411 on Books, Authors, and Publishing News Interview with Gabriel Valjan

Which was the hardest character to write? The easiest?

The hardest character in The Good Man to write was Sheldon. At face value, he is a complex and flawed individual. He is a suspected vigilante whom no jury would convict. He is twice social outcast in that he is a survivor of Auschwitz but also a Sonderkommando, whom some inmates considered collaborators. I explain in the Afterword that their role in the Nazi death camps was poorly understood and they faced frequent purges. Sheldon is also gay, a Jew, so he  has to endure the additional prejudices of homophobia and anti-Semitism. For added measure, he runs counter to the popular option of claiming Palestine as his homeland. The Good Man briefly addresses Israeli terrorism against the British over the Palestine Question. Finally, Sheldon finds himself as a surrogate father to a young Russian girl, who has not only survived a similar trauma but reminds him of his Russian heritage. Writing about and around the Holocaust, retribution and sticky political situations was a tall order. I wanted to avoid clichés and present a multidimensional character, who is heroic, tragic, and someone who you might want as your friend, and certainly not as your enemy.

What made you write a book about post-war Vienna, and the early days of the CIA?

When I looked around at what was in the field, so to speak, I encountered the Phillip Kerr Bernie Gunther novels, the le Carré Smiley novels, and, for Vienna specifically, the Frank Tallis Max Lieberman mysteries. Kerr’s Gunther walks the streets of Berlin as Hitler comes to power; Smiley is an intelligence officer during the war years into the Cold War; and Max Lieberman predates them all since he is a contemporary of Sigmund Freud. Before becoming acquainted with those three characters, I had begun to think the classic noir spy thriller was dead.

I was drawn to Vienna for two reasons. I see Vienna as the crucible in which the Cold War started. The city was divided into four zones, the American, the British, the French, and the Russian after World War II. There were refugees everywhere. I also chose Vienna because it was a Wild West after the war. Food and medical supplies were in short supply. In addition to the American and European presence, various Israeli street gangs roamed the streets.

How long have you been writing?

I began in 2008 by writing a novel and then in 2009, a short story a week. I think the only genre I have not attempted was romance. I’ve written crime fiction, horror, science fiction, and quote unquote “literary fiction.” The first novel remains unpublished. After spending a year writing all those short stories, I wrote The Good Man, which I had set aside but revised several times by myself and with the help of a line editor, and then with current publisher, Winter Goose Publishing, in 2017. The Good Man was the result of reading classical noir: Hammett and Chandler. The novel had two close calls with two different publishers, but they dropped it because they didn’t want to take a chance on an unknown writer (their words). Some of my short stories had been published and now I wanted to tackle the novel again. I had discovered the Italian writer Andrea Camilleri, author of the Montalbano series, and I was inspired to write the first book in The Roma Series, which was published in 2012.

What genre do you write and why?

I dislike using the word genre because I believe a good story is a good story. If by genre you are thinking of touchstones for expectation, then I would say that my novels are both crime fiction and thrillers. I consider The Good Man historical noir. 1948 Vienna provides a historical context and my characters make bad decisions with the best of intentions.

The 40s was a unique time. I wanted to recreate the atmosphere and politics of postwar Vienna in a way that still feels fresh and new, despite the historical nature of the story.  That period, with its intricately interwoven and constantly shifting loyalties, was unique, and I wanted to make use of it. I wanted to craft a story in which I could show the characters’ loyalties to their own countries, to one another, and yet have their own sense of ethics.

What is the last great book you’ve read?

Jane Goodrich’s The House at Lobster Cove. This was a debut novel that introduced me to a new author and to a historical figure, George Nixon Black (1842-1928), who has all but disappeared into history. Mr. Black was gay, the richest man in Boston at one time, and a talented architect. He designed Kragsyde, a Shingle Style mansion, which was demolished a year after his death, at Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Goodrich guides reader’s through a gay and very gentle man’s life through the Civil War and the Gilded Age. I should add that each copy of the book has deckle pages and is handmade.

Latest bio: Gabriel Valjan is the author of the Roma Series and The Company Files from Winter Goose Publishing as well as numerous short stories. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts, where he enjoys the local restaurants, and his two cats, Squeak and Squawk, keep him honest to the story on the screen.

Website: www.gabrielvaljan.com

Blog: https://gabrielswharf.wordpress.com

Purchase link: Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2COa5HY