Tim Dorsey

Tim Dorsey is a former editor at the Tampa Tribune and author of the novels Florida Roadkill, Hammerhead Ranch Motel, Orange Crush, Triggerfish Twist, The Stingray Shuffle, Cadillac Beach, Torpedo Juice, The Big Bamboo, and Hurricane Punch. His new novel is Nuclear Jellyfish.

He participated in a Powells.com INK Q & A last year when Atomic Lobster, his tenth novel, was released. Part of the interview:

Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage?

Yes. I tracked down the last home of Jack Kerouac in St. Petersburg and collected a baggie of dirt from his yard. Then drove away fast.

True story: found his address in an old phone book in the bowels of the local library — and the directory actually spelled his name "Kerowac." I live for that kind of stuff.

What is your idea of absolute happiness?

This is it. I couldn't write a better job description: travel Florida wherever my curiosity leads me, talk to locals, venture down the most remote back roads. Then come home and weave all the cool things I found — historic, obscure, funky — into seemingly outrageous crime plots that are but thinly veiled reflections of what fills our newspapers down here every day. The books' satire also provides a cathartic vent to keep me sane in my home state, which I love too much to ever leave, while thinking I'm crazy for staying.

Read more of the interview.

Visit Tim Dorsey's website.

The Page 69 Test: Atomic Lobster.

Learn more about Nuclear Jellyfish.

--Marshal Zeringue