An Interview with JAMES P. BLAYLOCK
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Name: JAMES P. BLAYLOCK
Author of: THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN (1984) On the web: www.jamespblaylock.com |
To celebrate the release of James P. Blaylock’s latest novel, The Aylesford Skull (my review will be available later this week, so do please check back), his publisher, Titan Books, are running a competition to win a Limited Edition copy of the novel. Enjoy the interview with the author, below, and check out details on how to enter the competition at the end.
One of the founding fathers of modern steampunk, James P. Blaylock is the winner of a Philip K. Dick Award and two World Fantasy Awards. Befriended and mentored by Philip K. Dick, James P. Blaylock pioneered the steampunk genre along with his contemporaries, Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter. He is distinguished by his unique, humorous style, enthralling characters and vivid real world settings.
I’m delighted to welcome James P. Blaylock along to Reader Dad for a chat. Thanks for the taking the time out, James.
You’re credited, along with Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter, as one of the fathers of modern Steampunk. Tell us a bit about the history of the genre: what was your starting point? What were you trying to achieve?
The three of us were friends (still are) in the 1970s. After we graduated from the university, we were young enough and idle enough to have time to hang around with each other during the day. We were all new writers at the time. I had published my first short story, and Tim and K.W. had sold novels. I was enthusiastically working on an impossible novel, which I’d figure out how to write several years later as The Digging Leviathan. All of us were big on Victorian literature. K.W., who had a degree (I seem to remember) in sociology, had read Henry Mayhew’s brilliant London Labour and the London Poor, and was regaling us with wild accounts of treasures and feral pigs in the London Sewers and that sort of thing. Tim was researching and writing the novel that would become The Drawing of the Dark, and K.W. was writing Morlock Night. Much of this “research” went on at O’Hara’s Pub in downtown Orange, California, where I lived at the time and still do. (I mean I live in Orange, not at O’Hara’s Pub.) K.W. and Tim were living in a bohemian sort of neighborhood in nearby Santa Ana, where Phil Dick was living at the time. I was engaged in an effort to read all of Robert Louis Stevenson and P.G. Wodehouse, and I very badly wanted to spend some time in an earlier era, taking a shot at making slightly arcane language work and writing wacky adventures about backyard scientist/explorers. The result was my short story “The Ape-box Affair,” which was the first of our early Steampunk pieces to see print, only by virtue of its being a story rather than a novel: quicker to write and quicker to publish. None of us had the idea of writing any particular sort of thing at all. It simply seemed right and natural to set a story where the story seemed to want to be set. It was nearly a decade after “The Ape-Box Affair” and Morlock Night were published that K.W. would coin the term Steampunk. Up until then I had no idea that it formed any sort of science fiction subgenre. So I have to say that we weren’t trying to achieve anything much beyond publishing stories and novels. We might as easily have been writing pirate fantasies (which would come later) or vegetarian thrillers. We’d be Piratepunks or Vegetarianpunks now.
Steampunk is still thriving today, both on and off the page. Do you follow the genre much? If so, which authors, in your opinion, are worth following? Who are the people pushing the limits of the genre and keeping it alive?
I watch the Steampunk phenomenon with great pleasure, and I admire the trappings. I have to say, however, that I don’t follow the genre much, except by chance. I recently had the pleasure of reading Ghosts by Gaslight, an anthology of Steampunk/Gaslight stories edited by Nick Gevers and Jack Dann. They managed to pack the anthology with great stories. I wasn’t surprised to see that first rate writers like Gene Wolfe or Lucius Shepard could write first rate Steampunk or Gaslight fantasy as well as anything else they set their hand to. I’m also fond of the publications of the VanderMeers. And Tim Powers’s Hide Me Among the Graves is characteristically brilliant. It’s arguable that Steampunk culture is being kept alive by the growing number of aficionados who dress the part, play the music, talk the talk, and generally live in their version of a Steampunk world. I’m guessing they’re abetted and encouraged by writers like Cherie Priest and Gail Carriger, who create fully conceived and persuasive Steampunk worlds in their fiction. I’m all for keeping it alive.
There was a gap of 17 years between your last Langdon St. Ives novel, and the first of the novellas. The Aylesford Skull is the first full-length St. Ives novel in twenty years. How did you approach your return to the character after such a long time away? Was it difficult to find your way back into his world?
It was in fact easy to find my way back into the world. I was attracted to it in the first place because I’d long been an enthusiastic reader of 18th and 19th Century literature, starting at around 10 years old. That enthusiasm never declined. I have other enthusiasms when it comes to reading, of course, but I’ve always had one foot in the past, looking back as often as I look forward. That being said, most of my novels take place in contemporary California settings, and I wrote a string of them in the late 80s and 90s, taking a couple of years on each. About 12 years ago I developed a program in creative writing at what was then the Orange County High School of the Arts (now more accurately the Orange County School of the Arts) and I stayed on to direct the program and to teach. I was already teaching full time at Chapman University, and the result of all this teaching and directing was less writing. Along the line, however, I read James Norman Hall’s brilliant collection of stories titled Dr. Dogbody’s Leg, and I was reminded of how much I missed writing Steampunk, and I found myself writing “The Ebb Tide” and “The Affair of the Chalk Cliffs” for Subterranean Press. I also found a new agent, who leaned on me to write a longer Steampunk novel, and the result of that was The Aylesford Skull. I assume that my agent will keep leaning on me.
On a similar note, what was the driving force behind the return to the character after such a long absence?
The driving force was a complicated mixture of Dr. Dogbody’s Leg, the expectations of a new agent, the compulsion to write more, and the knowledge that if I didn’t write more I’d wake up one morning with the knowledge that I used to be a writer.
What’s next for St. Ives? Can we expect to see more adventures from the Professor in the near future?
His next appearance (as far as I know now) will be in a new publication from Subterranean Press that’s a companion volume to the previous two. Its working title is “The Pagan Goddess,” but that will probably be supplanted by something more… something. There’s also another full-length St. Ives novel in the works, just taking shape in my mind at this point.
What authors or works have influenced you as a writer?
The writers who inclined me toward writing Victorian science fiction included Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Poe. Those writers made colourful, old-fashioned adventure novels particularly appealing to me when I was a boy. But my love of language, of writing, of setting and character can be blamed on Twain, Steinbeck, and Stevenson. Their novels and stories and essays were the driving force, so to speak, of my writing. The die was cast when I was ten years old, and my parents gave me Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer as Christmas presents, just at the time that I had discovered Steinbeck in my mother’s library and read In Dubious Battle and some of the short stories in The Long Valley. I didn’t understand a lot of what I was reading, but I was entirely swept up in the flood of word pictures and strange characters, and I’m still swimming in that river. (Sorry for the wonky metaphor.)
