with J.E. Fishman
We are delighted to welcome author J.E. Fishman to Omnimystery News today.
J.E.'s fourth incident from his Bomb Squad NYC series is Blast from the Past (Verbitrage; September 2014 trade paperback and ebook formats) and we recently had a chance to talk with him about his books.
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Omnimystery News: You've written both stand-alone and series novels. When starting a new book, how do you decide which it will be?
Photo provided courtesy of
J.E. Fishman
J.E. Fishman: My standalone books are about ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges. By definition, it would be absurd to have them appear in an open-ended series. I mean, how many times in one life is an ordinary person going to plausibly face mortal danger? So for me that's an easy call. The vet tech in Primacy who springs a talking ape from the animal testing facility … what else in her life is going to send her into the African bush with people shooting at her? I think she's going to settle down and get married, and spend the rest of her days talking about that crazy thing that happened to her, not get herself caught up in another thriller-worthy situation.
In contrast, the NYPD Bomb Squad has cases coming up every day because that's their job. The conceit of any series is that these are the most interesting or dramatic cases, therefore worth telling. And, the world being what it is, the fictional commander, Lieutenant Joseph Capobianco, isn't going to spend a lot of time sitting around filing his nails. The real commander doesn't either.
Phu Goldberg, who's something of an accidental detective, is trickier. I wanted to write about a guy who kind of falls into the work and finds himself with his life in danger in case after case, even though he didn't go looking for it. Of course, that's a bit absurd, too, which is why there's a comic element to all of it. Phu is a roiling pot of contradictions.
OMN: How do you go about researching the plot points of your stories?
JEF: I'll do a bit of reading about a specific subject — maybe a book or three — and also use the internet. Google maps is a godsend, saving endless time with regard to geography. I'll also seek out experts to help me with the argot of a specific field etc. For example, for The Dark Pool, which is a financial thriller, I invited a friend of mine in the finance world to read the manuscript and suggest changes. For Primacy, I spoke with several people who had worked in animal testing labs. For Cadaver Blues — in which the mushroom houses of the Brandywine Valley feature prominently — I got a tour of a mushroom house from a friend in that business.
With regard to the Bomb Squad NYC series, I can't emphasize enough how fortunate I am to have as my technical consultant the active head of the real NYPD Bomb Squad, Lieutenant Mark Torre. Mark and I discuss plot ideas, sometimes he reviews outlines, and I pose questions to him now and then over the phone or over text, at times regarding technical bomb-related stuff and at other times with regard to the workings of the NYPD. He also reads every word I write and suggests changes for authenticity. Just hanging out with the guy now and then always gives me insights into the work he does, too. Sometimes the most casual comment turns into narrative gold.
OMN: In your Bomb Squad NYC series, how true are you to the setting?
JEF: I look at New York City as a character in the series in its own right. Cities derive their character from so many factors: not just the people in them but their underlying geology, their architecture, their public spaces, their cultural elements. Since it's a real place, I have to be careful, because you never want to break the spell by having a reader say something like, "Wait a minute. Broadway doesn't run uptown at Times Square." So I try to be quite careful about the big things. If a scene is set in a neighborhood that's filled with townhouses in real life, for example, I won't put a skyscraper there. It violates the texture of the place.
On the other hand, I also tell lies in the service of the greater story. I located my bomb squad in the same neighborhood as the NYPD Bomb Squad but placed them on a different street. The precinct buildings (real and fictional) have many of the same characteristics, but I wanted the freedom to make changes if necessary — little details that the uninitiated wouldn't know anyway.
The setting is hugely important to the plots, of course, because everyone is based on the real work of the oldest, busiest, and most technologically sophisticated bomb squad in the world. They're all those things because they're in New York and New York is a major target.
But in every case I think setting is crucial to plot and character. Character derives from the decisions we make in life, and one of those decisions is where to live. Then that environment impacts us in ways we have to respond to. So it's important that the hedge fund manager in The Dark Pool has chosen to put his office in Greenwich, Connecticut, because that says a lot about how he sees himself. It's equally important that Cadaver Blues takes place in an area that is known, among other things, for growing masses of mushrooms, because a major plot point hinges on that industry.
OMN: Complete this sentence for us: "I am a thriller writer and thus I am also …".
JEF: Thus I am also always seeing the dangers in life. My wife teases me about how I see negative possibilities around every corner. We take a quick trip and I say, "If the plane crashes, who will know to go rescue our dogs?" I blame my father for this. He's an accountant and his favorite question has always been some variation of, "But is that safe?" Yet it is the plight of all mystery and thriller writers to wonder about what can go wrong, just as it is the plight of the romance writer to wonder how the most unlikely two people can find one another. If you didn't start out with this as a habit of mind, you'll end up thinking that way if you want to keep writing in that genre. We all have plots to fill!
OMN: What kinds of books do you read for pleasure?
JEF: I admire people who read so heavily in one genre that they have time for little else, but to me that's like only eating one kind of cuisine every meal. It may make you an expert on Thai food, but along the way you'll miss out on the greater life experiences that would have led you to develop your appreciation of that food even more. So I read just about everything, from literary through thriller through historical fiction through sci-fi through popular fiction. Also some poetry. The two genres I hardly go near are cozy mysteries and romance. There's something I always find cloying about the former. And the latter — well, honestly, I haven't really tried. Maybe one of those should be next on my list!
OMN: Create a Top Five list for us on any topic.
JEF: Here are the top five things that make the far West Village (where the Bomb Squad is headquartered) unique:
• Hudson River Park. This is one of the great urban reclamation projects in history. In one day you can play basketball, hit tennis balls, visit the dog park, rollerblade, kayak, see (from afar) the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and feel the power of the mighty Hudson. Not to mention: The people watching is fabulous.
• Julian Schnabel's Palazzo Chupi. The moderate-size pink stucco building where the artist and movie director has his studio doesn't at all fit in with the architecture around it, which of course makes it fit in perfectly with the quirky West Village.
• EN Japanese Brasserie. Authentic, flavorful Japanese food — not just sushi — in a setting that manages to be both dramatic and peaceful at the same time. And they have the most extensive shochu list in the city. Get hammered and eat some seaweed.
• Henrietta Hudson. One of the oldest — maybe the oldest; I'm far from an expert on such things — lesbian bars in New York. It's plain cool to have as a neighbor a place where people who may be discriminated against elsewhere get to be themselves.
• Kaas Glassworks on Perry Street. Tiny shops like these — now too few — are the essence of what gives each New York neighborhood its own personality. In this case, they specialize in decoupage (look it up). Great for gifts.
OMN: What's next for you?
JEF: While I hope to crank out another Bomb Squad NYC novel and at least one other mystery or thriller this year, I'm also trying my hand at other things, including a screenplay. In addition, soon my agent will be shopping a horror novel that I wrote under a pen name. But what I'm most looking forward to this year is launching my daughter into high school in the fall.
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J.E. Fishman is a former Doubleday editor and literary agent who turned his hand to writing fiction several years ago. He has also been a ghost writer, an entrepreneur, and a retailer — although, mercifully, those days are over. He blogs occasionally for the Huffington Post, the Nervous Breakdown, and the Weeklings, but he prefers writing fiction. Fishman divides his time between Chadds Ford, PA, and New York City.
For more information about the author, please visit his website at JEFishman.com and his author page on Goodreads, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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Blast from the Past
J.E. Fishman
A Bomb Squad NYC Thriller
Is Kieran Lehane a good cop on a rogue investigation? Or is he just a rogue cop?
