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If Jimmy Doom approached you on Cass Avenue, you might be tempted to cross the street. If you did, youβd be missing out, for beyond the furrows and creases of Doomβs well lived-in face, lie fascinating tales from Detroitβs shadowy side.
The hustlers and the punks. The has-beens and the never-wases. βI laugh out loud when I drive past some house being upgraded into an urban palace somewhere like Brush Park, going for $500,000,β Doom remarks. βI was in that house at four in the morning, watching guys with sawed-off shotguns rolling dice, because that used to be an after-hours club. Some really seedy, crazy stuff happened in places that owners will never know.β
Now Doom, professional actor and onetime punk rocker, has compiled those Detroit visions into his first book, Humans, Being: A Story a Day for a Year (available at Book Beat in Oak Park, on Amazon, and at humansbeingbook@gmail.com, $19). In the process, he took on and accomplished a daunting challenge.
In a salute to the writing genre called microfiction, every page holds a complete story
in exactly 100 words β 365 narratives in all. Itβs the fictional equivalent of haiku. βIt was the challenge,β Doom says. βI knew people did it, so I wanted to see if I could do it, too.β
Moreover, Doom β James Kenneth Graham to his mom, having acquired his cataclysmic nom de guerre as a University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy senior after wreaking vengeance on an underclassman who sucker punched him in the mouth β was inspired to prove a point. He was creating content for an online open writing platform when it changed its payment structure.Μύ
βI said, βThis is a huge cut,β and they said, βNo, itβs just a different system.β But I argued if I wrote a 100-word story every day for a year they would pay much less than one 3,500-word piece. They insisted they were right, so I said, βOK, jerks, Iβll write a 100-word story every day, then weβll compare numbers.β I felt like Norma Rae.βΜύ
Ultimately Doom left the platform, but Canadian-based editor Dascha Paylor solicited him to keep writing for her publication, Tempest in Under 1,000. βIt quickly became apparent that Jimmy was the real deal,β Paylor says. βHeβs lived such an eclectic life and paints his beloved Detroit in vibrant, true-to-life vignettes. I became his biggest cheerleader.β
Doom, who has appeared onscreen opposite such stars as David Carradine and Christopher Walken and has two new independent films, Ash and Bone and Good Thief, expected out this year, admits acting is his first love. βBut you simply donβt get to do it as much as youβd like, especially in Michigan,β he says. βSo I donβt slap a title on myself, I donβt like that. Iβm Jimmy Doom and I act and I write and I watch hockey like a madman.β
He didnβt have as much trouble conjuring 365 scenarios as one might expect, having worked for years as a bartender at several of Detroitβs more notorious establishments, including St. Andrewβs Hall in its rock βnβ roll heyday. He spent many years on the other side of bars as well.
βOh, certainly, the book is littered with conversations that took place in bars, or versions of some,β says Doom, who is now five years clean and sober. βSometimes I would stop myself: βOK, Jimmy, you cannot write another story about two people in a bar.β The bar β being on both sides of it β was such a huge part of my life.β
Does he really expect readers to digest only one story per day? βI really was hoping that would help people feel like they got their moneyβs worth,β he says, laughing. βIβve had people tell me, βI tried to read a story a day, but then I started cheating.β β
Doom feels a bit like heβs cheating, too, at the unexpected age of 55. βI have βLive Fast, Die Youngβ tattooed on my inner right forearm,β he says. βI keep saying I should get another tattoo like a sticker to put over it: βI Tried.β There are so many people who canβt believe Iβm still standing. Iβm lucky to be here, I realize it, and Iβm glad I got the opportunity to do this.βΜύ
An Excerpt from Jimmy Doomβs New BookΜύ
![jimmy doom humans being](https://cdn.hourdetroit.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/jimmy-doom-humans-being.jpg)
We asked Jimmy Doom to choose his favorite 100-word composition from Humans, Being: A Story a Day for a Year, which of course is like trying to choose among your 365 children.
After some deliberation, he declared, βYou choose between βStarsβ and βNom de Guerre.β β
Well, alrighty then β¦
Stars
He loved space as a little boy. The stars, the limitless possibilities. His space wasnβt one of rayguns and wars, but one of peace and solitude.
In the summer he ripped the sheet metal roof off his hut near the viaduct and just stared at the stars.Μύ
He endured the rain for his quality time with the billions of twinkling lights that couldnβt be drowned by the noise of the freeway.
When the company bulldozers came, the men were kind, but firm.
He took his propane heater. He let them keep his sheet metal roof. They couldnβt take his stars.
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