Interview with James Hold
Today, Tyler R. Tichelaar of Reader Views is pleased to be joined by James Hold, who is here to talk about his new book, “Remember the Aloe, Moe.” James Hold is…
Tyler: Thank you for joining me today, James. To begin tell us a little bit about your main character, J. He’s quite an unusual and unlikely hero for a book. JH: J is a Siamese cat who takes human form in order to see how the other half lives. He finds employment as a professional wrestler using the ring name “J-man” and from there manages to stumble into a number of humorous adventures. Tyler: I guess that’s where your love of wrestling influenced the book. Tell us a little bit about J as a wrestler. How did you decide to make him a wrestler, and did you model him after any actual wrestlers? JH: I’m afraid this won’t mean much to anyone who isn’t a wrestling fan, so they might want to skip ahead to the next question. However, for those who are interested, J-man, the wrestler, utilizes a rather basic repertoire of moves that were popular in the sixties and seventies. That was the time period that influenced me most. He was patterned in large part on Ricky Morton, a scrappy little guy who did the basic package of dropkicks and roll-ups and stuff. Plus he was very quick, which again fit in with J being a cat. I did change him around a bit in that Morton was blonde, and that would never do for a cat, so I gave him dark hair. Also I made J much smaller—he’s only 5-1, which gives all of his fights a David vs Goliath aspect. That was something I got from lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) where the competitors are generally smaller than here in America. For that I borrowed from Juventud Guerrera (Anibal González), who debuted when he was only seventeen. Sadly the modern-day Juventud is nothing like the one back then, but if you ever saw him in those early days, he was a real wildcat. Finally, for a finishing move, that is, the maneuver by which he gains most of his victories, I wanted him to have something that was simple, yet believably effective. So I gave him the old running kneelift maneuver used by Mr. Wrestling II, a masked wrestler (Johnny Walker) who was extremely popular on the televised shows coming out of Georgia. Wow, this is a long answer! As for why I chose to make him a wrestler, well, again, that’s just something that seemed natural for a cat to do—plus it gave him the latitude to move around from city to city where his adventures occur. Tyler: What is the quest that J finds himself on? JH: His quest is no different from that of any other person. He just seeks acceptance in the eyes of others. Tyler: I understand J has several adventures. How did you structure the book around these adventures? Are they written as individual short stories or is it one novel? JH: “Remember the Aloe, Moe” is a collection of short stories which, when read in sequence, form an overall novel. I first encountered this format in an old science fiction book, “The Sinister Researches of C. P. Ransom” by Homer Nearing. Tyler: What appealed to you about using this kind of format for the book? JH: For me there was the variety it offered. With a novel you have to break it down into chapters of more-or-less equal length. This format allows me to write story segments of any length and offer up a variety of topics. Thus I can spoof one subject for as long as is necessary to get the point across and then move on to another, all the while taking things in a direction that might not be evident at first, but by the time you reach the final story, the reader can see how you arrived there. Tyler: James, I know J first appeared in “Out of Texas.” Will you tell us a little bit about your first book and why you decided to write a sequel to it? JH: “Out of Texas” introduces J and takes him through a bunch of adventures where he saves Houston from a giant Japanese cabbage, visits some old movie actors in a haunted house, joins an expedition to West Texas to find the tomb of the Viking Mummy from Outer Space, and finally falls in love with a beautiful Filipino princess whom he rescues from an evil group bent on world domination. “Remember the Aloe, Moe” picks up with J pining for his princess who has returned to her country. Tyler: I assume J goes looking for his princess in the second book. Will you tell us a little bit about his adventures along the way? JH: Well, actually J is stuck in Texas while the princess has gone back to the Davao. She does however appear in a few flashback tales. Anyhow, the promotion for which J works holds a tournament to crown a new champion and J enters it believing media coverage of his success will reach his beloved. It’s a lengthy event covering the weeks from Ash Wednesday to Easter. On the night of his first match J finds himself miles away from the arena where the villainous Sister Sludge is using a mind-control gas to turn the citizens of a small town into zombies. Not only must J defeat her, but he also has to get back to Houston for his match. Similar outings include a wild west tale with a Bob Dylan soundtrack; another story straight out of “Weird Tales” magazine involving a book of forbidden knowledge know as the “Text Arkana”; and an apocalyptic encounter with the Easter Bunny, music courtesy of the Doors. It all wraps up with a Perry Mason court trial where J is accused of murder. Tyler: Where did you come up with the idea for J? JH: There was a cartoon show in the sixties called “Tennessee Tuxedo” about a penguin who, according to his theme song, wanted to “measure up to men.” I just took it from there; only I made him a cat instead, basing him on my mother’s Siamese cat, Coca. That’s why he’s always described as “a small, gaunt-faced fellow with dark hair and blue eyes.” There’s a bit of split personality at work in that his former cat traits still manifest themselves in his human behavior. I don’t make too big a deal of this, but it is a kind of background thing, for instance that he’ll occasionally lick his hand, scratch an ear, or