Anthony Neil Smith interview: All The Young Warriors

Amazon UK | Amazon US

*** Free 10th/11th March ***

Can you sum up your book in no more than 25 words?

Two young Somali-American men leave a trail of dead in Minnesota as they head to Mogadishu to join a terrorist army. A heartbroken cop joins the father of one of those boys, himself a former gang leader, to bring them to justice.

So the answer is no, I can’t do it in 25 words.

What's unique about it?

The blend of the Minnesota and Somali settings, digging into the astounding story of the Minneapolis “lost boys”—Somali-American men being drafted to go back to Africa and terrorize those left behind.

What did you learn while writing it?

Since the “lost boys” concept was the story that initially caught my attention, I spent a lot of time then researching the current situation in Somalia itself, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to visit. The Somali connection to the Twin Cities is an unusual one. Somehow, that’s where the most Somali immigrants have decided to make their home, and it’s a wonderful story. But then there are the Somali gangs creating havoc in the Cities, too. You take the good with the bad.

How important is talent?

Very very important. But it can only take you so far. Once you discover a talent for writing, you’ve got to read, man. You’ve got to find out how it works. You’ve got to turn your ideas into sweat, tears, and blood (or ink. Or something).

Craft is more important than talent. Craft is what it takes to make a sturdy story. Talent can help make it artful, more in-depth, more stylish, more affecting, but you can still get away with a well-told story and let the reader supply the rest.

Who would you like to direct the film adaptation?

I’m sticking with Tony Scott. I can just feel it.

If you were able to co-write a novel with any author of your choosing, who would it be?

How about Toni Morrison? That’s, like, money and prestige. Can’t say I really liked the books of hers I have read, but maybe I can teach her a few things about pulp and clear, direct writing, and she can teach me a few things about being a Nobel Prize Winner and national treasure.

What's the worst piece of craft advice you've heard?

“Elmer’s Glue should work just fine.”

How would you describe your taste in books?

Spotty. I like science books, crime, high-minded sci-fi (like China Mieville), weird literary fiction, thrillers, old pulp novels, and whatnot.

What was the last good eBook you read?

Amazon UK | Amazon US

Okay, so I’m cheerleading for the Blasted Heath team here, but I’ve been just floored by Douglas Lindsay’s The Unburied Dead. It reminds me quite a bit of Ed McBain’s 87^th Precinct, Ken Bruen’s Brant novels, Joseph Wambaugh, and Irvine Welsh’s Filth, but told with such a boldness and gonzo tilt that it stands out from the crowd. Kudos.

What are you reading now?

I’m reading a book called Brenner and God by Wolf Haas, a German writer who is crazy popular in Europe, but is getting launched in the US by literary publisher Melville House, who have been doing excellent work in crime fiction, including a new run of the Derek Raymond Factory novels. It’s a weird book. I like weird.

In the past week I’ve read two Richard Stark novels and a Jean Patrick Manchette.

What do you do when you're not writing?

I watch a lot of TV. I eat food I shouldn’t eat (because of the diabetes). I change the kitty litter. I walk my puppy, Herman. I hang out with my wife. I try to get away from the town where I’m living to go prettier places like Lake Superior. I teach. I direct the Creative Writing Program at Southwest Minnesota State University (for a few more months. After that I’ll be Chair of the English Dept.), which is a really sweet job. And I sleep.

How much do you read?

Not enough. I’m pretty slow. Takes me weeks to read a long novel. And yet in the last few weeks, I’ve blazed through some books.

How much time do you dedicate to writing? How much time would you like to spend writing?

When I’m not teaching, I try to give it three or four hours a day. When I am, I still try for one hour. But if I had the freedom to just do four hours every day, yeah, I’d do that.

What are your ambitions for the next year?

I want to write a few books. I want to be on the Ed McBain/Richard Stark schedule. I want to write faster. Let the revising carve out the rest.

What are your long-term ambitions?

I just want to write and find more readers. I like being a crime writer, so I’m not looking to cross over into literary fiction. I think the work I’m doing deserves some literary attention as is, so it’s not like I want to “pretentious up” my stuff.

And if I stumble across a good thriller that sells millions, cool. But the way my mind works, I doubt it.

How effective is social media as a marketing aid?

