Will Viharo's Blog
August 11, 2019
Jazz, Pulp, Noir: Coolest Live Reading Gig Ever!
Beboppin' with Dmitri
DIG THIS: Recently famous jazz cat Dmitri Matheny--who actually attended my Thrillville shows down in the Bay Area years ago, which I only found out when we finally hooked up in person here in Seattle--asked me if I'd be interested in reading a passage from my latest, Vic Valentine, Private Eye: 14 Vignettes, backed by his band at Seattle's legendary jazz joint, Tula's. Naturally, though I'm not crazy about performing in public anymore, I accepted, because what could be more appropriate than an ex-lounge lizard/pulp fiction writer reading his stuff aloud in a jazz club backed by a real jazz band? That is a classic Beat Generation situation, cats 'n' kittens, so I was all over it like Scotch on the rocks.
Unfortunately, a couple of days later, I read the sad news that Tula's is closing after a quarter century run in Belltown, being replaced by condos or some redevelopment bullshit. I'm very sad but also proud to appear on that fabled stage. I actually set a scene there, with Dmitri and his band, in Vic Valentine: Lounge Lizard For Hire . I guess this was Dmitri's way of repaying the favor, not that I saw it that way. I just dig his music, and so does Vic.
This gig of a lifetime took place on Wednesday, August 7, 2019. I hadn't been this excited about a live reading gig since Monica Tiki Goddess and I appeared with the San Francisco chapter of Naked Girls Reading back in 2011. I posted about this on my Facebook page just as I was heading out the door. Seconds later, I got a notice I'd been banned for 30 days--again--from posting for once again violating "community standards." At first I had no idea why, since the photos I posted were innocuous enough, just the event poster and a couple of shots of Monica and me on stage, wearing robes, me in my trademark fez, but then I noticed the ban was for simply linking in the comments section to the Naked Girls Reading website! Really?
Facebook hates me. As of this writing, I can't even share this blog on Facebook anymore, since it's been erroneously flagged as "spam" and nobody responds to my online appeals. So if you want to share this blog, you'll have to do so on Twitter, same as me. It feels like an anti-Thrill conspiracy, man. But since Trump is my antithesis, makes sense the Powers That Be would be down on me. Society and I have never been tight, but it seems that gulf is only widening as I grow older. I just can't abide but these puritanical rules, man. The Prude Patrol just bugs me. I'm just not conservative in any way. If you are, fine, but censorship offends me the same way nipples offend Facebook.
I've been in Facebook jail many times before for committing the same "crime" against their "community," and no doubt will be again, since to me sex is biological, just pathological like violence, which this culture and social media generally not only tolerates scenes of violence, but glorifies it. Me, I'll take anything carnal over carnage anyway.
But fuck 'em. The show must go on...and Monica testifies that after a "Sinatra Sazerac" or two I rose to the occasion, inspired by the venue and the music. She took the photos and shot a brief video clip as evidence of the very special occasion, very special to me anyway.
This is the coolest live reading I've done since I was surrounded by naked girls on a stage in San Francisco almost a decade ago...
CHEERS!
Monica starring in Two Big Black Bags at ACT Theater, Seattle, 8/9-8/11/19
A TRIP TO TWIN PEAKS
Fall City/Snoqualmie Falls WA, 9/7/19
My 28th Elvis Christmas card!
[image error]
CHEERS!
Bachelor Pad Magazine #49 featuring my 49th movie column, ghost/haunted house movies,
now on sale!
COMING EARLY 2020 FROM THRILLVILLE PRESS:
You may also dig:
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIES
WILL THE THRILL'S TOP 75 GRINDHOUSE MOVIES
THRILLVILLE TURNS 20
"Thrillville," my official theme song by The Moon-Rays
"Director's cut" of Jeff M. Giordanos' documentary THE THRILL IS GONE! (2014)
Interview conducted by Drive-In Radio host Alec Cizak, October 24, 2017,
broadcast from Missoula, Montana.
Podcast interview by Steven Gomez for The Noir Factory, August 2017
Promoting the first edition of A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge on San Francisco's Creepy KOFY Movietime, 2010
Book trailer for Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room,
animated by Vincent Cortez (2011)
Reading from Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me (2014)
Live reading of my short story "Escape from Thrillville" (2014, included in The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, Volume 3)
Book trailer for It Came from Hangar 18 (2012)
Interview with Scott Fulks and me for Tiki Oasis TV, August 2015
ONLINE SHORT FICTION
A WRONG TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE (1982) and THE IN-BETWEENERS (1987)
LITTLE BLACK BULLETS (1989) and NIGHT NOTES (1990)
PEOPLE BUG ME (2013)
ESCAPE FROM THRILLVILLE (2014)
NAKED WHORE WITH A GUN (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2013)
SUCKER PUNCH OF THE GODS (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2014)
THE STICK-UP ARTIST (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2015)
Radio reading from my unpublished novel NEON ROSE (1989)
Radio play based on my unpublished novella SHADOW MUSIC (1996)
BOOKS:
LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME from Gutter Books!
BUY
HARD-BOILED HEART from Gutter Books!
BUY
THE VIC VALENTINE CLASSIC CASE FILES:
Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, Diary of a Dick
BUY
THE "MENTAL CASE FILES":
VIC VALENTINE: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MISERY
BUY
VIC VALENTINE: LOUNGE LIZARD FOR HIRE
BUY
VIC VALENTINE: SPACE CADET
BUY
VIC VALENTINE, PRIVATE EYE: 14 VIGNETTES
BUY
THE THRILLVILLE PULP FICTION COLLECTION
from Thrillville Press
VOLUME ONE: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge and
Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room
BUY
VOLUME TWO: Lavender Blonde and Down a Dark Alley
BUY
VOLUME THREE: Chumpy Walnut and Other Stories
BUY
My erotic horror noir novella THINGS I DO WHEN I'M AWAKE
BUY
THE SPACE NEEDLER'S INTERGALACTIC BAR GUIDE
BUY
IT CAME FROM HANGAR 18
BUY
SHORT STORIES:
My sci-fi horror noir satire "Soft Opening" is included in this gonzo anthology from Coffin Hop Press.
New Vic Valentine vignette "Living Proof" included in this charity anthology benefitting the North Texas Food Bank.
DEADLINES: A TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM E. WALLACE, an anthology dedicated to the late, great writer and stellar human being William E. Wallace, featuring many contemporary crime fiction stars plus a brand new Vic Valentine story, "Beat This," by yours truly. Proceeds go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in Bill's name. More info and purchase links here.
My short story FISH OUT OF WATER
(my idea for a fourth Creature from the Black Lagoon movie)
is included in this anthology
Order hardcover, paperback and eBook from Amazon
My story HOT NIGHT AT HINKY DINKS is included in this cocktail-themed flash fiction anthology
New anthology of Christmas horror stories from Coffin Hop Press,
including my story THAT'S A WRAP, now on sale!
My story MEANTIME is included in this bitchin' anthology,
for which I also wrote the foreword:
My short story BEHIND THE BAR is included in this anthology
October 20, 2018
My "Fade To Black" Story
Of my many strange but true life stories that are too violent for me, the one surrounding this little cult movie from 1980 is the strangest and truest. Hard to sum it up in one post and I really hope I don't embarrass my dear friend Linda Kerridge, but she knows what a profound impact this experience had on me, even though none of it makes sense. The best things in life don't, though.
Basically, I started hanging out with this young, up-and-coming actor named Mickey Rourke soon after I arrived in L.A. in 1979, age 16. He was 26 or so, and a real puppy dog at the time. Hard to believe now, maybe, but trust me, he was a real sweetheart before fame fucked him up. I had just dropped out of high school and was working full time to support myself as a really bad busboy at Neiman-Marcus in Beverly Hills (where I met another lifelong actor friend, Jon Lindstrom, who was the handsomest waiter in the world at that time, long before Jon Hamm). One night my father's friend Sandra Seacat, now a famous acting coach, and her daughter Greta who was my age and who I'd known since we were wee tykes, picked me up to take me out for dinner after my shift. In the backseat of their car was this guy Mickey, whom Sandra was dating at the time, and he was also her student. Mick and I hit it off immediately since we both loved Elvis along with other common interests and sensibilities. Right away he felt like the big brother I never had, though truthfully I never actually wanted one.
Anyway, then, like now, I was a lone wolf by nature and really didn't like to socialize more than absolutely necessary so I didn't see Mickey on a regular basis until after I saw his bit part in this flick "Fade to Black," which I wound up watching like 20 times in theaters (back then I usually watched newly released movies only twice, and I mean EVERY MOVIE TWICE, since I was so lonely and bored; I do remember seeing
Dawn of the Dead
seven nights in a row, because I was horrified I couldn't believe it). My repeat viewings of this movie weren't because I happened to know the guy who played the bully that picked on Dennis Christopher's character Eric Binford, who was a movie geek just like me. It was because for some reason I was completely mesmerized by the Marilyn Monroe lookalike that Eric likewise becomes obsessed with and stalks, played by Australian model Linda Kerridge, who had a spread in Playboy to promote the movie. I wasn't the stalker type, and I knew I was way out of my league since I couldn't even talk to girls back then, much less court international models, but I began hanging out with Mickey in the hopes I'd just meet Linda and figure out why I was so inexplicably but irresistibly drawn to her ethereal (from my innocently warped perspective) presence on Earth.
Thing is, Mick had no scenes with her so he didn't know her personally, but he did set up a meeting with the film's director, Vernon Zimmerman, at Duke's Coffee Shop in West Hollywood. Mickey was engaged to actress Debra Feuer at the time, and we became close too. She was like the big sister I never wanted, too. We hung out often at the Pink Turtle in the Beverly Wilshire, among my favorite memories. They got hitched while I was down in Houston staying with my mother's family that had raised me till I was six after being taken away from my schizo mother in New York before I wound up being raised by my father's next wife in a right wing guru cult in New Jersey. Okay, I'm going off script again, but it's all related.
In Houston I was again bussing tables (my specialty, though I was lousy) at the Beef 'n' Barrel, while working on my first novel,
Chumpy Walnut
, and saving enough money to move back to L.A. It's another long story why I left to begin with and this is already a long story being unduly condensed for your sake.
My father Robert Viharo at Mickey's wedding to Debra, 1981
ANYhow, two years go by, I wind up going back and forth between Houston and L.A. twice, till finally I settled in Westwood, where I had initially lived with my father, briefly, until I got my own pad in Beverly Hills at age 17. Yeah, poor kid. I saw
Fade to Black
another ten times or so over this period, channeling Linda as my muse, quite without her consent or knowledge.
Los Angeles, 1982, springtime. I'd just returned from Houston for the second and final time. One day I decided to go see a double bill of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "How To Marry a Millionaire" at one of my favorite theaters, the Nuart, across the street from one of my favorite restaurants, Dolores' on Santa Monica Boulevard in West L.A. I always had the eggplant Florentine and I freaking loved their house roll and salad dressing. I'd sit there for hours reading Damon Runyon stories, pretending I was in New York in the 40s.
So I'm sitting there in a nearly empty theater and two gals sit directly and I mean DIRECTLY in front of me. One turned out to be Daryl Hannah but I didn't care then and still don't.
The other was Linda Kerridge. I happened to catch a glimpse of her face in the screen light just before she plopped down and inadvertently obstructed my view of the screen. Like I cared. Who needed a virtual likeness of Marilyn Monroe? My own real life movie goddess had manifested right in front of me like magic, out of nowhere, long after I'd given up on ever actually meeting her. After all my efforts, she came to me.
Because this extremely unlikely twist of fate called for it, I summoned up the will power (cough) to introduce myself as her biggest fan, after she'd gotten wind I was right behind her and moved down a few seats.
I actually followed her out of the theater following the two movies and asked her for her phone number. I'd never, ever done that before, even with regular girls. But I couldn't let her get away and risk never seeing her again. I had to be sure this was all real.
I called her a few times and finally she agreed to meet me. I think the first time was at Duke's, since she lived in the Tropicana Hotel. We also went to Ship's Coffee Shop in Westwood once. I LOVED Ship's and Westwood was my frequent haunt in those days. My oldest friend Greg Goyo Vargas and I often hung out there, too.
Here's more irony:
My favorite sequence in
Fade to Black
was and remains when Eric Binford is wandering around Westwood Village after "Marilyn" accidentally stands him up for a planned rendezvous at Ship's Coffee Shop, an icon now long gone. The scene is a perfectly preserved time capsule of that era in my life. I saw ever single movie on every single marquee he passes. In fact, one of them is
Hide In Plain Sight,
co-starring...wait for it...Robert Viharo. I took Linda to see
Creepshow
at the Westwood Village Theater once. In retrospect that seems like an odd selection. I was an odd dude. Unlike now.
Lots happened after that, like I introduced HER to Mickey and Debra. Linda introduced me to her friend, actress Tessa Richarde, who was in another of my favorite movies of the time which I won't mention. It's so great to be in touch with Tessa again, too!
Linda and Tessa, back in the day
Linda also wound up starring in a one-act play of mine called "A Wrong Turn at Albuquerque," which was performed once at the Actor's Studio in West Hollywood, directed by my father. It's included in
The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, Volume 3
which features
Chumpy Walnut
and short stories of mine from the past few decades.
Lavender Blonde, which I initially wrote in 1987 but revised for publication in 2011, is my very liberal reimagining of the Mickey/Linda era in L.A., now featured in T
he Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, Vol. 2.
Two standout memories: Halloween, 1982, when Linda, Mickey, Debra, Sean Penn and his girlfriend at the time Pamela Springsteen, Lance Henriksen, Lenny Termo, and me at the wheel dressed like Marlon Brando in
The Wild One
or at least that's what Mickey told me when he decked me out in leather like a male hustler drove around Hollywood and crashed a party in the Hills before landing at Larry Parker's (asshole!) Diner in Beverly Hills. Oh yeah: we were all packed into the 1964 white Thunderbird with dice painted on the doors that Mickey had just given me as a present...TRUE. (Full story and more including how I nearly accidentally killed Tom Waits with that same car i
.
“Whaddya gonna do ya little baby? Huh? You little shithead!”
