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The prolific Indie crime writer opens up about his background, inspirations, and his new short story. collection 

Interview by Curtis Ippolito

It took J.B. Stevens until he was 35 to realize he wanted to be a writer. 

Even though he’d always been a voracious reader and idolized authors, he didn’t know if he could write. Having been at the game now for a few years, and he’s had his work published all over the place, including here at Bristol Noir.

Stevens’ new short story collection, A Therapeutic Death, was published by the Indie crime fiction stalwart Shotgun Honey, and is billed as being, “Crammed with twisted thrills, dark secrets, and elusive grasps at redemption.” 

I couldn’t wait to get into more specifics about the book with J.B, and I bet you can’t either, so let’s do it.


Curtis Ippolito: Great to spend some time with you. Right off, what should people know about A Therapeutic Death?

J.B. Stevens: This is a group of fast, violent short stories. Most are crime, but there is a solid amount of military stuff included. I also have a few weird comedy/crime hybrids snuck in, including one I love: an odd piece about Waldo (from Where’s Waldo?) trying to escape his stalker, the publisher of the books.

CI: I think that mix works well, too… You are a veteran, a former United States Army infantry officer who served in the Iraq War, and were honorably discharged as a captain. You didn’t begin writing until after you got out of the military, correct? Why did you start writing?

Stevens: Correct, I didn’t start writing until after the war. I never had a creative writing assignment growing up, so I wrote my first story in my mid-thirties. With that said, I’ve been obsessed with reading my entire life. As a kid, authors were my rock stars (Gary Paulsen is the GOAT).

I always wanted to write, but I was intimidated as I felt I could never do what they did. When I was about 35-years-old, my fear left. I bought a ton of books on the craft of writing, read them, and started cracking.

I began writing because I love fiction. I am 100 percent sure it’s what I was meant to do. Of course, now I’m about 40 and deep into a career, with a mortgage and all that, so full-time writing is a ways off. I realized who/what I am a bit late in life.

CI: Until about the last year or so, you avoided themes of war and veteran life and such in your writing. What prompted you to begin touching on those experiences and drawing them in your fiction and poetry?

Stevens: I think I needed to better develop confidence in my writing to talk about those things. With crime fiction and comedy, it is less personal (for me). I find I write most of that stuff in the third person. The military stuff comes out of me in the first person.

CI: A Therapeutic Death leads off with the flash story, “To Keep a Secret.” I was blown away by the lines below about a coat with “Notch lapels, navy-blue, a touch of cashmere in the blend” that one of the characters gifts to his veteran brother. So much heavy lifting and sneaky foreshadowing. Did the idea for this story start here, I wonder, or did you find this moment along the way?

Keith ushered Barry into the deep-blue embrace. It flowed and rippled down his reedy frame. The coat would take care of Barry.

Stevens: That story came from a few places. First, there is a generation of military vets that served between 1976 and 2000. Many of them never saw combat. (Unless they were in one of the small battles, or in the first Gulf War.) They spent their entire career practicing, but never employing, their craft. Some (not all or even most) of those guys—and it is almost always men—have an odd sense of having missed out. So, they hang out at the American Legion and in surplus stores and tell stories about how badass they were. So those guys were a start.

Next, there’s the influence of Boyd Crowder in the Justified TV series—season 6, episode 7 “The Hunt.” He was ROCKING a navy-blue pea coat that was just outstanding. That coat stuck in my mind.

Then, there are the lakes of North Georgia/Western North Carolina. I’m from Atlanta and a lot of my family live north of the city in those mountains. I’ve spent a great deal of time up there. As such, it is occasionally featured in my fiction. The lakes are cold, deep, and remote.

About the cashmere detail, I liked the idea of this rough and tumble ex-soldier knowing his way around fine fabrics. That was a call-back to James Bond.

Finally, the opiates that feature heavily in that story, that’s an unfortunate part of being a combat veteran in the modern era. Opiates are effective for pain, but addictive, and many people lose themselves to the things.

CI: That’s great. So much thought for a story barely over 700 words. Speaking of flash stories, you have numerous flash stories in this collection and it accentuates the breakneck pace of the book as a whole. Was that a conscious thought when you decided which of your dozens of short stories would make the cut? What do you value about the flash form?