I’ve found it to be brutally effective. The word gets out, people support each other, and the readers give new writers a shot based on all the buzz. Happy to see it work like that. It’s almost like that elusive “word of mouth” we hear about (I’m cribbing from Smudge now).

How do you feel about reviews?

I’m fine with them. I like to make fun of my bad reviews. Just too tempting not to. But I don’t take them as anything more than personal taste unless they’re from a pro. And the pro might be playing to particular audiences, or a particular critical slant. So you just have to take it in stride. I do. Sort of.

Do you have any other projects on the go?

I’m trying to finish up the third Billy Lafitte novel, which is ever closer to being done (first draft at least), and I’ve got a partial manuscript of a new book featuring Mustafa and Adem from All the Young Warriors, but I think it’ll take a bit of time to finish. In between, I think it’s time to work on the second Octavia VanderPlatts novel. And also, I’ve been signed to work on a Dead Man novella as part of that great series from Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin. Very cool stuff, and I’m excited to be a part of it!

Ten Things That Happened While I Was In Bath

Bath in a bookshop in Bath
photo by Janet McKnight

Just back from a short and most pleasant visit to Bath. Still catching up but here's a few things that happened while I was gone:

I: Bloody Scotland launched its website, and very pretty it is too. There's also news of a short story competition that could see you published in a Blasted Heath ebook anthology.

II: Dead End Follies listed Ten Literary People On The Web That You Absolutely Need To Know and were kind enough to mention me. "I suspect Allan has eight pairs of arms, six brains and needs about twenty minutes of sleep a night for optimal functioning." I wish.

III: Anthony Neil Smith made his excellent Choke On Your Lies free for Kindle on Friday. It goes back to 'paid' on Monday so grab it while you can.

IV: Liberties Press has reduced the price of Declan Burke's Irish Book Awards-shortlisted Absolute Zero Cool to £1.95.

V: Speaking of Dec, here's a piece on ebook pricing he wrote for The Irish Times. And here's another interesting piece on ebook pricing from Digital Book World, specifically in relation to the impact of Amazon's KDP Select.

VI: Here's a chance to win Gerard Brennan's chapbook: Possession Obsession And A Diesel Compression Engine.

VII: NoirCon 2012 looms ever closer, with distinguished guest Lawrence Block and keynote speaker Robert Olen Butler (this I'd love to hear: Butler's book on writing fiction, From Where You Dream, is a mind-blower).

VIII: Benedicte Page gave Blasted Heath's February titles. Ray Banks's Wolf Tickets and Douglas Lindsay's The Unburied Dead a nice shout-out in her ebooks round-up in The Guardian.

IX: eBooknewser lists 10 Boards For Ebook Fans from new social networking site, Pinterest.

X: Some much-appreciated and very inspiring Amazon customer reviews have appeared for a few of my books. Two-Way Split is described as having "a gut-knotting finale that unfurls with the inevitability of all great tragedy and the best nasty sex ever" (thanks, Maya!); Savage Night is described as being "Shakespearean in scope and theme, unrelenting, tragic ... a powerful revenge tale, in which violence, fate, love, hate and even humor commingle like blood and wine, one barely distinguishable from the other" (thanks, Marilyn!); and finally "the writing quality is high, the stories are top notch, and this piece is worth your attention" (thanks, Pearce!) is a terrific response to Hilda's Big Day Out.

Free For Two

These two very fine books are free on Kindle over 4th and 5th Feb.

The Unburied Dead: Amazon UK|Amazon US
Yellow Medicine: Amazon UK|Amazon US

A stark and edgy new police thriller from the creator of the Barney Thomson series.
A psychopath walks the streets of Glasgow, selecting his first victim. He sees his ex-girlfriend everywhere, and he will have her back.

When a woman is savagely murdered, her body stabbed over a hundred times, the police know from the nature of the crime that the killer will strike again. DCI Bloonsbury, the once-feted detective, is put in charge of the investigation, but as the killer begins to hit much closer to home and an old police conspiracy starts to unravel, Bloonsbury slides further into morose alcoholic depression.

In the middle of it all is Detective Sergeant Thomas Hutton, juggling divorce, deception, alcohol, murdered colleagues, and Dylan. He could use a break but the dead will not rest and the past will not be buried until he can catch the latest serial killer to haunt the streets of his city.