And as a follow-on, is there one book (or more than one) that you wish you had written?
If you mean someone else’s book, sure – a hundred or two of them. I wish I had the talent and the information and sensibilities and experiences of any and all of my literary heroes and could write the books they wrote. If you mean a Blaylock book that I’d like to have written, then I’ll say that I wish circumstances had conspired to compel me to write a sequel to The Disappearing Dwarf, which was a sequel to The Elfin Ship. That would have happened if my editors at Del Rey Books, Lester and Judy-Lynn del Rey hadn’t passed away. So it goes, however. And if I’d written that imaginary book, then I wouldn’t have written some other book, and who knows what would have come for me. I’m happy to have written what I’ve written, and happy that people are still reading my books more than 35 years after my first story was published.
And what advice would you have for people hoping to pursue fiction-writing as a career?
I’d tell them not to quit their day jobs, to be ready for the long haul, to read as much as they can read, to write what makes them happy, and to remember that the stuff that goes into their books and stories is most often not the stuff that they learn in school, but the stuff they see in the world around them. Perseverance is worth as much as talent, and work is worth more than all the rest combined. Back when I was first selling stories and trying to sell novels, Tim Powers had a strict rule that he would write a thousand words a day. I bought into his rule, and it made all the difference.
What are you reading now, and is it for business or pleasure?
Pleasure. My business is writing and teaching, and I only teach what I myself like to read. Right now I’ve got several books going: My nightstand book is Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken. My desktop books are The Pickwick Papers and also The Mauritius Command by Patrick O’Brian. (I perpetually read O’Brian.) My vacation book (my wife and I are in Carmel at the moment, looking out over a grove of cypress trees at the ocean) is John D. MacDonald’s The Lonely Silver Rain.
Would you like to see Langdon and company make the jump from page to screen? If so, do you have any dream casts/directors/whatever?
I’d be deliriously happy to see the whole crowd leap onto the screen. I’ll admit, however, that I’m a little behind the times when it comes to actors and directors. I’m happily watching “Downton Abbey” and the first and only season of “Firefly.” If I could fit Gary Busey into the mix I’d do it.
And finally, on a lighter note…
If you could meet any writer (dead or alive) over the beverage of your choice for a chat, who would it be, and what would you talk about (and which beverage might be best suited)?
This is a tough one. Robert Louis Stevenson in Samoa, India Pale Ale, and we’d talk about heaven knows what, but I’d start with an idea from Dickens – that “Trifles make the sum of life.” I’d ask him what trifles make up the sum of his life, and which of them made up the sum of his books. I hope that makes some kind of sense.
Thank you once again, James, for taking time out to share your thoughts.
Thanks to you and your readers, too. Cheers, Jim Blaylock.
This article was posted as part of the Aylesford Skull Swashbuckling Blog Tour celebrating the release of James P. Blaylock’s first full-length steampunk novel in twenty years [The Aylesford Skull, Titan Books, £7.99]. For the opportunity to win a limited edition of The Aylesford Skull in a jacketed, signed hardcover with a unique jacket design, just tweet “I would like a limited edition of the Aylesford Skull @TitanBooks #Blaylock”.
Details about The Limited Edition (available Feb 2013)
750 signed and numbered editions:
Jacketed, cloth-bound hardcover with ribbon
Signed by James P. Blaylock
Exclusive foreword by K.W. Jeter and introduction by Tim Powers
26 signed and lettered editions:
As above encased in a custom-made traycase
Be the first to find out when The Aylesford Skull (Limited Edition) is available, by signing up to Titan’s mailing list here: http://www.titanbooks.com/signup.
An Interview with SIMON TOYNE
 Photograph © Toby Madden |
Name: SIMON TOYNE
Author of: SANCTUS (2011) On the web: www.simontoyne.net On Twitter: @sjtoyne |
Simon Toyne’s career began in television, where he was a successful screenwriter and producer for over fifteen years. In 2011 HarperCollins published his first novel, Sanctus, an edge-of-the-seat apocalyptic thriller which, despite the inevitable comparisons to Dan Brown, still featured high on my list of the top books of the year. The Key, the second book in the series, was released earlier this year (and gets its paperback release on 22nd November), broadening the scope, in every conceivable sense, of the original novel. If his Twitter feed is to be believed, Simon is hard at work on the final volume of the trilogy, a book that involves Afghan languages and obscure American city districts in some shape or form.
I’m delighted to welcome Simon Toyne along to Reader Dad for a chat. Thanks for the taking the time out, Simon.
Nice to finally (virtually) meet you beyond the curt environs of twitter
I’d like to go back to the very beginning, and that powerful image that opens Sanctus: a man in green robes standing atop a thousand-foot high mountain, arms outstretched, before plunging to his death on the street below. Was that your starting point, or was that an image that came later? Can you talk about the origins of the tale?
I tend to start with the end and work backwards, so for Sanctus I had the big secret, the Sacrament, held inside an impenetrable fortress since before recorded history and worked backwards to see how it could be discovered, who could discover it, where this fortress could be etc. In the initial outline I had someone discovering the body of a monk brutally murdered with ritualistic wounds and finding clues on his body that would kick-start the journey towards revealing the mystery. I had this notion of a city within a city, a bit like Rome with the Vatican, and thought it would be interesting if the body was found right on the border, or just over the line where the jurisdictions start and end so that the various authorities could argue over who should investigate the murder. ‘The Bridge’ had a similar plot device involving the Danish/Swedish border. In my story the idea of what this fortress could look like started to form and from that I decided it would be more visual to have the monk fall from the top of some vertiginous structure rather than just be discovered.
The image of the Tau is hugely important in the first novel: the monk, the statue of Christ the Redeemer, the very Taurus mountain range which forms the backdrop for the city of Ruin. How much work was involved in making the pieces line up so that the thread ran the whole way through the story and it all made sense?
I knew I needed a symbol that was very simple and timeless and could represent many different things and the Tau came out of research. I found out that the T-shaped cross would have been the actual shape of the cross Christ was crucified on for example and so it was loaded with different potential meanings that I could layer in throughout the course of the story. Francis of Assissi used to form the shape of the Tau with his cassock so I nicked that and I liked the idea that the famous statue in Rio might also tie in with this ancient mystery. As for the Taurus mountains, I had already decided to set Ruin there and it was only afterwards that I noticed the connection.
Sanctus reads well as a standalone novel, to the point that it wasn’t until after I had read and reviewed the book that I became aware that it was the start of a trilogy. The Key picks up almost immediately after the end of the first book, but interestingly it takes almost half of the second novel’s length before the shocking revelation at the end of Sanctus is, in effect, re-revealed to characters and readers. Was there any rationale behind this decision, or was it something that came naturally to the story?
