By Kiley Garrett
Members of the Portales community gathered at Do Drop In for the signing of Jim Lee’s first novel Loup-Garou, a new adult fantasy that was published in February 2019.
Lee was willing to give Houndbytes an exclusive interview before the book signing, giving more information on his life, inspiration and some advice for new writers.
Q: Tell me about yourself
I’m a retired adjunct professor of communication at ENMU and I was also the news director for the FM station for many years and I retired from both. I didn’t like sitting around in a rocking chair watching CNN, so I started writing books.
Q: How long have you been writing?
Oh jeez. Way, way back. Let’s see. I remember when I was a little kid it was frustrating because I wanted to write stories and I didn’t know how to read. I had to teach myself how to read before I could write.
Q: Did you grow up here in Portales?
No, originally, I’m from a place called Lancing Michigan, it’s about 80 miles from the Canadian border and it’s a little bit colder there. I left there as soon as I could, and I went to the Army
Q: How long were you in the Army?
I was enlisted for 3 years, but that was extended because I went to officer candidate school. I’ve worked in Law enforcement and I worked in movies in Los Angeles in the 70’s.
Q: What movies did you work on?
Oh, a bunch of them. New York, New York; Coming Home, that won a couple of awards – not for me of course, but still. Usually bad guys that got killed right away.
Q: What would you describe your writing style as?
Me. Same as everybody else. Everyone had their own unique style that you’re basically born with. Technique can be learned, but style, well, you’re born with it.
Q: Tell me a little about [Loup-Garou]
It’s a novel about a fellow who was an actor in Los Angeles California – that sounds familiar doesn’t it? He was an ex-cop, LAPD, who got hurt on the job and he had to retire from that. He split up from his wife and decided to start a new life. He left Los Angeles to go to Salt Lake City, because it sounded like a nice quiet place. He thought he’d get his graduate degree and be a college professor. But he met this young lady who was an exotic dancer – yes, they have those in Salt Lake City – it takes place in 1983. And she moonlights as a werewolf, so that’s kind of a disability in this case. Well his wife decides she wants to reconcile, and then the werewolf, who is all attached, doesn’t like that, and there’s that inevitable clash.
Q: Are there any insights to your main character that maybe your readers wouldn’t know just from reading the book summary?
He’s disabled. When he was a police officer, he was shot in a botched convenience store robbery. His partner was killed, so he feels guilty about that. He has trouble walking, he has to use a cane sometimes. His injuries caused arthritis to set in his hips and so when he gets into physical confrontations, it’s a real challenge.
Q: Where did the inspiration for [Loup-Garou] come from?
Well, basically at the very beginning the inspiration came from a past relationship I had. It was an ex-wife and it just didn’t work out. She was really vindictive and physically violent. She tried to kill me a couple of times and I decided it was time to leave. She was basically the model for the werewolf character.
Q: So is the werewolf character the bad guy?
No, I don’t believe in having villains and heroes. Every character should be three dimensional, otherwise it’s a caricature. Nobody is all good or all bad. Everyone has a goal, something that they want and there’s always something in the way of them getting it: the good guy and the bad guy. Now which one’s which is a matter of opinion.
Q: How many more books do you think there’ll be in [the shapechanger chronicles] series? Are you already working on the next book or are you working on a different project?
I’m always working on another book. What I do is after I’ve completed a first draft, I put it away for a while. Leave it on the computer or print a hard copy and put it in a drawer somewhere, and I don’t touch it for a while so it can cool off, so to speak. That way when I go back to do revisions, I have a fresh set of eyes. So instead of twiddling my thumbs sitting in a rocking chair while I’m waiting for it to cool off, I start on another book.
Lee currently has one other book for purchase called Brotherhood of the Streets. The novel follows two young misfits turned friends who eventually go on to lead very different lives: one as a police officer and one as a hitman. His law enforcement experience in Los Angeles, California inspired the novel.
In November of 2018, Lee wrote a play, “Saying Hello to Goodbye,” to combat and bring awareness to teen suicide. The play was endorsed by the Kiwanis clubs of Clovis and Portales and was from soft spot of experience, as his father, a World War II veteran, committed suicide at 46 and Lee attempted it as a teen. Lee has also finished the first draft of his third book and has almost completed the first draft of his third book.
