SinC-IC: Why did you choose to write mysteries?

BS: I grew up reading mysteries. My mom was an avid mystery reader. She’d be up into the wee hours of the morning finishing a book. She introduced me to two of her favorites, Nero Wolfe and British spy-chaser Tommy Hambleton. Also, as a kid, I must have read all the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries.

SinC-IC: What is unique about your main character, or setting?

BS: Ed McAvoy is a former homicide captain with the Detroit Police Force who has had to take a medical retirement after his leg is shattered by a drug dealer's bullet. Although McAvoy feels he’s too young to be put out to pasture, he retires to a cottage on the banks of Deer Shanty Brook in the heart of New York’s Catskills where he wiles away his time tying trout flies, fishing, and slowly going out of his mind with boredom. When he’s offered the job as Chief of Police in the sleepy little village of Peekamoose Heights, McAvoy jumps at the opportunity.

Ed McAvoy unique in a couple of ways. First, he’s a working cop. He doesn’t have just one big case that he can devote all his time to. He has to administer a department, obey the laws of search and seizure, not violate anyone’s civil rights, and he has to worry about village politics as well. He’s also cerebral in his crime-solving approach. He doesn’t beat up anyone or get beat up. And, as yet (in any of the four Ed McAvoy Mysteries), he hasn’t had to fire his weapon. He uses guile and cunning to solve his cases.

Peekamoose Heights is a small village in New York’s Catskills. I don’t know of any other series, mystery or otherwise, set in the Catskills. But Peekamoose Heights is more than just a set or backdrop where the story takes place. It’s a community, populated by real people—some of whom play greater or lesser parts in the different books in the Ed McAvoy Mystery Series. I hope the reader, having met these people in, the first book of the series, will consider them old friends and be eager to visit the village again in the future. I also hope they agree with Richard Frisbie (the owner of the Hope Farm Press & Bookshop in Saugerties) who wrote in his review of Stream of Death: "I think this imaginary town is a gentrified version of Phoenicia, but wherever it is, I want to live there."

SinC-IC: What authors do you like to read?

BS: I read books by many authors, but two whose books I always look forward to are Dick Francis and Lawrence Sanders. I even like the new guy who the Sanders’ estate chose to carry on the Archie McNally series.

SinC-IC: How long did it take you to write Stream of Death?

BS: It took me a year to get it done and another seven to get it right.

Originally christened Fish Story back in 1993, it was a finalist in the St. Martin’s Press Malice Domestic Contest. I thought I had arrived. I was on my way to the big-time. Even though St. Martin’s passed on acquiring the publication rights, I figured, "Hey, an independent judge liked it and recommended it. A few more submissions and I’ll be a published author."

Those few submissions turned into a half dozen, then a dozen, all returned with photocopied notes that read, "Thanks, but not right for us." or "Thanks, but our list is full." or "Thanks, but ..." (you fill in the blank).

By now I had followed up with two more Ed McAvoy novels and a Caitlin O’Rouke novel—two of which also were recommended by St. Martin’s Press contest judges for publication, but, again, passed on.

Meanwhile, each time I wrote another Ed McAvoy novel, I revised Fish Story. And with each revision, I liked the story even better. But now the Fish Story rejections had increased to two dozen and were rapidly approached three—all accompanied by photocopied "Thanks, but ..." notes.

Then an email showed up on my computer—from Poisoned Pen Press. The tone was cautionary. They only publish a few mysteries each year, probably wouldn’t end up publishing mine, but would like to see the entire manuscript anyway. "What the heck," I thought. "It’s less than ten bucks in postage and I have copies galore sitting around gathering dust."

After three months or so, the response came. And not a photocopied rejection note, either. This was an honest-to-goodness personalized rejection note from editor Barbara Peters. The bad news was that, no, she didn’t think my novel was publishable in it’s current form. But she also gave me a glimmer of hope. If I would make these cuts here, reorder those chapters there, and make other modifications throughout, she’d be happy to take another look at it.

The returned manuscript itself looked as if someone had butchered a hog on it. There were red edit marks everywhere. Barely a page was left unscathed. "My story," I whimpered to myself. "She’s ruined my story." But as I read the suggested edits, I discovered that she hadn’t ruined it—anything but. The cuts and modifications needed to be made—even the words that I had thought were so cute and perfect. When they were gone, the story read so much cleaner and clearer. And rearranging a few chapters made the plot work so much better.