In the first draft of ‘The Key’ I tried not to reveal what the big reveal at the end of ‘Sanctus’ was at all but I couldn’t do it. I figured if you’d read ‘Sanctus’ you’d know what it was and would be thinking ‘why doesn’t he just say it?’ and if you hadn’t read it then lots of the story wouldn’t make sense. Having Liv lose her memory and have to piece it together was a useful device both for putting her in a vulnerable situation and also for allowing her to remember slowly and thereby either remind the return reader or inform the new reader what happened.
One of my favourite new characters from The Key is the massive Dick (no sniggering at the back of the class). I was instantly reminded of Rex Miller’s equally massive Daniel "Chaingang" Bunkowski. Do you have any personal favourites that you enjoy writing, or are there characters you find more difficult to write than others?
Ah yes, the massive Dick. I should point out that Dick is short for ‘Dictionary’ because he likes to use words as big as he is. I do quite enjoy writing characters like him because they pose very specific technical challenges. You spend a lot of time with your main characters so you have the luxury of being able to really explore their backgrounds, motivations, fears etc. With the secondary characters you have to give them just as much impact with a lot less page time so you try and give them idiosyncrasies that make them stand out which makes them interesting to think about and write.
Since publishing my review of Sanctus in February of last year, one of the most frequently-recurring search terms that ultimately lead to Reader Dad is some combination of "Ruin" and "Turkey" (interestingly, it’s beaten only by people searching for information on the equally fictional Jodie, Texas). Ruin, and the mountainous Citadel that dominates the city’s centre, plays a central role in the two novels. When I first read Sanctus, it reminded me of Jack O’Connell’s Quinsigamond or China Miéville’s New Crobuzon; it’s a fully-formed city (quarters and all) that is nonetheless slightly off, and without which the books would lose much of their character. I recently had the chance to ask Daniel Polansky the same question about his Low Town, so I’m interested in how the answers compare: where did Ruin come from? What were your influences; is it modelled on any existing cities? And most importantly of all, is it mapped out anywhere other than in your head?
Ruin is definitely another character in the books and, like any character, the way others interact with it reveals things about both of them. The reason I made a place up rather than use a real one is because there is no place quite like Ruin and I didn’t want to take liberties with someone’s city. The story threw up very specific needs for the location: it had to be very old and remote, it had to have a monastery in the middle built into a natural pinnacle of rock, it had to have a modern city surrounding it that earned a great deal of its living trading off the history of the Citadel, just like places like Lourdes or Santiago de Compostela do. Physically it borrows from all sort of places, the journey up the streets of the old town for example is taken from a hilly medieval fortified Bastide town in France called Cordes-sur-Ciel (Cordes on the sky) where I lived for a while when I started writing ‘Sanctus’. And I did draw a map of it when I was writing Sanctus, boulevards, Lost Quarter and all. It helped me keep the geography straight in my head of where everything was in relation to each other.
You are hard at work on the final volume of the trilogy. Can you tell us anything about it, and do you have any idea what we can expect beyond the end of the trilogy?
It’s called ‘The Tower’. If ‘Sanctus’ was predominantly about Liv, ‘The Key’ was mainly about Gabriel then ‘The Tower’ is about how both of their destinies collide. The revelation of the big mystery at the end of ‘Sanctus’ was a bit like dropping a huge boulder into a lake that had been artificially calm for a very log time, ‘The Key’ and ‘The Tower’ both explore the huge ripples that follow.
After the trilogy I will trawl through my ideas file and see which one of the hundred or so ideas in there I would like to read most. Then I’ll write it. There are some other stories in there that could be set in Ruin, so I may revisit the place, you never know.
What authors or works have influenced you as a writer?
Like most writers of my generation Stephen King is a huge formative influence. ‘The Dead Zone’ is still one of my all-time favourite books.
And as a follow-on, is there one book (or more than one) that you wish you had written?
‘The Silence of the Lambs’ by Thomas Harris. If you want to know how to write a thriller, read that book and study it. It’s perfect.
What does a typical (writing) day in the life of Simon Toyne look like?
A typical day revolves around my kids (I have 3, ranging from 9 to 7 months). I try and work when the two older ones are at school, so between 10 and 3. I switch off the internet, play soundtrack music loudly and disappear into the story. If I’m chasing a deadline, though, this all goes out of the window and I end up surgically attached to the laptop. I try and write a thousand words a day.
And what advice would you have for people hoping to pursue fiction-writing as a career?
I would say read a lot and write a lot. It’s the only way you can get better.
What are you reading now, and is it for business or pleasure?
At the moment I’m reading nothing because I’ve got to deliver ‘The Tower’ in two weeks’ time and I’m at a book launch in Romania for three days of that. I’ve got a huge pile of books I want to read, though. They lie there in the corner of my office, taunting me like paper sirens.
Would you like to see your novels make the jump from page to screen? If so, do you have any dream casts/directors/whatever?
My ideal would be to see the trilogy become a ‘Game of Thrones’/’Pillars of the Earth’ style mini series. That way you wouldn’t lose lots of characters like you do when you cut a novel like mine down to two hours. Having said that I’d love to see the story on any screen. I think Paul Greengrass (the second and third Bourne movies) would be a great fit for the themes and the action. Cast wise I always saw Emily Blunt as Liv and a young John Cusack as Gabriel.
And finally, on a lighter note…
If you could meet any writer (dead or alive) over the beverage of your choice for a chat, who would it be, and what would you talk about (and which beverage might be best suited)?
It would by Dylan Thomas in the White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village for a pint of Guinness. I would try and talk him into seeing a doctor before flying home to Wales.
Thank you once again, Simon, for taking time out to share your thoughts.
An Interview with JOANNE REAY
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Name: JOANNE REAY
Author of: LO’LIFE: ROMEO SPIKES (2012) |
Joanne Reay is a British scriptwriter and producer. Her debut novel, Romeo Spikes, is the first part of the Lo’Life series, and is available now from Titan Books.
Thanks for taking the time to speak to us, Joanne.
I’d like to start by looking at the origins of Lo’World in general and, in particular, the story that plays out in Romeo Spikes. What was your starting point, and how close to your original vision did the story end up staying?
Lo’Life began as a screenplay, telling the story of Lola. Then, by chance, the script was passed to a publisher who asked if I’d adapt it as a novel. I jumped at the chance because it gave me the opportunity to build the entire world around Lola and explore not only her origins, but also the entire shadow community that lives amongst us.
The world in which the novel is set seems to be a slightly skewed version of our own reality. Beneath all this, you have Lo’World itself. Did you make a conscious decision to create your own world as part of the writing, or are the changes merely born of necessity?
