From Stephen King to True Crime: An Interview with Tyson Blue

Hi Tyson, thank you for doing this interview.

No, problem. Always happy to talk about my favorite subject—ME. With a nod to Keith Olberman.

Where were you born? Where did you grow up?

I was born in Dublin, Georgia on July 10, 1952, delivered by Ty Cobb, jr., son of the famous—or infamous—baseball player. From the time I was six months old onward, I grew up in Franklin, New Hampshire, which I regard as my home.

What was the first thing you remember reading as a child?

I remember several different comics, fairy tales from a book called Shirley Temple’s Storybook, but one I really remember was Helen Bannerman’s “Little Black Sambo.” That story has a bad rep for being racist, but several things argue against that. First, the main character is portrayed as a clever and resourceful little boy who is able to avoid being eaten by predators and is able to overcome his challenges and complete his mission of getting groceries for his parents. But most importantly, Little Black Sambo is NOT African. Helen Bannerman was married to a plantation owner, and the story was originally concocted to entertain her children on the train which was the only way to enter the family’s tea plantation, which was located in India. Which makes sense, because the predators who menaced him were TIGERS, which are native to Asia. Aside from a few specimens which might be in zoos or circuses, THERE ARE NO TIGERS IN AFRICA. Little Black Sambo is Indian.

Who are your favorite writers and artists?

Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, John Irving, Ed McBain, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith, Robert Parker, Mark Twain, and too many others to count. Artists include Salvador Dali, Picasso, Jim Steranko, Neal Adams, René Magritte, and many others, including, of course, Drew Struzan and Francois Vailliancourt, who both contributed to my last book, “Hope and Miracles.”

When it comes to doing interviews, what is your main objective? Especially interviewing prominent writers?

To find out what makes them tick, how they transform ideas into stories and novels, and any particular techniques and tricks they use to do what they do. Any influences on their work, favorite writers, special interests they might have, and, usually, whatever current projects they are promoting that led to the interview in the first place. I also try to give the reader an idea of what it feels like to have a conversation with the subject, because that is something not everybody gets to do.

Steven Spignesi once said that reading one of my reviews or interviews is like I’m a big “little kid” who has just discovered something he thinks is really, really cool, and can’t wait to tell everyone about it. I don’t have a problem with that description.

Who was the best to interview and who was the worst? 

It’s hard to pick a “best” but Richard Matheson, Stephen King and Harlan Ellison were among my favorites. As for the worst, I’d rather not name him, but he was someone whose novels I read regularly, but he gave the most boring interview I’ve ever conducted. I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

Not only are you a master at interviews and writing articles, but you’ve also written some great fiction. Which do you prefer?

Fiction. I really enjoy creating worlds and the people who move around in them. And when people do me dirt, I make them a character in a story and I do horrible things to them. 

You also practice law. Has your job ever influenced you to write a story?

Yes. Most directly, I wrote a short story, “Call Me Jay,” about a lawyer defending a client in a can’t-win case who abruptly finds out that he literally has God on his side. I had thought that story was lost, but recently found it in my spare-stories folder.

I also wrote an as-yet unpublished novel, Season of the Gun, about a lawyer who moves to a small town in New Hampshire and runs afoul of the local hunting club, both in and out of court.

What do you think society will be like in ten years?

Kinda like one of those godawful “Mad Max” movies. I hope I’ll be dead.

When you aren’t writing or interviewing, practicing law, what else takes up your time?

Spending time with my wife and my dog, going to movies, reading, and listening to and performing music.

What projects are you working on now?

I’m editing a true-crime book for a local writer; I have two new short stories featuring my hitman character, Ray Vincent, in active development; I am working on a piece for Dave Hinchberger’s Stephen King Annual; and I’m doing a final polish on a novel, The Broken-Hearted Knight, which I started back in 1984. And on the back burner, I want to write a book about the mission to move cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in the early days of the Revolutionary War.