Nothing like a cold
dose of reality is there?
I finally did land a good New York agent for Broken
Hearts in January, 1999. I
had heard that after 3 weeks an agent would just as soon drop you if your
novel hasn’t sold. That
wasn’t my case. I lasted
through eleven rejections before I was told it would be best if we
“parted ways” seven months later in August, 1999.
Back to the drawing board! I
queried thirty small and mid-size publishers.
Two showed interest immediately.
I signed on within two weeks.
Best choice I ever made. My
publisher is a prince of a guy.
As
a clothier in a long-time Memphis store, you must have some funny stories
about some of the goings-on at the store.
Can you share an incident or two?
At Oak Hall (the
store’s name) about ten years ago, we had an old rustic, “Fall is
Coming” scene with old wood and leaves on top of an eight-foot tall
display top island. One
morning I noticed spider webs glistening from the ceiling to the top of
the display with hundreds of baby spiders marching downward.
I picked up the piece of old wood, which evidently had housed the
problem. I wafted away the
web and took the spiders en masse on the wood to be “executed” with a healthy dose of Raid outside. When
I went back outside to inspect the spider death camp, I slipped on the
“Wet from Raid” sidewalk and broke a bone in my hand.
Not really a funny incident, but a memorable one. At least I didn’t break my writing hand.
(I can’t type. I use the Shelby Foote method – writing in yellow legal
pads.)
Why
go to fiction instead of another non-fiction book?
Easy.
I had characters in my head that had
to get out.
Give
us the story line in your mystery (serial killer) book without giving too
much of the plot away. (You
might want to sell them.)
The dust jacket on Broken
Hearts says it all:
The man had killed
ten women across Virginia and Tennessee and was electrocuted for his
crimes back in the late fifties. But
he had left a cryptic message scratched on his death cell wall for his
captor, detective Joe O’Riley, whose young wife had been the
criminal’s final victim.
Now, decades later,
another string of murders are working their way across the same two
states, taking place in the very same old movie theaters.
Expertly applied makeup leaves each victim resembling a different
screen star from the fifties era. This
evolving trail of death both horrifies and intrigues the now-retired
Memphis Chief of Police, O’Riley.
His investigative fire is rekindled just as his love life returns
–dormant since the death of his wife those many years ago.
The striking
similarity of the crimes, along with clues left at the crime scenes,
baffle the police, the medical examiner, and O’Riley.
Could this be a copycat? Or
is the perpetrator’s identity more sinister?
A cat-and-mouse game between police and killer quickly escalates
as the murders continue and once again, the love of O’Riley’s life
is planted firmly in the killer’s path.
Tell
us some of the traits and/or forces at work on your main protagonist in
the story.
Joe O’Riley is
restless in retirement and has unresolved guilt over his first wife’s
death. He is generally old
school in thought and action, kindhearted but gruff and realistic in his
actions. He is a man in his
mid-sixties and unable to “leap tall buildings in a single bound.”
In his case, he is unable to apprehend criminals half his age
without help from others.
What
types of characters do you most like to write about, Bob?
I don’t go so much
for traits as I do for one overriding factor: I want there to be some
measure of love in my books. Not
like in a Romance Novel, but a genuine feeling of love between two people
or a group of people. Could
be love between a man and woman, love between good friends, a mother or
father’s love for their son or daughter or vice-versa.
Are
you a plot outliner or a character-driven writer?
Plot outliner.
Not necessarily in order, but its got to be like a puzzle that
slowly fits together somehow.
What
about your style do you think makes you unique?
I’m clueless as to
what my style is. Writing,
that is. If I take that
question from the standpoint of me as a clothier, I’d say my style of
dress makes me fairly unique in the world of authors.
I enjoy wearing a coat
and tie. Braces, too. You can say I’m unique as one of the best-dressed authors
around. I have to be!
It’s my daily business and I love it.
What
authors have influenced you? What
type books do you read?
Some of my favorites
are William Faulkner (The Reivers),
Ernest Hemingway (The Old Man and
the Sea), Stephen King (The
Shining), John Grisham ( A Time
to Kill), Hunter S. Thompson (Fear
and Loathing in Las Vegas), and Bruce Springsteen, (Every song of his
is a short story to me.)
How
does Memphis and the South influence your writing?
Write what you know.
I know Memphis, past and present.
I’ve lived here my whole life, other than four years in
Charlottesville, Virginia while at the University of Virginia.
(That too is in the South and is part of Broken
Hearts.)
What
are your current book projects?
Another O’Riley tale
(if he lives through Broken Hearts.)
What
do you see yourself writing down the road in several years?
I would
like to do a short literary novella that my regular readers probably
won’t like, but Oprah would love! Sometimes you just can’t
win. . .
Bibliography
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