#ThisorThatThursday Interview with William Ade (And Nic Knuckles)

I’d like to welcome William Ade to the blog today. His sleuth, Nic Knuckles, filled in for the author and provided the responses to my This or That Thursday questions.

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: “Not much to say. Nic Knuckles is a big city private eye with a boatload of heartbreak, traversing the universe in pursuit of justice for the little guy.”

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: “Death scene investigations involving cat ladies who cared for more than a dozen felines.”

Favorite snacks: “Maybe the discovery of fire and the invention of the wheel helped humans evolve from hunter-gathers to on-line shoppers, but Nic Knuckles believes we only truly became the apex mammal with the innovation of multiple varieties of cheese.”

Things that make you want to gag: “Nic Knuckles suffers an upset stomach if someone hovers over me while I eat. It probably started when I was a newborn, and my mother gave the wet nurse only five minutes to feed me. ‘I ain’t payin’ for no fat baby,’ she’d yell, if the woman went into overtime.”

Something you’re really good at: “Nic Knuckles is built to locate slippery people, the neutrinos of human misery, men and women, boys and girls, cats and dogs living in the shadows.”

Something you’re really bad at: “Nic Knuckles is bad at making my mother happy. Even though she’s promised to dance on my grave more than once, I know she'd be sad if something fatal happened to me. Her grief would be even greater after learning I'd removed her as my life insurance beneficiary.”

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: “When Nic Knuckles was a second grader, my dream was to be a third grader. Crazy huh?”

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: “Nic Knuckles has had more than a few destitute clients over the years, like the man who lived in a chicken coop. He couldn’t pay me in cash, so I took eggs, lots and lots of eggs.”

Last best thing you ate: “Nic Knuckles is munching a nice gorgonzola as he types in these answers. I’ll probably switch to a sharp cheddar after I ship these answers off to Heather. Can’t get anymore last than that.”

Last thing you regret eating: “Nic Knuckles avoids drinking alcohol, although a beer or two was consumed during a recent case. Drinking was necessary to blend in with an unsavory crowd at a college sorority kegger. I think it was Gamma Ramma Mamma, or something like that. Some girl was pledging and her parents hired me to investigate if it was a safe environment. I went undercover and survived to the last day of Rush Week before getting tipsy and kicked out.”

Things to say to an author: “Where can I back up my truck full of money and exchange it for a truck full of your book?”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I won a free copy of your book as part of a Goodreads Giveaway and it’s now three hundred and twentieth on my bedside table. I’ll get to your review in 2044.”

Favorite places you’ve been: “Kleinstadt, Indiana. The town had a Main Street, that once hosted fine family restaurants, a movie theater, and two department stores, now gave up the space to taverns, tattoo emporiums, and consignment shops. Some said Kleinstadt was a busted, rundown little burg full of broken, rundown people, and it was, but I solved a fifteen-year-old murder case while working for a mysterious client who paid really well. Best of all, it’s the location of my first novel, Big Scream in a Small Town, available now, and probably in your favorite book store’s remanded bin by July.”

Places you never want to go to again: “I'd never forget that night in Hoboken, New Jersey, when I stumbled upon a one-eyed drug dealer with a Mexican Chihuahua named Needles. Sorry, Heather, I really don’t want to talk about it.”

Favorite things to do: “Nic Knuckles, is dedicated to that lady in the nightgown. The one with the bandana tied over her eyes, holding the scales high above her head. Pursuing justice is my favorite thing to do, followed closely by the Art of Cheese Festival held each September in Madison, Wisconsin.”

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: “Actually, Nic Knuckles likes snacking on roasted bugs.”

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: “There's a thin purple scar riding across Nic Knuckles’ chest that I acquired years ago while doing something daring. I was undercover at the Little Pee Wee Preschool at 73rd Avenue and 188th in Queens. Her name was Penny, and she had an outsized temper at four years of age. Yeah, she came at me with scissors when I interrupted her naptime. She had to have been eating paste or something to act so crazy.”

Something you chickened out from doing: “Hiking in the woods. You see, being a big city guy, walking in a forest always made Nic Knuckles nervous. Pigeons, rats and squirrels, I understood, but those trolls and fairies creeping about the forest, ready to do something unnatural to you, were terrifying. The sooner we paved over Mother Nature, the safer I'd feel.”

The funniest thing that happened to you on vacation: “Nic Knuckles is a hard-boiled private eye. Hard boiled private eyes don’t go on vacations. They experience extended periods of having no clients. I once vacationed four months without any compensated sleuthing.”

The most embarrassing thing that happened to you on a vacation: “She was a blind date I took on a cruise up the Hudson River. Her name was Shelia and she must've stood five foot ten, and then, throwing in those four-inch heels, she towered over me. But she didn't seem to care, so Nic Knuckles didn't either. That good night kiss, however, ruined it. She closed her eyes and puckered, so I did the same and went in for the smooch. Dang, I reached up but still planted my lips on her throat.”

The most exciting thing about your writing life: “Being interviewed by Heather Weidner. When it comes to clever plots, engaging characters, vivid settings, and tight fluid writing, Heather is the complete package. To be a guest on her blog has Nic Knuckles kvelling.”

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life: “Secured all the rights to the name, Harry Potter.”

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “You’re so much taller in person than how I envisioned while reading about you.”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “Wouldn’t it make more sense to get a suspect talking like a parrot, rather than singing like a canary?”

