The Darrell Bain Interview

When I first started my idea of this blog, I received an email from an interested gentleman who asked me the following:
Do you think anyone would be interested in hearing about the Williard Brothers series of books? Also known as the Medics Wild Series? The books are humor/adventure/suspense/with all except the first having just a tinge of the science fictionish or exotic to them. Surprisingly, judging by the fan mail, the series about the totally macho, politically incorrect brothers and their girl friends is more popular with females readers than males! Anyway, despite my other best sellers, e.g. The Sex Gates, Alien Infection, Strange Valley, the Williard Brothers series has the most devoted fans.

Sure, why not? I replied back. But I think the man who has a lot to say, should say it here. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Darrell Bain, author of several books including one that caught my eye: White Odyssey.

Charles: Mr. Bain, thanks for stopping by. How are you feeling these days?
Darrell: I feel great these days now that I’m retired and can write full time. Or at least sit in front of the computer and pretend to write so Betty doesn’t find some work for me to do.

Charles: I have to admit, when I looked at your site, I didn't know how prolific a author you are. What made you start writing? How are you able to produce one great work after another?
Darrell: I’ve always like to write, but I’m a lazy cuss. It wasn’t until after computers and word processing programs made it so much easier that I really got involved. And I appreciate you calling my work great. I do try hard to write stories I think will interest readers.

Charles: Alright, tell us about the Williard Brothers A.K.A. the Medics Wild series of books? Who are the Williard Brothers and what types of adventures (or misadventures) do they run into like the first book in the series, Postwar Dinosaur Blues?
Darrell: Well, first let’s back up a bit. There’s a prequel, entitled Medics Wild where the Williard brothers are first introduced. It is a fictional account of some of my time in Vietnam. The Williard brothers are loosely based upon myself and my two younger brothers who were there at the same time.
With that clarified, on to Postwar Dinosaur Blues. This book is based on the possibility of a dinosaur like animal named Mokele Mbembe existing in the vicinity of Lake Tele deep in the Congo. My next youngest brother was actually planning on an expedition there and dern near talked me into going. . The financing for the prospective expedition never materialized, which is probably just as well. I hate pith helmets. Anyway, that’s where the idea for the story came from. The Mafia thugs chasing the brothers because of drug money they don’t know they’re carrying added some suspense and humor. The Albatross seaplane is a nifty old bird perfectly suited for the story and the flying prowess of Jason Williard, the middle brother. Some characters based on my daffy brother-in-law and my garage sale happy sister got thrown into the pot as the story materialized. Postwar Dinosaur Blues is pure slap happy adventurism with spills and thrills and lots of fighting and romance and escaping from pygmies and the Mafia and Mokele Mbembe with their girl friends along for the ride. The brothers are totally politically incorrect and simply looking for a way to make money without working after the war is over by selling film rights to the dinosaur, while avoiding being eaten or shot or fed to The Godfather’s pet shark if the drug money isn’t recovered. Oh yes—they have to protect Stowaway, the black cat who comes aboard in the Caribbean on the way to Africa. What happened with all that crazy mix? Ah, you must read to find out. Just a note here. I’ve heard a TV show (the Sopranos?) plays the Mafia thugs for laughs. Shucks, I was doing that when I wrote Postwar before that show was ever thought of.

Charles: How about the second in the series, Strange Valley? What's the premise of that novel?
Darrell: Sorry, Strange Valley is a novel about a group of people discovered in the Ozark Mountains who aren’t exactly like the rest of us. The second in the Williard Brothers series is Bigfoot Crazy. Here, the brothers get in even more trouble. They hate their jobs and the nine to five routine. When one of the brothers is given possible proof that Bigfoot (or possibly an alien from outer space) really exists in the wildest part of the Brooks Mountain Range in Alaska, they decide to find out and possibly win fame and fortune and not have to work any more. Unfortunately for them, the Russians and our own government is also interested because they think the artifact the brothers are carrying belongs to Aliens. And the Mafia returns to action because one of the brothers has taken up with the Godfather’s daughter. A chase ensues that reverberates from Dallas to Canada to Alaska to the Brooks Range where they find that an Eskimo girl ultimately will decide who gets the prize. As usual, the brothers get into numerous jams along the way. This time a Chihuahua (a Chihuahua in Alaska?) rescues them a time or two, but ultimately they have to rely on their own resources.

Charles: Darrell, I hope you don't mind me asking this question, but what was the inspiration for White Odyssey? Does it follow the same theme as the movie White Man's Burden starring John Travota in the 1990's or were you looking for a different angle?
Darrell: Not being a movie-goer, I can’t say if it has the same theme as White Man’s Burden or not. The idea came to me after I had written The Melanin Apocalypse (which will be my first hard cover, coming out this year). That book explored the idea of something not entirely impossible, bioengineered viral agents being used for genocide, this time against the blacks and Arabs of the world. I guess I wanted to write a book showing the opposite side of the coin, where colored people were top dogs.

