Title: Still Black Remains
Author: Kevin Michaels
Release Date: April 1, 2017
Publisher: Literary Wanderlust
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: Received from Smith Publicity in exchange for honest review
Synopsis
“Still Black Remains” is an original work of fiction. It tells the story of Twist, one of the leaders of an inner-city gang named the Skulls, and the architect of his gang’s decision to kidnap a mafia soldier in a last-ditch attempt to end a violent turf war. The war started when the Skulls tried taking a bigger piece of the drug business in their Newark, New Jersey neighborhood from the organized crime family who had once been their partners. Like most great ideas, the plan doesn’t turn out as expected. Negotiations between the gangs deteriorate, words fail, the violence escalates, and the only recourse left is the inevitable execution of the hostage. Chosen to be the one to execute the prisoner, the story covers Twist’s ability to pull the trigger, the consequences of that action, and his internal struggle. As the volatile situation grows more explosive by the hour, the lines between right and wrong blur; resolution comes with a price and Twist has to decide if pulling the trigger will get him what he wants, and if he can live with that cost.
“Still Black Remains” is an original work of fiction. It tells the story of Twist, one of the leaders of an inner-city gang named the Skulls, and the architect of his gang’s decision to kidnap a mafia soldier in a last-ditch attempt to end a violent turf war. The war started when the Skulls tried taking a bigger piece of the drug business in their Newark, New Jersey neighborhood from the organized crime family who had once been their partners. Like most great ideas, the plan doesn’t turn out as expected. Negotiations between the gangs deteriorate, words fail, the violence escalates, and the only recourse left is the inevitable execution of the hostage. Chosen to be the one to execute the prisoner, the story covers Twist’s ability to pull the trigger, the consequences of that action, and his internal struggle. As the volatile situation grows more explosive by the hour, the lines between right and wrong blur; resolution comes with a price and Twist has to decide if pulling the trigger will get him what he wants, and if he can live with that cost.
My Review
Still Black Remains tells the story of Twist, who is one
of the leaders of the inner-city gangs called Skulls and he also engineers a
plan for his gang’s decision to kidnap a mafia soldier in a last-minute attempt
to end a huge violent turf war that’s been going on. Twist is chosen to pull
off the execution and he must decide whether he wants to pull the trigger and
live with the consequences and will get him what he wants, and if he can live
with what he did. Reading Kevin’s Still
Black Remains was something that I haven’t read in a while. It was uniquely
different with how Twist wanted to handle things, especially for someone who
was a leader of a gang. Overall, I thought that the characters were explained
well and the story line was clear and I really felt the characters played well
with their roles. I really enjoyed Still Black Remains and I highly recommend it.
Interview
How did you come up with
the title?
It started with the idea/image of a
chalk outline of a body on the pavement and grew from there. There is a certain
amount of violence within the story – it’s about inner city life and violence
is a significant part of gang life, so that image became integral to the
story. Depending on how you look at it,
it could also be a social commentary on race.
Is there a message in your
novel that you want readers to grasp?
The central theme in “Still Black
Remains” is the struggle of a different generation trying to realize the American Dream against all odds, and
through any means possible. The
characters in the book have learned that hard work by itself will never help
them achieve what they want. They have
to work outside the system to get what they want. The inner city landscape where they
live is filled with desperation, anger, and a sense of futility and in many
cases violence is both the solution to problems and the result of
problems. Actions – no matter what’s
involved or who gets hurt – are justified as being “part of the game.”
At
the core of the book (and my writing) it’s all about the human experience each
of us shares. When you dig down
underneath surface differences, we are all human beings no matter what our
backgrounds. And all of us want essentially the same things at our core. We
want to love and be loved. We want to be safe. We want our loved ones to be
safe. We want to feel that what we do with our lives has meaning.
I also liked that question of “does the end justify the
means”, even it involves the death of someone else.
What books have most
influenced your life?
That’s a tough question to answer. There are a number of books that have
influenced my life – not just as a writer but in life lessons and as
inspiration.
