From the writer of "Shrek" comes "The Man Who Came and Went," a magically realistic novel about a grill cook who can mind read orders, and a small town diner that changes lives.
The Man Who Came and Went
by Joe Stillman
Date of Publication: March 1st 2022
Publisher: City Point Press
Cover Artist: Barbara Aronica-Buck and Susan Stillman
Genre: Magical Realism / Mature YA / Literary Fiction
ISBN: 9781947951389
Number of pages: 240
Word Count: 64,000
Tagline:
A grill cook who mind-reads orders.
A diner that changes lives.
Tips appreciated.
BLURB
Fifteen year old Belutha Mariah, our storyteller, is the oldest of three kids from three different fathers. Her life’s goal is to keep her dysfunctional mom, Maybell, from procreating yet again and then to leave the coffin-sized town of Hadley, Arizona the second she graduates high school.
Along comes the new grill cook at Maybell’s Diner, Bill Bill, a mysterious drifter with the ability to mind-read orders. As word spreads, the curious and desperate pour into this small desert town to eat at Maybell's. Some believe Bill knows the secrets of the universe. Belutha figures he’s probably nuts.
But his cooking starts to transform the lives of locals and visitors, and Belutha finds her angry heart opening as Bill begins to show her the porous boundary between this life and what comes after.
Excerpt
That day, the day Bill arrived, my mom was serving up eggs and complaints.
“Dammit, that daughter ‘a mine,” she yelled to Dolene, across the diner. “She’s like walking birth control. Does she think I’m trying to have babies? ‘Scuse me, Darlin’” Maybell gave Clover’s bubble walker a little kick, sending it between tables 4 and 6 so she could get by and dump a load of dishes behind the counter.
Dolene was homegrown, like the tumbleweed, with eyes like a golden retriever that never quite looked at you directly. She was smart enough to add up a check, but you could tell she was never getting out of Hadley. “I take it you didn’t get laid last night.”
Maybell pointed to her sour puss. “Does this say ‘laid’ to you?”
There was a ‘harrumph’ from booth 5 by the window. That was Rose. Rose was an old woman by the time she was 30. Now she was in her late 60s, a widow since before I was born—in other words, forever. She liked to spend her afternoons at Maybell’s Diner, reading her book and keeping an eye on the goings on around her, as if she was the town’s homeroom teacher.
“Look at Saint Rose,” Maybell said, stuffing dirty plates into the plastic tub under the counter. “Thinks she smells better than Mentos. I ain’t running a library here, Rose. Next time bring Reader’s Digest!”
There was another sound from Rose, something between a ‘well’ and a ‘pfffft.’ She never took her eyes off her book.
The door opened with a DING from the bell that hung on it. No one noticed Bill entering. He was about average in height, but his skinny frame made him look taller. You could tell from his face that he was in his mid-20s, but those were hard years he had lived, and his body looked frail and geriatric. His clothes were old and clung to him like an extra layer of skin, with a smell that would never wash out.
The angles of his face were sharp and careworn. But his eyes, those were different. His face was hard and weathered, but his eyes were soft. They seemed brand new.
No one in the diner even looked. If they did they would have seen those eyes taking in every little detail: the people talking, forks carrying food, the string lights behind the counter, Dolene ringing up a check. But what drew Bill more than anything else was the grill. Harley, the grill cook, must have had four meals going at once, each with its own set of sounds and smells. Most of those meals involved eggs. His spatula made a metal-on-metal scrape as he turned them. Bill was riveted. He went to sit at the counter to watch.
Down the counter, a porkish-looking man named Earle—probably one of three men in town who had never slept with my mom—raised his empty cup. “Can I get a refill, Maybell?”
Maybell stopped and faced him. “Seriously, Earle? Is it so goddam much trouble for you to get up off your ass and get it yourself? Can’t you see I’m working here?”
“Well…” he stammered. “I just—was I—I was—”
Maybell pointed to the coffee pot. “How far away is that? Two feet?”
“Sure, I guess…”
“Am I your personal slave, Earle? Is that why God put me on earth?”
“No, I don’t think you’re—”
Maybell grabbed the pot and sloshed coffee in his Earle’s cup. “There. You happy now?”
He nodded meekly.
While she had the pot in her hand, Maybell filled the cup sitting in front of Bill. “I’ll be by to take your order in a minute, hon.”
Maybell walked on. Bill just sat there and stared at the coffee. For him, there was no diner anymore, no Maybell, no clanking dishes or dumb conversation. He leaned closer to that cup like it was the only thing in the world. And there he was, smelling coffee for the first time. And it smelled like life. Like a whole world. Like this is how a planet smells if you’re up in space and could take a deep breath. Bill was motionless for who knows how long. And then, when he was good and ready, he took his first sip.
