Interview with Jackson Jablonic & Evan Goodwyn
My name is Riley Parks and I’m the author of Bleeding Like Me, a romance novel about Jackson Jablonic and Evan Goodwyn, two men in rival street gangs who fall in love. I’m lucky to be joined by these antiheroes today.
Riley Parks: Thank you so much for agreeing to sit down with me to talk all things Bleeding Like Me.
Jackson Jablonic: Antiheroes, huh?
Evan Goodwyn: Guess she’s not down for us like she said she was when she started writing the book.
JJ: Guess not.
RP: In all fairness, you guys have done some questionable things in the past, and some things are blatantly wrong. It’s not that you aren’t likable. I like you…
JJ: What do you say about motherfuckers you don’t like then?
EG: Shit.
RP: Do you want to be heroes? Role models?
JJ: First, that’s two questions. We told you we’d answer five, and you’re going for two right from the jump.
RP: We could call it one.
EG: We could, but we won’t.
RP: Tough crowd.
EG & JJ: (crickets)
RP: All right (clears throat), do you want to be a hero, Jackson?
JJ: Would I get to fly and shit?
EG: That’d be pretty cool.
RP: I was thinking more an “everyday” hero, not so much a superhero.
JJ: The problem with you is you do too much thinking.
EG: Too much limiting really. I’d be down to be a superhero.
JJ: Do you write that kinda shit?
RP: I don’t. I like to focus on more realistic, true to life gritty stories, like yours.
EG: That sucks. Jack would look fucking hot in some superhero shit. That ass would be like, POW!
(all laughing)
JJ: Shut the fuck up.
RP: Me or Evan?
JJ: Both.
RP: Let’s move on. Role models. Do you want to be role models?
JJ: To who?
RP: To anyone.
JJ: That ship’s sailed, capsized and sank, so probably not.
EG: I’d like to be a role model.
RP: Yeah?
JJ: You would?
EG: (shrugs) Why not? Do you only get one chance to be an okay person? Two? What’s the limit?
RP: That’s not for us to decide, I guess. Maybe that’s a question for the reader.
JJ: I don’t give a shit what they say about it. If he wants to be a role model, they’re not gonna tell him that one day he can’t be.
RP: So maybe we don’t call you antiheroes anymore. What should we call you instead?
JJ: You’re the writer.
RP: How about works in progress?
EG: I like that.
JJ: Fine. You got three more questions to go.
RP: What was your favorite part of the book?
EG: I liked when you wrote about how I painted Jack.
JJ: I liked when you wrote about Evan’s dick.
EG: (rolls eyes) Really?!
JJ: That’s quality content right there.
EG: Do you regret interviewing us?
RP: (bites inside of mouth) Not at all. What about your least favorite part of the book?
JJ: You wrote about shit you shouldn’t have written about. That’s all we gotta say about that.
RP: (looks at Evan)
EG: That’s all we gotta say about that.
JJ: Last one. Make it good.
RP: What’s something you want readers to know about you that they may not have learned in the book?
JJ: I don’t want them to know anything else about me. They know too much already.
RP: Evan?
EG: I want them to know I’m trying to be a better person.
JJ: You’re doing fine, Evan.
EG: (shrugs) It is what it is.
RP: Thanks for talking with me.
JJ: We done here?
RP: We’re done.
JJ: Thank fuck. Continue reading