“Dawn” by Elie Wiesel (along with “Night”)
“The Sun Also Rises” and “For Whom The
Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway
“Prince of Tides” by Pat Conroy
“Brotherly Love” by Pete Dexter
“Zen and The Martial Arts” by Joe Hyams
Each of these books has a story behind the
reasoning, but there’s probably not enough time or space to get into the
specifics.
What book are you reading
now?
I just finished Laura McHugh’s “Arrowood” which was excellent, and
Wallace Stroby’s “The Devil’s Share”. If you’re a mystery/crime/thriller reader and
haven’t yet discovered either McHugh or Stroby, you’re missing out on excellent
writers.
I’m all over the place with my reading
list, but next up for me are:
“Rise”
by Cara Brookins
“Bad
Boy Boogie” by Thomas Pluck
“Savages
#2” by Don Winslow
“The
Second Mrs Hockaday” by Susan Rivers
Are there any new authors
that have grasped your interest?
Not
necessarily “new” but in addition to the writers already listed, a few of the
writers who have gotten my attention recently are:
Brynn Greenwood - “All
The Ugly and Wonderful Things”
George Saunders – “Lincoln in the Bardo”
Emma Flint – “Little Deaths”
What are your current
projects?
I have two other novels in the pipeline – the first
that I’m finishing is one entitled “All
Those Yesterdays” which is about domestic violence crossing three
generations of a family. Although the
book is a slight departure from my recent writing, domestic violence is a
subject that I’ve actively written about over the past few years, and this book
allows me to not only explore the topic in detail but to feature a strong
female character at the heart of the story. In my other books I haven’t had that
opportunity, and it’s been exciting giving voice to a problem
that affects individuals in every community, regardless of age, economic
status, sexual orientation, gender, race, religion, or nationality.
The second is tentatively entitled “A Steady Rain” and falls within the more
traditional crime fiction category (“Breaking
Bad” meets “Justified” with a
touch of “Winter’s Bone” and “A Simple Plan”)
If you had to do it all
over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
No. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t some
hesitation, doubt, and a little insecurity when I finished. I think that’s
natural after you’ve poured everything you have into writing a book. I had a strong team of editors who challenged
me to tell the best story possible, and to make it as tightly written and
realistic as possible. By the time I had
finished editing I was able to walk away and say, “THAT is the story I want to tell”, without any regrets.
Can you share a little of your current work with us?
“Still Black Remains” tells the story of Twist, one of the leaders of an
inner city gang named the Skulls, and the architect of his gang’s decision to
kidnap a mafia soldier in a last-ditch attempt to end a violent turf war. The war started when the Skulls tried taking
a bigger piece of the drug business in their Newark, New Jersey neighborhood
from the organized crime family who had once been their partners. Like most great ideas, the plan doesn’t turn
out as expected. Negotiations between the gangs deteriorate, words fail, the
violence escalates, and the only recourse left is the inevitable execution of
the hostage. Chosen to be the one to
execute the prisoner, the story covers Twist’s ability to pull the trigger, the
consequences of that action, and his internal struggle. As the volatile situation grows more explosive by the hour,
the lines between right and wrong blur; resolution comes with a price and Twist
has to decide if pulling the trigger will get him what he wants, and if he can
live with that cost.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you
about their work?
The
book that made a difference was “Prince
of Tides”. There’s a certain
beauty in the writing of Pat Conroy that is awe-inspiring – there is a certain
flow to the way he weaves his way through stories incredible images with everything
he ever wrote. “Prince of Tides” and “South
of Broad” both took away my breath - not only the beauty of his words, but
the grace and style of the imagery in everything he wrote. There are times when you sit back as a
writer, admire what someone else has written, and just say, “Damn….I wish I
could write like that”.
Do you travel much
concerning your book(s)?
