J.P.S. Brown Interview ( Pt 4 of 5 Pt) BORDER ISSUES

13) Tom Russell has written a terrific song called" Who's Gonna Build The Walls" which questions that if the illegals are sent home, who's gonna build the wall across the border. The state of Texas relies heavily on the illegals to work on their farms, as they provide cheap labor. Is there an answer to the immigrant issue? Shouldn't the real worry be that some terrorist is sneaking across that same border?

American business must need Mexican labor, or it would not risk what it does to hire Mexican labor.

One of my first jobs after I grew up and left the ranch on which I was raised was to work as a general assignment reporter for the El Paso Herald-Post. I also wrote its weekly farm and ranch page.

At that time, farmers and ranchers all along the border were subjected to the strictest, most stringent punishment for hiring illegal crossers. If caught in the act of using them, they were fined $20,000 or they went to jail. This was in 1953 and 1954. $20,000 was more than a life’s savings for a cotton farmer in the El Paso Valley.

Then, all of a sudden, someone admitted that we better let Mexican workers in, because they were drastically needed. Farmers and ranchers could not make it without them. A program was formed in which workers in Mexico were screened and documented and assigned to the American farms and ranches that needed them. They were able to stay in our country on the job for a certain time only, and then required to return to their homes in Mexico. However, their employers usually saw to their documentation so that they could return after their required rest in Mexico was over.

Overnight, the problem was solved. The Mexicans wanted to return to their homes and often found it difficult to stay on this side for the time required, but the program worked. It was called the Bracero program.

The solution to the problem of illegal crossers, be they drug traffickers or people who seek work, is the same to most border ranchers and farmers who depend on their land and cattle for a living. There are some border hotheads who call themselves ranchers and strut and arm themselves like John Wayne, but don’t ever see a cow turd dropped on their property and are against all immigrant labor. These people most of whom join or form Militia groups, have no need and no compassion for anyone, not even themselves. They only want to shout, “I’m a rancher. As per the tradition of the movie Wild West, I will shoot any Mexican who crosses my land.” It doesn’t matter that his border “ranch” and his “livestock” only consist of one old 20 year old goat and an acre and a half of sandy wash. It doesn’t matter that he’s never learned a word of Spanish or worked and depended on Mexican vaqueros and horsemen for his living. It doesn’t matter that he never crossed the border into Mexico like his neighbor ranchers have done all their lives with Mexican vaqueros guarding them with their lives and celebrating their coming with fiestas in the bosoms of their families.

The solution that I propose is this: Through a common institution like the Chambers of Commerce of Mexico and the U.S., workers are solicited by U.S. employers, screened by an American-Mexican institution or agency, transported to the border at the employer’s expense, met at the border by the employer, and transported by him to the place of employment. The employer is responsible for the worker throughout the term of his employment. After his term is over, the employee has to go home. If he wants to come back to work, he goes through the relatively simple task of submitting himself to the machinations of the agency that handles workers who seek employment in the U.S., only this will be much facilitated, because he already has a job and a reputable sponsor.

Mexicans love their country. They want to live in Mexico. They want to end their lives in the company of their families in the country they love more than life itself. The desire of illegal crossers is to eventually be able to return with their savings to build lives, businesses and fortunes in their own country. Anybody who doesn’t know that this can be done with even small capital, is a fool. Mexico is as rich in resources as the U.S. It’s politics is all that needs a drastic remedy.

This would reinforce the wonderful core of goodness in the Mexican people. And that core of people would be our ally, an ally that we could trust, an ally that would trust us and be grateful to us.

Illegal workers don’t go back, because it’s too hard and dangerous and expensive for them to return to Mexico and then again have to cross the border illegally to return to their jobs in Illinois, or Minnesota, or Northern Arizona.

If they could work in the U.S. my way, which is the way that almost anyone who hires Mexican labor would want to do it, they could return to their families and homes in Mexico without fear of losing their American jobs.

To me, that’s the solution to all of our problems of drug traffic and to all of ours and the Mexicans’ labor problems. The workers that we treat good would perhaps go home and clean up their own country’s government and lawlessness. If they could come across under the protection of our laws, we could turn our guns on the sonsofbitches that are stuffing drugs into our country.

Terrorists are sneaking across our border, that’s why we need to screen every worker before we let them in. With that in place, we goddam shoot every son of a bitch that tries to sneak across our border, because we know he’s not on ours or the Mexicans’ side.

Part 3 of a 5 part JPS Brown interview

11)You made your first trip to Mexico almost 75 years ago. It has always been a wild & lawless sort of place, but do the things going on today down there even amaze you?

