Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 09/27/24

Like father, like son, like grandson. I recently spoke with Peter Berk about the success of his TimeLock book series based on a concept he created with his late father Howard Berk known for penning episodes of such classic TV series as Mission: Impossible, The Rockford Files and Columbo among others. Peter’s latest book, First Line of Defense, is due out Tuesday. A legal thriller, it tells the story of U.S. President Jackson Blaine, a former criminal attorney who, when his son is charged with murder, elects to personally defend him in court.

While Peter’s book puts a political spin on the courtroom saga, The Timestream Verdict by his son Jordan Berk, puts a sci-fi stamp on the genre as it spins a tale time-traveling jurors. I spoke with both authors about their unique family business and the enduring appeal of escapist entertainment.

JWK: Congratulations on the books. Both First Line of Defense and The Timestream Verdict have plots that pop. When you hear the synopses, you kinda want to see the stories. Let’s start with you, Jordan. How did you come up with the idea for The Timestream Verdict?

Jordan Berk: Well, that’s actually maybe the most interesting part. I didn’t. It was actually my dad who came up with the plot – or, at least, the elevator pitch version of it. We were playing tennis one day and he said “What about a story about a jury that’s composed of time travelers?” That’s where his pitch ended and my story began – but even that seed was enough to kind of inspire me to flesh out the story and update it to revolve around the entire genre of time travel and a time travel murder. In this case, both of these books were actually started by my dad.

JWK: That’s quite a compliment to you, Peter.

Peter Berk: It’s very sweet but the truth is I gave him a sentence and he did the rest of the 300 pages or whatever it is – and did it brilliantly and took it in a far different, and better, direction than I had in mind. Mine was much more conventional – but thank you, Jordan!

JWK: Your book, First Line of Defense, which comes out October 1st is also an interesting idea: a sitting president representing his son in court for a murder trial. Both these stories remind me of those old-style TV miniseries of the seventies and eighties where people would just say “Hey, that looks interesting! I want to see that!” How’d you come up with that idea.

Peter: I honestly don’t remember. This was one of those that just suddenly sprang to mind. It was actually my first novel even though it’s coming out as my third. I started it many years ago. I just had the idea. I truly can’t even come up with an origin story for this story. I knew it was unlikely but I figured, it’s fiction, maybe I can inject some plausibility into it. I checked with a constitutional lawyer who said “Of course, that would never really happen but if the trial took place off of federal property…” – or whatever the lawyer told me. So, I just ran with it and really wanted to make it less of a legal story or even a murder mystery. It’s more of a father-son story. It’s all first person. All my books seem to be first person 20-year-olds – which is bizarre to be my age and writing as a 20-year-old.

JWK: I find it interesting that both of your books are kind of very unique slants on the courtroom drama. They both take place in courtrooms, partly anyway.

Jordan: Yeah. I don’t know if the publisher planned it that way or not but it is a nice kind of serendipity of overlap in terms of our books which, of course, will always be joined by the timing and the familial connection…Although, likewise, similar to First line, (with) Timestream Verdict even though the courtroom is kind of the foundation of the story, it’s not necessarily what it’s about.

JWK: Jordan your day job is kind of interesting as juxtaposition to being a novelist. What do you do when you’re not writing novels?

Jordan: I’m a software engineer by trade. I lead a team of software engineers. It really doesn’t have any applicability to being a writer or being a novelist other than it’s not a coincidence that I am a nerd and love technology – and that applies to both. I certainly brought in some of that technology knowledge and infused it into the novel to make it a little more grounded or give it a little more  realism. Yeah, I mean it is a full-time job so finding the time to write was a challenge but always worth it.

JWK: What was it like growing up in the Berk family. Peter, as we spoke about, your father and Jordan, your grandfather, Howard Berk was a very successful TV writer for shows like Columbo, Mission: Impossible and The Rockford Files. So, what was it like? Did you all watch TV together and go over the plots?