The thrill of writing a supernatural story is to be unbound by the flimsy four dimensions of our reality. Hell, who wouldn’t love world-building? I can see why God gets a kick from it.
The novel comes with a lot of backstory. You have managed to seamlessly weave ancient mythologies and legends, religious and philosophical histories with your own fictional origin stories. The amount of research required to even skim the surface of many of these areas seems, to me, phenomenal. How much research did you do to get the story right, and how did you go about it?
Whenever I set about to find a specific fact, I always allowed myself the time to click on odd links that caught my eye, or follow a foot-note that would seem unrelated but somehow intriguing. I’m a great believer in floating on the thermals of random data. The most fascinating plot points I found came from rudderless mental drifting.
And following on from that, did you find any nuggets during your research that you loved, but that you just couldn’t fit into the story?
I have barely scratched the surface of Tristmegistmus, so his secrets will be further disgorged in the coming books.
How far into Lo’Life’s future have you planned? Is there a definite endpoint to what you have started, or can you only see so far into the characters’ futures?
There are two further stories planned and the narrative could easily stretch far beyond that. In the next book, Black Antlers, Detective Bianco is taken deep into the supernatural world of Lola. In the next book, the roles are reversed and Lola becomes locked into the search for a bizarre and brutal serial killer. As the two worlds of humans and Tormenta once again collide, the investigation takes an unexpected twist into the realm of quantum theory.
What authors or works have influenced you as a writer?
Lewis Carroll was a revelation and as a child, he taught me a new freedom with words and meaning.
And as a follow-on, is there one book (or more than one) that you wish you had written?
The Information by Martin Amis.
What does a typical (writing) day in the life of Joanne Reay look like?
It begins with a walk to my local coffee-shop and on the way, I plan the next chapter and wrangle with dialogue ideas. Then I write for three hours, sometimes more, before heading home. Switch on the TV (as I work better with background noise) and read through what I wrote that morning and make amendments. At 6pm (latest) it is time for Gin&Tonic. Then after dinner I’ll probably drift back to my laptop, having had some great inspiration in the bath.
And what advice would you have for people hoping to pursue fiction-writing as a career?
I believe that everyone should find some creative expression, but if you want to make writing a paying career, then you have to be ruthless in terms of getting objective feed-back on your work. Friends and family might tell you it’s great, but you need to hear the truth from those who are able to speak freely. And when you get comments, don’t just hear what you want to hear. Embrace the negatives and work at improving.
What are you reading now, and is it for business or pleasure?
I’m reading “Free Radicals” by Michael Brooks. It’s giving me some invaluable insight into the scientific community that surrounds quantum theory.
Would you like to see the Lo’Life novels make the jump from page to screen? If so, do you have any dream casts/directors/whatever?
I’m already working on the screenplay, which has moved on since the original. My ideal actor for Dali is Tom Waits and for Bianco, Zoe Saldana.
And finally, on a lighter note…
If you could meet any writer (dead or alive) over the beverage of your choice for a chat, who would it be, and what would you talk about (and which beverage might be best suited)?
I’m related to John Bunyan and he was a radical dude. Pilgrim’s Progress was the most published book of its time, second only to the Bible and it delivered a world-shaking message. Bunyan was so popular that the King (who had him imprisoned for his dangerous views) was forced to release him. He told Bunyan that he was free to go, as long as he ceased to preach. Bunyan walked out of Bedford jail, took eleven paces began preaching at the top of his voice. He was promptly thrown back inside. I ‘d love to talk to him and find out what gives someone the courage to stand up for their beliefs. Not sure what the beverage would be – kinda limited in those days, so maybe some manner of undrinkable beer.
Thank you once again, Joanne, for taking time out to share your thoughts.
ROMEO SPIKES, the first of the Lo’Life novels is out now from Titan Books.
”The tragedy of suicide is not death. It is what dies within us whilst we live.”
Working the Homicide squad, Alexis Bianco believes she’s seen every way a life can be taken. Then she meets the mysterious Lola and finds out she’s wrong. More weapon than woman, Lola pursues a predator with a method of murder like no other.
The Tormenta.
If you think you’ve never encountered Tormenta, think again. You’re friends with one. Have worked for one. Maybe even fallen in love with one.
They walk amongst us—looking like us, talking like us. Coercing our subconscious with their actions.
Like the long-legged beauty that seduces the goofy geek only to break his heart, causing him to break his own neck in a noose. Or the rockstar, whose every song celebrates self-harm, inspiring his devoted fans to press knives to their own throats. The pusher who urges the addict toward one more hit, bringing him a high from which he’ll never come down. The tyrannical boss, crushing an assistant’s spirit until a bridge jump brings her low.
We call it a suicide. Tormenta call it a score, their demonic powers allowing them to siphon off the unspent lifespan of those who harm themselves.
To Bianco, being a cop is about right and wrong. Working with Lola is about this world and the next…and maybe the one after that. Because everything is about to change. The coming of a mighty Tormenta is prophesied, a dark messiah known as the Mosca.
To stop him, Bianco and Lola must fight their way through a cryptic web of secret societies and powerful legends to crack an ancient code that holds the only answer to the Mosca’s defeat. If this miscreant rises before they can unmask him, darkness will reign, and mankind will fall in a storm of suicides.
Nobody’s safe. Everyone’s a threat.
An Interview with DANIEL POLANSKY
 Photograph © Dan Stack |
Name: DANIEL POLANSKY
Author of: THE STRAIGHT RAZOR CURE (2011) On the web: www.danielpolansky.com On Twitter: @danielpolansky |
Daniel Polansky’s first novel, The Straight Razor Cure was published in 2011, its mix of fantasy and Chandleresque hardboiled private detective appealing to a broad range of readers. His second novel is published this year by Hodder, and returns us to the world of Low Town and the adventures of Warden.
Thanks for taking the time to speak to us, Daniel.
The most striking thing, for me, was what I called the obliteration of genre lines in my review of The Straight Razor Cure. This is most definitely a fantasy world, but it’s a very standard private eye setup, with a very hardboiled or noir feel to it. It’s probably a "chicken or egg" question, but which came first: did you set out to write a detective novel, fantasy novel, both or neither?
Both, really. I’m a big fan of classic noir, in terms of the style of prose and the traditionally grim world outlook. I thought it would be fun to try and transpose some of that into a fantasy setting, see how they meshed together.
Your main character, Warden, comes with massive back story, of which we glimpse bits and pieces as the story progresses. Tomorrow, The Killing gives us more insight. His past is part of what makes him one of the most engaging characters in modern fantasy. How do you approach writing from his point of view, and how much of the back story do you know?
