Authors J.B. Stevens and Zakariah Johnson discuss the opening for his new novel “Mink: Skinning Time in Wisconsin“.
The First Line is a recurring column by J.B. Stevens. Mystery Tribune readers (you) get an inside look at what goes through the author’s mind as they craft their opening.
For the column, an author presents the initial sentence of their story. Then J.B. writes his impression of the passage. Next, the author discusses what their intent was with the line. To keep it interesting, J.B. writes his section before looking at the author’s description. Finally, you decide: Did the author achieve their goal?
*****
Mink, the first line:
Death and mink are always hungry.
J.B.’s thoughts:
This is short and to the point. I like how death and mink are wrapped up together, it gives mink an ominous tone. Hungry is such a great word. It is common and plain but has strong horror overtones. It hints at desperation and frenzy. I like this line, I would definitely read more. I’m picturing a horror/crime mash-up that is a bit gonzo.
…Zakariah did an outstanding job with his opening…
Zakariah’s goal with the line:
Mink is a very graphic book, and I wanted to get that across from the very first line. And I wanted to tell readers something true about mink, about their insatiable drive to kill anything that moves, even after their needs for nutrition and self-preservation are met.
Killing until there’s nothing left to kill is a trait they share with other members of the weasel family and, of course, with we humans, the real threats in the novel. I used mink behavior as the backdrop to a story about the instincts we share with them, but instincts gone awry. Mink is a crime story, a mystery, and a slasher in which diverse human instincts for survival fall out of balance with reason and succumb to appetite, creating a monster that is always hunting, “always hungry.”
J.B.’s response:
I got exactly what Zakaraih was going for. He did an outstanding job with his opening, and this looks to be a very fun read. I can’t wait to read more.
*****
Synopsis:
It’s 1993, a year of optimism, change, and killer music, when Kees VanSpyker, penniless Gulf War veteran and would-be guitar hero, takes a job with the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) to infiltrate a Wisconsin mink ranch and find out what happened to the last guy they sent there—who subsequently vanished.
Kees just wants to earn enough cash to take his guitar and follow the stampede to Seattle, but “What happened” proves hairier than he bargained for as sinister doings and suspects abound on the ranch, in Madison, and among the ALF members themselves. Kees can’t tell whom to trust as he risks his own skin delving into the grisly business of fur farming and double-crosses in this novel described as The Monkey Wrench Gang meets Psycho.
