F.R. Jameson's Blog, page 17

Hollywood & Crime

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Inspiration can come from funny places. It can be from reading a newspaper article, or hearing a song on the radio, or simply seeing the way people act with each other on the train in the morning. If you’re attuned to it, inspiration can strike from anywhere.

Or alternatively, you can just seek out things that you know will inspire you. In fact, it’s likely to inspire you so much, that it feels like you’re stealing this inspiration, that you’re running into the distance with inspiration crammed under your arms.

That’s precisely how I feel about the HOLLYWOOD & CRIME podcast.

I picked it up wanting to love it and love it undoubtedly do. It is filling all my spare waking moments.

More than once, on this blog and elsewhere, I’ve written about how much I enjoy the fiction of James Ellroy and Megan Abbott. Particularly how their Hollywood noir stories have informed my own Screen Siren Noir series. Well, this is like a true crime audio version of those novels.

The first series – which I’ve nearly finished – tells the story of The Black Dahlia murder. A crime which has already had masses of coverage (not least by James Ellroy), but it tells it in a way which feels fresh and dramatic and vibrant.

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Fresh and dramatic and vibrant, even as it takes a well-worn tale and apes old radio and seventy years of noir.

So rather than the narrator (the excellent, deadpan, Tracy Pattin) giving a precis of what one cop said to another, instead we cut-away to a dramatic re-enactment where one actor says cop dialogue in a very 1940s way of speaking and another actor responds. How accurate it is, I don’t know, but it’s undeniably convincing.

I had no idea that Elizabeth Short – The Black Dahlia – was one of half a dozen black haired women who were murdered in LA in this period. This podcast doesn’t just tell her story, but their largely forgotten stories as well.  Giving a fresh take on the material and making the listener feel the panic rising on the streets of LA.

I’ve burned through the episodes the last week, racing to the conclusion. It’s not perfect (the Londoner in me finds myself coughing “Jack the Ripper” whenever the narrator asserts that The Black Dahlia is the world’s most infamous cold crime; and some of the theories mentioned are a bit of a stretch) but it’s still undoubtedly brilliant.

Once again, I wish I knew LA better so that I could slip seamlessly into the crime writing which has such a great history out there. The seedy underbelly of the glamour of Hollywood.

Oh well, I’m sure I can make do with London. We have quite a good history of crime writing ourselves…

 

Fancy reading my noir fiction? An extract from my novel, DIANA CHRISTMAS is available here!

Me, Writing Series, in 2018

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I’m taking a break from writing about ideas this week, to give an update on where I am with my own writing.

The short answer is: really busy.

Really, really busy.

So busy I fear, in worried thoughts in the early hours of the morning, that I may have taken on too much. But still I’m charging on.

Firstly, EDEN ST MICHEL is back from the editor and seems in good shape. Obviously, I’ve got to go through all the edits on its way to being proofed, but it’s on schedule.

However, before I get to the edits, I am furiously typing away at the follow-up to EDEN ST MICHEL.

Yes, that’s right I’m already working on the follow-up novel to the follow-up novel.

And, if that’s not bonkers enough, in my mornings and evenings I am writing the follow-up to that follow-up. (Are you still with me? It’s the follow-up to the follow-up to the follow-up) It’s my intention to get all three books out before the end of the year and so, as you can imagine, there’s a hell of a lot to do.

(Ridiculously enough, I also have some short stories I’d ideally like to edit, and I want to write another novella tangentially linked to these novels in much the same way DEATH AT THE SEASIDE is.)

Something that helps me keep all these balls together at once is that they’re all part of the same series. My ‘Screen Siren Noir’ series. Each book does work as a standalone, but they’re linked in some way with some shared characters and shared situations.

Reading articles and listening to podcasts, there’s constant talk about how series are fantastic for marketing opportunities. But taking a step back from that, if you’re looking to write a lot of things quickly, then setting them in the same world works a treat. You are constantly immersed in that world, you are constantly exploring those themes and it means that your focus rarely slips.

Maybe the next time I have so much on my plate they will be books in different series and I’ll be rhapsodising about variety. For now though – as far as I’m concerned –  to get a lot of writing done in a swift space of time, a series feels like where it’s at.

 

Want to get into ‘Screen Siren noir now? DIANA CHRISTMAS is available now on Kindle Unlimited!

