Unapologetic Lives,
#2
by A.B. Funkhauser
Date of
Publication: March 11th 2016
Publisher:
Solstice Publishing
Cover
Artist: Michelle Crocker
Genre:
Gonzo Mortuary Revenge Fiction
BLURB
Aging managing director Charlie
Forsythe begins his work day with a phone call to Jocasta Binns, the
unacknowledged illegitimate daughter of Weibigand Funeral Home founder Karl
Heinz Sr. Alma Wurtz, a scooter bound sextenarian, community activist, and
neighborhood pain in the ass is emptying her urine into the flower beds,
killing the petunias. Jocasta cuts him off, reminding him that a staff meeting
has been called. Charlie, silenced, is taken aback: he has had no prior input
into the meeting and that, on its own, makes it sinister.
The second novel in the Unapologetic
Lives series, Scooter Nation takes place two years after Heuer Lost and Found.
This time, funeral directors Scooter Creighton and Carla Moretto Salinger Blue
take center stage as they battle conflicting values, draconian city by-laws, a
mendacious neighborhood gang bent on havoc, and a self-absorbed fitness guru
whose presence shines an unwanted light on their quiet Michigan neighborhood.
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Book
Trailer: https://youtu.be/oqmrW_t92jc
Flipping
on the lower foyer lights, Scooter peered around the corner into the long, dark
hall. The back door was ajar, its frosted center window glowing eerily against
the garage lamps that came on with a timer. “You have tripped the motion sensor,” Scooter
lied, gripping the bat. “And there is no money or formaldehyde on the
premises.” It was no secret among the types who made it their business to know
that a formaldehyde-soaked cigarette would send the one who smoked it off the
edge of the flat earth, and so therefore had a street value above the usual
wholesale price of embalming fluid.
“We use non
formaldehyde based embalming fluid.”
A scratching noise
came out of the newly refurbished selection room just off the hall to his
right. Darker after the renovation, the selection room no longer contained full
caskets, only cutaways featured beautifully in a softly lit wall display that
conveyed just enough ambient light to guide a stranger’s way.
A figure emerged from
the shadows.
Scooter, fearing
ghosts of funeral directors past, growled his fiercest growl, raising the bat
high above his head: “Get the hell out of here. I don’t have time for your
shit.”
A pffft from a
single match lit a cigarette in the din.
“Easy, cowboy. I’m
just an old lady looking for a plug in.” She stepped into the foyer light.
Scooter Creighton,
startled, lowered the bat. “You can walk?”
“Of course I can
walk,” Alma Wurtz puffed, her red-coned hair redolent under an ancient light
fixture. “It’s just better if I don’t.” She tossed the match carelessly on the
floor. “You got a wall plug I can use? My scooter’s crapped out on me…”
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Author
Info
Toronto born author A.B. Funkhauser is
a funeral director, classic car nut and wildlife enthusiast living in Ontario,
Canada. Like most funeral directors, she is governed by a strong sense of
altruism fueled by the belief that life chooses us and we not it.
Her debut novel Heuer Lost and Found,
released in April 2015, examines the day to day workings of a funeral home and
the people who staff it. Winner of the Preditors & Editors Reader’s Poll
for Best Horror 2015, and the New Apple EBook Award 2016 for Horror, Heuer Lost
and Found is the first installment in Funkhauser’s Unapologetic Lives series.
Her sophomore effort, Scooter Nation, released March 11, 2016 through Solstice
Publishing. Winner of the New Apple Ebook Award 2016 for Humor, Scooter has
also been nominated for Best Humor Summer Indie Book Awards 2016.
A devotee of the gonzo style pioneered
by the late Hunter S. Thompson, Funkhauser attempts to shine a light on
difficult subjects by aid of humorous storytelling. “In gonzo, characters
operate without filters which means they say and do the kinds of things we
cannot in an ordered society. Results are often comic but, hopefully,
instructive.”
Funkhauser is currently working on
Shell Game, a subversive feline “whodunit” begun during NaNoWriMo 2015.
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MY INTERVIEW WITH A.B. FUNKHAUSER
How would you describe you style of writing
to someone that has never read your work?
It’s
elastic, which means that it conforms to the character and the circumstances.
For example, funeral home manager Charles E. Forsyth is a dapper old dude from
the old school. His style of dress, thought and speech is firmly rooted in the
1950’s and so the writing becomes very formal; elaborate even. Carla Blue and
Scooter Creighton, on the other hand, are very much creatures of the now;
impatient, on the move: their scenes are rapid, and staccato-like. It’s almost
musical.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need
to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project
or just free writing)?
I spend
months on preparation. Not plotting, per se, just mulling. I may flesh out an
outline, but usually, the mull produces random scenes that either make it into
the final, or just serve as a precursor to a larger theme(s). Once I know how
it ends, that’s when I sit and write it down. That can take anywhere from a
month to three for a first draft. So the mind set at prep time is rather
serious; the writing is fun.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do
you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do
you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character
during story creation?
They
evolve as I write them down. Quite often, they will hijack me and take me into
exciting territory. These unexpected turns usually make up the best parts. I
don’t people watch as a rule, but I do listen.
The tone of a crowd — angry, excited, upbeat — gets me going faster than
what the individuals in that crowd might be wearing. Tone feeds speculation, I
color in my own details. I do cast the
characters before I write them down so that I know what they look and sound
like. That’s how I keep them straight. I’m a portrait artist in my spare time,
so casting is a lot of fun for me.
Have you found yourself bonding with any
particular character? If so which one(s)?
I love
them all, but the morally ambiguous ones are the most enjoyable, not because
they run to the dark, but because they spend so much time rationalizing their
choices. That fascinates me.
Do you have a character that you have been
working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
No,
because once a character like that makes him or herself known, then I stop
everything and get them down be it in a sentence, paragraph, scene or whole
chapter. It’s a lightning strike that cannot be ignored. I have file folders
full of them, and I return to them whenever their ‘scenes’ pay me a visit.
Have you ever felt that there was something
inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to
reach for the unexperienced?
Fantastic
question, but I’ll err on the side of caution! Lol. I leave reckless abandon to
my characters. That’s why I write fiction.
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