Reader Meet Author: Kevin Whiteley

The approach of editor and publisher Kevin Whiteley is unique and refreshing. He is not looking for the big names and sweeping romantic stories although he respects them. He is looking for the raw, the gutter soaked, the dark and dangerous, and pulls it from all the strangest corners of the literary universe. One key element to the success of the journal is the way Kevin manages to transcend the gap between song and story. It's that back room brawl, that night spent on the park bench with out anywhere else to go, the jail cell, and all filter through stained keys of the typewriter.

Criminal Class Review has released three issues and is about to release its fourth. They are celebrating the release with a reading on February 28th at WeeGee’s Lounge, 3659 W. Armitage right here in Chicago. Recently, editor Kevin Whiteley was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Criminal Class Review is not your typical literary journal. What was the inspiration behind creating CCR?
Kevin Whiteley (KW): One name: Lewis L. Hyde. Back when I had initially moved out to California I was in my second year of sobriety and couldn’t find a job to save my life. I had just come on staff at Eleven-Eleven journal. Running out of couches to surf, I barely found a room in Berkeley, a storage space really. My roomies practically ostracized me for, from my standpoint, being a Blue-collared Joe who believed in hard work as opposed to just “takin’ it easy and havin’ fun”. Even petty things like cigarettes. They didn’t like my cigarette smoking but the guy upstairs could smoke all the dope he wanted to in the house cos’ “it was organic and came from the earth.” I didn’t mind going out on the back stoop to smoke but I stood my ground in my beliefs and philosophies. I won’t go into the politics. I’m Irish; we don’t talk about that shit. Nevertheless, those kids made my down time very hard on top of having a terrible bad luck streak at finding a job.

I recall telling the editor in chief of Eleven-Eleven: “I may not be able to make it in this evening. I had to eat so I’m short of fare.”

Thinking “It was me against the world,” was not helping and San Francisco seemed more like a wolf in sheep’s clothing than a “paradise”. You get out there and at first glance, the sun’s shining, people are smiling, all that utopian blather when really a lot of people out there will do/say just about anything to avoid what they consider negativity and confrontation. Chicago calls it reality and honesty. We’re a passionate people.

Eleven-Eleven was having a staff meeting at the Chief’s house and after my moaning and bitching, he hands me this book called “The Gift (not to be confused with that insane, positive-thinking piece ‘The Secret’)”. Though I ultimately read it, I initially thought it was a self-help piece. I’m not one for that “genre”.

Upon reading it, I saw between the lines and realized I possessed certain gifts I was holding back from fellow writers. Contacting two friends, I used my tenacity and determination with the visual and networking skills of my new-found partners to create Criminal Class Press. We would provide a home for those gritty and intense voices that basically mirrored our budding literary and somewhat personal aesthetic.

OA: Do you feel music and music culture plays a significant role in the journal?
KW: Most definitely. Back when I was “The Wild Rover” and living my own “story,” I often talked about how great it would be if a certain record company had a magazine featuring stories that inspired the music of subcultures.

It wasn’t until I was in San Francisco that I collaborated via phone with my partners. We pitched the idea for the publication to the aforementioned record label. While the head honcho was impressed upon receiving the prototype, we were ultimately shut down as their marketing people said it was “Too smart.” Giving up was not an option. We went forward with our project and reached DEEP into our pockets to produce Volume 1, Issue One.

We try and feature the stories of at least one or two musicians per issue. While our last and forthcoming issues are without them, the invitation is there. Greg DeHoot of the “Hounds and Harlots” was featured in Issue one. Mike Camino of “The Hell Caminos” was our last but certainly not our final musician to partake in this project.

OA: Has this mission or approach to literature attracted a different breed of writer? What do you look for in a good submission and are willing to accept unknown writers?
KW: It’s looking that way. While the first two issues were mostly solicited, our Brethren are coming out of the woodwork. As CCP’s staff continued to grow, one member of the crew called me from back in Chicago telling of how Criminal Class was “creating a movement and I’m watching it happen, here.” Being out on the West Coast and immersed in other endeavors, I was grateful to hear such news. Having said that, I think this “breed” has always been around but not many pubs have had their backs. Criminal Class is here for those writers and is perhaps enabling them to really cut deep and bleed onto the page. We want to nurture our contributors allowing them to bring their most intense tone, voice, pace, etc…

Initially, I look for an apathetic tone and a layered plot. All stories are formulaic. You have a plot and subplot, an inciting incident and surrounding instances. Ultimately, I want to be told a gritty story with a sharp edge that I can “see”. Telling is easy, Showing is the REAL challenge.

