Short Mystery Fiction Society member Elena Smith has graciously offered to conduct interviews spotlighting members of the Society. Here is the first, with longtime member and former President Kevin R. Tipple. Take it away, Elena!
I know you currently live in Texas. Is this the only state you’ve lived in?
Yes. When I was a kid, we used to go on vacation for weeks at a time here in Texas and in a number of national and state parks in western states, but Texas has always been it for a home.
Does your locale influence your stories? If so, in what way?
Well, the bigger influence is what I have been through, but location matters as I set a lot of stories here in north Texas. So, I take a location, say the nearby Waffle House, and make it part of the story as I did for my story, “First Contact,” in the Santa Rage anthology. The weather here also makes an appearance in that one as I open with the weather which is frowned upon by some. My old apartment complex and some of the things that happened there are fictionalized in my story, “Death in Dallas” (This Ain’t Paradise) British Bump Off anthology coming in early January. Weather makes an appearance in that one as well. The location in those tales and all of my work matters in some way. Sometimes the location is its own character and sometimes it is more of a secondary character.
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| Kevin reading at Noir at the Bar |
When did you have your first story published?
Late 1980s. “Hell, Here and Now” was originally a story written for a Saturday literature class at the University of Texas at Dallas. There were fifty students in the class. The class was on Dante and we were to write a story with him going through a new circle of Hell. We had to create a new level of hell, explain what it was designed for, and send him through it. It was only after we submitted them that the professor announced he would read parts of the ones he really liked to the class. After reading five of them, he announced that one was so good, he was going to read the entire fifteen-pages plus. He looked at me, smirked as he knew how much I hated the attention, and then started reading mine aloud. Shockingly, not only did the floor not open and swallow me whole, but the class laughed at the jokes in it, and seemed to enjoy it. He pulled me aside after class and said I should be writing, submitting my work. Went home and told my very pregnant wife who vehemently told me she had been right and I should do this “writing thing.” Nobody was ever a bigger cheerleader for me and my writing. I know a lot of folks complain about their spouses on this, but Sandi was always very sure I was going to do great things writing wise.
How has your writing improved since then, and what do you attribute this to?
Assuming it has, and there have been many times I seriously wondered about that, I think writing, submitting, and being edited by others has made it better. Being part of a writing group from the late ’90s to around 2011 definitely made me a better writer as we sat and discussed what worked and what didn’t in our stories. I’d still be in a writing group if we had one in my area as I think it can really help IF one can find the right group. I didn’t fully appreciate what I had at the time. Since the end of those writing group days, I do not have much outside input before I submit and that has worked against me as well as for me. Time has also played a huge factor in all of this. Decades later, I am a far different person now at this age with everything I have been through, and what I am facing, and that, no doubt, has changed me for better and for worse. That also can’t help but affect the writing.
How long have you been a member of SMFS?
I think since sometime in the late ’90s.
How did you learn about it?
Earl Staggs. A member, past SMFS president, and a deeply missed good friend.
What do you like most about it?
The exposure to other folks who write mystery and crime fiction. I have read a lot of good stuff by way of finding folks on the list. Reading stuff improves your own writing.
What aspect of SMFS membership has been the most beneficial to you?
At this point, with the way things are now for me and the list, I would say the market news is the most beneficial. I don’t participate in the Zoom deals as my internet in NE Dallas is really bad. I also tend to stay away from some of the conversational threads, the recent crime music one comes to mind, as I just don’t have anything to share. Market info is very important to me as is being able to publicize when somebody is publishing one of my deals.
Is there anyone specific you would like to recommend for my next interview (provided the subject is willing...)?
Barry Ergang or Bruce Robert Coffin.
You can read Kevin R. Tipple’s story, "Choked on Love" in the Perp Wore Pumpkin 2 Thanksgiving Anthology (Misti Media) and on his blog: https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/
