Suspense Magazine 9-2010 Joshua Graham

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Suspense, Mystery, Horror and Thriller Fiction

Joan Francis Turner

Alan Orloff

Joshua Graham

Allison Leotta

Katia Lief

D.P. LyLead

ShAne GericKe



60 Suspense Magazine September 2010 / Vol. 015

Joshua Graham, author of “Beyond Justice” is aman of many ‘moods’. He’s been everywhere and done somuch in his life. He grew up in Brooklyn, NY and livedthere for the beer part of thirty years. Graham aended

Julliard School and graduated with a bachelor’s degree inmusic performance. As a cellist, he’s been on the stage atCarnegie Hall—among others. He’s toured the United

States, Canada, Egypt, Israel, South Africa and Jordan.For four years, he lived in Baltimore, MD where hestudied and eventually received his doctorate from JohnsHopkins University.

Today, he lives with his wife and children in SanDiego. It is here he began a decade long career in the ITeld eventually becoming a Director of Operations; allthe while writing ction.

Suspense Magazine is honored to have anopportunity to not only read and review Graham’s book,

“Beyond Justice”, but to interview him. Please take amoment to read and enjoy Joshua’s answers.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): “Beyond Justice” is somuch more than a manfalsely accused. Samis a man of faith—though not come by easily. Does he emulate

your own faith?

J o s h u a

Graham ( JG): I agree that aith does not come easily. Butsometimes, it is almost too simple or some to accept. Sam’s

journey does not directly emulate my own, but I (and others I’ve known) have asked many o the same questions he asksin “Beyond Justice”.

S. MAG.: Without giving anything away, did you meanfor the book to end as it did? Or did the characters dictate

what would happen?

JG: A lile o both. I had a airly clear idea how I wantedthe book to end; even the very end. But some o the choices

I’d initially made in my outline didn’t ring true with thcharacters and the spirit o the book by the time I arrived atthose points. So yes, in many ways character dictates destiny.

Just like in real lie.

S. MAG.: Why did you decide to publish under apseudonym?

JG: I love writing in various genres. Tis can range fom SF, toHistorical, to echnothrillers to Romance (yes, I’ll admit tothat.) A pen name is to keep things organized so my readersdon’t get conused or misled. For example: I Dean Koontzwere to write a romance book, I’m sure it’d be a terric book.

But his readers are not expecting a romance book fom him.Tey’re expecting suspense, or a thriller. However, i he wereto write all his romance books under a pen name—say, Jerri

Dean—and Jerri Dean ans love his books, they’d know rightaway what to expect and not hesitate to buy them.

o urther simpliy the analogy; i you go into McDonalds you are probably expecting a Big Mac, not a aco Bel Burrito. Likewise, i you go to Benihana’s you are going to beupset i they serve you a Big Mac.

So i you own both o these fanchises, you are going to keep your product consistent within each brand name in order toavoid market conusion, and to keep your customers happy.

By the way, I like Big Macs as much as I like Chicken

BEYONd

SPEctAcUlAR

Interview by: Suspense Magazine

An Interview with

Debut Author Joshua Graham



61SuspenseMagazine.com

eriyaki.

S. MAG.: You received your master’s degree in music at Julliard and then you went to John Hopkins University for your doctorate—in what?

JG: (A la Agent 86-Maxwell Smart): Would you believe…Quantum Physics? How about theology or law or

philosophy? O course, it’s all public knowledge, but I’d like

to leave it a mystery.Oh, all right…

I got my doctorate in music at Johns Hopkins, where I wrotemy thesis: Te Inuence o Rostropovich on the Cello Musico Sergie Prokoev.

However, it was not wrien under the name o JoshuaGraham.

Under the name inscribed on my degree, I write novels andstories relating to music perormance and history.

S. MAG.: Of all the jobs you’ve had, which one do youmiss the most? And if you couldn’t be a writer, what

would you do for a living?

JG: You know, as un as it was selling cars, xing computers,directing an I company, etc., I miss perorming on thecello most. Sometimes I look back wistully at the days I

perormed concertos with orchestras throughout the UnitedStates, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Canada and South Afica. But most o all, I miss the camaraderie o playing chamber musicand sharing the beauty o the music o Brahms, Beethoven,

Dvorak and chaikovsky with an audience.

I still play the cello in church and I eel privileged and blessedthat I can share and express the yearnings o the human soulin worship services.

I I couldn’t be a writer (perish the thought!) I’d probablybe a speaker o some sort. As with “Beyond Justice”, I believe

I have been given a message o hope to convey. Te meansby which I express it could be through books, music or sometimes just in speaking.

My wie thinks I’m a lile verbose (Hello? Writer here!) andthat I need a captive audience to ulll my calling. Writing isone way. Public speaking is another. Perhaps both o thosewill happen in tandem soon enough.

S. MAG.: Do you allow your wife to read what you’ve wrien before sending it out?

JG: Allow? Listen. When it comes to me and my wie, I always get the last word. Always. And it’s not just one word,

it’s two:

“Yes, Dear.”

Seriously, though. My wie has been my constant support,counsel, cheerleader (hmmm) and muse. I don’t eel rightsending out a manuscript unless she’s read it and oered her

eedback. Does she love everything I write? Nope. She thinks I’m a great writer (thanks, honey), but not everything I write

is or her. Remember, I said I write many dierent kinds obooks.

