Dennis Latham: Life, Fiction, and the Pursuit of Madness

February 2009 What others say about Last Chance: “Latham's style is lean and mean, tying all these divergent elements into a slam-bang, satisfying conclusion. As wild and improbable as these characters seemed, I hated to let them go at book's end, like a bunch of quirky favorite uncles or aunts whom your family never talks about. A somewhat twisted and very funny read. Highly recommended.” Walt Hicks, Hellbound Books “I almost got fired for reading it at work because I was laughing so loud.” Pat Rencker/Cincinnati, Ohio “I didn’t get any sleep for three nights while my wife read it in bed. She kept laughing and waking me up to read parts of the book out loud.” Dave Beinkemper/Fort Walton Beach, Florida “I began wondering who would be the best person to play each of the characters in the movie. I seriously believe it could be turned into a very funny, but strange, movie. You don't have to have a twisted sense of humor to enjoy it, but it helps.” Jim Whittenburg/Cincinnati, O...

Got a call from the ghost hunters (PINK) in Kentucky last night. They spent the night at my house in March and picked up the most EVPs they have ever recorded. Last week they did a presentation at the Independence, Kentucky Library and had a crowd of 100 people. They are using an EVP from my house, among others, where a voice says "Glad I'm dead and they get mad," after the question as to why they haunt my house. Among things we've experienced: I've been poked, slapped, had my hair yanked, had something crawl into bed with me almost every time I take a nap, and watched my Christmas tree get torn down one year by something I couldn't see. Lights go on and off, exercise equipment starts by itself and runs full tilt, crashes, bangs, and thumps all the time. I called PINK because something hit my big screen television so hard it moved the entire stand sideways and terrified my cats and dog. I've seen the woman pass through the dining room. We have three distin...

Never before has a reviewer not only reviewed my book, but also pretty much described my real life at home. The Hellnotes reviewer sums up my latest book: "Overall, if you want an entertaining story, that doesn’t take itself too seriously, sprinkled with vulgarity, sacrilege, blasphemy, satire, and brine shrimp, then Lord of Homicides will satisfy your needs." Lord of Homicides Review

Created from a short story I wrote in 1973, Michael In Hell has a long history. I sent the story to Issac Asimov, and I was shocked when he actually wrote back to tell me he liked it and I should turn it into a novel. I did twenty years later. In 1995, I signed on with AEI a new agency in Los Angeles, along with author Steve Alten (MEG). Michael made it to a final marketing meeting at Bantam, where it was rejected (they had one opening slot) in favor of a famous writer because I was an unknown. Close but no cigar. Other majors rejected it because it was too bizarre and brutal during one of the periodic violence in media purges. The Vietnam combat in the novel is in part from my experience. Several incidents are based on events that happened during Operation Shelbyville and Operation Ballistic Charge during late 1967 in Quang Nam Province. Of the 14,000 Marines killed in Vietnam, 10,000 died in Quang Nam Province. It would have made Dante's Hell seem like Disneyland. The novel s...

My third novel (the first two were throw aways) was called I Guess You're Still A Virgin. It was published years later as Driving With Ace . After I finished it, I wrote to Kurt Vonnegut to see if he would read it because someone told me it reminded them of his writing. I liked his writing and thought I would attempt to write to him through his publisher. I received the above response on onion skin paper on his old typewriter. It shows some of what he thought about New York publishing. I was surprised I even heard from him. Now that he is gone, the letter has more meaning to me.

(What I imagined the operation would look like after I was out and having a nightmare.) I had an operation at the Cincinnati VA to remove something called a papilloma from my right nostril. It’s basically a wart. I had two of them, one on the outside of the skin inside the nose and one called an inverted papilloma , with roots that dig under the skin inside the nose. It sounds gross as hell and I’m glad I didn’t have to see the things. They are supposed to be common, but I’ve never heard anyone say they ever had one. The inverted kind can turn into cancer, (10% chance) and no one seems to know what causes them. (Before photo at left) I’ve never been operated on except for my tonsils as a kid and ten years ago when I had another papilloma removed by a civilian doctor. The VA doctors also decided to fix my screwed up septum, since my nose has been broken several times. I went weeks ago in February for the operation and was put to sleep, but when I woke up, I found out that they didn’t d...

The picture is me at age 20 as a Marine on the deck of the helicopter carrier USS Okinawa off the coast of Vietnam sometime in October 1967. I don't remember being so young or what was in my mind at the time. I didn't plan for a future because I expected to die before age 21. The night before I left home I got a drag racing ticket about two in the morning. The cop told me I would have to be in court in July. I told him I would be in Vietnam. "We'll be waiting at your door when you get back," he said. "If I make it back, I'll be glad to see you." I had a real world fatalistic attitude. I tore the ticket up before he drove away and never heard anymore about it. Maybe the judge figured I was in enough trouble. This morning I saw an article about a 25 year old veteran who killed himself after the VA turned him away when he sought help for PTSD. I usually never tell anyone except other veterans that I'm 100% service-connected for PTSD. I have been fo...