About Nic Knuckles:

Nic Knuckles was born and raised in the New York City borough of Queens. His mother single-handily raised Nic and his three incorrigible sisters, as their father preferred fast women and slow ponies. Nic achieved perfect attendance while in elementary school and was a proud graduate of Bernie Madoff Secondary.

While never marrying, Nic has had a long string of failed romances, including Olga the Pole Dancer; Magee and her pet chimpanzee, Chopper; Tilly the Language Impaired City Bus Driver; Lucy Long Legs; Wobbly Peg; Sheila, Rosie, Lulu the Human Hermit Crab; Weepy Wilma; Mabel; Tina the Tease; Madam Vue Due; Eldora; Hannah the Sociopathic Phone Solicitor; and Bubbles.

Nic opened his detective agency, Knuckles Investigation, in 2008.

The novel, Big Scream in a Small Town was published by Level Best Books in early 2024. Nic’s follow up novel, Big Scream in a Wee Village, should be out early 2025.

Let’s Be Social:

Facebook: nicknucklesprivateye@gmail.com

Tiktok,com/@nic.knuckles

YouTube: https://www.youtube@nicknucklesPrivateEye

Instagram: NicKnucklesPI

#WriterWednesday Interview with William Ade

I’d like to welcome author, William Ade, to the blog this week for #WriterWednesday.

A few of your favorite things: At my age, I'm trying to declutter to the essential favorite things. My mom's dance trophy from 1936 reminds me of her energy and over-the-top personality. My dad's WWII dog tags reflect his steadfastness and old fashion values. My box of race medals might tell me of my slowly ebbing vitality, but their real value is the memories of running with my sisters, nephew, and brother-in-law.

Things you need to throw out: Old letters and personal memorabilia that would make zero sense to my kids. Why should I pass on boxes of my junk when I have boxes of their stuff they'll need to clear out of the house? I should consult with Marie Kondo, I guess.

Things you need for your writing sessions: An early start. If I can be at the keyboard within thirty minutes of waking up, my writing flows and edits come effortlessly. It seems after being awake a few hours, life gets in my head and slows me down.

Things that hamper your writing: A rejection email knocks me back a few hours, but less so than in the early days. Sometimes, I’ll reread something I’d written a few weeks ago and thought was brilliant, only to realize it stinks. I’m too discouraged to write after that and will go off to do something requiring minimal skills to be successful, like pulling weeds.

Hardest thing about being a writer: The rejection and self-doubt make it hard at times. Even when friends tell me they love my story, I wonder, “Are they only being nice?” I don’t know what came first, the paranoia or the writing?

Easiest thing about being a writer: Coming up with new ideas. Everything and everyone has a story I could tell. I won’t live long enough to build out all the stories I have in my head.

Something you like to do: I want to drop my inhibitions, cut loose and belt out a song.

Something you wish you’d never done: Loudly singing when someone walked into the room.

Last best thing you ate: A perfectly ripe mango.

Last thing you regret eating: That third, perfectly ripe mango.

The last thing you ordered online: Three books on the craft of writing that I then distilled down to six, two-sided pages of notes.

The last thing you regret buying: I bought three types of hummingbird feeders that attracted no birds but caught the attention of an army of ants.

Things you always put in your books: References that only close friends or family would recognize.

Things you never put in your books: I avoid writing about politics or religion. I don't want my readers to be distracted. I avoid discussing those topics with people in general, so why risk setting off a reader.

Things to say to an author: “I found the characters believable.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I found a typo.”

Favorite places you’ve been: New Zealand, most of Italy, and Iceland.

Places you never want to go to again: Jamaica – I couldn’t ignore the poverty.

Most embarrassing moment: Oh sure, like I’m going to share my most humiliating behavior in a public forum. Ha! Nice try, Heather. How about this one? Years ago, my family was on vacation in Scotland, and I needed clean socks. I sink-washed some big white tube socks, but by morning, they were still wet. My wife was irritated. I said, "Not to worry. I'll lay them out in the rear window of the hatchback. The sun will dry them." My wife feared public embarrassment. I replied, "We're in a foreign country. No one knows us." Of course, you know what's coming. Two days later, we're lunching a hundred miles away and started a conversation with two Americans. We shared experiences when the woman said, "We saw a car in Sterling, with socks drying in the rear window." I think they were more embarrassed when we admitted that the car belonged to us.

Proudest moment: My son was a five-year-old performing in a children's theatre production. As the show continued, I noticed him bouncing from foot-to-foot. Oh, no, he had to use a toilet. The play went on and on and finally, the dam burst and the front of his pants darkened. When the performance ended, I whisked him to the bathroom to clean up. I told him how proud I was of him, that he stayed on stage and didn’t let down his fellow actors. He never mentioned wetting his pants.

About William:

Bill Ade took up writing in earnest upon his retirement from the telecommunications industry in 2015. He grew up in small-town Indiana in the fifties and sixties, and those influences show up in many of his stories and characters. He lives with his wife of forty-one years (and counting) outside of Washington, DC, in Burke, Virginia. His son is a filmmaker in LA, and his daughter works in the non-profit field in Baltimore. Both children continue to be an inspiration for his stories. Of course, he has the mandatory writer’s cat inconveniently walking across his keyboard most days.

His monthly blog is at Eclectic Stories for the Humans

 Ade’s current novel, Art of Absolution, is a story where sins of the past refuse to stay buried, and a child's curiosity risks destroying two families. It's been called a great book club read, as good people are put in difficult moral and ethical positions to protect their loved ones.