Richard Godwin's Blog, page 21

Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Lou Boxer

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Lou Boxer is the co-chair and mastermind behind NoirCon, which celebrates the life of David Goodis as well as all things Noir. He is a wealth of information and insight into the genre. He is also a man who knows the value of great poetry.

He met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about the Twilight Zone and Noir music.

Charles Olson was a great poet, his Maximus Poems were seminal. If you had to sell him to a modern audience how would you do it?

Certainly we could use a man like Olson today to look at our world much like he looked at Gloucester, Massachusetts. The current economic crisis (China owning so much of our debt) and the out sourcing of American labor and talent would have influenced his writing today. The appeal to modern day readers would be the blatant exploitation of our natural resources and in turn the well being of our environment. From #Occupy [plug in the city] to fracking, Olson's observations made in the Maximus Poems is as timely as ever. The prosody of his writing is as visceral today as it was when Olson wrote his magnum opus.

You set up the brilliant Noir Con. Tell us how the idea came to you and how you feel it has evolved.

I was not aware of Goodis, his life, his prodigious output nor his proclivities until my dear friend Duane Swierczynski mentioned it to me. Serendipitously it was the winter of 2005 and in the stomping grounds of Goodis that GoodisCon was born. One taste of his writing and I was hooked. One thing led to another and I become completely intrigued (some would say obsessed) by Goodis. In preparation for Goodiscon, I was hellbent on learning as much as I could about this elusive writer from Philadelphia. The game was afoot. I spoke to anyone and everyone I could beginning with Philippe Garnier. Garnier had written the only biography of Goodis and it was in French. Never translated. I spoke to the attorneys of the estate of David Goodis, his family, and his friends. Goodis had been married briefly in 1943 while in Hollywood, California to a woman that was only known by her first name, Elaine. As it turned out, Elaine had divorced Goodis and married a gentleman by the name of Robert Withers and their son, who happened to produce informational videos lived close to me. One thing led to another and I learned that the mysterious Elaine was Elaine Astor Goodis Withers. It also led to a documentary entitled GOODIS: TO A PULP that chronicled the lives of David Goodis and Elaine.

At the end of Goodiscon, I was forced to consider that this maybe the end of one helluva an adventure. How could I continue this wonderful adventure and make the name Goodis known to more than this small group of aficionados? NOIRCON was born. Noircon took up where Goodiscon ended. Sure I had been impressed by the stark, barren landscape created by Goodis, but I was no closer to being able to define noir. For me, noir tells the story of tortured souls – lovers, psychopaths, obsessives – driven down deadly paths, following deadly paths, following desperate plans that are doomed to failure. Noir would be discussed, experienced and enjoyed by fans, writers, actors, policeman, lawyers and just about anybody else that enjoyed the genre. Each Noircon we award a writer that exemplifies the essence of David Goodis by awarding them the David L. Goodis Award. To date, we have recognized Ken Bruen, George Pelecanos and in 2012 Lawrence Block. In addition to this award, we recognize those who have contributed to the genre in the form of the Jay and Deen kogan Award for Literary Excellence. We have bestowed this honor on publishing impresario and legend Dennis McMillan, Akashic Books publisher Johnny Temple and in 2012 Otto Penzler. NoirCon is constantly evolving and growing. NoirCon may soon leave its Philadelphia roots and journey to other centers of noir activities.

I am very happy with the wonderful gift David Goodis has given me.

Why Goodis? I was reminded of an article from the New York Times this summer called, CHASING A NAME LOST TO TIME. It traces one man's quest to learn about a name from the 19th century found on a weathered leather purse at a flea market in Chelsea. Why did he pursue the name on the purse? He answered so eloquently that I must quote him, "'It's valuable to raise a person's story from the dead, that people shouldn't be forgotten,' he said. 'In every grave lies a wonderful story.'"

How very true! An addition to NoirCon, a loyal band of "Goodisheads" weather the elements every January 7th to visit Goodis and his family at their graves followed by a trip to his home. We are fortunate to have a gentleman that was at Goodis's funeral in 1967 join us. You could ask for a greater group of friends!

No one should be forgotten, but all too many people are.

Do you think there is something fundamentally filmic about the style of David Goodis's prose and why do you think his novels have had such an impact?

From THE BURGLAR (1955), Stuart Bradley as he prepares to shoot Dan Duryea

Goodis's prose captures life gone awry better than any camera can.

It is visceral – (from BLACK FRIDAY (1954)-

"Hold the legs tight," Charley said. "Hold them tight."

Hart took hold of the legs and closed his eyes. The sounds of the hack-saw and the knife were great big bunches of dreadful gooey stuff hitting him and going into him and he was getting sick and he tried to get his mind on something else, and he came to painting and started to concentrate on landscapes of Corot, then got away from Corot although remaining in the same period as he thought of Coubert, then knowing Courbert was an exponent of realism and trying to get away from Courbert, unable to get away because he was thinking of the way Gustave Courbert showed Cato tearing out his own entrails and showed "Quarry," in which the stag under the tree was getting torn to bits by yowling hounds, and he tried to come back to Corot, past Corot to the gentle English school of laced garments and graceful posture and the delicacy and all that, and Courbert dragged him back.

And Charley said, "Hold him higher up." – Chapter 5);

It is sexual – (From THE BLONDE ON THE STREET CORNER (1954)-

She was leaning against the dresser, with her hands on her hips. Her lips were wet, and she was sliding her tongue over them again. And then she moved very slowly toward him. He took one step backward and stopped. She came nearer and he got a whiff of her perfume. She came up close and put her fat arm around him and let it edge up to his neck. Her fingers played along the back of his neck and his ear and up into his hair. She put the other arm around his middle and pulled him to her. His head went down and she pushed her lips up and clamped them onto his lips and she smiled slowly as she felt his arms sliding around her and tightening. For awhile they stood there, and she had his lips locked. Then she had his lips again. She forced her tongue over through his lips. She pulled him to her, and she went back and they were on the bed. She was kissing him and undressing him. She unbuttoned his shirt while he cupped his hand under one of her big breasts. She unhooked his suspender buttons and unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down and threw them on the floor. He stared to roll away from her and she rolled on top of him and got hold of him again and put her lips on his.

His eyes were closed. She knew that she had him. She rolled over and took him with her. Then she sensed that he was trying to squirm away. She knew he was scared. But now he was on top of her. His arms were tight. He had a terrific grip. He was trying to let go but he couldn't. She pulled him tightly. She clamped her lips onto his lips. She pulled as hard as she could because she knew he was trying to get away and all she had to do was to let up for the slice of an instant and he would get away. He was all right. He was better than the others. He had a terrific grip. He was scared now but he would get over it and she would see a lot of this one. She couldn't let him get away. She pulled him down and kept pulling hard and throwing herself up at him. He was still trying to get away. Just then she felt his fingers sink into her arms, just above the elbows. It hurt. She thought he was trying to break her arms. She opened her eyes. She looked up at his face. She looked into his eyes. She became very frightened and breathed fast and hard. Her mouth was open and she wanted to yell but she couldn't get sound through her lips. And she couldn't stop looking at his eyes. He was hurting her now. He had a grip on her that made the breath swish up past her lips, forced her head back. And she was gasping. But her eyes were open. She couldn't stop looking at his eyes. Then her mouth was open very wide, and her teeth quivered and her entire body quivered, because she was getting it with more force and with more throb than she had ever gotten it before. Her eyes were closed. Her teeth were locked. A thin whistle stretched out as she breathed in. Then she started to moan. And within the moaning, she smiled. Now she has someone who gave it like a beast. – Chapter 13);

It is brutally honest about life -( RETREAT FROM OBLIVION (1939)-

While the lights flickered and blazed people were weeping, laughing, screaming and sighing, loving and hating. In a hundred years these people would be gone and the lights would be gone. But there would be new lights and there would be new people. The same story would go on. It had been going on for hundreds of thousands of years.

It was the story told of people in cities, on farms, in hills and in battlefields. They were good, they were bad, they were good again, and before they knew it they had been or what they had done. They might have gone through a lifetime without telling a lie, or they might have existed for twenty-three years and then gone on a killing spree and murdered five women and been electrocuted. It was all over, this show, and someone else was just beginning it some place else.

Everybody passed through it, kings and beggars, rats and elephants. When it was all over there was the body still, with the eyes open or the eye closed. That didn't matter either. The eyes did not see anything. It was really all over and nothing could be done about it……

There had always been a lot of talk about this Heaven and Hell business. Well, the wise guys could laugh all they wanted to but it wasn't a bad idea. The chances were that it was just that, a lot of talk. But it wasn't a bad idea. - Pages 152-153)

Like any good story teller or sociologist, Goodis tells it as he sees it. No subterfuge, no glamour and plenty of punches. I think it is the desperation/struggle to make it through life that is extremely engaging for the reader, for the audience and for Goodis. Voyeurism? Reality? The impact of his work comes from his seeing life being fraught with inherent injustice, cruel unfairness and undeniable banality of life. Who wouldn't love that story/film?

Do you think Noir is classic in the same way Greek tragedy is because it derives its power from an inherent sense that characters are doomed by flaws in their characters they seem incapable of addressing?

Noir is the bastard brother of Greek tragedy. I would go further and say the roots of Noir lie deep in the Garden of Eden. After all doen't the story of Adam and Eve trace the original fall from grace started by Eve's seduction and Adam's eagerness to please.

Now I am not trying to suggest the illegitimacy of Noir, but rather to point out a distinct difference between these two siblings. Unlike the external causes for the reversal of fortune of the hero in Greek tragedy, Noir looks to the internal causes of this downward spiral of the anti-hero. The noble experiment that is Noir lets us watch the all-to-often painful, down-ward spiral of these characters into the abyss. The one-way ticket has been punched and there is no return. Noir is The Human Condition gone horribly awry! A dark classic wrapped in a decaying tragedy that we would love to avert our eyes from, but we cannot. The ending is bleak and yet we are drawn to it like a drug. [Noir] is the opium of the masses. Powerful stuff that appeals to the voyeur in all of us.

Do you think the femme fatale of Noir illustrates the degree to which killing and fucking are related and if so does she determine the way men define themselves within the machismo code of crime?

Ah, the femme fatale of Noir! Killing and fucking. I do not think the femme fatale illustrates only her own inner demons driving her onward. The extent to which the killing and fucking occur are driven by her own blood lust and her desire to manipulate the fairer/weaker sex. The femme fatale is another archetype of the anti-hero. She may be a dominatrix, a sadist, a nymphomaniac or a house wife, but one thing for sure she has her own agenda and takes no prisoners. Hell hath no fury like an angry femme fatale.

Fucking and seduction can be used as a lethal weapon as well as the ultimate aphrodisiac to their prey. The common denominator for the femme fatale is complete control. These noir alpha women systematically and clinically emasculate every man both mentally and physically. The "castrating" femme fatale drives her victim(s) to pursue an ever-escalating level of violence as a substitute for their lost virility and machismo in order to please the noir queen.

Here are some examples of Goodis femme fatales and the lengths they will drive their men:

He wanted a fist in his face. He wanted to be knocked down, and he wanted to look up at the brute [Clara Reeve Ervin]. He was aching for the sight of leering evil, and pain caused by that evil, and searing rage, because this thing in front of him now was a symbol of a force that had cheated him, tortured him. This thing in front of him was beastlike and merciless. – Pg. 121, Behold This Woman

She (Mildred) wore shoes and stockings and a bright purple girdle. Her hands were cupped against the swirl of her hips. Her breasts were high up and all the way out and the nipples seemed to be precisely aimed.