For whatever reason, I was always very comfortable with Warden’s voice, even when I had just begun working on Straight Razor Cure. At this point it’s really a pretty well worn groove, sometimes I find myself thinking like him without even meaning to. As far as his back story goes, I would say that I’ve got a pretty clear idea of the most critical points, though sometimes he still surprises me in the details.
Likewise Low Town itself. The city is divided neatly into different areas; it’s something of a melting pot for different religions and races. There is a lot of history here. How do you go about creating a city on this scale – did you use a real-world reference, and is it mapped out anywhere other than in your head?
The city is really an amalgam of a lot of different places I’ve been. If you look very closely you can see a few echoes of Baltimore, where I grew up, but its nothing that substantial. The truth is Rigus is kind of whatever I need it to be at any given moment in the story. I sort of deliberately left a lot of it undefined so as to give me more room to maneuver.
It’s great to be back in the city for Tomorrow, The Killing. How far into the future have you projected? Is this a finite arc with a definite endpoint, or a more sprawling collection of vaguely interrelated tales? Are we likely to see the city through the eyes of any other characters, or is the Low Town series really also the Warden series?
To me the Low Town series is intrinsically about the Warden, I’m not really sure how I would write a book in this world without him. I’ve got a pretty clear end in mind for the characters, though you never know—sometimes things develop differently than you originally intend.
What authors or works have influenced you as a writer?
So many, really. I could just fill a page. But as far as Low Town, my main influences were guys like Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett. Classic hard-boiled detective stuff.
And as a follow-on, is there one book (or more than one) that you wish you had written?
That’s a hard question to answer—there are a ton of books that I love, that I think are tremendous and wish I had written in the sense that I wish I had the talent and experience of the person who had written it. But on the other hand, the book you write is obviously about who you are as a person, so in a sense to wish you had written another person’s book is to wish you were that person. And that road leads pretty straight to madness. So I’m going to say no, I think I’ll stand pat, thanks.
What does a typical (writing) day in the life of Daniel Polansky look like?
I spend most of my time traveling, so that ends up really dictating where and how I get to write. I don’t really have a routine per se, I just try and get a thousand words in every day, whether it’s in a cafe or on a train or just waiting around a bus station.
And what advice would you have for people hoping to pursue fiction-writing as a career?
Read. Read a ton, read all the time, read the most difficult and dense things you can make yourself read, even if you plan on writing lighter genre stuff. Don’t get boxed into only consuming the fiction that you find yourself comfortable with, or you’ll never acquire a palette broad enough to do anything of valuable. And obviously, write because you enjoy writing, and not because you hope to have any concrete success in it. The process has to be the most important part, or you’re wasting your time.
What are you reading now, and is it for business or pleasure?
At this exact moment I’m trying to finish Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. At one point I think it was for pleasure, but after 9,000 pages I couldn’t exactly say that I’m loving every moment of it.
Would you like to see the Low Town novels make the jump from page to screen? If so, do you have any dream casts/directors/whatever?
Ooooh—I’ll say David Lynch, just to be provocative. Though on the other hand, his foray into genre stuff (Dune) was pretty terrible. On the other other hand, it was interestingly terrible, so I’ll stick with David Lynch. .
And finally, on a lighter note…
If you could meet any writer (dead or alive) over the beverage of your choice for a chat, who would it be, and what would you talk about (and which beverage might be best suited)?
Jorge Louis Borges, drinking franziskaner hefeweizen, discussing past lives. Probably a red wine would be more appropriate, but seeing as how it’s not going to happen one way or the other, we might as well be drinking my favorite beer.
Thank you once again, Daniel, for taking time out to share your thoughts.
An Interview with CHRIS MORGAN JONES
 Photograph © Alexander James |
Name: CHRIS MORGAN JONES
Author of: AN AGENT OF DECEIT (2011) On the web: www.chrismorganjones.com On Twitter: @chrismjauthor |
Chris Morgan Jones’ first novel, An Agent of Deceit, was published in 2011 to widespread critical acclaim, with many outlets comparing his work to that of John Le Carré. Before setting pen to paper, Jones spent eleven years in the shoes of his protagonist, Ben Webster, working for one of the world’s largest business intelligence agencies.
Thanks for taking the time to speak to us, Chris. For me, An Agent of Deceit, comes across as an old-fashioned spy novel, of the type you don’t really see any more, in a very modern setting. But it still has a very “Cold War”, east versus west, feel to it. Can you talk us through where the idea came from, and how you set about constructing the complex plot?
The very first idea I had, revolving in my head in a quiet way for years, was the predicament of one of the main characters, Richard Lock, who has almost inadvertently signed away his identity, and in the process his life, to hide the criminal gains of a sinister Russian bureaucrat. In my old work I used to come across Locks almost every day – lawyers and accountants whose job it was to set up complex networks of companies offshore. Some of them, like Lock, sell themselves completely and pretend to own things on behalf of others nastier and more powerful than them. I began to wonder who these people were and how they had become what they had become, and slowly one particular such person began to form in my head.
As for the plot: I knew where it began and roughly where it ended, and so the work came in filling out the middle. First I thought through the central story, the relationship between Lock and the investigator who pursues him, and then I introduced the other characters, imagining how they would affect and be affected by events. At one stage I drew up a large chart with the characters across the top and time running down the side and worked out how everyone would interlock. Strangely, it was much easier to plot than my second book, even though in many ways it was more complicated.
That old-fashioned sense is helped along by the fact that Ben Webster, the novel’s protagonist, makes his way through the story – for the most part – without the aid of gadgets, gizmos or even modern technology. With the exception of the frequent mention of mobile phones, this is a story that could have happened prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Was this a conscious decision you made at the outset and, if so, why?
No, strangely. It developed like that. I knew that London and Moscow, the home cities of the two protagonists, would be the two poles of the book, and toyed with various ideas for the location of the book’s final third. Then it became clear that it had to be Berlin – partly because it made sense in plot terms, but also because Berlin is neither east nor west, and was therefore the perfect place for Lock’s dual allegiances to be tested. So I became aware of the old-fashionedness late on.
An Agent of Deceit takes a slightly unusual approach to the spy novel in that it devotes equal airtime to the points of view of both hunter (Webster) and hunted (Richard Lock). Did you find one character more difficult to write than the other, and how much of each character were you able to build from your own experience in the business intelligence community?
Webster was more difficult to write. As you suggest, the book is written from the two protagonists’ perspectives, which alternate throughout. It turned out that this was an excellent structure for a first book, because it established a steady rhythm, but its one flaw, I now realise, was that because Webster is so busy hunting, and making the action of the book happen, we get to know him less well. We get to observe Lock in a more natural state, in a way, and I think he feels more rounded as a result. This is something that with luck the second book addresses.