Jordan: From my perspective, it felt kind of normal. There wasn’t anything exceptional to seeing my grandfather’s name attached to older TV shows but, definitely, writing or creative endeavors were always a part of my childhood. I used to sit at an ancient word processor computer – an early nineties computer – and write creative imagination stories with my grandfather. We would play music growing up (and) things like that. I personally never endeavored to be a writer. It wasn’t a goal of mine to follow in those footsteps until this particular story really compelled me and inspired me to pursue that. I didn’t think I had the capability, nor the motivation.

JWK: So, your father’s “elevator pitch” must have really grabbed you. You really liked that idea.

Jordan: Yeah. Like I said, as soon as I heard it it immediately kind of blossomed in my mind and it came together as a fully-fledged story. Once it was there, I almost couldn’t not write it. It was too compelling and I had kind of a perfect opportunity with a bit of surplus time around the time I started it. So, I feel fortunate that I was able to kinda extract it out of my mind and onto the page at a level that I’m happy with.

JWK: Do you feel compelled to continue writing?

Jordan: Yeah. I’m still writing. I’m writing another novel. It’s not a sequel. It’s still very much in the time travel genre – but it’s been harder to find as much time. I think I will finish it eventually. It might be a matter of years rather than months but I’m just as excited about the next one.

JWK: Did you read your father’s TimeLock series?

Jordan: Absolutely! I was an early reader, you know, before he had a contract or anything and always loved the concept. It was originally a screenplay. This was back in the nineties. I read that many times as well and always thought it was a perfect sci-fi concept…It’s so compelling!

JWK: How would you both describe your styles, the similarities and the differences?

Peter: I think Jordan is a more literate writer than I am. I couldn’t believe how well done (his book is). This is not just a dad saying it. First of all, nobody had any idea, other than his wife, that he was even writing a novel. It was a total surprise…Then the writing was so stylized! Not pretentiously so – but just stylish, literate and, honestly, better than mine. I’m happy to say it. He’s closer in quality to my dad’s writing. Mine is just, you know, kind of workmanlike. It’s good, hopefully funny and has a certain amount of character and warmth to it – but Jordan’s writing I just found, from page one, to be on a very, very high level. I didn’t have a second’s hesitation to send it to Ingram Elliott, the publisher, and they didn’t have a second’s hesitation in publishing it. So, pretty good for a first time writer, to say the least.

JWK: How about you, Jordan? How would you describe the similarities and differences in your styles?

Jordan: I’m not going to compare writing quality – although I do appreciate the kind words. I think both are beyond the minimum to (engage) any reader. I do think there actually is a lot of overlap. It’s not a coincidence. Both are first person and kind of have a narrator that is under extreme circumstances but kind of still has a bit of a sarcastic tone, doesn’t take things too seriously and finds a little bit of room for humor. I think both books will make the reader laugh here and there in between the suspense, the action or the thrills. I’m thinking of TimeLock as well…I read TimeLock, specifically, right before starting my writing – so it was definitely a stylistic inspiration. 

JWK: I would say they’re both very broad-based in their appeal. They’re kind of mass-audience types of concepts.

Peter: Yeah.

Jordan: Absolutely.

Peter: Let me just follow up. I completely agree with what Jordan said. We do both like writing in first person because it does allow you to sort of dive deep into what a character is thinking and to inject humor – which is really important because in all of these books that we’re talking about – The Timestream Verdict, the TimeLock books and, now, First Line of Defense – in every case the hero is going through a very challenging, to the say the least, experience. Yet, I don’t think we would want any of these books to be thought of as heavy or depressing. I think we were able to pull that off because the characters have this self-deprecating humor and see the world with a slight edge in their own viewpoint. It keeps things lighter as opposed to being ponderous, heavy, dystopian or depressing.

Jordan: There’s a line in my book which maybe applies to both and kind of sums up what we just said – which is something like “If it weren’t for the fact that somebody died, this would actually be a lot of fun.” Something like that, better written, but that’s essentially the message of my narrator.