When Mick, Debra and I met with Vernon Zimmerman at Duke’s, they recounted this scene which they had to reshoot early in the morning after a long night because Mickey got up too soon after Dennis Christopher’s deranged cowboy gunned him down, rising from the dead with the camera still rolling, before Vernon called “cut”!. Mick was very sheepish about it. “I could tell you were upset with me,” he said to Vernon like a little boy.
Mickey and Lance Henriksen used to pretend we were in prison and I was their little blond chicken and they’d chase me to the bathroom at Mick’s place. One night they took my 18 year old cherry ass to pick up a hooker on Hollywood Boulevard. One was at our car window negotiating as I trembled in the back seat. Finally I said I’d just settle for a blowjob. Lance said “Ooo, he’s nasty!” and Mick cracked up and I lost my boner and that was that. I've run into Lance twice at conventions over the past decade or so, most recently in Seattle, and he totally remembers!
This excerpt from Jeff M. Giordano's full length documentary about my so-called career The Thrill Is Gone sums up those L.A. days...
Yet another lurid, vivid Technicolor memory was when Linda and I ran into Sean Penn and his girlfriend (or wife) at the time, Madonna, at Musso and Frank's of Hollywood. It was when they were filming
Shanghai Surprise
so Sean had jet black Elvis hair and Madonna was all platinum. My "date" put her to shame, though.
Later, after my first real girlfriend Nancy and I broke up and I spent a year living in a notorious residential hotel called the Condor in North Beach, San Francisco, right above Carol Doda, Linda and I were housemates in Mickey's house in Mandeville Canyon during the summer of 1986. She was very sweet, gracious and patient with me. It was obvious I was still intensely smitten without any rational reason or encouragement but I never had the nerve, courage or even desire to "make a move." She was truly an angel to me. But my naive youthful projections of her as a larger-than-life emblem of all my romantic dreams never allowed me to feel totally comfortable around her. I was a crazy kid. Unlike now.
Photo I found in Mickey's office which he left me keep. My old residence the Hotel Europa on the corner of Columbus and Broadway in North Beach, San Francisco looms ironically and iconically in the background.
I realize this makes me sound like John Hinckley but I was totally harmless. Just self-delusional. I was so nervous around girls I actually wrote this waitress at the Good Earth an entire book of poems instead of just asking her out on a date. We wound up living together for over a year.
That was Nancy.
Fast forward through many more crappy jobs and doomed romances and
and
and everything else that happened to me over three decades: a year or so ago I reconnected with Linda via this thing called "Facebook." I haven't seen her in person since 1986, after leaving L.A. for the final time to settle in the Bay Area, where I met my true love. We now live in Seattle, I walk dogs for a living, still write books, and I've never been happier.
Adding to this supreme contentment is that all these years later, Linda is still in my life. It must mean something, but I no longer try to figure this stuff out. I just let the magic run its course. I am so proud and honored to call her my friend.
So now you can see why I never imagined my ultimate destiny as a Seattle dog walker. It made more sense
Christian Slater would wind up making that movie of my book
. That aside, there’s really nothing I’d change. I’m perfectly content with how my life worked out, all things considered.
My beloved adopted home of Seattle.
Peace. Cheers.
My 28th annual Elvis Christmas card
Our 21st Christmas card as a couple!
Next:
VIC VALENTINE, SPACE CADET!
You may also dig:
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIES
"Thrillville," my official theme song by
"Director's cut" of
documentary
!
(2014)
Interview conducted by Drive-In Radio host Alec Cizak, October 24, 2017,
broadcast from Missoula, Montana.
Podcast interview by Steven Gomez for
, August 2017
Promoting the first edition of
A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge
on San Francisco's Creepy KOFY Movietime, 2010
Book trailer for
Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room,
animated by
(2011)
Reading from
Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me (
2014)
Live reading of my short story "Escape from Thrillville" (2014, included in
The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection,
Volume 3)
Book trailer for
It Came from Hangar 18
(2012)
Interview with Scott Fulks and me for
, August 2015
ONLINE SHORT FICTION
A WRONG TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE (1982) and THE IN-BETWEENERS (1987)
LITTLE BLACK BULLETS (1989) and NIGHT NOTES (1990)
(2013)
(2014)
NAKED WHORE WITH A GUN (Flash Fiction Offensive)
(2013)
SUCKER PUNCH OF THE GODS (Flash Fiction Offensive)
(2014)
THE STICK-UP ARTIST (Flash Fiction Offensive)
(2015)
Radio reading from my unpublished novel NEON ROSE (1989)
Radio play based on my unpublished novella SHADOW MUSIC (1996)
BOOKS:
LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME
from
!
HARD-BOILED HEART
from
!
THE VIC VALENTINE CLASSIC CASE FILES:
Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, Diary of a Dick
THE "MENTAL CASE FILES":
VIC VALENTINE: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MISERY
VIC VALENTINE: LOUNGE LIZARD FOR HIRE
VIC VALENTINE: SPACE CADET
THE THRILLVILLE PULP FICTION COLLECTION
from Thrillville Press
VOLUME ONE:
A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge
and
Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room
VOLUME TWO:
Lavender Blonde
and
Down a Dark Alley
VOLUME THREE:
Chumpy Walnut and Other Stories
My erotic horror noir novella
THINGS I DO WHEN I'M AWAKE
THE SPACE NEEDLER'S INTERGALACTIC BAR GUIDE
IT CAME FROM HANGAR 18
NOW AVAILABLE!
DEADLINES: A TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM E. WALLACE, an anthology dedicated to the late, great writer and stellar human being William E. Wallace, featuring many contemporary crime fiction stars plus a brand new Vic Valentine story, "Beat This," by yours truly. Proceeds go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in Bill's name. More info and purchase links
.
My short story
FISH OUT OF WATER
(my idea for a fourth
Creature from the Black Lagoon
movie)
is included in
Order hardcover, paperback and eBook from
My story
HOT NIGHT AT HINKY DINKS
is included in
this cocktail-themed flash fiction anthology
New anthology of Christmas horror stories from
including my story
THAT'S A WRAP,
!
My story
MEANTIME
is included in
for which I also wrote the foreword:
My short story
BEHIND THE BAR
is included in
July 28, 2018
My Latest Meta-Gonzo Novel: "Vic Valentine: Lounge Lizard For Hire"
Well, I did it again. Wrote a book, that is. It's something I've been doing compulsively for nearly forty years now on a semi-regular basis. Though I've long since given up on commercial success, I find that the mere act of writing fiction is so spiritually and creatively rewarding I no longer care. I have no ambition or agenda as an author. Unless I'm asked to contribute to a short story anthology - which, flatteringly enough, happens now and then - I'm content issuing my work under my own imprint, Thrillville Press, putting out into the world, and then resuming my regular life as a proud husband, cat daddy, and dog walker.
BUY
VIC VALENTINE: LOUNGE FOR HIRE
Print Edition
Kindle Edition
Will the Thrill: Dog Walker For Hire
Groot and me
Pearl and me
Roxi, Hypatia, Gracie (I watch rabbits and cats, too)
It's hard to describe this novel, but then that's my specialty. I've completely eschewed any attempt to conform to any particular, easily identifiable, marketable genre, instead essentially creating my own, obscure niche, which I dub "Vihorror": a surrealistic mix of noir, horror, and erotica, with dashes of my own personal experiences, blended into one strong, sick, stylized literary cocktail.
I'm very proud of it. I talk more about this jazz with Marietta Miles in this recent interview, if interested.
Essentially, I've placed Vic Valentine, protagonist of my more conventional books like Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me and Hard-boiled Heart, into the moody, mysterious realms of my favorite of my own books, A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge. I would categorize it as "Phantasmagoric Noir." It's basically a fever dream inside Vic's head. Nothing is what it seems, or maybe it is, but since Vic is your guide, you'll be as lost as he is.
The only "mystery" is the one concerning the biggest puzzle of all, Life itself. I'm not sure who my target audience is with this jazz, other than myself. Basically, I just write what I feel like writing, and if someone else digs it, that's cool, if not, that's cool, too.
The title comes from my old "Will the Thrill" business card. My old friend Johnny Johnston Trujillo suggested it.
Here is the back cover blurb for Lounge Lizard For Hire, which picks up a little while after the last one, Vic Valentine: International Man of Misery , ended:
MY VOODOO VALENTINE? Vic Valentine has finally retired from the private eye racket. And since his beautiful new bi-sexual, black-belt burlesque-dancer bride, Ava Margarita Valentina Valdez Valentine, who may also be a witch or a vampire or both, has a mysterious and possibly nefarious source of seemingly endless wealth, he no longer walks dogs for income, either. Vic is finally living the life of his wildest dreams! Until the Universe sucker-punches him yet again, and it suddenly melts into a noir nightmare…
First a Yakuza hitman from Mrs. Valentine’s past shows up in Seattle with a score to settle. She conures demons from another dimension to not only protect them, but spice up their sex life, too (or hers, anyway). The ghost of Vic’s dead friend Doc Schlock still haunts him, literally. His old pal Ivar the sailor statue starts talking, and walking. And then there’s that doppelgänger of a young Vic suddenly popping up here and there around town, setting Vic up for a showdown with his younger self.
But no matter what happens next, the show must go on.
I should add Will the Thrill, Monica Tiki Goddess, Chumpy Walnut, and Christian Slater all have cameos. Yeah. It's like that.
Here is the progression of the spectacular front and back artwork. My frequent collaborator Matt Brown (who illustrated the storyboards for Christian Slater's long-suffering, ill-fated movie adaptation of Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me ) created the front cover art, and my man Dyer Wilk designed the spine and back. I provided images for inspiration, and they took it from there...
Monica and me, 2005
Here are some promo memes I've been posting on social media:
Mai Tai Time in The Thrillpad, cheers
Celebrating the publication with Dmitri Methany at Tula's Jazz Club in Seattle,
both of which have cameos in the book!
The official launch party:
Toasting Elvis on the 41st anniversary of his "disappearance," 8/16/18
Zodiac Supper Club, Tacoma
The Fern Room, Tacoma, WA
Besides walking dogs and writing, I've been having fun making Gifs!
Will the Thrill and Monica Tiki Goddess, Talkin Pictures with Jan Wahl, 1998:
My Pop, Robert Viharo, in Bare Knuckles (1977)
My father Robert Viharo in Hide In Plain Sight (1981), with James Caan, who also directed. Here you can see when Jimmy suddenly squeezes the old man's nuts below frame. Watch for the wince...
Pop in Return to Macon County (1975; he's the crazy cop)
Monica and me in the infamous "foot fetish" segment of HBO's Real Sex (2001)
Monica and me in the 2002 French doc, Viva Las Vegas?
Monica and me in the Thrillville Pulp Fiction collection book trailer shot at Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge in Alameda, CA, 2011:
Original book trailer for The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, shot and edited by Christopher Sorrenti (2011)
In other news, I was kicked off Facebook for a week after I posted a link to an Etsy page selling this centerfold of my father's ex-wife, Jeane Manson. So I bought it out of spite.
Facebook is still afraid of nipples.
Exiled to Mars!
Autumn cocktails at the University of Washington Club:
CHEERS!
You may also dig:
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIES
THRILLVILLE TURNS 20
BACHELOR PAD MAGAZINE #45
featuring my regular movie column, this issue: Mummies!
[image error]
"Thrillville," my official theme song by The Moon-Rays
"Director's cut" of Jeff M. Giordanos' documentary THE THRILL IS GONE! (2014)
Interview conducted by Drive-In Radio host Alec Cizak, October 24, 2017,
broadcast from Missoula, Montana.
Podcast interview by Steven Gomez for The Noir Factory, August 2017
Promoting the first edition of A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge on San Francisco's Creepy KOFY Movietime, 2010
Book trailer for Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room,
animated by Vincent Cortez (2011)
Reading from Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me (2014)
Live reading of my short story "Escape from Thrillville" (2014, included in The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, Volume 3)
Book trailer for It Came from Hangar 18 (2012)
Interview with Scott Fulks and me for Tiki Oasis TV, August 2015
ONLINE SHORT FICTION
A WRONG TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE (1982) and THE IN-BETWEENERS (1987)
LITTLE BLACK BULLETS (1989) and NIGHT NOTES (1990)
PEOPLE BUG ME (2013)
ESCAPE FROM THRILLVILLE (2014)
NAKED WHORE WITH A GUN (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2013)
SUCKER PUNCH OF THE GODS (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2014)
THE STICK-UP ARTIST (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2015)
Radio reading from my unpublished novel NEON ROSE (1989)
Radio play based on my unpublished novella SHADOW MUSIC (1996)
BOOKS:
New! VIC VALENTINE: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MISERY
BUY
HARD-BOILED HEART from Gutter Books!
BUY
LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME from Gutter Books!
BUY
THE VIC VALENTINE CLASSIC CASE FILES:
Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, Diary of a Dick
BUY
My erotic horror noir novella THINGS I DO WHEN I'M AWAKE
BUY
THE THRILLVILLE PULP FICTION COLLECTION
from Thrillville Press
VOLUME ONE: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge and
Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room
BUY
VOLUME TWO: Lavender Blonde and Down a Dark Alley
BUY
VOLUME THREE: Chumpy Walnut and Other Stories
BUY
THE SPACE NEEDLER'S INTERGALACTIC BAR GUIDE
BUY
IT CAME FROM HANGAR 18
BUY
NOW AVAILABLE!
DEADLINES: A TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM E. WALLACE, an anthology dedicated to the late, great writer and stellar human being William E. Wallace, featuring many contemporary crime fiction stars plus a brand new Vic Valentine story, "Beat This," by yours truly. Proceeds go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in Bill's name. More info and purchase links here.
My short story FISH OUT OF WATER
(an idea for a fourth Creature from the Black Lagoon movie)
is included in this anthology
COMING NOVEMBER 2018
My story HOT NIGHT AT HINKY DINKS is included in this cocktail-themed flash fiction anthology
New anthology of Christmas horror stories from Coffin Hop Press,
including my story THAT'S A WRAP, now on sale!