Mildred said, "Come here."

He tried to drag his eyes away from her. He couldn't do it.

"Come here," she said. "I want to tell you something."

Her voice was soft and rich and thick. Like thick taffy. She smiled and took a step toward him.

"Keep away," he said.

"What's the matter?" she asked easily with the taffy voice. "Don't you like what you're looking at?"

"I've seen it before."

She raised her hands to her breasts. She cupped her hands under her breasts and tested the fullness and the weight of them. "They're heavier now than they've ever been. Aren't they gorgeous?"

He felt as though he was being choked. "You cheap tramp."

"But look at them."

"You know what I ought to do? I ought to –"

"Come on, look at them," she said. – Chapter 13, Cassidy's Girl

Tillie was breathing fast. She stood there in the doorway, five feet six, 430 pounds, a shapeless boulder of flesh with the face of a cow and big ears that stood out almost at right angles to her skull. Her hair was the color of a scorched orange and she wore it in tiny curls pressed down against the scalp, like a tightly fitting cap.

His eyes pretended to be fascinated by the mountain of female flesh, the famous massive torso that for all its flabby shapelessness was Ruxton's Street's most expensive candy. They came here constantly, the seekers of off-beat thrills. In terms of poundage she was the summit of their frenzied climb toward some uncanny kind of pleasure or conquest or whatever the hell it was they were looking for. But sometimes he'd see them walking out of this shack with an utterly beaten look on their faces, as if they'd arrived on the summit only to find it was lower than any other level on the map of unrighteousness. - Chapter 13, Street of the Lost

She [Lola] was a huge woman in her middle forties, with jet-black hair parted in the middle and pulled back tightly behind her ears. Weighing close to two hundred pounds, she had it distributed with emphasis high up front and in the rear, with an amazingly narrow waist, and long legs that made her five feet nine seem much taller. She moved with a kind of challenge, as though flaunting her hips to the masculine gender and letting them know she was the kind of woman they had to fight for. The few who dared had wound up with badly lacerated faces, for Lola was an accomplished mauler and she'd been employed as a bouncer in some of the roughest joints along the docks.

Her booming lower-octave voice was like the thud of a heavy cudgel. – The Moon In The Gutter

A big woman. She was a very big. Really huge. Around five-eleven and weighed over three hundred. Built like a tree trunk, no shape, at all except the straight-up-and-down of no breasts, no belly, no rear. She was in her middle thirties and looked about the same as she'd looked seven years ago. Same tiny eyes pushed into the fat meat of her face like tiny pins in a cushion. Same creases on her thick neck and along the sides of her big hooked nose. Same great big ugly girl named Bertha. – Pg. 62, Street of No Return

In the bed with her it was dark but somehow blazing like the core of a shooting star. It was going 'way out past all space and all time." – Pg. 74, Street of No Return

If you notice the majority of Goodis's femme fatales weigh in over 200 pounds regularly. Goodis's men have no choice but to succumb to their charms! A common theme in his works and echoed in the myth and the life of David Goodis.

What do you think is the difference between Noir and Twilight Zone?

When your world is going down the shitter and you are all alone that is Noir and the Twilight Zone all rolled into one. When you are watching someone else spiraling out of control and you can turn a blind eye to it that too is the Noir and the Twilight Zone. This is not a difference but rather a natural progression from Noir (film) to the Twilight Zone (Noir television). Noir film arose in a time when there was no television. With the advent of television came the Twilight Zone. Television of the sixties and seventies gave us the reality known as the Vietnam War up close and personal just as the films of the 1940s portrayed the evils of WWII. The message is the same. The medium has changed.

Noir and the Twilight Zone go right to the heart of darkness – existential nihilism brought directly to your theatre and living room. It is that bleak, dour and cruel existence that leaves us with an un-hero trudging through hell on earth sometimes only to face a horrible end. Alienation, discontent and disillusionment reign supreme. Whether it is a 30-minute time slot or a two-hour movie, we love to see the human condition flayed open and its squirming innards exposed for all to see. Voyeurism at its finest!

The most apparent difference between Noir and the Twilight Zone lies in the fact that the television public wants to be entertained and not continuously depressed week after week and re-evaluate our idea of entertainment. After all, when what we see on the screen or the tube begins to play on our reality it may be time to step back. For as much as we like to watch other experience pain and suffering, the majority of us would rather avoid a steady diet of it.

So maybe in the end, we are talking about film noir and television noir. Their similarities far out weigh any differences between the two. The dark (re)-evolution continues.

Do you think voyeurism is an inherent part of cinema and its popularity has to do with displacing the problems we cannot resolve onto others?

From http://www.behance.net/gallery/Voyeur...

Definitely! Hands down and unequivocally. Cinema is consensual voyeurism disguised as art. As Stanley Cavell, a noted American philosopher, the cinema enables us to be wrapped in a cloak of invisibility, allowing us to be present and not present at the same time—a viewer with no responsibility except to view. How great is that? Experience without consequences. As the audience, one lives vicariously through the choices the characters make when faced with pain, ecstasy, disgust, love, hate, anger, repulsion, etcetera. At the conclusion of the film, everyone walks away with no regrets, no remorse and no guilt. We observe all this from the comfort of our seats in dark. Eating buttered popcorn, we are passive participants in this make-believe life.

There is no better way to run from the gut wrenching reality of our own lives than to escape into the dark, air-conditioned anonymity of the local movie house. There is no cell phone, text messaging or talking aloud for fear of disturbing your fellow patrons. It is private event shared alone. Movies may serve some psychological prop in helping us deal with our own inadequacies, but they should never be accepted as real.

Why do you think evil fascinates people?

Because that is what makes us know we are alive. Sure, we all like to see the good in others, good deeds and good intentions. We are wired to be kind and trusting. We do not think twice about the Boy Scout helping the old lady across the street. The short circuit comes when evil is thrown into the mix. Suddenly the above scenario changes such the trust-worthy Boy Scout intentionally pushes the elderly lady in a wheel chair in front of a truck. Horror! Shock! And we all want to know what drove this ostensibly peace-loving, God fearing individual to commit such a heinous act. We want to know while at the same time remaining aseptically separate and clinically aloof from the evil. This is could never happen to me, but I sure as hell am fascinated by it.

In our manifesto for NoirCon, I use noir as a substitute for evil as follows:

… We seek out these encounters with the dark, confident that we can get close enough for a good look yet strong enough to avoid its iron grip and escape unscathed. Noir [Evil] is an aphrodisiac—visceral and real. But it's a dangerous lover, so while we're fans, we still lock the doors and peer under the bed and wonder what fate has waiting for us down the next alley.

As long it is not happening to us directly, evil will always hold our attention. It is only when you are a victim of evil that the fascination becomes a curse that you cannot get away from quick enough.

As a caveat to this, I would venture to say that those people nutured by evil accept it because it is the only life they know. Not knowing any other way of life, an evil individual would find evil banal and horribly pedestrian and good incredibly fascinating.

So a better question would be "Why do you think evil fascinates GOOD people?"

Moral judgements are often made on the basis of a socially given definition of mental illness, with the papers frequently citing madness as the cause of extreme criminal pathology. While there may be a certain comfort in using such a framework, do you think it is possible to define mental health?

The WHO (World Health Organization) defines mental health as "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community".

A very convenient, comfortable and sanitized definition has been established using this socially correct framework. I would like to believe that a subject as large and pervasive (mental health/illness/madness) cannot be defined in a mere thirty nine words.

Moral judgments can be wrong. Society can be wrong. Scientific papers can be fabricated. While I am not advocating anarchy and lawlessness, the societal framework must be fluid and not rigid and static such that the definition of mental hygiene must constantly be addressed.

Jean Luc Godard challenged cinematic conventions as a director, do you think his film Alphaville did something different with Noir? And do you think there is such a thing as Noir music, and if so what is it and which instruments are most suited to it?

Alphaville is noir story. Inside of a science fiction tale. Wrapped tight in a condrum. Sealed in a dystopian society. Directed by a revolutionary French director hell bent on elevating the anti-hero as the ultimate noir archetype.

Men of your type will soon become extinct. You'll become something worse than dead. You'll become a legend. – Professor Von Braun to Lemmy Caution

Saturated with trenchcoat-wearing wise guys, brutality, femme fatales, blazing guns, and brutality, Godard super-sizes the despair, the banality and the suffering that is noir legend. Conceived from the union of the loins of German expressionism and the sensual womb of French crime films, Noir's innocence was shattered by post-world WWII America's paranoia and xenophobia. Godard's Alphaville is noir coming of age.

Alphaville is noir on crystal methamphetamines circa 1965 France. Mind-blowing in black and white.

Yes! Noir music is around us 24/7 – the crying child, the barking dog, the police siren and the thunder above. Noir music is any sound that expresses angst, loneliness, pain, disillusionment, lust, sadness, despair, longing, lost innocence, and fear. The Human Condition is the greatest source of Noir music.

The human voice is the greatest instrument suited to express this music.

Any instrument can be used to tell this tale. One extreme example of this is Ukele Noir.

Silence is the sine qua non of Noir music. It has no beginning and it has no end. It is defined by the noise before it and the noise after it. It simply is.

The high priests and priestesses of Noir music include but are certainly not limited to – Sinead O'Connor, Beethoven, Gershwin, Tom Waits, David Goodis, Leonard Bernstein, The Pretenders, The Sex Pistols, Arthur Miller, Dead Eye Dick, Nick Lowe, Leonard Cohen, Chopin, Wagner, Beck, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Sinatra, Dennis McMillan, Marilyn Manson, U2………..

Thank you Lou for a brilliant interview which I hope will bring new readers to David Goodis as well as people to NoirCon.

Lou Boxer is avid fan of Noir. As co-chair of NoirCon, he is forever seeking to uncover new and old noir wherever it lurks. Inspired by the creative genius of David Goodis, Ken Bruen, George Pelecanos and Duane Swierczynski, Boxer never tires of the hunt!Should you be like minded, be sure not to miss NoirCon 2012. Follow the evolution of another one-of-a-kind of event held in David Goodi's backyard, Philadelphia. Visit www.noircon.info, the epicenter of NoirCon!

Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Jenny Milchman

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Jenny Milchman is a New Jersey writer who studied psychology. After signing with an agent her first suspense novel is due to be released. Cover Of Snow is set in a fictional Adirondack town in the dead of winter. In it Nora Hamilton wakes to find her police detective husband missing from their bed. Jenny is a highly perceptive and profound thinker whose writing is dark and filled with a sense of horror. She met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about dissociation and reality.

To what extent do you think there is gender role play in crime fiction and how do you view the traditional role of men protecting women?

In one sense crime fiction has a long history of being written by and featuring strong women—or at least clever, envelope-pushing ones. Think Miss Marple, and her female creator. Think Dorothy Sayers.

At the same time, there is noir fiction, in which a bombshell blonde all but sprawls across the [male] detective's desk and begs for help.

So crime novels exist on both sides of the gender border.

My own work involves thrusting ordinary people into extraordinary circumstances. They could be men or women, but so far there has always been at least one female point-of-view character who is called upon to do things she didn't believe herself capable of. In my forthcoming novel, COVER OF SNOW, it's the man who is probably weakest or most desperate, while his wife has to defend not just herself but in the end a whole town.

