Richard Godwin's Blog
November 29, 2018
Quick Fire At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With John Lescroart
October 20, 2018
Quick Fire At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With John Lescroart- copy
John Lescroart is a New York Times bestselling author known for his series of legal and crime thriller novels featuring the character Dismas Hardy. His novels have sold more than ten million copies, have been translated into twenty-two languages in more than seventy-five countries, and fifteen of his books have been on the New York Times bestseller list. In addition to more than twenty novels, Lescroart has written several screenplays, and appeared as a contestant on the game show Tic Tac Dough in 1979, as well as on Joker’s Wild, Blank Check and Headline Chasers. Under Crow Art Records, Lescroart has released several albums, including a CD of piano versions of his songs performed by Antonio Gala. He has for some time been writing and living in Davis, California. He is an original founding member of the group International Thriller Writers. He has a new novel out, ‘Poison’ and it sounds like another great one.
John met me at The Slaughterhouse, where we talked about his new release and crime fiction.
Tell us about Poison
After FATAL, a stand-alone book with all-new characters, I felt I was ready to return to my old friend Dismas Hardy. When last seen, he was recovering from a couple of gunshot wounds, and so it didn’t make sense to me to jump from his active life in THE FALL to another adventure. So I gave Diz a year off. And — as often happens in these kind of situations, suddenly I discovered that Hardy was ready to get back in the game, but with some growth issues to deal with. His son, Vincent, was by now a functioning adult, working at Facebook, and very much into the millenial lifestyle. Also, having nearly lost Diz to a disgruntled client in THE FALL, Frannie’s patience has grown very thin around Hardy’s job as an attorney. She wants him to quit the defense world, and sooner rather than later. And Diz is inclined to agree with her — enough of this living in danger all the time. Who needs it? It would be far better to simply retire.
But of course, being Dismas Hardy, he can’t really justify turning down a former client of his, 
Abby Jarvis, when she becomes the prime suspect in the murder of her boss, Grant Wagner. And almost before he realizes it, Diz finds himself knee-deep in intrigue with Mr. Wagner’s family — four children (the “G-team”) and one step child. As Hardy closes in on what appears to be the truth behind Grant’s poisoning, several other apparently unconnected murders raise the stakes dramatically, until Frannie issues an ultimatum that Hardy has to bail out on his client Abby . . . now! And meanwhile, Vincent”s circle of friends seem to draw him into the vortex of Hardy’s investigation. Which is not a safe place to be.
POISON gave me the opportunity to go back to my roots in terms of murder mysteries. I winnowed out much of the courtroom stuff and instead followed the trail of clues and alternative suspects, and mixed in a lot of the “family stuff” until I felt I had all the ingredients for a classic whodunnit. I really loved writing POISON, and hope readers will enjoy every page, as I did.
How would you like to be remembered as an author?
I would like to be remembered — if it’s still a bit premature to ponder this issue! — as an author who has created an entertaining and memorable cast of characters set in a fictional universe that resonates in the “real world.” My novels are very much based on real issues that continue to play out in modern life, and this is what I think makes the books compelling. As a stylist and writer, I would hope that my books would somewhat blur the line between literary work and mystery fiction, fun to read and yet with something — if it’s not too grand a word — important to say.
Is crime fiction too narrowly categorized by the industry?
Actually, I think that crime fiction has very much found it’s place in the publishing world. It is thriving now as never before. There are those who contend that there is a chasm between “serious” literature and crime stories, but these nay-sayers are refuted by the skill and talent of today’s mystery practitioners, many if not most of whom write with elegance and elan, and manage to throw in moral concerns, terrific plotting, suspense, and fantastic character development. Crime writing, in short, is here to stay. And this is how it should be.
What else is on the cards for you?
I’m very much looking forward to the next Dismas Hardy/Abe Glitsky book, THE RULE OF LAW, which is being published by Atria in January, 2019. Beyond that, I’d like to keep my readers in suspense as to what comes next. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Thank you John for giving an informative and great interview.
