I had the chance to catch up with an old college buddy of mine, Abel Folgar, last week. These days he’s a writer for Broward New Times County Grind blog – among other things. So, we got to chat about SILENT CITY, Archie Meets KISS and the band I’m in, Faulkner Detectives. It was a fun conversation and I’m still completely in shock about the amount of local coverage SILENT CITY’s gotten in the Miami press. As you might recall, the book got a great review in the pages of THE MIAMI HERALD and THE SUN SENTINEL before the new year, which just about knocked my socks off.
Anyway, here’s a snippet from the interview. Visit the site for the full piece!
Silent City is your first novel, and it is a solid crime novel, a Miami crime novel. What obstacles did you encounter in bringing Pete to life within the Miami you grew up in? As a native, do you find it hard selling Miami for its grim reality?
I just found that the perception of Miami is really skewed. A lot of people, when I mention I’m from Miami, just default to the Burn Notice/Miami Vice idea of it — palm trees, umbrella drinks, beaches. I wanted to write about the Miami I know and grew up in. There’s crime. There’s violence. There are good parts of town and bad parts of town. And you can go months without taking the time to hit the beach because you’re working or going to school or living your life.
Miami has a lot of stuff bubbling under the sunny exterior — culture clashes, shady politics, crazy criminals — you name it. I wanted to show that, but not in a TV movie way and also not in a, “Hey! Look! It’s Miami! We crazy!” tongue-in-cheek way either. I just tried to be as realistic as I could be while still telling an engaging story that took some artistic license. It’s a darker, seedier town, but still Miami.