Clark Hays's Blog - Posts Tagged "wealth-inequality"

Our new book, Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation, explores deeper themes in a fun, thrilling, sexy read

Today is Clyde Barrow’s birthday.

He was born on March 24, 1909, in Telico, Texas, the fifth of seven children in an impoverished farm family. In 1930, Clyde met Bonnie Parker, a nineteen-year-old waitress with much bigger dreams than the slums of West Dallas could deliver. Two years later, the notorious lovers and their gang embarked on a multi-state crime spree that ended in a hail of bullets in a police ambush in Sailes, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934.

Today is also the formal release date of the new book Kathleen McFall and I wrote together, Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation (Pumpjack Press). It’s the second book in the series (book one, Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road came out May 2017) that imagines what might have happened if the two outlaws were spared from their gruesome end and given (or, more accurately, forced) to work for the government to protect the greater good.

So why pick two notorious criminals and murderers (even though many believe Bonnie never pulled a trigger herself) to anchor the series? For three reasons:

We see the past as prologue
The economic conditions that shaped Bonnie and Clyde — utter poverty and hopelessness and staggering wealth inequality — are back in style. Bonnie and Clyde were products of the incredible privation leading up to the Great Depression and the years of hardships that followed. We picked them because their response to the soup lines and unemployment — a doomed life on the run taking whatever they wanted — struck a chord with their contemporaries, elevating them to folk hero status (at least until body count started to climb).

To be clear, we don’t consider poverty an excuse for crime or violence, but we do think it is a predictor and an enabler, and there are lessons to be learned. The economic landscape of today is eerily familiar, with wealth inequality at even higher levels than during the age of the robber barons, a pervasive sense of hopelessness, and anger and violence on the rise. In our books, Bonnie and Clyde put their unique skills to use protecting the only institution able to stand up to the corrupting power of concentrated wealth — the federal government.

We believe in second chances
Nothing moves us as more than stories about redemption and atonement. It’s a truth that resonates through most major religions, literary fiction (Jean Valjean springs to mind) and movies (from The Shawshank Redemption to Groundhog Day). We see ourselves reflected in the imperfect — those who have failed yet try again anyway, far more readily than we see ourselves in those who haven’t made mistakes.

And we are more deeply inspired and filled with greater hope knowing if the flawed and inconsistent, the damaged and forgotten can turn things around, then so can we. The saintly and the perfect aren’t tested in the same way — the fallen have so much farther to go to overcome their own faults to contribute to a greater good. And no one fell farther, faster than Bonnie and Clyde. In our books, we give them a chance to do good and make amends, and they make the most of it (even if grudgingly at first).

We know love is transformative
This is the sixth book Kathleen and I have written together (counting the four books in the Cowboy and the Vampire Collection; check out book one The Cowboy and the Vampire: A Very Unusual Romance), and our writing journey began with and is grounded in the transformative power of love. It’s what brought us together, almost drove us apart and keeps us focused — almost obsessively — on writing. And it’s a theme we return to in all of our books. It’s no surprise we were drawn to Bonnie and Clyde who, once they found each other, held on with more than a little desperation even as they set the world on fire around them.

Of course, there’s a big difference between exploring the alchemy of love through fiction and using that dark energy to fuel a crime spree. In our books, Bonnie and Clyde get the chance to live beyond their salacious and doomed relationship, growing even closer as the world around them shrinks.

Bonnie and Clyde, even 84 years later, have lessons to teach us. That poverty, if not addressed through policy intervention, can lead to violence. That people deserve second chances (it’s not widely known that Clyde’s life of crime began with a rental car issue, and police harassment likely ended a “straight” job after his first stint in a brutal prison). And that love, focused in positive directions, can change lives for the better.

Except for writers. And then, expect years of dysfunctional and antisocial behavior.

Check out Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation, and learn more about our books, and writing together, on our website: Pumpjack Press.

This great review of our newest book, Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation, came out in the East Oregonian on the anniversary of Clyde’s birthday (March 24, 1909)

BOOK REVIEW: Depression-era alternate history highlights union clash

East Oregonian
Published on March 24, 2018

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are on the case again, with a new mission to save FDR’s most audacious project yet: Hoover Dam. “Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation” is the second in a series by Portland authors Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall imagining an alternate history for the most notorious robbery duo of the 20th century.

Yanked out of a comfortable “retirement” by their handler in 1935, the couple faces their most serious nemesis — gainful employment — while juggling Italian anarchists, Mafia bosses and union-busting goons in a race to determine who wants the project to fail. But a lapse in judgment threatens to derail their undercover scheme.