Get a hard copy of POISON at Amazon US and UK, Barnes & Noble, Simon & Shuster, Indiebound, and BAM
Get POISON eBooks at Apple, Amazon US, Barnes & Noble, Simon & Shuster, and Google Play
And POISON audio books at Amazon US and UK, Barnes & Noble, and Simon & Shuster
John’s stand-alone, FATAL, can be found at Amazon US and UK, Barnes & Noble, Simon & Shuster, Indiebound, BAM and for a signed edition go to VJ Books
Click HERE for eBook and Audio book buy links for FATAL.
Visit John’s website for information on all of his books and current events
Find him on Facebook and Twitter
October 12, 2018
Quick Fire At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Jack Ketchum
October 10, 2018
Quick Fire At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Luke Rhinehart
September 26, 2018
Quick Fire At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With John Lescroart
John Lescroart is a New York Times bestselling author known for his series of legal and crime thriller novels featuring the character Dismas Hardy. His novels have sold more than ten million copies, have been translated into twenty-two languages in more than seventy-five countries, and fifteen of his books have been on the New York Times bestseller list. In addition to more than twenty novels, Lescroart has written several screenplays, and appeared as a contestant on the game show Tic Tac Dough in 1979, as well as on Joker’s Wild, Blank Check and Headline Chasers. Under Crow Art Records, Lescroart has released several albums, including a CD of piano versions of his songs performed by Antonio Gala. He has for some time been writing and living in Davis, California. He is an original founding member of the group International Thriller Writers. He has a new novel out, ‘Poison’ and it sounds like another great one.
John met me at The Slaughterhouse, where we talked about his new release and crime fiction.
Tell us about Poison
After FATAL, a stand-alone book with all-new characters, I felt I was ready to return to my old friend Dismas Hardy. When last seen, he was recovering from a couple of gunshot wounds, and so it didn’t make sense to me to jump from his active life in THE FALL to another adventure. So I gave Diz a year off. And — as often happens in these kind of situations, suddenly I discovered that Hardy was ready to get back in the game, but with some growth issues to deal with. His son, Vincent, was by now a functioning adult, working at Facebook, and very much into the millenial lifestyle. Also, having nearly lost Diz to a disgruntled client in THE FALL, Frannie’s patience has grown very thin around Hardy’s job as an attorney. She wants him to quit the defense world, and sooner rather than later. And Diz is inclined to agree with her — enough of this living in danger all the time. Who needs it? It would be far better to simply retire.
But of course, being Dismas Hardy, he can’t really justify turning down a former client of his, Abby Jarvis, when she becomes the prime suspect in the murder of her boss, Grant Wagner. And almost before he realizes it, Diz finds himself knee-deep in intrigue with Mr. Wagner’s family — four children (the “G-team”) and one step child. As Hardy closes in on what appears to be the truth behind Grant’s poisoning, several other apparently unconnected murders raise the stakes dramatically, until Frannie issues an ultimatum that Hardy has to bail out on his client Abby . . . now! And meanwhile, Vincent”s circle of friends seem to draw him into the vortex of Hardy’s investigation. Which is not a safe place to be.
POISON gave me the opportunity to go back to my roots in terms of murder mysteries. I winnowed out much of the courtroom stuff and instead followed the trail of clues and alternative suspects, and mixed in a lot of the “family stuff” until I felt I had all the ingredients for a classic whodunnit. I really loved writing POISON, and hope readers will enjoy every page, as I did.
How would you like to be remembered as an author?
I would like to be remembered — if it’s still a bit premature to ponder this issue! — as an author who has created an entertaining and memorable cast of characters set in a fictional universe that resonates in the “real world.” My novels are very much based on real issues that continue to play out in modern life, and this is what I think makes the books compelling. As a stylist and writer, I would hope that my books would somewhat blur the line between literary work and mystery fiction, fun to read and yet with something — if it’s not too grand a word — important to say.
Is crime fiction too narrowly categorized by the industry?