My story MEANTIME is included in this bitchin' anthology,
for which I also wrote the foreword:
My short story BEHIND THE BAR is included in this anthology
January 9, 2018
2018: A Blank Slate
This is my first update in this space in a while. The fact is I don't have anything newsworthy to report. My last three blogs covered my trip to Costa Rica, where I was an instructor at the first Writers' Retreat of San Buenas; the 20th Anniversary of Thrillville, my "brand name," such as it is; detailing its evolution from a live show to promote one of my novels to a virtual headquarters for my own pulp fiction press; and the publication of the new Vic Valentine novel, Vic Valentine: International Man of Misery.
And that's all I had for 2017. Of course, if you follow this blog regularly, and ever bother to check back, you notice that after posting a blog, I continue to tack on pictures of various places I've visited (mostly bars in Seattle) with Monica, Tiki Goddess, who is currently working on her dissertation, having been officially declared a PhC at the University of Washington School of Drama.
Since it's a new year, I thought I'd start fresh with a new blog, even though there is nothing particularly momentous worth documenting. No plans, no prospects. I often feel like I'm living through an extended epilogue of a story whose main plot has already unfolded.
I recently put these thoughts into the form of a poem, mentally composed while walking a dog, my full-time occupation these days.
Poem Composed While Walking a Dog
Lately, when I think of my life,
The sorrow and the strife,
It's always in the past tense,
Which doesn't make sense,
Since death, which I fear,
Doesn't feel near;
Instead, it's like awaking from a dream,
Having shed all schemes,
Content to drift through time,
Seduced by the sublime.
This may sound depressing, but I'm not really depressed. Pensive, reflective, peacefully resigned, but not morose. I've dealt with that already, in the best way I know how. I'm happily married to the love of my life, and I finally live in my favorite city. Though it's not artistically fulfilling, I sincerely enjoy my dog-walking gig. The canine company and ambient therapy are soothing to my soul, and I get a lot of exercise, which is good for a cat my age, especially one with a sedentary lifestyle and occupation otherwise.
I turn 55 this April 2. I plan to spend my birthday in my favorite place on Earth, the real Twin Peaks a half hour or so from our house. My favorite filmmaker David Lynch's recent revival of what was already one of my all-time favorite TV shows has become both my all-time favorite movie and all-time favorite series. Naturally I relate and respond most to its dreamy ambience, inter-dimensional surrealism, supernatural soundscape, haunting imagery, quirky characters, and darkly magical mood, augmented by an electrically eclectic soundtrack, but this time around, its stark portrayal of how the passage of time changes, damages, and emancipates us in different, unexpected ways deeply resonates within my very core.
With Kyle MacLachlan, 2016
With Sherilyn Fenn, 2015
With Sheryl Lee, 2015
My autographed copy of David Lynch's book
A DAY IN "TWIN PEAKS"
12/17/15
Twede's Cafe: damn fine coffee!
Snoqualmie River
The "Mill" and the "Sheriff's Station"
Snoqualmie Falls/Salish Lodge:
"The Dale Cooper"
Fire, dog walk with me.
Dougie and me! Scarecrow Video
At this point in my life, when it seems my ship has sailed without me for the final time, leaving me serenely stranded on my own little island with my Tiki Goddess and cats, I feel like I'm staring into an endlessly empty horizon - beautiful, but barren. I feel I've exhausted all avenues to commercial success, taken advantage of every break that came my way, the dice rolled snake eyes, and so here I am, after decades of desperate dream-chasing: a middle-aged dog walker in Seattle, with absolutely no ambition or nostalgia bogging me down. The lack of pressure feels liberating, but sometimes the absence of anticipation makes me listless.
So this particular blog entry - which may very well be my only one this year - will skip any focus on recent major developments, since there haven't been any, and at the moment, there are none just beyond the bend. Instead it will simply serve as a space to post about my dates with my wife, with whom I just celebrated twenty years as a couple (and best friends). We actually first met when I picked her out of the audience to spin the big wheel at the original Parkway Theater on May 31, 1997, before my screening of Jailhouse Rock (we were married exactly four years later, at the Cal-Neva in North Lake Tahoe). But we officially met when she showed up at my Elvis B-Day party at the Ivy Room in Albany, CA, on January 8, 1998. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
So if nothing else substantial ever happens to me, I will consider my personal life a smashing success beyond my wildest dreams. And really, Love is all that matters. I continue to write with no expectations whatsoever. It's not a career. It's my response to Life itself. And that's something I am compelled to do, in order to survive with my sanity intact. I'm not currently working on any new projects, but that could change suddenly. Or not. Either way, I'm very proud of the body of work that already exists out in the world. I have nothing to add right now. It speaks for itself, and for me.
As usual, I'll add stuff to this blog as it happens. Whatever it happens to be.
Cheers and Peace.
Celebrating 20 years as a couple, Alchemy, West Seattle, 1/8/18
Nightcap at Talarico's, West Seattle
[image error]
University of WA Club
Valentine's cocktails at Gainsbourgh, Seattle
Cruelty-free pizza! Pizza Pi, Seattle
Daniel's Broiler, Seattle
No Bones Beach Club, Seattle
Dmitri Mathany live at Tula's Jazz Club, Seattle, 3/15/18
Hosting Noir at the Bar Seattle, 1/11/18
Hotel Sorrento
The Capital Grille, Seattle
BACHELOR PAD MAGAZINE #43 featuring my movie column about Mamie Van Doren
You may also dig:
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIES
THRILLVILLE TURNS 20
"Thrillville," my official theme song by The Moon-Rays
"Director's cut" of Jeff M. Giordanos' documentary THE THRILL IS GONE! (2014)
Interview conducted by Drive-In Radio host Alec Cizak, October 24, 2017,
broadcast from Missoula, Montana.
Podcast interview by Steven Gomez for The Noir Factory, August 2017
Original book trailer for The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, shot and edited by Christopher Sorrenti (2011)
Promoting the first edition of A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge on San Francisco's Creepy KOFY Movietime, 2010
Book trailer for Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room,
animated by Vincent Cortez (2011)
Reading from Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me (2014)
Live reading of my short story "Escape from Thrillville" (2014, included in The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, Volume 3)
Book trailer for It Came from Hangar 18 (2012)
Interview with Scott Fulks and me for Tiki Oasis TV, August 2015
ONLINE SHORT FICTION
A WRONG TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE (1982) and THE IN-BETWEENERS (1987)
LITTLE BLACK BULLETS (1989) and NIGHT NOTES (1990)
PEOPLE BUG ME (2013)
ESCAPE FROM THRILLVILLE (2014)
NAKED WHORE WITH A GUN (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2013)
SUCKER PUNCH OF THE GODS (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2014)
THE STICK-UP ARTIST (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2015)
Radio reading from my unpublished novel NEON ROSE (1989)
Radio play based on my unpublished novella SHADOW MUSIC (1996)
BOOKS:
New! VIC VALENTINE: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MISERY
BUY
HARD-BOILED HEART from Gutter Books!
BUY
LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME from Gutter Books!
BUY
THE VIC VALENTINE CLASSIC CASE FILES:
Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, Diary of a Dick
BUY
My erotic horror noir novella THINGS I DO WHEN I'M AWAKE
BUY
THE THRILLVILLE PULP FICTION COLLECTION
from Thrillville Press
VOLUME ONE: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge and
Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room
BUY
VOLUME TWO: Lavender Blonde and Down a Dark Alley
BUY
VOLUME THREE: Chumpy Walnut and Other Stories
BUY
THE SPACE NEEDLER'S INTERGALACTIC BAR GUIDE
BUY
IT CAME FROM HANGAR 18
BUY
My story HOT NIGHT AT HINKY DINKS is included in this cocktail-themed flash fiction anthology
New anthology of Christmas horror stories from Coffin Hop Press,
including my story THAT'S A WRAP, now on sale!
My story MEANTIME is included in this bitchin' anthology,
for which I also wrote the foreword:
My short story BEHIND THE BAR is included in this anthology
November 20, 2016
"Things I Do When I'm Awake": A Meditation on Madness, Mortality and Motherhood
I didn't plan on writing another book any time soon, my latest,
THINGS I DO WHEN I’M AWAKE,
is a very short one. But one day I woke up with this title in my head, and just started writing. I had no plot in mind, just a general concept. Then I realized I was channeling my mother, Charlotte Anne Glenn, who actually passed away right in the middle of its creation. That event definitely affected the overall tone and trajectory of the already sad and surrealistic first person narrative.As some of you know, she was a beauty queen (the book is dedicated to "Miss Houston 1960") and aspiring actress suddenly struck down by schizophrenic at age 22. It kicked in when I was conceived, and fatally ruined her entire life.
She died in a Florida state ward, alone and apparently very ill, this past September 26. It hit me harder and deeper than I thought it would, considering the last time I saw her in person was in Miami, 1992.
Suffice to say she is the most tragic person I ever knew, though I never got to know her that well due to her circumstances, which impacted mine.
Hence this book, now available from my own imprint, Thrillville Press.
NOTE: THINGS I DO WHEN I'M AWAKE is now available on Kindle; print edition will be on sale shortly, check back in very early December.
While it contains the exploitation elements (gratuitous sex and gore) my "brand name" is known for (if it's known at all), this is more of a meditation on madness and mortality than it is a straightforward tale of terror.
Much of the "horror" comes from incidents in my own life, while creatively extrapolating from what I knew about my mother's condition and situation. Stylistically it's unlike anything I've ever written, though the themes will be familiar to anyone that knows my stuff. And I'm never shy about sharing my innermost angst and demons.
I hope it's a suitable tribute not only to who she was, but who she might've been. Who we both might've been, had biology or fate or whatever not dealt us this crippling blow.
Below is a post I made on Mother’s Day earlier this year – one that I am glad is over soon, due to not only personal but also recent historic events. It encompasses all of my feelings about her life, my place in it, and vice versa. I am reposting here because I really can’t augment what’s already been expressed:
It's Mother's Day weekend, so this sad story is on my mind. This was my mother, Charlotte Glenn. She was Miss Houston 1960 and a runner up for Miss Texas after winning the talent category reciting Shakespeare, my namesake. As a young woman she was a very talented actress with lots of promise for a bright future. She met my father while attending the University of Texas and together they went to New York City to pursue their thespian dreams together. Shortly thereafter I was conceived. I am told this caused her great distress since I was not part of the plan. In any case, while in her womb her latent schizophrenia kicked in and by the time I popped out on April 2, 1963, her psychologically and emotionally fatal madness was in full bloom, and it literally ruined her life. She is the most tragic human being I have ever known, though due to these circumstances, I never got to know her that well. I only met her a few times over the years. Frankly, I still feel cursed and haunted by this biological and spiritual connection. It's nobody's fault. Just how the dice roll sometimes.
I was very lucky in that I raised by her kind folks in Houston till I was 6 (after being taken away from her as an infant following some violent behavior on her part), though when I was about 5 she showed up out of the blue, then literally kidnapped me back to Manhattan under the pretense of taking me to a local toy store, actually driving me to a train station in New Orleans. She was a total stranger to me. I thought her relatives in Texas were my "family." All I really remember of those months in Manhattan is her sitting in a rocking chair listening to the song "Those Were the Days" over and over. Finally my grandfather denied his own fear of flying and rescued me back to Houston.
Then when I was six or so, my father and his third wife showed up, again seemingly out of nowhere, making claims to my custody. Eventually I was flown to L.A. to live with them, but that marriage was already dissolving, Pop wasn't around, and somehow I wound up with this strange woman, her infant son (and my half brother), and a right wing guru cult that travelled across country to settle in South Jersey, of all places, where I was raised till I was 16. No point in divulging details but it was an extremely abusive environment, so I was shocked but relieved when they suddenly decided as a group to kick me out and send me back to live with my Pop in L.A., but we didn't hit it off either, and I was on my own at age 16.
After all this familial turbulence, I became curious about my natural mother, and after some detective work, struck up a correspondence. She had been living on the streets for much of her life, but by the time I flew out from Berkeley to Brooklyn in 1989 to visit her, she was working as a receptionist at the Cuckoo Clock Company in Manhattan. I still have a stack of neatly typed but increasingly incoherent letters from her with that ironic letterhead.
I was picked up at the New York airport by a Middle Eastern guy that had found her on the street and married her because he needed a green card. They quickly got divorced, but he still looked after her. Later he was shot in the head and killed during a holdup.What I remember mostly of that trip was lying awake in the middle of the night as she stood in the doorway watching me, smoking a cigarette, the lit end glowing eerily in the dark. I was so nervous, I hid her knives. But it was fine, if depressing. She lived in Bensonhurst, a known Mob neighborhood, so she at least was safe to walk the streets at night.I saw her one more time in 1992. By this time she was living with her mother in Miami. It was a pleasant enough trip. Her brother had just died from AIDS. I barely remember meeting him as a child.
Miami, 1992I haven't seen her since.
Right now, as far as I know, she is a ward of the state of Florida. For personal reasons we no longer communicate, though from what I understand she is both mentally and physically debilitated. I still think about her. I can't help it. She has influenced much of my writing throughout my life. Even though we spent very little time together, I sometimes feel her absence acutely. Not her specifically, but the love of a mother which she simply was never in a position to provide.
My wife Monica Cortes Viharo has filled that void for me. Despite this unfortunate history, I turned out fine. I only hope Charlotte's tormented soul finds peace sometime, somewhere. But it won't be here.
This is how I prefer to remember her, in her prime, before the illness stole her life and killed her dreams:
I received word she died in the Florida ward on September 26, 2016 - ironically, the same grindhouse gore god Herschell Gordon Lewis died, in the same state. Geographically if not mentally, that is.
The only thing they had in common, besides their residence? Horror. Except hers was real.
Below are the images created by master artist Dyer Wilk (who also created my Thrillville Press logo and has designed all my imprint's titles so far), detailing its evocative evolution.
Below are just few of my many social media promos. I used images from old horror flicks, pinups, etc. As you can clearly see, I was attempting to collectively communicate a very specific mood of decadence, depravity, debauchery, decay, despair, desperation, and disorienting, disturbing delirium. The juxtaposition of the brightly colored text over the stark black-and-white pictures was meant to invoke the visual sensation of neon glowing in the dark.
Hopefully I sustained this same ambience in the short but intense (like me) book. Even the composition and stylistic choices (for instance, no dialogue) were constructed to convey a sense of isolation and loneliness. To further help achieve that, I only wrote on overcast or rainy days, which are fortunately fairly frequent here in Seattle, a major reason I moved here.
