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Alexander III Bridge |
There are many romantic images about writing. The hard-drinking writer — I've tried that personna, and discarded it, out of necessity. The tortured genius — I'm neither of those. And the writer in Paris — ever since Uncle Ernie scribbled his short stories about Michigan in Left Bank cafes a century ago, that myth has held firm. I've barely written a postcard from Paris, but former Chicago cabbie Jack Clark, who contributed an essay on Schuba's in June, is there now, working. I had to ask: What's that like?
Writing in Paris
My first story was in the Chicago Reader in 1975. It was — according to the story itself — a janitor’s-eye’s-view (please note: those words were edited into the story) of the Chagall mosaic, which had recently been unveiled in the First National Bank plaza. I’d been a janitor at the bank when the mosaic was first announced in 1972.
Since that story, I’ve written quite a bit about my working life, about cab driving, furniture moving, and trucking. But I haven’t written much about writing itself. What would I say? You sit down and try to make sense of something or another, and when you get to the end, you go back to the front and try to make it better. Repeat this process until you’re either satisfied, you give up, or you sell the damn thing.
When we were discussing what I might write here, Neil suggested I talk about writing in Paris, which is where I spend a good portion of my time. I can’t afford to spend my days at Hemingway’s old cafés on Boulevard du Montparnasse. Instead I’m a mile or so away, sitting on a brand new stool in the spare room of my fiancée’s apartment. For me writing here is not much different than writing in Chicago. But, I must admit, it’s been much better since the stool arrived. Sometimes the hardest part is just keeping your butt in the seat.
I’ve written six books in the dozen years I’ve been going back and forth to Paris. Back Door to L.A. is a sequel to my novel Nobody’s Angel. They’re both told by Chicago cabbie Eddie Miles. Honest Labor is a memoir about my days as a long haul furniture mover. Nickel Dime Town features Chicago private detective Nick Acropolis. It’s the fourth book in the series. The B Side of Misty is a novel centered on a Chicago diner and the homeless man who shows up one day. Murder Reporter is a novel about a kid from a “changing” West Side neighborhood who becomes a crime reporter for the local alternative press. Paris in a Bottle started out as another Eddie Miles novel, but I couldn’t make it work. I replaced Eddie with another Chicago cabbie, Robert Rhodes. He’s in mourning for his daughter, who died of a fentanyl overdose, and his best friend, a fellow cabbie who killed himself in the wake of Uber’s destruction of the Chicago taxi business. Rhodes wants out of Chicago. He picks France, where he searches for traces of his namesake uncle who died there during World War II.
Stop! Do not run to your favorite bookstore. Do not go to Amazon. You’ll find nothing but Back Door to L.A., which was self-published back in 2016. The other books have never seen the light of day.
But I had some luck recently. Back in February in an Amazon Celebrity Pick post, Quentin Tarantino said that Nobody’s Angel was his favorite novel of the year. It’s my first book, self-published as Relita’s Angel in 1996. Initially, I sold it out of my taxi. I then revised it and sold it to Hard Case Crime. I got the rights back in 2021 and self published it once again. And now Hard Case Crime is going to publish a new edition next month with Tarantino’s words prominently displayed on both the front and back cover. An editor said: “What a cool thing to happen to an older book.” I couldn’t agree more. Of all the pulp novels in the world, how did Quentin Tarantino happen to walk into mine? I don’t know, but I’d sure like to thank him.
But the real good news is that with Mr. Tarantino’s words, I found myself an agent again. Robert Diforio of the D4EO Agency is now busy trying to peddle my various books. If you’re a publisher yourself, you know what to do. The rest of you, please keep your fingers crossed. I’m hard at work on a new novel. I wouldn’t mind spending a bit more time in those inspiring Parisian cafes.
Jack Clark
January 12, 2024
Quentin Tarantino? Wow!🤩. Now I want to read this book! Congratulations, fingers crossed, 🤞. Great luck to you.
ReplyDeleteMarvelous!
ReplyDeleteA couple of stints as a cab driver gave me ample story ideas that sit idle due to a lack of talent and an abundance of sloth. I would like to read about Eddie Miles, but I guess that's not going to be easy.
ReplyDeleteHere it is on Amazon;
DeleteNobody's Angel https://www.amazon.com/dp/1803367474?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_dp_Z9ANT3YSDF30P9RZRCS3&language=en-US
Congrats on Tarantino's shout-out! A quick Google search found Clark's titles available at Thrift Books.
ReplyDeleteI hope to have the chance to read all of these, especially Honest Labor and The B Side of Misty!
ReplyDeleteThe time I spent in Paris left me unable to write. I was too busy not being in paris. France is a place I would never visit. Maybe Italy but even then it's unlikely. I have family there and they've invited me to come. I'd like to have a cappuccino and visit the baptismal fountain of my ancestors church. I hear Sicily is wonderful, but I've never been there nor anywhere else for that matter. Not outside these United States of America. I'd like to be a writer the same way I wanted to be a baseball player when I was a child. but capitalization and punctuation, sentence structure and the notion of someone else reading about the things I think ? absolutely terrify me. That's why I come here to act the fool.
ReplyDeleteTo be in the presence of a real writer. A truly excellent writer. A writer of some renown is a great pleasure. Thank you Neil for what you provide and for what you allow.
As a former mover myself, working as a teen and college student around the time this author was humping with his hump strap, I'm intrigued by his book Honest Labor. I recently found Finn Murphy's The Long Haul in our local library, also about the business.
ReplyDeleteIt's a terrible job but good for preparing writers because being a mover gives you an intimate look into the way people actually live. I mean, part of your job is to literally go through people's dresser drawers. You see how rich people live and how working class people live (one contract we had was with a national show store chain...the managers often furnished their apartments with store furniture...) You find how quality of life isn't necessarily related to income. Anyway, keep writing Jack Clark!
Love all the comments on Neil’s page; I just wish there weren’t so many “Anonymous” comments — it’s hard to tell how many actual people are writing.
ReplyDeleteEven leaving your initials would be an improvement IMO.
SandyK
Lenny Kleinfeld
ReplyDelete