Interview with Joe Clifford, 10 Questions https://joeclifford.com/
Questions for Joe Clifford (for Miami Writers and Books, interviewed by Neil Crabtree)
· Joe, tell us about your Miami connection. You worked with the Creative Writing program at FIU, is that right?
Yes! I earned my MFA from FIU back in 2008, an experience, to quote the Hold Steady, almost killed me. I went through an ugly divorce and near-fatal motorcycle accident that left me like Darth Vader (i.e., more machine than man). But I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t be a working writer without Florida International. Certainly not writing mysteries, which is one of the few markets with a built-in, profitable readership. Few MFAs even allow genre, let alone encourage it.
· Say My Name is tremendously popular with readers. Give us a synopsis of the story and what you think makes it work.
The book has done well. Probably my best-selling effort since my debut, Junkie Love, my memoir chronicling the ten years I spent as a hobo. Or at least Lamentation, the first in the Jay Porter thriller series. Which is a little funny. I mean, most of my publishers have been mid-sized indies (Oceanview, Polis)—and I love them all. But for whatever reason, the small the press, the more I’ve sold. I think part of that is owed to putting the whole thing on my back and doing what I do best (being stubborn and banging my head against walls).
The synopsis? A mid-list mystery writer returns to his hometown of Berlin, CT, with the hopes of teaching at his alma mater, Central CT State, only to be sucked back into a decades’ old cold case involving missing twins. Two of those things are true. And I think you can apply that same formula to the rest of the book. Two out of every three things you read is 100% factual. It’s couched as “true-crime novel,” which, of course, can’t exist. One is true, the other make-believe. I think that dichotomy factors into why it’s been working. There’s less distance between the writerly “I” and the I “I.”
· Tell us about your own story. How did you decide to become Joe Clifford, Author?
This is the age-old question, isn’t it? Do we choose our professions or do our profession choose us? In my case, I’d say it’s a little of both. I’ve always been an artist. I paint, draw, write, play music. All the skills that don’t come with a steady paycheck or health insurance. I also can’t do anything else. I’m not a “people” person. I’d last about an hour in an office setting. After the motorcycle accident, I can’t do much physically. If I do do something, e.g., golf, weight lift, exercise, I have to pick and choose spots, and I need patches and pills, lidocaine injections, periodic spinal ablations, etc. I’m also at a certain age (50-something) where I’m not learning a new skill set. I am easily confused by my TV remote. I haven’t worked a conventional day job since the mid-nineties. It’s writing or crime, and I tried the latter and wasn’t very good at it.
· Who are some Miami writers you enjoy?
Too many to list! All the faculty I studied under at FIU (Les Standiford, Jim Hall, Dan Wakefield, John Dufresne, Campbell McGrath, Denise Duhamel, and of course Lynne Barrett, who is the smartest person I’ve ever met. And I can’t begin to touch on all the folks I studied with. I’ll single out Jennifer McCauley, because she’s next on my TBR!
· What are your writing habits? Do you keep to a schedule?
I write in burst. Frantic, manic bursts. I think all writers are a bit mad, aren’t they? I write two books a year, one in January, one in August. Our subconscious does so much of the heavy lifting. I’ve kept this pace for 10+ years. So when December and July roll around, my dreams start getting … weird
· How is your relationship with your publishers?
Like I said, I’ve been published by mid to smaller indies, so … easy? Most of these houses are a handful of people, so it’s quite personal, your interactions. The ultimate question (for these houses) comes down to: can I make money with this author? If the answer is no, or yes (for a while) and then no, it’s nothing personal. That’s the part about writing you need to keep in mind: it’s a business. The publishing part. The writing part? That I’m doing with—or without—permission. My books are going to get out there, one way or another. Which is a very liberating (and calming) feeling.
· Tell us about your earlier books.
Can you narrow that down? It sounds like a humblebrag, but it’s not. Or maybe it’s a straight up brag, I don’t know. I honestly lost track of how many books I’ve written. I could take the time to count them up. It’ll be between 17 and 20 (when the last one slated for publication, I Won’t Say a Word: A Say My Name Novel, comes out in May 2024). If there’s a theme or center, milieu, I tend to write about the marginalized and voiceless that I know about, which is drugs addicts. Having survived drug addiction, I have, like Liam Neeson, a specific set of skills. Or maybe that should read “limited.” I know what it’s like to be homeless and hopeless, so all my work contains some element of addiction, even if it’s only in a supporting role. I have a book coming out in January 2024, A Moth to Flame (Square Tire Books ©), and it’s domestic suspense, and the characters are all suburban and married or at least live in a house, but the shadow of addiction can still be seen.
· Tell us about what’s next for you.
I’m working on a book about harm reduction with a former professor. And I’ll be starting my next mystery in a few days. This one is about a man who returns to the house he grew up in, with a strange request of the new occupants: he’d like to die there. Of course from there things … happen.
· Do you remember John Dufresne’s Friday Night Writers?
I do! But I’ll tell you what I remember more about John. When I had my near-fatal accident in 2006, John and Cindy invited me to live with them while I was recovering. I wasn’t even in a wheelchair yet. I wouldn’t walk for six months! And here are two people, who I’ve known less than a year, who offer to let me convalesce and come back to life and, literally, learn to walk again. That tells you all you need to know about John, FIU, and how I feel about that community. I owe them all a tremendous debt.
· Are we going to be watching a Joe Clifford movie any time soon?
Funny you should ask! Actually, a couple years ago, I contributed to a collection called Culprits. It’s a collaborative anthology about a heist gone wrong, edited by Richard Brewer and Gary Phillips. Anyway, Disney+ bought it—and better yet it’s in production by Character Seven. J Blakeson is the showrunner and the folks who produced Killing Eve are handling that end of it. It’s supposed to come out soon. Although with Hollywood’s refusal to pay writers fairly (I also side with labor), I can’t say when that will be!
Thanks for having me, Neil. A pleasure!
