television, comics, literature, and other media. After college, he became a freelance entertainment journalist, writing stories for SYFY WIRE, The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, and Marvel Entertainment.
Weiss's new novel is Sunset Empire, the thrilling alternate history sequel to Beat the Devils.
My Q&A with the author:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Josh Weiss's website.
Believe it or not, you’re only the second person to ask about the meaning behind the title. Alas, I cannot go into too much detail, as it would divulge more than a few crucial plot points. All I can say is that the word “Sunset” connotes a state of decline — both morally and geopolitically. The original title was Empire of the Setting Sun, though it was my brother-in-law (he’s got a PhD in chemistry and is much smarter than I could ever hope to be) who suggested shortening it to the current title. Not only did this shave down the word count for my publisher, but it also had the added benefit of sounding like a true film noir. Thanks for the advice, Rob!
What's in a name?
If you happen to glance at the left-hand corner of the Sunset Empire cover, you’ll see an incredibly humbling blurb from Ian R. MacLeod, Sidewise-Award winning author of Wake Up and Dream (a true work of imaginative genius). I foolishly tried to nab the film rights to it while still in college, but, quite understandably, the publisher didn’t go for my low-ball offer.
Nevertheless, I still had Ian’s email address and reached out to him several years later when it was time to collect promotional blurbs for my own book. He happily obliged and what’s more: he happily obliged again on Book 2! I wanted to acknowledge Ian in my sophomore effort with a small nod to WU&D, which centers around a version of Clark Gable who became a private eye after failing to adapt to the “feelies” (a moviemaking process in which an actor’s raw emotional aura is captured and then projected back to an audience).
The story begins with Gable entering into a dubious partnership with a femme fatale by the name of April Lamotte. Oh, man, “Lamotte” is a surname divinely built for hardboiled fiction, wouldn’t you agree? So, when it became clear Sunset Empire would feature a powerful Los Angeles businessman with potentially shady motivations, I just knew he had to be named “Orson Lamotte,” a hybrid of film noir legend Orson Welles and the seductive April Lamotte.
How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?
If you spoke to the 18-year-old version of Josh studying his butt off for the AP U.S. History exam in 12th Grade, I don’t think he’d be the least bit surprised with the subject material of Beat the Devils and Sunset Empire. As much asI owe my fascination with the past to my father, I’d be remiss not to provide a shoutout to my history teacher in 11th and 12th grade. Mr. Kirzner — whose name you will find prominently featured in the acknowledgements of both books — had the rare gift for bringing history to life through a combination of animated delivery and multimedia aids. Plus, we’d get extra credit for watching movies at home and relating them back to our class via a one-page essay. Dear teachers of the world: take note!
Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?
It really depends, honestly. I often find myself jumping between different parts of a manuscript if certain narrative beats are much stronger in my head than others. Consider it a helpful detour around the dreaded potholes of writer’s block. The first section I ever completed for Sunset Empire was the epilogue — a year or so before I started tackling the rest of the book — because it was so vividly imagined.
Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?
I know this is sort of a cop-out answer, but I’ll have to go with my main character: Jewish homicide detective turned private investigator Morris Baker. He represents an amalgam of several different individuals — my own grandfather, Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Jake Gittes, Rick Deckard, Eddie Valiant, and Indiana Jones — but his personal struggles with faith in the wake of the Holocaust directly reflect my own religious frustrations.
What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?
Movies! Lots and lots of movies. I went to religious day school for most of my life and every morning, we were required to wrap phylacteries and pray. Don’t ask me how — because I’m not even sure myself — but I somehow convinced my teachers I was using my phone to access the prayer text. That was only half-true. Whenever they weren’t looking, I’d begin surfing through Wikipedia and IMDb for cinematic trivia and the latest developments out of Hollywood.
It’s through this clandestine practice that I learned about film noir and the greatest entries of the genre: The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Chinatown. I especially loved the subsection of Neo-noir projects, which combined the classic gumshoe premise with elements of sci-fi and fantasy (think Blade Runner, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Minority Report). All of that came back to me when I sat down to write Beat the Devils and Sunset Empire.
My Book, The Movie: Beat the Devils.
The Page 69 Test: Beat the Devils.
My Book, The Movie: Sunset Empire.
The Page 69 Test: Sunset Empire.
--Marshal Zeringue