Those eyes, the ones that didn’t belong on his head, they closed as if he was praying. No, more like he was hearing a prayer. The coffee was praying to be heard, and Bill heard it.
Joe Stillman co-wrote “Shrek” for Dreamworks which earned him an Academy Award® nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Annie and BAFTA Awards. Other produced features are “Beavis & Butthead Do America”, “Shrek 2”, “Gulliver’s Travels”, “Planet 51” and “Joseph King Of Dreams”.
In television, he was co-producer and writer on “King of the Hill,” for which he received two Emmy Award® nominations. He was a writer and story editor for Nickelodeon’s “The Adventures of Pete and Pete” and a writer on MTV’s “Beavis and Butthead”. More recently he worked on Nickelodeon’s “Sanjay And Craig” and “Kirby Buckets” for Disney. Other TV credits include “Albert” for Nickelodeon, “The War Next Door” for the USA Network, “Clueless”, “Doug” and “Danger And Eggs” for Amazon.
Joe is currently working on “Curious George” and “Half-Baked 2” for streaming on Peacock.
The Book Junkie Reads . . .Reckless Dreams Interview with . . . Joe Stillman . . .
How would you describe your style of writing to someone that has never read your work?
When I get hired to write in TV or film, it’s usually for comedy. That can run a pretty wide gamut, from “Beavis and Butthead” to “Curious George”. What I like most is comedy that also has some heart.
Like the work I do for hire, my novel is pretty funny. But it goes to places that are a lot deeper and hopefully more moving than the kind of work I do for a living.
Do you feel that writing is an ingrained process or just something that flows naturally for you?
Writing is both natural and unnatural. I’m lost without writing. A day when I write feels fulfilling. A day without writing can be pretty rough. I LOVE being in the flow of writing. But there are times when the flow is elusive. Sometimes that means it’s best to walk away. Do something else. The flow doesn’t happen because it’s what my mind wants. If anything, my mind can often interfere with the flow. Then it’s best to let things be and do something else.
That said, there are times when you have to break inertia and create your own momentum with pure butt-in-the-chair effort. That’s tricky because it can lead to writing something not quite ready or right, or perhaps just entirely wrong. Do you power through with sheer will? Or does your will (and mind) take a backseat? I’ve been doing this for 40 years and I’m still tapping my way in the dark. But then you find yourself in the flow and all is well again.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just free writing)?
I’m trying to think of how NOT to make this a 30 page answer.
On one hand, I don’t think a mindset is required, so much as a routine. A routine can be a time you set aside to write. That can be 5 minutes or 5 hours, depending on your schedule. A routine can involve the place where write, or just going out to a coffee shop.
On the other hand, a mindset is very much required. Or can be, if you’re in insecure person like me. This can involve many things. Here are a few:
1: Allow your writing to be bad. Most of us have to write bad and then rewrite, perhaps again and again, so that what we write can eventually become good.
2: Give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Whether you’re starting out, or a long-termer like me, we’re all subject to the voice that says, “Who do you think you are?” Allow yourself, when that voice comes up, to keep going anyway. That voice is never accurate. It’s just self-doubt. Everyone has it. The benefit of the doubt says “I can’t prove this will lead to something great, but I deserve the chance to try.”
3: Even bad writing days are essential in the process of producing something worthwhile. Allow them. Allow them unconditionally. Be kind to yourself, even without the evidence that you deserve kindness. You can’t be a good writer without bad days.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story creation?
There’s nothing more important than diving into character. Deep diving. Knowing what drives them, what scares them, knowing them as people, knowing their history. But along with prep, just as importantly, there’s discovering things you never knew about them while you write. In the best of all worlds, your characters surprise you as you go.
Do you have a character that you have been working on for a long time that still isn't quite ready, but fills you with excitement to work on the story?
Actually, that was the case with Bill Bill, the titular character of my novel. I had worked on him for something like 25 years, over countless drafts when this was intended to be a screenplay for an indie film. In each new draft I’d be certain that I had found him, only to read it over later and realize I hadn’t. It wasn’t until I sat down to write this as a novel that Bill and the rest fell into place. So yes, a 25 year journey.
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character(s)? If so, which one(s)?
In “The Man Who Came and Went” I feel very strongly connected with Bill, Belutha, Martin and even Maybell. Of all of them, however, I am most connected with Belutha. She’s the 16 year old narrator of my novel. Of any character I’ve written for and known over 40 years of writing, Belutha is by far my favorite.
Joe Stillman
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