by Steve Piacente
We are thrilled to welcome novelist Steve Piacente as our guest today.
Steve's new novel is Bootlicker (CreateSpace, September 2012 trade paperback and ebook formats), a prequel to his award-winning debut novel Bella.
Bootlicker is about two unlikely Southern political allies, who share a common secret. Ezra James, who knows what happened so very long ago is dead, but still haunts the dreams of one of the men … and speaks to Steve about what happened on that fateful day …
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Steve Piacente: What happened in the woods that day?
Ezra: Things were different in '59 down South. Black folks were starting to vote. Made whites nervous. Klan decided to make an example.
Photo provided courtesy of
Steve Piacente
SP: Were you involved in registering voters?
Ezra: No, sir. I told them they had the wrong man. I worked at Old Man McCauley's drugstore. I minded my business, kept that store spotless.
SP: And?
Ezra: They didn't care. More I talked 'bout being innocent, more they beat me. I tried to stay sitting up but my arms were tied. Then we all heard a noise off in the trees.
SP: A noise?
Ezra: Two kids looking for a place to drink their beer. One of 'em ran off right away. The other froze. That was Ike. Ike Washington. He and the Judge locked eyes.
SP: The Judge?
Ezra: Judge Lander McCauley, son of Old Man McCauley, my boss at the drugstore. The men asked the Judge what to do 'bout Ike; he said let him go, we'll get him later.
SP: And then they turned back to you.
Ezra: I know you been looking at the scars 'round my neck.
SP: I'm sorry.
Ezra: No 'pologies needed. They went back and grabbed Ike that night, brought him over to the Judge's house. They said he could join up with them or join up with me.
SP: Meaning he would have been …
Ezra: ... Hung. Lynched.
SP: What work did they want him to do?
Ezra: Bein' a judge wasn't enough. McCauley wanted more. To get it, he needed black votes. Ike's job was to get black votes.
SP: But he was a kid.
Ezra: They taught him.
SP: And he went along.
Ezra: It didn't take much convincing.
SP: Forgive me, but you were gone by this point. How do you know …
Ezra: … Maybe being gone don't mean what you think. Maybe that's how you and I can be having this little talk right now.
SP: Ok, well, how did you feel about Ike going to work for McCauley?
Ezra: How'd you like it? Truth gets buried with me and no one's any wiser. That Ike, he's smart, catches on fast. Next thing you know the Judge becomes the Congressman. Ike's on his way, too. Fancy clothes, 'spensive doctors. Today, everyone knows Big Ike. Everyone wants his ear.
SP: Including you?
Ezra: Oh, we have our visits. I drop by late at night. I don't need no appointment.
SP: You haunt him?
Ezra: Your word.
SP: What's yours?
Ezra: We visit.
SP: What do you talk about?
Ezra: That's private.
SP: Do you blame Ike for what happened?
Ezra: He didn't do nothing to stop it. You bet I blame him.
SP: Should he have told the truth later instead of going with McCauley?
Ezra: He shoulda' thought about it more than he did.
SP: So now Ike is running to become the Congressman. He would be the first black congressman in South Carolina since the Civil War.
Ezra: What's the question?
SP: Do you want him to win?
Ezra: I don't care nothing about if he's the Congressman.
SP: Ezra, can you ever forgive Ike?
Ezra: No offense, you're asking the wrong question.
SP: Then what's the right question?
Ezra: Look at the man. Can't sleep. Finger always twitchin' for no reason. Soon he'll be heading back to that forest, a long rope in his fist. The right question is: Can Ike ever forgive Ike?
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Steve Piacente has been a professional writer for more than 35 years, starting as a sportswriter for the Naples Daily News in Florida before switching to news reporting at the Lakeland Ledger.
His career brought him to Washington D.C., where years earlier he graduated with a communications degree from American University, to write as a correspondent for the Tampa Tribune and later the Charleston Post & Courier.
He went back to school to earn his masters in fiction from Johns Hopkins University, and later self published his first novel Bella, the story of a widow’s quest to uncover the truth about her husband’s death on an Afghan battlefield.
Originally from Brooklyn, Piacente grew up on Long Island and now lives in Rockville, Maryland with his wife. He began speechwriting for a federal agency in D.C. where today he heads the agency’s web, new media and graphics teams. He has taught journalism classes at American University for 15 years, and he writes as an expert on self-publishing for numerous websites.
Learn more about the author and his work on his website StevePiacente.com or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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Bootlicker
Steve Piacente
In the summer of 1959, two black teens hoping to sneak a beer in the South Carolina woods stumble on a Klan lynching led by the local judge. One bolts. The other freezes and winds up with a choice: join the man about to die, or begin hustling black support the judge needs to advance in politics. In trade, he will enjoy a life of power and comfort.
Decades later, Big Ike is about to become the state's first black congressman since Reconstruction. Instead, he finds himself in the same forest, a long rope in his fist, muttering the hated nickname again and again: Bootlicker.
Watch a trailer for the book below.
