Unveiled

Ace Collins has written over sixty non-fiction works covering a variety of subjects from Lassie, to Southern Gospel music, to Evel Knievel. Now with Farraday Road and his soon to be published Swope’s Ridge, Ace has introduced us to some really great classic mystery. Read my review of Farraday Road.

Tim George: Ace, I always like to start my interviews with something personal, so here goes. You and I have a similar interest in old time radio shows. Tell me about that.

Ace Collins: I love old radio shows because the imagery is so strong. I might be listening to Richard Diamond, The Saint, Boston Blackie or Lux Radio Theater on my iPod, but I am actually seeing the programs as clearly as if they were a movie I was watching on a big screen in the theater. Because the radio shows had to be dialogue driven, they offer practical lessons in storytelling that I really can’t find anywhere else. Though the programs are actually more than sixty years old, the way they present the stories reflects modern book writing. The action, adventure and romance are quick hitting, this pacing creates a great deal of fast movement and the complicated plots are woven together to keep the listener anxious for the next scene.

When you think about the novels of that period (as opposed to old radio series) the writing style is much different. Though the top authors were brilliant, their books moved slowly. For modern readers it is almost agonizing to read the incredible detail and slow pacing of novels from the 1930s and 1940s. Therefore, beyond just enjoying old radio drama, suspense and comedy as entertainment, listening to these series is an education process that I feel sharpens my skills for modern storytelling. I think you can actually sense a bit of that as you read my novels.

TG: I began listening to Old Time Radio some time ago myself and I agree with you about their power to spark the individual imagination. You have written about The Cathedrals, Evel Knievel, The Dixie Chicks, Negro Baseball Leagues, and Lassie. Is there anything you aren’t interested in?

AC: One of my sons once said that I know more useless information that anyone. Maybe he is right. In some ways I have never grown up because I am always asking new versions of the question “Why is the sky blue.” I love to read, watch the history and biography networks. The fact is I just like to know the stories behind everything that holds interest for me. As per an example, I don’t just watch an old movie with someone like Jean Harlow, but I also dig into why she became a star, what was she like in her private life and why did she die so young. Thus my “Stories behind books” and the biographies I have written really do reflect my personality.

TG: You have had a rich and varied writing career but Farraday Road and Swope’s Ridge are your first ventures into fiction. Why the change and why mystery?

AC: I outlined Farraday Road, though it was then called “To Find My Killer,” back when I was in college. Hence I have always wanted to write novels. I actually wrote several novellas when I was in grade school and high school. Yet it took me years to feel I had the experience to do justice to my ideas. Thus, I honed my skills working with great editors until I felt I had progressed to the point of taking the plunge into fiction. In truth, I probably should have made that step a decade before I did, but my nonfiction work was keeping me too busy.

My love of mystery goes back to my own “who done it” curiosity. Also, my favorite writers, such as Clive Cussler and Brandilyn Collins (no relation), spin those kind of yarns. Hence, you like to write what you like to read.

TG: Steven James recently made a similar transition from non-fiction to fiction. How do you feel your previous experience prepared you to write novels? What are the differences in preparation?

AC: I collect classic cars and the transition from fiction to nonfiction is as different as driving a 65 Mustang as compared to a 1936 Cord. Yet, for those who have read my nonfiction it is obvious that I write those from the point of view of a storyteller. So the leap was not as large as if I had been a hard news reporter.

When I prepare a nonfiction work, I outline the chapters and stick to the outline. In fiction I create outlines as well, but I find as the characters develop they change the story line. Thus, I am constantly adding things and altering directions in the fiction work. In Farraday Road a character is introduced late in the book that was not in the outline because I realized none of the other characters had the skill to survive in a certain situation. I planned on Janie only being in the few chapters I needed her, but she emerged so strong that she is an integral part of Swope’s Ridge. That kind of thing doesn’t happen in nonfiction. So in a novel I have learned you have to be flexible. In nonfiction telling the truth means you must operate within a tight framework.

TG: Okay let’s talk about Farraday Road and Swope’s Ridge. I have to tell you; together they make up one of the best pure mysteries I’ve read in a long time. Tell us a little about the story.

AC: Thanks for those kind words. The story was born from an idea of a man who simply had no direction or calling. He was happily sliding through life until the night he and his wife were murdered. The EMTs brought him back to life and he is suddenly confounded by the startling question as to why anyone would do such an act. The mystery he finds pushes well beyond his home town and into the very heart of a modern world gone mad. The various threads connect everything from a legendary missing train from the 1800s, to a forgotten Nazi plan to change the course of World War II, to a modern terrorist movement to paralyze America. And those seemingly unrelated elements lead Lije into discovering why his wife was killed.