Another novel I have written involves a mother and her young child. This is a fairly common theme in fiction: to what lengths will a mother go to protect her young? And when that situation calls for strength and bravery, perhaps even triumphing over a male character, is that a traditional gender role or not?

Crime fiction takes an unjust world and rights it. One of those injustices has historically been sexism. Maybe that's why so many female characters in crime fiction call the shots, make decisions, and show great strength.

Who are your literary influences?

Well, if you'd asked for my most important literary influence, or my #1 literary influence, the answer would be easy.

Stephen King, I would say.

I began reading Stephen King as a young child—young enough for my parents to have to debate over whether I should be permitted to read him. (This is noteworthy because they were a pretty liberal duo—my dad took me and my brother to see 'Animal House' when we were 11 and 8). In the end they allowed me to because my desire was so strong, and because despite becoming deliciously scared, I never seemed to have nightmares.

Scary fiction satisfies something in me that's perhaps too deep to name, and so other literary influences include Doris Miles Disney, Ira Levin, William Peter Blatty, and David Seltzer. I was also influenced by Shirley Jackson, particularly 'The Lottery,' which I read over and over again, 'The Most Dangerous Game' in which the human is the hunted on a remote island, and again, many of Stephen King's shorts.

I remember thinking that King was a master of character back when he was still being dismissed as a hack, and having to call on more lofty literary loves to try and prove that my taste in books might be worthwhile. Fyodor Dostoevsky taught me about the role of guilt; Henry James about a haunting; and George Eliot about sibling love. These authors also all wrote books whose style somehow turned up in mine back in the days when I was more of a mimic and less of a writer.

Hey, it's one way to learn.

There are contemporary authors from whom I always learn a great deal, even though I think I've graduated from mimicry, and indeed don't read fiction at all when I am writing a first draft, lest my own voice get corrupted.

Harlan Coben creates villains frightening enough to aspire to. Andrew Klavan and Lee Child are experts at putting characters into situations the reader (this reader at least) can't imagine how they will get out of. There are female authors—Nancy Pickard, Lisa Unger, Laura Lippman, Cammie McGovern, Tana French, Jacqueline Mitchard and too many others to list here—who inject emotion into their books that makes you realize how rich suspense can really be. Louise Penny and Timothy Hallinan's sense of place is majestic—although their places are about as far apart as you can get.

Who are my literary influences? Once I get past Stephen King, they become too numerous to name, and growing every day.

To what extent do you think writers are informed by a fear of death?

I might say that all people are informed by a fear of death. That to greater and lesser degrees, death informs our religions, our clocks, our calendars, and ironically, our lives.

My stories (and forthcoming novel) all have death as the underlying reality. If you scrape away the description, the dialog, and details, each character is coping with fear. And what are they afraid of? Gross bodily harm to themselves or their loved ones, which basically boils down to—death.

In COVER OF SNOW, out in early 2013, death is there without any scraping away. The protagonist, a young wife who's moved to a bleak and lovely Adirondack town in mid-winter, finds herself unexpectedly widowed. The rest of the novel is her race to explain this death—and avoid her own.

And in a short story, also set in the Adirondacks, death comes to a honeymooning couple in the form of a body they stumble upon.

In my e-published short story "The Very Old Man," Denise is new mother to nine month old Bethany. You might think that this particular stage of life is antithetical to death—as ripe and bursting as a peach. But it's fear of the ease with which life can be lost that really drives the story.

Some of my favorite books deal with death as their theme. My favorite Alice Hoffman novel is AT RISK, in which a preteen girl is dying of AIDS in the early days of the disease. At a late point in the book, she has her braces taken off. She looks in the mirror, then walks out into the waiting room, "still smiling because now she knows.

"She would've been beautiful."

The poignancy and heartbreak of those lines trace their power to…death.

PET SEMETARY by Stephen King is about the rank desperation with which the characters try to fight death. The father's whose son came back from the war—but shouldn't have. The main character, Louis, who knows what will happen if he tries to cheat death—but does so anyway. Because anything is better than—nothing.

Do I think that fear of death drives writers? I think it drives us all.

Do you think female killers are motivated by different things than male killers and what do the differences show about gender?

Men and women both kill for the same reason: They want something. But what they want differs greatly.

Those three sentences came to me late one night in response to this brain teaser of a question. Then I had to go back and figure out if they were true or not.

Do people kill because they want something? First I decided to take "kill" and replace it with "do the bad the bad things they do in books" because some of my favorite characters never actually kill.

Take Annie Wilkes in Stephen King's MISERY (I keep coming back to King). She doesn't kill Paul—but she does do a Very Bad Thing, bad enough to drive an entire book. And she certainly wants something—in this case to possess the author she so rabidly loves.

The male character in the book I'm reading now, EMPIRE OF LIES by Andrew Klavan, does kill and he does want something: to make his fanatical sentiment known. Or take Hannibal Lecter in Thomas Harris' SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. He wants something from each of his kills. He wants to eat.

To put it less coyly, and to give Harris' novel its due, Lecter wants to consume the very heart of his victims, to feed on their thoughts and furies.

On the surface, Annie Wilkes and Hannibal Lecter appear to want somewhat similar things, but when you dig a little, this impression changes. And the change says something to me about gender.

Wilkes wants to be close to the writer she reveres, and when that want is threatened, she will kill or do great harm to recapture it. But Lecter wishes to destroy what he wants. The want is only satisfied by destruction.

This question left me with a question that I'll be trying to answer in each book I read now. Do female characters kill because they can't get something they want from their victims? And do male characters kill because they've gotten it?

Do you think that for a man or woman to slip over into killing they need to dissociate from their perceived selves into someone else and what does that someone else throw away in terms of gender conditioning and all it is intended to socialize?

To answer this question, I have to think about some pretty dark aspects of myself, things that would perhaps be more comfortable not to explore.

I have never killed anyone, and I hope I never do (though I also hope I would be able to, should circumstances and justice ever require).

But I have been angry and done hurtful things to the people who matter most. Killers usually kill those they know and love.

Did I dissociate during these times? Was I not the person I like to think of myself as being?

The answer to both these uncomfortable questions is yes. I went into a place where I was less connected to the person I was angry with, couldn't see the flash of hurt across his face.

And unless the killer likes to think of him or herself as a killer, as someone entitled to the most violent of acts, then she or he probably feels pretty distant during the moment of murder as well.

I'm not sure if this is a greater leap—if more distance is required—in the case of a female versus a male killer. Historically violence has been the purview of men; think war, hunting, or rape. But does that reflect some testosterone-fueled reality, or simply how we like to think of the sexes?

Because women do kill, and often in spectacularly brutal ways. We can go no further than the recent trial of Casey Anthony to know this.

Perhaps we are all a little dissociated from reality.

Is reality simply a collectively shared subjectivity?

Maybe it's dreadfully un-postmodernist of me, but I believe in reality. I believe there is a truth to things, one that we can arrive at if we are sufficiently free of bias and agenda and the kinds of unconscious issues that are usually a lifetime's work to resolve.

I'm not saying things are black and white, of course. Most of the time things are wonderfully, terribly gray. Wonderfully because this kind of nuance allows for multiple, valid paths. And terribly because, well, this kind of nuance allows for multiple, valid paths.

How do we arrive at what is right?

This question is an important one for crime fiction, maybe the most important one. It means that stakes can be drawn so that the reader knows what she or he should be rooting for—what is the "good" outcome.

It means that the writer can layer in all sorts of subtlety as she or he depicts a situation with rights and wrongs, knowing that these concepts contain ambiguity.

Perhaps the richest facet for fiction of a world that contains a nuanced reality is this. Every character, no matter what they do, is doing it because they think it's the right thing to do. The thing that in reality is necessary for them to do.

Even killers have their motivations, and these are grounded in the killer's reality. Is this reality the same as yours or mine?

It becomes so as soon as the innocent person arrives in the killer's sights.

Then the childhood that made the bad guy feel deprived enough to want to murder anyone who's better off becomes the privileged person's reality for a while.

And you can bet the victim understands that that world of deprivation is very, very real.

Do you think that totalitarianism is the death of existentialism?

Totalitarianism.

The dictionary defines it as a form of government where the ruler or dictator is not limited by a constitution or laws. And let's define existentialism as a sense of self, or meaning. My short answer is no. There have been fascist regimes since time began and somehow human individuality refuses to bury its head. I think Elie Wiesel would agree.

But for my purposes, as a fiction writer, I can't help but extend these concepts to the written word. In my novels I am the totalitarian leader. I create people and the worlds they inhabit, blowing them up like balloons. I and I alone breathe life into them. If I didn't keep writing, their individual stories would end. If I didn't push to publish, they would remain static cross-hatchings on the page, no reader coming in to read and complete the job of life-giving.

So do these characters share an existential urge toward meaning with the humans that populate the planet?

In some sense, the sense of agency, no. They are quite literally helpless without me.

But we all know that's not really true, and I don't just mean for those authors who tend to get metaphysical, and feel that their characters take over, writing the story for them.

I mean that when you read a book, these people exist. And isn't that the root of existentialism? Characters—the best characters—feel real to you as you read. You don't just anticipate what they will do next in the story, you begin to imagine what they might do in a situation that will never take place in the novel.

They stay with you after the last page is turned.

Their lives—their existences—have meaning even though it's only the author, a leader unshackled by any laws, who gives them dominion.

How does this magic happen? How do characters become as real as the Jewish man in Nazi Germany who refuses to eat his last scrap of rotting meat, and instead shares it with someone he believes to be more hungry than he?

I don't have the answer to that (unless Richard wrings it out of me for the next question But I do know that it supports the answer I gave when I turned to this question.

No.

The most totalitarian regime—that of author and book—cannot stamp out the existential meaning inherent in each individual.

No matter whether that individual is real…or imagined.

Tell us about your novel.

My novel took eleven years to sell.

In a sense that may be all I need to say to answer the question. There's a lot of meat in eleven years.

In eleven years there's hope, heartache, frustration, and despair. In eleven years there's a brass ring at the end of the tunnel (to mix metaphors).

In eleven years there's a dream come true.

The story behind my story has been written about elsewhere, though, so I'll indulge myself now by responding to the true meaning of Richard's question.

I'll tell you about my novel.

It's called COVER OF SNOW. My publisher is referring to it as a literary thriller. By that I think they mean the pace is fast, the suspense high, but there's also an emphasis on the writing and character development. At least, that's how it sounds when I get whiffs of what's going on behind-the-scenes as my dream editor at my dream house begins to position the book.

COVER OF SNOW takes place in a fictional Adirondack town in the dead of winter. It's about a women named Nora Hamilton who wakes to find her police detective husband missing from their bed.

That's what starts off the story, at least. But hopefully it's about more than that. Shortcuts taken, greed indulged. What happens to people who tend not to face things. Or, to be more concrete, small town corruption in the hands of the powerful few who run it.

Nora won't stop until she finds out what happened to her husband. But she's up against some pretty potent forces—and the most potent of all is her own desire not to see.

This book is the first in a series where the recurring 'character' is the creepy little town of Wedeskyull. In future books you may see minor characters from COVER OF SNOW writ large or main characters making cameo appearances.

I can't wait to write the next one. I can't wait for you to read it.

What makes you passionate?

My family. Friends.

Books. And bookstores. Reading.

