Mark Reps, author of ZEB HANKS: Small Town Sheriff Big Time Trouble series interviewed by Lisa Vehrenkamp
Lisa: Let's talk a little bit about your writing influences before we start talking about Sheriff Zeb Hanks.
Mark: Certainly. Like all writers I have had many people influence my writing.
L: Who first inspired you to write?
M: I have been writing and collecting my writings since 6th grade. Our teacher, Mrs. Blakeslee, had a profound impact on many of us regarding the importance of writing. We read and performed a play based on Tom Sawyer and wrote about what we learned that year. Naturally, as with any young boy, I found that Mark Twain understood what was in my brain.
L: So you give credit to Mrs. Blakeslee and Mark Twain for your interest in writing.
M: Yes. Mrs. Blakeslee also had us write a letter to someone that year to practice our writing. It was supposed to be to a friend in the class, but I I wasn't paying attention and thought we were supposed to write to someone famous. So I wrote a poem to President Kennedy. His staff actually responded.
L: Do you remember the poem?
M: I have a copy somewhere, but I remember a few of the lines. It went a bit like this: JFK has bushy hair, he also rocks in a rocking chair. He graduated from Harvard College, where he received a lot of knowledge (I don't remember the next few stanzas) He asks us all to be physically fit, so let's all exercise and not just sit. That's about all I remember. I got a nice letter back that said President Kennedy had read my poem and enjoyed it.
L: Any other great influencers to your writing?
M: Longfellow, Tennyson and Wordsworth in 10th grade English class with Bob Shedeen as my teacher. He showed me that there was much more to writing than stringing a bunch of words together. I think the poem, Flower in a Crannied Wall, changed my life by making me realize just how broad and expansive a few words can really be.
L: Let's talk about Zeb Hanks and his origins. Is Zeb Hanks based on a real person?
M: Perhaps obtusely, but mostly not. Zeb is a fictional composite of how I felt about many different people I have interacted with. One of his fictional roots is based vaguely on a local policeman who used to sit outside my house when I was a child in front of a sign that read, quite ominously, RADAR PATROLLED. I used to take the policeman and his partner cookies from my neighbor, Hilda Fenstermacher, and talk with them about criminals. Neither were anything like Zeb, but they were my first interaction with law enforcement professionals. Secondarily, I once met the Sheriff of Graham County, AZ, quite by accident.
L: How did that happen?
M: My wife and I were on vacation in Safford, AZ. We were exploring, looking to find some ancient Indian ruins. We had rented a car that couldn't travel the back roads very well. Long story short, we had to park it in the ditch and walk the last three miles to the ruins on foot. We saw a truck stop by our abandoned vehicle. I assumed someone was going to break in. It turned out it was the local sheriff checking on some BLM land he rented and grazed cattle on. He was with his son, the local chiropractor, and his grandson. We hopped a ride for a couple of miles. We chatted it up, got to know them and they invited us over for steak and beer that night.
L: I bet that was interesting.
M: His stories gave me a whole new perspective on what it meant to be a small town sheriff. He opened my eyes to what a sheriff does and how reliant the people of a rural county are on their sheriff. I have yet to use any of the tales he shared, but one day I might fictionalize some parts of his stories.
L: Would you call Zeb a flawed character?
M: He's very human and therefore he is flawed. I think his flaws are what makes him learn and what makes him a great sheriff. I prefer understanding and dealing with Zeb's flaws as opposed to his perfections. He, like all of us, becomes a better person from his mistakes. In his fictional life he has to confront not only the problems of others, but his own issues.
L: And he does have issues.
M: Yes, he does. He comes out of an abusive background. He was more influenced by former Sheriff Jake Dablo and Medicine Man Jimmy Song Bird than he was by his own father, at least in the positive sense.
Lisa: We were talking about Zeb's flawed character and the people who influenced him. You imply his father was a bad influence, or at least not a positive one.
Mark: Zeb's father physically and emotionally abused him throughout his life. His father favored his brother, who turned out to be a criminal. His father also abused Zeb's mother.
L: What sort of relationship did Zeb have with his mother?
M: His mother tried to protect him while protecting herself. She exposed him to different things that personally helped her and inadvertently broadened the tracks of his mind.
L: Can you give me an example?
M: The Hanks' family appeared to be typical Mormons. Mrs. Hanks withdrew from Mormonism at times and sought religion through tent ministries. She even went as far as taking Zeb to snake handling ceremonies and got him involved with that end of the religious experience. This influenced Zeb a great deal.
