Daily Archives: June 2, 2021

Author Justin Murphy: A man of many talents!

Born November 26, 1985 in Dothan, Alabama. Whether it be Fiction or Non-Fiction, Justin Murphy has always tried to explore many themes in his work. One is probing into the darkness of pure evil with The Original Night Stalker: Portrait of A Killer, a fictional story based on a real life murderer Joseph James DeAngelo. He also enjoys exploring obscure figures often forgotten in entertainment. Such as with his most recent success Gene L. Coon: The Unsung Hero of Star Trek. It profiles the ex-Marine, pharmacist, and journalist who did the actual heavy lifting on The Original Series.

We’re here today talking with writer Justin Murphy. So let’s get started!!

Jann: At what age did you want to be a writer?

Justin: Was always told I was creative, imaginative, and lived in a fantasy world (for better AND worse)! But the moment of realization came on my 15th birthday, the desire to write hit me like an ocean wave! It was both terrifying and amazing.

Jann: What’s your favorite genre and why?

Justin: For a long time, I would’ve said Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Both for the spectacle and the idea of being transported to another world.

Yet in the years since I’ve started writing and been published, I’ve begun to prefer crime, detective, mystery. They pose questions and raise issues about our every day reality.

Jann: Your book Gene L. Coon: The Unsung Hero of Star Trek has been well received. What inspired to write about Gene L. Coon?

Justin: Read an article a few years ago announcing the documentary Batman and Bill creator Bill Finger. Read a comment on the article, saying “Someone should do the same thing on Gene Coon”. And I figured “Why not?”. Researched the online newspaper archives and every other resource I could about him.

In addition to his work on Star Trek, he sang on the radio in Omaha, Nebraska at age four. Was a Marine who served in Korea. He even ran a pharmacy for five years until becoming a screenwriter. Also did radio reports on the Atomic Bomb tests in Yucca Flats, Nevada.

Jann: I understand you are writing on a single mother detective series. Can you share a little about this series? 

Justin: Been writing installments this past year. Working on the latest one, nothing published yet. But I’ll give you a teaser. It’s about a woman who balances work and family life to an extreme by investigating missing child cases while dealing with her own special needs kids.

Jann:  Do you find yourself returning to certain themes in your stories? What? Why?

Justin: With the above-mentioned series, there are quite a few themes I keep returning to. Such as the main character’s struggle to balance single motherhood and investigating missing child cases. Of course, the issue of missing children is a recurring theme in of itself.  As well as dealing with children who are disabled, as both the character’s kids are.

Jann: What kind of writer are you? A page a day? Or are you a burst writer?

Justin: For many years, I wrote four hours a day (based on the advice Stephen King and several other well-known authors publicized). In the last year or so, I write more whenever the mood hits, but I still try to remain consistent. Although my writing is somewhat limited by current cross-country travel.

Jann: Do you have a website, blog, or twitter where fans might read more about you and your books? 

Justin: Here are the links to my Amazon, Audible, Facebook, and Twitter pages:

Amazon.com — Justin Murphy

Audible.com — Justin Murphy

Facebook.com — Justin Murphy

Twitter.com — Justin Murphy

Jann: What’s your all-time favorite book? 

Justin: Possibly Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. It’s the book that really got me paying attention to words, phrases, and sentence structure. Though I’m still not perfect. Also learned not to use the same word in a paragraph twice. There’s such a flow to the way Bradbury wrote that we may try to emulate, but never fully capture. It seems we as author tend to emulate the greats until we find ourselves. 

Thank you Justin for talking with us today on A Slice Of Orange!

GENE L. COON

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