These images are from the 1934 public domain film Maniachelped inspire and inform Dyer's work on the cover:
So, there you go.
I will be handing out free copies of this book when I am flown down to instruct classes at the very first Writer's Retreat of San Buenas in Costa Rica this coming January 29-February 4. In particular, it will be a focal point of discussion in a workshop I'm calling "Dreams, Memories, and Imagination."
This is the book's official launch event:
Hosting and reading at Noir at the Bar Seattle, Thursday, January 12, 7-10pm Fireside Room, Hotel Sorrento
Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks as always for you support. We need to stick together now more than ever.
Peace, cheers.
VIHARO ON VIDEO:
"Thrillville," my official theme song by The Moon-Rays"Director's cut" of Jeff M. Giordanos' documentary THE THRILL IS GONE! (2014)
Original book trailer for The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, shot and edited by Christopher Sorrenti (2011)
Book trailer for Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room,animated by Vincent Cortez (2011)
Promoting the first edition of A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge on San Francisco's Creepy KOFY Movietime, 2010
Reading from Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me (2014)
Live reading of my short story "Escape from Thrillville" (2014, included in The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, Volume 3)
Book trailer for It Came from Hangar 18 (2012)
Interview with Scott Fulks and me for Tiki Oasis TV, August 2015
You may also dig:
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIES
ONLINE SHORT FICTION
A WRONG TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE (1982) and THE IN-BETWEENERS (1987)LITTLE BLACK BULLETS (1989) and NIGHT NOTES (1990)
PEOPLE BUG ME (2013)
ESCAPE FROM THRILLVILLE (2014)
NAKED WHORE WITH A GUN (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2013)
SUCKER PUNCH OF THE GODS (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2014)
THE STICK-UP ARTIST (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2015)
Radio reading from my unpublished novel NEON ROSE (1989)
Radio play based on my unpublished novella SHADOW MUSIC (1996)
BOOKS, ETC.
My story MEANTIME is included in this bitchin' anthology,
for which I also wrote the foreword:
My short story BEHIND THE BAR is included in this anthology
My erotic horror noir novella THINGS I DO WHEN I'M AWAKE BUY
The new Vic Valentine novel HARD-BOILED HEART now available from Gutter Books!
BUY
LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME from Gutter Books!BUY
VOLUME ONE: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge andFreaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room
BUY
VOLUME TWO: Lavender Blonde and Down a Dark AlleyBUY
VOLUME THREE: Chumpy Walnut and Other StoriesBUY
THE VIC VALENTINE CLASSIC CASE FILES:Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, Diary of a Dick
BUY
THE SPACE NEEDLER'S INTERGALACTIC BAR GUIDE
BUY
IT CAME FROM HANGAR 18
BUY
MERCH
Order your official THRILLVILLE FEZ from Fez-O-Rama!
Order your official THRILLVILLE T-SHIRT from November Fire!
November 14, 2016
My Thoughts on the 2016 Election
I am taking this election far more personally and way harder than I thought I would. For the first time in my entire life, I feel the impact of the results directly. This is the first time an election outcome has actually made me cry. Like I've always said, as a straight, white male, I never vote for my own interests, which are protected under the law, and I as one that believes in personal responsibility, I never looked to the Government to solve my problems anyway. I always cast my vote for the sake of the greater good, for those institutionally oppressed by a biased system, in slim hopes that I can help make a difference in their disenfranchised lives.But all that is changed now. And it's not just because I am probably going to lose my health insurance under this new regime.
Maybe it's partly because I am still reeling from a series of devastating professional setbacks over the past few years that sent me in a downward emotional spiral, and only medication could finally pull me out of it, at least enough to function on a daily basis.
Maybe it's partly because my schizophrenic mother, the most tragic person I ever met, died recently. Even though I never really had the chance to know her due to her illness, that also had a much more profound effect on me than I imagined it could.
Now this.
A while ago I made a pledge to avoid politics on my public platforms for the sake of my own serenity and sanity. Live and let live has always been my motto. Even though I vehemently disagree with the political opinions of many in my daily feed, I exercised my option to ignore rather than engage them in pointless debates, focusing on what we had in common instead.
But my peace of mind has been shattered, perhaps irrevocably, and frankly, I resent the intrusion. I can no longer ignore the feeling of despair in the air. Even one of our cats has been hiding in the closet since Election Day. I'm not kidding.
So this is not about politics for me. It's about the environment I have to live in now, one that regularly upsets the careful balance between harmony and discord I've tried so hard to achieve.
I must say I have never been happier my wife and I chose not to procreate, sating our parental instincts with the adoption and care of orphaned animals instead. I don't know how'd I'd explain to our children the willful acceptance and promotion of this man to be leader of the allegedly free world, when he represents everything I cannot stand about this society, and in fact, human nature itself.
My personal disdain for the next president, whose name is now banned in our house, goes back decades. I always thought of him as a capitalistic creep serving his own interests above all others, those interests being the soulless accumulation of excessive wealth and power, as well as the elevation of his own ego. These things do not interest me in the slightest. I didn't watch his TV show or read his book. Even his kids were shameless trophy hunters, bragging about killing animals for sport. I simply could not relate to his celebrity-mongering world view at all. Nothing about him resonated with my own sensibilities, so I successfully ignored him. Until his megalomaniacal presence was forced on my daily consciousness. The man who has always promoted everything I morally oppose in this world now represents our country on the world stage.
This is why I feel so devastated.
As for the case now being made in favor of this man's election and pleas for "patience" and "bipartisanship" - even by former detractors, even after eight years of "birtherism" (which our next president championed for the sake of his own career) and unprecedented Congressional obstructionism of the sitting president's agenda - these only serve in reaffirming my grief for our democracy, because none of them are justified when viewed in the context of balanced social justice and basic human decency.
Point by point:
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?: Really. Evangelicals went for this guy in droves, overwhelmingly so, allegedly because of their opposition to abortion rights, which the candidate ran on overturning, and just vowed to make good on that promise now that he will be appointing the next Supreme Court justice. But discrimination against gays in the workplace? They're fine with that. Getting rid of restrictions and denying background checks for anyone wishing to possess a lethal firearm designed solely for the purpose or murder? They're fine with that too. Their candidate has been married three times, bragged about grabbing women's genitals and pursuing married women, used foul language in public forums, makes fun of the handicapped, etc. etc. etc. But they're fine with all that too.
Thank God I'm not a Christian. I couldn't live with myself.
They're also just fine with the institutionalized oppression of anyone that not only doesn't share their beliefs - which is in itself un-American - but follows a different faith. "Banning all Muslims" is religious persecution, straight up, no matter how much you want to justify it by the actions of the radical terrorist fringe.
Not that you had any credibility to begin with, but spare me any further morally righteous indignation. You've exposed yourselves as the hateful hypocrites you are. Your vote says more about you than your words.
I am sorry, but as someone who cares much more about humanity and compassion than materialism and money, I don't share the shallow, superficial values of your candidate, therefore I cannot endorse nor support his agenda as president.
PATRIOTISM?: Really. So you voted for the guy that claims to know more about ISIS than our own generals. Whose campaign was complicit with Russian intelligence (by their own admission) in the hacking of the DNC's emails to influence the election, which is a far greater threat to national security than anyone's private email server. You voted for the guy that insulted a dead Muslim soldier's father by claiming he also "sacrificed" by becoming a successful businessman, equating financial ambition with military service. You're voting for the first candidate in history that claimed he's only respect the results of the election if he won.
You may love your country, but it's not the same one I live in.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE ECONOMY?: Really. When Obama was elected in 2008, he inherited the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression from a Republican president. Now have the lowest unemployment rate in decades. He single-handedly saved the auto industry (kudos for the gratitude on November 8, Michigan). Obamacare, while flawed due to lack of compromise and support from Republicans, was designed to help millions of working class people have access to proper health insurance and not just get sick and die because they couldn't afford treatment without going bust or bankrupt. I've seem nothing but compassion from this president. I see nothing but bluster and more empty promises from the president-elect. Apparently many are seeing something I'm not, because it just isn't there.
Economic prosperity at the expense of empathy and compassion for the socially marginalized is unacceptable to me, from anyone, under any circumstances. The only thing I need to do at any cost is remain true to myself.
IT'S ABOUT ANTI-ELITISM?: Really. So you vote for the silver-spoon fed, megalomaniacal multi-media circus clown that has never worked an honest day of real work in his entire life but claims empathy for the working class; has a record of not paying his subcontractors; numerous failed businesses and bankruptcies; refuses to release his taxes then bragged about not paying any when confronted red-handed with the evidence, claiming he's "smart" which makes the rest of us "dumb" by comparison; whose entire career has been about promoting self-interests, making money, making more money, becoming a TV celebrity, hanging out with other celebrities, building towers of consumerism with his brand name emblazoned across the top...etc etc etc. So now he's the champion of the working class all of a sudden, because he "understands" their pain, as opposed to the woman that has spent her entire career fighting for the rights of women and workers, regardless of her "ties to Wall Street" - which Obama had as well. And like the other guy never had any dealings with Big Business himself. He IS Big Business. He IS "The Establishment."
He is also an obvious con artist, and millions of suckers just bought into his bullshit, hook, line and sinker. Not me.
Corporations thrive on consumerism. This self righteous moral indignation regarding the 1% doesn't gel when you're contributing to the problem by constantly buying all of their products. What makes you any better than anyone else, even a politician?
IDEOLOGY?: so you made a "protest" vote for a third party candidate, or didn't vote at all due to personal principals or ethics. (Like a Jewish socialist would have fared better against a white nationalist tapping into long simmering, suppressed attitudes of prejudice, bruised pride and petulant pettiness). Now you're protesting in the streets. It's too late. Protests demand change, but elections create them. You need to accept the fact that you threw the rights of millions of your fellow citizens under the bus for the sake of your ideological purity, because if the next Court overturns Roe V. Wade, it doesn't matter if we have President Sanders, Vice President Elizabeth Warren, and socialist Democratic majorities in both Houses. Abortion will not longer be legal, that will be the law of the land for decades, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.
No candidate I ever supported completely conformed to my personal standards. And none ever will. I still chose the side most closely aligned with my values and took a stand, rather than just idling on the sidelines watching everyone else actually engaging, not just complaining and cynically making false equivocations to justify apathy and inaction. That helps no one. Not even you.
GUN RIGHTS?: right, because Obama took away everyone's gats as you all feared and overturned the Second Amendment, and...oh, wait. No he didn't. He never even threatened to. Hillary hasn't either. They just want background checks required for anyone wishing to possess a lethal firearm whose sole purpose is to kill, whether humans or animals. If you need a license to operate a car, which can potentially be a dangerous hazard to innocent bystanders, why not for a gun? But whatever. They couldn't even make that happen. But gun lovers still feared Hillary would deny them their precious instruments of death, despite assurances to the contrary. Meanwhile, her opponent promised to appoint justices that would overturn Roe V. Wade. He just doubled down on that promise now that he's been elected, suggesting the issue get kicked back the states, and women who need an abortion, even to save their own lives, can just get one in another state.
What if he said the thing about owning a gun? Essentially repealing the second amendment, reverting it to the states, then suggesting if you want to own a gun, you need to leave your own state to purchase one?
Ask yourself. Honestly. Then you'll know how women feel about their own rights to govern their own bodies. But I doubt you'll care. I really do.
IT'S NOT ABOUT BIGOTRY?: Really. The president-elect rose to political prominence by perpetuating the offensive lie that our current president was not really a citizen, therefore his presidency was illegitimate. Until only recently, he stuck by this stance because it resonated with the base he was courting. His first shot across the bow when announcing his candidacy was to accuse millions of Mexican immigrants of being criminals and rapists, without any statistical evidence whatsoever to back up that claim. He has not publicly rejected or denounced the endorsements of the Klu Klux Klan and every other White Supremacist organization, which means he obviously has no problem with it. He likes anyone that likes him, regardless of whether they're a domestic Nazi or a Russian dictator. He called for the ban of an entire race and religious sect due to isolated terrorist incidents. His brutally heartless anti-immigration stance defies the fact we're all immigrants, including his current wife, much more recently so than most of us, in fact.
Now he's appointed an avowed white nationalist as his chief strategist, and his radically right wing religious VP, who as Governor of Indiana already had one of the most virulently homophobic records in the nation, is planning on overturning all anti-discrimination legislation regarding workplace prejudice against gays implemented by the current administration.
So the president-elect didn't actually "mean" any of the mean things he said on the campaign trail? The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.
If you willfully and knowingly support someone who is inciting bigotry with his inflammatory rhetoric and promising to enforce discriminatory policies based on the heritage, faith and skin color (not to mention sexual orientation) of millions of your fellow citizens, including those still striving to become one, maybe you're not a bigot directly. But you're enabling one.
From a practical viewpoint, I'm not seeing the moral difference there.
THIS ISN'T SEXISM?: Really. There were three viable candidates in this election. Bernie, Hillary, and that other guy. Only one of them released her tax returns as a matter of transparency. Only one of them had her party's emails hacked and released. Only one of them was held to double standards regarding their imperfect voting records.
Only one of them was publicly suspected of committing treason by the FBI a week before the election, while upholding its "policy" regarding the ongoing investigations alleged connections to Russian interference on the other side.
Only one got called a "bitch," "cunt," "whore," and other misogynistic slurs at the rallies of both her primary and general election opponents - without emphatic condemnation of these vulgar personal attacks from the candidates themselves.
Only one was widely derided for the "sound of her voice," the way she laughed, and the way she dressed.
And only one of them voted for gun control.
She lost. You tell me why. Face it. You chose a laughably unqualified male over an eminently qualified female. That's a fact that can't be explained away by any logical reasoning.
I am thoroughly disgusted with my own country, and my own species. I just don't see any hope for our peaceful co-existence under these extreme circumstances. None.
I stopped unfriending Trump supporters in my Facebook feed, since it violates my personal policy of open-mindedness. But that policy has never been put to a more test. As I said, this topic transcends petty politics. It's about so, so much more than that, at least per my world view.
Instead, I will just let them unfriend me, if so moved. If you are in any offended by what I just posted, I don't think we have enough in common otherwise to sustain even a superficial friendship, anyway. There are literally dozens of folks lined up to take your slot, anyway, but I've reached my "friends" limit. I could use the extra space.
