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This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Ric Wasley, the author of the exciting and suspenseful Shadow of Innocence, book two in the McCarthy Mystery Series. Ric talks about how the "psychedlic 60''s" influenced his work. ~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Ric Wasley -- writer, musician, reformed biker, downhill and x-country skiier, ex-waterskiier, home brewer (and cosumer of)and working hard to bring his golf score under 90
Cheryl Kaye Tardif: What inspired you to write Shadow of Innocence?
Ric Wasley: Shadow was actually the second book in the McCarthy Mystery Series and the idea for the story had been in my head since the first book. In fact, I blocked out all five mysteries before I started to write the series. The inspiration for Shadow and the series grew out of my first abortive attempt to write about all the excitement, energy and music of the ‘psychedelic 60’s’.
I thought that I’d hit upon the perfect way to tell that story. By recounting it through the eyes of someone who had firsthand experience. Someone who played folk music with Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and Rock & Roll as the opening band for the Kingsman. Someone whose photo appeared on the front page of the Village Voice at a Love-in at Washington Park. They snapped the photo as he danced with a swirling paisley clad pixie with long blond hair that swirled around her like ribbons on a maypole. A young man who roamed the country on a motorcycle with his guitar and a sleeping bag.
Sounds like a pretty good idea for a book, right? I thought so. And so did my first agent until he read it through a couple of times.
“I’ve got one question for you,” he growled at me late one night. “Is this all about you?”
“‘Tis,” I admitted.
“And are you famous?” he snarled.
“Not yet.”
“Then,” he told me with some unfathomable degree of satisfaction, “nobody gives a crap about your life.”
My ego gave off little squishing sounds as I picked the pieces up off the floor. As I was being admonished not to let the door hit me on the way out, he called after me, “Too bad you’re not – lots of good stuff about the 60’s in this.” He shook my ‘unfamous’ manuscript like a handful of pennies in some beggars tin cup.
But was I confounded by such rejection. Did I use that setback as a catalyst for success? Did I go home that very night and pour all of the frustrations into creating a brand new series that would make fictional use of all of my great 60’s experiences? Did I turn out a set of novels that raced up the NYT bestseller list? And is Hollywood now hammering at my door with offers to turn the ‘McCarthy Family Mystery” series into an HBO special?
Well, in a word – no.
I actually went home and drank and muttered about perfidious agents (which I recommend by the way – drinking and muttering – very therapeutic). But after that ran its course I did decide to use all of those first-hand experiences to create a new mystery series that would make use of all that. Thus my protagonist, Michael Prescott McCarthy – Mick, a motorcycle riding, ex-Harvard undergrad, ex-Vietnam Vet, musician, lover of free-spirited young ladies and part time detective – was born.
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Read the rest of the interview at:
Click here
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CKT: What is your website URL? And please list any blogs you have too.
RW:
You can buy Shadow of Innocence at any bookstore or online retailer, including Click here.
~Click here is TV, film and book critic, freelance journalist, plus the bestselling author of Click here, “a cross between Michael Crichton's Timeline and Dan Brown's Angels & Demons
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