Review Fix chats with legendary video game historian Leonard Herman, who discusses his noir fiction debut, “Unforgotten Fiction.”
For more on the book, click here.
Review Fix: How did you get started in writing?
Leonard Herman: I’ve been reading and collecting Superman comics since I was 5. For some unknown reason, when I was ten, I took two sheets of notebook paper and stapled them together and began writing comics, which I called Antman. I use the word ‘writing’ loosely because initially, I was just drawing pictures. Then I eventually began adding words. Finally, I eliminated the pictures altogether and these evolved into stories.
Review Fix: What inspired this book?
Herman: I’ve always wanted my stories read. Some of the stories included in the volume had been submitted to major magazines and have always been rejected. And just right after I submitted some to Twilight Zone magazine, which I believed would have been the perfect home for them, the magazine folded.
Several years ago my friend Brett Weiss published his short stories in a Kindle volume. However, I’m not a fan of electronic books so I never pursued it. As I was nearing the completion of my self-published book, Phoenix IV: The History of the Videogame Industry, I decided to take that route with my collection of short stories.
Review Fix: What authors did you read as a kid? How did they affect you?
Herman: As a kid, I was interested in science fiction and horror My favorite writer was Clifford D. Simak. However, I couldn’t write science fiction because science was my poorest subject at school.And I was not a fan of fantasy or sword and sorcery. Eventually, I weaned myself off of science fiction and turned to mystery, beginning with Agatha Christie and the Perry Mason novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. Today, my favorite writer is Lawrence Block (who also convinced me to go with Amazon’s Createspace to publish Phoenix IV). Other writers who I read everything by are John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, Harlan Coben, Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, Stuart Woods, and James Patterson. One year I read all 50 or so novels of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series in chronological order.
I would like to add that when I was about 8, my brother’s friend, Jay Haron, came over with a copy of the Greatest Science Fiction stories of the year. I admired him for reading this ‘adult’ book with no pictures and decided I wanted to also. And so began my love for reading, and I’m indebted to Jay forever for this gift. Unfortunately, Jay passed away last week, but he knew how I felt about him.
Review Fix: Could this be a film one day?
Herman: It’s a collection of short stories so I doubt it. However, some of the stories could be expanded. While in college I took a film course and had to write a short screenplay. I aced that so maybe I still have it in me.
Review Fix: What are your end goals for this book?
Herman: Merely to have people read it and hopefully enjoy it.
Review Fix: How would you describe your writing style to someone who’s never read you?
Herman: Simplistic. I really don’t go into character development or discuss the background such as how many cups might be on a table or the color of the door unless it directly affects the plot.
Review Fix: What makes this book unique?
Herman: It’s the first time my fiction has been available to the general public. Although I’ve always wanted to be a fiction writer, the only thing I ever had published (excluding my books) were non-fiction articles.
Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy it the most?
Herman: I think fans of Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents would enjoy it. I’m a big fan of twist endings and most of these stories have them. I’ve been a subscriber of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine for over 45 years and in the early days the stories in the magazine were simple, short and always had twist endings. Today, the stories are much longer and those twist endings are gone. Last year I bought 12 old copies from 1959 and 1960 on eBay. I read one every other month, alternating with the current issue. Guess which one I look forward to reading.
Review Fix: Bottom line, why must someone read it?
Herman: This will show another side of my writing that readers of my Phoenix books have never seen. And while not every story in the volume isn’t great, I think there are several that are outstanding that people will enjoy.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Herman: Who knows. I have a novel that I completed four drafts of that I swore nobody will ever read, and another that’s only half finished that I always wanted to complete. Then there’s a non-fiction book that I’ve been working on for a while. Finally, with 2017 about to end, I have to write a 2017 chapter just in case a fifth edition of Phoenix becomes a possibility.
Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?
Herman: The book is available on Amazon.com and eventually will be available through my website, www.rolentapress.com. It runs 222 pages and only costs $10.
Leave a Reply