On the story’s parallel track in 1984, Bonnie teams up with journalist Royce Jenkins to discover who was really shot during the ambush that supposedly killed the famous bank-robbing couple, though danger lurks around every corner. Someone doesn’t want the real story to be told, and will go to great lengths to keep them quiet.

Released on the 109th birthday of Clyde Barrow and set against a backdrop of the Great Depression and the working man’s clash with big business and greedy banks over their fair share of the pie, “Dam Nation” highlights the real-life turmoil of the 1930s as only Hays and McFall can — shadowy intrigue, plenty of suspects and enough behind-the-scenes and under-the-covers action to keep the narrative sizzling along to the final page.

“Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation,” by Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall. © 2018, Pumpjack Press.

This article about our new book, Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation and what it’s like to write together, appeared in the Boulder City Review. The cool part about that is Boulder City is where much of book two takes place.

By Hali Bernstein Saylor
Boulder City Review
March 21, 2018

History tells us that Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow died May 23, 1934, when a posse ambushed them in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, and shot 167 bullets into their car. But what if it wasn’t really the two famous outlaws in that car? What if instead two young people who resembled the murderers and bank robbers were actually killed?

That’s the premise of a new series of books by Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall.

“Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation,” the second book in their Bonnie and Clyde series, debuts Saturday, March 24, which is the 110th anniversary of Clyde Barrow’s birth.

The story is set in 1935, and the two outlaws have been recruited by the federal government to foil a plan to sabotage construction of the Hoover Dam.

Hays said he and McFall have always been drawn to the story of antiheroes and examining that, taking a closer look at the story of redemption.

“We were intrigued by Bonnie and Clyde. They are such an important part of the American story,” he said.

McFall said that while they don’t condone the actions of the two, they began looking at the origins of how they became bank robbers and criminals, how poverty was forcing people to take action.

“It’s not quite a Robin Hood myth,” she said. “They became folk heroes in a way. There were so many people in the Depression … so many that had that fantasy to take control of their destiny.”

Immense project
Hays said he and McFall, who live in Portland, Oregon, had visited Hoover Dam and Boulder City and liked the character of the area.

“We were blown away by the sheer scope of it, the project that brought the dam to life. We knew we wanted to incorporate that into our writing,” he said.

Once they began the Bonnie and Clyde series, they realized the story of Hoover Dam’s construction would be a good fit.

The two spent at least a year doing research and immersing themselves in the history of the area to get a sense of what it was like to work on the dam.

“There is such a rich history in the area, and it has been captured so well by photographers and through oral history,” Hays said.

Their first book in the series, “Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road,” has the origins of how the criminals began working for the government and sets them on a path to save President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“There were plans to assassinate the president; everything is based in reality,” McFall said.

“It’s symbolic for saving the New Deal policies, pulling America out of the Great Depression,” Hays said. “In book two, set in Hoover Dam, … it tells how government infrastructure projects put people back to work. It changed the whole area.”

The two are at work on a third book in the series, which jumps ahead 10 years and takes Bonnie and Clyde to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state, where the Manhattan Project was taking place.

Experienced writers
Before starting their first series, “The Cowboy and the Vampire Collection Boxed Set: Contains Books 1 - 4 plus Bonus Prequel Book” both had experience as writers. Hays was a communications officer for a financial firm and McFall was the director of communications for a medical research company as well as a former energy and science journalist.

McFall, who has a degree in geology, said her experience writing about geology and energy gave her the history and terminology she needed to give their story about the dam more credence and greater avenues to explore.

“Both positions at the heart of them had elements of writing, where we earned our chops, that required us to write on deadline. And we became really proficient churners out of copy,” McFall said. “We applied what we learned in the trenches and applied it to fiction.”

The duo began writing fiction as a way to save their relationship, Hays said.

“When we first became involved romantically, we had a fiery breakup after a short run at romance. … Fate brought us back together, so we decided to focus that dysfunctional energy in a more focused way and started a creative project. That was the first book in our cowboys and vampire collection,” he said.

“Some people think this was a test for marriage. If we could survive this, we could survive anything,” McFall added.

Ironically, Hays grew up with a special connection to and interest in Bonnie and Clyde. His father, who worked in the oil industry, was a “consummate storyteller.” When they purchased an old cattle ranch from the 1930s in White Hall, Montana, they discovered an old rusted car full of bullet holes.

“He convinced me it was Bonnie and Clyde’s death car. I believed that for quite some time,” Hays said.

Time in the public library proved the tale to be false, he said, while instilling a love of libraries.

McFall said they hope to arrange for a special event with the Boulder City Library to introduce people to their book. In the meantime, “Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation” is available at most online bookstores and in libraries.