Actually, I think that crime fiction has very much found it’s place in the publishing world. It is thriving now as never before. There are those who contend that there is a chasm between “serious” literature and crime stories, but these nay-sayers are refuted by the skill and talent of today’s mystery practitioners, many if not most of whom write with elegance and elan, and manage to throw in moral concerns, terrific plotting, suspense, and fantastic character development. Crime writing, in short, is here to stay. And this is how it should be.
What else is on the cards for you?
I’m very much looking forward to the next Dismas Hardy/Abe Glitsky book, THE RULE OF LAW, which is being published by Atria in January, 2019. Beyond that, I’d like to keep my readers in suspense as to what comes next. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Thank you John for giving an informative and great interview.
Get a hard copy of POISON at Amazon US and UK, Barnes & Noble, Simon & Shuster, Indiebound, and BAM
Get POISON eBooks at Apple, Amazon US, Barnes & Noble, Simon & Shuster, and Google Play
And POISON audio books at Amazon US and UK, Barnes & Noble, and Simon & Shuster
John’s stand-alone, FATAL, can be found at Amazon US and UK, Barnes & Noble, Simon & Shuster, Indiebound, BAM and for a signed edition go to VJ Books
Click HERE for eBook and Audio book buy links for FATAL.
Visit John’s website for information on all of his books and current events
Find him on Facebook and Twitter
May 22, 2018
Quick Fire at the Slaughterhouse: Interview with Ray Clark
Ray Clark is a British Crime Novelist and the author of the Gardener and Riley series. Implant will be released August, 2018
Tell us about Implant.
Implant is the third book in the IMP series (each having a one-word title beginning with the letters IMP)
The novel is designed to make you think about where the world is heading, about how much we all rely on technology, which we believe makes our lives easier. We all have smartphones and TV’s and everything we become involved in depends heavily on that technology. Young people run their entire lives on their phones: Internet banking, online buying, social media: almost everything they do is through that phone. If they lose it they are virtually shut down themselves.
But think about what would happen if suddenly, that sophisticated machinery fell into the wrong hands and was used against us: if someone was clever enough to manipulate it, and in turn use it to exploit us – especially an enemy. How much damage could one person cause by turning something as small as a phone into a weapon: if a killer was clever enough to use it in such a way that he or she didn’t even have to be anywhere near the crime scene? How tough would that be for the investigating detective?
Implant was very challenging because I’d opened myself up to a whole new world of research with medicine and technology, both of which I found fascinating because I know very little about them in the first place. Luckily for me I have a number of friends who specialise in those subjects who were able to offer expert advice.
How derivative and sanitised do you think crime fiction is and does it need to be changed?
I think all fiction, whether it’s crime, horror, historical or any other genre, is derivative. We are all influenced by something we read, see or hear. I’m not sure it needs to be cleansed, what I believe to be important is presenting a new slant on an old theme – how far can you push the boundaries to achieve something that no one else has thought of?
One of the things I love to do is weave together fact and fiction with myths and legends, in the hope that your audience can’t tell what’s true and what isn’t. The second book in the IMP series, Imperfection was set in the world of film and theatre, featuring a killer who had an obsession with the one time film idol, Lon Chaney, otherwise known as The Man of a Thousand faces, which the killer was able to use to great advantage. The research on that book was very absorbing and time consuming but I learned so much about a world I love, allowing me to blend fact and fiction to support what I wanted to say.
It’s also a format I employ when writing short stories. Double Dragon published a collection of mine entitled, A Detective’s Dozen, where most of the stories had a background steeped in myths and legends. A particular favourite was one entitled Soul Survivor. I had spent some time in Brittany where I happened to chance on a country inn. I booked in, had a meal and then settled down in the bar. It must have been popular amongst the locals because after dark the place filled up. As the night closed in and the witching hour approached a few of the older citizens treat the younger element to some real folk tales.
