An Interview with Dixon Kinqade

Reprinted from Black Book Detective Tales Volume # 01

This will not be a regular feature of Black Book Detective Tales, but we thought it might be fun to give you a little introduction to Dixon Kinqade, the man, the myth, the legend.

BBDT: Dixon Kinqade, is that your real name?

(He laughs at this question)

DK: As far as you know, yes… In all honesty, I must confess that it is not. It's a pseudonym.

BBDT: So, what is your real name?

DK: I prefer not to say. What's the point in using a pen name or alias if you are willing to divulge your real identity?

BBDT: Some authors use a pseudonym for marketing purposes, but I gather yours is to protect your privacy.

DK: Actually, it serves both purposes. I have a tendency to fiercely protect my private life. I don't really want strangers showing up on my doorstep, calling me on the phone, or sending letters to my personal address. I'm more than happy to correspond with my adoring fans via email or personal appearances.

BBDT: So, how did you come up with the name, Dixon Kinqade? Does it hold any significance?

DK: The last name Kinqade was chosen solely for marketing purposes. It has a nice ring to it and fits the genre. Kinqade sounds like someone who might be a detective or an author of detective stories. It would even be a good name for a character.

Alphabetically, it falls between King, Stephen and Koontz, Dean. So, on the off chance my books ever see the inside of a bookstore, that's where you'd find them on the shelf. You couldn't ask for better advertising, but I doubt that any of my work will make it to your local bookstore. Used bookstores may be a possibility, though.

BBDT: And the first name?

DK: Dixon is the result of multiple influences. Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation will recognize the name Dixon Hill. He was a fictional detective. That's one obscure reference.

Trixie Dixon, girl detective, featured in the Black Jack Justice podcasts produced by Decoder Ring Theatre, is a connection that I found after having already chosen the name. There are other inside jokes and references, but there's no need to go into all of them. I'd rather leave it open to speculation. I'd love to see what people come up with.

BBDT: How old are you?

DK: I was born in 1974. You can do the math.

BBDT: Where were you born?

DK: A small town in Illinois.

BBDT: So it's not Chicago?

DK: I've spent a lot of time in Chicago. It can be a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there and I wasn't born there.

BBDT: Have you always lived in Illinois?

DK: Yes, but I've done my fair share of traveling. I've been around.

BBDT: Ethnically speaking, what's your ancestry?

DK: German and Danish. As the legend goes, I'm descended from a disinherited branch of Danish royalty. That and a couple of bucks will get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

BBDT: Rumors say that you have an above-average IQ. Are we talking child prodigy or mad scientist?

DK: There's a fine line between genius and insanity, but some people are simply crazy regardless of their IQ. I wasn't Doogie Howser. I'm too lazy to go that route.

I'm fairly intelligent and highly overeducated. Most people will tell you that I'm loony. If the whole writing thing doesn't work out, I'd like to try my hand at mad scientist.

BBDT: Are you married?

DK: No.

BBDT: Have you ever been married?

DK: Yes.

BBDT: It didn't work out?

DK: It worked out, just not the way I had expected. It's funny how life has a way of doing that. I was young and stupid in love. Things change. People change. Couples grow apart. The relationship goes from bad to worse, and eventually, both of you want out. It's a fairly common occurrence.

That was a long time ago. There are no hard feelings. It all worked out for the best, at least far as I'm concerned. We're still friends, but we've both moved on with our lives.

BBDT: Did the two of you have any children?

DK: Nope, nor do I have any now.

BBDT: Are you involved with anyone now?

DK: Only myself, I'm very self-involved.

BBDT: So there's no significant other?

DK: Nope. No wife, no fiancé, no girlfriend. I don't have time. I keep pretty busy.

BBDT: Is it likely that you'll marry again?

DK: Never. Sorry, ladies, that's not a possibility. I'm not perfect. I made mistakes, but I learned from those mistakes, and I pride myself on never making the same mistake twice.

BBDT: I'm guessing the dissolution of your marriage has left a bad taste in your mouth.

DK: Not really. I have nothing against marriage. It's just not for me. Life is hard. Life with another person is even more difficult. I'm too old, too selfish, and too lazy to do it again.

BBDT: I'm beginning to recognize some of your personal story, attitudes, experiences, and philosophies in your work. How much of yourself do you put into your characters?

DK: You'd be surprised. Nearly all the major characters are some part of me. Each character is one of the many voices in my head.

In all seriousness, I reveal a great deal about myself, my past, my personality, and my views thru my work. There's a lot of me in the character Jack Dylan. We're both misogynists and hedonistic pleasure seekers. We both smoke cigarettes. We both love gourmet coffee.

However, there are a lot of differences, too. Jack is a hero and I'm more of a villain. Jack lives a life of adventure. I prefer tranquility. Jack has a far higher sex drive than I do. He's a horny puss hound and I have far more important things to do. Sometimes Jack still has an inclination to do what's right. I have no scruples at all. At times, Jack is morally flexible. I'm always morally bankrupt.

BBDT: As an author, what's your greatest strength in terms of writing?

