Ed Protzel Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

A:  I’ve been writing novels full time for about five years and on and off for several years before. In total, I’ve been writing about half my life, with the other half spent in investment management. I have also written five original screenplays for feature film and worked for a time in Los Angles developing scripts for Twentieth Century Fox. My first novel, The Lies That Bind, a historical thriller, was recently published by TouchPoint Press. It is the first book in my Civil War-era DarkHorse Trilogy.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

A: I started out writing plays and short novels in high school. Then in college, I began my first full novel, where one of my professors encouraged my talent. I wanted to write full time then; but I had to make a living and had to put the endeavor aside for several years. I had enjoyed writing screenplays, too, but hated LA. So when I returned to St. Louis, I switched to novels exclusively, working on them in my spare time.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?

A: I thought my “big break” had arrived and that I was going straight to the “A” list when the head of production at a major Hollywood studio called my spec screenplay a “great script.” However, that same week the studio was sold and I fell through the cracks. Huge disappointment! My actual break came when I found an agent to represent The Lies That Bind, Loiacono Literary Agency. Jeanie loved it and quickly found a publisher, who offered a three-book contract. That felt awfully good!

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release The Lies That Bind (DarkHorse Trilogy, Book 1)?

A: The Lies That Bind began as a screenplay, which had been well-received by Hollywood and recognized by Missouri Playwrights Association. I was even offered an option contract on the script. However, nothing came of it. I left the script alone for a time. But it haunted me; I thought it had so much meat, such deep themes, so many possibilities. So I decided to turn it into a novel. I worked on it on weekends, put it aside for periods of time, rewrote and rewrote, until I found an agent.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for The Lies That Bind (DarkHorse Trilogy, Book 1)?

A: I read a lot of William Faulkner in college, especially Absalom, Absalom!, perhaps the greatest American novel. In that book, Thomas Sutpen, a man emblematic of the Old South, steals land, builds a plantation, and becomes a legend—for good and evil. It always bothered me that Sutpen received all the notoriety, and his slaves, who did all the work, are barely mentioned. In my novel, a flawed, inept charlatan forms a secret partnership with a group of escaped slaves to build their own egalitarian plantation. Their success is clearly due to their common effort and especially to Big Josh, who had run a plantation for his former master. But the townsfolk give the charlatan front man, not Big Josh or the others, all the credit for the enterprise’s success. Their antithesis, town’s dominent family, are concealing their own dark secrets. These deeply disturbed characters were inspired by a number of people I’d actually known.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A: I hope the reader sees in this book a parallel to today’s world. In a society based on a Big Lie, people are forced to live a Big Lie merely to survive. However, the tides of history and the power of basic human needs will eventually bring down any false structure or idea, no matter how powerful and threatening it may seem at the time. Think of our country’s civil rights and women’s movements, gay rights, etc.

Q: What inspires you to write?

A: I am inspired by ideas. Once I have one for a story, I need to get it down on paper. I won’t know what form it will take at first. That usually comes later. What carries me, what keeps me going, is my desire to express the ideas, and the satisfaction of creating something that seems beyond my abilities and imagination. Plus, I relish the sheer fun of creating complex situations. The more complex the better, in fact.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?

A: I am about to complete Honor Among Outcasts, Book 2 in my DarkHorse Trilogy, which will feature most of the main characters from The Lies That Bind. It’s set in 1863 on the Missouri/Kansas border, the nastiest guerrilla war in American history, with massacres, mutilation, all manner of depredations. Men on both sides sported scalps of those they’d killed on their horses’ pommels. I hated to throw my poor, unwitting characters into this chaos and horror! The story works its way through Missouri’s “Little Dixie” to St. Louis. It is scheduled for publication later in 2017. The final book in the trilogy, Something in Madness, returns South during Reconstruction. It is due out in 2018.

My other completed novel, The Antiquities Dealer, is completely different. It’s a futuristic mystery/thriller, with a touch of noir, in which a Jewish antiquities gallery owner is drawn into a scheme to aid an ancient society of Israelis to alter history. My agent is talking to publishers currently.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?

A: I love to read and travel, and I exercise daily (too much sitting is an occupational hazzard). My wife and I are big fans of the arts and frequently attend plays, films and museums. I love professional sports, too, especially the St. Louis Blues and Cardinals. I once loved NFL football, until the Big Red and the Rams left town. I enjoy long discussions at lunch with old friends, and family time, of course.