I don't have time or patience for any more of this shit, or anyone that shovels it.
Peace and aloha. Cheers.
October 6, 2016
Dave Wahlman Interviews Will "the Thrill" Viharo
Below is a recent interview that was initially approved for an online magazine, but then abruptly rejected for publication at the last minute when the chief editor discovered I am partly self-published, which was attributed to my being "overly egotistical," even though all I did was honestly answer the questions that were posed. It wasn't like I ghost-wrote and submitted the piece myself. Plus the books in question were not self-published. But still, no dice. Rather than offering me "another journalistic notch to justify what he does" (to quote an internal memo, leaked to yours truly), the piece was unceremoniously and (from my perspective) inexplicably dropped, after all the work had already been done. Just another day in the life of an indie pulp writer bucking "the establishment," though I have to admit, this one hurt, because it felt like an unwarranted sucker punch.
One thing I've learned the hard way: when you're knocked down, get back up and hit back. If you don't stand up for yourself, nobody else will.Except for your true pals. Incidents like this tend to weed out the stragglers from your social circles while confirming the sincerity of your true friends and supporters.
The author of the article, freelance journalist Dave Wahlman, a respected supporter of the literary community and pretty much anything cool and "punk," gave me permission to run our interview in its entirety.
I am doing this primarily because Dave - a total stranger who pitched the idea of a profile piece after reading my latest Vic Valentine novel, Hard-boiled Heart - put a lot of sweat into this thing, way more than I did, and it shouldn't go to waste, but also because I dig the irony of self-publishing an interview that was 86'd mostly due to the fact I am a self-publisher. Plus the answers I supplied neatly sum up the state of my so-called career right now, as well as my overall state of mind.
After the interview stay tuned for some other announcements since I haven't updated this blog in a while. I've been too busy or too depressed or both. But there are good things to report, including a brand new novella from Thrillville Press...
First, I now present for the public record The Interview That (Almost) Never Was:
"WILL THE THRILL" by Dave Wahlman
It's funny. I'm not normally the type of guy who gets caught by elements of promotion. I keep my head down and go after the things I know and through those things I find other stuff I want to know about. One day, I was on Facebook and I saw this picture. It was a black and red 70s era photo of a naked woman. In the upper right corner of the picture it said "Neo-Noir In Neon." Super imposed over the nipples were the words Pulp Fiction. And at the bottom it has a website, www.thrillville.net. Instantly I wanted to know what this was (Besides being a poster for the 1973 Italian Giallo film called Torso....get after it if you haven't seen it). This is the world of Will "The Thrill" Viharo.
Will is a very interesting motherfucker with a unique resume. Author of Gonzo Pulp, Neo-Noir and erotic fiction, film programmer, live music book, tiki lounge lizard, friend of Christian Slater. I gotta be honest. This guy is unique. Trying to write about him....it's like peeling a onion and I mean that as a compliment. Every layer reveals something new. It also made me wonder more than once why he isn't more known?
Back in 1995 Will wrote a novel called Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me, the first in the Vic Valentine series. One day in 2001 Christian Slater came across Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me in a Los Angeles bookstore and optioned the book for film. I can totally understand why this book appealed to Slater. True Romance is one of my all time favorite films. If True Romance was the hit single from a band, Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me is the B-side. Slater adapted the novel to a screenplay and was slated to direct and star in the film. Love Stories....while initially published by Wild Card Press, it had been out of print. Slater's interest gave the book new life and it was re-issued by the infamous Gutter Books in 2013. 
Now in the time span from 1995 to 2001 to 2013 to 2015, a lot happened. Around 94-95 Will was pursued by a well known NYC literary agent. Things were looking up. Then out of nowhere, he was dumped without explanation. This resulted in Will going independent. I can get behind that sentiment. The majors have all the muscle, kinda like Wal-Mart.....I digress. There were other setbacks with publishers but Will kept going.
Will's fiction has a interesting tone. The Neo-Noir is a modern throwback to old school pulp. Hard Boiled Heart is straight out of the 1950s heyday of crime novels. Think Jim Thompson on a bender with access to a laptop and no worries of censorship. Same with the Gonzo Pulp and Erotica. Will has a way of writing without fear what makes others squeamish and/or offended. The violence and sex loom large but is portrayed honestly yet graphic. I asked Will about this....
WV: Basically, I write the type of stuff I like to read. Unfortunately, at least as far as my finances are concerned, my tastes tend to be pretty extreme when it comes to art, whether as consumer or creator. To me, that type of art, whether movies or books or illustrative art, is just natural primal energy, channeled constructively. I see it as a healthy sublimation of urges that could otherwise prove both self-destructive and socially unacceptable, or at least problematic.This is why I love grindhouse exploitation cinema – it’s so unabashedly sleazy, and yet boldly honest when it comes to the dark side of human nature. But I call it “dark” only because it’s hidden from the light of mainstream media consciousness. But the high tide of raw sensuality flooding my work really stems from my lifelong obsession with sex, though I was never much of a swingin’ bachelor, because I was also way too romantic. And yes, that dichotomy created a lot of internal and external conflicts. Though I mentally lust after women now and always, I’ve always been monogamous by nature. I’m not really that crazy about violence, either real or imagined, though I do enjoy violent films, as long as they’re artfully stylized. I’d say that less pervasive aspect of my work is a lot more surrealistic and purposely over-the- top than the sex stuff, which is much more graphically depicted. That’s simply because I personally dig sex way more than violence. I simply do not understand our society’s surface condemnation of physical pleasure, while simultaneously celebrating the infliction of pain and death, whether it’s gun culture, video games, extreme sports, etc.
I had to find out about his angle of promotion. I was not kidding when I said I'm oblivious. I need to be hit with the equivalent of a baseball bat in the head to pick up on things sonic, visual or literary.
WV: When my 12 year career as a film programmer abruptly ended in 2009 following the closure of the theaters I worked for, and I decided to devote myself to my first love, fiction, I was lucky enough to have a pre-existing public platform due to my longtime persona as “Will the Thrill,” my lounge lizard B-movie impresario doppelganger. My “brand name,” known to Bay Area aficionados and others in the relatively small subcultures of tiki, burlesque and horror movie hosts, is “Thrillville.” So when I finally hung up my fez and refocused my creative energy on writing, both as a craft and a profession, I decided to exploit that already-built brand as a platform to pimp my pulp fiction (and I only called it “pulp” because I had no idea how else to categorize it, not realizing it was already a contemporized niche). It has taken a while to re-introduce myself as an author, since I’d let go of that part of me for so long, only writing freelance articles about retro pop culture for various publications, print and online. As for my marketing “style,” the memes and such I constantly share on social media are meant to evoke the exact type of imagery that inspires my work, whether it’s lurid Italian horror comic art from the 70s known as “fumetti,” grindhouse movies, or vintage pin-ups. Basically, my fictional universe collectively called “Thrillville” is a mixture of monsters, pornography, noir, cocktails and exotica, all filtered through my real life experiences. My fiction is consciously cinematic in nature, since my main influences are movies and music, much more so than literature. So that aesthetic shows up vividly in the promotions.
Obsessions aren't inherently a bad thing. It's all about what you do with them. And yeah, some shit is gross and insane but that isn't the kind of obsession we are talking about. This wise man once referred to "My Magnificent Obsession". I stole that and used it to describe some of things I get out of bed for. I love Will's take.....
WV: I wear my obsessions on my sleeve. I have nothing to hide, because I have no shame. Always trying to please others as an artist or as a person is a waste of time and energy, mine anyway. If someone has a problem with you just being yourself, that shouldn’t be your problem, too. As I’ve also often said, I’d rather be the bold person on stage than the coward tossing tomatoes from the audience.
Now with such a wide range of influences, many people would be scattered like a deck of cards tossed into the air. Sometimes instead of asking what a person would label or call themselves, try asking what they aren't.
WV: I never considered myself a “crime writer” per se. Other than the Vic Valentine series, and one of my standalone novels, Down a Dark Alley, I haven’t written any straight up crime novels, and even those mentioned are highly unconventional. I’m just not that interested in cops ‘n’ robbers stuff. I love noir, and neo-noir, but that’s more psychological in nature. It’s the introspection of noir narratives that intrigues me, much more so than the plots. So I weave that into my fiction, resulting in genre hybrids. Most of my work could be summed up as horror noir erotica. That’s my favorite type of escapism.
Many writers are grunts. Meaning they are in the trenches grinding it out. It's not glamorous, it's fucking work you love but the reward is fleeting. Throughout literary history, many writers have resorted to means that could be classified as uncomfortable to support their pursuit. James Ellroy and Will Viharo have something in common. Selling blood plasma. I think it's badass in the sense of making shit happen by any means necessary.
WV: Actually the blood bank scenes in “Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me” were written while I was working as a delivery driver for a blood bank in Oakland during the early 1990s. I never actually donated blood while I was employed there. In fact, the only time I had ever given blood before was during an employee drive at Neiman-Marcus in Beverly Hills when I was working in the restaurant there as a busboy, age 16, circa 1979, fresh from New Jersey, supporting myself. Afterwards I feinted in the elevator – in the arms of a woman I had a crush on, so it wasn’t too bad! Ironically, in a bitter sort of way, I recently began selling plasma for cash, because I don’t sell enough pulp and dog walking is fun but doesn’t pay that well, either. A middle-aged struggling pulp author is basically unemployable and unavoidably poverty-stricken, barring some big break, and my ship had come and gone without me once too often for me to maintain any hope of financial rescue at this point. I hate having my veins drained just as much as I thought I would, but it does echo Vic Valentine in a weird, funny way. Funny to everyone but me, anyway.
Some people consider "grindhouse" or B-movies to be pieces of shit. I don't. I consider them punk rock art. When I was in high school, I remember cutting to go see a double feature of Foxy Brown and Coffy. I was a weird kid who grew into a weird adult and not sorry for that. Will has a real grindhouse/B-movie sensibility that reminds me of Joe Bob Briggs.
WV: I have always related to B movies more than mainstream cinema because my own life is like a B movie – low budget and unconventional. As I get older I appreciate exploitation flicks more and more, not sure why, unless it’s just a reaction to the ennui of my daily existence these days. I’ve always been drawn to the primal elements of human nature, which are denied, misinterpreted, misunderstood, feared, and otherwise exploited by various institutions, from churches to corporations, capitalizing on peoples’ vices, desires, and “weaknesses.” I love erotica and porn partly because they are “forbidden” by “polite society,” the zenith of our culture’s hypocrisy, since most people are obsessed with sex, whether they admit it or not. I’m just honest about it, and so is exploitation cinema. Sure, it appeals to our baser instincts, but it’s a healthier sublimation than acting them out. As long as you’re not overly indulgent, I don’t see any harm in creatively harnessing these primitive instincts. Suppression and denial only lead to destructive backfire. So anyway, yes, I am far more influenced by cinema than literature, and always have been. I just don’t have the desire to be an active participant, which is why I’ve never tried writing an original screenplay. I lived too close to that scene when I was in L.A. and saw how it destroyed the spirits of too many talented people. I simply wanted no part of it. Now, if one of my books was made into a movie, that would be great, and poetically correct, since I’m such a film buff myself. My books are so cinematic the translation to the screen would be simple, although most are way too explicit and graphic, particularly sexually, to make the transition intact.
I lived in Seattle for a bit over 2 years from 20-22 roughly. Seattle draws a person of a certain mindset. I mean The Manson Family vacationed in the area. Yeah we all know about grunge and heroin, etc. What people don't know is there are many (or at least when I was there) book stores. It's a literate atmosphere. Unless you are a certain type of person I don't want to know, You will read or write or both when you can't go outside. I've found with a handful of exceptions, the sun and warm weather aren't conducive to the creative process.WV: I moved to Seattle for one reason: I hate the sun. Always have. That’s why my fictional world is always so dark and cold (“like your heart,” my wife jokes.) Seattle’s rainy rep appealed to me, and has for years. Finally I could no longer resist its psychic pull, but we couldn’t make such an epic move based purely on weather. So I asked Monica (who shares my disdain for bright heat) to apply to the University of Washington School of Drama PhD program, she was accepted against high odds, and so here we are. Unfortunately we moved here during one of the hottest summers on record, and in fact there have been four record hot summers in a row year, but otherwise the weather is cool, cloudy and wet, which is my ideal environment, creatively and personally. I lived in the Bay Area for three decades and overall I loved it, but I never felt completely at home there, and I think a lot of it was due to the mostly arid climate. Even the famous fog disappeared during the drought, and basically it was warm and sunny almost every day of the year, unlike when I first moved there in 1985 from L.A. for the same reason I moved to Seattle, to escape the incessant heat. But it followed me again! I can’t really complain though. Most of the year Seattle feels just right. I call it “ambient therapy.” I’ve been very productive since moving here, and much more content. It shows in my work.
We've all heard stories about some element of Hollywood nipping at the edges of a project. They seem poised to take a big bite and all of a sudden, they aren't hungry anymore. It's like you have a bagel. They want your bagel, they go on and on about how great your bagel is and they tell you all about how they want to prepare and present your bagel. They get you so excited. Oh My God Hollywood Wants My Bagel!!!!! Then you get the call they decided they wanted chicken fingers prepared by somebody else. In this instance the chicken fingers was named Mr Robot.WV: As you know, Love Stories was optioned for a film by Christian Slater in 2001, but after all those years, we still haven’t been able to make it happen, though we came very, very close in 2012 after he flew me out to Miami where we did location scouting, and I was contracted to rewrite his adaptation, setting the story in South Florida rather than Northern California, for budgetary and logistical reasons. Though the movie is still stuck in “indefinite hiatus,” that notoriety helped expand consciousness of my work, and I was able to plug into a whole network of other writers and literary types, many introduced to me by Joe Clifford (the Jay Porter series), acquisitions editor for Gutter Books, which reissued the out of print novel in 2012, featuring a brand new cover illustrated by Matt Brown, our storyboard artists, depicting Christian as my protagonist, Vic Valentine. If that movie had been made, I wouldn’t still be busting my ass on social media day in, day out, tirelessly pitching my wares amid the hundreds of other indie authors out there, vying for the same limited customer base. I don’t even have a target audience in mind when I write, since my stuff is so esoteric. The distinction of having a book optioned by a major movie/TV star helped lift me out of complete obscurity, but a green light on that project would’ve catapulted me right across the goal line, casting a spotlight on my entire body of work.
