Mark Moskowitz's critically acclaimed STONE READER is a non-fiction narrative film that takes full advantage of the mystery form. In 1972, Dow Mossman published his epic novel, THE STONES OF SUMMER. The book received great reviews, but Dow never published a second novel and seemed to vanish. STONE READER documents Mark's search for the writer and what became of him. Along the way, we meet some of the most influential people in the publishing industry. This interview was conducted on February 6, 2002 in Los Angeles.

Mark Moskowitz: Access To Power is one of the best page-turners I've read in years. I tried to put the book down, but it kept pulling me back. I read it in two sittings, the last two hundred pages straight out.

Robert Ellis: I'm glad you liked it. And thanks for your review on the web.

MM: It's fun to see your experience channeled into making this thriller so authentic. I'm sure the rest of your readers would like to know more about your background prior to writing the novel.

RE: I'd been a political media consultant for ten years and loved almost every minute of it. I liked the pressure. The mix of ideas and media and good friendships. As you know, in any given election cycle, we'd turn out three hundred plus spots for candidates all over the country. But the big bonus, for me anyway, was the fact that elections come and go. In between, I used the time to write.

MM: Then the inspiration for Access To Power came from work.

RE: Deciding to write a novel is a big step. Once I made the decision, the story came quick. Almost in a single instant. I've always been an avid reader. Before writing Access To Power I was tossing ideas around in my head. Then one day I was asked to get a shot of an opponent for a negative TV ad. You know how rare this is. We've only had to do it a handful of times. In most races, we'll use a photograph of the opponent from their own campaign literature or even pull their image off a copy of their TV spots. But this was a small race. Nothing was available, so I had to go out and get the shot. What makes it nerve-racking is the intent. I wasn't going out there to do the guy any favors.

MM: (laughs) There's a line early in the novel. If you don't kill your opponent, your opponent will kill you.

RE: (laughs) Here's the situation. The opponent was a sheriff in a rundown city, perhaps the most depressed city in the country. We're talking ghetto here. Even worse, there were rumors that the guy was connected to the mob. Our contact told us that the sheriff kept to a tight schedule and walked out of his office everyday at three sharp. His Lincoln would be parked right in front of the building. Across the street, we'd find a parking garage with a bird's-eye view of the whole layout. I went with a friend who shoots a lot of film for us. We got there early, set the camera up on the third floor of the garage, found the Lincoln, and waited. Within ten minutes, a detective popped out of the elevator and wanted to know what we were up to. His hair was slicked back and he wasn't wearing a jacket. My eyes went straight to the 9mm automatic strapped to his shoulder. (laughs) I'd read enough Michael Connelly to know what that means!

MM: Some cops clip their guns to their belts.

RE: And others strap them to their shoulders. You don't really want to mess with these guys.

MM: So what did you do?

RE: I lied. I told him we were working on a student film. I said we were trying to get a shot of the city and waiting for the light to change. He bought it and split.

MM: What happened next?

RE: We were early. More nervous than ever. But at three sharp, the sheriff struts out the front door just as we were told he would. We pan the camera around. Ten steps away from the building, the guy looks up, sees us and stops dead in his tracks. He thinks the camera's a gun. He thinks he's toast. After a beat, he realizes it's a camera and stares right down the barrel of the lens, trying to decide what to do. Should he run back into the building, or should he bolt for the Lincoln? All three of us are spooked. In the end, he chose the car, hit the gas and took off. But it was in that moment, the moment his eyes locked on the lens, that both of our lives were changed. He lost the election because on TV his fear read like guilt. It was amazing. For me, all I could think about was what a negative ad can do to a person. I mean, politics is tough, but what if it suddenly got tougher? What if we'd taken him down so hard he decided to strike back in a violent way? Access To Power isn't about the mob. But these ideas serve as the basis for the story. Striking back. I knew what Access To Power would be about in that moment. Then we grabbed the camera, ran for the car and fled.

MM: That story's in the book, isn't it?

RE: Yes.

MM: You share the same occupation as Frank Miles, the book's protagonist. How much of you is in Frank?

RE: I think it's safe to say that there's a piece of the author in every character they create. No matter how big or small, no matter how remote, there's something there. Then again, we're dealing with a work of fiction. There's a good guy, a bad guy, and everything in between. To be honest, I'm hoping readers find more Sam Spade in Frank Miles than Robert Ellis. I looked at Frank's character as an opportunity and a challenge. For me, there's nothing more boring in fiction than a character who's politically correct. Nothing worse than a protagonist who isn't in a continual state of trying to accomplish their goal. On the level of story, we see this a lot in movies that fail. There's this big thing going on and the hero's out playing baseball. Politics is set in the big city. It's a rough business. Often a brutal business. Touchy-feely isn't going to work here. Like Sam Spade, Frank Miles is drawn in gray. Although he's made mistakes in the past, his skin's an inch thick and he's got his eyes on the bottom line. Two people have been murdered with more on the way. He's got to figure things out in a hurry.