Charles: Please share with the readers the other fine works you've written in the past. Which one stands out?
Darrell: The Sex Gates has been my most popular works. Personally I like some of my others, like Savage Survival and Alien Infection, pure science fiction, or some of my non-fiction humor, Life On Santa Claus Lane and Doggie Biscuit. Unfortunately, humor doesn’t sell nearly as well as some other genres, but I love doing it. I guess that’s the main reason I put a lot of humor into the Williard Brothers series. The books are suspense/thriller/adventure but with a humorous side. And by the way, the third book is out as an E-book now, Three For The Money. This one sets the stage for them to continue their adventures for many more years to come and is probably the most rambunctious, slam-bang of the books so far, but also has more romance, with Jason, the last unattached brother falling for the woman who intends to kill him. It involves a life extension drug, which was introduced as an author’s trick to keep the series going, but worked far better than I imagined it would. The Pet Plague series is some of my earlier work, but I still like it. In fact, The Pet Plague was my first novel, written almost immediately after getting my first computer. And I’ve written one romance, of sorts, involving a con man and a pure virginal girl, Hotline To Heaven. We’ve mentioned Strange Valley. That was a very popular book (and still is) and fun to write.

Charles: I understand you're a children's author as well. Based on your adult novels, what made you write books for the younger set?
Darrell: I’ve only written one book for children, The Dog Who Thought It Was A Cat and I did it for my grandchildren. Some of my science fiction could be classed as young adult, such as Mindwar and a fan suggested that I turn one of my recent short stories Samantha, about a young girl who can talk to animals, into a children’s book. I may do it, given some free time. I liked writing the story and I have sent it to my print publisher to see if she likes the idea of expanding it into a book for children.

Charles: Let's talk about the fan mail relating the Williard Brothers. How much have you received and what has been the overall response from fans about the series?
Darrell: I don’t keep count of the mail, and only recently started saving some of it.
Here’s an excerpt of one recent letter that really moved me, in response to Medics Wild.
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I did 2 years in Nam, spent too much time outside Saigon, saw too much, became a rabid feminist - couldn't be spoken to for years - finally calmed down enough to earn a living and retired last month. ln all those years I couldn't revisit Nam in any way until your "Medics Wild" turned up on Fictionwise, and that took a month or so to get through even though it's a trance read. It's real but let me laugh, and put some of my own ghosts into the past. I'm grateful to you.
The letter ended with “Thanks again for Medics Wild” *********************************************************** And the following from a fanatic fan who keeps the planes used by the Williards straight for me. This is his suggestion for the next book. I’ve gotten to where I always send him an advance read of flying scenes because if I get anything wrong, he’ll let me know about it!
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Had a thought worthy of Jason... if you use the Albatross, Jas would pay for a nifty conversion, yes? Stock 'tross engines are Wright 1820-80a's, making 1425hp each. A nifty willard-like mod would be to swap these out for Pratt & Whitney R-4360-41 3500hp wasp major engines. (B-29 motors) Speed would only increase 10% or so, but short takeoff,climb,and load carrying ability would be phenomenal!
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And some more samples:
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A few weeks ago I finished Medics Wild. I just wanted to let you know that I loved it. Now, with what's been going on in the world, I'm wondering if I'm going to have my own adventures something like that - I'm an Army Reservist.
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Hi Darrell, just finished your book. I absolutely loved it. Looking forward to the next one. Take care, and keep up the good work. Im going to purchase Joe six-pak, gary said it was very funny. Well have to run, again thanks for the book you made me a fan. Best regards.


Charles: Reading your website, you and your wife have a business based on how you met. How did you two meet and what type of business is it?
Darrell: I noticed Betty when we were both working at the same hospital. It was the Christmas season. I hung a mistletoe up over the lab door where I worked then called her to come “correct a logging entry she had made.” She came running, knowing she hadn’t made any errors and I was waiting. She told me later she would have done better with the kiss if I hadn’t surprised her so much. We were married a year later.
We started our business a few years after that, a Choose and Cut Christmas tree farm, one of the last things I ever thought I would be doing. As it turned out, Betty kept working outside the home to, in her words, “support the farm”. Actually, she wasn’t far wrong. I have several books out about all the boners and escapades from the farm years and we never made a lot of money at it. We finally closed the farm two years ago. We do still live on the road named Santa Claus Lane, though.

Charles: Darrell, how can people reach you if they want to check out the Williard Brothers series, your other works or you personally?
Darrell: My web site http://www.darrellbain.com has a list of all my books, along with some other information, including a monthly newsletter. It also includes a link to my adventurous brother’s web site www.videoexplorers.com . He’s the one the character Jason Williard is based on.

Charles: In closing, does someone like yourself has to be a prolific writer in order to be 'successful', or can they be happy with just the one book they've been dying to write?
Darrell: I guess success is whatever you want to call it. I’m prolific because I love to write, no other reason. Of course I like to make money and would love for one or more of the giant publishers to pick me up but it’s not necessary to be happy. Shucks, I don’t know what we’d do with a bunch of money anyway. We have everything we want, which really isn’t much, except maybe having a giant bookstore right next door.

Charles:Darrell, thank you for contacting me. You're a great writer and I hope the readers find that out by buying one of your books.
Darrell: Thank you. It was a pleasure.