And while what Webster does is a pretty accurate amalgam of what people in my old world do, the characters themselves aren’t drawn from a single model. They’re both fictional creations, and to be honest neither particularly resembles anyone I know in life.
There have been plenty of comparisons between your work and the novels of John Le Carré, which is presumably not a bad thing for a first-time author to hear. As I read the book, I found myself comparing Webster to that other great fictional spy, Bernie Samson – more everyman than Old Boys’ Network, the obsession and doggedness. Can you talk about the influence these two giants of the genre – Le Carré and Deighton – have had on your own writing?
I’m not sure it’s possible to unpick one’s influences. Le Carré and Deighton are both writers I enjoy enormously, and admire, but I think others might be better placed to spot the correspondences. One very nice reader compared the book to Eric Ambler, which was another tremendous compliment. What they all have in common is the sense of a secret world occupying a dimension right next to but invisible from our own, which is definitely something worth emulating. They’re probably all in there somewhere, along with some writers of detective fiction. Rex Stout, a name not heard often in the UK, definitely had an influence on the structure, even though his books – brilliant comic detective novels – are entirely different.
And before we move on to more general questions…are we likely to see Ben Webster again? Can you talk about what you’re working on at the minute?
I’ve finished a new Webster novel. It’s called The Jackal’s Share and will be published in hardback early next year. As I said, this time we spend more time with him, and his trials are rather different and more acute. The story is entirely new, though – it isn’t strictly a sequel.
For the third book I’m planning to write about the same world, but to shift the focus to a different character within it. And Russia hoves back into view.
What other authors or works have influenced you as a writer?
Rex Stout, as mentioned above. James Lee Burke, a brilliant writer of crime thrillers, for want of a better word (he’s much too good to need a genre tag). Then there are all the writers I’d like to think I might be influenced by in some small way. Robert Louis Stevenson is probably top of that list. Line by line I’m not sure he’s ever been bettered, and his stories and plotting are sublime. There’s a reason that Treasure Island is still such a thrilling book.
And as a follow-on, is there one book (or more than one) that you wish you had written?
Heavens. Apart from Treasure Island, probably The Count of Monte Cristo, which is probably the most compelling story I’ve ever read. It makes a thousand pages seem like fifty.
What does a typical (writing) day in the life of Chris Morgan Jones look like?
That’s an excellent question. The ideal writing day involves getting up early, around 5.30, writing for a couple of hours before the children wake up, going back to it from 9 until lunchtime, and then squeezing in another three hours or so from 4 till 7 (in the middle of the day my brain stops). In reality all sorts of things get in the way, and when they don’t, I do.
And what advice would you have for people hoping to pursue fiction-writing as a career?
Carve out some time. This is easier said than done, of course. The luckiest break I got was being able to write the first few chapters of the book while looking for a new job, and without the uninterrupted work that allowed I’m not sure I’d have completed the task.
What are you reading now, and is it for business or pleasure?
I’ve been reading an extraordinary book about parallel universes by a brilliant writer on physics called Brian Greene. The book is The Hidden Reality. It sounds ridiculously difficult, and it is – every morning I’ve forgotten what I read the night before. But it’s truly fascinating and has the advantage of having no characters and plots in it, which is sometimes a relief.
Would you like to see An Agent of Deceit make the jump from page to screen? If so, do you have any dream casts/directors/whatever?
I’ve thought about it, but to be honest not to that degree of detail. There’s Tomas Alfredson, who directed the brilliant vampire movie Let The Right One In, but then he went and directed the equally good Tinker Tailor, and he might feel he’s had enough spies.
And finally, on a lighter note…
If you could meet any writer (dead or alive) over the beverage of your choice for a chat, who would it be, and what would you talk about (and which beverage might be best suited)?
Now that’s fun. M. R. James, the ghost story writer. We’d have to meet in an empty house somewhere on the Suffolk coast and we’d talk about his most terrifying creations. I would need whisky.
Thank you once again, Chris, for taking time out to share your thoughts.
Chris will be appearing at the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival on Friday 20th July.
An Interview With Samit Basu
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Name: SAMIT BASU
Author of: THE GAMEWORLD TRILOGY (2004 – 2007) On the web: samitbasu.com On Twitter: @samitbasu |
Samit Basu is the author of five novels, all of which have been published in his native India. The publication of his first novel, The Simoqin Prophecies – the first book in the GameWorld Trilogy – marked the beginning of Indian English fantasy writing. His superhero novel, Turbulence, is released by Titan Books in the UK in July, and in the US a year later. It was first published in India in 2010, and is the first of his books to be released in the UK.
Thanks for taking the time to speak to us, Samit.
Pleasure to be here. Good of you to let me into your online home.
Can you tell us something of the origins of Turbulence? Did it spring from a long-standing desire to write a superhero novel?
I’d wanted to tell a superhero story for a while, ever since I first read Watchmen about a decade ago. It was always going to be a book… I know the superhero genre is one that lends itself to visual media, but the idea of the superhero – the essential excitement of one extraordinary person with the capacity to make things better – often gets overlooked in the process. And while that can be done very effectively in other media, comics,TV, the Internet and films – look at Joss Whedon’s work in all these fields – I still believe a book is the best place to explore an idea.
That said, I didn’t know Turbulence was going to be a superhero novel when I started plotting it in the summer of 2009, which is when the story is set. The whole idea behind it was to write a novel of here and now, to say as much about the world right then as it could. Hence the focus on present day desires and anxieties, present day obsessions and aspirations, as seen in both the world and the powers the heroes acquired. I wanted to write a fantasy story set in places I’d actually been to after years of making up worlds. And since I was looking at events on a global scale, and writing about people who could actually change the world, it made sense to make them superheroes. Especially because nothing embodies the zeitgeist these days better than the evolved superhero. They’re everywhere, in one form or another.
It’s obvious from reading the book that you’re a huge fan of the genre, and have taken inspiration from many of the classics. At the same time, you’ve relocated the action to India and in many ways broken the mould of traditional superhero tales – I’d put Turbulence alongside the likes of Watchmen and Powers, rather than Superman or Spider-man. What challenges, if any, did you face creating something that at once pays homage to and satirises 80-odd years of comic-book history?
I didn’t grow up on superheroes, those comics weren’t really available in India. I really started reading superhero comics when I came to London to do an MA, as an adult, at a time when superhero comics had evolved greatly. So the writers I read – Moore, Gaiman, Ellis, Ennis, Morrison, Carey, Vaughan, Miller, Bendis, JMS – had already reworked, revised, updated and deepened the classic stories into a genre that was not only complex and sophisticated, but also constantly self-referential and self-mocking. To be mentioned in the same breath as Watchmen and Powers is so lovely that I’m going to pretend you meant it in terms of quality, not just intention.
