Two Authors (?), No Waiting!

E.J. Copperman/Jeff Cohen

It's not easy to collaborate with yourself.

Actually, if I'm being honest, if you can write, you can collaborate with yourself. There's pretty much nothing to it.

I have the ability to speak with some authority on the subject having now collaborated with myself on four novels in the Asperger's mystery series. The latest, THE QUESTION OF THE ABSENTEE FATHER, is still warm off the presses and was released (after having been in a pent-up state of maddening anticipation) yesterday. (Hi, Terri!) 

You'll notice that the cover illustration, helpfully provided to the left, indicates there were two authors for this particular tome, E.J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen. Or one author, E.J. Copperman/Jeff Cohen, depending on one's reading of the byline. Either interpretation is true. I don't want to burst anyone bubble--I'm just not that kind of a guy--but if you see "E.J. Copperman" on a book, Jeff Cohen wrote it. Or the other way around.

When the Asperger's mystery series was first proposed to Midnight Ink (Hi again, Terri!) in 2012 or so, the publisher wanted to list the author as E.J. Copperman. That's entirely understandable, as books like the Haunted Guesthouse series under that name have sold considerably more briskly than, say, the Double Feature mystery series, which had the disadvantage of having Jeff Cohen's name on the cover.

So I got why Midnight Ink wanted to have the Copperman name on the Asperger's series. But this project was a little more personal to me, and I have written some non-fiction on autism spectrum disorders that gave me a bit of cred in the community, so I wanted to have Jeff Cohen on the cover of the books. 

We compromised, and my collaboration with myself began in earnest.

To be blunt, there is no difference in my writing process when I'm working on a Copperman book or a Cohen book. That's largely because when I started writing as Copperman I had no idea my original name would not be on the cover. That was a development that came later, and is entirely another story. The point is, I was writing the way I always write when I started NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEED, and have continued to do so since. Frankly, I have no idea how to write another way, but I'm more than willing to try if I ever figure it out.

The Asperger's books are a departure from the Copperman "brand," if such a term applies. They're not quite as cozy as, say, the Guesthouse books or the new Agent to the Paws series (which began in August with DOG DISH OF DOOM), but certainly not a blood-and-cursing extravaganza, either. There is a male narrator, Samuel Hoenig, who has personality traits he says the neurotypical community identifies as Asperger's syndrome, although Samuel himself acknowledges only that he thinks differently than most other people. He sees it as a strength and thinks people without such behaviors are very odd.

Samuel has opened a storefront in Piscataway, New Jersey and hung a (from all reports, very rudimentary) sign in the window that reads, QUESTIONS ANSWERED. If a person has a question s/he can't answer, they can bring it to Samuel and he'll do the necessary research and deliver the proper response--assuming he finds the question interesting.

In THE QUESTION OF THE ABSENTEE FATHER, Samuel has an unusual dilemma: The question he's being asked is one he does not find especially interesting and one he'd rather not research. But the person asking the question is his mother, and she wants to know where Samuel's father, who left the family when he was four years old, is living now. She believes the matter is urgent, and Samuel, who has great respect for his mother, is at a loss for a way to refuse the assignment. So at the urging of his associate Janet Washburn (with whom Samuel is developing a personal relationship very slowly), he accepts. The question will lead him to places he has never been and doesn't want to go, chiefly Los Angeles, California. By plane. Something Samuel finds absolutely petrifying to consider.

It's going to be a long week. 

For the two authors, however, it's life as what has become usual. "We" will get to work on a new Guesthouse novel, grade a lot of homework, teach two classes and probably not watch any baseball, as we expect (this being written Sunday morning) that we'll have no reason to care until next February. But we could be wrong.

In any event, we'll be watching for reaction to THE QUESTION OF THE ABSENTEE FATHER, and both of us are interested in seeing what our readers think of it. Don't be shy--let us know! If you don't, the only people we can discuss the book with will be each other, and that sort of thing gets people talking.

Maybe collaborating with yourself isn't all that easy after all.

Comments

[Patty]

I'll read anything you write - love them all and it doesn't matter to me if the author is Jeff Cohen, Jeffrey Cohen, EJ Copperman or Sly Dangerous. I love you sense of humor that comes through and makes me laugh out loud. Keep 'em coming and I'll be happy.

[Jeff Cohen]

Sly Dangerous sounds like Anthony Weiner's pen name, but thanks, Patty! I'll keep writing as long as people want to read what I write.