Mexico has a core of very fine and elegant people and that will never change. They are stubborn about not allowing their youngsters to stray from that core, and that is what makes me say that they’ll not change. People who are influenced to stray from that core, mainly the youngsters, become the thugs of their generation. What bothers me most is that thugs have been taking on hero status. The corridos, folk-ranch songs, used to tell romantic tales of great and noble and romantic hero's, love of the land, love of the livestock. Today the corridos romanticize the smugglers, murderers, victims of the cartels, thugs, and belittle their white gringo enemies.

People had just begun to notice that their youth was beginning to stray about the time I came out to live and ranch again on this side of the line in 1974. Youngsters began to take marijuana and cocaine at that time. Before that, a marijuano, one who stooped so low as to take it, was a pariah in his society. The town dogs and little children chased him down the street. Before that, in the interior, women didn’t go barelegged or in slacks. They put a re bozo, a shawl, over their head when they walked to town. They carried a parasol. Not any more. They are all almost exactly like American kids now, with little modesty, little self-respect, little respect for anyone else, except for the ones who stand erect in the core of their families.

12) I just read where a farmer from Bisbee, Az. was murdered on his farm near the border. I'm sure you're aware of it and possibly even knew the gentleman. Some reports claim he was killed by the drug cartel and others claim he was killed by illegal immigrants crossing back and forth. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on the border issue and the drug wars that are raging all through Mexico.

I live on the border. My family settled here in 1850 when it was still Mexico. At one time mine was the largest Anglo family in the region. Only a few of us remain. Of course, Mexican families that were here three hundred years before mine are still here, only now much more plentiful than Anglo families. Why is it so surprising that they want to come back? It doesn’t surprise me any more than the migration of wild ducks surprises me.

In my childhood, Anglo families owned most of the businesses. Now, Mexican families do as they did before Anglos came here. Anglo families in my day all spoke Spanish as well as they did English, learned Spanish as their first language, because they spoke it more as children. My mother and her brothers grew up in the culture of Sonora and were more like Sonorans than they were like people of Phoenix or Prescott or any Arizona people who lived north of Tucson. Sonorans were and are more like people of Southern Arizona than they were or are like their countrymen in states south of Sonora. I also feel more akin to Sonorans than I do to my own countrymen. This is true of almost all ranchers and farmers of this area, except, or course, the dudes who have come from the east and bought up a lot of the ranches.

I didn’t know Mr. Krantz. I met him at a book signing in the Gadsden hotel in Douglas a year or two ago and liked him and talked to him for awhile. He liked my books a lot.

There are four kinds of illegal border crossers that are swarming into our country. Among the thugs are the ones who come in files that resemble paramilitary combat patrols, big, husky youngsters, well shod, well equipped, well armed. They have all, or more, of the technology, including satellite technology, that our own military does, and I suspect, better technology. These crossers have strict orders not to engage anybody, not even to ask for a drink of water. They carry the three powders, meth, heroin, cocaine and they carry 120 or 130 pounds of gear including their payload. They will defend it, but they are much better armed than our Border Patrol and local county and city police and so far no firefights have occurred.

These cartel men march all the way to Tucson at night, because the farther they get from the border, the safer it is for them. Besides that, the BP and other law enforcement have roadblocks on the freeways and highways and patrol the roads in their four-wheel pickups, and carry small arms that are no match for any paramilitary unit. The BP truck is more often than not manned by a single man or woman. I had a flat tire the other day on the Harshaw road and a little girl BP who could not have weighed 110 stopped to help me.

The second kind of crosser is a more ragtag drug trafficker who gets paid by the load. Some are thugs and some are not. This kind goes unarmed, but well shod and clothed. He always straggles back as far as he can go and unless overcome by bad weather or accident, he walks all the way back across the line. However, if something waylays him, usually bad weather, he gives himself up to a BP patrol car and is taken to Tucson, processed, then taken to a border crossing and turned loose.

The third kind of crosser is the man, or woman, or child whose shoes wear out before they cross the first ranch on the American side. Of course, 99 percent of all illegal foot traffic crosses American ranches. This third kind of crosser has always been and will always be helped by people who ranch on this border, unless the rancher is a dude and can’t tell a trafficker in stout boots from a ragged and barefoot person seeking work.

I live on the Rocking Chair ranch on Harshaw Creek road. All kinds of traffickers come by my house and past my horse corral all the time. If I started a war against every crosser I saw or who asked me for help, drug trafficker, or seeker of a better life, I would not last long. All I have to do to have a better than average chance of not being molested, is to show a little compassion from time to time and to live and let live.