Writing.

Food.

Being outdoors.

Beautiful views and comfortable beds and long, hot soaks in a tub.

Swimming and boating and biking and hiking.

Seeing new things. Meeting new people.

Movies.

It's not a very long list. I don't need much. And yet, I think it's just about everything.

A question to ask myself.

This might be the hardest one of all. After all, Richard asks great questions. Unique questions I never could've thought up on my own.

How can I possibly match one of his? And, what's left to be asked?

I thought I would tell you why I stuck with my dream of getting published for eleven or thirty-seven years (depending on how you count. The first count would be since I signed with my first agent. The second would be almost my whole life).

So the question is, What enabled you to stick it out for so long? AKA, Are you completely mad?

Well, yes. Probably. Isn't anyone who pursues a dream long past the point at which people are saying, Um, you could do other things, a little crazy? (For that matter, isn't anyone who sits down to write a novel kind of mad? For deciding to create a whole other world on the page, and make people care about it?)

Actually no one ever said the could-do-other-things thing to me. A few of my parents' friends noted that my husband was a real trooper for supporting me when I wasn't earning a dime all those years (had, in fact, quit working long before at the profession that did bring in dimes).

And way back when, sophomore year of college, my parents did point out that while I worked to pursue writing, I might want to choose a backup profession out of the handful things I liked, though none of them approached what I felt about making up stories.

But for the most part I was supported in my dream. My mom told me she thought it would take a long time, but would wind up coming true because "I had this in me and always had". Those are powerful words coming from your mom, who has a real feeling for what 'always' means when it comes to her children.

My husband gave me a present for the birthday right before I got my offer of publication. It was a photograph of a road through the wilderness, with a quote by Will Smith on it. The quote is entitled, No Plan B.

Was it all the support I got that enabled me to go on?

In part, yes. For sure. I can't honestly say what I would've done without it.

Or maybe I can. Maybe I just can't say how I would've done it without that support.

But I think that I would have. I would've had to.

The stories, when you're a writer, bubble up like lava. You can no more suppress them than you can put a lid on a volcano.

And Stephen King calls an unpublished—certainly an unread—novel a circle that hasn't been closed. It's not what the Thing was meant to be. There are no unclosed circles. An unclosed circle is more than an oxymoron—it can't physically exist.

And so we writers press to be read just as the universe isn't able to tolerate a breaking of one of its laws.

Why did I stick with it all this time? I don't recall being given a choice.

Thank you, to people and universes, for not giving me a choice.

Thank you Jenny for a really great interview which is full of depth. I look forward to reading Cover Of Snow.

Jenny Milchman is a suspense writer from New Jersey. Her short story 'The Very Old Man' has been an Amazon bestseller, and another short piece will appear in the anthology ADIRONDACK MYSTERIES II in fall 2012. Jenny is the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, and the Made It Moments forum on her blog. She teaches writing and publishing for New York Writers Workshop, as well as online, and has designed curricula to teach writing to children. Her debut novel, COVER OF SNOW, will be published by Ballantine in early 2013.

Quick Fire At The Slaughterhouse With Christopher Grant

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ALTERNATE ENDINGS

by Christopher Grant

Alternate Endings is the brainchild of a conversation that Richard Godwin and I had with each other last weekend. The discussion was about whether or not variant endings would work in prose fiction. I had been reading about variant endings that Matt Fraction (one of my favorite comic book writers) had planned on having three variant endings to the third issue of Casanova: Luxuria (the first arc of the Casanova epic) and it fell through at the last moment when it seemed to be unfeasible.

This is why both Richard and Matt are credited with the creation of the site at the site.

Parallel worlds, supernatural or paranormal events, duality, general weirdness, dreams, et al, have been of particular interest to me for quite a long time.

Alternate endings to television shows or movies that I have seen dozens of times have been a fun little game that I've played for at least as long.

Instead of so-and-so surviving this round of Survivor or The Amazing Race, it's X.

What would've happened in a world where Al Gore was declared the winner of the 2000 election instead of George W. Bush? Would the Twin Towers still be standing? Would Iraq have been attacked? Would we be going on ten years of US occupation in that country and eleven in Afghanistan?

These are interesting questions that can be answered in fiction.

What if the husband kills his wife in this version of your noir story but in the second version, she kills him as he attempts to kill her? And what if in the third, she and he end up dead when her lover comes into the picture and decides he wants the contents of their bank account? And what if in a fourth version, the lover is actually in love with the husband and they kill the wife together?

See? Fun, ain't it?

That's what Alternate Endings is all about.

Christopher Grant is well known for being the editor of A Twist Of Noir, a magazine that has launched many fine writers. He is also a great crime writer himself with a wealth of knowledge about the genre and many others. His magazine Eaten Alive is dedicated to zombie fiction. And now he has launched Alternate Endings. Stories in his latest magazine have to have two endings, in other words, the same story twice, ending differently. To mark the launch of Alternate Endings he met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about parallel universes and the nature of reality.

To what extent do you think one second can make a difference in a person's life?

Depends on the situation, I suppose. Life and death, such as a heart surgery or brain surgery, one second most definitely can make all the difference. In sports, say you take a second longer to shoot a puck or a basketball at the hoop. Clock runs out, buzzer goes off, game's over and you're the goat. Timing in European football, a goaltender takes a second too long and it's goooooalll.

Timing in life is probably less intense than it is in gaming but life-changing events can take place in that one second, too. Someone chokes on something and you're the only one in the room that knows how to apply the Heimlich maneuver properly but you're not in the room because you stepped out to use the restroom. To the guy that just choked on that chicken bone, I think that one second was extremely important.

Do you believe in parallel universes?

I do, for the simple reason that I know that this universe exists, so it would be presumptuous of me to believe that this is the one and only universe in existence. I'm sure that this raises questions that shoot off of that, such as, is there another Christopher Grant right now in the universe next to this one talking with another Richard Godwin right at this moment? I can't answer that definitively except to say maybe. I'm sure, in that other universe, someone is probably asking themselves the same question, is there one of me over there?

Just the thought that there are these places and these people that we can't quite touch or communicate with (yet) is completely fascinating to me.

David Lynch explores parallel realities extensively in his films. How do you think Twin Peaks illustrates the concept and what does the giant mean when he tells Agent Cooper 'there is a man in a smiling bag'?

David Lynch is a favorite of mine (as I know he's a favorite of yours, too, Richard) both in what he directs and what he writes. Twin Peaks, now there's a series that the general viewing public fell in love with and out of love with almost instantaneously, mostly because they were both fascinated by and not ready for what it was that Lynch and Mark Frost were putting out there. Oh, yeah, and Lynch and Frost wanted to keep the whole Who Killed Laura Palmer as a MacGuffin, something that would never be answered, something the public and the network couldn't handle. Sometimes knowing everything isn't good for you. Those of us that understood the show and understood why that mystery shouldn't have been resolved still love it, though.

To your question of how Twin Peaks illustrates the concept of parallel realities, the easiest answer is the denizens of the Black Lodge and more specifically the Red Room. Bob, Mike, the Man From Another Place, Laura Palmer and her Doppelganger, Cooper (by series end), Leyland Palmer (or was that his Doppelganger?) and so on. Mike, the one-armed man, especially, as he's the only figure that we see outside of the Lodge, as well as in, in any true capacity. The fact that he has to use drugs to become something like normal (or what we would perceive to be normal) is an interesting concept.

But parallel realities can be seen outside of the Black Lodge and outside of the various players from that realm, as well.

For instance, Josie Packard.

Here is a woman that at first appears to be completely innocent of whatever it is that Catherine Martell (her sister-in-law) is accusing her of (which we find out about later in the series). Even the way that she turns a phrase makes her appear innocent. The further into the series, even in Season One, we go, more is revealed about her and we understand that she had a different life before she inherited her husband's mill, so much so that when she is killed, we're still not completely clear on what all she was hiding.

Donna Hayward is another character that starts out pretty virtuously and, upon wearing something as simple as Laura's sunglasses, becomes a completely different person. We find out in the Twin Peaks film, Fire Walk With Me, that this isn't the first time that Donna has worn something of Laura's and that something has had a strange effect on her.

I think the entirety of Twin Peaks is about duality and about parallel realities.

As for what The Giant means when he tells Cooper, "There is a man in a smiling bag," within the series, we are led to believe that it is the body of Jacques Renault and whomever killed Jacques is probably the person who killed Laura Palmer. But I think there's probably a deeper meaning there and might even point to Cooper being taken over by Bob at the end of the series, as what we see at the end of the series could be described as a smiling bag, since it's not really Cooper.

Physicists posit that the event horizon of a black hole is the entry point to a parallel universe. Do you think it is possible we are living within a black hole and is the doppelganger our ideal self or our Nemesis?

Now, see, this is why I love doing interviews with you. The questions that you ask are thought-provoking and not the basic run-of-the-mill.

An event horizon is something that should interest noir fans and writers, whether they know it or not. Boiled down to the simplest explanation, an event horizon is a point of no return. The point of no return is present (or should be) in every noir story. It's the part of the story where the man (usually the man) falls for the femme fatale and does something exceedingly stupid, you know, like murders the femme fatale's husband because she entices him to.

If we are living within a black hole, that would go a way towards explaining why we have not received transmissions from other possible intelligent life in the universe. If our transmissions aren't getting out, they're not likely to bother looking for us, are they? At the same time, if you believe that we have been visited by aliens, where are these aliens coming from and why visit us? Is it possible that they're not aliens but us from a parallel universe?

Food for thought.

As for the doppelganger, another interesting, fascinating area to explore.

They say everyone on the planet has a twin.

I have second-hand experience with this phenomena, due to my mom having had first-hand experience.

When I was a child, I remember hearing the story about how she was downtown shopping for, probably we three kids, and said that she believed that she saw her brother, George.

A little while later, maybe a small handful of years, we were traveling back home from a trip out east and stopped at a motel in Indiana. The next morning, she swore that she saw her brother again.

In both cases, George was neither in downtown Duluth, nor in Indiana, but rather in Milwaukee.

A couple years ago, she was upstairs and thought that she saw my dad standing in the doorway to their bedroom. She said he was just staring at her and she said she said to this figure, "I thought you were downstairs." She came downstairs and he was still sitting in the chair that he had been when she went upstairs. I can attest that he had never left the chair.

Various famous people have had experiences with doppelgangers, including Abraham Lincoln, who saw his in a mirror on the night of his election to president in 1860. His doppelganger was a two-faced Janus-like reflection of himself. The one face was just as his own, the second, in Lincoln's own words, was "five shades paler" than the first. This, of course, startled him and he sat up from the couch that he had laid down on and the faces disappeared. He laid back down and again, he could see the faces. He sat up and yet again, they disappeared. He was only able to experience this a third time after which, no matter how he manipulated the mirror or himself, he could not duplicate the experience.

After telling his wife about this experience, she said that she thought that this meant that he would be re-elected to a second term but that he would not survive that second term.

And, of course, she was correct in that assessment.

So is the doppelganger the ideal self or the nemesis?

Depending on your thoughts on death (and I could go off on a tangent on that topic), Lincoln's doppelganger could have been the nemesis. In the same vein, it could have also been the ideal self. It may sound strange but perhaps death isn't the enemy. If all we are is

energy in a shell (our bodies), and when we die, that energy is released, is death really death or is it birth?