I think any revisionist aspect of Turbulence falls under homage to works that have already pointed out the innate ridiculousness of older superhero tropes, rather than any really original attempt at revising the genre, because others have done that very effectively before me. If there’s any aspect of superhero culture that I really felt needed changing, it was a certain inward-looking tendency; that people with extraordinary powers should be content to operate on a really local scale, fighting their own villain sets to maintain the status quo, instead of really changing the world just because they could. But then several other comics, from The Authority to Morrison’s JLA have already gone there.
The essential attitude to comics and superheroes in Turbulence is this: it’s 2009, superhero culture exists and is everywhere, and a few of the characters, recognizing the similarity of their newly acquired powers to those of superheroes they’ve seen/read about, refer to them from time to time. Much like Iron Man calling Hawkeye Legolas in the recent Avengers film.
The Indian setting creates something of a cultural shift for a lot of the traditional fans of superhero comics, and it brings with it huge political and social implications, which you have examined in the novel. You have also spent some time considering the consequences of the good deeds that we see superheroes perform on a regular basis. Both subjects that tend to get ignored, or glossed over, in a lot of the genre’s output. How important were these issues to the development of your characters and your storyline, and do you think they should be examined in more detail within the wider genre?
I wanted this story to be set on a huge scale, where the arrival of superpowers had real consequences not just for the characters but for the world at large. And I wanted this world to be as close to our world as possible. The Indian setting is because I’ve actually been to most of the places in the book and wanted to try superimposing a fantastic layer on real-world spaces, and there are many real, chaos-driven real worlds here that only need a little push to turn post-human. I suppose it could have been set anywhere, but I just knew India better than other places.
If the setting, the implications of the story being set where it is, and an overall sense of consequences being considered have worked for you, that’s a huge relief, because these were among the advantages that I thought telling this story in prose/novel form instead of comic form would bring. While visual storytelling media have many advantages over the novel form for the superhero story as a rule, these are things that it’s just so much easier to do without having to worry about accompanying visuals. So credit goes mostly to the medium, not me. But yes, these were all extremely important to me while world-building, and I always like superhero stories to have as much real-world detail as possible, and to have a broad worldview, not just be about power vs power fights in New York, fun though those are.
I must admit that I’m somewhat clueless when it comes to the Indian literary scene. You have been credited as the creator of Indian English fantasy. Did you feel that this was a gap that needed to be filled, and how do things currently stand?
I don’t really know if the creator of Indian English fantasy tag is real, or if it means anything to be the first. I was certainly the first Indian to write books in English that were called fantasy novels, were published by a major publisher and did well.
I wasn’t aware that genre existed, growing up, because our bookstores weren’t that structured. So I thought all stories were just stories, and while of course there were different kinds of stories, I didn’t know they lived in separate houses. So I wasn’t aware of a gap to fill when I started writing in my early 20s, or even that my first novel was fantasy. My publisher told me.
A lot of fantasy has been published in the eight years since my first novel. Samhita Arni is a name to watch out for. I haven’t read much of the new Indian fantasy, because I read across genres and countries, and try to keep up with films and comics and games as well, and there’s just too much to follow. But I’m sure if something good had come up I would have known. Most of the good fantasy work in India has been for children and young adults. There’s also been a rise in Hindu fiction, retellings of Indian myths, for which there’s always a huge religious market, but I don’t know if that counts as fantasy.
The obvious question, given the subject matter of Turbulence, I suppose, would have to be: what super power do you think you would have come away with had you been a passenger on that plane? And what would you do with it – hero or villain?
Tia’s power. The ability to split into multiple bodies and live multiple lives and never really have to make a choice again. Never miss out on any experience, wander all over the world, do everything. I’d use it as both hero and villain, of course, just because I could.
What authors or works have influenced you as a writer?
Too many to list, so I always put on a football coach cap for this question and list the 11 authors who’ve influenced the book in question most. In this case, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Mike Carey, Hari Kunzru, Haruki Murakami, David Mitchell, China Mieville and Terry Pratchett.
And as a follow-on, is there one book (or more than one) that you wish you had written?
Again, too many to list. But I’m also very happy that the authors who wrote them did. I also wish I had invented the light bulb, especially with some kind of royalty-based contract, but I’m perfectly happy to use it.
What does a typical (writing) day in the life of Samit Basu look like?
A large desert of procrastination and Internet browsing punctuated by bursts of guilt-driven typing. I actually tend to write quite fast when I get around to it, and am usually working on at least three things, so when I’m doing the actual writing I tend to disappear into it for a few months and emerge at the end with crazed eyes, ready for more enthusiastic time-wasting. I wish I could write every day, have a routine. But I’ve been writing for a living for almost a decade now and that doesn’t seem likely.
And what advice would you have for people hoping to pursue fiction-writing as a career?
All of the following.
Don’t. I hear investment banking pays well, especially if you ruin the economy while at it.
Go for it. It’s such fun. But do it only if you really love writing, not to be rich or famous or important because that is really not likely to happen.
Don’t. Read my books instead, and then other people’s.
You must! It’s such an interesting time to be a writer, what with ebooks and all that. The next shiny vampire or horny businessman could be YOURS!
What are you reading now, and is it for business or pleasure?
Railsea. For pleasure, and potential theft, which I suppose is business.
Would you like to see any of your novels make the jump from page to screen? If so, do you have any dream casts/directors/whatever?
All of them, but I don’t have a dream cast or director. If it happens, whoever does it will turn out to be the person I wanted all along. Unless the adaptation doesn’t do well, in which case an alternative list will emerge.
And finally, on a lighter note…
If you could meet any writer (dead or alive) over the beverage of your choice for a chat, who would it be, and what would you talk about (and which beverage might be best suited)?
PG Wodehouse. We’d talk about whatever he wanted to, I think I’d just listen. With some beverage from one of his Mulliner books, possibly a Gin and Angostura, or a whiskey and hot water with lemon.
Thank you once again, Samit, for taking time out to share your thoughts.
It was an absolute pleasure.
An Interview With SIMON LELIC
 Photograph © Kate Eshelby |
Name: SIMON LELIC Author of: RUPTURE (2010) On the web: www.simonlelic.com On Twitter: @simon_lelic |
Simon Lelic burst onto the crime fiction scene in early 2010 with his, frankly, stunning novel, Rupture, the story of a police officer’s investigation into a horrific school shooting. At the beginning of 2011, he followed up with The Facility, the timely tale of a secret government facility used to house suspected terrorists, people arrested with no apparent justification and spirited away without the benefit of a trial. His third novel, The Child Who, published in January 2012, is perhaps his best yet, and deals with the aftermath of the brutal murder of an eleven year-old girl by one of her classmates, as seen through the eyes of the solicitor hired to defend the murderer.