Of course there is one other kind of crosser, and he is called a pollero. A pollero is a hawk that preys on baby chickens. This pollero preys on his own people who are weakened and vulnerable from hunger and exhaustion and exposure. These polleros cross to catch their countrymen when they are at their worst, take them back, sell them into all kinds of slavery, rob them, take the tikes for adoption organizations, or sell them to cold-blooded sonsofbitches who kill them for their organs, steal from ranchers, burglarize, invade homes of old people and of women and children.

These are the dangerous ones. They often come across loaded with dope with an independent, non-cartel group, but after they hand over their cargo they look for something to steal, or hurt on their way back to Mexico.

One of these might have shot Mr. Krantz just to watch him die. The rancher might have caught him in the act of trying to steal. He might have decided to show cruelty instead of compassion. He might have tried to apprehend a crosser…..or he might have made an enemy of one of his own neighbors. I can’t judge the victim and I can’t judge the killer. I know this, I am armed everywhere I go. When I carry coffee and doughnuts, blankets and dry socks to crossers who straggle sopping wet onto my porch in a winter rainstorm, I carry them in one hand because my .22 Beretta or my .38 special is in my other and in plain sight, although pointed at the ground.

J.P.S. Brown, an ongoing interview with the author of Jim Kane

Pt. 2 of an on-going interview with author J.P.S. Brown. Questions 1-4 were posted previously and can be found in the archives on 4/18/10 We pick up with questions 5-10

5) Could he make the same journey today ( in 2010) successfully?

I don’t believe anyone could get him to go back to the Sierra. He’s had it. I figure that he had about a 75 percent chance of making it back to his home in Tucson alive before he wrote the book. Now, he would probably have about a 90 percent chance of losing his life and having his book stuffed in a place where the sun don’t shine.


6)I understand you once wrote a novel entirely from a horses point of view. What was it called and where did the inspiration come from?

The book was called I, Horse. My William Morris agent who had given me lavish praise for my work was so put out with I, Horse, that he quit me. So, I rewrote the book in third person about a top horse of mine that inspired the book and called it Steeldust. It was published by Walker and Co., New York as Steeldust and Steeldust II: The Flight.

The only reason I could see that Walker split the book in half and published the halves a year apart was so it could sell one book for the price of two.

Horses have been on this earth in more or less their modern form for about 40,000,000 years and all they have had to help them survive has been their grace and speed. Man has been here I guess in his present form for about 5,000 years. Horses haven’t poisoned the earth or their fellow beings in any way, haven’t ruined anything, except when used as a tool by men, have not murdered, and have not dealt in betrayal, or for that matter not dealt in any of the sins that man rationalizes to be necessary for his survival.

I figured a horse’s language to be a sort of poetic plain talk, but I finally abandoned the idea when I realized that my idea of a horse’s talk was too “literary.” I kept running into the problem of liking my choice and use of words more than I did my subject. I had always hated that kind of “literary” writing that showed off high-toned language ad nausea and realized that the only reason I wanted to do the book that way was to see what I could do with words about the great horse that inspired the work.


7) It's on the record that you hated the movie "Pocket Change" and "that it made you want to puke and hurt somebody". The film was based on your novel "Jim Kane" which was based factually on aspects of your life. Paul Newman played the central character based on you. Was it Newman or the studios fault, or both, for the silly characterization we see in that film.

I got along good with Paul and I thought we respected each other. I think he was trying to portray me, but if that is true, he sure missed it. I fell out with his company before the production began, so if I had wanted it to be better, it’s my own fault for not staying with it.

However, to stay with the company was just too big a sacrifice for me. I had cattle and a ranch in Mexico and I wanted it done down there. I got them to promise me they would do it there.

When I saw their first screenplay I was alone in a hotel room. It was so bad I kicked a chair through a window and crippled myself for about a month. They didn’t get it then and they couldn’t ever get it after several script conferences that I attended before production began.

Paul never attended those conferences and I am told that during the production he kept shouting at the producers to get Joe Brown involved. However, I had made it very clear to them that I hated their dishonesty and their lying, phony, Hollywood ways and they had all they wanted of me for all time already, because when I told them off I waited until I had them all together.

In order to make the movie in Mexico, they had to show the script to the government censor in Mexico City. When the censor read it, he declined to give them permission to make it in Mexico. In the book I showed Mexicans the way I saw them, with love and respect. Pocket Money depicts them as overbearing greasers.

Then, I was called on the carpet by the Mexican Consul in Nogales and told to hand in my Mexican work visa, because the censors believed that the screenplay must closely follow the book I couldn’t go back to my ranch and livestock until the matter was resolved. The Consul was my friend, so she had me produce five copies of Jim Kane for the censors to review. After five months I was allowed to return to my business in Mexico.

