Joseph Night’s first novel, The Doorman, was scheduled to be published as a print-on-demand book, until there was Hollywood interest in it for a film (see this article). The Doorman is the story of a stuntman with no fear of death who is tricked into taking the grim reaper’s place. Then he discovers he must find a replacement before time runs out, or he’ll be the doorman forever. That sounded interesting to us, so we took the opportunity to ask the author some questions.
SFScope: Why a stuntman? While stuntmen probably do lead interesting lives (I enjoyed that old Burt Reynolds movie), I can’t recall too many of them as protagonists, especially in horror or fantasy literature.
Joesph Night: Most people have an innate sense of mortality that stops them from doing death-defying acts. We all know if we jump from a building, plane, or motorcycle, or leap over forty cars, that our chances of dying substantially increase. Most of us are curious about pushing our lives to the brink of death, but only a few have the courage to actually do it. I dream of it, physically testing my own mortality while facing my fears… Stuntmen have this ability, despite their fears, to proceed with real danger, risking all, and it is my belief that this courage defines life. We won’t really know the spectrum of our lives until we have faced death. It’s in death or near-death experiences that we will truly understand life, without all its pretences and shadows. When we really get to see the heart and soul of ourselves without the super ego protecting our sensitive selves.
I loved that Walt Green movie, Hooper, starring Burt Renolds and Jan Michael Vincent!
SFScope: That was the title! Thanks. On to you: What is your background? (To put it somewhat less politely: who are you?) This is your first novel, and you’ve sold it to make a movie (for which, much congratulations), but let’s tell the readers something about you.
Night: Who is Joseph Night? I am a real-estate investor and commodities seller, and an avid reader and writer. I began writing when two people I loved very much passed away: my grandparents Catherine Scala Gangone and Nick Gangone. They were my world, and a piece of me went with Nick when he died. Then I felt like my soul was hollowed out when Catherine died. I found my inner voice. I was bored with lots of time on my hands; you see, I trade at night with Asian and European companies. So I started writing this story after reading a old high school home work assignment from Mrs. Popick’s film studies class. I took it to work with me just to read for laughs and to reminisce. Then the words just came pouring out of me. I realized that writing relaxes me; I get to escape into my own inner world and in doing so it helped me calm my sorrow.
SFScope: Who are your favorite authors, or who do you think has influenced your work?
Night: Sydney Sheldon and Agatha Christie. That’s what makes the world go round: likes and dislikes and to each their own. If we were all the same, it’d be boring.
SFScope: What’s next? (Novel, short stories, essays, whatever).
Night: What’s next? I have another book and screen play I’ve just finished. Volume is like The Pelican Brief meets Phenomenon; a philosophy / thriller / drama / fantasy. Plus The Doorman screenplay is set with budget in place for a Hollywood movie. The concept might even make it to television, too! Thanks to the smartest, funniest, greatest producers—Mark Headley and Heather Dawn—and agent I could ever have—Andrew Whelchel.
SFScope: Anything else you’d like to say to all your potential viewers/readers?
Night: To my viewers/readers: Once you realize what it is like to have a rich inner life, then you can start a life-long dance in imaginary realms! Keep reading and writing and always stoke that imaginary flame!