Simon comes from a journalism background, and currently runs his own business. I’m very happy to welcome Simon to Reader Dad for our inaugural interview, especially since Simon’s The Facility was the first book reviewed on this blog.
Thanks for joining us Simon. I’d like to start by exploring how much your background in journalism has helped/shaped your writing. Your books are all ripped from the headlines – school shooting; the war on terror; murdered schoolchildren – and I would be interested to know what the decision process is around what to write next, and how much influence current affairs has on the process.
Thanks for inviting me, Matt. In answer to your question, it’s certainly true that I have a drawer stuffed with newspaper clippings. Also, that a newspaper article – about a US college professor who shot one of his colleagues – was what gave me the nudge to start writing Rupture. The Facility, on the other hand, had its roots in a dissertation I wrote at university: the war-on-terror link evolved in the writing. With The Child Who, I had for a long time been pondering a novel on the subject of a child who kills, but could not, until I heard an interview with Jon Venables’s former solicitor on the radio, see a route in. So the ideas for each of my novels came to me from different directions. I don’t consciously scour the headlines – but any idea that does settle is far more likely to engage me if it chimes thematically with current affairs.
Your writing is lean and gripping, similar in tone (if not necessarily content) to James Ellroy or David Peace. I imagine it’s a difficult style to work with and maintain. How does it affect from what angle you approach a story?
Thank you, first of all, for drawing such flattering comparisons. I suppose the ‘leanness’ of my prose stems from my experience in journalism: where the onus is on brevity, on getting your point across succinctly, on not using two words where one will do. But it is also the style of writing that comes most naturally to me. And, so far at least, I’ve felt it suited the type of stories I’ve told. The project I’m working on at the moment is slightly different. It’s very early days in terms of the writing, but I know already that a shift in style will be necessary.
Your books all, at some point, hold up a mirror to British society and show us for the gore-hungry fiends that we can – collectively – sometimes be. I’m thinking particularly of the News of the World headlines from The Facility or the repeated phrase – "He goddamn nearly raped her" – and the discussion of that phrase early in The Child Who. Was this a conscious decision, and do you feel that it’s a fair representation?
I suppose what all of my novels so far have in common is an approach that asks readers to question what are often instinctive reactions. The gore-hungry headlines are what grab our attention, and they often represent the point of view that’s easiest (least uncomfortable) to accept. Reality, of course, is far more nuanced. We all know this; yet still, in spite of ourselves, we indulge our baser instincts and buy in to what the moral ‘majority’ would have us believe.
For your latest novel, you have moved into somewhat darker realms than before, dealing directly with the murder of one child by another and the aftermath of this terrible crime. You’re the father of two boys. Did you find this had any effect on the writing of the story: any parts where it particularly helped, or particularly hindered with the writing process/story?
I did not enjoy writing The Child Who – not, at least, in the way I enjoyed writing my first two novels. The Child Who deals with subjects no parent wants to have to think about. The loss of a child, for one thing. Also, what can happen when we, as fathers and mothers, fail. But it worked both ways. Being a parent was what made it hard, but it was also what made the subject feel so important. And that’s crucial, for any writer. The axiom is to write about what you know – which is right, I think, so long as you recognise that ‘knowing’ about something essentially means whether you can feel it.
Bookshops seem to have some difficulty categorising your novels, and I have seen them shelved under General Fiction, Crime, Horror. How would you best describe your work?
I had the good fortune and immense pleasure recently of talking to David Mitchell (a literary hero of mine, who gave me a great review of The Facility), and he wondered whether my publishers were attempting to brand me as a ‘dark, genre-bending’ writer. He mentioned it as a warning, in that branding can be something of a one-way street, but I decided I quite liked this description of what I do. If a bookseller is kind enough to stock my books, I’m happy for them to shelve them wherever they like!
What authors or works have influenced you as a writer?
I’m not sure I’m best placed to answer this question, but I can certainly tell you the contemporary writers I most admire. David Mitchell, for one – see above. Also, Don DeLillo, Hilary Mantel, Rupert Thomson and, a recent rediscovery for me (about whom you and I have exchanged quite a few tweets recently), Stephen King. Above all, though, it has to be Cormac McCarthy. I find his style so compelling that I have to ban myself from reading (re-reading) his novels until I’m between drafts.
And as a follow-on, is there one book (or more than one) that you wish you had written?
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Devastatingly simple, but dazzling in so many ways.
What does a typical (writing) day in the life of Simon Lelic look like?
It’s a bit of a mess, unfortunately. We have two boys, as you say, and another baby on the way. I also run my own business, so writing for me is squeezed in between emails, phone calls, school/nursery runs, more phone calls . . . you get the picture. I was asked in a recent interview how my ideal writing day would be structured and I got slightly carried away in the word count answering. It involved several naps, I think, and a beach-side walk. Also, lunchtime drinking . . . so perhaps, for my publisher’s sake, I’m better off sticking with the phone calls.
And what advice would you have for people hoping to pursue fiction-writing as a career?
Be disciplined. Be patient. Be your own harshest critic. Be a better reader. Be persistent. Be lucky. Be nice to your wife/husband/partner/dog. Be wary of what advice you follow.
What are you reading now, and is it for business or pleasure?
As ever, I have several books on the go. Some are research for my next novel, but for pleasure I’m reading Patrick Ness’s The Knife of Never Letting Go. I’ve just finished his A Monster Calls, and was completely blown away by its beauty (of the book itself, in fact, as well as the tale). The Knife. . . is a slightly different prospect, but so far equally compelling.
Would you like to see any of your novels make the jump from page to screen? If so, do you have any dream casts/directors/whatever?
The rights to Rupture have in fact already been optioned. The latest draft of the script is terrific, and as far as I know there is now a hugely talented director on board, so I have everything crossed. But my agent is a former film producer and has fully prepared me for the length of time these things tend to take. I’m not counting any chickens.
And finally, on a lighter note…
If you could meet any writer (dead or alive) over the beverage of your choice for a chat, who would it be, and what would you talk about (and which beverage might be best suited)?
I’d tip a whisky or two into Cormac McCarthy’s pint glass, in the hope he might let slip a few of his secrets. If he was particularly careless, I might even be tempted to nick few sheets from that manuscript just sitting there in his saddlebag . . .
Thank you once again, Simon, for taking time out to share your thoughts. Best of luck with The Child Who, and the forthcoming addition to the family.