DK: At times, I have a turn of phrase that's nothing short of spectacular. I have an eye or ear for poetic prose. Sometimes I let that sneak into my work. Of course, that's a matter of style and personal taste. It's all rather subjective and relative. Most of all, I'm a whiz at compiling material from multiple sources into a single unified product. Hence, my penchant for plagiarism.

BBDT: As an author, what's your greatest weakness in terms of writing?

DK: Besides a lack of talent, imagination, creativity, and originality? I find love scenes and romance to be the most difficult for me to compose.

BBDT: Why?

DK: Where do you draw the line between romance and erotica? What's the difference between a love scene and soft-core porn? I think that's kind of a gender issue. What's romantic to a man is porn to a woman.

Also, it's difficult to express something that I don't truly feel. It's hard for me to feel love and romance. As a result, it's hard to write about love and romance. At times, I can fake it well enough or just avoid it altogether.

BBDT: Who, exactly, is your target audience?

DK: My stories are written for people who like to read. They're short, enjoyable, entertaining adventures, little more than fluff and mind candy. I write partially for the general public, but mostly for retro hipsters like myself and primarily for fans of the penny dreadfuls, dime novels, or golden age pulps.

BBDT: On the other side of the coin, who is not your intended audience?

DK: I do not write to please my high school English teacher or college professors. Why should I? It's not like I'm authoring textbooks, research papers, or grammatical guidebooks.

I do not write for literary critics. I write stories that will sell to people who read books, not to those who professionally judge and criticize. My work is not intended to be the type of literature preferred by the academic literary elite and I pride myself on that fact.

BBDT: Why do you self-publish?

DK: It's important to understand that I do not write for consideration by any major publishing house. Mainly, because much of my stuff is plagiarized, and I very seriously doubt a reputable publisher would touch any of it.

BBDT: I've heard that your work has been criticized as unprofessional and technically lacking. Would you like to respond to that?

DK: Firstly, it's true. Much of my work is cliché, campy, predictable, slightly cheesy, and technically flawed. It's supposed to be. That's what makes it fun. It's also necessary, at times, in the classic detective genre, to break the rules, especially concerning grammar in dialogue.

Frequently, my work exhibits a blatant disregard for the established and accepted literary and publication standards. At times, I toss out grammatical rules, punctuation, syntax, and structure. It's not that I'm an uneducated idiot. It's either for artistic and aesthetic reasons or I'm purposefully flipping the bird to the literati.

Also, don't forget there's no proofreading or editorial process. If I don't catch it and spell check or grammar check misses it, then it goes to press.

Secondly, it's a challenge to writers and authors to shake things up, move with the times, press the envelope, get creative, and try something new. It's a challenge to embrace the creative, artistic, and break away from the rigid conformity of accepted standards.

BBDT: It's amusing to me that you advocate progressive change and creativity on one hand, while on the other, you write for retro buffs and openly admit that your work is plagiarized. Isn't that sort of paradoxical?

DK: It's all in your point of view, I suppose. I understand the pulp style and classic detective genre is old and have been done before. It's not exactly breaking new ground to write new fiction in an old style, but the way I see it, there's no major market for new fiction written in the spirit of the golden age pulps. So I'm still a bit of a maverick and an outlaw in that sense.

As for advocating change, creativity, and non-conformity, that's primarily aimed at the established and accepted rules. It's more about breaking traditional technical methods for the sake of artistic style, not about the development of new material or content.

Plagiarism is about content. I've written a rant (well, let's call it an essay) covering my philosophical views about plagiarism. You can read it at the website. Basically, I firmly believe that, with very few exceptions, all fiction written since Pax Romana (the time of the Roman Empire) is plagiarism. Understanding that means plagiarism is inescapable.

According to the powers that be, plagiarism is against the rules. So by openly admitting my guilt, publishing those borrowed words and stories, I am breaking the rules. As I said, it's a matter of viewpoint.

BBDT: Speaking of plagiarism and openly admitting guilt, aren't you concerned about being sued for copyright infringement?

DK: Plagiarism and copyright infringement are two very different things. You can be guilty of one and not the other. One is a crime and the other is not. Copyright infringement is illegal. Plagiarism is frowned upon and deemed unethical in most circles. I have not violated any copyright, but I openly admit to being unethical.

BBDT: I've been told that you have three priorities concerning written stories. What is the first?

DK: As a reader, far as I'm concerned, fiction stories are to be fun, entertaining, escapist, and easy to read. That's my first priority and as an author, if I have to break the rules to accomplish that, then so be it.

BBDT: And the second?

DK: As both a reader and a writer of fiction, it's all about tone, mood, atmosphere, setting, and style. That's my second priority and as an author, if I have to break the rules to accomplish that, then so be it.

BBDT: Thirdly?

DK: My third priority, as an author, is to create text, format words, sentences, paragraphs, narration, and dialogue in such a manner that is aesthetically pleasing. When you look at a printed page or its electronic equivalent, it should be pleasant to look at. Dialogue should be easily identifiable and completely separated on the page from lines of narration. As an author, if I have to break the rules to accomplish that, then so be it.

BBDT: I hear you sincerely disagree with the accepted standards for writing dialogue. Tell me more about that.

