~Post by MysteryPeople Crime Fiction Coordinator Scott M.
Frank Bill’s Crimes In Southern Indiana has become one of my favorite books this year. A strong mix of visceral pulp and real blue collar life, these connected short stories work as a snapshot of people living on the edge in today’s rural America. No matter how heinous or funny the individual, Frank gives you a sense of their despair. He also knows how to stage a good gunfight. After some correspondence and this quick interview I did with him, Frank has gotten to be one of my favorite people.
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MysteryPeople: Many of these stories share the same characters. How did that come about?
Frank Bill: Originally the stories were connected by the region in which I live. When the book deal came along my editors had asked if I saw the stories being connected by region and character, like a novel of stories. I said sure. When the first round of edits came we worked on expanding more of the why’s and also connecting characters to others. Like connecting Jacque to the Hill Clan as a blood relative. Having Medford Malone be the shady salvage yard guy. Earleen being the dispatch in The Need and the wife in The Accident. And on the second round of edits and then the copy edits these things were becoming more and more clear to me so as I made these connections, the stories were getting stronger.
MP: There’s Daniel Woodrell, Ace Atkins’ new book The Ranger, the popularity of the TV show Justified, and now you. What do you think is drawing folks to the country side of crime?
FB: I think it has to do with a lot of things. One, the rural class or the working class grow up with such a great amount of history and a strong belief in family. They know where they come from. And they hear their fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers recollect these stories every day. They’re aware of their world, their oral history. They understand human tragedy and the struggles that make them human. The other thing is manliness or real men and women. You know, someone who can swing an axe, grow and roll his own smoke and frame a house. I mean my mother and grandmother could chop wood and skin a chicken. They don’t make women like that anymore. And when you read Woodrell, you know he’s put a lot of himself into his stories, pieces of his history. Same with Brown and Franklin. And that offers a realism that others can relate to.
MP: How does where you come from inform your work?
FB: I know the terrain and I know the people. My people are blue collar. Sometimes below that. They live hard and simple. Know how to survive. Southern Indiana is a beautiful region. But reading the local paper there is always a problem with meth, break-ins, crooked law enforcement, counterfeiting money, theft, you name it, it’s here. Those things offer more pulse for the area I write about.
MP: What do you think are some misconceptions about the midwest?
FB: That we’ere a bunch of backwoods hicks or white trash. Poor, undereducated. Sleep with our mothers and sisters. Take your pick. In reality, we’re just hardworking, down home people. We enjoy cold beer, whiskey, the UFC and a curvy brunette.
MP: I know you and Pike author Benjamin Whitmer are friends and at least in my mind kindred spirits. What do you see in his writing?
FB: The future. Ben is a helluva storyteller. Pike was one of those books I picked up and couldn’t put down. He writes dark, sparse descriptive sentences. He’s what Andrew Vachss would call a blood poet. I’ll call him a damn good friend.
MP: Like Ben, there’s an outlaw country vibe to your stories. There’s also a cinematic flair. Are there musicians and film director’s that influence you as much as authors?
FB: Music wise, I dig old country, roots or singer/songwriters, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, the Drive By Truckers, Hank III, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hayes Carll, James McMurtry, Todd Snider, Steve Earle, Waylon Jennings, Son House, Son Volt, Lucero, Scott H. Biram, Ryan Bingham, John Prine, R.L. Burnside, Sam Baker and a lot of others. Film, I dig Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo Arriaga, P.T. Anderson, Antoine Fuqua, Xavier Gens, Rob Zombie, Ray McKinnon. I like the old Eastwood westerns and films like Taxi Driver, Cool Hand Luke, Straw Dogs, The Getaway. TV shows like Deadwood, The Shield and Breaking Bad. Anything good and gritty.
MP: What should we be looking out for in the future from you?
FB: My second book from FSG, when the Mayan calendar ends in 2012 the Donnybrook begins. And I’m working on two new novels so we’ll see what happens.
MP: If you’d like to know Frank better check out his website and pick up Crimes in Southern Indiana.
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