One in particular struck me. Well, it must have done, because for the half hour it took to draw it out of the toothless old codger I never once touched my drink. His subject was the silent walker’s of the night, whose appearance on the roads of Brittany presages death for those who see them pass by. Needless to say, I was pleased I had the only room on offer that evening. After that, I was going nowhere…
I believe that these are examples of how one can manipulate – or sanitize, if you prefer – the crime genre. Although your story is not fully original, you can present in a way that it looks as if it is.
One of the best exponents of this is the author Graham Masterton, who wrote a two wonderful books, one entitled Family Portrait, which brought a new slant to Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray: the other, entitled Mirror, was based upon Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass.
What inspires you as a man?
Self-made men, and stories of self-made men inspire me: people who have made it, against the odds, proving to me that if they can, I can. A real life case in point here is perhaps horror author, Stephen King, who at one time did not have enough money to pay his quarterly telephone bill. Clearing out the attic one day his wife asked about a manuscript called Carrie. He replied he’d sent it to many different publishers with no luck. She told him to send it again. The rest is history. Another author who had a tough start was J.K. Rowling. She wrote Harry Potterin a local café in order to keep warm, making a couple of drinks last as long as possible. Jeffrey Archer is an author who continuously writes stories about self-made men, Kane & Abel and The Fourth Estate being two examples. The Sons of Adam by Harry Bingham is another fine example. Stories like these inspire me to do better, write better, to be the best I can be.
I find being fit and healthy inspiring. Waking up every day in good health should be an inspiration to all of us but often, it’s something we take for granted. I like to use that to help people less fortunate than me. All sorts of people have all sorts of health problems, none of which they ask for. Doesn’t it make you feel better if you can help them?
What else is on the cards for you this year?
I work very closely with a group of filmmakers called Edge Ways, who produce trailers for my books, so one of the jobs yet to complete is a trailer for Implant. I have also finished a novella entitled Ryder On The Storm, which is a cross genre story, blending crime and the supernatural, mixing myths and legends with facts, which will hopefully be out later this year.
Here is the synopsis:
In 1855 the discovery of a body on a railway track sets off an investigation that runs into a dead end: an unsolved crime.
160 years later, the key to the solving the puzzle lies in a haunted house.
Based upon a true incident, Ryder On The Storm is a stand-alone supernatural crime novella from the author of the IMP series, featuring one of the popular characters, desk sergeant Maurice Cragg.
And I am currently two thirds of the way through another in the IMP series, entitled, Imperceptible, which examines the possibility of what you do when one of your own goes rogue, but that’s all I can give away for now lol.
Thank you Ray for taking the time to tell us about yourself and Implant.
Implant
Bramfield, near Leeds, a sleepy little market town nestled on the border of West and North Yorkshire: a place where people tend to keep to themselves. A death they can understand. A murder they can t0lerate. But a crucifixion, well that’s something else.Monday morning, as the clock strikes 9:00, Detectives Stewart Gardener and Sean Reilly come to the end of the line, a series of puzzles they have been trying to solve for six hours, which has led them to the naked corpse of Alex Wilson, nailed to the wall of a cellar in his uncle’s hardware store. His lips are sewn together and his body bears only one mark, a fresh scar near his abdomen. Above his head are two plain white envelopes.
They do not contain any answers, only further problems.
The scar however, hides a very sinister secret, and Gardener and Reilly think the death may have something to do with organ trafficking.
But they are wrong!
Alex Wilson is a well-known drug dealer, and they begin their investigation by arresting Jackie Pollard – another drug dealer known to the local police – found outside the shop.
Within twenty-four hours, their efforts culminate in one body, one suspect – with a motive but no evidence – and a number of other possible suspects, all of which, are missing.
With all the information they have, the detectives consider the murder to be drug related: a deal that has probably gone to the wall, with someone seeking revenge.
But they are wrong!
When one of their missing suspects finally turns up in a much worse predicament than Alex Wilson, the clock is ticking.
By the time they are forty-eight hours in, their investigation results in dead ends, more victims: no suspects and very little in the way of solid evidence.
