Fiction
Date Published: 01-04-2024
Publisher: Pageturner Press and Media
Julius T. Downer has lost his job at a prestigious Wall Street firm, his
lovely girlfriend who has run off with his best friend, and his shoebox of
an apartment where he and his girlfriend have been locked up in
Pandemic-stricken New York City during COVID. Without much money left, he
has little choice but to dump it all and relocate to Albany, New York, where
he lives hand-to-mouth at a Motel 6.
Demoralized, Downer knows he must get on his feet. He ventures to the most
cosmopolitan street in Albany, which is Lark Street, hoping to find another
girlfriend similar to the one who just abandoned him and also hoping to have
a little fun before he searches for another job. Instead, he finds an
antagonistic and unwelcoming crowd who snub him at every turn. The only ones
who welcome him in are those he terms as "freaks." These are the
homeless, the drunks, the addicts, and the sex workers on Lark Street.
But his downward slide is mitigated by an outsider artist who takes up
residence in one of the few coffee shops that are established there. With
the help of this outsider artist and his group of "freakish"
friends, Julius T. Downer finds that he has a special supernatural ability
when it comes to viewing art.
And Downer enters Albany already hating artists and everything about them.
But after finding that he has this new ability bestowed upon him by this
outsider artist, he finds that his new relationship to art and the art world
around him can help many people who are suffering and struggling through
their own lives. Downer finds a new path to follow with the understanding
that he is just a "freak" himself.
Interview
Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?
I try not to write with any messages in my books. There are messages beyond books, film and television, the image, movie stars, movie greats. Beautiful women may have certain messages, but Hell knows if I’d ever understand these messages. Maybe in every beautiful woman there is a message. I guess I can look at it that way and still smile. But in my books, there are no messages. When I was younger, a critic from Bookviews on the web wrote to me, and he quoted another movie great, who said, and I paraphrase here, ‘if you want to send a message, send it Western Union’. Back then, I had no idea what he meant, and now I do. He was right, and I was a fool. So, no, I do not have messages in my novels.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
I’ve been at my desk writing this shit for so long, A Room with A View sort of living. Real life and what people do beyond the window pane is where the real challenge is. So no, there is nothing challenging in my writing routine or in my books. The outside world is what I find most challenging these days. So, I’m working more on that.
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I’ve got 21 children, and my children are my books. Out of those 21 children, I have no favorite child.
If You had the chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?
I can’t pick the characters in films, but “the film begins and ends with the screenplay.” So artists in Hollywood are valued, especially if they can write. But if anyone can play anyone, it has to be Marlon Brando. Some have said that he was the greatest actor of the 20th Century. So put Brando in this book turned into a movie, give the screenplay to Oliver Stone, and get ready to rock and roll!
When did you begin writing?
Too long ago. I’m 53 years old going on 80. Singing “The End of the Month Blues” for the rest of my days. But I began writing at 21. I went an old bar, had my Hagermeister and beer combination, and I pledged to God that I would become a great American writer. I’ve been doing nothing else ever since. Once you have this bug, it never goes away. I’ve had hundreds of jobs that have never worked out. The bug that is writing stays in my blood and soon it dissolves there. What will I turn out to be, I don’t know. But nowadays, I’ve learned the importance of making a living, or at least observing people making a living. And that has affected my writing along the way. It’s a trail. I wouldn’t follow it again. I’d get a job. How long did it take to complete your first book?
My first book took about six months to write. It’s called Noble McCloud. It was inspired by James Carroll’s son, Patrick Caroll. While I was at the Kasteel Well in Venlo, Netherlands, James Carroll ran a workshop, which I wrecked with my Mister Hyde personality, and I met a young kid, Patrick. Jerry Garcia was getting too old, and this kid was upset that he would never see a Grateful Dead show. He thought by the time he became of age, Jerry would have passed. So, I went back to New Jersey, sat in my usual cubby-hole of an apartment, and listened to the Grateful Dead while writing it. And that is why the book is dedicated to Patrick Carroll.
Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?
When I was younger, I tried to be Norman Mailer. Unfortunately, I could never write like Norman Mailer, so my experiment failed. So, I pretended to be a writer, I guess, before becoming a writer. Just like I wanted to be a rock star, but could never play an instrument or sing very well. Hemingway, Homer, Heller, Vidal, all those New Journalism guys of 1960s and 1970s. Those are the authors who continue to inspire me. Maybe I’ll write like them one day, because I am unable to now.
What is your favorite part of the writing process?
Lately, now that I live in Las Vegas, I’m learning the joys of not writing so much. But these joys are illusory. I thought writing was one day going to kill me. Now I’m slowly learning that I’m writing just to live. People had to carry me to get here. They are all back in New York. So, maybe the best part of writing is not writing at all. But my life depends on it, so I continue with it regardless.
Describe your latest book in 4 words.
Dedicated to Dennis Gervasio
Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is in the future for your writing?
It’s a work-in-process, slowly proceeding forward. I’m using a different method to write this next book, called “Method Writing”. I don’t know who invented this method, but I’m trying it out for this next book, and lately, my world out here in Vegas has turned upside down, but it’s the same world, and it’s important that I do not get so carried away using this method. Stick to the work is my motto. What else can I do?
About the Author
Harvey Havel has been a short-story writer and novelist for over thirty
years. His first novel, Noble McCloud, A Novel, about a young, struggling
musician was published in November of 1999. He now has nineteen books which
include novels, short stories, and two collections of essays on current
affairs and political matters.
His latest book is a serialized novel, The Queen of Intelligence: A 9/11
Novel, has just been released through Kindle Vella on Amazon.com in
2021.
Havel is formerly a Lecturer in English at Bergen Community College in
Paramus, New Jersey. He also taught writing and literature at SUNY Albany
and the College of Saint Rose, also in Albany, New York.
He currently lives there with his pet cat, Marty, and has many more books
in store for his many fans in future.
Copies of his books and short stories, both new and used, may be purchased
at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Smashwords.com, or at your favorite
local bookstore.
An excellent interview with Harvey Havel by Robert Nagle of Personville
Press in Katy, Texas, can be found at Imaginary Planet.net.
His readers are encouraged to leave their honest comments about his work
anywhere his fine books are sold.
Contact Links
Amazon Author Page
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