Hali Bernstein Saylor is editor of the Boulder City Review. She can be reached at hsaylor@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9523. Follow @HalisComment on Twitter.

Here’s a link to the original article.

And here are the links to:
Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road

Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation

The four-book Cowboy and Vampire Collection

our Pumpjack Press website

When passion is the only bright thing in an otherwise dark world

“People are rendered ferocious by misery.”

Mary Wollstonecraft — a writer, philosopher and fierce advocate of women’s rights (and mother of Mary Shelley, author ofFrankenstein) — wrote these words more than 200 years ago, but they certainly ring true when considering the social and economic conditions that gave rise to the legend of Bonnie and Clyde.

Both were born into absolute poverty with no way to get out. Clyde’s family was so poor, when they moved to the slums of West Dallas looking for work they lived under their wagon for months. Like many young men at the time, Clyde wanted more than he could afford, and certainly more than spotty employment of the Depression era could finance.

Clyde’s first brush with the law came from failing to return a rental car on time; after that, it was stolen turkeys. Once he drew the attention of law enforcement, it wasn’t long before he entered a brutal prison system that used prisoners for profit — free agricultural labor — and ignored horrific conditions inside (Clyde was a victim of sexual assault). He was so desperate to get out, he chopped off two of his toes.

Bonnie had it better, but not by much. Options were limited for poor young women, especially in those days — a quick marriage and a hard lifetime of taking care of a large family was her best hope. She tried that, marrying a philandering criminal at 16. It didn’t last long. She always harbored dreams of a better life as a Hollywood starlet, but the slums of West Dallas didn’t offer many opportunities to get noticed.

Then she met Clyde, and he noticed her.

We all know how it turned out after that — from desperation to crime, from crime to violence, and from violence to a gruesome death in a bloody ambush in which more than 100 rounds were shot at them, their bodies brutalized almost beyond recognition.

Poverty does not, of course, excuse a life of crime, but it’s certainly an enabler, and that’s the crucible in which Bonnie and Clyde were forged. They likely would have been reviled by their contemporaries and forgotten by history if not for one other element that transformed the anger and despair, the rage and hopelessness, into something else, something that transcended their crimes and cemented them into the popular imagination: true love.

Collectively, Americans — and even those outside of this country — largely remain fascinated by Bonnie and Clyde because, in spite of thieving and murdering, the violence and destruction, they found each other and held on until the bitter, violent end. Misery may render people ferocious, but hopelessness sometimes renders them inseparable. Bonnie and Clyde became the ultimate doomed lovers, finding the kind of love that eclipses all rational thought, all problems, all concerns with right or wrong. Their burned so brightly, it momentarily outshined the misery they tried to leave behind and the misery they inflicted on others.

The real catastrophe of Bonnie and Clyde, aside from the lives damaged and lost, is that they found in each other a love that likely could have sustained them on any path they chose. If things had turned out just a little differently, if Wall Street hadn’t plunged the country into the Great Depression, if the prison system had protected a teenaged Clyde from assault, of they’d tried their hand at different jobs, we might never have known their story.

But of course, their powerful love wasn’t enough to prevent things from spiraling out of control.

In our speculative history series about Bonnie and Clyde, we give them a second chance and an opportunity to atone. Their love becomes a lodestar, guiding them into a new life.

In the first book, Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road, that new life begins when a mysterious government agent, Suicide Sal, plucks them out of the deadly ambush in Sailes, Louisiana at the last second and forces them to become federal agents, using their unique “skills” to save FDR from an assassin.

In the second book, Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation, which publishes March 24, Bonnie and Clyde must stop saboteurs from destroying Boulder (Hoover) Dam. In Book 2, the notorious duo take firm steps on a path to redemption, beginning to see the pain their actions inflicted on so many innocent people.

Both “what-if” novels are fast-paced thrillers with sharp dialogue and plenty of steamy romance. The books also tackle, as an undercurrent, the poverty and systemic injustice that fueled the rise of Bonnie and Clyde, along with examining the plight of the working class in that era. These issues, such as the gaping wealth/income inequality and the influence of corporate power, are increasingly relevant to today’s economic landscape, making this retelling of their story alarmingly relevant.

But at heart, it was love thrust them into the realm of legend, and this takes center stage in the series. Now that Bonnie and Clyde have a (fictional) second chance, and an opportunity for redemption, their love is the only certain thing in a world of shadowy allegiances, the constant threat of violence and the possibility of atonement.

Note: this article was first published by our friends over on Wise Words.