I should have known that I would have no influence on the production company. In the beginning, we spent two weeks in Mexico looking for locations. My town Navojoa had to brush the landing strip by hand so that the Newman-Foreman Productions Falcon jet could land and take off there. The town turned all out for us and gave us a fiesta. Paul didn’t go with us.

Marty Ritt had been hired to be the movie’s director at that time. One day, as we drove through town all ten of us crowded into two cars, Marty piped up, “Don’t worry, Joe, we’re going to put fire and life into your book.”

I was already getting the picture of the kind of movie they would make. I said, “No, Marty. You’re not going to put anything into my book. My book is what it is and you can’t put one thing into it. My book has a good, sound reputation. Let’s see what you do with your movie.”

I could write a whole lot more about this, but I’d rather tell stories about truth and honor which would not grace that Newman-Foreman production company at all. To his everlasting credit, Paul stuck to his acting and stayed clear out of his company’s dirty business. I’ve never seen a movie company that was any better, except Ron Howard’s.


8)Tom Russell comments on his album "Hotwalker" that we don't need these phony heroes ( like athletes, actors & politicians, fake tough guys ) when we have real heroes living amongst us. We would have to put you in the class of real heroes I believe. Would you be uncomfortable with that?

I’m a Marine. All real heroes are dead. I still have to try hard to stay alive and be a man.


9) What kind of man was Lee Marvin? Can you tell us any stories about him from the times you spent together?

Lee was a warm and kind friend. He had a distinguished career as a Marine rifleman in the Pacific during WWII. I met him on the set of Pocket Money on the only day I visited its set. He and I and Paul got together to visit behind the camera. We were having a very funny and lively conversation, when all of a sudden I looked over at Lee and he was sitting up in his canvas chair with his name on it, sound asleep.
The producers told him a lot of stories about me, as they came away from my presence, I guess, with their hair standing on end and their complexions ghostly. When anyone asked Lee about me, he always said, the g.d. Hollywood's talk about Joe Brown in subdued tones, much as they would mention a terrorist who might mark them for death. Joe’s without a doubt the wildest SOB I’ve ever known.


10)How are Oscar Russo ( your old partners nephew) and your good friend Adan Martinez ( who you've called the best tracker and outdoors men you ever saw) doing these days ?

Oscar still retains the El Limon and Guazaremos sections of the old ranch that was founded by my partner Rafael Russo’s Sicilian immigrant grandfather. He is the only member if the family who still wants to keep the ranch, but he doesn’t know much about ranching and he won’t stay up in the Sierra for long. He only visits it to count his diminishing herd of Black Angus cattle that aren’t fitted for life in the Sierra. He and I have tried to get together to go to the Sierra, because I have to show him the place where Rafael used to pan for gold for spending money for mariachis and beer he required when he drove his father’s cattle out of the Sierra to market. I’m the only one left who knows where it is. Also, I want to see what became of the remnant of Rafael’s cattle that were very well suited for survival as natives of the Sierra. Those cattle are sure to have gone wild just as all their ancestors did, become wild as wolves to survive and thrive and multiply. Oscar doesn’t even know they still have to exist in that vast country. I want to go up there one time and bring some of them out before I die.

Adan Martiniz brought his family out of the Sierra and moved to Hermosillo, Sonora when killings over the drug traffic began about 1974. He and his sons own several five ton trucks with which they haul needed goods to Mulatos, their hometown in the Sierra. He still runs cattle on his part of the Mulatos Ejido, or communal ranch. I’ve visited him in Hermosillo. He and his family are healthy, his sons that were so tiny when they were little are all big and strapping and miraculously alive and making a good living with the trucks.

# 1 "TOM HORN"

Tonight, was my first screening of "TOM HORN", a 1970 film directed by William Wiard. Based on the true story of the legendary hero & assassin, Tom Horn, who was hung in 1903. The film stars icon Steve McQueen, who also executive produced it, and spent 4 years researching Horn's life. It was not one of McQueen's best efforts as an actor, but still the film was pretty interesting although not spectacular. I found the most satisfying moments of the film to be when Slim Pickens and Richard Farnsworth were on the screen. The film follows the latter days of Tom Horn's life. Once, considered a hero, as the man who captured Geronimo, and rode with Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, he is now reduced to an assassin, ridding the area of it's cattle thieves in any manner he sees fit. Linda Evans (of Dynasty fame) plays the schoolteacher who becomes Horn's lover, but McQueen & Evans give off few sparks. After Horn's usefulness is used up, he is set up for the murder of a 14 year old boy. A crime that he is wrongfully sentenced to death for. It was extremely interesting to hear about the Jullian Gallows used in Horn's hanging.This was something worth looking into in more depth. I especially enjoyed seeing J.P.S Brown, in the role of the Padre near the end of the film. The Padre's name in the film was J.P Brown,interesting. Mr. Brown is currently doing a Q & A with "Signs & Wonders", that will be posted in the near future. The film conveys the essence of the lawlessness of the Wild Wild West of the 1900's, where a man's gun was his only truth. Tom Horn was the type of man who would thrive in the world we live in today, as southern Ariz. & Mexico continue to be riddled with violent crime. After watching the film, I immediately began to do some research on Tom Horn's life. There is a website dedicated to him and on it, they offer inconclusive proof that Horn was not the killer of the boy and that they suspect their were actually two gunmen that shot him. I don't think Tom's time was alot different from now, in some ways. The law used him as a ways to justify their means and when they were done with him, they cast him aside. Sounds familiar.

