Interview
with John Robinson
I
ran across John Robinson when I was struggling with
my first novel. John had the same problems and we both
belonged to the same internet forum dedicated to dealing
with publisher issues. We seemed to have a lot in common
back then and still do. We’ve remained friends
over the last decade in spite of never meeting in person.
John has been married to Barb for forty years and they
have two grown sons and a couple of grandchildren. John
is a powerful writer with a captivating style. His books
are... Until the Last Dog Dies, When
Skylarks Fall, To Skin a Cat (Joe Box Christian
mysteries). The Radiance (Sci-fi), Last
Call (Thriller), Pitfall (John Brenner - soldier
of fortune). Here’s our conversation.
Dennis:
How long have you been writing?
John:
It was New Years Day, 1999, and I was watching one of
the bowl games on TV when suddenly I started seeing
something different on the screen. Don’t laugh,
but it was almost like watching a movie. During that
I was unaware of the passing of time. When I roused
myself I found only a few minutes had passed, but amazingly
I had the entire plot of my apocalypse-with-a-twist
novel Last Call completely lined up in my head;
it was then just a matter of writing it down and editing
it. That process took about a year. Finding a house
that would take such a controversial novel proved to
be a challenge, though, and it wasn’t until 2008
that it was sold to Sheaf House Publishers, and it came
out in 2010. When it went out of print last year I re-published
it on Kindle. During those intervening years I wrote
and sold the Joe Box novels, and began the John Brenner
series.
Dennis:
What made you settle on writing mysteries?
John:
I’ve always been a curious sort, and I’m
intrigued not only by the “who” of a crime,
but also the “why.”
Dennis:
Do you consider yourself the author of strictly Christian
mysteries?
John:
Not anymore. Once I finished the Joe Box series for
the CBA, my agent and I decided that genre was too confining
for what I was stretching for; thus the John Brenner
series was birthed.
Dennis:
Explain the Christian mystery genre.
John:
About the best I can do is try to explain what I was
attempting with Joe Box. Joe’s a Vietnam vet and
former Cincinnati cop, now working as a down-at-the-heels
private investigator. In the first story he’s
just recently come to the Lord, but given his violent
past he’s not really sure how, or if, it’s
going to work out for him. He’s a Cincinnati resident,
an unwillingly transplanted Southerner with a strong
code of honor and an almost pathological need to right
wrongs, but he also has a dark side and a sarcastic
mouth. To my knowledge Joe’s an anomaly in the
CBA, and was a real kick to write
Dennis:
Was there a particular writer who influenced your style?
John:
I would have to be Robert Crais. I love his Elvis Cole
character, as well as Cole’s taciturn sidekick
Joe Pike.
Dennis:
What do you do when you’re not writing books?
John:
My fulltime job keeps me pretty busy. Beyond that, I’m
an inveterate reader.
Dennis:
Tell us a little about you.
John:
I’ve been married for forty years to my lovely
and longsuffering wife Barb. We have two grown sons
(one of them married, a missionary with a family of
his own), and a little daughter waiting for us in heaven,
and probably driving Saint Peter to distraction. For
the conspiracy theorists among us (and you know who
you are), I’m director of business development
for a large company that does medical contracting work
for the military and the federal government. My favorite
movie is Open Range, my favorite musical is
The Phantom of the Opera, my favorite band
is Yes, my favorite color is blue, and my favorite meal
is country ham, greens beans with fatback, cathead biscuits
with clover honey, spoonbread, chocolate pie, and good,
but not great, coffee. Due to a brain injury when I
was nine I’m dyslexic, and can only type with
my thumbs and index fingers. I also have syndactyly,
giving me webbed toes. Now, aren’t you glad you’ve
read this far? I know I am! As a boy I was reared in
a denominational church, but it never really took. By
the time I’d entered high school I’d become
a secret, hardcore atheist—the secret part being
Southern boys from nice Christian homes outwardly have
to show at least the letter of piety, if not the law—wink,
wink, nudge nudge. I had no idea as a high school geek
my dark mindset would change in just a few years, and
in a big way.
Dennis:
This is your space to talk about anything you’d
like.
John:
There’s a story I once heard about Winston Churchill.
The time was either the late fifties or early sixties,
and by then Churchill was quite elderly when he was
asked to give the commencement address for a large university.
The
day came, and the auditorium was packed with students
and alumni wanting to hear strong words of wisdom from
the man who’d basically saved Britain during the
darkest days the country had ever known. Slowly Sir
Winston took the platform. Standing behind the podium,
he gazed out at the sea of faces.
Then
setting his famous bulldog jaw, he ground out these
words: “Never give up. Never, never, never, never
give up.” He fixed them with a gaze of iron. “Never.”
Then
he sat down. And the place erupted in praise.
That’s
what I try to tell people: “never give up.”
Just that.
|