I could go on and on talking about the nuances of Will Viharo, from his work to his influences to his life. Remember I mentioned peeling an onion? It's like that. His current novella, an erotic horror noir called “Things I Do When I Awake,” is largely inspired by the story of his mother, but filtered thought the lens of a classic giallo film. Will's mother is a topic that is a story in itself as that of his father who was an actor and starred in films along side James Caan and Charles Bronson. Will has anecdotes about Mickey Rourke among others. Hard Boiled Heart was the book by Will that made me a fan. He's got something for everyone. Don't matter what you may be into, sex, noir, horror, sci-fi. If this piece get's you interested, head over to thrillville.net and get a glimpse inside Will's head for yourself.
End of interview. Thanks, Dave.
IN OTHER NEWS...
COSTA RICA BOUND!I have the supreme honor of being invited by author Ezekiel Tyrus to conduct workshops at The Writer's Retreat of San Buenas in Costa Rica this coming January, 2017. When I return, I will devote an entire blog to this life-changing adventure, which will also most likely inspire a novel, stay tuned.
NOIR AT THE BAR!Since founder Michael Pool has moved on, I have proudly and humbly taken over the reins of Noir at the Bar Seattle as organizer in addition to my regular role as host. The events will take place once per season at its home base, The Fireside Room at the Hotel Sorrento, always featuring an all-star literary lineup, like this one...
Additionally I have been invited by famed Canadian author Dietrich Kalteis to participate in my first Noir at the Bar Vancouver on November 2, 2016...
NEW NOVELLA: THINGS I DO WHEN I'M AWAKE
The first brand new book published by Thrillville Press,
THINGS I DO WHEN I'M AWAKE
, which I describe as "erotic horror noir," is coming this December, 2016. The story is partly inspired by the tragic life of my mother, who passed away this past September 23, while I was in the midst of working on the novella. The full cover designed by Dyer Wilk as well as more details - including about my mother's background - will be revealed in my next blog.May Charlotte Ann Glenn's tormented soul rest in peace.
Otherwise, Monica is starting her third happy year as a PhD student (and now also an instructor) at the University of Washington School of Drama.
And I am enjoying my favorite non-writing gig ever, dog-walking for Rover.com as well as freelance.
I wish I sold more books. I wish that movie had been made. But overall, my personal life is as fulfilling as my professional life is frustrating. I guess you can't expect more than that. Cheers.
VIHARO ON VIDEO:
"Thrillville," my official theme song by The Moon-Rays"Director's cut" of Jeff M. Giordanos' documentary THE THRILL IS GONE! (2014)
Original book trailer for The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, shot and edited by Christopher Sorrenti (2011)
Book trailer for Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room,animated by Vincent Cortez (2011)
Promoting the first edition of A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge on San Francisco's Creepy KOFY Movietime, 2010
Reading from Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me (2014)
Live reading of my short story "Escape from Thrillville" (2014, included in The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, Volume 3)
Book trailer for It Came from Hangar 18 (2012)
Interview with Scott Fulks and me for Tiki Oasis TV, August 201
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You may also dig:
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIES
SHORT FICTION
A WRONG TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE (1982) and THE IN-BETWEENERS (1987)LITTLE BLACK BULLETS (1989) and NIGHT NOTES (1990)
PEOPLE BUG ME (2013)
ESCAPE FROM THRILLVILLE (2014)
NAKED WHORE WITH A GUN (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2013)
SUCKER PUNCH OF THE GODS (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2014)
THE STICK-UP ARTIST (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2015)
Radio reading from my unpublished novel NEON ROSE (1989)
Radio play based on my unpublished novella SHADOW MUSIC (1996)
BOOKS, ETC.
Bachelor Pad Magazine #37 featuring my movie column about classic Frankenstein flicks!COMING SOON:
NOW AVAILABLE:
The new Vic Valentine novel HARD-BOILED HEART now available from Gutter Books!
BUY
LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME from Gutter Books!BUY
THE SPACE NEEDLER'S INTERGALACTIC BAR GUIDE
BUY
IT CAME FROM HANGAR 18
BUY
My short story BEHIND THE BAR is included in this anthology
January 25, 2016
Introducing THRILLVILLE PRESS!
To say the creation of my own imprint followed a circuitous path is a gross understatement. It’s basically 37 years in the making, beginning when I wrote the first draft of Chumpy Walnut age 16 in 1979. Since then I’ve been both published by small presses and self-published; had a real New York agent (Marilyn Marlow of Curtis Brown Ltd.) for over a dozen years that did nothing for me; been courted by a major celebrity editor (Judith Regan of Simon & Schuster) that likewise let me down; had a movie deal with Christian Slater that failed to reach fruition after many close calls over a 13 year long option process; and meanwhile, I gradually made my own brand name, “Thrillville,” on which I’ve built my own social network.
Now it’s finally all coming together.
NOW AVAILABLE from THRILLVILLE PRESS:THE THRILLVILLE PULP FICTION COLLECTION!
VOLUME ONE: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge andFreaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room
BUY
VOLUME TWO: Lavender Blonde and Down a Dark AlleyBUY
VOLUME THREE: Chumpy Walnut and Other StoriesBUY
THE VIC VALENTINE CLASSIC CASE FILES:Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, Diary of a Dick
BUYIt’s time to take control of my own destiny. I’ve tried every other way, and none have gone the distance with me. Nobody’s fault. Everyone ultimately prioritizes his or her own personal agenda and survival over the concerns and interests of others. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.
I’ll be 53 in April. Any way you cut it, I’m on the downslope of my natural life span. No more time to waste.
These four anthologies, initially published by the suddenly and sadly defunct Double Life Press last year, comprise the bulk of my life’s work. I have four other books on the market from two other publishers (Gutter Books and Scott Fulks) that treat me right, so they’re in good hands. But these books belong entirely to ME. Together they comprise the foundation of whatever literary legacy I will eventually leave behind, for whatever that’s worth to anyone. It’s worth a lot to me,anyway, and that’s the one person I’m really doing this for.
This fantastic cover art – by Mike Fyles (Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection Vol. 1), Matt Brown (Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection Vol. 2 and The Vic Valentine Classic Files), and Dyer Wilk (Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection Vol. 3 as well as the new Thrillville Press logo) – were all created based on my own crude sketches and basic concepts. (Actually, Mike produced the art that eventually became the cover of Volume 1 a while ago, on spec, but it was my idea to add the zombies!). So even there, I took command of my own vision.
The Thrillville Press logo was inspired by our official wedding logo!
My original crude concept sketch
Nothing feels better that to be in creative control of one’s own art. With all due respect, as it were, the founders of all these small presses out there don’t have anything I don’t have in terms of expertise or experience, but they do have higher overhead and a tighter bottom line. They’re basically just self-publishing collectives, relying on many of the same free DIY publishing tools as the rest of us indie entrepreneurs. What makes them each special is the boldness of their actions. They are devoted to publishing the best work they can find or produce, according to their own standards, regardless of profit margins. That’s my manifesto, too, except I’m exclusively investing in the single veteran author that I know and believe in the most: myself.
Sure, I’m breaking "the rules" by making and abiding by my own, but as they say, whoever they are, necessity is the mother of invention. Nobody else writes books like these. They’re completely unique and don’t fall under all particular genre. I’ve created my own alternate universe. As their creator, I understand and know these books more than anyone, which means makes me the ideal custodian of my own career.
Interior formatting for all four volumes by Rik Hall
I am way beyond requiring the validation of strangers. It doesn’t matter to me whether these books become bestsellers or win any awards. That would be swell, but the point is I’m not counting on the acclaim and accolades of others for my artistic and personal contentment any longer. I don’t need fame and fortune to feel fulfilled. It’s enough that these works exist, in the most pristine editions possible, the interiors and exteriors all professionally designed. I will mine my own two-decade experience as a PR man/publicist for other people’s dreams to promote them. But the rest is simply out of my hands. The world can now take ‘em or leave ‘em. Either way, I am very, very proud of them. And nobody can ever take that away from me.
Lesson learned: unless you live in a dictatorship, generally speaking the only power another human has over you is whatever power you give them. I’m taking mine back. It feels great not to be in direct or even indirect competition with anyone, not even myself.
With Catherine & Kyle Fischer of Wild Card Press (and later Speakeasy Theaters), original publishers of "Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me," 1995
Thrillville Press, like all of my artistic endeavors over the past thirty-odd (very odd) years, is purely a labor of love. I’m truly at the point where if anybody doesn’t dig who I am or what I’m about or the work I produce, it simply isn’t my problem. Self-reliance is the key to professional happiness, at least for me.It was a long, rocky road to reach this place of peace and acceptance (as opposed to bitterness and resignation), and I’m never turning back.
More than anything, the founding of Thrillville Press represents my survival against all odds. It is manifest destiny in action.
Now back to dog walking and dreaming.
Onward! Cheers.
Artwork by Mike Fyles; photo by Jim ThomsenCheck out my ongoing blog series about the craft and business of writing/publishing for Digital Media Ghost.Thrillville Press Facebook page.
Back story on The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection here.
Backstory on The Vic Valentine Classic Case Files and The Space Needler's Intergalactic Bar Guide here.
Backstory on Hard-boiled Heart here.
Backstory on Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me here.
Interview in the San Francisco Chronicle 12/24/15
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CELEBRATING MY 53rd BIRTHDAY, APRIL 2, 2016
Pre-bday cocktails with The Tiki Goddess, Tacoma Cabana, 4/1/16
"Every Woman I Love Is Undead" - original cocktail inspired by Vic Valentine, created by Tacoma Cabana owner Jason Alexander
Twede's Cafe, the "real' RR Diner, North Bend, WA 4/2/16
Damn fine birthday cherry pie and coffee! Twede's Cafe, 4/2/16
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Snoqualmie Falls at "The Great Northern" (Salish Lodge & Spa), 4/2/16
Welcome to Twin Peaks!
Meeting Kyle "Agent Cooper" MacLachlan at the University of Washington for an alumni Q&A, 5/9/15
Cocktails at Cutter's Crabhouse, Seattle, 4/2/16
Birthday dinner and drinks at Etta's, Seattle, 4/2/16
Elvira with her copy of "Hard-boiled Heart," Crypticon, Seattle, 5/28/16
With my old friend Lance Henriksen, Crypticon, Seattle, 5/28/16
Celebrating 15 years of blissful marriage (two days early!) at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley, Seattle, 5/29/16
Arturo Sandoval live at Jazz Alley for our anniversary celebration!
Cheers to 15 years!
Hosting and reading from Hard-boiled Heart at thenext Noir at the Bar Seattle, 2/16/15, Hugo House
Left to right, back to front: Michael Pool, Rob Hart, Johnny Shaw, Owen Laukkanen, Sam Weibe, Dietrich Kaltreis, Kat Richardson, Linda L. Richards, me (photo by Jim Thomsen)
Hosting Noir at the Bar Seattle, 4/14/16, Fireside Room, Hotel Sorrento
Pearce Hansen and me, Noir at the Bar Seattle, 4/14/16
Noir at the Bar, The Alibi Room, 6/14/16
"Thrillville," my official theme song by The Moon-Rays"Director's cut" of Jeff M. Giordanos' documentary THE THRILL IS GONE! (2014)
Original book trailer for The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, shot and edited by Christopher Sorrenti (2011)
Book trailer for Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room,animated by Vincent Cortez (2011)
Promoting the first edition of A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge on San Francisco's Creepy KOFY Movietime, 2010
Reading from Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me (2014)
Live reading of my short story "Escape from Thrillville" (2014, included in The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, Volume 3)
Book trailer for It Came from Hangar 18 (2012)
Interview with Scott Fulks and me for Tiki Oasis TV, August 2015
You may also dig:
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIES
SHORT FICTION
by Will Viharo
A WRONG TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE (1982) and THE IN-BETWEENERS (1987)
LITTLE BLACK BULLETS (1989) and NIGHT NOTES (1990)
PEOPLE BUG ME (2013)
ESCAPE FROM THRILLVILLE (2014)
NAKED WHORE WITH A GUN (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2013)
SUCKER PUNCH OF THE GODS (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2014)
THE STICK-UP ARTIST (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2015)
Radio reading from my unpublished novel NEON ROSE (1989)
Radio play based on my unpublished novella SHADOW MUSIC (1996)
Bachelor Pad Magazine #35 featuring my movie column on "Women In Prison" movies!
The new Vic Valentine novel HARD-BOILED HEART now available from Gutter Books!
BUY
LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME from Gutter Books!BUY
THE SPACE NEEDLER'S INTERGALACTIC BAR GUIDE
BUY
IT CAME FROM HANGAR 18
BUY
My short story BEHIND THE BAR is included in this anthology
July 23, 2015
"The Space Needler's Intergalactic Bar Guide" & "The Vic Valentine Classic Case Files"
2015 has been a fairly uneventful year for me so far, although - the historic summer heat wave and urgently renewed threats of impending disaster notwithstanding - I am really enjoying our relatively new home of Seattle. But frankly, I don't have all that much going on in my daily life these days. My main reason for relocating from the Bay Area to the Pacific Northwest over a year ago - other than seeking spiritual solace and physical comfort in the cooler, cloudier climate - was to hopefully change my life in some proactive way, especially after my movie deal with Christian Slater was put on indefinite hiatus after coming so close I could touch it. But truthfully, all that's really changed so far is the scenery and the seasons, both for the better, but I'm still hoping for something more substantial than that. Now that Christian is busy with his excellent hit new TV show Mr. Robot, I am no longer counting on that 14 year old dream ever coming true, though I'm not entirely counting it out, either. Just moving forward, equipped with ambient therapy and antidepressants. And also six new books.A comprehensive anthology series of "definitive editions" assembling most of my standalone novels called The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection Volumes 1-3 was recently released by Craig T. McNeely's bold new venture Double Life Press, and a fourth omnibus, The Vic Valentine Classic Case File s, collecting all four previously self-published sequels from the 1990s plus a recent short story, is being prepared for publication this September, ahead of my brand new Vic Valentine novel, Hard-boiled Heart, being published later this year or early next by Gutter Books, which released the reissue of Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me in 2013.