Praise for the Bonnie and Clyde Series
“As the rich get richer and the middle class becomes more desperate in present-day America, Resurrection Road is a timely reminder that sometimes the solution to a problem comes from the least likely source. Sex, danger and intrigue, coupled with just the right dose of cheeky humor.” East Oregonian Newspaper

“Hays and McFall make their Depression-era tale timely with reflections on wealthy fat cats and a rigged economic system that still ring true. More than that, the story is an exciting ride, with tight corners, narrow escapes, and real romantic heat between Bonnie and Clyde. Outlaws become patriots in this imaginative, suspenseful what-if story.” Kirkus Reviews

Check out our other books:
The Cowboy and the Vampire: A Very Unusual Romance
The Cowboy and the Vampire: Blood and Whiskey
The Cowboy and the Vampire: Rough Trails and Shallow Graves
The Cowboy and the Vampire: The Last Sunset
Just West of Hell: An accounting of curious incidents occurring in LonePine, Wyoming Territory, in the years spanning 1881 to 1890 when the notable Early Hardiman was sheriff

Connect with us:
Twitter @cowboyvamp
Instagram @cowboyvampire
Facebook www.facebook.com/cowboyandvampire

The alarming similarities between the rise and fall of Bonnie and Clyde and today.

By Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall

Today in history, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow died in a hail of high caliber bullets in an infamous ambush just outside of Sailes, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934. Allegedly.

At least in our new fiction series, the notorious outlaws were plucked out of harm’s way by a mysterious government handler who needed their special “skills” to protect FDR from an assassination attempt (Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road). They prove just cunning and vicious enough to be useful, and so are forced to try and save Hoover Dam from saboteurs (Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation). In book three, which we’re currently working on, the two are forced undercover at the Hanford nuclear reservation to try and protect the Manhattan project from Nazi and Soviet spies.

We chose Bonnie and Clyde because, even 84 years later, they still provoke a strong emotional response from people — good and bad. That made them the perfect anti-heroes to take readers on a sexy, action-packed thrill ride through the aftermath of the Great Depression to explore the power of love and redemption.

And as we dug into the research on the real Bonnie and Clyde, and the 1930s era they lived and died in, we found some disturbing parallels between then and now.

Wealth inequality
As Mary Wollstonecraft — a writer, philosopher and staunch advocate of women’s rights (and mother of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein) — once famously said, “people are rendered ferocious by their misery. And things were pretty miserable in the United States in the 1930s. The country was just coming out of the Great Depression and unemployment was high, poverty was rampant and there was little hope for the future. That was doubly true for Bonnie and Clyde, who lived in the slums of West Dallas. Poverty does not, of course, excuse a life of crime, but it’s certainly an enabler, and that’s the crucible in which Bonnie and Clyde were forged.

Rather than accept their destinies, they instead chose to lash out regardless of consequences, knowing they would likely go out in a blaze of gunfire or in the electric chair. And they probably would have died forgotten if their crime-spree and rebellion hadn’t struck a chord with so many dispirited Americans who saw the duo as striking a blow against the system that had failed so many.

The system, of course, is failing many people now as well. It’s not as bad as the Great Depression, but we’re certainly facing many of the same contributing factors that led up to the crash. It’s especially telling that wealth inequality — the gap between the haves and the have nots — was the second worse in American history in the 1920s as the robber barons diverted profits to the few and left the many on the edge of desperation. When was it worse, you might ask? Well, now, sadly. Also, the 1920s and early 30s saw organized labor being bullied by big business, which meant working men and women had little say in their own futures. And when the bottom fell out, there were no jobs to be had and no safety net to support them. It took bold and decisive federal intervention from FDR to turn that around, with New Deal policies that reigned in the excesses of capitalism, protected unions and used higher corporate taxes to abate poverty and create jobs. And of course, the Black Tuesday crash was also caused by Wall Street speculation and a brewing trade war. Does any of that sound familiar?

For-profit prisons
Clyde Barrow, one of the country’s most notorious criminals, first found himself on the wrong side of the law for the shocking offense of failing to return a rental car on time. That put him on the radar of local law enforcement, so when he graduated to stealing turkeys (poultry was a common target of hungry thieves) it wasn’t long before he entered a brutal prison system that used prisoners for profit.

At Eastham, convicts were used as slave labor in the fields, picking cotton for example. Margins on cotton were always razor thin, but free labor gives growers a certain advantage, especially when things like safety and nutrition were ignored. In prison, Clyde was brutalized and sexually assaulted; he was so desperate to get out, he chopped off two of his toes (in vain, as it turned out; his mom had already secured his release). From that day forward, he dreamed of exacting his revenge against the bloody ‘Ham, as he called it.