"SIGNS & WONDERS" Movie, View & Review Challege

TOM Horn


I don't know how many people read this page on a regular basis, but if just one person will join me in this challenge, it will be worth it. I had a good friend suggest that I do something on this site to honor films that have been overlooked or forgotten. Well, with a film library of over 7,000 films to chose from here at my home, that won't be too hard to do. So, Ive selected 10 films to view & review between now & the end of May. My hope is that someone else out there who loves films as much as I do, will join me in viewing these films or at least will weigh in with discussion in the comment section of each film. The 10 films I've selected are quite varied. The first film I chose as a tribute to a man who actually appeared in it, J.P.S Brown. That film is the 1970 version of "TOM HORN", starring Steve McQueen. The other films to follow are #2, the 1947 film "DARK PASSAGE" starring Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall and based on the novel of Philly's own David Goodis. #3 Wim Wenders terrific film "PARIS,TEXAS" from 1984 and written by Sam Shepard. #4 is the 1978, Terrence Malick treasure "DAYS OF HEAVEN" starring Richard Gere. #5 is a very overlooked film from 1997, "EVES BAYOU" which Robert Ebert called the best film of the year and stars, Samuel Jackson. #6 is one of my favorites from my H.S. days, "ANGEL HEART" with Mickey Rourke & Robert Dinero. #7 is based on Edward Abbeys book the "Brave Cowboy" and entitled "LONELY ARE THE BRAVE" starring Kirk Douglas. #8 is a film by one of the greatest independent film makers of all-time, John Sayles, entitled "LONESTAR" with Matthew McConaughey, Kris Kristofferson and Chris Cooper. All fine actors. #9 is from 1949 and gives a starring role to downtown Oxford,Ms. in William Faulkner's "INTRUDER IN THE DUST". The final film #10, is based on Ross MacDonald's novel "The Drowning Pool" which stars Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward.

If you have any of these films on hand, or you have a NETFLIX account, I hope you'll join me in revisiting these fine films for some film discussion. Lets get started !!

THAT'S A WRAP ! The12th Ebert Fest behind us

I attended my 10th straight Roger Ebert Film Festival this Saturday, although I only got to catch two films of the twelve films screened. In the past 5 years I've been a pass holder & viewed the normal 8-10 films each year. I really hate it that I was unable to see Pink Floyd's "The Wall", "Apocalypse Now Redux", and missed a chance to meet Charlie Kaufman (who makes very few public appearences). However, just in the short time I was there, I was quickly reminded of what makes this event so special. Before one of the films screened, they showed a short musical montage of musicians around the world. It immediately struck me. This festival always has & I believe always will, celebrates "Diversity". Film makers from around the world come here year after year, to be apart of the love fest of cinema that we call "The Roger Ebert Film Festival". If we could live in a world like the one that exists in those 5 days in Champaign, Il. every April in the Virginia Theatre, well that would be nirvana. I enjoyed another bonus short entitled "Plasic Man" that was voiced over by the German film-maker Werner Herzog. The two feature films we attended were "Trucker" & "Barfly". "Trucker" was one of the most overlooked films of the year in 2008. Michelle Monaghan turned in a performance that was Oscar worthy, as a female truck driver who is suddenly faced with her young son coming to live with her when her ex-husband becomes critically ill. The film also had fine performances from Nathan Fillion (of "Castle" fame), Benjamin Bratt, and Joey Lauren Adams(of Oxford, Ms.,and"Chasing Amy"). My wife & I were able to visit with Michelle Monaghan after the show and she was simply charming. "Barfly" was directed by Barbet Schroeder and based on the screenplay by Charles Bukowski. The film is a loosely based look at Bukowski's earlier days in bars in L.A., fighting, drinking & eventually writing, usually in that order. Mickey Rourke plays the role of Henry (Bukowski) & Faye Dunaway stars as Wanda, his equal in all ways & the love of his life. If you love Charles Bukowski's writing, ( I DO ! ) then you'll probably find this one pretty interesting. Others will hate it. Bukowski wouldn't care either way. Following the film there was a terrific Q & A with the films director Barbet Schroeder. Here was a man who knew Bukowski well and loved to talk about it. A real gem. He was also kind enough to hang around after the show to sign autographs & take photos and visit with guests. As I look back on the past 10 years, all I can say is, "THANK YOU ROGER EBERT". You have made our lives better and we will always be in your debt. With gratitude.

