Manny Vassey, my dying mobster from SMALL CRIMES, first appeared in one of my very early short stories TRIPLE CROSS, and instead of being from my fictional Bradley, Vermont, this version of Manny is from Chicago. Here's a short excerpt that shows Manny's first appearance in Triple Cross:
They tied me to the table,
securing the wire through the steel rings. They then left me alone. Shortly
after that, a wide heavyset man entered the room. He was wearing a purple
running suit and about five pounds of gold chains, and had a broad smile
stretched across his face. His complexion reminded me of chipped glass. The
other two men joined him. One of them was carrying a large metal case. I heard
the heavyset man addressed as Manny Vassey.
The idea of Junior's playroom from SMALL CRIMES also first surfaced in this story. For some reason I liked Manny enough to include him in two more of my early stories: NEXT TIME and NOTHING BUT JERKS. Years later when I wrote SMALL CRIMES, I brought Manny back--really two versions of him--a sick and dying version, and the way he was from these early stories, except I made this version his son, Junior. In a way, I now had two Manny's for the price of one!
And if you've seen the movie, and you're wondering what happens in Junior's playroom, here's an excerpt from the book that will give you an idea:
Dan stopped to
push a hand through his hair and scratch the back of his head. When he looked
back at me, he gave me a faint, almost apologetic smile.
“Let me tell you
about this special room he built,” he continued. “This college kid up in
Burlington was supposedly manufacturing and distributing crystal meth without
Junior’s blessing. A few months ago this kid disappears without a trace, and
then a rumor starts circulating about Junior’s special room and how Junior had
this college kid brought there and tied to the butcher’s table. According to
the rumor, Junior chopped the kid up with a meat cleaver and burned the body parts
in the furnace. I had to investigate it. Even though I knew it could end up
biting me in the ass with Manny, I had to look into it. So I got a search
warrant and sure enough I found a soundproof room with nothing in it but a
butcher’s table and a furnace. Forensics went over it with a fine tooth comb
but Junior must have scrubbed it clean.”
I sold my 3rd novel Small Crimes to
Serpent’s Tail in 2006. Back then we had a different publishing and book world.
Hell, ebooks didn’t exist, self-publishing was a dirty word, and it was chain
stores putting pressure on independent bookstores, not Amazon. When I was first
starting out, I was writing crime noir, then later horror and books that were a
mix of horror and crime. All standalones. During this strange journey, I’ve been
reviewed in major newspapers, both in the US and abroad. I’ve seen my books
translated into six languages, and one of them made into a movie. 
Now in 2017, I’ve just seen my second Morris Brick thriller
and 13th traditionally-published novel, CRAZED, be released. There’s
not much chance I would’ve been able to write this series when I was first
starting out. As long as you’re trying, you can’t help but grow as a writer,
and that’s a big part of the reason. My publisher requires these Morris Brick
thrillers to be at least 90k words long, which means I need to be able to
outline plots where I know how long the book will be while not adding any fat
or filler. The books need to be fast, and the complex puzzles I’m constructing
need to tightly fit together regardless of the word length. That’s a skill that
takes time to learn. Also, I understand the business side much better than when
I started. If you’re writing a series, you need to play by a certain set of
rules. It doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, or you’re not proud of the books—because
I’m damn proud of these Morris Brick thrillers—it just means you’re more aware
of writing within the genre’s boundaries.