Not yet, but within the next few weeks
I expect to put together a schedule of readings at a number of small venues,
book clubs, and local writing groups throughout the east coast. I’ll also be traveling to some of the larger
shows such as Book Expo in New York, Bouchercon in Toronto, and SIBA.
What was the hardest part of
writing your book?
The
hardest part was understanding the ins and outs of the gang culture (both the
Skulls and the organized crime family they are at war with), and writing it
accurately. You run the risk of creating
stereotyped characters if you aren’t truly realistic about all parts of gang
life. That involved a significant amount
of research into all aspects of the street level drug trade from all points of
view, including law enforcement – the threat from the police is a real part of
everyday life on the streets, and it’s an undercurrent that hangs throughout
everything the Skulls do.
Voice
was also extremely important. To write
it realistically and accurately you need to understand the language – the
slight nuances and speech patterns characters’ use was critical. My
favorite parts of writing “Still Black Remains” were the scenes between Twist and
Michael Valentine – that dynamic between them was interesting to create and fun
to explore. As they get to know each
other they find some commonality and shared similarities in each of their
lives. Each of them found a sense of
belonging – Twist with the Skulls while Valentine got the same thing with his
organized crime family – and as their relationship grows, they learn that in
some ways they aren’t so different.
Twist finds that Michael Valentine understands him better than some of
the Skulls do – even with their differences they almost grow to like each
other. Friendship will always be out of
the question because their backgrounds and differences are too pronounced, but
in another place they might have had a different kind of relationship.
Actions usually speak louder than
words, but putting Twist and Valentine together in that room over the garage on
Murray Street allowed me to strip away everything else and build their
relationship solely through dialogue. Nailing their voices was the hardest and most
challenging part of writing the story.
What were the challenges
(research, literary, psychological, and logistical) in bringing it to life?
It was challenging finding the right
publisher for “Still Black Remains”. I needed a publisher
who was willing to take a little bit of a risk on something that was outside
the mainstream and didn’t fall within a specific genre. That was the biggest obstacle - “Still Black Remains” doesn’t have a clearly defined niche or
category like horror, fantasy, or romance.
There’s more broad-based appeal to the story and it crosses
over between different genres like contemporary fiction as well as crime
fiction. Agents and editors who first
read the book felt it was a strong story but they didn’t know how to position
it in the market or where to target the audience (most were afraid it would
fall through the cracks). The other issue that came up was voice- most of the
characters in “Still Black Remains” are black,
and I was told that some publishers might be reluctant to publish the book
because I wasn’t black (assuming that only a black writer could write and
market a book from that POV….which is idiotic because that would mean only
women could write books featuring women characters, only real cowboys could
write westerns, and only zombies could write about the zombie apocalypse. That
kind of belief and attitude diminishes and dismisses a writer’s creativity and
ability to imagine).
Biography
In April 2017 his latest novel STILL BLACK REMAINS was published by Literary Wanderlust LLC.
He has also published a number non-fiction articles in print publications ranging from the NYTimes.com and the Life/Style section of The Boston Globe to The Bergen News and Press Journal, and has been found in print at places like the triCity News, NY Daily News, and The Press. He is the Founder and Creative Director of Story Tellers which is a community-based organization that develops and promotes literacy through writing. Story Tellers provides under-served teenagers, young adults, and women from distressed situations the opportunity to discover the strength and power of their own voices (self-empowerment through self-expression).
Visit him at his website http://kevinmichaelsfiction.com/. He also shows up periodically at: SLIDING DOWN THE RAZOR'S EDGE to offer opinions and POV on topics ranging from violence against women, sexual assaults on college campuses, and domestic violence to politics, education, and his increasing anger and disappointment at the NFL.
Originally from New Jersey, he carries the attitude, edginess, and love of all things Bruce Springsteen common in his home state, although he left the Garden State to live and work in the foothills of the Appalachians (Georgia).
Thank you for a great review as well as being part of the Still Black Remains tour (many thanks also for chatting with me)!
ReplyDeleteSpecial thanks and appreciation to all your readers and followers for picking up a copy of the book!