David Moody Interview 4/19/10 Author of "HATER"

David Moody is the author of the 5 book "Autumn" series, and the new "Hater" series.
The Autumn novels, will start being released for the first time ever, in the U.S., in the the fall. The sequel to "Hater", "Dog Blood" will be released on June 8th here in the U.S.

If you're not aware of David's work, you soon will be. You are in for a real treat here at S & W's. I give you an interview with the wonderful writer David Moody. (Read it quickly before the world comes to an end and you'll wish you would have.)

1)You read "Day of the Triffids" at 10 years of age and then shortly after you read "The War of the Worlds". They've obviously had quite an impact on you as a writer. Do you think a 10 year old is ready to read, "Hater" or "Autumn"?

That’s an interesting question! My honest answer – it depends on the 10 year old! I think an important point to make is that when I read ‘Triffids’ and ‘WotW’, both books were quite old. Wyndham’s book was 30+, Wells’ almost 100 years old. With each successive generation, I think people become accustomed to new levels of horror and violence. What used to be considered as shocking, 1930’s black and white horror movies, for example, are now barely even considered horror at all. So I wouldn’t necessarily want my youngest children reading my books now, but I can see that things might change in another 10 or 20 years. It’s quite frightening to think about what might be scaring people in the future!


2)Plague, astroid, climate change, meltdown of the global economy, 2012... which ones gonna get us first, it looks like the economy's got a good head start?

You might be right. As I’m sitting here typing, however, the UK (and much of Europe) has been a virtual no-fly zone for almost a week because of a cloud of ash coming from an erupting volcano in Iceland. It certainly makes you think – the end of the world could creep up on us from any direction at any time!


3) After reading "I Am Legend", I could go out on a quiet Sunday, when our downtown's virtually deserted and imagine what it would be like to be the only one left alive. I assume you have had that same visualization of loneliness and isolation to write the books the way you do?

Yes, and I imagine many people often do try to picture a world in which they were the only occupant. I guess we often think that way because we’re frustrated with the hustle and bustle of everyday life or because of work, relationship issues, cash flow problems or anyone one of a thousand other things . . . it seems like an ideal way out, but I don’t think it would be as idyllic as our daydreams might suggest! Personally, I’m of the opinion that the human race can’t keep growing at the exponential rate it has been, and that something will happen sooner or later to redress the balance and reduce our numbers. But at the same time, our species seems to keep bulldozing its way forward as if we were unstoppable. I think it’s important to think about what might happen if everything we know and rely on was suddenly less certain that we thought . . .

4) You have somewhat of a fascination with the post- apocalyptic world. What are some of your favorite books and movies tied to that scenario?

I’ve already mentioned a couple in a previous answer. I’d also include ‘Earth Abides’ by George R Stewart which is a very interesting book that considers the longer term future of the post-apocalyptic human race. As far as movies are concerned, George Romero’s original three Living Dead movies were a huge influence on me. I grew up during the Cold War and the threat of nuclear war really affected the way I thought about the world. For that reason, I’d say the most important movie for me was a BBC TV film called ‘Threads’. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest tracking down a copy. It’s the single most horrific, terrifying and thought-provoking film ever made in my opinion. A cold, powerful and unblinking vision of the end of everything.


5) In a real case scenario, your among a small group of survivors. What are the most important things to know to survive? Other than stay quiet & stay in the dark.

I imagine that people wouldn’t survive as well as they might expect after the kind of events I write about. It wouldn’t be a case of raiding the nearest supermarket and riding out the storm. I think there are lots of things we take for granted which might catch us out at the end of the world! The loss of everything and everyone who matters to you, for example. The need to keep warm and have decent supplies of food and fresh water, etc. etc. And then there’s the little things you don’t think about . . . not having access to the Internet (which we all rely on more than we’d care to admit). Not having weather forecasts. Not knowing how to fix your car or where to get spare parts . . . the list goes on forever. I guess what I’m really saying is that no matter how prepared we think we are, everyone would
probably struggle to survive.


6) Is existing the same thing as living?

