Muse: Tom, first of all, Whispers of the Muse welcomes you and Hula Bula Baby to the site. Tell us a little about yourself. What part of the world do you live in? Tell us about your background?
Bradley: I live in Henderson, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas, where I work in public relations. Much of my day job involves writing and editing what my coworkers write. That form of writing is rather formulaic, so the writing I do for myself – my avocational writing – frees my creative side. I’ve always loved writing, dating back to my elementary school days in Pennsylvania, and have long had this wild, crazy dream that one day I’ll be a published novelist. Which puts me in plenty of good company with many other starry-eyed dreamers, huh?
Muse: Who are your favorite authors?
Bradley: I’m a big fan of Elmore Leonard, whom I consider a literary god, as well as Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey. I haven’t read Joseph Wambaugh in many years, but I also rank him among my all-time favorites.
Muse: Why do you write?
Bradley: Good question. Temporary insanity is one answer. I also believe it stems from my desire to provide an outlet for the voices in my head. Plus, I think it is the one thing I do well on this planet. I’m not handy, so don’t ask me to renovate your house; nor am I particularly analytical, so I would suggest you eschew seeking me for advice on all matters scientific. But I do love to write and I love the idea of bringing my imagination to life.
Muse: What is your writing regimen? How often do you work on a novel? Do you set daily time or word goals? What keeps you meeting your deadlines?
Bradley: Truth be told, my style is way too freeform for me to have a writing regimen of any kind. I don’t set goals nor do I compel myself to sit down and write a certain number of words in a day. It’s not in my DNA. The funny thing is, I hit deadlines like nobody’s business when I worked in newspapers (I had to, I wrote for a daily), and I am prolific in my current position. But since I consider my avocational writing more of a hobby than anything else—for the time being I am unpublished and make no money from it—I don’t discipline that side of my writing. Maybe I should, I don’t know, but when inspiration strikes or I manage to overcome a block, then I write in gushes. I can bang out a lot of copy in a short amount of time.
Muse: Tom, I so enjoyed your novel, Hula Bula Baby! It intrigued me from the first paragraph and offers an interesting, rather twisted outlook on life. Are you anything like your characters?
Bradley: First, thank you for the compliment. HBB is my baby and I’m glad you like my twisted little flight of fancy.
I think if any character has any of my traits it would be my protagonist, Noelani B. Lee. She has a way of seeing through the bullshit, and is somewhat world-weary in that respect, since she’s been screwed over in the past and is a stronger person for it. But she’s learned her lesson and now knows when others are trying to take advantage of her, and defends herself accordingly. And she can be proactive in meting out justice, as she sees it. Like me, she has an amazingly low threshold for hypocrisy and arrogance. And while I believe in time that the world’s jerks eventually get their comeuppance, Noe is not above helping speed the process along. Also, I’m not crazy about people blowing sunshine up my butt and neither is she. But she could drink me under the table, I’ll give her that.
Muse: Does the way you personally look at life reflect in your writing style?
Bradley: Absolutely. People have described my writing as “laconic”, which I not only needed to look up, but found to be an accurate descriptor once I did. I tend to look at life as an endless series of “whatevers” and am so laid back I may as well be horizontal. I often take that approach in my storytelling. But at heart, I am an optimist and a great believer in karma, so I tend to bring those aspects of my character to the fore in my writing, as well.
Muse: What are the creative jumping off points for you? Are you inspired by dreams? Music? Nature? What triggers your imagination?
Bradley: Funny, with me it’s place. If I am on vacation or visiting some place either new or familiar, I try to imagine people there or observe real people, and wonder what they may be doing, in public and in private. I read local newspapers and other Web sites to get a feel for those locales. Then, I imagine real-life or nearly real events as played out by fictional people in those settings. News stories and variations on them provide inspiration in that vein.
Music really doesn’t inspire me, but it does keep me going; for example, while writing Hula Bula Baby, I listened to a lot of Hawaiian and reggae music. It didn’t necessarily “inspire” me, but it kept me focused. But I still can’t speak Hawaiian.
Muse: Tell us about the story in Hula Bula Baby.
Bradley: At its heart, Hula Bula Baby is a story of remorse and redemption, the triumph of the average guy over the elite, of scoring one for nature over the dollar, of karmaic intervention and behind-the-scenes manipulation. While the main character is a private eye, it’s not a mystery per se, although in the end, some things are revealed that were hinted at but concealed from the reader. And it ends with a real and a metaphorical bang.
Muse: What was your inspiration for this story?
Bradley: The funny thing is, I originally intended to write the manuscript that became Hula Bula Baby as a serious whodunit – dead body found on a Hawaiian beach, mainland politicians involved on both sides of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, that sort of thing. But a while back, I began reading the flat-out crazy works of Tim Dorsey; you need to fasten your seat belt when you start one of his Serge Storms crime novels. Then after a trip to the Big Island of Hawai’i in 2007, I realized I needed to take the story down a different, decidedly crazier path, thanks to Mr. Dorsey. I figured it was the best way to attack the subject matter. Besides, I like funny. So while a body is found on a beach and Hawaiian sovereignty groups are still elemental to the plot, so are paintballs, pipebombs, sea turtles, Jheri curl gel, surfboards and Fitness Celebrity John Basedow.
Another thing that may or may not have been a motivator was the fact that I love the Big Island of Hawai’i. I’m crazy about Hawaii period, but having visited most of the islands, I’d have to say the Big Island is my favorite. Perhaps from that standpoint, Hula Bula Baby isn’t just a funny story populated by quirky characters in an exotic, tropical setting; it’s also my valentine to the Big Island.
Muse: What is your favorite scene in this wonderful novel and why?
Bradley: Wow, there are many. I suppose one of my favorites is the chapter entitled “The Mission”. There’s a lot happening in this chapter—an attempted kidnapping, sloppy drunkenness, an awful lounge band, some slapstick and finally a successful kidnapping—with many of the main characters present. And it was something of a challenge to write, from the standpoint that I didn’t want to confuse the reader or mix points-of-view, but I think I pulled it off. And even though it is one of my longer chapters, I think it flows well. Plus, I like to think some of my better dialog is in this chapter, including the slurred words that give Hula Bula Baby its title.
Muse: Have you written other books?
Bradley: I completed my first manuscript, Splitting Kings, almost a decade ago; it needs some major overhauling and is nowhere near ready for prime time. I also have two other works in progress – Loco Moco Mama, a sequel or perhaps prequel to Hula Bula Baby that also stars Noelani Lee, and Alligator Blood, a noir-style murder mystery based on real events and set in modern-day Las Vegas. This town is a mother lode of quirks and oddities and characters that should be immortalized more often than they are in literature.
Muse: How do you feel about the current publishing marketplace? Bradley: You don’t shy away from the loaded questions, do you? Well, here goes: It’s tight and getting tighter, which means if you have a book you’re pitching, it better be damn good if you hope to get it published. At the same time, I believe that if you have a unique hook, you may stand a chance. God knows, I hope I do.