Praise for Douglas Lindsay:

"The plot, Russian literature fans, is a modern spin on Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. The bloody ending, movie buffs, is pure Reservoir Dogs."
– The Mirror

"This is pitch-black comedy spun from the finest writing. Fantastic plot, unforgettable scenes and plenty of twisted belly laughs."
– New Woman

"This chilling black comedy unfolds at dizzying speed... an impressive debut novel."
– Sunday Mirror

"A flawless follow-up to an impressive debut, this is extremely well-written, highly amusing and completely unpredictable in its outrageous plot twists and turns."
– The List

"Lindsay’s burlesque thrills offer no sex, no drugs, no desperation to be cool. Just straightforward adult story; fantastic plot, classic timing and gleeful delight in the grotesque. With more talent than Irvine Welsh could dream of, Lindsay has crafted a macabre masterpiece where content lives up to style."
– What’s On

About the author:

Douglas Lindsay is the author of the Barney Thomson crime series, which begins with THE LONG MIDNIGHT OF BARNEY THOMSON, and is currently seven novels and a novella (THE END OF DAYS) strong. He is also the author of LOST IN JAUREZ. THE UNBURIED DEAD is his most recent novel. Douglas lives in Somerset.

Deputy Billy Lafitte is not unfamiliar with the law—he just prefers to enforce it, rather than abide by it. But his rule-bending and bribe-taking have gotten him kicked off the force in Gulfport, Mississippi, and he’s been given a second chance—in the desolate, Siberian wastelands of rural Minnesota. Now Billy’s only got the local girls and local booze to keep him company.

Until one of the local girls—cute little Drew, bassist for a psychobilly band—asks Billy for help with her boyfriend. Something about the drugs Ian’s been selling, some product he may have lost, and the men who are threatening him because of it. Billy agrees to look into it, and before long he’s speeding down a snowy road, tracking a cell of terrorists, with a severed head in his truck’s cab. And that’s only the start.

Two-Way Split: One-Month Old (digitally speaking)

Two-Way Split by Allan Guthrie
99p/99c
Amazon UK, Amazon US.


Two-Way Split has received some very nice mentions since the Kindle release at the end of June. Thank you one and all! Here are a few first-month highlights.

Les Edgerton, at his writing blog, says: "this is a novel that is enormously entertaining. The words such as “riveting” and the phrases such as “couldn’t put it down,” or “this was a page-turner,” are overused in assessments like this—many times, undeservedly--but dang it, all of those and more apply to this novel. I couldn’t put it down; it was riveting; it was decidedly a page-turner… and I’ve become a huge, huge fan of Guthrie."

Luca Veste at Guilty Conscience says: "'Two-Way Split' was a complete surprise to me. I didn't know an awful lot about it when I started reading, but straight away I was pulled in. Guthrie has superb knack of setting the pace early, the story never drags. The way the story unravels, you're never sure of what will happen next, no words wasted or spent overly describing anything incidental, it is a fast paced, edge of your seat thriller."

There's also an interview with me at the Guilty Conscience blog.

AJ Hayes at Octogeek says: "In Two Way Split, Mr. Allan Guthrie with a maniacal laugh, knocks your derby clear off your head, sends it flying with the wind and announces that people, events and even life itself always come down to the jagged edge of a two way split. Buckle your chin strap and hang on, troops. You’re in for a RIDE!"

There's another interview with me at Anthony Neil Smith's Herman's Greasy Spoon.

And a Russian review from Ray Garraty at Endless Falls Up: "Two-way Split is Allan Guthrie's debut novel, and it's hard to believe. The book is so masterfully written, so there is lots of energy here, that it can be seen: the author is a great writer. Very, very good book."

Declan Burke at Crime Always Pays says: "Fans of classic crime writing will get a kick or five out of TWO-WAY SPLIT, and we’re talking classic: Allan Guthrie’s multi-character exploration of Edinburgh’s underbelly marries the spare, laconic prose of James M. Cain with the psychological grotesqueries of Jim Thompson at his most lurid … The result is a gut-knotting finale that unfurls with the inevitability of all great tragedy and the best nasty sex – it’ll leave you devastated, hollowed out, aching to cry and craving more."

