Author Q&A’s – Page 3 – Life of Cri.me

Jason Starr’s latest release Savage Lane is a dark thriller that highlights the pervasiveness of fantasy, the unconscious and risky desire of release by those guilty of deceit, the costs of unaddressed ‘friendly’ banter & rumour, the belief of children that adults don’t lie and the consequences of it all…

Savage lane, is a savage place and I would NOT want to live there. Truth is a misnomer, whilst fantasy and ego, hidden behind a ‘High Paid Father” and “Soccer Mom” society is the norm. With neighbours like these? I’d run the other way..

Today, LifeOfCri.me recommends Savage Lane as a great read, and says Thank You to Jason Starr for taking time out of his launch schedule to answer a few questions…

LOC: Can you tell us a little about Savage Lane, and your inspiration for the story?

JS: It’s a dark domestic thriller about a group of dysfunctional people in an affluent submit of New York. A recently divorced woman is at the center of the story. Unknown to her she is the object of affection of an unhappily married man, and she also becomes the target of twisted psychopath. It’s a tense thriller, but there’s a lot of satire in it too.

LOC: We’ve all lost ourselves in the occasional fantasy, yet your characters seem to take this to another level, how challenging was this to write?

JS: I wanted to make the characters as real and identifiable as possible. Yes, their behavior is heightened, partly because I wrote the book from a close third person point of you. I wanted readers to be privy to the darkest, most intimate thoughts of each character, to amp up the psychological tension. The challenge was in keeping the momentum of the story moving forward and still tell a story that is very behavioral. When I’m writing I love to push myself, though; that’s a big part of the joy I get from writing.

LOC: So what is your writing space like, and do you have a regular writing routine?

JS: I don’t have any writing space! By design actually. I much prefer to leave my apartment to write, so my “office” is a combination of coffee bars in Manhattan.

LOC: What are you working on at the moment / What’s next for you?

JS: I’m at work on a new psychological thriller, a TV pilot that I’m co-writing, and a new comics project. I prefer to work on a few projects at once–keeps things fresh and I’m more creative under pressure. I love deadlines.

LOC: What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve every received?

JS: Good question! Ronald Ribman, a family friend who is a successful playwright, once advised me to always say “Yes” to opportunities. I didn’t take this to mean to take on projects that don’t excite me, but in general it’s a huge mistake for a writer to turn down work because they think they are too busy. Say yes and find the time.

LOC: Who inspires you?

JS: Everyone who ever rejected me or didn’t get behind my career.

LOC: In between projects how do you like to relax / enjoy your spare time?

JS: Spend time with my daughter, family and friends. Read, see movies and plays, a day at the racetrack.

LOC: What’s the strangest sentence you’ve written/read this week?

JS: Haven’t written much this week–been mainly traveling a promoting Savage Lane!

For the LifeOfCri.me quick fire round

Fact or Fiction? fiction

Film or TV? TV

Book or E-book? Book

Cats or Dogs? Dogs

Early Mornings or Late Nights? Both

Hot or Cold? Huh?

Relaxing or Adrenaline Fuelled? Relaxing

Savage Lane is out now in paperback, e-book and as an audible download…

A while ago I got to ask a few questions of the delightful Christopher Fowler.

Chris is a prolific writer of books of many genres, who is currently most notable for his series about the adventures of octogenarian detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, and their increasingly antiquated, much maligned and yet highly successful Police Department, The Peculiar Crimes Unit.

His latest book Bryant & May: The Burning Man is out now.

LOC: The Burning Man marks the end of the second overreaching story arc’s in the Bryant and May series, what’s next? will we be seeing more from our favourite octogenarian pairing?

CF: The cat’s out of the bag now, Jo…I’ve been signed to more, but I’d always planned to go on – and I’d planned a way of doing so even though it appears that I’ve written the characters into an impossible corner.

LOC: My personal favourite of the series so far has been White Corridor, because of its shorter timescales, and for taking Bryant & May out of their comfort zone. What’s your favourite Bryant & May novel and why?

CF: Ah – that’s one of my ‘precinct’ tales, where you deliberately limit your options. They’re hard to write but very satisfying. I plan to do another soon. If you look at the timescales you’ll find that nearly all of the stories take place over one week and in exactly 50 chapters. I really love ‘The Burning Man’, but then I tend to be proudest of the latest one anyway.

LOC: I have a long drive to work each day and regularly listen to audio books. I’ve ‘read’ all of the previous Bryant & May novels this way. Tim Goodman is a fantastic narrator, how much input did you have in selecting him, and into the production of the audio books?

CF: I didn’t, but as soon as I heard him I knew we were in a safe pair of hands. I think they’ve done an unusually fine job on the books, and I hope Tim stays in there for a long time.

LOC: If they were ever brought to the Film or the TV screen, who would you like to see in the roles?

CF: Well the rights have been sold several times, once with Derek Jacobi attached. I think Toby Jones would be a great Bryant. There’s a theme tune for the show on YouTube and on my blog, written by Des Burkinshaw. Crippen’s on it!

LOC: What’s your writing space like, and do you have a regular writing routine?

CF: I have two very different writing spaces, one in London, in a minimalist space on an entirely glass table with no papers anywhere, the other in Barcelona on a pre-Franco voting ballot-table covered in papers and ink stains.

LOC: What are you working on at the moment?

CF: I recently finished ‘The Sand Men’ a paranoid and very sinister thriller set in Dubai, which comes out in October (I think) from Solaris. And ‘Bryant & May: London’s Glory’, a collection of their forgotten cases, comes out in time for Christmas this year.

LOC: What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?

‘CF: You don’t need to explain why people fall in love, you just need to know that they do.’ That, and ‘Dialogue is not conversation.’

LOC:Who inspires you?

CF: Gad, where to start? People in the street; I’m a good observer (harder than it sounds). Lots of writers from Dickens to Joe Orton to JG Ballard, and a lot of female American crime writers from the 1950s.

LOC: You obviously have a great deal of love for London, and its myths, magic and legends. How do you go about discovering these and carrying out research?

CF: I walk a lot, have an insane collection of strange London books (‘The Lost Cinemas of Camden Town’, anyone?), and have a tendency to make connections that only seem obvious when you put them together. Then once I have a hypothesis, I go out and see if it could be true. In ‘The Burning Man’, it seemed obvious to me that there was a connection between Guy Fawkes and the banking riots.

and for the LifeOfCri.me quick fire round…..

Bryant or May? Both, plus London

Fact or Fiction? Both, plus Surreality

London or Barcelona? Both

Historical or Modern? Both, plus Future

Crime or Sci-Fi? Both, plus alt. timeline

TV or Film? Both

Book or E-Book? Both

You can find more about Christopher Fowler can be found on his website christopherfowler.co.uk where he blogs on a daily basis or you can follow him on twitter @Peculiar

Category: Author Q&A’s

Asked and Answered – Jason Starr

Asked and Answered – Christopher Fowler