UPDATE January 2016: The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection Volumes 1-3 and The Vic Valentine Classic Case Files have been reissued by my own imprint, THRILLVILLE PRESS See my FICTION page for new purchase links (or scroll down to bottom).
As most of you following my exploits know, I've been pursuing a literary career since I was a teenager. At age 52, I still feel distressingly far away from my goals of success. This recent rash of publications provides evidence not only of my persistence, and the faith others are willing to place in my work, but they are sources of great personal and professional pride. They have given me a renewed sense of purpose and hope, and I am very grateful.
My first interview as an author, for Berkeley's Daily Californian, March 1997
Quotes from a recent interview by SW Lauden
Final cut of Jeff M. Giordano's documentary THE THRILL IS GONE!
My "office assistants," Googie (left) and Tiki
Cover designed and illustrated by Michael FlemingOfficially launching at
Tiki Oasis
August 13-16 in San Diego,
The Space Needler's Intergalactic Bar Guide
(now available at Amazon) is my second sci-fi collaboration with Scott Fulks after 2012's epic It Came from Hangar 18. This one isn't as long, but it is likewise packed with my typical retro-surrealistic sleaze (though the erotica is somewhat toned down this time for more mainstream appeal) along with Scott's real scientific formulas and theories. The setting is Seattle and a few other American cities in the 1960s, '70, and early '80s, but primarily outer space in general, as several ex-astronauts are summoned for a mysterious rendezvous at the Space Needle, and start sharing their outlandish interstellar adventures, all of which are soaked in monsters, aliens, sex, and cosmic booze. This book is further distinguished by the inclusion of many original cocktail recipes, most concocted by our friend and
Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge
bartender, Becca Morris.
Scott and I - along with Crescendo Records sci-fi soundtrack maestro Neil Norman - will be co-presenting a panel on vintage sci-fi pop culture on Friday, August 14, then we're appearing together with other authors at the formal book signing on Saturday, August 15 (like we did with Hangar 18 back in 2012). This time we also boast a very cool corporate sponsor for the events: Angostura ! Additionally, Michael Thanos, my pal and owner/founder of Forbidden Island, will be mixing and serving our original cocktails alongside Becca at the symposium. It will be quite a festive occasion for all.
Once again, I can promise you this much: you have never read another book like this in your entire life.
BUY The Space Needler's Intergalactic Bar Guide on Amazon.
Back cover blurb :
THE SPACE NEEDLER’S INTERGALACATIC BAR GUIDE smoothly mixes a wide variety of choice ingredients including retro-futurism, vintage pulp, Space Age culture, midcentury modernism, speculative sci-fi, real rocket science, cosmic consciousness, amorous aliens, universal social issues, and both original and classic cocktail recipes into a soul-shaking, brain-quaking literary blend that will challenge the very nature of existence and forever alter all previous perceptions of reality!
Full cover illustrated and designed by Michael Fleming
A preview of one of the original recipes, "The Whidbey Werewolf"
From the Tiki Oasis website
UPDATE:
PHOTOS FROM THE BOOK LAUNCH AT TIKI OASIS 15, August 13-16, 2015!
Customized promo cups were given away for free to each guest!
With Scott and his wife Jenn at Bali Hai Restaurant, San Diego, 8/13/16
At Crowne Plaza Hotel, San Diego
With Lori Carsillo
With Otto Von Stroheim and MeduSirena
My old friend Shag
With Neil Norman at our retro sci-fi pop culture symposium, 8/14/15, San Diego
Book signing, 8/15/16, San DiegoClassic sci-fi trailer reel programmed by me, edited and hosted by Lord Blood-Rah exclusively for our symposium
Interview with Scott and me for Tiki Oasis TV!
"Sushi again?"
Outstanding food and margaritas at Barra Barra in Old Town San Diego
With Crazy Al at a room party I do not remember...
Elvis D-Day, 8/16/15....Aloha!
Review in Bachelor Pad Magazine #33
PLUS!...Vic Valentine lives (again)!
Back cover blurb:
THE VIC VALENTINE CLASSIC CASE FILES collects for the first time in a single definitive edition the four novels between Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me and Hard-boiled Heart, all written in the mid-1990s, published by the author himself in 2011, and now available in this official anthology: Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, and Diary of a Dick, plus a new short story, “Brain Mistrust.” From an Elvis-themed sex cult involving a missing Mob brat, to a sordid rendezvous with a homicidal high school sweetheart, to a real live B movie road trip, to a series of lusty liaisons with the wild women of the detective's promiscuous past, there are no experiences or encounters like these anywhere in genre fiction, all related to the reader in our hapless hero's intrepid, introspective, shamelessly self-centered voice. Welcome to the wild, wondrous, wacky and woeful world of Vic Valentine, Private Eye.
Sketches and cover art by Matt Brown for The Vic Valentine Classic Case Files:
Matt Brown's cover for the reissue of Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me
Onward!
Another highlight of the year so far was meeting Twin Peaks goddesses Sheryl Lee and Sherilyn Fenn at the annual local horror convention Crypticon . Both were very gracious, friendly and still quite stunning. Twin Peaks was one of the earliest reasons I wanted to move to Seattle, because I was so entranced by the moody, magical ambience. Meeting these dreamy gals in the flesh was an almost surreal but very satisfying experience. At a panel interview, Sherilyn announced that the upcoming third season would be shooting locally, that it will include eighteen instead of the originally planned nine episodes (thanks to David Lynch's threat to pull out altogether!), and Angelo Badalamenti would be returning to do the iconic score. All amazing news. I can't wait! Meantime, it was a thrill handing them copies of Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me in person, sharing a bit of myself with people I have admired for so many years.
With the beautiful Sheryl Lee
At Laura Palmer's house in Everett, WA
With the gorgeous Sherilyn Fenn
I also had the honor of meeting Ken Foree, star of the original Dawn of the Dead, one of my very favorite flicks He was a very funny, friendly, badass mofo. And big.
This past May 31, my brilliant and beautiful bride Monica and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary - and our first in Seattle - by checking out some new and favorite local haunts.
Breakfast at Louisa's Cafe & Bakery
Cocktails at Zig Zag
Dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, The Pink Door - with live aerial burlesque!
Toasting our 14th with an appropriately named cocktail, "The Aging Swinger"
Another recent milestone: this past June 11, Monica and I hosted our very first Thrillville show in Seattle with my one of my most popular themed events, SHATFEST: TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM SHATNER, at Central Cinema, a terrific venue with a full menu including cocktailswhere we hosted a Mad Men screening this past March. I chose Shat's immortal masterpiece IMPULSE (1974). What made this gig so unique, besides the novelty of its location, is that director William Grefe arranged his summer vacation around the date, so he was able to appear in person and regale the appreciate audience with his amazing stories of working with Shatner as well as Don Johnson ( Cease Fire , 1984), and behind-the-scenes tales of his grindhouse classics including Sting of Death (1965), Stanley (1972), and Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976). It was a pleasure getting to know "Wild" Bill, a truly humble gentleman, as well as his lovely wife Grace, and though I'm not sure I'll be presenting any more Thrillville shows again any time soon unless something truly special like this comes along, his presence certainly made this one-shot emergence from semi-retirement well worthwhile...
SHATFEST tribute video edited by Mark Bowen
With Vincent Drambuie (left) at the incredible home of Lisa Petrucci (center), co-owner of Something Weird Video
With Howie Pyro
With my brother Rome at Uncle Ike's Pot Shop in Seattle
My official 007 crew shirt from the new Bond movie SPECTRE
At Sundance Cinema, SeattleOtherwise, Monica and I have been discovering and revisiting some cool new joints around town, especially now that she's successfully completed her first year as a PhD student at the University of WA School of Drama. I'm very proud of her.
Monica in line to meet one of her political heroes at Third Place Books, 7/28/15
Northlake Tavern and Pizza House
Tanakasan
Monica trying the chocolate popcorn at Cinerama
We had a great time seeing Marc Maron perform at this fantastic venue, The Neptune, in May
Swedish pancakes at The Swedish Club, where Monica and I will presenting "Thrillville's Swedish Halloween Show" on October 30,
featuring the Swedish sci-fi monster flick, "Terror in the Midnight Sun" (1959)...
University of WA Club
Bastille Cafe and Bar
9 Million Unmarked Bills
Anthony's Woodfire Grill, Everett WA
With my old pal, singer Bob Dalpe at Ivar's Salmon House
Ivar's Salmon House
Cantina Lena
Palace Kitchen
Back Door at Roxy's
Tiki Night at Sun Liquor Lounge.Cheers.THE FIRST ANNUAL "NOIR AT THE BAR" SEATTLE
Fireside Room, Hote Sorrento, Seattle, Thursday, October 15, 7PM
You may also dig:
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIES
SHORT FICTION
by Will Viharo
A WRONG TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE (1982) and THE IN-BETWEENERS (1987)
LITTLE BLACK BULLETS (1989) and NIGHT NOTES (1990)
PEOPLE BUG ME (2013)
ESCAPE FROM THRILLVILLE (2014)
NAKED WHORE WITH A GUN (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2013)
SUCKER PUNCH OF THE GODS (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2014)
THE STICK-UP ARTIST (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2015)
Radio reading from my unpublished novel NEON ROSE (1989)
Radio play based on my unpublished novella SHADOW MUSIC (1996)
NOW AVAILABLE from THRILLVILLE PRESS:THE THRILLVILLE PULP FICTION COLLECTION!
VOLUME ONE: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge andFreaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room
BUY
VOLUME TWO: Lavender Blonde and Down a Dark AlleyBUY
VOLUME THREE: Chumpy Walnut and Other StoriesBUY
THE VIC VALENTINE CLASSIC CASE FILES:Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, Diary of a Dick
BUY
The new Vic Valentine novel HARD-BOILED HEART now available from Gutter Books!
BUY
LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME from Gutter Books!BUY
THE SPACE NEEDLER'S INTERGALACTIC BAR GUIDE
BUY
BACHELOR PAD MAGAZINE #32 featuring my regular movie column,this one scrutinizing Raquel Welch's "body of work"!
BACHELOR PAD MAGAZINE #33 now on sale!
I had the honor of writing the intro for this new art/fiction anthology, Bizarre Fantasy
My short story BEHIND THE BAR is included in this anthology
"Director's cut" of Jeff M. Giordanos' documentary THE THRILL IS GONE!
February 26, 2015
Double Life Press Presents THE THRILLVILLE PULP FICTION COLLECTION!
UPDATE January 2016: THE THRILLVILLE PULP FICTION COLLECTION now available from THRILLVILLE PRESS:
VOLUME ONE: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge andFreaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room
BUY
VOLUME TWO: Lavender Blonde and Down a Dark AlleyBUY
VOLUME THREE: Chumpy Walnut and Other StoriesBUY
Images by Dyer WilkIn my last blog I detailed the story behind the new Vic Valentine novel Hard-boiled Heart being released by Gutter Books later this year, and revealed my depressed state of mind lately, despite this triumph and my reinvigorating move to Seattle last summer. I've been worried that my literary career basically ended when my movie deal with Christian Slater got put back on indefinite hiatus after coming extremely close to fruition, like sitting at a traffic stop waiting for a green light, a block from your destination, and suddenly you find yourself getting towed backward. Anyway, this column finds me in a more upbeat mood, telling a much cheerier tale: the virtual reanimation of my entire body of work in the form of a series of anthologies being published soon by a bold new startup, Double Life Press, founded by author/editor/publisher Craig T. McNeely, who has turned out to be one of my most dedicated, passionate champions. In fact, Craig's artistic/commercial mission statement - basically "no boundaries" - already reminds me of John Martin's legendary Black Sparrow Press, which existed initially to offer a prominent platform to the then relatively unknown Charles Bukowski, in whom Martin placed a great deal of faith. Craig sees similar promise in my own rather obscure work, even though we've only met via Facebook. Other than the resumption of the movie project, a remote possibility at this point, this has proven to be the best possible emotional therapy and career/spirit booster I could hope for.
Writing on my portable typewriter in my tiny Berkeley studio kitchen, circa 1993As many of you know, I've devoted most of my life to my writing, even though I took about a dozen years off from fiction (still freelance reporting about film and pop culture) while I was full time publicist/programmer for the sadly defunct Speakeasy Theaters, which suddenly imploded in 2009 due to internal issues I will never speak of in public (sorry), out of respect for my former friends that founded this beloved Bay Area institution (now resurrected under new stewardship as The New Parkway, for whom I'm still employed as remote PR consultant!). 
Cal-Neva Resort, North Lake Tahoe, May 31, 2001I turn 52 on April 2, and I'm nowhere near where I thought I'd be by this stage of my so-called career, though my personal life continues to bring daily rewards, thanks to my wonderful marriage to the beautiful, brilliant Monica Cortes Viharo, currently a theater professor-in-training at the University of Washington School of Drama. I really believed that the movie would've happened by now, and instead of still struggling to get by with random freelance writing gigs (for which I am still very grateful), I'd be a successful screenwriter, with a feature film, however modestly budgeted, generating interest in all of my novels. 
Needless to say, that didn't happen, at least not yet. It may happen someday, but meantime, I am moving forward as if it won't, finally achieving my goal of ending my status as a primarily self-published writer, which, nobody what anybody says, still has a certain stigma attached that prevents your work from getting properly reviewed, respected by professional peers, or even taken seriously by discerning readers.
Thanks to the visionary publisher Craig T. McNeely, many indie authors, besides me, will soon gain exposure to a new audience and legitimate industry "street cred." Craig first contacted me last fall, informing me he was starting a new pulp quarterly called Dark Corners , and, having only recently heard of my work, solicited a contribution.
