Interview with Daniel P. Douglas, Author of Blood Tide

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write Blood Tide?

Blood Tide started as a long short story for a planned anthology of post-WWII noir tales from different characters and places. I wrote two of the eight stories before the project got shelved. Several months later, I returned to this one—originally titled Dark Cargo—dusted it off, and decided to expand it into novelette length. But the reason I kept coming back to this story? I’ve always been drawn to noir because it tells the truth about power. It doesn’t pretend institutions are clean or that justice comes easily. Jack Morrison lives in a world where the system is rigged, and the only question is whether you play along or fight back, knowing you’ll pay for it. That tension felt worth exploring. The rest, as they say, is history. I now have plans to release additional tales in a series I’m calling “Jack Morrison’s Blood & Bourbon Mystery Files.” It’s funny how some writing projects evolve into something unexpected and exciting.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of Blood Tide, what would they be?

I had to do some research as I wanted to find something from Jack Morrison’s era. I discovered a song recorded throughout the 1940s that suits Jack perfectly: “I Cover the Waterfront.” It’s been performed by various artists, but Billie Holiday’s version has this worn, weary quality that captures who Morrison is. The song is literally about watching the harbor, waiting for someone who may never return. That’s Morrison’s whole existence, haunting the docks, nursing coffee at Cooper’s Diner, waiting for answers or for the next body to wash up with the tide. There’s a loneliness to that vigil, and the song captures it. Morrison came back from the war changed, lost his marriage, gave up his badge, and now he’s lost his friend Tom Reed. He’s a man stuck in that space between hope and surrender. “I Cover the Waterfront” lives in that same space.

What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

I gravitate to science fiction, thrillers, suspense, and westerns, both as a reader and a writer. But what really captivates me, regardless of genre, is noir. That atmosphere of moral ambiguity, pervading suspicion, and inevitable fatalism draws me in every time. There’s something powerful about noir. It peels back the comfortable lies we tell ourselves and forces characters to stare at the uncomfortable truths of who they are and what humanity is capable of. It’s unforgiving in the best possible way, demanding honesty from both the characters and the readers who follow them into the shadows.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

Jonnie Fazoolie & the Transfinite Reality Engine by Mookie Spitz. Seriously, I’m not making this up! LOL

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

My favorite scene is the final confrontation between Jack and Captain Stecker at the pier. These two men have history. Stecker was Jack’s mentor, taught him how to be a detective, and taught him that every victim deserves justice. And now they’re facing each other at gunpoint. Stecker tells Jack he never understood that “the gray is where the real power lives.” That line is really the whole book distilled into one moment. Stecker sees the world as transactional. Corruption isn’t a moral failing; it’s just how things work. Adapt or get crushed. Jack can’t accept that. He’s broken, he drinks too much, he’s lost almost everything, but he still believes some lines shouldn’t be crossed. Two worldviews colliding at gunpoint, and only one of them walks away. That scene is why I wrote the book: to put those philosophies in a room together and see what happens when neither side can back down.

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

I do like to burn pinion incense. It’s a New Mexico thing. Something about the scent helps me focus and relax. The scent resembles pine and juniper, with hints of sage and dried herbs, as if the southwest itself is distilled in the vapor. Pinion smoke feels clean and natural, as if you’re sitting beside a campfire in the mountains of New Mexico or Arizona. Love it. Give me a rainy day and pinion incense, that’s the best!

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

Truth is mighty and will prevail. But here’s the rub—truth needs champions willing to fight for it. That’s what good stories can do: champion truths about human nature, justice, and hope that might otherwise get buried under despair and deception. And if truth needs someone to clear the path with violence or whatever tools work? That’s not corruption. That’s accepting what truth costs in a world built on lies. Truth prevails when someone’s willing to get their hands dirty, making sure it does.

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

Jack Morrison gets a version of justice. The heroin pipeline is shut down, the corrupt officials are arrested or dead, and the feds have their evidence. But Tom Reed is still gone. Mickey Yang is still gone. Jack is still broken. Nobody’s handing out medals or happy endings. That’s noir, but it’s also life. More often than not, we get partial wins, messy outcomes, and the choice to either accept what we managed to accomplish or be destroyed by what we couldn’t fix. Jack chooses to call it enough. Not because it is, but because that’s the only way forward. I think most of us live in that space more than we admit. We fight for things, we sacrifice, and sometimes the best we get is incomplete. The question is whether we let that break us or find a way to keep moving. Jack keeps moving. I hope readers remember that.

Daniel P. Douglas is the author of the new book Blood Tide

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