Jay Stringer at Do Some Damage says: "If James M Cain wrote a heist story set in Scotland, the result would read a lot like Two Way Split. It's a book that sets the fuse on page one and then runs like hell, and you won't find a better debut crime novel."

There's yet another interview with me at Audacious Author.

Daz's Short Book Reviews says: "[Guthrie] masterfully blends all these ingredients together with fast paced and gritty descriptive writing. He simmers several plot lines until boiling and mixes them all together to create a fantastically enjoyable novel. Another great creation from one of Scotland’s finest crime writers."

And finally, entirely unrelated to Two-Way Split, here's a piece I wrote as part of Dead End Follies excellent Ten Rules To Write Noir series.

Tomorrow, a post about sales.


Two-Way Split by Allan Guthrie
99p/99c
Amazon UK, Amazon US

JT Lindroos: Covers To Celebrate

JT Lindroos

JT Lindroos launched my writing career. As the driving force behind PointBlank Press, he took on an unpublished nobody from Scotland who'd amassed literally hundreds of rejection slips, and risked his editorial ass on Two-Way Split. It was the second book published by PointBlank, JT's imprint at Wildside Press. He's known, quite rightly, as an excellent cover designer. But he's also one of the best editors I've worked with. I learned more in that first edit from him than I'd learned in the previous half-a-dozen years. We went our separate ways after PointBlank, but always kept in touch, and when I started publishing ebooks, there was only one person I wanted to have as my cover designer. JT, poor guy, has done about 20 covers for Two-Way Split alone now! 

Today's his 40th birthday, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to see some of the other covers he's done. There's quite a variety, as you'll see below. Also one or two exclusives. SLAMMER and GUN (now there's a cover that pops) have never been seen before, and BARNEY THOMSON (another beauty) is pretty new as well. So here's to remarkably talented JT Lindroos. Have a good one, Juha!

 

"You only need to look at the PointBlank covers to know that JT Lindroos has an explosive talent for design. For me, Alan Slater will always be that man with the savage side parting, and JT will always be a go-to guy for eye-popping covers. I don't know anyone quicker, better or more open to ideas than him. And the thing of it is, I don't need to. Happy birthday, JT." Ray

"Thanks JT for bringing a great new dimension to my old book. Looking forward to working together on many more. Happy 40!" Douglas



"Happy Birthday, J.T., and thanks for the fantastic covers!" James

"Forty happy returns, JT. If my books were as good as your cover designs, we'd both be millionaires. Much obliged." Declan

"JT Lindroos is a top bloke and absolutely brilliant to work with. He was so enthusiastic about ...Go To Helena Handbasket and had so many great ideas. He came up with a cover design for the book and, after discussion, he then sent me another one...which made me cry. It was absolutely perfect. And that's the same with all the covers that he does - they really fit the books. He understands the books, he cares about them, and he sees things in a unique way. Happy birthday JT, and thanks for everything." Donna

"Happy 40th JT! Always a pleasure – and an honour – to work with you. Many thanks for the stunning covers." Russel

"Best Birthday Wishes to a Great Guy with a True Noir Vision. Have a few vodkas on me today, JT!" Dave

"Great cover for PSYCHOSOMATIC. Have a good 40th, man." Neil

"Happy birthday, JT. Have a fab day and thanks for the great cover design." Ed

"Happy Birthday JT! Thanks for all the great covers you've done so far and all the great ones to come! Hope you have a great day!" Lee

"Here's hoping you have a great day, JT, and thanks for all the superb work you've done. Happy Birthday, sir." Al

"JT - have a great 40th! And thanks for helping me start my writing career with such a fabulous cover." Debbie

Anthony Neil Smith interview: Yellow Medicine

Yellow Medicine by Anthony Neil Smith

69p/99c

Amazon UK, Amazon US

Anthony Neil Smith is the author of Psychosomatic, The Drummer, Yellow Medicine, Hogdoggin', and the e-original Choke on Your Lies. He is an Associate Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Southwest Minnesota State University. In addition, he is the publisher for the noir e-zine Plots with Guns. You can find him at http://anthonyneilsmith.typepad.com/, and on Twitter at @DocNoir.

Can you sum up your book in no more than 25 words?