Is the doppelganger an anomaly created by the brain or is it a tangible thing? Again, if we are nothing more than energy in a shell, then it's both, isn't it?

There is so much that we still don't understand about the world that we live in, the universe that this world turns in and the bodies, especially the brains, that we inhabit.

Christopher thank you for a brilliant and thought-provoking interview.

Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Ines Eberl

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Ines Eberl is an Austrian law historian and practising lawyer as well as a crime author. Her novel Salzburg Death Dance is her debut mystery novel. It explores the shadowy and dangerous underworld of the art trade. At its centre is art expert Hans Bosch, who begins a dangerous investigation. It has met with a great reception, not surprising, if you consider the range of talent Ines Eberl brings to it.

She met me at The Slaughterhouse, where we talked about the legal system and criminal dissociation.

Do you think there are any key dates that stand out in terms of advances within the legal system regarding its treatment of women and what do those dates say about political trends?

To answer your question it is necessary to have a look at Austrian history. Emerging from a mostly peasant society the situation of women after 1st World War was difficult and it became despairing during the Third Reich under the Nazi regime. The legal situation caused social, political and economical discrimination against women. Motherhood was highly regarded and abortion was under pain of death – Hitler needed soldiers.

While German women rebuilt their country after the 2nd World War and started careers, Austrian women returned to the kitchen fire when their husbands came home from war. It was not until 1975 when abortion was legalized under certain circumstances and women got the right to a professional life and even a passport without the allowance of their husbands. In 1992 the Austrian government made a law against discrimination and in 1997 women were permitted to wear their maiden name after marriage. A step to keep their identity.

Today Austria is as far away from equal status of men and women as ever. In terms of economical equality the Gender Gap Report of 2010 of the World Economic Forum ranks Austria on position 92 from 134 countries. Usually Austrian women earn 25% less than men – for the same work and position. That puts Austria behind Lesotho and Uganda and several developing countries. And political trends in Austria are not promising. Right now we are going through a discussion about adapting the Austrian hymn to modern times and change the words …home of great sons to …home of great daughters and sons. The conservative party yet announced anticipation and an opinion survey showed no interest among the population.

As long as only mother and wife are role models for Austrian women no change of the legal system will help them out of their underprivileged position. German-born and stemming from a family of historians and lawyers I never had a problem on my career path.

Do you think female killers are motivated by different things than male killers?

State of the science is that differences between male and female killers are significant. Women mostly kill tactically, perfidiously and in their social environment. Men attack directly and often in the heat of the moment when an argument escalates. Men kill to dominate their victims while women kill to free themselves from domination. For women it is a question of self-protection, self-esteem and self-preservation.

In terms of female serial killers the problem is based on the personality of the offender and not on the circumstances. Killing is regarded as a problem solving strategy. Once this strategy is successful the female serial killer will kill again – it becomes a thing of habituation. Female killers seem to be fascinating because they don´t answer the cliché of the protecting woman. They break a taboo. But we don´t have to forget that we are always talking about homicide.

Who are your literary influences?

I prefer authors who share their cultural background and write in the tradition of their countries. Many Irish authors – who are great narrators – influenced me. I like Gerard Donovan (Julius Winsome), Tana French (In The Woods), Frank McCourt (Angelas´s Ashes) and all the poems by Seamus Heaney. You need action in a mystery or a thriller but it is style that will fascinate your readers for a long time and make your books unforgettable. In Salzburg´s Death Dance, my first novel, you can see that beautiful old town suffer from the heat of August and in my new book, Hunter´s Blood, you will be high in the Austrian mountains in fall, stalking in the cold air and waiting for the deer (or the murderer) to appear under the dark trees.

My literary influences are well-crafted suspense novels written by Ruth Rendell/Barabara Vine, Mary Higgins Clark and of course Stephen King. Like these authors (whom I admire) I don´t ask at the beginning of a new book: Who did it? Can my detective bring the killer to justice? But: Will my hero survive? Will he prevail? I like to start my stories in a small, safe world, then plunge my reader in a nightmare, drive him from one extreme to the other and in the end reward him with emotional satisfaction. And it seems that readers like to follow me.

Last winter – a long Austrian winter full of snow and ice – I read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, a novel in the good old gothic tradition. And although it was written at the beginning of the last century it intrigued me so much that I was not able to put it down. Skill and style don´t depend on literary genres. They persist for generations and well written literature should be the main influence for all of us who write.

Do you think that crime stems from dissociation?

In my opinion, as the famous sociologist Bourdieu said, crime and deviance stem from social dissociation. I totally agree with this view as likewise there is a difference in the social classes. Bourdieu´s view is that the lower said classes lack cultural capital, such as right values and norms, lack later on the educational capital, such as degrees and higher education, what they finally can turn into economical capital such as wealth and health. Therefore, these social classes have the problem that they get negative labels which lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Later onwards – as a result of dissociation – they turn to crime because of status frustration, lack of material goods and therefore finally poverty.

What do you make of the rise of the E Book?

When EBooks appeared first in Europe – often publishing without the agreement of the owners of the intellectual rights – there only existed a niche market. In 2007 trade publishers at the Frankfurt book fair announced that 30 % of non-fiction books were available on EBooks. Until today EBook issues were mainly economics, law, medicine, politics or psychology. I was informed that my novel Salzburg´s Death Dance is available on Kindle by Amazon but normally it´s not easy for fiction to find its way to the reader. The first reason is that a great deal of literature is still in English and the second is that EBooks suffer from a defect – conditional of manufacturing. They lack such important things as the smell of paper, the look of different printed characters and the feeling of a new bought copy in your hands. Maybe the EBook is an additional offer to readers but in my opinion it will never replace a real book. Just imagine: one future day your grandson will climb up to the attic. He will find an EBook and an old copy of Apostle Rising. The EBook will be broken-down. But from the printed copy your grandson will only have to blow away the dust. And start reading …

Graham Greene said writers have a piece of ice in their hearts. What do you make of his observation?

As many writers nowadays and in the past I´m a hunter. I love the daybreak in the Austrian mountains sitting in the frost and watching out for a special chamois or the right stag to come in the range of my gun. And yes, during these hours when time seems to stand still I can feel the piece of ice in my heart. Although I love animals I´m no vegetarian. A writer has to watch out for people and even when he never uses them as characters in his novels, he tries to catch their secrets and put them on paper like a scientist who spears butterflies to pin them in a frame. I think, first of all a writer should have a caring heart. Without that he´ll never be able to write a single sentence that will touch his readers. But a little piece of ice in it will help him to keep the distance he needs for his work.

How does your background in law influence your view of crime fiction?

I´m both a practising lawyer and a law historian. A lawyer learns to think analytically and logically during his studies. And he always wants to see justice to be done. That´s what he is fighting for every day and that´s what reading and writing crime fiction is for, too. But my personal view of mysteries has been mostly influenced by the years when I worked as a law historian at Salzburg University. Law history in Europe – starting with Roman Civil Right – is a history of slavery and reign of terror, of torture and ordeals. One of the darkest chapters in Middle Age Europe is the persecution of men, women and even children accused to practice witchcraft. Millions of people were burnt alive at the stake. All this was legal and there is a long tradition in legalizing governmental injustice through the centuries all over the world.

Working on these items I became sensitive in concern of crime fiction where one author outbids the other with senseless cruelties in his writing. It seems to be a never-ending competition to attract the attention of the reader just causing an emotional blunting. Look at the news channel on TV and you know what crime means.

As a lawyer I appreciate well plotted stories and fascinating characters showing the handcraft of an author. Cruelty in many different ways is part of a lawyer´s profession. He doesn´t have to spend his leisure time with it. On the other side History of Law provided me with an idea for my next book (to be released in April 2012). It is a cold case about three young poachers – psychological, intriguing and weird. I try to fascinate my readers with dark poetry and a glance on the dark side of human minds. So far it seems they like to follow me.

Is there a particular event that has changed your life and influenced your writing?

My life has been changed through the years – by the countries I saw, by the people I met and the books I read. And I hope I will grow and change and stay young at heart until my dying day.

My writing has been influenced by my personal background. I spent my childhood in Northern Germany. I listened to the old stories settled in the misty moors full of elfins, dwarfs and the ghosts of the unfortunate wanderers that have vanished in the morass in the night. I think therefore all my books have a little touch of a ghost story – similar to the books of many Irish and Scandinavian authors who write in the tradition of their countries and to whom I feel related.

Are you currently working on a new novel?

Yes I am. My first novel Salzburg Death Dance was a success and I got a call from a well known German director who is interested in making a film. So the last two weeks we were busy to arrange meetings with German and Austrian film companies. The setting of every book always has to be an attractive landscape – not only for the reader but also to give a film a chance. I sold the sequel titled Hunter´s Blood to my publisher – who asked me for a series – in July and it is to be released in April 2012. Now there are two books in the works. The first book will be part of the series and it´s about a scientist in the 19th century who collects shrunken heads which puts a curse on his descendants today and so on …. The next book is my preferred. It is a bigger project titled The Weapons Of Freedom and it is about arms trade. It will be a political thriller and a lot of work. Writing is becoming a profession to me! And I´m still looking for an English or American publishing house to release an English-language edition for my novel Salzburg Death Dance. A German literature agent contacted me who sells intellectual property rights all over the world and I hope we can arrange something. So – wish me luck!

How would you like to be remembered as a writer?

I´m just at the beginning of my career as a writer. Therefore the question how I would like to be remembered as a writer has to be connected to the question about the development of my work. My first novel is a suspense story and my second one and third one will be as well. But I hold a deep interest in sociology and politics and so my fourth novel – already in progress – will be in the range of politics. It is about arms deals – a contemporary and very sensitive issue. In my future books I´ll try to picture the current situation of our world in a suspense-packed way. I don´t believe that a writer can change the world but in a situation where men´s coexistence in several countries becomes impossible the force of all statutes and even the positive law disappears. I want to make my readers aware of that. And that is how I would like to be remembered as a writer. I hope that on the one hand my books will be always exciting and on the other hand show my readers in the future that there were writers today who thought about the actual state of society. It seems to me to be the task of those of us who are lucky enough to reach other people with their words.

Thank you Ines for an informed and penetrating interview which I hope will bring new readers to your work.

Bio: My author´s name is Ines Eberl and I was born in Berlin, Germany. I´m a law historian and practising lawyer. I taught History Law at the University of Salzburg, Austria, and now I´m practising law in Salzburg with my Austrian-born husband. We have two children.

Salzburg Death Dance, released in April, 2011 is my first novel and I just sold my second one (Hunter´s Blood – to be released in April, 2012). My third mystery novel and a thriller are already in work.

Links: currently 'Salzburger Totentanz' ('Salzburg Death Dance') can be found most readily at Amazon.co.uk and Powell's Books.

Quick Fire At The Slaughterhouse With B.R. Stateham

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B. R. Stateham, is well known for his gritty hard boiled Noir writing. His character Smitty, a professional hit man, is proving popular. He has just released Call Me Smitty: Carnival. He met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about psychopaths and heroes.

Smitty is proving a popular and enduring killer. Do you think it is possible to have a moral psychopath?

First we have to decide if Smitty is psychotic. Allow me to suggest he is not. He IS bitter, disillusioned, suspicious, and revengeful. But crazy? No. My definition of someone who is psychotic is that of someone who is completely amoral. Someone with no conscience at all. Smitty is neither. And I think in many of his stories we see the evidence of just the opposite. He DOES have a set of morals; a Code of Conduct. In the final analysis, the innocent never get harmed.

