A local author explores the dark side of Honolulu

By Michelle White

Shiny bald men drool as naked women stick their shaved anatomy in their faces. It’s just another day for Charlie, the former ice-smoking ABC store manager in the book "Bolohead Row," a work of fiction chronicling the area of one square mile surrounding Ke'eaumoku and Kapi'olani Boulevard, the hyper-slummy strip from where the book gets its name.

University of Hawai'i at Manoa graduate and Honolulu Community College teacher Chris McKinney creates another adventure that is "real," as far as he knows. "Bolohead Row" is his best and most recent release after "Tattoo" and "Queen of Tears." Most of us have no idea what really happens in this other culture, but McKinney knows and tells it through the eyes of Charlie.

Charlie is back after a failed marriage. His mom still runs the Bolohead Row bar where he grew up. He agrees to sponsor his soon-to-be ex-con half-sister, whom he slept with once before she went to jail. His decision to allow her to live with him will lead him on a path to destruction.

"It was a strange feeling, me doing what I knew was dumb. It was dumb to keep moving toward a bad ending. Unfortunately, that is where I seemed to be heading again," Charlie said in the book as impending doom approached.

Charlie's other half brother, Mark, is an online gaming fanatic that turned his obsession into a money-making business. The intense depiction of Charlie's life on the edge kept me from catching my breath, until Charlie starts reflecting a bit too much on his life. I had no choice but to skip merrily down the page during that section until Charlie drifted jumped back to reality.

I cannot help but think that McKinney is a little too familiar with the underworld of Hawai'i and what goes on in it. Drugs, gambling, sex, chicken fights, extortion and the double-lives of the people involved are very vividly depicted, as only an insider would possibly know.

"I have second-hand knowledge," McKinney said when asked about his personal experience with his characters hang-ups. "I've always been more of a drinker. However, I personally know a lot of people, a troubling amount of people, who got heavily involved with drugs."

"Bolohead Row" also offers up some real philosophy:

"Sometimes, it was strange shit being Hawaiian because people kept hinting at what you should and shouldn't like," Charlie thinks to himself in the book. "I was the kind of Hawaiian who lived in America in the 21st century, who liked the comfort and ease that money and technology provided ... the kind of Hawaiian who would rather veg out in front of the TV or go have a few beers with friends instead of surf, lay net, hunt pig, or hold a protest sign in front of the capitol over some land shit."

McKinney's Charlie character pokes at current issues in our state, such as corruption in Hawaii's educational system. In a tirade, Charlie rants: "I knew jack shit about Hawaiian issues, except that Kamehameha Schools was willing to cut me a check for college, so I forgave them the whole corrupt-trustees thing. I also knew a professor at UH who thought that Hawaiians should be able to establish their own government and kick anyone non-Hawaiian off the islands, but I figured it would never happen and was a waste of time thinking about."

Charlie is a strong character, and McKinney drew inspiration for Charlie's persona in traits he found in others.

"Fiction writers create characters out of thin air, and have to give these characters both physical and personality traits, they do sometimes borrow traits from real life people," McKinney said. "I have never created a character thinking, hey, my friend Bob would be perfect in this."

In real life McKinney, hangs out with his wife and two year old daughter.

"I've pretty much been grounded since my kid was born," he said. "I played a lot in my teens and twenties. Now I'm doing the suburban dad thing."

While at UHM, professors like Phillip Damon, Ian Macmillan, and Joy Marsella encouraged him to write. His English degree seems to have paid off. SoHo Press in New York recently republished McKinney's "The Queen of Tears" and is going to publish "The Tattoo." Mckinney is waiting to see what happens with that before he decides what to do next.

"Strip bars and jail – I seem to have a definite problem avoiding these two places in my writing. I made a promise to myself that neither place will make an appearance in my next book," McKinney said.