Q&A with Gabriel Valjan, The Naming Game
By
Kathryn Gandek-Tighe
Posted: 2019-06-18T13:15:00Z
Gabriel Valjan's is the author of THE COMPANY FILES 2: THE NAMING GAME, whichwas published in May by Winter Goose Publishing, and a member of Sisters in Crime New England. Have questions or thoughts to share with him? Leave a comment!
Is there a setting in your book that you would like to visit?
The Chateau Marmont appears in the distance during a dinner scene in The Naming Game. The hotel is steeped in lore for infamous parties and misdeeds. I’d love to spend time there, although I couldn’t afford to venture beyond the bar and lobby.
What was the most interesting thing you learned writing the book?
Several items:
- Senator Joseph McCarthy was neither a member of the House of un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) nor did he or HUAC blacklist anyone. Numerous Hollywood studios, for example, blacklisted actors, writers, and others in the entertainment industry.
HUAC persisted for decades until it was dissolved in 1975.
- The novel discusses Loyalty Oaths as a condition of employment. The practice was mostly abolished by the Seventies, although the state of Arizona still maintains the practice and requires all state employees to sign an oath of loyalty to the country and the state.
- Executive Order 9066, which allowed for the incarceration of Californian and Hawaiian Japanese in 1942, was rescinded with a presidential apology in 1976, but the Order, along with the Palmer Raids in 1919, set the precedent for contemporary ICE raids and deportations without due process.
- The Burbank Strike, alluded to in the novel, was the bloodiest labor strike in Hollywood history and the repercussions from it changed how labor unions would function within the Hollywood studio system to this day.
What meal and drink do you think would pair well with your book?
The American culinary scene during the Fifties was not a high point in the nation’s history. If there was any sophistication, it owed itself to the influence of French cuisine. In all fairness, the food shortages from WW2 could explain the dearth of fine dining. Since the Naming Game spends a fair amount of time on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank, I’d enjoy a meal across the street, at The Smokehouse Restaurant (4420 Lakeside Drive).
What is the hardest part of writing a book?
The most challenging aspect of writing a book that involves a niche slice of history is to get all your facts right. The Naming Game takes place in a city notorious for its ephemeral landscape, so it was incumbent upon me to convey historical accuracy. I had to check and double-check details on people, places, names, dates, roads, and movie dates. I think I did a good job.
Were there indispensable people without whom you couldn’t have written the book?
I hope that readers know that a book is the sum of several parts. A writer and editor are partners in creation. While a writer is responsible for the vision we call Story, there are proofreaders and an editor who help perfect and shape the final product. Proofreaders read for grammar and hunt for typos, and they reappear on the last shift, prior to publication, when galleys are made available. They see what the writer cannot see. Likewise, an editor is like a doctor while reading, checking the health of each scene, each character and subplot because writers cannot get outside of their own head. Editors listen while the story breathes. They’ll assess and diagnose, asking ask questions before they offer a choice of solutions to problems. A writer who is fortunate to have a good relationship with a publisher is a partner in the cover art. I’ve been fortunate to have that luck. I make it a point to thank everyone in my team in the Acknowledgments.
Gabriel Valjan is the author of the Roma Series and The Company Files with Winter Goose Publishing. His stories have been included in several publications, including Level Best Anthologies. Gabriel lives in Boston’s South End, and he attends New England Crime Bake, Bouchercon, and Malice Domestic conferences.