A bad cop from the Gulf Coast gets bounced off the force after Katrina, and gets a second chance in rural Minnesota. Once there, he gets a lot worse.

That wasn’t 25, so the answer is “no”.

What's Yellow Medicine's publishing history?

In 2008, it was published by Bleak House Books, a great indie house for dark literary fiction and crime novels. They took Yellow Medicine and Hogdoggin’ both, published them in ’08 and ’09.  Then Bleak House...well, the people who started it left to start another company, and Big Earth, the company who owned Bleak House, kind of stopped putting out Bleak House books.

You've made almost all your backlist available now. Were you tempted to make any changes to the original texts?

I made a couple of changes to The Drummer in order to drop lyrics I had used in the original, but overall I felt satisfied with the stories I had told. I’m sure if I had taken a closer look, some things would’ve driven me crazy, but I didn’t want to be like George Lucas fucking around with Star Wars, right? I was the writer I was when I wrote those stories, and that’s the way those stories got told. I’d rather them be flawed that way rather than messed around with.

What makes Yellow Medicine's protagonist, Billy Lafitte, different from other bad cops?

Most bad cops in fiction are kind of like cartoons, I think. Either that or doing it for “good” reasons, like Vic Mackey from The Shield (looking out for his family). I wanted Billy to be a guy who had this arrogant charisma that would make him sort of attractive in a weird way, and yet I wanted the menace under the surface to be obvious. If you get in his way, he will take you out. And he will hate having to do it. But in Billy’s mind, Billy comes first.

I also let him tell his own story in Yellow Medicine. I thought it would be a sick joke—make an unsympathetic character irresistibly engaging.

How do you want the reader to feel when they're reading about him?

I want them to be offended by his awfulness, and yet still rooting for him. Kind of like the way I feel about Cartman on South Park.

You write incredibly convincing sex scenes, something many writers find difficult. Any tips?

I think like amateur porn. Pretty straightforward. And then I make it a bit awkward. There are lots of sounds and smells and slipperiness and ugliness that go along with sex, and I think highlighting that part of it all makes it more convincing while still being sexy. I think the voyeur aspect of normal people fucking is more interesting than the slicked-up, fake boobs, same ol’ positions and fake moaning and groaning in every scene of professional porn.

Also, no fucking metaphors or analogies. No “water rushing into underground caves” or any of that bullshit. Fucking is fucking and if you’re thinking too hard about describing it artfully, it ain’t fucking no more.

Who designed your cover?

The e-version is designed by Erik Lundy, the new Art Director at Plots with Guns. We worked on it for a couple of weeks trying to get the feel of the novel in a retro, “Matt Helm/Shell Scott” sort of way. I think he did an amazing job.

How much difference does a good cover make?

I think it’s huge. I collect a lot of old '60s pulps based on the covers many times. I’ll get the same title three times because of different covers. I prefer covers that treat the book like it deserves a strong piece of art to draw people in. You want an artist who goes for the feel of the book rather than just pasting together a stock photo, a big author name, and a title. I also love the “branding” of certain publisher or authors. That can add a lot. Old Penguins, Gold Medals, current Vintage Crime, etc. Even with e-books, a cover can help with the overall experience of reading the book.

Do you have any other projects on the go?

The second Billy Lafitte novel is HOGDOGGIN’, originally out in 2009, which I’ll have ready for the e-market around the first of June. Otherwise, I’m working on new stuff, both for Kindle and for the traditional market. We’re trying to sell a thriller in NYC as we speak.

What did your agent tell you about using the word 'sequel'?

That I’d get a spanking if I used it. So I changed the previous answer.

What's the best piece of business advice you've been given?

To write what I want and let the audience find me rather than trying to write what the market suggests. And with e-books, I can do this even more so. It allows me to feel a bit like a Gold Medal author. I imagine myself in Donald Hamilton sunglasses churning out Matt Helm books.

Also, someone told me to stop worrying about the money and worry about the readers. Getting the readers is what it takes to get the money. And I’m seeing that in action. Sounds like common sense, but how many people get a big advance and are then dropped because the readers weren’t there like the publisher thought? Just asking.

Smart advice. Any tips on how to 'get the readers'?

Oh god, if I only knew that, I’d be soooo happy.

As a reader, how would you describe your taste in crime fiction?

