Johnny Shaw on Late Night
Johnny Shaw
On Wednesday September 28, 2011, 8pm-11pm/PST we are happy to have author Johnny Shaw as our guest on Swoop’s World Late Night. After Johnny, we’ll be taking on all topics, and of course our regular Brewskis, sports, and any other news of the day segments. Tune in at Swoopsworld.com.
Johnny Shaw was born and raised on the Calexico/Mexicali border, the setting for his novel, DOVE SEASON. Although he has been writing for over twenty years, it took that same amount of time for him to finally revisit and explore the people and places of the Imperial Valley, California. He was a finalist for the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Award for Dove Season.
Johnny received his MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA and over the course of his writing career has seen his screenplays optioned, sold and produced. As a playwright, his stage collaborations with actor Jaime Arze, NATURAL ACTS and A GOOD KIND OF CRAZY, have been performed throughout Los Angeles.
For the last ten years, Johnny has taught screenwriting. He has lectured at both Santa Barbara City College and UC Santa Barbara.
He is the owner of Johnny’s Used Books, formerly a brick-and-mortar bookstore in Los Angeles, now entirely online.
Johnny lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, artist Roxanne Patruznick.
About DOVE SEASON by Johnny Shaw:
After ten years of coasting through life on a wave of good intentions and bad decisions, Jimmy Veeder returns to the Imperial Valley—a parched sprawl of alfalfa fields and yucca-dotted desert, as well as a hotbed for occasionally legal Mexican border crossings. Back home to see his ailing father Big Jack one last time, Jimmy establishes himself as a magnetically likeable narrator and hero who would rather use his lightning sense of humor than his six-foot-four physique to defend himself. At his father’s bedside Jimmy receives a peculiar request from the dying man: Cross the border into the lawless town of Mexicali, locate a specific prostitute named Yolanda, bring her back to Big Jack’s room, and leave for three hours. Not wanting to deny his old man one last thrill, Jimmy asks no questions and embarks for Mexico. Watching his back is childhood best friend Bobby Maves—a beer-swilling vato loco with a talent for starting (and winning) fistfights. A few bribes and brawls later they accomplish their mission and deliver Yolanda to Big Jack. Days later Jimmy wakes up with the hangover of a lifetime to find Yolanda’s corpse floating at the bottom of a cistern. No one has any idea what happened. Jimmy and Bobby’s search for answers drags them into the depths of the Mexican criminal underworld, where they learn that Yolanda’s visit to Big Jack may not have been solely for pleasure. Fueled by cerveza, tequila, and the relentless desire to make things right, Jimmy and Bobby navigate an increasingly treacherous landscape of vice and vengeance with a deadly gangster closing in on their trail.