So off it went again. After another three-month wait, I received another response—but not a rejection this time. It was an offer. They actually wanted to publish my book.

Now after eight years, two name changes (initially from Fish Story to The Dog Wore Diamonds) and four more sets of revisions, Stream of Death is finally flowing into that big literary ocean with all the other new books published this year.

SinC-IC: Do you have at least one family member who is supportive of your writing endeavors?

BS: My wife Arlene—big time!

I didn’t start out to be a writer. I am, or was, by education and training an engineer, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan, and a Masters from Wayne State University in Detroit. As a Staff Quality Engineer at Ford Motor Company and later as Director of Quality Systems and Training at an automotive parts supplier, I traveled considerably in my work—four and five days each and every week.

When I finally burned out on the travel schedule and sat down to think about what kind of work I could do instead of what I had been doing for fifteen years or so, my wife said: "Don’t think in terms of what you can do. Think of what you’d like to do." What I really wanted to do was write. "Then do it," she said, "because your job is making both of us miserable."

SinC-IC: Do you make a living off your writing?

BS: Yes, but not as a playwright or novelist. Early on in my writing career I started doing quite a bit of free-lance scriptwriting for local video production firms in the area. Two years ago, one of the multimedia houses was expanding and offered me a full-time scriptwriting job. I’ve been writing training and promotional scripts for them since then.

SinC-IC: What do you like most about being a writer?

BS: Storytelling! It’s all about storytelling. With a play or novel, it’s my story—the way I want it told. With commercial work, it’s the customer’s story—the way s/he wants it told. But, regardless, what we writers do is tell stories.

SinC-IC: What do you like least about being a writer?

BS: Promotion! I know it’s something that has to be done, because no one else is going to do it, but I don’t really care for it. That’s probably the single biggest reason that my short-lived theatre company failed. I’m not a promoter. In a world of Mr. Insides and Mr. Outsides, I’m a consummate Mr. Inside. However, I’m biting the bullet and trying to do what I can to promote Stream of Death. I’m doing signings on Saturdays wherever they’ll have me within a four-hour radius from home, or speaking engagements at night within a two-hour radius, but I’d much rather be telling stories.

SinC-IC: How much time per day or week do you spend writing?

BS: When I was free-lancing, I’d write for myself in the mornings and do client work, run errands, and do household chores in the afternoons. Now that I’m working full-time and writing all day for someone else, I have to write my own stuff in the evening or on weekends whenever I can catch a few spare hours between the necessary errands and chores.

SinC-IC: How do you discipline yourself to do your writing?

BS: With my personal writing, I haven’t been very disciplined since I started working full-time. When the spirit moves me, I write. If it doesn’t, I don’t.

SinC-IC: Do you hear your fictional characters talk to you in your mind?

BS: I haven’t reached the point yet when they talk to me (thank goodness). However, I do overhear them talking to each other.

SinC-IC: Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?

BS: Four things, actually.

First, on creative writing classes: They certainly can help you with mechanics but, then, so can some good reference books. It’s still up to you, however, to come up with a good story and engaging characters. Remember, it’s all about storytelling. Don’t get caught up in technique and go rigid with all the rules that creative writing instructors seem to love. Pick up a John Grisham novel and see how many of those rules he routinely breaks. Grisham’s not being published because of a slavish adherence to writing rules. He’s being published because he tells a darn good story.

Second, on reading fees: You’ll get enough rejections for free. There’s no point in paying for them, be they from publishers, agents, or contests. For an agent or publisher, reading manuscripts is a cost of doing business. For contests, they usually have an Arts Council grant, anyway. And if part of the contest prize for a book doesn’t include a bonafide publishing contract with a reputable house, or if the prize for a play doesn’t include a production contract, why waste the postage even if it is free?

Third, don’t give up. Remember, Stream of Death was rejected by thirty-some publishers and about as many agents before it found a home at Poisoned Pen Press.

Fourth, I know that many people are reluctant—and rightly so—to spend close to $25 for a hardcopy of a first novel from an unknown author, despite some very nice reviews. The first three chapters of Stream of Death (as well as chapters from the still unpublished books) and a few of the stage plays in their entirety can be downloaded from my website (http://www.billstackhouse.com). If you’re unsure as to whether you’ll enjoy Stream of Death, download the chapters and take it for a test drive, then make your decision.