What do you think is the difference between a psychopath and a psychotic and do you think there is any moral redemption in the moralists?

Hmmm . . . that is, in a way, like asking what is the difference between a poTAto and a poTAHto. Okay, here' goes–someone who is psychotic is just flat crazy. Insane. Completely divorced from reality.

Someone who is a psychopath is the above definition of psychotic, but with an added layer of planned, calculating, deep seated malevolence. In this case think of a Hannibal Lecter kind of character.

As to the possibility of any moral redemption in the moralists, that's a definite . . . maybe. A moralist who genuinely believes in a code of morals is just as likely to be a Mother Teresa. Or an Osama bin Laden. It depends on the set of morals we're speaking about, the depth of the convictions, their commitment to the idea of spreading the beliefs to others. Or punishing others for a lack of belief.

Is Smitty based on any real characters you have known?

The quick answer to is "No, not really." Smitty popped into my head one day while I was doing a writing exercise over at site called ThinkingTen. The site gives you a couple of prompt words and you're supposed to write a short flash piece in ten minutes or less. I don't remember what the prompt words were but I started writing. . . and then kaboom! Smitty leapt out of my unconscious fully blown up and fully functional.

To be honest, the moment Smitty was born was quite exciting. I instantly knew I had something here; had a 'keeper.' Smitty was the amalgamation of all the tough guys I had read in my life. But different, even unique, from the others. I can't tell you how I knew he was different and unique. But I knew he was. And in a little over a year and a half we have 19 short-stories and two novellas out.

Do you think today that all heroes are anti-heroes?

Oh no, not at all. I have two other characters I write about whom you may or may not be aware of. Turner Hahn and Frank Morales. Homicide detectives and partners. They are the essential definition of classic 'heroes.' Honest, competent, tough, generous, yet sometimes down right mean and nasty when they have to be. Both have a high standard of ethics. Both fret over the travesties they face each day in their line of work. Both worry about their actions possibly being more harmful than beneficial.

So no, there is still room in this world for the traditional hero. And I would suggest that the need for the traditional hero is as strong as its ever been. Perhaps even more compelling this need.

But that is a whole different blog discussion, isn't it?

Thank you Bryant for a great Quick Fire, there follows your recent Blog Post about Call Me Smitty: Carnival.

Call Me Smitty: Carnival is now available

Here it is, kids.   Call Me Smitty: Carnival. Number seven in the series.  Seven installments total in the series featuring my hit-man specialist, Smitty.

'Been thinking of late about Smitty, and writing dark hard boiled/noir, and the components in what makes for a good short story.  And heroes.  Just exactly how do you  define, design, create, write–a hero?

Is it an accident?  Do writers deliberately go out and build, like some mechanical exacto set, a character and then slap the label 'hero' on him?   Are heroes always  Good and True Blue? Or . . . could a hero be normal.  A person with as many weaknesses as he has strengths?

Even more interesting, could a hero be a bad guy?  Bad in the sense of what society might label someone who does not stay within the accepted social parameters of society.  Could a killer be a hit-man?

Guess so.  Smitty seems to have developed a small following of fans who enjoy reading about his . . . uh . . . adventures.  Hits, or rub-outs, would be more precise.  Someone is going to get whacked in each of his stories in one form or fashion.  And usually it's pretty violent.

And his fans–what few there are–seem to love it.  One said she 'reluctantly rooted for him,' every time he eliminated someone.  So . . .  I guess . . . a bad guy can be a hero.

What about short-story writing.  How do you define a good short-story?

Let me offer this definition.  In the genres I write, namely hard boiled/noir and fantasy, they have to be a vivid snapshot of the darkness.  Imagery in brevity–emotional undefined–unforgettable.

Let me give you some examples.  In 'Call Me Smitty: Carnival' there is a short story entitled, Terrible.  A man wants hires Smitty to kill his wife.  Even insists on Smitty killing her in a certain fashion so he can stand and watch and enjoy every second of terrified demise.  Brutal.  Gruesome.  Jacked with emotion.  And Smitty?  What of his response?

In volume two of the Smitty series (Call Me Smitty, Deadly Intent) Smitty rescues a young mother and her children from a husband/father intent on killing them all.  They're standing alone, defenseless, in a driving rain on a busy street corner watching traffic go by and knowing, each and every one, they are about to be slaughtered.

From out of the driving rain Smitty finds them.  Like some mythological creature he materializes out of the diluge and saves them.  Makes sure the husband never bothers any of them again in.

But what made this man the way he his?  How do you become an 'anti-hero hero?'  Could you write a short story that describes how a good man who once believed in being honest, thoughtful, caring, and loving suddenly turn into the hard edge, emotionally dead kind of soul a hit-man needs to have in order to succeed in his new profession.



And can you do it with brevity?  Yes.  In the story called Call Me Smitty, found in the first volume of the series  (Call Me Smitty: the Beginning)  a cop who once called himself Johnny is betrayed.  Betrayed ruthlessly by his wife and his brother.  Johnny slips into an insane, murderous rage.

Does he kill his brother and his wife? Ah . . . the first portion of the story certainly sets the reader up for that conclusion.  But . . .

And that's the other part about writing a good short-story.  Set the reader up for one expectation.  And then throw them into an entirely different bone.  What they think is going to happen and what actually happens turns out to be two entirely different events.

In each of these examples I tried to write verbal portraits of vivid clarity in as few words I could possible muster.  For me, that's a great short-story.  Clarity.  Brevity.  Emotional.  Vividly memorable.

Oh . . . I know, I know:  sometimes I am so full of myself!  Sometimes I sound like some schmuck who is blowing his horn much too loudly in a crowded building.  But that's okay.  Someone once told me, "If you don't believe in yourself, who else will?"

That thought has stuck with me ever since.

Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With P.D. Martin

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Crime author P D Martin has written five novels featuring Aussie FBI profiler Sophie Anderson. The author spends a lot of time researching police (and FBI) procedures, and checking facts with her pool of experts – a forensic pathologist, a doctor, two profilers and one retired US cop. She's also worked as a corporate writer for over 10 years, for companies such as Genesys Wealth Advisers, AXA, BHP Billiton and Momentum Technologies Group.

Her current novel Kiss of Death is out now.

She met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about E Books and offender profilers.

What are your views on the rise of the e book?

The rise of the ebook has been phenomenal and there have been some amazing success stories of authors self-publishing ebooks. Certainly ebooks provide a great opportunity for unpublished authors to get their work out to the general public. However, I am concerned about what we lose by cutting out the traditional 'gatekeepers' (publishing houses and agents). While there are exceptional books that DON'T get picked up by publishers, there are also many books that are rejected because they're examples of an author learning his or her craft. Writing is something that we refine over time, and often an author's first book is not up to scratch. Self-published ebooks also often miss out on the editorial process, something that published authors highly value, having been through that process. I definitely think that every self-published ebook should be edited. I have one ebook novella out, Coming Home, and I made sure to pay a professional editor to review the book before I even thought about posting it on Amazon. I think this is an essential step in self-published ebooks. I also think ebooks are a great way for authors to get their back-list out to the public (sometimes these books are out of print and the rights have reverted to the author), and ebooks are also a fantastic mechanism to get short stories or other works to readers.

Ideally, it would be great if there were still some 'gatekeepers' for ebooks to make sure the quality is high, although I read on a blog (sorry, can't remember which one) that with ebooks the readers themselves act as gatekeepers. A badly written ebook will get bad reviews, where as a stellar novel will get rave reviews and hopefully that will lead to more sales. And maybe even a big traditional publishing deal!

Do you think writers are motivated by a fear of death?

When I first read this question I was assaulted by images of someone standing over a writer saying: "If you don't finish this book your punishment is death." But then I came back to reality and realised I often think about all the books and stories I want to write and feel a sense of urgency. At some stage, my time will run out, right? I think writers are motivated by lots of things, but certainly there probably is a desire to get that one great novel or their many stories out there before death comes knocking.

Is there a particular experience that has had an influence on your writing?

The experience that probably influenced my writing most was a trip to Europe when I was 21 – it was on this trip that inspiration hit and I decided I wanted to write. I'd always been a keen reader in my childhood and also loved creative writing. However, in my adolescence I moved away from that, taking subjects in sciences and maths, before studying psychology at university. Then I spent four months back-packing around Europe with my boyfriend and I was blown away by the history and beauty, particularly in Paris. A sense of creativity was surging through me, and I started writing. I even tracked down an English bookstore in Paris and bought a book on creative writing, then and there!

Do you think female killers are motivated by different things to male killers and what do the differences show about gender?

I think the differences between males' and females' motivation to kill depends on the WHY behind the crime. For example, both men and women are motivated to kill by jealousy and monetary gain. So that's one similarity. But men seem more likely to get caught up in 'spare of the moment' violence and are more likely to be part of organized crime and gangs, where violence and often murder is all part of the deal. Is this higher propensity to violence a biological difference or socialized? An ongoing debate! Plus when it comes to serial killers, obviously the majority of them are male, and they're often motivated by the perverse sexual pleasure and sense of power they get from killing.

Men and women are polar opposites in the way we approach many things, and murder is an extreme example of this. I have seen studies that show men are more likely to focus on one message or cue whereas women see the bigger picture. Perhaps this contributes to the different violence levels of the sexes. Men are also more likely to take risks–and let's face it, killing anyone has major risks.

Who are your literary influences?

Early on, I was definitely inspired by the likes of Enid Blyton (especially the Famous Five series and The Wishing Chair) and then Agatha Christie who served as my initiation into adult crime fiction. Since then, I've read across different genres and authors, but I like to change what I'm reading as much as possible. In addition, I read lots of research books, usually written by cops, profilers, forensic pathologists, etc.

Tell us about 'Kiss Of Death'.

Kiss of Death was born from the concept: 'What if there was a cult of people who thought they were real-life vampires? People who really felt they needed blood to survive?' When I started my research I discovered there were lots of people out there who feel they need the blood or energy of others to survive, and most of these self-labelled vampires have willing donors.

I guess the subject matter for Kiss of Death also comes back to the fact that I'm a closet Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and a fan of some vampire fiction! For me, Kiss of Death was a way I could bring together my two loves. Having said that, Kiss of Death is a police procedural with a murder at its centre, and it focuses on the psychology behind the perpetrator and the cult of real-life vampires who are suspects.

I always love the research element that goes into my novels, and this was particularly fascinating stuff. I've written about the vampire research and the cult research on my blog too.

Vampire research blog: http://www.pdmartin.com.au/blog/?p=187

Cults part 1: http://www.pdmartin.com.au/blog/?p=197

Cults part 2: http://www.pdmartin.com.au/blog/?p=203

Graham Greene said writers have a piece of ice in their hearts. What do you make of his observation?

I actually think that in most cases writers are big softies! We have to be able to relate to many different characters, which requires us to be big-hearted and empathetic. Or maybe it's like 'method acting' and Lawrence Olivier saying to Dustin Hoffman – "Why don't you just act?" Perhaps some writers tap into their characters through empathy and 'method writing' while others just act/write it. On a different note, for writers starting out I think a piece of ice in the heart is a helpful thing – handy for rejection letters.

How does your perspective as an Australian influence your writing?

