Featured Interview With Brad Whittington
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
You know that guy who sits in the corner, listening while everyone else talks, and then blurts out some off-the-wall comment that makes everyone look at each other with a slight frown? I’m the one sitting next to him, writing down what everyone is saying so I can use it in my next book. I’ve written some wacky books and won some awards and all that stuff, but mainly I’m the guy who looks for that one phrase that will stand everything on its head, then I wrap it up in a bunch of characters you’ve known all your life and some surprising situations and hand it to you like I just thought of it a second ago.
I have been known to inhabit Texas, Hawaii, Ohio, South Carolina, Arizona, and Colorado, annoying people as a janitor, math teacher, field hand, computer programmer, brickyard worker, editor, resident Gentile in a synagogue, IT director, weed-cutter, and in a number of influential positions in other less notable professions.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was ambushed by books before I even made it to elementary school. I started writing as a kid, but didn’t get serious about fiction until I got a computer in 1981. Twenty years later, an editor tracked me down in Hawaii and offered me a publishing contract. Some stuff happened in between. The next thing I knew, I’d written nine novels and counting.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Favorite author? Might as well ask King Solomon who was his favorite wife. Okay, how about Ray Bradbury, P.G. Wodehouse, Louis L’Amour, Graham Greene, Robertson Davies . . . Are you writing this down? I expect you to read at least one book from each author on this list. Now where was I? Ah, yes. Richard Russo, Michael Connelly, Robert Benchley, James Thurber, Dorothy Parker. You asked for a dozen, right? Garrison Keillor, Noel Crook.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Do you believe in second chances? Even when you don’t deserve it? When everything else is stripped away, that’s what it comes down to for Hensley in The Reluctant Saint, although it takes him a while to figure that out.
This novel was born from the last sentence of Endless Vacation: “Hensley wondered what Chrystal in Santa Fe was doing these days.” I spent six months exploring the answer in the first draft, fleshing out what started as nothing more than a name and a location into a character who was as much a force of nature as a woman. I got a lot of help from my technical adviser, a woman who is as far from a soccer mom as you can find–sleeve tats, friend to the fallen, rescuer of the rejected. Let’s just say that Hensley never knew what hit him.
Of course, other interesting characters pop up, such as Chrystal’s daughter, Sapphire, and her regrettable boyfriend Spud. The sheriff, who still carries the torch for Chrystal. Her godfather, the judge. Her ex-husband, the right-wing militia wingnut, and his half-cocked henchmen. And Hensley’s brother, Davison, who sold all his shares in Hensley Limited a long time ago.
For The Reluctant Saint, I took a location-scouting trip to Santa Fe, NM, and Portland, OR, three days each. It was eye-opening, and in a few cases, punctuated with some moments of white-knuckle terror and a few panic attacks. The gory details are available on my blog, but let’s just say it will be a long time before I drive up Mt. Hood on a back road again.
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