Blind submissions/emerging writers are DEFINITELY welcome and I encourage them to keep it coming.

OA: Issue Four is coming out soon, what can we expect to find in this issue?
KW: This particular issue is big news for us. It’s the first issue that features a reply to our earlier invitation to NOIR writers. Like I said, this “Breed” you speak of has been around for ages; now is the time to unify, organize, and make a profound and everlasting mark in the literary world. Femme Fatales and Anti-heroes are a great addition to our normal yet unforgiving line-up of Literary Scum. Writers like Thompson, Selby, Highsmith, Welsh, and DeGrazia busted a hole in the wall for other writers of that ilk. Criminal Class has constructed a door that will remain forever open.

OA: You put a lot of thought into the design and image of the press and the journals. What role does the design play in the presentation of the journal?
KW: We have a mixture of Scum, Smokiness, and Relentlessness to our aesthetic. While it’s not for the weak of heart, our blend entices the reader, in the visual sense, of what is in store for them. As “they” say: “Presentation, presentation, presentation.” Writers and their readerships look for an aesthetic with which they can identify and ultimately embrace. I put together a like-minded staff which allows our amalgamated design to be conveyed properly. These tools are also a flag of sorts that we wave signifying a “home” for our writers and readers.

OA: Does Issue Four play into this theme and who designed the new cover?
KW: As aforementioned, the upcoming issue has NOIR undertones.

Our Art Director, Ricardo Cozzolino aka “Ricky Fine Lines,” gets the cred as well as all past covers. He got on the horn to our consultant in NYC and had her do a photo shoot while sending her inspirationally smoky images of Femme Fatales. After a large assortment of shots were thrown his way, he sorted and processed until he came up with a collective and brilliant representation for some of the pieces you’ll read in issue four. Ricky has been in “The Crew” since the beginning. We’re lucky and grateful to have him aboard. I wouldn’t trade him for all the Pin-up girls in SoCal, ha!

OA: You've lived all over the country, what has brought you back to Chicago and do you feel the press will thrive here?
KW: Chicago is my home. It’s where I earned my stripes and went legit, well, non-fictionally speaking of course. As I had mentioned earlier, if this “movement” perpetuates, and with the help of our newest member of the crew busting her ass with getting CCP’s name out, I am VERY confident we will sustain and spread here like a wonderful plague.

One of her many plans of action is for us to have a reading once a month or at least every other month. Right now, I’m just trying to keep my head from spinning as our West Coast staff members are holding a reading in San Francisco. We’re also staging a reading in NYC later this year. Having the key members of our crew based in the major cities allows us to lead a literary attack on the country as a whole.

So long as our girl keeps cracking the PR whip, we’re gonna do her bidding. She’s the expert in networking. I believe she brought us to your attention, if I’m not mistaken, ha!

OA: What's next for Kevin Whiteley and Criminal Class Review?
KW: As far as Kevin Whiteley the individual is concerned, he will continue to be of service to Eleven-Eleven journal as a contributing editor while concurrently working on his next novel: “Appeasement,” and is in the process of publishing “Chi-town, My Town.” With reference to Criminal Class as a whole, we’ll remain a family and provide a home for our Brethren. I’m grateful for all my “sibs” and the work they do. Thanks much Jason and keep an eye out for those “Bi-lines”!

*Criminal Class holds their next reading on February 28th at WeeGee’s Lounge, 3659 W. Armitage right here in Chicago. The line-up includes Julia Borcherts, Bill Hillmann, Max Glaessner, Colleen McKee, Brian Murphy, Lorn McKay, Marla Seidell, Marguerite L. Harrold, and tentatively Sam Weller.

Copies of Criminal Class Review, Volume 3, Issue One (the fourth issue of CCR) and other CCP merch will be available for purchase.

Share