MM: What about George Raymond? A hit man who listens to self-help tapes. That's pretty original.

RE: A lot of readers got off on Raymond. There's something electrifying about this character. I've heard actors talk about how exciting it is to play the role of a bad guy. Let me tell you, writing one is even better.

MM: How did you come up with the idea of the tapes? It's so offbeat, but at the same time, so real.

RE: This was my first novel, and I knew we'd be spending some time in Raymond's head. To tell you the truth, the prospect of being inside Raymond's head scared me. He's a ruthless person, a gun for hire. His acts of violence are more than brutal. And I wasn't reading this one, I was writing it. I felt I needed something to hold on to. Something to soften the blow. I also thought it would be pretty cool if one of the few characters with middle-class values was a hit man. After all, the story's set in Washington. I started out by giving him a wife and family. Then a Honda. Then more of this and that. Raymond's orientation was pointed toward business and family. The idea of having him listen to self-help tapes in the car just flowed from there. When I was through, I realized that my attempt to balance Raymond's character only made him more horrific. The feedback I've had from readers has been wonderful.

MM: Access To Power opened to great reviews as well. I like the way you put the book together. The crisp prose and short chapters. Was this a conscious decision or a matter of personal style?

RE: I'm not sure if a writer is capable of perceiving his or her own voice or not. All I can say is that my goal wasn't to write a story as much as tell one. Maybe it's got something to do with that old war between speech and language. I remember reading Merleau-Ponty and thinking he made a lot of sense. So does Lawrence Block. I wanted the reader to experience the push of story. I wanted to draw out the character's emotions and attitude. If there's a style to the prose, then maybe it comes from the characters themselves. The way they think. Their unique world views. But the chapter breaks are a different story. I thought about them a great deal. After all, Access To Power is a mystery thriller, the most complex form in storytelling. Most fiction is opponent driven. Here we've got multiple opponents and layers of conflict. Hiding an opponent is even more difficult because we're dealing with politics and a world that's set up in conflict before we get to the first murder. I thought limiting the chapters to scenes would give the book greater definition and simplify the story in the mind of the reader. But I also think one of the reasons the novel feels so quick is a result of all the twists and turns. Before I started writing the novel, a friend of mine gave me a great piece of advice: once you resort to action, the story stops. The more revelations, the more speed. In Access To Power, what Frank learns is shocking and takes him to the brink. That's one reason we love mysteries.

MM: But there's more to this novel than the thriller beats. The political side stories, the parade of losers and deadbeats, are as compelling as the mystery.

RE: We've been lucky to work with the people we have. But you know as well as I do that some of the opponents we've faced have been outrageous. Some wind up in the newspapers. Others have gone to court, or even jail. Either way, Washington's the jackpot. Money, power, sex. Small-time hustlers with big-time ideas. Now we're back to the world of Dashiell Hammett, and what I believe is the perfect setting for a modern mystery. People clawing their way up the power line. Others stabbing you in the back if you get in their way. This is the place where people will do anything it takes to win. Keep your eye out for George Raymond. He might really be out there!

MM: This stuff's drawn from real life.

RE: As a bookseller in Pasadena remarked, "The names have been changed to protect the guilty." Every situation either happened to me or someone I know. I realize this may seem horrific, but for the reader, it's great. Access To Power is grounded in a real world view of politics that has never been written about before. The dirty tricks. A view of the trenches from someone who's actually lived through the fire storm. This may be another reason why the novel opened to good reviews. People have a sense that Frank Miles is facing his worst nightmare. Although the spine on the book says FICTION and there's a considerable body count, readers sense that much of the story is true.

MM: So what's next?

RE: The Dead Room ...

MM: I like the title. Let me guess, somebody's dead.

RE: Or on their way. (laughs) In Access To Power, Frank Miles is an innocent. But he's also experienced and strong, able to take a punch and remain standing. I wanted to explore something a little different this time. In The Dead Room, the protagonist is much younger. Teddy Mack's a more pure brand of innocence. Everything he experiences is a first-time experience. When the story begins, he's just graduated from law school and found a job as a civil attorney at a good law firm. His future seems bright, in spite of the fact that he's haunted by his past in a very personal way and trying to hide it. Believe me, the last thing he wants in life is to be involved in a murder case, particularly one this horrific. Then everything changes for Teddy.

MM: As a result of the crime.

RE: Exactly. He's in, and he can't get out.