Recently I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing Warren Haustumerda’s dark novella “Tall Tales of Felony and Failure” and also getting to chat to the man behind the mayhem. Here’s what he had to say for himself.

 

1. What would you say were your influences to write “Tall Tales of Felony and Failure”?

Warren Haustrumerda: My biggest influences were my experiences as a Submarine Auxiliary Machinist Mate
(A-Ganger!) in the Navy. I served for ten years on fast attack submarines on both
coasts, and have plenty of people and places stowed away in my tiny brain to reference
at need.

If I had to pick a specific literary influence, it would probably be Slow Walk in a Sad
Rain by John P. McAfee. I first read it years ago on deployment and still have that worn
paperback, which I revisit every few years. It’s labelled “the Catch-22 of Vietnam”, but I
think it stands well enough on its own merits. (I’m not belittling Catch-22, though. That’s
another well-worn paperback on my shelf.) It’s a hilarious, sad, and troubling story that
doesn’t rely on padding, which I respect.

Also, Animal Farm. And The Road. And Junkie. And The Winter of Our Discontent.
Wow, now that I’m thinking about it, there’s a ton of good books I’ve enjoyed over the
years that, most likely, influenced what eventually became Tall Tales of Felony and
Failure.

2. How did you come up with the character of Cranston?

Warren Haustrumerda: Cranston was easy. I wrote a character made up mostly of the worst qualities I’ve
observed in myself. I basically asked myself what I would have done as a young man
given the ability to stop time. You know what? It would have been pretty bad. Not now,
of course, what with a wonderful wife and children to keep me grounded. But in my early
20s? It would have ended poorly, to say the least.

I also love the SOB, which I think is required to build a connection between characters in
a story and the reader. This is especially important when the character is as vile and off-
putting as Cranston sometimes is.

3. The friendship between Cranston and Tom comes across as so organic and real,
what made you want to write their story?

Warren Haustrumerda: Their friendship reflects those I had the privilege of experiencing as a Navy Submariner.
You can’t shut hatches and submerge with over 100 other people for weeks or months
at a time without getting to know everyone pretty well. Some great friendships come out
of that. Some significant animosities, also (which is a two-way street. I was often no
peach and gave a lot of people plenty of reason to dislike me), but mostly friendships.

4. In the second portion of the story, you switch from Cranston’s P.O.V to Tom’s, as a writer, was that hard to do? It seemed necessary to move the story on, of course. Why was it important for you to have Tom’s version of events heard?

Warren Haustrumerda: No, it wasn’t hard at all. The whole story begs for Tom’s interpretation of events – he’s around the entire time but we never get into his head. The extended ending I’ve posted as a free download at http://malum.org gives the reader a little bit of Tom’s perspective, which I felt was important.

5. What sort of books do you read? What are you reading now?

Warren Haustrumerda: I’m open to anything that will hold my attention (which is unreasonably limited sometimes). Unfortunately, my lack of formal education has probably resulted in an unimpressive reading history. I tried Dostoyevsky once, but couldn’t finish. He was a foreigner, though, and probably a terrist. Regardless, he wasn’t American, so I shouldn’t be expected to understand him, anyway.

Right now I’m reading Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy. Say one thing for Joe
Abercrombie, say he’s ruthless with his characters. I am having a love affair with these
books! (I’m pretty sure he’s American, or at least British, which is almost as good.)

(This is an attempt at a little tongue-in-cheek humor to mask the fact that I’m probably not
very well read.)

6.What is one thing you’d like your fans to know about you and your books?

Warren Haustrumerda: My mantra when writing Tall Tales of Felony and Failure was: “get in, tell the story, get out”. No fluff, no frills.

I also take a great deal of pleasure in destroying what I create, so don’t expect a whole
lot of fairy tale happy endings in the TTFF universe.

Everyone is welcome to check out additional information regarding the ever growing
Tall Tales of Felony and Failure universe at my website, http://malum.org! Not to
over-plug, but the extended ending, available as a free download on my site, is highly
recommended!

7.You chose a very interesting theory to work with, the idea that the morals a personmay hold can go askew when they are given a way not to get caught breaking them (ie,stopping time). What made you want to tackle this idea?

Warren Haustrumerda: Overall, my experience is that people, like electricity and water, take the path of least resistance. There are specific examples contradicting this, but I believe these are exceptions vice representative of human behavior.

I didn’t start out intending to tackle a moral dilemma, though. I started writing Tall Tales
of Felony and Failure with a rough idea of where I was going and even rougher idea of
how I would get there. The rest was just staying honest to the characters.

8. It’s very easy to picture the locations you place the characters (ie Hawaii), even though you don’t go into much detail of their surroundings – do you enjoy creating that atmosphere of a location in your writing?

Warren Haustrumerda: It was very important to me to do just that. I wanted to convey the story as vividly as possible in as few words as possible. As a reader, I’m not a huge fan of trudging through low-value details. I find it a huge turn off.

9. Who do you look up to in the literary world?

Warren Haustrumerda: Let’s see, I’ve already covered John P. McAfee, Joseph Heller, and now Joe Abercrombie. Also there’s Anthony Burgess, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Ken
Kesey, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Aldous
Huxley, and H.P. Lovecraft. And a ton of others I’m sure I’ve forgotten to include. Also,
Pink Floyd.

10. Where to next for you? Any future projects in the works?

Warren Haustrumerda: There are definitely more coming! Tall Tales of Felony and Failure is only a springboard into a larger, unsavory, over-the-top world of conflicting ambitions, ridiculous circumstance, and unrepentant dereliction! (Unfortunately, time is a very limited
commodity right now, so the going is slow.)

Thank you very much for the review and interview!

 

And thank you, Mr Haustumerda, for the opportunity and the pleasure! Please be sure to check out my review of this great book at our forum here , or on our blog. You can also check out Warren’s website,  Malum.org