I like style. Some styles more than others, but style and voice are very important.  I also like attitude. So I guess my favorite is what I call “smart pulp” and “gonzo pulp”. It’s written in a way to hook you without making the reader constantly stop to notice the sentences and say, “Good writer. Good words.” A successful book would have you race to the finish, then say “Great story! Great writer!”

What crime book are you most looking forward to reading?

I’ve got a sneak peek of Roger Smith’s next book, DUST DEVILS, on my Kindle  (Thanks, Rog), and it’s burning my hands. Can’t wait.

What makes you keep reading a book?

I don’t know, but I do. There has to be forward motion, something compelling to make me want to find out what’s next. Not a lot of filler. It’s a secret we all want to discover, and sometimes we accidentally do.

What are your views on eBook pricing?

They should be cheap. We should be concerned about getting those books out there and making them affordable so that people are willing to take a chance. Hardcover books are way overpriced. Trade Paperbacks are sneaking up there, but you can still get them for a decent price on Amazon. But Mass Market, the innovation that spurred a surge of reading in the 20^th century, now costs 10 bucks? And they’re larger? Why?

It doesn’t make sense, and neither does the agency model of trying to equate a file with a physical book, charging the same price as a trade paperback. And you think that encourages e-books sales? I think e-book between 99 cents and 3.99 are the sweet spot and will make a shitload more people pick up new writers.  And I bet there’s a surprise on the way. For instance, would I rather pay 10 bucks to see a movie in a noisy theater with inferior screen and no pause button when I need to pee, or pay 10 a month for unlimited streaming movies at home on my HDTV? Now how can that work with books?

What are the greatest opportunities facing writers these days?

E-books and social media are huge opportunities. You can build a brand, find new readers, communicate with them, and learn what sells.  Doing it on your own teaches you a lot about what moves the needle, what doesn’t. And it’s fun.

As long as the writer can find a really good editor to help out, and some early readers to make suggestions, then e-publishing can be an enormous boost in audience numbers and confidence.

How do you feel about the ease with which anyone can publish?

I don’t mind it. It’s like a farmer’s market now. Everyone selling his own veggies. If you’ve got good veggies, people will keep coming back to you. Some people complain that it’s still the same as vanity publishing, but I disagree. I believe e-publishing is giving a lot of writers what they always wanted but couldn’t get with the old system.

How do you feel about awards?

I deserve them.

You seem to favour rural settings. You ever tempted to set a novel in New York or Los Angeles or Edinburgh?

Nope. I write about the places I live because I’m interested in those places, those people. I don’t know much about New York or Los Angeles, so I’ll leave it people who do, like Colin Harrison and T. Jefferson Parker. As for Edinburgh, I’m too afraid I’ll get gutted by some vegetarian terrorists if I get the details wrong.

For me, there’s something about the landscape where I live now in Southwest Minnesota that is oppressively noir, even though the people put on an “aw, shucks, we’re just folks” sort of facade. Scratch the surface and you find a cold, dark center.

How about writing novels outside the crime genre? Ever tempted?

If the story showed up and demanded to be told, sure. I used to think I’d end up doing some sort of novel based on the Pentecostal church I used to be involved with before I dropped out and went heathen. But it never felt right.

The thing is, though, I like the label of crime writer. I like what I do. I think crime fiction takes normal human experiences and amplifies them, makes them louder and more vivid (the way Flannery O’Connor said we need to write for a world full of the “blind and deaf”). There’s a lot to get out of that. I’ve never found crime fiction to be “just” entertainment. Some of the best stylists and most serious and interesting work I’ve read has come out of crime fiction (and this is coming from a Creative Writing professor who spent five years in a CW grad program). So I’m proud to be a part the club of crime writers and I don’t see a need to write outside the genre. Yet.

Yellow Medicine by Anthony Neil Smith

69p/99c

Amazon UK, Amazon US

Anthony Neil Smith interview: Choke On Your Lies

Choke On Your Lies by Anthony Neil Smith
Amazon UK, Amazon US

Anthony Neil Smith doesn't do author bios. The longest one I could find is his Typepad profile,which says, simply : I eat too much. Truth is, Neil's writing is a piquant sauce for the literary palate. His latest novel, Choke On Your Lies, is a sophisticated tale of robot pens, swinger clubs, blackmail and murder, and it's packed full of pulpy goodness.