DK: It is true that I take serious issue with the accepted, syntactical, grammatical, technical rules, and conventions concerning written dialogue, specifically in relation to punctuation, but I have many issues with standard written dialogue. The whole he said/she said, he asked/she replied thing is monotonous and annoying. In any conversation involving more than two people, especially in poorly written works, it can be confusing, almost impossible to decipher who is doing the speaking. In such cases, it's very easy to get lost in the dialogue.

The whole concept of placing dialogue on the same line of text as narration is aesthetically displeasing to me. I don't like that at all. To mix narration and dialogue in a single sentence is absolutely appalling.

That leads me to conventional rules of punctuation in relation to quotation marks. Placing commas before the end quote and following that with narration is highly distasteful to me. To place a period at inside the end quote and at the end of a sentence is also quite bothersome to me. That looks like the quote has ended, but not the sentence.

To my way of thinking, anything placed inside quotes should be treated as a completely separate and independent sentence within a sentence, complete with punctuation independent from the punctuation of the surrounding sentence, or else do not place a quote on the same line of text as non-quoted material. The accepted methods of punctuating dialogue are illogical and offensive to look at. It's rather difficult to explain exactly what I mean without visual aids and examples.

BBDT: Like most writers, do you dream of someday writing the next great American novel?

DK: I have no intention or any delusion of writing the next great American novel.

BBDT: Why not?

DK: I simply don't have the talent, drive, desire, or creativity to produce some profound literary work of art.

BBDT: So, you don't think your work qualifies as art?

DK: Make no mistake about it. The stories I write are definitely works of art, though some are better than others. They just aren't profound. As I said, they're fluff and brain candy. They're just for fun and entertainment, nothing more.

BBDT: Do you dream of your work appearing on the New York Times Best Sellers List?

DK: I would love to see any or all my work listed there, but that's simply for financial reasons. I never expect to be on the New York Times Best Sellers List or to win any awards.

BBDT: So, you don't care much about critical acclaim?

DK: Personally, it makes little difference to me if critics love my work or hate it. In either case, it's publicity and the only bad publicity is none at all. The worst-case scenario is that an author receives an indifferent reception or complete silence. I don't care if you love my work or hate it, just don't ignore it. To be indifferent or undecided about an author's work is the worst possible insult.

BBDT: Why do you write stories?

DK: For the money and for the glory, but mostly for the money. I write the type of stories that I like to read. I write because it's fun and because I need the money.

The way I see it, I don't have to sell a million copies of any one book. I just have to write a million books and sell one copy of each. That's my plan for becoming a millionaire. It's all about quantity, not quality. If it all works out, I'll never have to get a real job!

BBDT: So you're saying it's all about the money?

DK: Absolutely! What else is there? I don't pretend to have any noble motives for writing. Sure, it is great if people like my stuff and get some modicum of enjoyment out of reading this stuff, but that's not why I do it.

The only reason I've put pen to paper is to satisfy my personal greed. I detest physical labor. I hate having a real job. Sitting down and banging away at a laptop is so much easier. I can work as much or as little as I want. I can work where and when I please.

Although, it's not as great or as romantic as you might imagine. There are many disadvantages to writing for a living. The pay sucks. It's not nearly as profitable as you might imagine. Additionally, I have no talent. That makes writing a real chore for me.

Then there's the question of content, story ideas, plot lines, and continuity. Of course, I'm not really a writer and I'm not an author. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm a plagiarist. That makes the job much easier. It really takes the pressure off.

I just take other people's ideas, work, and words, then slap my name on it. I don't have to create anything new. I just recycle the old.

BBDT: Based on what I've seen of your work, I'm guessing you're a fan of the pulps and hardboiled detective mysteries.

DK: Yeah, I'm a bit of a retro hipster. Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Mickey Spillane were the greatest. I love the old pulps and everything about them, but especially the artwork and the covers. I'm also a fan of the old-time radio dramas of the 40's. I dig the lingo and fashion of the 20's. Basically, if it's old, I'm into it.

I was definitely born too late. I'm just out of place in time. Although, there are many modern conveniences and comforts that I'd hate to give up.

BBDT: Do you think you'll try your hand at other genres of perhaps full-length novels?

DK: Actually, I'm presently working on a full-length novel. I'm about 4/5 finished and it should be completed quite soon. We'll see how sales do before I commit to writing a sequel to it.

As for trying my hand at other genres, that is most probable. I'd like to do some suspense thrillers and horror stories. I'm reluctant to attempt any romance tale. That could be fun, but as I've said, those are not exactly my strong suit. The sad truth is… I'll write anything people will buy and whatever material I can steal from real writers.

In the meantime, I'll be turning out the detective stories so fast that it'll even amaze Stephen King. I've got plenty of material to rip off in that department.

BBDT: I still have lots of questions, but I'm afraid we're running out of space in this issue. Do you have any parting comments you'd like to share?

DK: First of all, let me say, thank you to everyone at Black Book Detective Tales. It's an honor and a privilege to have my work featured in this first issue. Many thanks for this interview. The pleasure was completely mine.

Remember to check out the website and please buy, buy, buy. Until next we meet…

Peace, Openness, and Brotherhood.