Today’s industrial prison system doesn’t make money in the same way, though some prisons do have work programs providing a captive pool of labor at below market rates. Instead, they make money by privatizing incarceration, then charging municipalities for the privilege of storing prisoners out of sight. As with many companies, they then cut corners wherever possible to squeeze out a profit — on healthcare, safety, meals, rehabilitation, etc. When money can be made off of criminals, petty crimes become life sentences and shareholders benefit. If, under those conditions, men and women are released back into the community with the same anger Clyde developed, our system has effectively radicalized them.

Social media
Almost a hundred years later, the myth of Bonnie and Clyde is alive and well. They probably would have died in obscurity and been forgotten by history if not for becoming social media stars. All media is social, but those days it was primarily radio and newspaper, and the exploits of Bonnie and Clyde “got the clicks.” Salacious headlines sold papers, and sensational reporting kept people engaged. At the heart of it was the unspoken recognition that Bonnie and Clyde weren’t married and were likely having all kinds of crazy sex. The reporting tended to glamorize their life on the road as some kind of trigger-happy sex fiends living the high life and thumbing their noses at authorities. The truth was far less glamorous. They basically barely stayed one step ahead of arrest, camped rough and suffered all manner of injuries, including a savage burn from a car crash that scarred Bonnie’s legs to the bone. And those famous photos of Bonnie with a gun and cigar? They were just goofing around; there’s little evidence that Bonnie even carried a gun, much less pulled a trigger.

As we look out into the world today, with angry online trolls, celebrities parlaying bad behavior into sponsorship opportunities and fake or malicious news influencing elections and ruining lives, the legend of Bonnie and Clyde is a good reminder that we should always look behind the headlines. People’s actions may not always be predictable, but they are rational. In a world of low opportunities, taking what you want is actually a rational choice, if the rules only benefit the wealthy. And in a world where controversy sells, sex tapes and cyber bullying are also rational choices if success can only by quantified by wealth. Those two examples, though 84 years apart, are linked by an economic system built on desperation. Imagine if Bonnie and Clyde had the social media tools of today, tweeting about their sex life and posting crime spree photos on Instagram.

Will we ever learn?
The past holds lessons for future, but only if we are open to learning in the present. The anger and vitriol roiling the country right now is the product of an economic system that — no matter which side of the political spectrum you stand on — is stacked against all but the very wealthiest. The for-profit prison system is literally incentivizing incarceration to make money off of petty crimes and ruined lives. And social media is magnifying our worst tendencies and fueling narcissism and bad choices.

The question is, can we learn from Bonnie and Clyde and find ways to rebuild the working class and help the poor when they need a hand up, or will we continue driving full speed into our own ambush?

This is a great review from Fresh Fiction on book one in our new Bonnie and Clyde series: Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road.

Reviewed by Sharon Salituro.

Reporter Royce Jenkins meets a woman who claims she is Bonnie of the famous Bonnie and Clyde. Since they have been dead since 1934 and it's now the mid-1980s, Royce has a hard time believing what this woman is telling him. Royce decides he is going to investigate this story. Little does he know, this will to take him on a crazy journey from past to present.

Bonnie starts telling him the story of her life with Clyde. Their death was faked and Bonnie and Clyde were kidnapped. They are forced to become spies, and their first mission is to stop an assassination attempt on President Roosevelt. Out of options but still unaware of the true identity of who kidnapped them, Bonnie and Clyde know they have to do whatever they can to prevent this. Can they trust the people who are forcing them to do this dangerous work? They do know, however, that if they don't do it, they will be arrested and sentenced to death.

I absolutely loved BONNIE AND CLYDE RESURRECTION ROAD by Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall. I have always had a great interest in Bonnie and Clyde. Even though they robbed banks, they shared when they could. Even in this book, whenever they found people that were down on their luck, they would share whatever they could with them.

Hays and McFall must have done a lot of research on Bonnie and Clyde because this story felt so real! Could Bonnie and Clyde really have lived a lot longer than what people think? Only time will tell. If you are a history buff, you will want to read this book and imagine if it is really true.

Check out our other books:
Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation (Book 2)
The Cowboy and the Vampire: A Very Unusual Romance (Book 1)
The Cowboy and the Vampire: Blood and Whiskey (Book 2)
The Cowboy and the Vampire: Rough Trails and Shallow Graves (Book 3)
The Cowboy and the Vampire: The Last Sunset (Book 4)
Just West of Hell: An accounting of curious incidents occurring in LonePine, Wyoming Territory, in the years spanning 1881 to 1890 when the notable Early Hardiman was sheriff

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