Can you sum up your book in no more than 25 words?

A raunchy twist on the Nero Wolfe mysteries, featuring a 300+ pound genius woman, Octavia, and her friend Mick, poet-heart-on-his-sleeve, in Minneapolis.

What was your motivation for writing it?

I had always loved the Nero Wolfe books because of the detective’s charisma in spite of his irritability and rudeness. He didn’t like people very much. So when I saw an episode of Dr. Phil featuring mean fat women, I had a lightbulb moment. I happen to find larger women attractive, and sought to create a woman that could both shame and titillate you all at once. The mystery side of it is more about discovering who Mick and Octavia really are, and just being a part of their world, than the main feature.

How much difference does an editor make?

Makes a world of difference.  I have two great writer friends who see my first drafts and make comments, and of course, my unnamed literary agent, also a novelist, who forces me to think about my vision of the book, the word choices, the style, the motivation for all of this, even more than I would on my own. I love what a good editor can do for you, and as editor for PLOTS WITH GUNS, I understand that it takes a certain sort of approach to make sure you’re pushing the writer to be his or her best without “taking over” their story or style.  I wouldn’t dream of posting something that hasn’t had some sort of scrutiny from people I trust.

Who designed your cover?

I did the text and layout, but the photo is from photographer J.R. Bohnenblust, featuring model Erin Zerbe. If I do more Octavia novels, Erin has said she’d be glad to appear on more covers, and I think that is just perfect.

How important is a book's central character?

That’s the whole ball game to me. I need a character who makes me care about his or her journey. I tell my students that plot can be boiled down to “What the main character desperately wants, and how he goes about trying to get it.”  In the case of Octavia, I resort to my old “trying to make you sympathetic for someone who is pretty awful” routine.  And by awful, I mean her demeanor. She has gained wealth and power and can fiercely loyal, but also very mean to those she’s closest to.  Something about those characters appeal to me.  On the opposite end, the narrator Mick is so worried about his image and how others think of him that he is almost laughably ineffectual, but Octavia always has his back. A weird relationship of awful people that works.

What's your favourite part of the writing process?

The joke, of course, is to say “having written it already.” But I really think I enjoy the process of writing the first draft once I’m absolutely sure it’s a novel. Plenty of them start well but die by page 50, sometimes even over page 100. But when the rhythm is there, the voice is there, and I know I can’t stop, I love it. I love marking off the day’s pages on my calendar. I love the anticipation of getting back into that world the next day.

What aspects of marketing your book do you enjoy?

Since marketing is kind of slimy (I mean, so many Kindleboards warn against BSP, and people get annoyed with ads on Twitter and repetitive cries for sales), I enjoy being able to think up things that play off that sliminess, like a chain letter, or aggressive tweets, or blog tours that do more than just talk about me me me and the book X 3.  I want to PLAY. So that’s fun.

What was the last good eBook you read?

Other than your own masterful BYE BYE BABY? I was really surprised by Nigel Bird’s DIRTY OLD TOWN. Very strong voice, very literary in quality. I’ve read a lot of good eBook indie writers like Wendig and Holm and Plank, so I’m just naming the most recent excellent find.

If you had to re-read a crime novel right now, what would you choose?

I’d be all over SAMARITAN by Richard Price, which I always swing back to when I’m at the beginning of a new project. His way with prose embarrasses me and makes me work harder because it is so fucking smooth.

From an artistic rather than financial perspective, what book do you wish you had written?

Lots of those, but THE REAL COOL KILLERS by Chester Himes has one of the most gonzo openings I’ve ever seen--white guy in a balck nightclub gets his arm chopped off and it goes flying across the club. Dark humor, fearless. Love it.

Ever tried your hand at screenwriting?

I’ve written a couple of scripts with Victor Gischler, one of which, PULP BOY, is currently under option. The filmmaker has been working hard to get that made for the past few years, and we’re rooting for him.

Do you read outside of the crime genre?

Constantly. I love good stylists of all sorts--minimalist, maximalists, surreal, magic realism, dirty realism, and I do like good nonfiction science books.

Choke On Your Lies by Anthony Neil Smith
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