Talk to Me
I’m a Chicago guy who doesn’t live in Chicago anymore. I grew up on the North Side of the city and rooted for the baseball team that plays on the South Side. Life is full of contradictions.
I’ve always been a reader, and that led me to become a writer. Also, my dad used to tell me bedtime stories when I was little. He didn’t read books to me; he just spun the stories out of thin air. Talk about a lifetime influence. My mom was my first editor. When I was in the fourth grade, I wrote a school paper about our family dog. Mom read it and said, “Try to be a little more imaginative in your writing,” I’ve done my best to follow that guideline ever since.
I got my first writing job at a big Chicago ad agency. I also toiled in the ad mines of Honolulu and Los Angeles. I wrote a bunch of screenplays in L.A. and had one of them optioned by 20th Century Fox. I also wrote my first published novel in the City of Angels. Moving back to the Midwest, I got my first hardcover novel deal — writing two titles for Bantam Books.
Now, my wife and I are the co-publishers of Stray Dog Press, Inc. We have 30+ titles on Amazon and the plan is to keep writing and publishing until my well of imagination runs dry. That doesn’t look to happen anytime soon.
— Joe
Jim McGill Series
When McGill was formally introduced to the White House press corps, Helen Thomas asked him how it felt to be the country’s first First Gentleman.
He responded, “I prefer to think of myself as the president’s henchman.”
Books in the series [in order]:
#1 — The President’s Henchman [2009]
#2 — The Hangman’s Companion [2010]
#3 — The K Street Killer [2011]
#4 — Part 1: The Last Ballot Cast [2012]
#5 — Part 2: The Last Ballot Cast [2012]
#6 — The Devil on the Doorstep [2013]
#7 — The Good Guy with a Gun [2014]
#8 — The Echo of the Whip [2015]
#9 — The Daddy’s Girl Decoy [2016]
#10 — The Last Chopper Out [2017]
#11 — The King of Mirth [2018]
McGill’s Short Cases 1-3: Three Jim McGill Short Stories
John Tall Wolf Series
While interviewing John Tall Wolf for his job with the BIA, Marlene Flower Moon was amused by his assertiveness, and asked him, “What do you want, a license to take scalps?” John said, “Yeah, that’d be good.”
#1 — Tall Man in Ray-Bans [2012 ]
#2 — War Party [2013]
#3 — Super Chief [2014]
#4 — Smoke Signals [2016]
#5 — Big Medicine [2017]
#6 — Powwow in Paris [2019]
Coming soon! #6 — Powwow in Paris [2019]
Ron Ketchum Series
Ron Ketchum saw his share of the dark side of life as a cop in Los Angeles. Then he left L.A. to become the chief of police in the Sierra Nevada resort town of Goldstrike.
Books in the series [in order]:
#1 — Nailed [2011]
#2 — Defiled [2012]
#3 — Impaled [2015]
Novels
Novels that thrill, keep you on the edge of your seat, make you laugh, make you angry, entertain and enlighten.
“Flynn is an excellent storyteller.” — BookList
The Concrete Inquisition
Digger
The Next President
Hot Type
Gasoline, Texas
Farewell Performance
Round Robin, A Love Story of Epic Proportions
Blood Street Punx
One False Step
Still Coming
Hangman, A Western Novella
Kill Me Twice
Short Fiction
Short stories are dear to my heart.
Pointy Teeth, Twelve Bite-size Stories
The twelve stories include: Beat the Devil, The Hotel Fred, Smoked Out, High Heat, Bunny and Sunshine, No Good Deed. . ., Fixer-Upper, Sleepover, Speed Trap, Younger Woman, Money Man and Tech Support.
Donnely’s Mug [Joe’s 1st short story]
Never Dead [A Jim McGill Short Story & Holiday Special, 2017]
Fixer Upper [Halloween Special, 2017]