want to jump up on top of things. Sadly Coca died at age sixteen just prior to the publication of the first book. Tyler: How did J go about taking human form? Did Coca have humanlike behaviors that you drew upon in creating J as a human? JH: There’s a scene in “The Ladies Man” where Jerry Lewis lectures Kathleen Freeman on butterflies, noting that one species started out as a frog. Naturally she doesn’t believe him and asks how a frog can turn itself into a butterfly. Jerry, without missing a beat, replies, “Well, ah, he forced himself.” It must have been an adlib because you can see her crack up when she hears it. Anyhow, that was going to be my answer. Only then, because I’m also a huge Godzilla fan, I tossed in a vague reference to a toxic waste dump that might also have had something to do with it. I also do a little thing now and then where J’s eyes glow momentarily anytime he switches from one form to another, similar to the way Godzilla’s dorsal fins light up. Coca’s influence on J, besides his physical appearance, was in the areas of curiosity and stealth. If you’ve ever owned a cat, you know they have a way of making themselves invisible at times, and so J constantly startles people by coming up on them, seemingly from out of nowhere. Tyler: Why did you choose the title, which looks like an obvious play on “Remember the Alamo”? JH: It follows the vein of “Out of Texas,” which was a play on Isak Dinesen’s “Out of Africa.” “Remember the Aloe, Moe” is also the title of one of the stories, featuring a guy named Moe who has an aloe plant that he talks to as though it were a real person. It’s here that J meets Josie, who turns out to be a reincarnation, in mosquito form, of the previous book’s Viking Mummy from Outer Space. I realize that sounds a bit wacky, but it’s really not that hard to follow. Tyler: I understand “Remember the Aloe, Moe” is a retelling of the biblical story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachael. Why did you choose to have a biblical source, and how does it add to the character development? JH: Well, it’s not what I’d call a strict retelling, but it does draw from it. The Biblical patriarch Jacob was a wrestler. He wrestled with his twin brother, Esau, in the womb and he later wrestled with an angel. His name derives from the Hebrew word for “heel,” which is the wrestling term for the bad guy. (Not that J is a bad guy, but a lot of people don’t like him.) Anyhow, Jacob had two wives, Rachael, whom he loved, and Leah, who he didn’t particularly care for but she loved him. So what we have in “Remember the Aloe, Moe” is the Filipino princess representing Rachael (J being hopelessly in love with her) while Josie acts as Leah, she being hopelessly in love with J. And like any triangle, it’s bound to turn out disastrous in the end. Tyler: Sounds like a real love triangle. Once you mentioned how Jacob was a wrestler, I can see the effectiveness of the parallel. Besides the Bible, James, you mentioned you were influenced by cartoons. You seem to have a wide-range of influences. As a result, whom do you see as your target audience? JH: Anybody who likes to laugh should find something to enjoy in my book. Everything is there—Texas, religion, wrestling, rock-n-roll, cats, cartoons, bad puns, mad scientists—but no one thing is emphasized. So if you don’t like Texas, or if you’re turned off by wrestling, well, don’t worry, because I’m not out to proselytize. It’s like a buffet where you can pick and choose. Heck, at one point I even do a one-paragraph condensation of “Mrs. Dalloway,” so even eggheads can find something to like. Tyler: What kinds of responses have you received from readers? JH: I don’t get a lot of fan mail. Although I once got a card from my air conditioner. (Rim shot, please.) Truthfully I’ve gotten some very nice comments, most of it from people in wrestling circles…I’m resisting the urge to make another joke here. The only real complaint I received was from a snooty relative who simply said, “I don’t like wrestling.” To me, that’s like criticizing “Moby Dick” because you’re opposed to whaling. But then, you know how sisters can be. Tyler: James, when did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what led you to that decision? JH: Back in my younger days I’d find myself in jobs where I was fairly isolated, that is, things like working in some corner of a warehouse or walking from one end of town to another reading water meters. And, this being before Walkman’s and iPods, I’d pass the time by making up things, little skits or sketches based upon something I’d seen or read earlier. And then one day I told myself, “Hey, you ought to write some of this down.” Unfortunately none of that stuff was very good and so it took me all these years to come up with some better stories. But at least the seed was planted. Tyler: Do you plan to write more stories about J, or do you have plans to write other kinds of fiction next? JH: Both. I have definite plans for him that will take about five books to chronicle. Also I have plans for something more mainstream, say a mystery or two. Tyler: Thanks for joining me today, James. Before we go, do you have a website, or will you tell us where else readers can go to learn more about “Remember the Aloe, Moe” or to purchase a copy? JH: Unfortunately no, I don’t have a website. Websites are one of those things that require a lot of attention if you really care about doing it right and that would only take away from the time I could spend writing. Both of my books are available from the publisher at www.iuniverse.com and you can also find them on Amazon. And too, you can always ask your neighborhood bookstore or library to stock it. In any event, I just want people to read my book and hopefully to get a chuckle or two from it. If I succeed in that, then I’ve done my job. Tyler: You’ve done your job here. It’s been an entertaining interview. Best of luck to you, James. Read Review of Remember the Aloe, Moe |
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