Definitely not. And I think that if you were reduced to just existing for a length of time with no change to your situation in sight, that you’d possibly want to reconsider living. If that sounds harsh then I apologise, but would there be any point in prolonging your own suffering unnecessarily? The key is finding something to live for!


7)Isn't it interesting to what great lengths some people would go to save their own life, but yet of how little of importance others lives are to them at the same time?

You’re absolutely right! Again, look at any one of a hundred movies where the hero is struggling to survive and escape with his or her life. Now look at the number of background characters who get killed in the process! It’s bizarre! And the really frightening thing is that probably just about everyone is pre-programmed to want to save themselves at the expense of everybody else. There aren’t going to be many happy endings, are there?!


8) Would you rather be with the few remaining or go quietly with the billions?

In spite of everything I’ve just been saying, I want to be one of the few who remain. Don’t get me wrong, if the world’s going to be reduced to a smouldering, ball of radioactive ash then take me out with the first bombs please, but if there’s a chance of surviving in a world where there’s a chance of living, then I’d like to take it.


9) In hindsight, putting the "Autumn" series online for free downloads, good move or bad move?

Exceptionally GOOD move! If I hadn’t given the book away, I doubt I’d be in this position now. When I’d finished writing the book, I decided I wanted two things from it: an audience and an income. I knew it wouldn’t generate an income straight away, but by giving the book away I knew I could start building an audience who would, I hoped, buy my future books. And it worked!


10) You've stated that your 1st novel "Straight to You" ( only 500 published ) hasn't aged well and that you are not a big fan of it. Can you tell us a little more about it in regards to the storyline and why you think it hasn't aged well?

Although I think the book has aged badly, I still love the story. In a nutshell, it’s a simple tale of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy and girl realise there’s less than a week left until the end of the world! It sounds very corny but it’s quite a unique and emotional tale. The reason it hasn’t aged well is because it was the first thing I wrote and had published. It’s quite clunky and the characters and dialogue are clumsy, and over the 16+ years since I first wrote the book I’ve become a much better writer. I do have plans to resurrect the story in the near future, but I can’t yet say how!


11) You've said "we think everything’s always going to stay the same, but that's not the case". What are your views in regards to religion, faith & hope and do you believe that mankind will persevere in the face of a worldwide calamity?

I don’t often talk about my views on religion. I believe it’s each to their own, but religion is DEFINITELY not for me. I have real issues with organised religions of any kind. I’m actually a very optimistic person, but that probably won’t come across in this answer! I am hopeful that mankind will persevere, but I think some fundamental changes are needed first. Most people, unfortunately, seem to be consumed with looking after number one at the expense of everyone else. Millions of people fighting for themselves is a recipe for failure (and, coincidentally, that’s one of the main themes of the ‘Hater’ series).


12) Why were "Hater" and "Dog Blood" both released first in the U.S., prior to their UK release? It seems like it would be the other way around.

‘Hater’ was originally released independently in 2006. The book was subsequently acquired by Thomas Dunne Books who are based in the US. Thomas Dunne Books then sold the rights to publishers in numerous other countries, the UK included. So the release dates vary from publisher to publisher, but generally it’s the US first. ‘Hater’ actually came out in the UK only 2 days after the US, and ‘Dog Blood’ will be out on both sides of the Atlantic within a couple of weeks of 8th June.

13) "Autumn", the movie, just got its DVD release in the U.S. in April. The movie was made with a very low budget, were you satisfied with the finished product and are their plans to continue the series on film?

That’s a really difficult question to answer. There were elements of the ‘Autumn’ movie I was satisfied with, and other elements I was less happy about. Generally, those were due to budgetary constraints. At the end of the day, I’m just happy that the film was made. And it was a great honour to see Dexter Fletcher and David Carradine portraying characters I’d created. I don’t know what the future of ‘Autumn’ on film is right now – I’m exploring a lot of possibilities!


14) Were you the first to have a zombie novel where the zombies aren't flesh eaters from the get go or was that something you'd seen before?

I’d never been able to understand why zombies ate flesh? They don’t drink, don’t sleep, don’t go to the bathroom . . . why would they need to eat? It was always my intention to write a story about zombies that didn’t eat!


15) Your zombies start to evolve as we get deeper into the book, it seems only natural that they would eventually seek food or meat as that is ingrained in our minds in real life. What would vegetarians do in the after life?

I agree with that comment to an extent, but we eat because our body tells us it’s hungry and because we’re using up our energy supplies. The bodies in the ‘Autumn’ books are operating on a whole different level and it’s only their most basic functions that are driving them forward. Biologically, their digestive system would turn to mush pretty quickly, so eating would be a pointless exercise. I’ve never thought about vegetarian zombies. Maybe that’s a question for George Romero, not me!


