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Eric Jerome Dickey is the author of more than 20 novels, as well as a six-issue miniseries of graphic novels featuring Storm (X-Men) and the Black Panther. Originally from Memphis, Tenn., Dickey now lives on the road and rests in whatever hotel will have him. His latest novel, The Blackbirds, is published by Dutton (April 19, 2016).
On your nightstand now:
11.22.63 by Stephen King. I have to read it before watching the series. Books have better detail. I don't need it acted out. LOL. Besides, I am such a slow reader.
Favorite book when you were a child:
The Cay by Theodore Taylor.
"Dis be that outrageous Cay, eh, Timothy?" That hurricane traumatized me as a child. (I will forgive them for making it a sacrificial Negro story.)
The runner up? Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
It makes a major statement about who and what we are, when stripped down to the core. I still remember Piggy. Again, traumatized.
Your top five authors:
Walter Mosley. Stephen King. Harlan Coben. Ed McBain. Colin Harrison.
Honorable mentions: Stieg Larsson, Samuel Dashiell Hammett and about 30 others.
Book you've faked reading:
The Bible. I faked it every Sunday at church when I was a kid in Memphis, Tenn.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley. Actually, the entire series with Easy Rawlins is amazing. The characterization is incredible, and the history of the black man in Los Angeles is on point.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Damage by Josephine Hart. Maybe. I have to think. It's really a hard call, since I usually flip the pages and read a bit before actually buying anything. The cover may have caught my attention, but it's never pulled me to the point of purchase. It's a book. I go for the story. For art, I go to the art store.
Book you hid from your parents:
Why hide a book? That's one step from Fahrenheit 451. (Though if it counts, Playboy, when I was but a pup. And they were well hidden. I still can't find them.)
Book that changed your life:
Three-way tie:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. (Post-college. This one brought me back to pleasure reading.)
Thinner by Stephen King. (That book terrified me.)
It also by Stephen King. (I no longer trust clowns. This was another one that was a nail-biter.)
Favorite line from a book:
"If you didn't want him dead, why you leave him with me?" --Mouse to Easy Rawlins, Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
That is the funniest line I'd heard in a long, long time. You have to know Mouse....
Five books you'll never part with:
Any novel by Ed McBain.
Or the Jesse Stone series by Robert B. Parker.
Or anything by Anaïs Nin.
Or Marguerite Duras's The Lover.
And Notes to Myself by Hugh Prather.
Each writer stimulates my mind in a different way.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
The Green Mile by Stephen King.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.
Henry and June by Anaïs Nin.
It's a three-way tie, what can I say? I loved them all. They are each different styles, genres and voices, and each was magical and took me into their worlds.