But she has oered invaluable insight. You know, I havnever received such polarized, i not controversial eedback

or anything I’ve wrien besides “Beyond Justice”. I am verycareul about whom I seek it fom.

I took the advice o one proessional writer whose opinion Ideeply value and changed the entire structure o this book.

But I never elt right about it. Later, I showed the revisions tomy wie and she conrmed exactly what I elt in my spirit. Icompletely lost the heart o the book.

She encouraged me to trust mysel as the authority o myown book. So I went back and put it back the way I originallyintended. Ten she ound a plot point which didn’t convinceher. No one else picked up on this. When she suggested thesimple change, everything ell into place. Te entire scenecame alive with energy and inevitability. It added a perectshocking twist. Te scene I am talking about is the twistduring the last murder trial towards the end o the book.

In the books I’ve wrien aer “Beyond Justice”, my wiehas been the perect sounding board. Sometimes we’ll lookover an outline I’ve come up with and she’ll oer some great

eedback. Sometimes, she’ll just sit, smile and look beautiul,while I blabber ad innitum about my ideas. During thosemoments, I come up with breakthroughs and epiphanies andall she did was sit there, looking prey. But I always end upthanking her or just listening to me.

“No problem,” she always says, “just give me the entire checkwhen you sell the book!”

Prey steep ee, but she’s worth it!S. MAG.: Do you have any rituals or any superstitions

you must follow when you’re writing?

JG: I’m not one who believes in rituals and denitely notsuperstition. But I do have habits that I eel important to mycreative process. I try every day to read the Bible and learn

fom it as I believe it is God’s wrien word or humanity andthe best way to begin understanding His heart and desire



62 Suspense Magazine September 2010 / Vol. 015

or us all. Ten I ollow up with praying andlistening in my spirit to what He has to say.

Please don’t misunderstand. I don’t see mysel as some kind o oracle or mystic. He wants tospeak to everyone who will listen. Tis is where

I’ve goen the greatest breakthroughs in my lie(not only in writing.)

I hope this does not sound sel-gloriying inany way. I can’t take credit or this any morethan someone receiving a gi can. And I’m not anymore special than anyone else on this planet.

Everyone has the potential to do and receivethis. And we all have God-given gis. We just need to connect with the source and operate

ully in them.

S. MAG.: When reading “Beyond Justice”,there were a few moments where you made

me cry. Did your heart ache when you wrotecertain parts? How much do your wordsaect you when you’re writing?

JG: I trust you cried because o how good it was,not the alterative, right?

Writing “Beyond Justice” was by ar one o themost rewarding and most dicult things I’veever had to do as a writer. I started by asking mysel, what is my greatest ear? Te answer wasn’t so much

ear or mysel (pain, death, etc.) as it was the suering and

pain o my wie and children.Ten I made that happen to Sam.

As I wrote the opening chapter, I used my own house as atemplate. Every sensory element came directly fom myown home—the rooms, ambience, the colors, the smells, theneighborhood.

Even as I wrote that chapter, I had to stop a couple o timesbecause the emotions were too overwhelming. You just don’t ever want to imagine these things happening to your loved

ones. But i I were to write Sam Hudson with authenticity, I had to put mysel in his shoes. My God, that was dicult. And painul.

I daresay, that or some readers, it may be too much to bear,reading a scene like this. Especially i you are a parent or ahusband. But horrible moments like these are the ones that dene a person’s character. And character is the linchpin o “story.”

S. MAG.: What can readers look forward to from JoshuaGraham?

JG: Joshua Graham’s uture releases will include short ctioncollections and more novels (watch or “Darkroom”, in which Xandra Carrick, daughter o Vietnam War photojournalistexperiences visions o war atrocities and uncovers a orty-

year-old conspiracy or which some are still willing to kill.)

As or my other pen names, there will be other kinds o booksand stories in the thriller and historical ction genres.

Please visit my website: www.joshua-graham.com.

You can get your copy o “Beyond Justice” at: Free samplechapters, Kindle Store, Barnes and Noble (rade Paperback),

Amazon.com (rade Paperback) and Smashwords.com(or all ebook readers, including Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPhone,etc.)

Suspense Magazine would like to thank Joshuafor giving so freely of his time and aention to us andour readers. If you haven’t read “Beyond Justice”, take thetime to check it out, you’ll be happy you did.

Suspense Magazine Review of “Beyond Justice” is book was so much more than a mystery novel; it was anexercise in aith, understanding, joy and mercy in their purestorms. Graham brings Sam Hudson to lie with his anger, loss,love, rustration, ear and his ultimate belie in this book.

With his beloved Jenn and precious daughter Bethie stabbedto death in their own home, Hudson clings to the hope that hisson Aaron will somehow make it through surgery and comeout o his coma to recover, live with his dad and readjust to liewithout a mom or sister.

Although I gured out who the perpetrator was, there werestill twists, turns and surprises to be ound here. is novel islled with so much in the way o emotion. How do you go onwhen you’ve lost most o what you hold dear and are accused o being the one who did it? While in prison Sam discovers many things, the most important being himsel and what he’s made o deep down inside. With his in-laws gaining custody o his son,they eventually decide to take him of lie support and Sam getsno say in the matter.

He makes many riends along the way—in prison o all places—and gets to see his son or what he believes is the very last visit.Take the time to read this book. You will not be disappointed.

Reviewed by: erri nn rmstrong, author of “Morning Menace” for Suspense Magazine

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Suspense Magazine 9-2010 Joshua Graham