A Visit With Gary Dobbs Part One
With firm convictions and a steady hand, writer Gary Dobbs could have stepped directly from the pages of the traditional Western adventures he so wonderfully crafts. His first novel, The Tarnished Star, released last month by London’s Robert Hale Ltd. and written under the pen name, Jack Martin, received great acclaim from fans of the genre and fellow writers. Western Fiction Review says “With this book Jack Martin (real name Gary Dobbs) proves he’s a writer worth keeping an eye on,” while author James Reasoner calls it “…an entertaining, fast moving story.”
Dobbs’s latest short story, The Devil’s Right Hand is available on the Web, and his next Black Horse Western, Arkansas Smith, is scheduled for March.
Gary is a talented writer whose enthusiasm for the American West, writing, and the Internet is highly contagious. I’d like to thank him for the time he spent visiting with me, and I’m happy to welcome him to these pages.
MB: The Tarnished Star tells the story of wronged sheriff Cole Masters. Some of us first met a similar character named Masters in a short story you wrote. Which did you pen first, the story or the novel?
GD: The short story came first, and I’d actually written a good portion of Tarnished Star before I realized I’d used the same surname. People have asked if the characters are related, and to be honest I don’t know, but I think it would be fun if they were. I may revisit Jake Masters one day and put him together with Cole – I guess they could be half brothers maybe since they have similarities in their way of thinking. Neither of them are killers, but they are pig-headed when it comes to doing what they each consider to be right. Cole though is more of the homely sort while Jake has wandering in his blood and can never really stay in one place for too long. They compliment each other I think.
MB: How did you become involved with your publisher, Robert Hale?
GD: I’ve been writing for a great many years but strangely never tried a western, even if I’m always reading westerns. I know the genre well and have a life long love of the oaters. I heard of a new magazine Great Western Fiction (now sadly folded), and I wrote the short story “A Man called Masters” for that and a lot of people liked it. The magazine paid me for the story, but then folded before publication but luckily David Cranmer wanted it for his webzine Beat to a Pulp and so Jack Martin made his debut on Beat to a Pulp.
Then a friend asked me why I didn’t try a western novel and pointed me to the Black Horse Westerns. I read a few and thought I can do this, and so I quickly wrote one and sent it off. It was rejected, and so I went back to the drawing board. I decided I had to write something that could have been a western movie during the 1950’s, the golden age of the genre, and Tarnished Star came from that. But I also felt that there was a chance to say something about the way we live today – of how people no longer take responsibility for their own actions and blame their failings on some childhood trauma which is so self-destructive because it gives people an excuse not to improve themselves. I wanted Cole to be a fatalist and realize that he had to face whatever it was anyone threw at him.
I guess that comes from my own life – a few years ago I developed a drug problem, nothing heavy but still destructive. And no one could help me until I realized what I was doing to myself and kicked myself in the arse. Thankfully I’m straight these days and life couldn’t be better. And this may sound strange, but I think my few years on the fringes of normal life actually gave me a better understanding of who I am.
MB: The Tarnished Star rests on powerful themes of self-reliance and responsibility. Were those themes there from the beginning or did they develop with the characters?
GD: The themes were there from the start, and I’m pleased they stand out. As I said in the previous answer I don’t much like the modern world and the way we make excuses for people when we should be saying – this is not the be all and end all. You can change. We can all strive to do better and become better people. We shouldn’t run and hide when things get tough but face things head on. You know I’ve got a friend who is a therapist and he told me he is counseling someone because they are addicted to counseling, trying to break that addiction. Now that’s absurd. I think that sometimes people should just pull themselves together and realize that life isn’t always fair but it’s still better than the alternative.
MB: I was struck by your using a line from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Or in the night, imaging some fear, how easy is a bush supposed a bear. Act 5, Scene 1). Which is your favorite work by the Bard?
GD: Ah, the Bear bit – in the dark imagining some fear and so on. I know a lot of Shakespeare from my acting background but I’m hardly an expert. I think my favorite would be A Midsummer Night’s Dream, simply because I appeared in a stage version but the line I used fitted so well into the story. And it showed that Cole was an intelligent man in that he’d remembered the line. Course he was beaten down with Shakespeare by his old sergeant in the army. I think left to his own devices he would be more of a Zane Grey man or at least a Jack Martin one.
MB: Your next novel features a different character. Will we see Masters again?
GD: As I’ve said it’s possible – I really don’t think I’ve finished with Cole Masters yet because I actually like him. He’s a good man and good company. You know he’s not going to pull a gun on you if you cheat him in cards, and I’m a terrible cheat. But seriously I am mulling over something that will feature both Cole and Jake – as I’ve said they may be brothers. And I can feel something happening deep in my subconscious that could bring the two together. But Tarnished Star was intended as a stand alone novel but I like the idea of my characters all sharing the same universe, so if Jake Masters, who is much more of a wanderer than Cole ever turned up in Squaw with a problem then I’m sure Cole would be straight to his aid. Blood is thicker than water, after all.
MB: What can you tell us about Arkansas Smith?
GD: Not too much – because Arkansas is intended to be a series character, and there is a lot of mystery about him, which I hope, will be part of the attraction. I suppose he’s a mixture of the mysterious drifter type and a good old boy. When we first meet him, we discover that he is working for the government but in what capacity is never fully explained in that first book. He may in fact be a bad character, a shady tool of the government. He has a tragic past, which is how he came to be named Arkansas, but I’m not going to say more than that at the present. I have an entire story arc worked out for Arkansas, which could go for say ten books and may even end in his death. Then again it may not.
The first book next March sees him straight into the action, but his origins are told in several flashback scenes that run parallel to the main narrative. I’m very excited about this. I mean I’m hugely proud of The Tarnished Star, but I think I learned some important lessons in writing it, and these came to good use for Arkansas Smith. I think it’s only natural for a writer to improve book by book – least I hope so. So who is Arkansas Smith? You can find out next March.
Next in Part Two: Different genres, the writing process and the World Wide Web! Tune in Thursday!
5 Responses to “A Visit With Gary Dobbs Part One”
Charles Gramlich - July 14, 2009
Good interview. I enjoyed Tarnished Star a lot. Good to hear more about its genesis.
Chap O'Keefe - July 14, 2009
Good interview, good picture. I look forward to part two.
David Cranmer - July 15, 2009
They have to be related because Jake and Cole together would be a powerful duo.
Enjoyed the interview. Thanks.
Rich - July 15, 2009
Charles, Chap and David –Thank you for stopping past. Glad you are enjoying the interview. In Part Two, Gary’s got some interesting things to say re: the Internet.
Please check in on Thursday and let us know what you think of the wrap up.
gary dobbs/jack martin - July 16, 2009
And thanks to everyone who left a comment and especially to Rich for indulging me with some great questions. I’m looking forward to part two myself.
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