PART 2 – 2ND INTERVIEW WITH DERRICK HOFFMAN — MY CRIMES MAGAZINE — EDITOR

DH: All right, Janson, we’re back for Part Two.

JM: Nice to be back, Derrick.

DH: So now that Mask of Bone is on the shelves, how does it feel to be the author of a crime trilogy? Not just one book, but three?

JM: Relieved. Writing the third book was very stressful. I had to tie in everything from the second book into a nice tight bundle, round it back to the original book, and have it all make sense. But I’m happy with the ending. I think it came out all right.

DH: That it did. Very tense scenes with both the chase through the Belgian countryside, and then with Cale returning back to Green Bay . . . everything seemed to come full circle for him, didn’t it?

JM: That’s what you hope for. Beginning, middle, end . . . that sort of thing. Just like real life. But it was a very exhaustive trip for Cale, as well as for the writer. (laughs) So now we’ll hope Cale can get back to normal. Although as readers will know, he still has a few irons in the fire to deal with.

DH: I won’t give anything away, but you’re talking about with Maggie, right?

JM: She will be the primary source of his “issues” in the fourth installment. I think as a couple they will grow stronger together from this whole experience.

DH: So there’s the news, right? That there will be a fourth book coming out? Anytime soon?

JM: Well, it’ll be awhile, I’m afraid. I’m formulating the plot now. I had to take some time off from the three-part story and do something completely different.

DH: That brings me to your upcoming book. I’ve read some of the chatter. This is a departure from Detective Cale Van Waring and the crew, right?

JM: Yes. The new book should be out in February, the end of. Hopefully. I mentioned it before, it’s called Shoot For the Stars.

DH: That’s the one that won the award, right? In Writer’s Digest? I saw it listed.

JM: Yes. Last December’s issue—the one with George Martin on the cover. Author of The Game of Thrones. I felt honored to be in his presence, even though we weren’t in reality. But yeah, Shoot For the Stars finished seventh nationally in the screenplay category. It’s a work of historical fiction set mostly in Green Bay.

DH: Historical fiction. Interesting. That’s where you take real people from the past, right, and fictionalize their lives into a story?

JM: Essentially, yes. I took a number of old football players, Curly Lambeau, Jim Crowley, Tom Hearden, Johnny Blood McNally . . . and also Dominic Olejniczak—he played a very big role—and put them into a story where we can follow their lives from the early years going forward. The foundation of the Green Bay Packers, on into the Depression and then the War Years.

DH: Excellent. So it’s not going to be a run of the mill football story?

JM: No. As you know from my first three books, all of my stories are character driven. But this story, Shoot For the Stars, is pretty much my dad’s story from when he was growing up.

DH: Yes. You told me. And your father—Al Mancheski—is still alive and kicking, correct?

JM: He’ll be 93 in February. When the book comes out. And as a birthday present, I listed him as a co-author of the story. I think that’s better than simply dedicating the book to him.

DH: Very cool. I’m sure he’s getting a kick out the whole process.

JM: Yes, he’s griping about everything, but when you’re over 90 I think you’ve got license to be a little cantankerous now and then. The latest thing now is getting his photo taken for the book cover.

DH: (Laughs) OK, Janson, anything else you’d like to add before we sign off here?

JM: Just to thank all the people who’ve read the first three books. And have given me support to keep on going. I used to read that it took writers three to five books being published, before a writer began to achieve any success.

DH: Kind of like singers, I guess. It takes about three or four hit albums before people begin to take them seriously.

JM: In my own case, it’ll probably take about ten. But time will tell, I guess.

DH: Excellent. What that means is with four books published, you’ll still have six more to go before you’re not too famous to do these interviews with me.

JM: (Laughs) I’ll never be that famous, Derrick. You know that.

DH: Awwww.