Featured Interview With Raymond Parish
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a Midwesterner, born in Ohio and raised in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Our dad was in the textile business and we moved around a bit; I went to three different rural high schools. Once I was on my own, I continued my nomadic ways, living in Iowa, Illinois, back to Iowa, and on to Missouri. I finally dug in, settling with my family in metro St. Louis . The intersection of rural and urban life that has been my personal journey was a driving force in the setting for my novel, Overnight Delivery: A Hank Anderson Thriller, published on Amazon in my pen name, Raymond Parish.
Although Hank is his own fictional man, his chosen profession, psychotherapy, is the path that I have followed. Two of my nonfiction books have been published including, Men at Work: An Action Guide to Masculine Healing, and I have self -published two additional self help books including, I’m Sorry, It’s Cancer: A Handbook of Help and Hope for Survivors and Caregivers. Service work has become the family business. My wife directs a nonprofit the serves children and families. One of our daughters works in an agency that assists women in need. My sister is a psychologist. And so, it only made sense that Hank had to be “in the field.”
Pets? I still mourn the loss of our West Highland Terrier of thirteen years. She was our “therapy dog,” shadowing any family member in ill health until they fully recovered. These days I make do with my son’s very laid back puppy and the cats that own both of my daughters.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Books were always around the house. Both of my parents were readers, as is my sister. My dad introduced me to the mystery and thriller genre early in life: the light mysteries of The Hardy Boys, then Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler.
As the new kid in a new town, one of my first moves was to find the local library and acquire my precious library card. I discovered historical fiction and biographies. Dickens, O. Henry, Tolkien,
Twain, Verne. The list was, and is, endless.
My introduction to writing in a conscious way was through a creative writing class in high school. Although interesting, I was still on a quest to become the next Eric Clapton, guitar god, or Dustin Hoffman, actor. Rock stardom and Tony awards were not in the cards, and in my early years as a counseling professional, my writing chops were practiced in reports and assessments. Nothing fancy. Clarity. Economy. Structure.
My entry into the world of published author came as an act of kindness from a friend, who submitted my first nonfiction manuscript to a self help book publishing house. My first editor provided all the motivation I would ever need to forge ahead when she said, “For a social worker, you’re a pretty good writer.” They then published the first of two editions of my book. I reminded myself of this ‘don’t wait until you’re the next Carl Jung before you write’ message to put fingers to keyboard and finish the first of my Hank Anderson series.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My reading is divided into two categories, professional and personal.
If readers read one nonfiction book on personal growth and healing in a lifetime, let it be Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, an integration of his memoir of pain and transformation as a Holocaust survivor, and his theory of psychotherapy and healing. He is one of my heroes. For a bonus, read the memoir of a Frankl compatriot, Edith Eva Eger’s The Choice.
In fiction, my choice of the greatest book of all: To Kill a Mockingbird. I can’t say anything about Harper Lee that has not been said.
My current favorites in the mystery and thriller genre are David Housewright’s McKenzie series, the Laurie R. King Mary Russell books, and John Sandford’s Virgil Flowers series. Housewright and Sandford utilize the Midwest as their setting, which I used as encouragement to set my novel in Des Moines, Iowa. Nothing like a little unspoken mentoring to overcome first novel jitters.
I am influenced by nonfiction books that read like page turning novels: Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies, about the history of cancer; Frank McCourt’s memoir Angela’s Ashes (it was as if I could here the Irish voices in my head…and I have no Irish DNA); Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind by Harari. Nonfiction or fiction; try to write the truth!
Although I seldom read the horror genre, I was inspired and influenced by Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Blunt. Clear. Simple do’s and don’ts.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Overnight Delivery is a psychological thriller from an insider’s point of view. Hank Anderson is a gifted psychotherapist, devoted father, confused ex-husband, loving son, and dedicated friend to a brilliant and flawed crew of beleaguered colleagues. When the imposing Detective Phil Evans refers Kenny Jensen, delivery man and thief, for counseling, Hank’s curiosity, compassion, and taste for personal risk draw him in to a world of meth and death that lies just beneath his town’s Midwestern calm and conservatism.
One of the joys of writing OD was how characters appeared through several drafts. In my first draft Dennis did not have a husband. The impetus for Preacher’s fanaticism was not apparent until I reached the finale. It came to me only recently that one of the catalysts for the relationship between Hank and Phil was my reading of the Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons autobiographies. My editor, Mary, was instrumental in deepening the strength and clarity of my female characters, along with helping me to find the trajectory of Hank’s journey through the calamity that will change him forever. Belinda’s blend of grace and edginess. Daughter Haley as a mirror for Hank’s humor and inquisitive nature. These qualities all rose to the surface over time.
It was clear to me that the friendship between Phil and Hank would be grounded in contrast, physically and emotionally. Diversity was also a core aspect of my work. I hope readers will connect with the people and the world I’ve imagined. And, will continue to imagine as I work on the second of the Hank Anderson series, tentatively titled, Higher Education.
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