"I want you to hit me hard," he wrote, adding that he admired the "short, choppy" style of classic hardboiled authors and contemporary crime fiction writers like Mike Monson. So I wrote him a sick little story about a horny, homicidal dwarf called "Short and Choppy." He not only loved and published it in the premiere issue, but after reading PDFs of all of my novels, wrote an extremely flattering appreciation called "Will Viharo: Unsung Hero of the Pulps." High praise indeed, but it was coming from a complete stranger who had no other agenda but total honesty. That was his opinion, and he was backing it up with action by publishing stories of mine no mainstream outfit of any size would consider, including my followup to "Short and Choppy" in the second issue, a twisted little tale I first conceived well over a year ago while doing laundry, called "The Lost Sock." A third story, called "People Bug Me," my "fan fiction" tribute to my two favorite flicks, Sweet Smell of Success and I Was a Teenage Werewolf, will be included in the third issue.
Logo designed by Dyer WilkThen earlier this year Craig informed me he was starting his own small press, called Double Life. And he asked if he could reprint my self-published work in "definitive editions."
To be honest, I initially balked, because I didn't want to relinquish complete artistic and commercial control of my babies. After all, the upside of self-publishing is that very autonomy and freedom, from the selection of the cover art to the creative perimeters of the content. But Craig loved my books just as they are. He had no desire to edit out any of the more outrageous, "exploitative", gratuitously graphic aspects, since that's exactly what appealed to him the most. In fact, the very elements that made me decide to forego any more fruitless forays into traditional publishing (especially after my tragic courtship by celebrity editor Judith Regan in the early 90s, which left a very bitter taste in my soul) were exactly what attracted Craig. Other than fast rising author Joe Clifford, who had solicited the republication of Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me for Gutter, Craig was my perfect partner in crime.
Another factor in my decision to hand over the reins of my career to Craig was that I'd always hoped my self-published books would one day be "officially" reissued by a legitimate press, and while Craig is a relative newcomer to the publishing industry, he's a veteran author with extensive connections in the indie lit field, particularly genre fiction. Given his pedigree and respect, I feel confident in his abilities to launch this platform with the aid of his lovely wife Emily and the support of the entire community of modern genre authors, many of whom will be directly contributing to the cause with their own "fringe" works of experimental, "transgressive" fiction. There is no other press around today, at least that I know about, with such a brave agenda and impressive slate of talent already on board for what promises to be one helluva journey. I am honored to be among the flagship crew.
I am also very gratified to be applying my "brand name" directly to my fiction, as I did when this book trailer was filmed and edited by Christopher Sorrenti, shot at Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge in Alameda, CA a few years ago...
So here's exactly what Double Life Press will be offering where I'm concerned, as described in these back cover blurbs. Each edition features a new introduction by yours truly, plus a fresh foreward by Craig...
The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection is a series of “double features” reprinting the best work of underground literary legend Will Viharo in definitive editions.
Volume One: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge and Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room is the literary equivalent of a classic “grindhouse” bill: twin erotic fever dreams exploding with malevolent monsters, sexy sirens, gruesome gangsters, zeitgeist zombies, dreamy decadence, hipster hedonism, voluptuous violence, nightmarish nihilism, sensuous surrealism, pop culture potpourri, and much, much more. They are like nothing you've ever experienced.
“...turning into a lizard, zombies taking over the world, pornographic movie making and twists aplenty and the result is one highly intriguing, complex novel...” —review of A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge by Keith Nixon, Big Al's Books and Pals
“In a cookie-cutter literary world chock-full of imitation and repetition, Will Viharo carves out a thoroughly original ride...Think David Lynch and Raymond Chandler catching a matinee together as the world falls apart. Sexy, smart, surreal. Can't recommend enough.” —Joe Clifford, author of Lamentationand Junkie Love, on A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge
“'Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room' starts fast and hard and absolutely does not let up until the end. It’s not for everyone; this is a not a book that will ever end up on Oprah’s recommended reading list, but for those folks who like their fiction twisted, brutal, darkly humorous, and covered in a wide variety of bodily fluids, it’s a fantastic read.” —KarlMiddlebrooks, Listless Ennui
Volume Two: Lavender Blonde (a novel in dialogue) and the satirical crime thriller Down a Dark Alleypresent a dual dose of extremely graphic, uniquely compelling noir,loaded with more sordid sex and vicious violence than any fifty exploitation films, but also equipped with a stylistic complexity, emotional resonance and psychological depth absent from routine pulp fare.
“No human being has absorbed more pulp culture and its seamy sexploitation underbelly than Will Viharo. Thankfully, his warped synapses and calloused, compulsive fingertips are able to repurpose it all and blow it back onto the page—desperate, demented, delirious, D-cupped … and many other D words as well.” —Eddie Muller, Czar of Noir, author of Dark City Dames, Grindhouse: the Forbidden World of “Adults Only” Cinema, and Gun Crazy: The Origin of the American Outlaw
"Besides the great style, plot, and characters, what I love so much about Will Viharo's work is his willingness to really go there in his depictions of sex and violence. The dude's not shy. At all.” —Mike Monson, author of Tussinland, What Happens in Reno, and The Scent of New Death
Volume Three: Chumpy Walnut and Other Stories provides a revealing, entertaining look at the author's seminal works while creatively chronicling his artistic evolution, his very first novel being a unique, charming, nostalgic fable suitable for all ages, the remaining assortment of tales wildly ranging in tone and content from bleak to bizarre, from whimsical to wanton, but always stubbornly original.
“(Chumpy Walnut) is my favorite tome in the Viharo oeuvre. Anyone can relate, ’cause we've all got a little Chumpy in each of us.” —Eddie Muller, Czar of Noir, author of Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, The Art of Noir,and The Distance
NOTE: I will add purchase information/links at the top of this blog when the books are available on Amazon starting in late March, please check back here or stay tuned to my Fiction Page, your business and continued support are very much appreciated, thank you!
Below are the stories behind these fantastic covers, told mostly in pictures, the best possible way to convey such visually stimulating splendor...
Absolutely amazing mock '60s "men's magazine" spread by Mike Fyles, sent to me completely out of the blue, just for fun, to fill out his portfolio. It now graces the front page of my website. Mike also works for Marvel Comics!
Mike's magnificent mock paperback cover version, a variation on the same image, which he illustrated soon after giving me the previous image. I was so thrilled with it I promised him I'd use this if Mermaid was ever reissued...
When it came time, a lot sooner than I expected, I simply suggested turning the leering patrons into zombies, representing the surrealistic, nightmarish erotic horror of both Mermaid and Freaks, which would comprise Volume One, since I believe they're my two strongest (and most challenging) works to date, and ideally complement each other.
Viola! A brilliantly evocative piece of pure pulp art, subversively sensuous and lusciously lurid,
suiting the savagely salacious subject matter. (Full cover design by Dyer Wilk)
Cover for the Gutter Books 2013 reissue of
Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me
by Matt Brown, who created the stupendous storyboards for the screenplay adaptation by Christian Slater and me. Matt contacted me on Facebook and we became fast friends...Matt will also be illustrating the cover for the forthcoming omnibus, THE VIC VALENTINE CLASSIC CASE FILES, comprised of the four sequels from the 1990s, Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, and Diary of a Dick, being published this summer by Double Life Press.
Coming this summer from Double Life Press (cover by Matt Brown)
Flash forward a couple of years: I gave Matt the basic scenario of what I wanted for the cover of The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, Volume Two - a curvaceous, completely nude hottie holding a gun to a nervous sax player's head - and he hit me back with this stunning masterpiece...
The final cover perfectly sums up both novels with its retro-erotic vibe and playfully dangerous imagery...(Full cover design by Dyer Wilk)
When it came time to assemble Volume Three, which would feature my very first novel, sentimental favorite Chumpy Walnut, I decided against using my original illustrations for the cover again, since I needed something different to distinguish this "official" edition. These are a couple of examples of my own Thurber-esque drawings (you can view all 10 in this Facebook photo album), which were included inside with the text and will be again.
Craig and I decided the great Dyer Wilk, one of the true titans of indie publishing, would create an all new cover. I sent Dyer this quickly composed, crude concept, deciding I needed to spice up the new edition a bit, especially since it also would feature some of my racier recent short stories (including the three published so far in Dark Corners) along with my early, relatively innocuous pieces. My sketch was partly inspired by this particular piece from the great pulp artist Boris Vallejo...
But I was aiming more for something more cartoonish and whimsical, in the tradition of Max Shulman (creator of Dobie Gillis), like this...
So....
Dyer turns around this incredibly "retro-authentic" masterwork!
If this fantastic cover (drawn and designed by Dyer Wilk) doesn't earn Chumpy some long-delayed, well-earned love, I don't know what will! Cheers for Chumpy!
But wait, there's more!
Covers by Michael FlemingScott Fulks, who hired me to write our epic erotic tiki sci-fi novel
It Came From Hangar 18
a few years back, is now commissioning me to collaborate on a brand new project called THE SPACE NEEDLER'S INTERGALACTIC BAR GUIDE! Can't divulge too many of the plot details just yet, except most of the sci-fi action is set mainly in the 1960s, the primary setting is Seattle with side-trips around the globe and across the galaxy, basically an anthology of "true" accounts describing close encounters between astronauts and various aliens, monsters, space babes, and cocktails! In fact, along with Scott's typically ingenious, complex, and real scientific formulas, the book will feature original cocktail recipes for each chapter! It will have its official launch at Tiki Oasis in San Diego this August.
These images will give you a general idea of what to expect from this unique novel/cocktail recipe book combo:
PLUS!....
On top of all this, THRILLVILLE THEATER is being revived soon in Seattle! I hadn't planned on it, but the fez seems to be my fate, so why fight it, especially since I need to promote my pulp fiction in a new media marketplace anyway - ironically, the only reason I became a reluctant live movie host/show producer in the first place. It was never my true goal, and frankly it still isn't, but it's provided me with a very visible public platform that continues to come in handy.
Hosting The Apple in Hecklevision at Seattle's Central Cinema, 3/2/15
"Mod Mon"
Hosting the final season premiere of Mad Men at Central Cinema, Easter Sunday, 4/5/15Recently I dropped off a resume at one of my very favorite local haunts, Central Cinema, a comfortably swank Parkway-type movie theater with an all-repertory film calendar and a full bar menu. But instead of offering me a part time job taking tickets or serving food, which is all I was expecting or hoping for, they wanted to collaborate on some special events together, since my reputation as "the Parkway guy" and "Will the Thrill" apparently preceded me! 
So my initial Seattle incarnation of Thrillville will of course be the regional introduction of my most popular annual themed show, SHATFEST: TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM SHATNER, on Thursday, June 11, featuring his immortal grindhouse classic, IMPULSE (1974) We've already discussed some ideas for future Thrillville events, too. They will only be happening on a semi-regular basis, but that just means each will be extra special and fun. For updates, stay tuned to my schedule page.
Meantime, here is the tribute video Mark Bowen of Le Video in San Francisco created for my "final" SHATFEST at The New Parkway in Oakland last March, which will give newbies of taste of what to expect...
But this won't be the first time I've donned the Thrillville fez for a public appearance in Seattle. This past January, Monica and I were tapped by event organizers and local celebrities Marlow Harris and Jo David to co-judge the 20th annual Elvis Tribute Contest at the legendary music venue, The Crocodile. It was a lot of fun. The impersonators were all incredible and it was a perfect way to commemorate The King's 80th birthday (January 8)...TCB!
So while I still struggle with depression on a daily basis, most likely a lifelong battle at this point, I have plenty of opportunities to keep my battery charged. After several severe professional setbacks over the past few years, including the loss of cherished full time gigs I worked hard to earn and maintain, not once or twice but several times due to the shenanigans and abrupt failures of my (sometimes) corrupt employers, I'm still swingin'. Cheers.
With my lucky tiki/totem on Whidbey Island, WA, February 2015
Authentic Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai at Tacoma Cabana, March 2015
52nd bday Mai Tai at Ivar's Salmon House, 4/2/15
Toasting 52 in classic style at Canlis, Seattle 4/2/15
Rob Roy, Seattle
La Fonda Catrina, Seattle
Rumba, Seattle
Sand Point Grill, SeattleYou may also dig:
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
WILL THE THRILL'S 50 FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIES
SHORT FICTION by Will ViharoA WRONG TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE (1982) and THE IN-BETWEENERS (1987)
LITTLE BLACK BULLETS (1989) and NIGHT NOTES (1990)
PEOPLE BUG ME (2013)
ESCAPE FROM THRILLVILLE (2014)
NAKED WHORE WITH A GUN (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2013)
SUCKER PUNCH OF THE GODS (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2014)
THE STICK-UP ARTIST (Flash Fiction Offensive) (2015)
Radio reading from my unpublished novel NEON ROSE (1989)
Radio play based on my unpublished novella SHADOW MUSIC (1996)
NOW AVAILABLE from THRILLVILLE PRESS:THE THRILLVILLE PULP FICTION COLLECTION!
VOLUME ONE: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge andFreaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room
BUY
VOLUME TWO: Lavender Blonde and Down a Dark AlleyBUY
VOLUME THREE: Chumpy Walnut and Other StoriesBUY
THE VIC VALENTINE CLASSIC CASE FILES:Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, Diary of a Dick
BUY
The new Vic Valentine novel HARD-BOILED HEART now available from Gutter Books!
BUY
LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME from Gutter Books!BUY
THE SPACE NEEDLER'S INTERGALACTIC BAR GUIDE
BUY
BACHELOR PAD MAGAZINE #31 featuring my regular movie column, this one listing my TOP 15 MOVIES OF THE 20TH CENTURY!
BACHELOR PAD MAGAZINE #32 featuring my regular movie column, this time
about Raquel Welch's "body of work"!
My story SHORT AND CHOPPY and editor Craig T. McNeely's article WILL VIHARO: UNSUNG HERO OF THE PULPS featured in the premiere issue of the new pulp magazineDARK CORNERS
My story THE LOST SOCK featured in the second issue of DARK CORNERS (Winter 2014)
My story PEOPLE BUG ME featured in the third issue of DARK CORNERS (Spring 2015)
My short story ESCAPE FROM THRILLVILLE as well as my Tribute To Ingrid Bergmanincluded in this issue of Literary Orphans
My Vic Valentine story BRAIN MISTRUST included in this anthology.
My short story BEHIND THE BAR is included in this anthology:
NIGHTMARE ILLUSTRATED #5
includes my short story "PEOPLE BUG ME"View the rough cut of Jeff M. Giordanos' documentary THE THRILL IS GONE!