JWK: So, you’re looking to create escapist fare – where people can kind of escape their problems and get into these worlds.

Peter: The other common thing – which I think is what appeals in great part to Ingram Elliott – is they are looking for cinematic projects. First Line of Defense and a couple of the TimeLocks (were first) screenplays. I know they want The Timestream Verdict to be written as a screenplay which I’m sure will happen. They think in terms of miniseries and movies. It hasn’t happened yet (for our books). We all know it’s difficult to get those off the ground but I think there’s a reason why they’re attracted to these kinds of mass audience, visually compelling (stories).

JWK: Do you each have any actors that you see playing your characters when your books hopefully get to screen? Jordan?

Jordan: That is a great question! I don’t know that I’ve thought about it – because I didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself. My protagonist is like a mid-thirties man. So, a pretty open field. I don’t know. I’ll think about it – but that’s a great question.

JWK: Do you two share any favorite movies or TV shows that you like to watch together? 

Jordan: Yeah. I don’t know if it was intentional or not but it seemed like every summer we would have a movie or a movie series that would kind of be the staple of that summer – like the Rocky series, Star Wars, Back to the Future or Star Trek. Those are the ones that pop to mind. Certainly, in my case, Back to the Future is a huge inspiration for Timestream Verdict. It’s my favorite movie and, obviously, maybe the best time travel story ever.

JWK: That’s interesting. So, what’s next for both of you? Peter, I think you have another sequel to TimeLock, right?

Peter: Yeah. There are five planned – although it could extend beyond that. They’re all done – except for the last 30 pages of the fifth one. The third one will be in the spring. It sort of veers into a different direction. It’s also based on a script I wrote with my dad but it wasn’t intended as a sequel. I just turned it into a sequel because it’s similar in nature. This one’s a little different. It’s not first person. It’s much more science fiction. If it was made as a movie it would be much more special effects oriented but it weaves in the characters from the first two books. The fourth one goes in a slightly different direction with some new characters. Then the fifth one returns back to first person (with) Morgan Eberly as the narrator. They’re all different because there was no way to just keep telling the same story of the original one over and over. It’s pretty much resolved by the end of the second book. Hopefully, people will like them – but that’s the time frame right now.

JWK: How about you, Jordan? You’re working on another novel.

Jordan: Yeah. Like I mentioned, it’s still early days. I’m probably about ten percent of the way through. It’s time travel oriented but a bit of a different story – more of a coming-of-age teenager high school story.

JWK: But it is science fiction?

Jordan: It’s science fiction. There’s still time travel. I am who I am, ultimately. I’m probably only gonna ever write time travel in some form.

JWK: Did you watch Quantum Leap growing up? Was that a favorite of yours?

Jordan: Yeah. We watched it together. I don’t know that I’ve seen every episode but it has some overlap with Timestream Verdict actually in terms of someone who is kinda placed somewhere to accomplish something (which is) another classic time travel trope that I love. It works every time.

JWK: Peter, anything you’d like to say as we wrap up?

Peter: You know, it’s a great thrill to continue the legacy of my dad who was such an inspiration to all of us. He also wrote novels in every genre. A couple of them were lighthearted. Some of them (were set in) World War II. He really covered every genre – including science fiction. His first novel was called The Sun Grows Cold which was a science fiction futuristic kind of book. So, to have that continue so beautifully with Jordan is just amazing. I can’t wait to read anything he writes next. I don’t even know what his next book is about. I think he likes to kind of work on it on his own. Not that we’re not super close but, you know, that’s his style. I kind of work the same way. That both (of our books) should come out within weeks of each other is amazing.

JWK: Jordan, anything you’d like to say?

Jordan: Mostly just to echo that. Regardless of what happens with sales or becoming a movie or a TV show – with either book – just the opportunity to publish a book with the same publisher…it’s really an honor to be able to share that experience and continue the family legacy, even it that was not necessarily my intention until the last few years. It really has been great.

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.