Gardener and Reilly now realize that it’s time to answer one very important question. Considering everything that has happened, are the residents of Bramfield – who can understand a death and tolerate a murder – actually prepared for one of history’s most sadistic serial killer’s, The Tooth Fairy?
The Tooth Fairy: a children’s fable – or an adult nightmare?
Links:
Ray’s website: www.thelordofmisrule.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ray.clark.184
Twitter: https://twitter.com/T1LOM
Amazon UK
Implant (Gardener and Reilly series): Amazon.co.uk: Ray Clark: 9781911583981: Books
www.amazon.co.uk
Buy Implant (Gardener and Reilly series) by Ray Clark (ISBN: 9781911583981) from Amazon’s Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible order
Amazon US
March 29, 2018
Quick Fire at the Slaughterhouse: Interview with Paul D. Brazill
Paul Brazill is the master of Brit grit and hardboiled. His stories and novels ring like a chime out of a gangster flick, one with heavy overtones of London. He is adept at using contemporary culture to highlight and augment the inherent drama in his fictions, which are peopled with low lifes and hustlers. Paul met me at The Slaughterhouse, where we talked about Brit Grit and his new work.
What are you writing right now?
‘The Days of Danny Spencer’. It’s the story of a disgraced ex-copper trying to put is life back together. It’s a London-set urban western, after a fashion
If you were to write a Carry On what would it be titled, and who among present actors would you cast in the lead roles?
It would be Carry On Expendables …
Sly Stallone could do the Sid James parts, Jean-Claude Van Damme would be a great Kenneth Williams, soppy old Ryan Gosling would be Jim Dale and Arnie could be the new Babs Windsor, for obvious reasons.
Is Brit Grit on the rise and does it lack the sentimental addiction to resolution that classifies much crime writing, particularly that churned out by the industry?
Brit Grit is bedraggled and unkempt and there’s a lot of it about! Martin Stanley, Robert Cowan, Tom Liens, Aidan Thorn and Paul Heatley, for example, all write books that are away from the mainstream and aren’t interested in tidying things up.
What else is on the cards for you this year
Fahrenheit 13 will be rebooting my seaside noir Kill Me Quick! And I have another seaside noir coming out later this year from All Due Respect/ Down and Out Books. It’s called Last Year’s Man. It’s like Takeshi Kitano mixed with Alan Bennett.
Thank you Paul for a classic interview.
Bio: Paul D. Brazill is the author of A Case Of Noir, Guns Of Brixton, Last Year’s Manand Kill Me Quick! He was born in England and lives in Poland. His writing has been translated into Italian, Polish, Finnish, German and Slovene. He has been published in various magazines and anthologies, including The Mammoth Books of Best British Crime. His blog is here.
Amazon link: Buy on Amazon
March 28, 2018
Quick Fire at the Slaughterhouse: Interview with Donna Collins
Quick Fire – Donna Collins
1) Tell us about your debut novel.
It’s called The Sacrifice, is released on 5th January 2018, and is the first novel in the HUNTED series. It’s based on a pilot script my friend and I wrote and, after many trips and meetings in LA, I was asked to write it as a novel.
It is set in Cornwall and begins when nurse Eliza Hamilton is mugged on her way home from work late one evening and the mysterious Roman Holbrook appears out of the darkness and fights off her attacker. But is this man her hero or does he have a more sinister motive for wanting her kept alive?
It’s definitely a thriller, although while some say it’s an action thriller, others say it’s a thriller with supernatural elements (although I can promise you there isn’t one vampire in sight). I guess you’ll just have to read it yourself and make up your own mind.
2) Do you have any literary influences?
I have a few. As a kid I loved Enid Blyton’s The Children of Cherry Tree Farm – full of adventure and getting up to mischief. As a girl in her late teens and early twenties, I loved Paula Gosling’s novels. You cannot beat good crime. Their simple format is pretty much how I like to write now. That, and I am a massive fan of Elmore Leonard’s dialogue technique. Have you read Raylan or seen Justified? I get such a kick from reading his work.
3) What are you working on?