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Licence Renewed by John Gardner

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Once upon a time there used to be a bookshop on Charing Cross Road which focused solely on crime fiction.

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Going through its doors and seeing its crammed to the ceiling shelves and smelling its slightly musty smell was like entering an Aladdin’s Cave for bibliophiles. There you could find hundreds, if not thousands, of crime novels most people would previously never have heard of.

Cult classics, neglected oddities, private detectives series whose names – and the detectives themselves – had totally passed me by.

One of the corners of this shop was focused entirely on Sherlock Holmes and the – startling at first – fact that there seemed to be dozens of authors who were making their living writing Sherlock Holmes fiction. Many of whom had written far more Holmes fiction than Conan-Doyle did himself.

I mention all this as John Gardner actually did write more James Bond novels than Ian Fleming. Throughout the Eighties he used to turn out pretty much one a year.

When I was young and making my way though the Bond novels for the first time, I did read a few of them – and to be honest I can’t remember much about them.

And so, it set me wondering whether, much like those other Sherlock Holmes books, these other James Bond novels – by the most prolific author to ever write the character – are destined to be sadly forgotten on dusty shelves of specialist bookshops.

I did hope for better, I did hope for a lost gem, but really, the first of the series, is not spectacular. It doesn’t make one totally reappraise the character, not does it feel anything like a lost Fleming classic. The best I can say about it is that it’s fine.

The first thing to address as a fan of the original books is that the timing takes a bit of getting used to. This is undoubtedly the same character Fleming wrote about, only now it’s the 1980s and this World War 2 veteran isn’t at pensionable age, but instead merely has a few grey hairs.

What makes this so odd is that Fleming’s originals aren’t set on a floating timeline. They seem to be fairly contemporaneous with the world around them and Bond gets older and wearier and more haunted by his memories as the books go on.

This floating timeline Bond seems to owe more to the films, and one can’t help thinking if Gardner wanted to go that way then he should have grabbed more from the films. (He did, after all, write a couple of novelisations.) As the films – for all their flaws – are at least trying to be entertaining, and this is just a bit dull.

This is a flat book, one without any panache. It’s perfectly fine for what it is, but that’s all it’s aiming for. And I really suspect that the reason I don’t remember anything of his books from when I was young is that there’s nothing there to really remember.

(ICEBREAKER, I certainly read as a youth; maybe ROLE OF HONOR too)

The villain is boring, the henchman is from large Scotsman central casting, and the Bond girl is so insipid that the only intrigue about her is why the villain kept her around for so long (I’m still not totally sure). The plot does have stakes and a certain amount of jeopardy, but it also moves from A to B to C without much in the way of surprises.

Spoiler alert: James Bond saves the day – which is obvious, but it’s all so rote that you can’t help thinking that he himself would have forgotten all about it by his first martini that evening.

Stepping into another author’s shoes is always going to be a thankless task. You’re generally never going to compare to the original, and I know that John Gardner’s own Boasie Oakes novels are held in high regard so his literary reputation is assured. This though is a by the numbers James Bond adventure that never takes risks and really does deserve to be sat in a dark, forgotten corner of the James Bond canon.

 

Fancy a taste of my own thriller, DIANA CHRISTMAS, you can read the first three chapters here!

 

Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence

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Along with Z FOR ZACHARIAH, this was one of my wife’s favourite books from childhood. A book she loved so much in the school library, that lived so alive in her imagination, she sought it out as an adult and devoured it hungrily again. I can only say that the fact they’re both post-nuclear apocalypse tales – with lashings of soft horror and sci-fi – just proves once again that she is indeed my soulmate.

Life in a post-nuclear apocalypse told through the eyes of three generations of one family, CHILDREN OF THE DUST is brutally cynical about the human race. It’s a compelling, but it’s harsh read. Angry and disappointed about all the good that man is capable of compared to the devastation he’s wrought (or rather, seems likely to wrought in this mid-Eighties tale). There’s so much justifiable bitterness here, that it’s quite astounding Lawrence manages to switch things around and end on a hopeful note. In fact, the narrative pushes so suddenly and swiftly at a new found optimism, it almost feels rushed – while at the same time seeming as if this more upbeat conclusion has been earned. The reader has been through so much, endured such hardships on behalf of the characters, that it would have been a hard tale indeed to end without even a nugget of comfort.

