Interview with Jamey Dunn

Jamey Dunn is a character from my Dream Jumper Series, someone I find infinitely interesting. He lives in my head, yes, but sometimes I'm surprised by what he comes up with. Sometimes I don't consciously give him the answers to questions. Jamey made his first appearance in book 1 of the series...

The Dream Jumper's Promise

A Husband Goes Missing, An Old Boyfriend Surfaces, The Dreams Begin... 

Tina Green's husband is presumed dead from a Maui surfing accident and now she's being haunted by otherwordly dreams. When former boyfriend, Jamey Dunn, turns up at her Lahaina dive shop and offers to help,she can't believe his preposterous claim -- he can enter dreams. As James deciphers her dreams, the mystery unravels for Jamey, Tina, and her best friend, Noble. But secrets, lies, and heartbreak rise to the ugly surface and soon we realize that no one is entirely who they seem. One person is an impostor, one, a traitor and one is flirting with insanity.

Jamey Dunn Interview (conducted just before the book begins)

Tell us a bit about who you are. 

My name is Jamey Dunn. I’m a former Seattle cop and current Special Forces American soldier, stationed in Afghanistan, now on extended leave. I can’t tell you what I do over there and I know people joke about saying because then I’d have to kill you, but in my case it’s almost true. If you knew there’d be hell to pay on my end and maybe some deprogramming from a guy called Milton, so let’s just leave it at that. Moving on.

Where were you raised? 

I was born and raised in Carnation, Washington, a small town on the Tolt River east of Seattle. It’s really pretty there with snow-capped mountains in the distance on a clear day. Mostly farming. Lots of red barns, miles of crops, winding roads, friendly people. I lived in the same house my whole life and my Pops still lives there on the river on ten acres. It’s kind of a rundown house now but when anyone drives up they’re invited inside for a cup of coffee at our big kitchen table. Pops will chew your ear off with questions about yourself. (smiles) He might even get out the Scrabble board so don’t go inside if you don’t have time for a visit.

Family members? 

I have a younger sister, Jenny, who is a great mom and accountant, and two older brothers. Gavin works for Microsoft and Robert lives in San Francisco and is married to a lawyer. He’s a stay at home dad. Pops, is seventy and raised us four kids after my mom walked out on us when I was five and Jenny was two. Pops is the backbone of the family and all that we are is because of him. We grew up swimming in the river behind the house, making forts with wood that drifted in to our beach and running wild all over the town. It was a great life. Poor Jenny with us older brothers. She turned out tough. Married a really wimpy guy and she bosses him around like nobody’s business.

Did you attend college? 

I tried. See I have this ability to read people way beyond what others can do. I call it hyper-intuition. I’m different. My life has been a wild ride trying to deal with knowing what people are going to say before they say it. Same with school. I knew test answers, most times, before I thought about what the question meant. I dropped out of college after one semester and went to the Seattle Police Academy where I thought my ‘gift’ would be put to better use than if I became a communications major. It was a good place to land for a long time.

Are you athletic? 

Well (laughs) I guess you could say I’m athletic. When I’m over in the Sandbox I train obsessively in the gym because it’s good to be in shape and there's not much else to do while waiting for a mission. But, I could never really play team sports for the same reason college didn’t work. I had this unfair advantage of knowing what was going to happen half the time. It isn’t exact, but still. It was a matter of ethics. Even when I was decorated as a policeman, I felt shitty, like I’d used skills other people didn’t have. Back to athletics--I like to challenge myself, work on personal best times. It takes the place of sex. (laughs) Not many dating prospects in Afghanistan.

Did you always want to be a cop?

No. I had dreams of wanting to be an astronaut and stuff but you have to remember that I had this intuition and these visions early. Since I was five, I guess. Five or six. And it was scary. I always knew I was different. My Uncle Don had it too and he was a cop, so by the time I was a teenager, I thought I’d follow in his footsteps. And before you ask if I’d always wanted to be a soldier, I never wanted to be a soldier. I still don’t. They drafted me sort of forcibly if you can call guilt forcibly. They have me by the short hairs to work for them. After my divorce it seemed like I should do something with my life rather than hang around Carnation and stare at my ex-wife and daughters, so I put everything I had into finding…Hey, tricky! I almost told you what I do over there in Afghanistan. You are very good, you know that. And I don’t mind telling you that I see a chunk of money coming your way in the next year. See how handy that intuition is? I’m like a walking fortune cookie. (laughs)

Tell us about Tina, your former girlfriend? 

I'm going to have to plead the 5th on that one. Her life is private and it's kind of painful for me to talk about her. I made a huge mistake and lost her. But, I'm told you can pick up a copy of The Dream Jumper's Promise and get the full skinny on what I did and how I tried to correct my mistake.

If you had one thing to tell your twenty-year-old self, what would it be? 

Don't worry so much. You won't be alone forever.

THE DREAM JUMPER'S PROMISE