Now I’ve finished the trilogy, I can return to the original book before I was writing before the whole HUNTED thing started. A third of it had already been written but I’ve had a few ideas since then so I’m going back over the plotting and tweaking it a little here and there. It’s very much in its early stages again but will be set in London, have lot of action, an amnesic and feisty leading lady, and a forensic scientist hell-bent on revenge.
4) What else is on the cards for you this year?
A lot of promotion for the HUNTED series. Then, for the first half of this year, I’ll be concentrating on getting the first draft of my new novel written for my editor. By the end of the year, I would like to have the fourth book published and a first draft of my fifth novel down on paper. I may even pop across the pond to the ITW conference in the summer…for a break.
Links: Amazon – The Sacrifice, Resurrection, and The Undoing
Website: www.donnacollins.co.uk
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/DonnaCollinsUK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DonnaCollinsUK/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donnacollinsuk/
Blog: www.donnacollinsuk.com
January 29, 2018
Quick Fire At The Slaughterhouse: Interview with Matt Phillips
Matt Phillips writes real Noir, the kind of Noir fiction that possesses the spaces inhabited by Jim Thompson and James M Cain, dark places we all inhabit. But while many, among the teeming masses of fawning sycophants and dumb poseurs who shred in onanistic train rides the pages of the glossy magazines that attempt to dictate tastes, in the name of what exactly? the dollar or the pound? fiscal realities are burning by the day, while these citizens of the unfree world profess not to do so, writers expose the hollow lie that haunts the heart of a social vacuum, and it seems that the second law of thermodynamics is alive and well and kicking like a demonic foetus in a womb. His new book is Accidental Outlaws, and he is here at The Slaughterhouse drinking whisky. Oh and before you ask, yes this is all about Artistic Revolution.
Tell us about your latest release
My latest release, Accidental Outlaws, is a book of three rural noir novellas from All Due Respect Books. These are punch-you-in-the gut tales with plenty of desert atmosphere, criminal hijinks, and enough gunfire to make you cover your ears and clench your teeth. Imagine jumping in a hot rod and jamming the throttle down a long desert highway––that’s the book.
Should writers also be Revolutionaries?
Great question. In today’s world of bite-sized dialog and armchair activism, writers are revolutionaries. Whether they want to be or not. These days, not a lot of people have the guts and patience to sit down and craft a story. There’s a whole lot of people out there who jump on the latest meme or hashtag, but that doesn’t mean shit when you get down to it. Tweets can be deleted. 
Or ignored. Your Facebook posts are owned by some dude in Silicon Valley. When you write a book and it gets printed? There’s no taking that back. You are what you do every single day. And when you sit your ass at the desk and write a book, you’re a writer. It’s a political statement to write: You’re raising your voice and you’re saying––in fifty, sixty, or seventy thousand words––that you will not be silenced. Should writers be revolutionaries? They’ve got no damn choice––they already are. And always will be.
What’s ‘wrong’ with extreme sexual content in literature except to those fawning pc eunuchs who don’t get it?
I don’t give two fat steaming shits about extreme sexual content, extreme violence, or anything else ‘extreme’ a writer puts into his or her story. The only thing I care about is whether the 
writer does the job: Is the writing persuasive, detailed, and in a voice that must be heard? Is the story worth the telling? Yes? Good. Then tell the damn thing. Write it down. The only people who complain about content in art are the armchair activists. It’s easy to criticize art from a cell phone. And you know what? It’s easy to become a fascist too. Don’t tell me what to put in my stories. I’m sure as shit not going to tell you what to put in yours. You know?
Is Noir the ultimate form of crime fiction and why is the law an ass?