 

Fancy some free scary fiction? My collection, SOMETHING WENT WRONG & OTHER STRANGE TALES is available now!

Turning Ideas into Books – part 4

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“But what happens if I just end up with a series of disconnected chapters?” I hear you ask.

And that danger does exist, I won’t lie to you. Particularly if you’re only writing every couple of days or so, if you’re just dipping into it and then dipping out of it when the whim takes you. But if you’re making a point of writing intensely and going at it each and every day then that risk will lessen.

(And if you do end up with some chapters which don’t fit the overall narrative, then that really isn’t something to worry about. They can be repurposed as short stories, as chapters in other books. You have them written down and, if you like them, there will be ways you can use them.)

If you’re writing every day, here’s what will happen:

You’ll write a confrontation between two characters one day and you’ll bloody love one of those characters. Maybe you’ll love both of them. The next day you’ll write a different confrontation for that character, or a second confrontation for both of them. The third day you’ll do the same.

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It won’t be long before you have a real sense of who your central character is. You will understand what motivates them, what their desires are, what their needs are. You will, without thinking about it, have created some of the world around them – just to give the character context – and you’ll be well on your way to forming an arc.

What does this character want in the first confrontation you wrote? How is that different to the fourth and fifth confrontations? What around this character has changed? What about him or her has changed?

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Once you have that sense of the character, that sense of the people your character deals with, and what they’re trying to achieve, then you are on your way to creating your plot and you are on your way to creating your novel.

Go on, try it.

If you’re still wondering where to begin, then take character A and character B and write some dialogue between them. Write an argument. See what happens…

 

Next time (which may very well be in two weeks actually) we’ll have a look at plots.

Fancy reading some more? Here’s parts one, two and three?

And do you fancy a try before you buy of my fiction? The first three chapters of my novel, DIANA CHRISTMAS are available for free now!

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Colonel Sun by Robert Markham (Kingsley Amis)

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There was all that fuss a few years back about Sebastian Faulks and William Boyd, actual literary authors (unlike John Gardner or Raymond Benson, or – let’s be fair – Anthony Horowitz) being hired to write a James Bond novel. Wasn’t it incredible? Proof of the high esteem in which Fleming’s writing is held.

But ignored in all the coverage was that the Fleming estate had hired a literary author to write a James Bond novel before. It might say Robert Markham on the front of this novel, but step forward Mr Kingsley Amis.

One of the things about books like this is that a certain level of pastiche is inevitable. Of course, the author doesn’t want to go so far that it all becomes parody, but he does want to mimic the voice of the original while telling his own tale. And on this score, Kingsley Amis (a writer not traditionally known for his thrillers) does Fleming perfectly. He really captures that mix of sex, sadism and the lash – as well as all the excessive consumption that James Bond does so well. In fact, it’s so accurate it could be mistaken for a lost Fleming (it’s better than THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, certainly) and maybe that isn’t so surprising as – despite their different backgrounds – Amis and Fleming were much the same type of Englishman. Indeed, both writers throughout their work gradually become more hardcore conservative and reactionary. No doubt if Fleming had lived, Mrs Thatcher would have given him a knighthood too.

Following the events of THE MAN WITH A GOLDEN GUN, a soft and bored James Bond is suddenly thrust from London into a great adventure off the Greek coast which has dangerous consequences for the whole world. There’s a beautiful woman, guns, boats, an over the top villain and a brutal torture scene. Really, from a James Bond novel, what more could one possibly want?

 

Like to try before you buy? You can read the first three chapters of my own thriller, DIANA CHRISTMAS, for free here.

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Mission Prague by Nic Morton

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When I picked up this novel about psychic British spy, Tania Standish, and her adventures in 1970’s Czechoslovakia, the spy template I thought it would adhere to is the James Bond one. After all, that is already an outsized world and surely a beautiful spy with precognitive abilities could be dropped in fairly seamlessly.

But Nic Morton actually foxed me, by instead opting for the John Le Carré model. This is a gritty and realistic feeling world, with dirt under its fingernails. And it’s beautifully realised. You can almost smell the Turkish coffee and cheap cigarettes in the cafes, and hear the rub of polyester trousers as characters walk along the pavements. How convincing he makes it all is a real achievement. But is there any way to make a psychic spy fit seamlessly into this world?