L: I imagine it would. What else did his mother do to protect Zeb? M: She allowed her sister, Helen Nazelrod, to keep Zeb for extended periods of his youth when things were particularly bad at home. Helen became very protective of Zeb.
L: Is this the same Helen Nazelrod who is Zeb's secretary?
M: Yes. She still protects him, as you well know if you have read the series. He keeps an eye out for her as well. They maintain a very close relationship and have a funny little thing between them. She snoops and listens in to his official business at the sheriff's office, and he tries to minimize that, except when it might benefit him in solving a case. Helen is a busy body in a good way.
L: Who else had a large influence on Zeb's way of thinking, his actions, his being, his soul, his spirit, etc?
M: When Zeb reached the point in his life where he began making his own decisions, Apache Medicine Man Jimmy Song Bird entered his life and took him under his wing.
L: Can you tell us a little about the relationship between Zeb and Medicine Man Jimmy Song Bird?
M: Song Bird is one of those people you would call an ancient soul. He was blessed to be born wise. He has used the gift of spirit as a medicine man. He first noticed Zeb as a young kid riding his bike around town. Jimmy Song Bird could immediately tell Zeb had an injured spirit. Through a series of events, including Zeb's first understanding of crime, they become closer. Song Bird is Zeb’s constant teacher. Over decades Song Bird continues to teach Zeb about the world, Native American traditions, especially Apache ways, astronomy and life in general. He is the perfect mentor for Zeb.
L: The perfect mentor? What does that mean?
M: Zeb is a man, just a man, but he is also the sheriff. His job and his life are full of mistakes, regrets and errors. At the same time he is an excellent law man who helps many people. Because Song Bird understands his own imperfections and that existence is more than just the world we live in and see on a daily basis, he helps Zeb work through his own mistakes and imperfections. He makes no harsh demands on Zeb, but tries to teach him the best ways, which can sometimes be harsh.
L: Is Song Bird meant to be magical?
M: It's complicated. He knows many things of this world and other worlds, but he doesn't view any knowledge he has as magical. He sees the world through practical eyes and wants to help Zeb see the world as it really is. He does not force his consciousness on Zeb, nor does he want Zeb to mimic his. Song Bird tries to help Zeb recognize his own consciousness and conscience.
L: How did Zeb and Song Bird begin and establish their life long relationship?
M: The beginning of their relationship has not yet been fully explored in the books. I can tell you that Song Bird saw Zeb riding his bike late one night and witnessed a troubled soul. The full extent of that interaction will be included in book 10 of the series. I see book 10 as the ultimate back story for Zeb. In that book the readers will get a chance to see the roots of what brought Zeb to where he is today.
L: You also mention Jake, former county sheriff and now one of Zeb's deputies, as an influencer of Zeb.
M: Yes, Jake Dablo taught Zeb how to be a law man. Before the series began, Zeb was originally a deputy to Jake. Jake couldn't solve the ritualistic murder of his granddaughter, which is the basis of the story for book 1, NATIVE BLOOD. This drove him to drink. He became a drunk, quit his duties as sheriff and Zeb took over and eventually won the next election. By the time NATIVE BLOOD occurs, Jake has sobered up and ends up working as Zeb's deputy.
L: How has Jake influenced Zeb, other than Zeb working as his deputy?
M: Much of this is also explained in book 10, which goes back to Zeb's childhood. The crime that Zeb witnesses involves both Song Bird and Jake. What happens on a 4th of July when Zeb is around 10 years old dramatically changes his life as well as his brother's life. Jake and Song Bird are longtime friends, dating back to their youths. Both have a keen interest in astronomy which is a common bond for teaching Zeb. Both men recognize that Zeb and his brother are not being properly raised by their father and, as is typical in a small town, just sort of naturally step in to help Zeb learn how to become a good person.
L: Do Jake and Song Bird instruct Zeb in the same manner?
M: No, not really. Both men have their own beliefs, mannerisms and way of doing things. Song Bird, an Apache, sees the world through that set of eyes. Jake, a local small town guy who has never left town except for a stint in the army, has the local White way of viewing the world. In his youth Jake was a rough and tumble character. In middle age he was a drunk, and now he has mellowed into the more experienced law man who has seen the world from different sides. He has an eclectic view of the world that is decidedly different than Song Bird's, yet both men join together throughout the entirety of Zeb's life and certainly in all of the books in the series to influence Zeb.
Thank you Lisa for the interview. Book 7 of the series, NATIVE EARTH, will be out in spring of 2017. Books 8 and 9 will come out in 2018 and 2019. Book 10 is due out in 2020.