Noir is the ultimate form––here’s why: Noir illuminates society’s dark alleys and hidden passages. It gives us metaphorical territory where we can discover revelations (good and ill) about governments, institutions, private property, and the bad man (and woman) next door. Noir is also about the human capacity to question God’s existence. In Michel 
Foucault’s Discipline & Punish, he discusses stories of crime and criminals. We come to see that all this noir and crime fiction is about disparity between people. He says, “This literature of crime…was a locus in which two investments of penal practice met––a sort of battleground around the crime, its punishment and its memory.” That last part is most important…What is our collective memory? The ‘law’ is an ass when it hides the truth, when it tries to damage the memory of a crime, a criminal, or people associated with such. If you’re a lawman and you’re hiding some truth, you’re more than an ass. You’re scum. You know what homicide cops say? Everybody lies. And they’re right.
Classic interview.
Links:
Buy Accidental Outlaws via the publisher, Down & Out Books or Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, Nook, iTunes, Kobo, IndieBound
In the UK, all other of Matt’s books can be found on Amazon.co.uk: Three Kinds of Fool, Redbone, and Bad Luck City
Matt’s books published by All Due Respect , an imprint of Down & Out Books, can be bought via Matt’s Amazon.com author page
July 8, 2017
Quick Fire At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Jack Ketchum
Jack Ketchum is an author who has changed the face of horror. His first novel, Off Season (1980), certainly set the cat among the slow and lazy pigeons, and Stephen King heralded it as a ground breaking work, saying of Jack Ketchum, that together with Clive Barker, he has “remade the face of American popular fiction”, he also said, “Who’s the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum.” The Girl Next Door (1989) is a modern classic, while Right To Life (1999) should be compulsory reading for those deluded critics who expect moral resolutions in a territory which precludes them. Jack met me at The Slaughterhouse, where we talked about what he has been up to, and predation and identity.
Tell us about what you have been writing since last we spoke.
Since we last talked I guess the main thing is that Lucky McKee and I did deliver on that promised new novel. It’s called THE SECRET LIFE OF SOULS, about a little girl, a dog, show business, and a wildly disfunctional family. It’s scary, sure, ’cause it’s us! But it’s also about connections that last a lifetime and beyond. That’s from Pegasus Books. Borderline Press have also brought out A LITTLE EMERALD BOOK OF EPHEMERA — me, musing on my books and life in general.
The Secret Lives Of Souls is described as ‘a terrifying, can’t-put-it-down narrative of a family on the verge of disintegration.’ Disintegration features as a major theme in much horror literature, from Edgar Allen Poe to Stephen King, and it is tied to the idea of identity. To what extent do you see the vulnerabilities if identity to attack from either an alien parasite or social 
manipulation as a source of horror fiction and also a reality?
In horror, whether it’s big in-your-face horror, or the little horrors of everyday life, there’s always disintegration. “Things fall apart. The center cannot hold…” We all know this deep inside — and it’s the source of our greatest, nagging fears.
Addiction features in your writing also. William Burroughs saw addiction as a metaphor and in his novels he explored and dramatised other forms of addiction that that to drugs, such as the addiction to sex or violence. How much do you think we are an addictive society that enjoys the hypocrisy of judging the obvious addicts while indulging other vices, and do those addictions serve the purposes of government?
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, so I don’t know about the government, nor do I care to speculate. But we’ve all got our addictions, don’t we? From heroin to CNN. Don’t know a soul who can’t admit to something. Some are just more destructive than others.
What else is on the cards for you this year?
Well, the 35th Anniversary Edition of my first novel, OFF SEASON, complete with a new story, fine illustrations, and other bells and whistles. Amazing that I’ve been doing this for so long — 35 years! — but glad to have it. Then there’s my new story collection, GORILLA IN MY ROOM. Both due out later this year.
Dallas, thank you for a memorable interview.
Jack Ketchum
Steve Thornton Photography
http://www.stevethornton.com/index
Links:
The Secret Life of Souls on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
A Little Emerald Book of Ephemera signed copy at Borderlands Press
This book can also be found on AbeBooks.com and AbeBooks.co.uk
Off Season, 35th Anniversary edition preorder at Dark Regions Press
Gorilla in My Room signed limited edition hardcover at Cemetery Dance Publications
Find Jack Ketchum here: official website; Amazon author pages, US and UK; Twitter, and official Facebook page