Originally I think being an Australian held me back in terms of writing the Sophie Anderson series. You see, most people set their books in countries where they live or have lived. However, I knew early on I wanted my main character to be a profiler and when I started researching I realised Australia only has three profilers! I wanted Sophie to be working in a team of profilers, which meant placing her overseas. The FBI then became my preferred choice. Of course, I could have made my main character an American working for the FBI, but I felt like I needed to keep some of my own cultural identity in the book! But it can be tough setting your book overseas.

Also, because Australia is a much smaller country than the US with a lower crime rate, there are many more realistic storylines available if the story is set in the US.

How much do you think a crime writer needs to understand about the criminal mind and do you think crime fiction is ultimately a morally conservative genre?

In my case I need to understand a great deal about the criminal mind because my main character is a profiler with the FBI, so it's all about the psychology behind the offence and the offender. Luckily for me there are some great research books out there and I'm in regular contact with one of the Australia's three profilers! In general, I think crime writers these days do need to understand the criminal mind, because for most readers the WHY is just as important as the WHO. And, of course, the why is in the perpetrator's mind.

I don't think crime fiction is morally conservative, but I don't think it's 'radical' either. Crime fiction these days is often graphic and while some people may say it's gratuitous violence (and therefore NOT morally conservative) I think the level of violence and forensic detail is more about how the genre has evolved over the years. The genre, and the writers, are keeping pace with the science — and maybe the style of crime TV shows too (but that's a whole different subject).

Talking about crime fiction's evolution, how do you think the genre has changed since the days of Agatha Christie?

I was a huge fan of Agatha Christie when I was growing up, but times have certainly changed and I'm not sure I'd enjoy those books if I read them now. I prefer the more modern, forensic-driven novels and that's probably why I write that style of book myself. As I mentioned above, I think the changes in the genre have been largely driven by the science and forensics used in law enforcement. Early crime fiction focused on obvious and traditional 'clues' but the developments in forensics and technology have been massive and led to so many changes in law enforcement. From DNA and scientific techniques to computers, which give law-enforcement officers (and our fictional characters) access to national and worldwide databases of fingerprints, shoe prints, DNA, etc. I remember researching the presence of lipstick on clothes, and discovering the US has a database of most lipstick manufacturers' chemical make-up and colours — a match is quite simple.

I think many crime fiction novelists have kept up with the times by writing more forensic-driven books. Plus, nowadays, you see lots of authors who used to work (or still do work) in the field. Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist, Jonathan Hayes is a medical examiner and Stella Rimington is the ex-head of MI5 (yes, that's spy/action thriller rather than crime fiction but it's a great example). For us 'normal' crime fiction authors, that's meant we've really had to take our research and own knowledge of forensics and police procedures to the next level. The style of popular crime novels has changed dramatically in the past ninety or so years – but so has law enforcement, forensics, technology and the world, in general.

Thank you Phillipa for an informative and engaging interview.

Find out more about PD Martin and her books on her website,  on Facebook, and click here to follow her on Twitter.

Check out all PD Martin books and trailers here:

'Coming Home' (Murderati Ink, 3/21/11) eBook, US and UK

'Kiss of Death' (Mira, 8/1/10) Paperback and eBook, US and paperback, UK. See the trailer here.

'The Killing Hands' (Mira, 11/1/09) Paperback and eBook, US and eBook, UK. View trailer.

'Fan Mail' (Mira, 7/1/09) Paperback and eBook, US and UK

'The Murderers' Club' (Mira, 12/1 08) Hardback, paperback and eBook, US and UK

'Body Count' (Mira, 1/1/07) Hardcover, paperback and eBook, US; Hardcover and paperback, UK; and eBook, UK

Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Veronica The Pajama Thief

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Veronica The Pajama Thief writes absorbing prose in which she explores areas of psychic darkness that edge over into horror. The vivid physical descriptions in her narratives anchor her thematic dramatisation of emotional areas that disturb. She has a strong and subtle voice. Nyquil Dreams, which was published at Pulp Metal Magazine, is a good example of her work. She is a courageous writer who skilfully evokes her characters' inner lives.

She met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about culture and totalitarianism.

Do you think cultural exile is necessary for a writer?

Yes. And… no. It rather depends on the context of the exile. And, the writer.

In the context of isolating oneself to meet a deadline, cultural exile is necessary… at least, I have found it so. On more than one occasion, I have locked myself in a room armed only with Bella… my laptop and constant companion… and a head full of words. No television… no radio… no cell phone… no newspaper… no friends… no Internet… not even my inamorata. I once took a two month sabbatical from Facebook to finish an anthology submission.

I would consider that more of a cultural sabbatical though, rather than an exile.

Orson Welles once said "We're born alone, we live alone, and we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone."

Writers use words to create the illusion that they are not alone… we write to tell a story, to reach out and connect… to show that we are more than the sum of ourselves… to not be alone.

Cultural exile… taking oneself away from all that is around us is anathema to a writer…

We need the world around us… our experiences in that world… to breathe life into our stories. Otherwise, they are only dead words on paper.

Unless there is a purpose to that exile… an exchange, for example… cultural exile is at cross purposes to why we write.

If I wanted to write Italian Renaissance mysteries, and I were a decent enough writer of mysteries, I could go to the library and read up on the Italian Renaissance. I might even end up with a halfway decent mystery. But, if I really want to do it right… I have to go to Italy! I have to immerse myself in an entire new culture… exchanging my American cultural mores for Italian customs, conventions, and practices.

I have to exile myself from one culture, in favor of another.

In the early 70's Nancy Huston, author of Losing North: Essays on Cultural Exile did just such a thing. She abandoned English and her piano for French and the harpsichord. She exiled herself from one culture to gain knowledge and insight into another culture.

One more thing…

Orson also said that '… a writer must be isolated'… but, that isolation cannot be absolute. Our environment… the culture around us… often plays a large part in the telling of our stories.

And, after all… telling stories is our raison d'etre, is it not?

To what extent do you think male criminal sexual pathology differs from female and what do the differences show about gender?

The pathology is both as dissimilar and alike as it is in the non-criminal male and female. It should be noted however, that there is definitely more of a blurring between the "traditional" roles of aggressor (male) and passive receiver (female), and in some instances, a reversal. Feminism and women's equality plays an important role in both demographics- the criminal and the non-criminal.

The male criminal is brash, impulsive, reckless, and prone to violence as a "solution" to any number of problems. Ill-considered and premature/unnecessary violence often will sabotage the male's objectives.

The female criminal is more considerate, patient, calculating, and cold. With sufficient provocation, she is every bit as dangerous as the male. The female can be extremely ruthless and single-minded in the achievement of her objectives.

Understanding the parallels between the two social castes is of primary concern to the criminologist.

~~**~~

There is a greater tendency to physical violence in the male criminal, which is not to say that violence in the female is absent. In part this is due to that ancient, primal 'hunter/gatherer/protector' instinct in the male, hard-coded into his DNA. He will, when necessary… even if the "need" is only illusory… use violence to protect what he sees as his and to dominate in order to satisfy this instinct. Violence is power… it is about dominating and being in control… the 'leader'.

Sexual sadism also plays a role.

Sexual sadism is predominant in males, usually on setting with puberty. There are many theories for the cause behind this. Freud had changing views on sadism and masochism throughout his professional life. In one view, he conceptualized the association of aggressiveness with sexuality in the child's witnessing of a 'primal scene'… his parents having intercourse… as an act of ill treatment or subjugation. The child's lack of maturity could not conceive of a 'pleasure principle'; ergo, it was interpreted as an act of sexual violence. Note that the female mind, with its vastly different biological imperative of 'passivity/compliance/nurturer', more often conceptualized this differently.

Another theory suggested that the subjugation by a female authority figure at an early age, later lead to sexual sadism. Sexual sadism, even in the smallest of degrees, affects many more males than studies would suggest. The taboo nature of the act inherently leads to under-reporting of it.

The male's predisposition for violence, which may have already manifested into criminal behavior of a non-sexual nature, will often take on a sexual component with the onset of puberty. There is the need for power and control that the criminal act itself cannot completely satisfy, nor can it be found in the 'release' of normal sexual activity. The urge to dominate, humiliate, and subjugate must be satisfied.

It should also be noted that the male's sexual sadism is most commonly, but not always, directed toward the female, and a male's sexual identity… be it straight or gay… is not the sole determinant in the target of their sadism.

Male criminals are more violent, risk-taking, and without remorse… believing in a sense, that their behavior is part of the biological imperative of the 'hunter/provider/protector'. They fail to comprehend the irony of their violence toward women as being contrary to that imperative. They have in fact, perverted that ancient imperative.

~~**~~

Society at one time, and to a certain extent still does, tended to see criminal behavior in women as "mad, not bad"… suggesting that women are not capable in the same sense as men, in whom it is already assumed and accepted, to have a predisposition to bad behavior.

The attribution of madness to women derives from the outdated construct that women who conform are pure and obedient, benefiting society and men, always being subservient to man. A woman who went against her natural biological traits of passivity, nurture, and compliance must therefore, be mentally ill. The male stereotype of the female refused to consider women's growing independence and reliance on self.

While the emancipation of women during the 70's undeniably increased economic opportunities for women, it also allowed women to become as crime-prone as men. These new opportunities enabled determined women to move into the world of major crime… the new female criminal, hypothesized by Adler. Exception is taken to Carlen's argument that Adler's new female criminal is cast as the biological female who is essentially masculine, and that the new female criminal is no more than the old, maladjusted masculine female of traditional criminology. Where women are more successful in their criminal endeavors, is due in large part to the feminine temperament… that of being more patient, nurturing, analytical, and compassionate than men; traits not typically found in the maladjusted masculine female.

The female criminal, refusing to accept the outdated modes of sexuality, forgoes the conventional rewards of domesticity, seeking instead excitement, wealth, luxury, and… power. She takes advantage of the same opportunities as her non-criminal female counterpart.

While men have always sought power, and always will, they do not always know what to do with it; which often leads to their downfall.

The sense of power and dominance a female achieves in criminal enterprises is even more intense than in men. If centuries of subservience to man has taught women anything, it has taught them about power… how to get it… how to use it… and how to keep it.

~~**~~

One thing that is true of both sexes is that there is frequently a profound need for sexual release in the aftermath of criminal acts. The 'high' of a successful bank robbery won't last and there is a desire to prolong that sense of power… that sense of accomplishment. This is most often achieved through sexual release… it is here that both use sex as an exhibition of power.

There is an attainment, or at least the illusion, of power in sexual satisfaction.

Sex, as an expression of love is not absent in the criminal element; it is however, more compartmentalized.

Male criminal sexual pathology often uses sex as a weapon… as a punishment. Female criminal sexual pathology uses sex as a tool… an enticement… a means to an end.

Men, by their very male nature, seldom commit crimes as an act of penance… their "guilt engine" is not designed for such.

Women, on the other hand, will commit crimes as an act of penance.

We can't always escape the guilt.

Tell us about pyjamas and how you came up with your sobriquet.

Haha! There is a funny little story behind that.

I suppose that now would be a good time to confess something to your readers…

I am a criminal… a thief… a taker of cozy, warm, flannel sleepwear that does not belong to me. If you invite me into your home, you may want to take precautions. I am told that there is no cure for sleepwear kleptomania. If anyone knows of a support group…?

Please… walk with me down memory lane…

Christina and I have been together for almost five years now… September 20th will mark our fifth anniversary together, and October 25th marks our first wedding anniversary.