On another level, the books are really about the various characters also having to dig deeply inside themselves to find what they are made of and what their calling is. Thus, the books are a about personal growth. Lije, who begins the story shallow and directionless, ends it strong, determined and focus.

Finally, none of the characters are either all good or all bad. They have reasons for their shortcomings. Judging from the email I have received from readers of Farraday Road, the characters come off as very real.

TG: How did you choose the setting?

AC: For these books I chose a setting I know very well. The Ozarks are where my family’s roots are. My grandparents lived on Shell’s Hill, though in a much more modest home than our lead character. I practically grew up on Spring River and Swope’s Ridge was owned my one of my uncles. Thus, these are places I know well. And, in chapters where we go to other locations, those are also places I have seen.

By the way, I’ve been told these are the only novels ever set in this part of Arkansas. I don’t know if that is true are not, but as rich as the area is with legends and folklore, more stories should be set there.

TG: That’s amazing that no one has ever tapped into that area as a setting for fiction. I know Hwy 9 quite well as my father loved to take us for vacations to see different caves and sites. I grew up exploring Cosmic Caverns, Mystic Caverns, and a hundred other unique places around Jasper, Harrison, and Eureka Springs. If it weren’t for space I’d tell you quite a story about Hurricane River. Is that how you came up with the idea of the various legends surrounding Swope’s Ridge?

AC: There was an historic train in local lore, but it actually crashed into Spring River rather than suffer the fate we gave it in the book. Cathcart’s house doesn’t exist, but railroad executives did have homes on the bluff at Hardy that seemed liked mansions to the locals. These executives lived and worked in Memphis but spent time in Hardy homes on vacations and weekends. Sadly, there is no place in Melborne that has pie like I described in the book.

TG: What do you feel you calling is as a writer?

AC: That is a tough question. I’ve have always wanted to write, going back to third grade. My grandfathers were great storytellers, so I think I inherited a bit of that bent from them. In nonfiction my calling seems to be to awaken and inspire people by citing stories that have been forgotten or missed. When folks know the stories behind something, it seems to add a great deal of understanding and meaning to a place, tradition, song or life.

In fiction I think my primary calling has to be to entertain. Few people want to wade through 400 pages and not enjoy them. Yet the deeper calling is to create characters that cause people to look deeper into themselves. Fictional characters can be great teachers. Thus my goal has to be to both entertain and lift.

TG: So how would you delineate between a story that is “preachy” and one that leads us to think about higher or deeper realities?

AC: In my writing, I try to place “trail markers” that might get someone to pause and reflect on where they are, how they use their faith, etc. Maybe someone will read something about Lije and say, “Yeah, I can relate to that. I felt the same way.” I actually had one reader email me and quote something that was said about Kaitlyn. It was just a line about the way she prayed. I was really using it as a line to describe her “working” faith so the reader could get to know why so many so admired and respected her. In other words, it was just a part of describing her personality. Yet that line touched this reader very deeply and led her to rethink her prayer life. So I try to be subtle and allow those “trail markers” to perhaps make a statement of faith that will take root and grow.

TG: What is on the horizon beyond Swope’s Ridge for you in fiction? Have we heard the last of Lije Evans and his Scooby Doo crew? (See, I really did read the books).

AC: If the sales are strong and the readers demand to see Lije and his gang in more books, I am ready. I have five more Lije Evans Mysteries outlined. I think the next one, if it is written, will be the best yet. It tells the story of what happened to the missing treasure. Added to this is Lije and his gang finding an old, forgotten paddle wheeler, a trip to Europe to stop a madman, and finding the evidence to set a man on death free (this one involves a serial killer). The book climaxes at the spot where 1930s famed actress Carol Lombard’s plane crashed. So, if readers want to find out more about those elements, let Zondervan know.

In the meantime I am writing a novel with a new character, a university professor, named Harlow Burke. He is fighting against time to track down a lost book from the Bible that might reshape the whole concept of the Christian faith. His lonely quest takes him around the globe, where he must escape numerous attempts on his life. Those trying to beat him to the prize are terrorists and a mysterious South American billionaire. I can best describe “Words Of The Father” as Indiana Jones meets the Di Vinci Code.

And yes, I am still writing nonfiction stuff as well. Have a new Christmas book out this fall, a sequel to my “Sticks and Stones” book out next spring and another Christmas book set for 2011.

TG: That’s good to hear because my wife wanted me to ask you personally when she would have something else to read by Ace Collins. I think she read Farraday Road in one night.

AC: Thanks. I deeply appreciate the opportunity to talk a bit about the books. And tell your wife I would love to hear her take on her favorite characters and scenes. When I get email, that is always the first question I ask the readers. I want to know who hit them and why. I want to know who they want to get to know better.