JB KOHL: There are actually two main characters with their own sets of issues. Dean Fokoli is the PI trying to redeem himself and Ray Ward is the guy trying to find his missing sister and seek justice.
ERIC BEETNER: Well, of course I'm going to say Ray Ward because he is the character who I write. The way we split things up is that we write alternating chapters in first person so "my" guy is Ray. We truly try to make it so that no one is more front and center, but if I had to choose it has been Ray that sparks the initial action of the books. That said, without Dean the stories would be too one-note from only Ray's POV. And I would read a standalone Dean Fokoli book in a second.
Which is most likely to happen first?
a) You two meet
b) Your characters kill each other off
c) You start exchanging mail bombs?
JBK: B--definitely. I don't see any mail bombs in our futures, nor do I see any possibility of us meeting. But I could certainly imagine scenarios in which our characters kill one another off. In fact . . . oh wait, never mind. I'm not supposed to talk about that.
EB: Hmmm, character's kill each other off, huh? I think we just found the plot of book #3! Mail bombs would never happen because we like working together too much, but at this point I'd put option B before us actually meeting. California to Virginia is a long damn way to travel!
Tell me three things about your co-author
JBK: He has more energy than a thousand hamsters on a thousand wheels. And he gets it without drinking coffee. I'm so jealous.
**He made both of our book trailers and designed the cover for Borrowed Trouble.
**He writes better action scenes than I do. But that's good, I think. It pushes me to write better action scenes than I normally would.
EB: She is a mother of three and much further along in that process than I am since she's got one in college already.
**The way she talks about where she lives I know must be an exaggeration, but I get the impression she lives in a cabin with an outhouse among the hill people where there is constantly banjo music in the background and feral hogs roam the woods. The fact that there is electricity and an internet connection is positively "big-city" of her. I'm sure in reality it's much less rugged.
**She went to medical school and has dissected a cadaver which makes her automatically ten points cooler than me.
How long can this series go?
JBK: Actually, we don't have any plans to continue this series. Our collaboration, however, continues. We've just started another book with fresh characters. I don't see us discontinuing our working relationship any time in the near future.
EB: It may be over already but I think it could go for quite a while. Both Jen and I don't like series that wear out their welcomes and a trilogy always has a nice round finish to it, but I can see going to five books. I doubt any more than that. What we're working on now is new and different. If the public demands it we will revisit these guys again in a heartbeat. They are each tortured enough to remain interesting and now, in Borrowed Trouble, we've proven they can travel outside of their home turf so anything is possible.
Finish this sentence: The central theme of our books is_____.
JBK: vengeance.
EB: . . . the fine line between justice and revenge.
Name: a) The highest compliment you've (collectively) received b) The harshest criticism
JBK: We did a blog interview last year and a person left a comment after reading our answers. She said our collaboration must be something like good musicians getting together to jam . . . just bouncing ideas and riffs off each other until it comes together. I can't remember which interview it was and I can't remember the exact words of the comment, but I found the comparison very flattering and the image has remained with me.
Hmm. The only criticism I can think of that was "harsh" was with regard to my character, Dean Fokoli. We were sending One Too Many Blows around trying to land a publisher or an agent. One agent was interested and asked for the manuscript. After reading it, she sent a note saying she really liked Ray Ward but that Fokoli was a caricature and not really much of a character. I still cringe when I think about that.
EB: Wow. I'd like to say the highest compliment are some of the blurbs we've gotten from other authors but that's too easy. For me I think both came in the same sentence. My aunt Terri read the books and she is, shall we say, NOT the target demographic for books this Noir. Her comment was, "They are just so well written. I'm really impressed. Terrible, awful things are happening. Just awful. But the writing is really good."
Your pairing most and least resemble:
a) Lennon & McCartney
b) Starsky & Hutch
c) Oscar & Felix
d) Jekyll & Hyde
e) Sonny & Cher
f) Sid & Nancy
g) Bonnie & Clyde
h) Coffee & Cigarettes
JBK: Most resembles Lennon & McCartney. We have similar "voices" and girls scream when they see us in public. Least like Felix & Oscar. When it comes to writing, we're both Felix, always after one another to clean something up.
EB: Most in book 2 - Lennon & McCartney, most in book 1 - Jekyll & Hyde, least in both books - Sid & Nancy
To see how they work on their own, check out The Deputy's Widow by JB Kohl or short stories like Ditch by Eric Beetner in Thuglit.
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction all by himself and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
