F. James Greco is a San Diego author who says he relies on his Italian-American ancestry and experience as a journalist to help mold his historical fiction. For this interview, the former teacher, attorney, self-described “belly-button” guitar player talked about his newest release, “Jerkwater Town,” what drove him to write it, and his “almost” musical career.
“From my days as a fledgling reporter until now,” said Greco, “I’ve been obsessed with picking at scars and scouring the underbelly to uncover dirty secrets of the rich and powerful often ignored or glossed over by local media. For this reason, my stories arise from factual incidents that reveal truths politicians and flack artists would rather keep hidden. My heroes and heroines become the tools for revelation and reexamination.”
In “Jerkwater Town,” a Mafia boss is gunned down in cold blood as he walks down a San Diego street. Greco bills the book as, “Why you should care.” The book interweaves historical events with the present. The story unfolds when an investigative reporter partners with an unlikely associate to find out who committed the crime.
Greco said the idea for the book came from several sources. For instance, he knew that civic leaders in Spokane and San Diego adopted ordinances to ban free speech in the early 1900s. He said, “It was an attempt to squelch labor. Also, civic leaders in both cities became rich and powerful through bootlegging during Prohibition, and the Mafia played a greater role in the evolution of both communities than the chambers of commerce would acknowledge.”
San Diego and Spokane, though separated by more than 1,300 miles, bear a common history said Greco. “I began with the premise that public figures and their minions in San Diego and Spokane have successfully painted their jurisdictions as ‘the Finest City’ populated by ‘Children of the Sun.’ I call this a travel brochure fantasy of Potemkin Villages that obscures strikingly similar corruption, crime, and malfeasance shared by the two cities.”
With a premise in mind and a desire to bring back some of the main characters from his first historical novel, Greco set about writing “Jerkwater Town.” These days, Greco focuses on more than just writing. He said, “I love all forms of music and have become obsessed with learning to play guitar. My native Italian great uncle, a capable musician and restaurant owner in Vancouver, B.C., gave me my first guitar, a beaten-up no-name with a cracked face. I should have seen that as an omen.”
In his early teens, Greco took guitar lessons from a teacher he said, “Spent two-thirds of my session telling dirty jokes and the rest giving me homework assignments consisting of unfathomable closed-chord progressions.” He said that when a pretty hippy girl moved next door and taught him to strum folk and rock tunes, he regained his enthusiasm. “I was foolish enough to believe a tone-deaf kid could warble like a canary. But, I was sure my wafer-thin guitar repertoire would impress my friends.”
During his freshman year in college, Greco’s dorm roommate was a music major. Greco said that his roommate had never played a guitar, asked to try his, and mastered it within a month. The experience crushed his musical aspirations at the time. “I never touched a guitar again until a few years ago, when my family surprised me with a Fender and a practice base.”
Greco noted that his former roommate went on to become a great classical guitarist. He said, “I, on the other hand, have mastered the belly-button-picking school of playing—the less informed would refer to this school as ‘air guitar.’ The methodology does nothing to further my ability to play an instrument, but does insure that I never miss a note.”
On a serious note, Greco added, “Justice and fairness serve as my primary guiding principles. I pride myself in being open-minded, while detesting bigotry, racism, and cruelty in all of their forms. My writing credo: stick to the facts; they play better in the end than illusion and magical thinking.”
For more information
Learn more about F. James Greco on his website at www.fjamesgreco.com.
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