I was fortunate to meet Curtis Ippolito at the 2022 Left Coast Crime where I was the fan Guest of Honor. I had recently read and reviewed his excellent crime fiction debut, Burying the Newspaper Man, so I was very happy to have a few moments to chat with Curtis, expressing how impressive I felt his debut novel was.
As you will soon see, Curtis is the type of stand-up guy we love to see in our beloved genre. Always supportive of his fellow writers and a general joy to be around, I just know that my BOLO Books followers will enjoy learning more about Curtis. Be sure to say hi the next time you run into him at one of the various crime fiction conventions throughout the year.
Name: Curtis Ippolito
Location: San Diego, California
This person from my personal life is such an inspiration:
There are many people who qualify, including my wonderful wife, Sharon. I’m truly blessed to have her in my life.
The person who first inspired me, was my late grandmother, Virginia Roosa. I credit her a great deal with helping me become the person I am today. She was a single mother, professional cook, master gardener, nature lover, talented artist (drawing and painting), and she was the first person who truly believed in me and encouraged me to follow my dreams.
I learned from her that you can be stubborn and hard-working in order to achieve your goals, while being a kind and generous person at the same time.
One of the people I admire most in the crime fiction community is:
I can’t keep it to ten, much less one. There are so many wonderful people in the crime fiction community that I admire and look up to. But since I can only pick one…
Holly West and I clicked at Left Coast Crime in April, 2022, after being online friends. I can’t think of a cooler, more confident person in the crime writing community. Not only is she an extraordinarily gifted writer, she’s also seen a lot in this business, and is always willing to share her experiences and wisdom to help newer writers, including me. Being friends with her is like having the coolest big sister, and all you want is to make her proud of you.
STALKER ALERT! If this fictional character were real, they would likely need to get a restraining order against me:
Such a fun thought exercise. When I was twelve—thereabouts when I first read JAWS—the answer would have been Matt Hooper. I was in love with the idea of becoming a marine biologist because of him. (I actually pursued marine biology and was accepted into a program in South Texas, but ultimately chose to go into journalism.) It was probably the sense of adventure of being sent all over the world to investigate ocean life and odd marine occurrences that appealed to me.
Present day, though?
I’ll go with Annie Wilkes from Misery. Not only is she a fascinating as hell character, but it might be fun to stalk a stalker. Who’s with me?
People are always surprised that I am a fan of this individual (singer, actor, or artist):
Another great question. Since one’s own objectivity is zero, I started thinking about this question from the point of view of my 16-year-old self. Who would he maybe raise an eyebrow at, for me being a fan of theirs today?
I came up with Post Malone. I’ve never been the biggest hip-hop fan, and it’s not like I have any of his albums, but every time one of his songs comes on, I find myself digging it. He creates some catchy grooves, for sure. And then right at the beginning of the pandemic, he livestreamed a tribute to Nirvana, performing their songs to raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts. Dude ripped on every song. I was super impressed.
My personal catch phrase is (or should be):
This one really stumped me. I don’t have a catch phrase or personal mantra. If I did, it would probably be something like, I’m not an asshole. I’m just an introvert.