Stevens: The large percentage of the book being flash was a conscious decision. Short story collections are tough to sell. I wanted to create something that a person could buy and read piecemeal on their phone, waiting in line, in an elevator, at the doctor’s office, etc. I also love that you can play with different characters and situations in a compressed timeline. A good flash piece should open your heart, rip it out, jump on it, and run away. In and out in a blink. 

CI: Something most might not know is you’re an undefeated Mixed Martial Arts fighter. How does that experience work its way into your writing beyond the ability to craft a realistic fight scene (which you do remarkably well)?

Stevens: I think it helps with the stress of submitting stories. I might get rejected, but I’m not getting any bones broken… It helps me keep my (many) writing failures in perspective.

As far as the actual construction of my prose, I think it (subconsciously) encourages brevity. Looking at other writers with combat sports backgrounds, I feel like they are less flowery and more to the point. However, I have no data to back that up (and I have no idea if it is true).

CI: A feature of your writing I appreciate and is on display in this collection, is the succinct, direct nature of your exposition. A “skip the boring parts,” approach, as Elmore Leonard described about his own writing. Is that what you’re going for too?

Stevens: One hundred percent. It started with reading Elmore’s rules! I’m tickled that you picked up on it so clearly.

CI: What is one thing you think you’ve improved in your stories from when you began writing?

Stevens: I feel I’ve tightened everything. I keep trying to use fewer words and I’ve improved at it. Occasionally, I rework old stories. There are many that have shrunk by 30 percent without losing anything of note.

CI: Describe to us what a typical writing day looks like for you.

Stevens: I don’t really have a typical writing day. As I have a demanding day job and a (great) wife and daughter, I just squeeze it in.

I almost always read during my daughter’s bedtime, while my wife does her nightly routine. Writing is totally here and there, whenever I can get it in. I hate waking up early, so that’s not happening. I love reading, so that time is not shifting. Writing is done during lunch breaks, or when I can squeeze a minute. There is no standard.

CI: Squeezing it in when you can is a special kind of dedication. You just have to find those time windows and capitalize, right?

Stevens: Absolutely. Reading is much easier for me to jump in and out of mentally. Writing takes more focus. White noise on my earphones helps a good bit.

CI: You’re unabashed in your willingness to promote other authors and writers in your work as a reviewer and interviewer. For instance, you recently started a recurring column, The First Line, at Mystery Tribune. Why is supporting other writers so important to you? 

Stevens: I really just love reading and talking about books. The First Line is an extension of that. It flows naturally for me and doesn’t feel like work, at all. That column is pure fun (for me).

CI: Love that. So, being a big reader, what are three books you’ve read recently that you think people should add to their to-be-read piles?

Stevens: So many books. BEAST IN VIEW is an old-school sleeper more people should check out. A LUSH AND SEETHING HELL was really well done, and very different from my normal reads. I’m reading the Gabriel Alon series from Daniel Silva when I want things a bit lighter, that’s been very fun. As far as story collections THE PUGILIST AT REST is so good it will make you question yourself. Another novel, WISE BLOOD, by Flannery O’Connor was awesome. BURYING THE NEWSPAPER MAN is a great one. I could do this all day.

CI: You’re too kind. Pivoting slightly, you have a couple of published chapbooks, The Best of America Cannot Be Seen, and All the Violent Memories. How does poetry inform your fiction prose, if it does, or do you find poetry is a totally separate outlet for your creativity? 

Stevens: Poetry is separate for me in most ways. The deep analysis of word choice crosses over from one to the other very well.

CI: After everyone goes out and buys A Therapeutic Death, what else can we look forward to from you?

Stevens: I have a few novels with my agent, we are doing some edits and will be on sub soon (all you Big 5 editors email me to get the auction going). Also, I have another short story collection I’ll be wrapping up soon. THE FIRST LINE will keep going as long as Mystery Tribune will have me.

CI: Killer. I can’t wait to read a J.B. Stevens novel or three. Well, it was a pleasure visiting with you. For those who want to connect with you, where can they find you, and how can they best follow your happenings?

Stevens: Go to my website: jb-stevens.com and sign up for my newsletter, I keep everyone up to date through the thing, and there is a free book in it for you.

Buy link: A Therapeutic Death by J.B. Stevens


A Therapeutic Death by J.B. Stevens

JB Stevens


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