Lee Matthew Goldberg
Miles in Time
From the Author of the Runaway Train series comes Miles in Time, a Thrilling Time-Travel Mystery for Young Detectives.
The Writer’s Dossier 3/17/2025 – The Lee Matthew Goldberg interview
DOSSIER: Your last book, The Great Gimmelmans, sounds so much like a hilarious 80s thrill ride, it immediately strikes me as something that needs an immediate screenplay. How much of the story about a Jewish bank-robbing family, and all the wacky characters in it, is drawn from your own life, Lee? Did you have a stuffed possum named Seymour?
GOLDBERG: I agree The Great Gimmelmans needs an immediate screenplay. I can’t say too much right now, but a writer/producer is adapting it as a script. I believe it’s in really good hands, and we’ll see what happens. I never put too much stock into Hollywood, due to past experiences, but I’m hoping this one keeps moving forward.
In terms of my own life, there is very little in the book, except for the fact that I was the same age as the narrator in 1988. I don’t have siblings, and obviously never robbed banks, but it was essential for the story to take place in the 1980s when DNA was relatively new to police work and there weren’t cameras and phones everywhere. I did grow up Jewish and put those experiences into the novel. Originally, it was supposed to be set in the 1930s during the Great Depression, but it just seemed too depressing, so I changed it to the 80s with a great soundtrack that mirrored some of my favorites songs from when I was a kid.
Fringe Press cranks it out
DOSSIER: On top of having several books on your writing resume, you are now a publisher. And Fringe Press has a great standard! ” … publishes audacious novels and short stories drifting somewhere beyond the boundaries of “mainstream.”” How “exotic, hypnotic, and chaotic” do you plan to get with your acquisitions? I mean, your first announcement was something you’re doing with Chris McGinley.
GOLDBERG: Thank you! Yes, Fringe Press is very new. The goal is to publish books that could be adapted for film/TV and I’ve partnered with Pipeline Media that has a long history in Hollywood with screenplay competitions. We’ve gotten a lot of acquisitions and Chris will be our first! We loved his book and it just fit with what we’re looking for. Acquisitions, so far, have been word of mouth. I think we’ve had about 800. Between me and Pipeline, we know a lot of writers. We do want books that may have been passed over by bigger publishers, but also that we can see on a screen. It’s a narrow window, but if you have what we’re after, send it along!
The greatest decade in music
DOSSIER: Where and when do you like to write? While you were writing The Great Gimmelmans, were you bouncing around to the greatest decade in music history? (It’s call the 80s, people!)
GOLDBERG: I write most days in Central Park under my tree when the weather is good. I find it inspiring to be in nature. The Great Gimmelmans was written during the pandemic, so the park was one of the safest places to be. I think it kept me sane during those times. And I was listening to a lot of 80s music while writing. Their a Spotify mix of every song from the book. Lots of Def Leppard, Eddie Money, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson.
Books and screenplays
DOSSIER: You’ve done 14 books? Tell the tens of rabid Dossier fans out there about your process. How much better is your last book from your first one? You’ve also turned many into screenplays, so do you use Final Draft, and most importantly … do you write with certain actors in mind? (You’re always the star, right Lee? Be honest.)
GOLDBERG: So, I’ve written 14 books, and adapted about half into scripts. One of my projects has a great actress attached, another has a director. Another one has a director/producer, but that one won’t be my script if it moves forward. I throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. I use Final Draft, and I do keep getting better at writing screenplays. It’s a different kind of art, and I’m working at improving. I’m about to start a new script soon that has a Twin Peaks, Banshee, Talented Mr. Ripley vibe to it. Eventually, it will be a book, but I’m planning on writing it as a script first. I’m thinking of it like a big outline that I’d write anyway.
A new YA sci-fi
DOSSIER: Is there anything else you’d like to reveal in your Dossier today? We like headline-making breaking news. (It gives our graphics department a chance to make a new eye-catching news banner if we can get them to put down their game controllers for five seconds.)
GOLDBERG: Sure, my new novel MILES IN TIME comes out May 6th and is the first in a two book series. These are Young Adult sci-fi novels about a boy who goes back in time to stop his brother’s murder and uncovers a larger conspiracy. They have thriller elements, but are sweeter than most of my books about criminals. I like writing YA from time to time, but it will probably be a long while until I write another. I have too many other ideas waiting to go.
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