You have your doubts, don’t you?

And yet Morton manages it.

Such is the level of detail and ambition, that Morton soon sweeps the reader up in the narrative and creates such a convincing canvas that we can easily accept the central conceit. Bouncing between different times and locations, he has created a book which feels big in scope, an adventure story with a supernaturally gifted protagonist that still feels absolutely real.

I was expecting a light throwaway read with MISSION PRAGUE, but was glad I got something far more ambitious.

 

If you’re in a mood for a historical thriller, my novel DIANA CHRISTMAS is available here!

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My own personal Bookbub – #freebooks

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It’s Bank Holiday weekend in the UK this weekend, and the sun is – incredibly – shining. But rather than dancing around a May Pole, or getting up to stuff in true THE WICKER MAN style, I’m feeling generous and giving away three different pieces of fiction.

DEATH AT THE SEASIDE, my ghostly novella from the start of the year is FREE this weekend on Kindle.

As is my apocalyptic short story, FOLIAGE, which distressed my sister-in-law (and I can think of no higher praise than that). You can get that FREE too!

And finally, my short tale of the gothic, THE STRANGE FATE OF LORD BRUTON, is also totally FREE.

So, if you’re thinking of having a nice weekend of reading, here is some fiction for you to look at, totally gratis.

I hope you enjoy!

 

(If that’s not enough, then my short story collection, THE STRANGE FATE OF LORD BRUTON is free on instafreebie too. I feel like I’m spoiling you…)

Turning Ideas into Books – part 3

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They say you should never meet your heroes. Sometimes you shouldn’t find out too much about them either.

I grew up reading Raymond Chandler’s seven novels again and again (well, the first six, I’m not sure anyone reads PLAYBACK more than once). Even though I’ve not now looked at them in years, I still have them wrapped around my heart. I quote lines from them, think of the twists fondly in my own writing and know that if I could write something even half as good as – say – THE LONG GOODBYE, I’d consider myself highly successful.

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But when you read about the man himself, he comes across as distinctly rude, awkward and dismissive. A drunk and a misanthrope who did nothing to hide his contempt of the people around him. When they were writing DOUBLE INDEMNITY together, Billy Wilder would frequently disappear to the bathroom to rage into the mirror about how much he loathed Raymond Chandler.

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However, a dissection of personality flaws isn’t why I’m here today. The reason I bring Chandler up is that the way he wrote was just scene after scene after scene. He’d take two interesting characters – one of whom was always Philip Marlowe, as he wrote in the first person – think of some snappy dialogue and write a confrontation. Then he’d send Marlowe off elsewhere and have him confront someone else. And when he had enough of those scenes, he’d stitch all the scenes together and come up with a plot.

Now, that way of working does explain why Chandler’s plots are frequently seen as loose (although, with the exception of the chauffeur’s death in THE BIG SLEEP, he does tie everything together). But the point is that he didn’t start with an over-arching plot, he just wrote chapter after chapter and trusted in himself to somehow fit it all together later.

Because as I say, if you’re just starting writing, then you just need a scene. And then another scene. As long as the words are flowing and you’re enjoying what you’re doing, you can create a whole novel from there.

“But what happens if I just end up with a series of disconnected chapters?” I hear you ask…

 

There’ll be more next week, but just follow the links to read parts one and two.

While, if you want to read some of my noir fiction, the first three chapters of my novel DIANA CHRISTMAS are available for free here!

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Crypt of Bone by J.F. Penn

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This is only the second Arkane novel I’ve read, but I’m already looking forward to the third. (Actually its is the second Arkane novel, however I have been known to read series horribly out of order). What J.F. Penn is serving up here is a dose of pure escapism. It’s a rush of exotic locations, over the top peril and characters who are endlessly smart and resourceful even when facing the greatest of danger. Obviously it’s not a book for the snooty nosed literary connoisseur, no one is going to be caught in a bookshop deciding between this and the latest Martin Amis. But if you want the roller coaster thrills of a big Saturday night action adventure popcorn movie, only in book form, then you can do a lot worse than the Arkane series.

 

Fancy some free dark fiction. My collection, SOMETHING WENT WRONG AND OTHER STRANGE TALES is available totally for free now.