Category Archives: BLN Classics

All posts prior to 7 June 2011 are the collected and archived posts from the original BOOKLIFE website.

Meet Jeffrey Cohen/E. J. Copperman: The Comic Hero of New Jersey

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Jeffrey Cohen has been freelancing for 26 years for publications like The New York Times, TV Guide, USA Weekend and Writer’s Digest.  Through all that and much more (marriage, fatherhood, college tuition) Cohen kept writing screenplays and uproariously funny mystery novels in addition to freelance journalism.

Cohen wrote the Double Feature and Aaron Tucker Mysteries, as well as the Haunted Guesthouse Mysteries (under the name E. J. Copperman).  The most recent Guesthouse novel, An Uninvited Ghost, was released today.  He is also the author of two nonfiction books, The Asperger Parent: How to Raise a Child With Asperger Syndrome and Maintain Your Sense of Humor, and Guns A’ Blazing: How Parents of Children on the Autism Spectrum and Schools Can Work Together—Without a Shot Being Fired.

Straddling fiction and non-fiction doesn’t seem to be a problem for Cohen, but some of the elements of his non-fiction—in particular, a son with Asperger’s Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism—have crept into the novels as well. Aaron Tucker’s son Ethan has AS, and Cohen believes a few other characters in his novels might have Asperger’s tendencies, whether they know it or not.
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Old-Style Heroics: James L. Daniels on Writing in the Dead Man Series

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James L. Daniels writes heroic fiction.  He loves the “old-style heroics” of brave, compassionate men fighting the good fight in world rife with profoundly untenable situations.  Daniels’ Dead Man: Ring of Knives is the second installment in Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin’s Dead Man series.

The Dead Man books feature Matt Cahill, “an ordinary man leading a simple life… until a shocking accident changes everything. Now he can see a nightmarish netherworld of unspeakable evil and horrific violence that nobody else does…”  When Cahill wakes, that is, he sees the darkness within people’s hearts—sees rage, madness, and seething violence–in the form of lesions, swarming bugs, and rotting skin.
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The Well-Told West: I. J. Parnham on Writing the West

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Born and raised in England, Ian Joseph Parnham now lives in Scotland where he writes about the American West.  An accountant by training, he has written more than two dozen novels for Hale’s Black Horse Western line and for Avalon Books Western line.

Parnham’s Black Horse novels run a straighter, darker line than his Avalon books, often with plenty of action and mystery.  His Avalon novels are lighter, and Parnham tends to throw in unexpected elements that poke and prod at the illusions of the idealized West.

“Fiction is about telling a good story well,” said Parnham.  “For me style is the telling well bit. I’d describe my style as ‘accessible no-nonsense’, or at least that’s what I try to do. I’m not hard-boiled enough to be minimalist, but I do try not to let the words get in the way of the story. The sun sets in my stories without casting azure rays of iridescent pearls. Men get shot in the chest without any lectures on firearms or anatomy. People talk without using apostrophes.”
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The Dead Man & the Bobble-Headed Elvis: Meet James L. Daniels

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James L. Daniels has been paying his dues.  He’s been sending out stories, novel-length manuscripts, and queries off and on for 14 years.  He’s worked a day job all the while, and has had successes, frustrations, and genuine head-scratchers.  He’s never been published until this year.

Last year, Daniels emailed a manuscript to the novelist and TV writer Lee Goldberg, who gave him encouragement and advice.  Recently, Goldberg also gave Daniels a shot at writing an installment in the new action-adventure series, The Dead Man. 

“I was immediately struck by James’ obvious talent and vivid prose,” said Goldberg. “I was so impressed with the writing, with his fully-realized and compelling characters, sharp dialog, and strong voice, that I recommended him to my literary agent.”
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