16) I think people will be very exited to see "Hater" coming out in film with Guillermo del Toro directing. Have you heard any ramblings about possible casting decisions?

Nothing yet! Whoever they cast, I doubt anyone will be as excited to see the movie as me. To have Guillermo involved is an honour. I’m a huge fanboy!


17) Will you be on hand when "Hater" is being filmed?

I’d love to be, and I’d certainly accept any invitation that’s offered!


18) Did you get a chance to meet or talk with David Carradine during the filming of "Autumn", and if so what was he like?

Unfortunately I missed him by just a few days. I was in Canada for a week in December 2007, he filmed his scenes a week later. By all accounts he was an incredible person, and his scenes in ‘Autumn’ are very powerful – nothing like the David Carradine you’d expect from Kill Bill and Death Race 2000 etc.

19) Do you have a title in mind for the 3rd & final book in the "Hater" series?

That’s a really interesting question. I have a few potential titles, but nothing definite just yet. I actually finished another draft this morning, and I do have a new title which I might use . . . We’ve talked about ‘Them or Us’ and ‘Outside-in’ but I don’t know yet!


20) The IMDB reviews for "Autumn" have been a mixed bag and at times they've been quite harsh. Does it bother you at all and what do you want everyone to know about the film before they see it?

The reviews don’t bother me too much, providing the film has been given a fair chance. As I said earlier, the movie isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it does have a lot going for it. Unfortunately, the film will suffer in the same way the books have because ‘Autumn’ is NOT a typical zombie story. As we’ve already mentioned, it’s focused on the characters (who struggle to survive), it doesn’t have flesh eating and it has evolving zombies which start out slow. I think when people hear that it’s a zombie story, they make a lot of assumptions and are disappointed when they don’t get a typical zombie gore-fest.

21) What kind of reviews did "Night of the Living Dead" get when it first came out?

That’s a very good point! ‘Night of the Living Dead’ certainly wasn’t hailed as a classic when it was first released!

22) Are you aware of any other authors who have had the same kind of success as you have, doing it the same way you did (posting on-line for free downloads) ? I mean that was a VERY GUTSY move on your part !!

Yes, there are quite a few of us! Scott Sigler, J C Hutchins and David Wellington to name but three!


23) Would you advise other young aspiring writers to take that same route?

Possibly, but they should think very carefully first. It’s not necessarily the easy option it seems. I think that before making your work available online it has to be as polished as if you were presenting it to a publisher for consideration. I’m starting to think that putting your work online is an alternative to the ‘submission>rejection’ merry-go-round which was always the mainstay of the pre-Internet publishing industry. Think of it as putting your portfolio online, and concentrate on getting as many people as you can to visit your website. Eventually the right person might stumble across you! But if you think about it, you’ve got to have more chance of getting to the right person if make your work available to everyone, than if you send focused submissions to individual editors or agents.

24) You live in a house full of women ( your wife & daughters)....what do they think of Dads or Hubby's fascination with the end of the world and zombies?

Generally they just don’t understand! I have my own little office where I hide with my Mac, my music, my Xbox, a TV and the Internet. I’m the only horror fan in the house, which can be a little problematical at times!


25) Any chance you'll be writing the screenplay for "Hater"?

I doubt it, although I’d love to and I will if I’m asked!


26) When are we going to get a chance to see and meet David Moody here in the U.S.?

I’ve finally got a little more financial and personal freedom (all those women I was just talking about are growing up) so there’s a good chance I’ll be visiting soon. I’m currently looking at a couple of possibilities for later this year, perhaps to tie in with the re-release of ‘Autumn’.


27) Whats next after you wrap up the "Hater" series? Do you have anything that you can share with us about future projects? ( In the chance the world doesn't end before then ).

I have more ideas than time! I’ve made the mistake of talking about projects too early before, so you’ll just have to wait and see!


28) Will we see Danny & Ellis reunited in Dog Blood?

You might, although not as you’d expect. I won’t say any more than that for fear of spoiling the book!


Final Question: You have a wonderful website and I know you are very fan friendly. Do you fear that success might one day temper that? Take Stephen King for example, he was wonderful with his readers for years & years but eventually he just got overwhelmed. Now he can hardly go out in most places without being mobbed. Would that be a nice problem to have?

Thanks for the compliment – I’m very proud of the site. I always think that readers are a priority because an author is just someone who writes for themselves if no-one else want their books! That said, it’s already difficult to balance my writing obligations with the number of emails I get. So if anyone does write to me, please have a little patience! I’m actually finding social networking sites are making communication a lot faster, more personal and more effective. People who are interested can find me on Facebook and Twitter and all manner of other sites!