Tina is a lawyer with the federal government, and she travels quite a bit on business. In those early years, it was hard being apart from Tina… I have some 'history', but that is a story for another day.

One evening while Tina was preparing for a trip, I "stole" the pajamas she had packed. I wore them the entire week she was gone… I felt closer to Tina, even though she was three thousand miles away. I felt safe.

And thus began my "criminal career".

It was about three years ago, I believe… Tina was again back East on business and I had gone over to our friends Ryan and Thomas's house for an evening of Trivial Pursuit and 70's rock.

The hour grew late and we had all had maybe just one glass of wine too many, so I stayed over, rather than driving home… operating a motor vehicle is not a good idea when one has been drinking, and an even worse idea when your girlfriend works for the Justice Department. Ryan lent me a pair of his pajamas so that I would not have to run around the house in only a cami and panties.

Somehow… and here, I will have to plead the Fifth… Ryan's pajamas made it home with me. At the time I fully intended on returning them, but it just never seemed to happen, and I sort of got in the habit of wearing them around the condo whenever Tina was away on business. The pajamas were, after all… very comfortable!

Though she denies it, I am convinced that my little honey "ratted me out" to Ryan. One Sunday the phone rang while the two of us were enjoying a lazy morning in bed, reading the papers. Tina answered and then handed the phone over to me…

"Hey, Pajama Thief! I believe you have something of mine!" Ryan's contralto voice came through the receiver. Oh my god! I looked down at what I was wearing… Ryan's blue pin-striped pajama bottoms… then over at Tina, who had suddenly become extremely engrossed in a news article. I stammered for a moment, trying to find my voice, when Ryan's laughter filled my ear.

The name stuck and as I developed an online presence, I started using 'Veronica The Pajama Thief' on my email accounts and blogs… as my user name for all of those social networking sites… I even purchased the domain name.

When I first came to Facebook, I gained the reputation for mining the most esoteric information from Google with almost lightning speed, and friends began to refer to me as 'Google Girl'… a nickname that just never really did anything for me.

'Veronica The Pajama Thief' on the other hand… has a nice ring, don't you think?

Do you think pornography is an aesthetic that is corrupted by phallocentrism?

Short answer…Yes. Next question… haha!

Seriously, I'm not sure one can adequately answer that without first defining pornography… un-ringing a bell would be easier, unfortunately. Defining pornography is a bit like trying to describe what 'wet' feels like without using the word 'wet'. Wikimedia defines pornography as such –

"Pornography is the portrayal of explicit sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction." That single phrase is full of subjectivism – explicit…

sexual… satisfaction. Those are all open to individual interpretation… measured against a given society's collective sense of values.

And, remember… the times, they have changed. Fifty years ago, a picture of myself… completely nude, but not engaged in an overt sexual act… would have been considered pornographic. Today, that same photograph is viewed almost as matter-of-factly as breathing. The definition of what is or is not pornography, contextualized in differing and ever-changing cultural and historical 'realms', is something that will always be open to debate.

Phallocentrism is a term used primarily by feminist theorists to denote the pervasive privileging of the masculine within Western culture. 'Pervasive' may be a bit of an understatement.

There is a divide among some feminists on the subject of pornography. Generally viewed as demeaning to women… it eroticizes the domination, humiliation, and coercion of women…pornography has, at the very least, aided in the corruption of the phallocentric ideal, and that is not a 'bad thing', from a feminist point of view.

This corruption is in part due to the growth of female dominant pornography and a subtle shift away from the masculine depiction of lesbian sex… bleached and siliconized heterosexual women with six-inch heels and three-quarter inch nails, who are willing to fellate or copulate either male or female, as long as they get paid… to more realistic portrayals. As evolving socio-economic mores work to diminish the privileging of the masculine, a balance will come to this once forbidden aspect of our cultures.

I don't think one could argue that pornography hasn't been corrupted by phallocentrism. The human species consists of two sexes… female and male. Pornography has been a part of the human experience for centuries, and there has always been one constant… the male dominant. The sublimation of the feminine expressive by the pejorative masculine has perverted the true nature of pornography… to entertain… and is ample evidence of phallocentrism's corruption. The pervasive masculine attempts to provide an historical commentary of this 'forbidden' part of Western culture, mirroring the male dominant evident in virtually all aspects of society, when in fact, pornography was never meant as such… its purpose was to entertain… nothing more.

One does wonder at times if equality is truly the feminists' agenda… or perhaps, a shift in 'isms'… phallocentrism to Mons centrism? One could make the argument that there is ample feminine symbolism. Is a female 'chalice' any less powerful than a male phallus… given the right mindset?

Who are your literary influences?

There is a misconception among many that lesbians are staunch, even rabid feminists. I hope your readers aren't disappointed at the dearth of feminist writers here. I have read a few… Friedan, Dworkin, Smith, Steinem… bored me to tears! Do we like the sound of our own voice a bit much? Austen, French, Sexton… these women had something to say that was worth reading. Of all the feminist writers… my favorite –

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Though physically weakened through illness, she was nonetheless a strong woman, with strong moral convictions and a keen sense of justice. These are traits my own mother had and passed on to me. I admire strong women, and on an intellectual level, I am deeply attracted to women such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning… we do have similar beliefs.

Much of her work carries a religious theme. She believed that "Christ's religion is essentially poetry—poetry glorified.", and she explored the religious aspect in many of her poems, most notably, in her sonnets.

Her lifelong physical sufferings imbued in Elizabeth a deep empathy for the plight of others, and she was passionately outspoken on issues of social injustice… slavery, child labor, and oppression of women. In her writing, Elizabeth expresses empathy and profound intellectual thought on these issues.

While not deeply religious, ours was a spiritual home, although as a child; I sometimes struggled with the concept of spirituality. As a young girl, I found a 'connect' in Elizabeth's writings, which helped me better understand myself and the kind of person I wanted to be… the kind of person I strive to be today.

Both as a literary figure and proponent of basic human rights, Elizabeth Barrett Browning has influenced my life and the way I look at the world.

~~*~~

William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Jane Austen – they taught me much about the human condition.

Alistair MacLean – his stories of daring adventure and intrigue sparked my imagination, taking me to countries across the globe.

Kathy Reichs – the characters are engaging, highly intelligent and analytical. Her taut, disciplined protagonist, Temperance Brennan, showed me that without humanity, we are reduced to animals.

Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, and Cara Black – three different takes on the strong female crime fighter, each with an over-riding sense of justice. These women showed me that life isn't fair, and doing nothing is a choice… not a requirement of life.

Ken Follett – a master storyteller, his Pillars of the Earth re-ignited a childhood love of history.

Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, John Sandford, John Grisham, Scott Turow, Robert B Parker, Patricia Cornwell, Ken Follett, Dean Koontz, and James Patterson – taught me that good and evil aren't always absolutes.

Stephen King once jokingly made a reference to looking in the backseat of your car before getting in… that hit a little too close to home for me. King made me re-examine some of my own beliefs about the 'kingdom of man'.

Ann Rule – I gained insight into the monsters who called themselves human, and why it isn't necessarily a bad thing to always carry just a little bit of fear with us.

Carolyn Keene – I have a few friends who are going to tease me mercilessly over this… I can't help it… I LOVE Nancy Drew! Haha!

Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Carole A Parker, and Paul D Brazill – these four writers have been the biggest influence on my writing. As far back as I can remember, I have been attracted to and captivated by that sub-genre known as noir crime fiction.

My best friend Talia and I would read for hours… such contraband as Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. We would dream one day of writing stories like those we read. However, the realities of school and my constant struggle with English and all those dreaded writing assignments rather chilled that ambition.

Until that is… I met Carole A Parker. Carole's writing has been a huge inspiration to me. I doubt I ever would have penned my first crime fiction story, had it not been for Carole. She also introduced me to Chandler and Hammett. Through Carole, I met – online – Paul D Brazill and a host of other noir fiction writers and 'e-zine' websites. In fact, it was on Pulp Metal Magazine, that I was introduced to your writing, Richard… some truly dark, powerful stories. I have read stories that left my mind before I even finished them, and I have read stories which will stay with me always… your equine-fantasy series Pony Trip are such stories.

There are probably other writers who have had some influence on me… I have after all, been reading since the age of three. And while I have read many more authors than these few here, these are the ones who most come to mind as having influenced not only my writing, but my 'world view'.

Plutarch said this – "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled."

A good story does more than just fill the mind with words… it lights the fires of our imagination.

Is there a particular incident that has changed your life and influenced your writing?

I could take the easy way out here and tell you about the summer before my seventeenth birthday. That was the summer I met Amanda. That was the summer of my 'awakening'. That was the summer of my 'epiphany'. That was the summer that my mother disowned me and kicked me out of the house when she found out I was a lesbian. Getting caught naked in Mama's bed… soixante-neuf with Amanda… was my 'outing'.

Yes, that was certainly life-changing and has no doubt had some influence on my writing, but… there is something else.

~~*~~

The knowledge that I was… that I am… capable of something that goes against everything I believe in… against my very nature… that knowledge and the incident that brought it about… is life-changing. It is knowledge that those of us who possess… wish we did not.

~~*~~

It was Fall Term of my junior year… a Friday… Psych class in the morning and then ditching two afternoon classes to go to Charlotte's parents' beach house for the weekend. Charlotte and I had been seeing each other only a short time and there was still a lingering ache from my heartbreak over Tara, but… I needed to move on. This was going to be a good weekend for the both of us. Little did I know… my worst nightmare was about to begin.

Coming out of Starbuck's with my customary Grande Americano and poppy seed scone, I failed to realize the significance of the unlocked driver's door until it was too late. As I set my coffee in the cup-holder and reached to put the key in the ignition, I felt a cold hard object suddenly press against my neck. The voice from the back seat spoke… four words that paralyzed me and turned my insides to water… "Scream and you die!"

This is the part, where if this were a live interview… I would ask if we could take a break.

Some time later, we arrived at an abandoned farmhouse, and I came face to face with my abductors. In a state of shock, I failed to comprehend two things… this was not an ordinary kidnapping… and, in all likelihood, I was not going to survive. Had I understood that, I would have risked a bullet in the back and ran for my life. But… I did not.

The sun caught in my eyes briefly as the two led me down the basement stairs… it would be six months before I again saw the sun.

Even now, it is difficult to count all that I lost… the last of my innocence… my virginity… the ability to have children… all of that probably seems a bit trivial to some. After all, I did walk out of that basement… eventually.

I lost something else though… after I climbed up out of that cold, dank, basement. I lost my faith and trust in humanity… for a long time. How many times I had to endure the looks of condemnation in the eyes of those who were supposed to be helping me, as if all of it were my fault… as if I should have done more to try and get away. And sometimes, those thoughts were spoken out loud. What would I say to those people today? I would tell them this…

"Until you have 'danced' with the devil, do not try to tell me what I should have done… do not!"

I'm sorry… can we take a break?

There is, obviously, more to this story… much more. One day, the rest will be told. I have already written a little of that ordeal and its aftermath, in some of my short stories… Penance, Nyquil Dreams, and Hello Darkness, My Old Friend. You can see its influence in some of my other writings as well. Soul Taker, currently only several journal pages of ideas and a rough storyline, will also draw from that time.

Some of my stories are darker than they would have been otherwise. I can live with that. It was after all, never my intention to write children's stories. I have a six hundred page manuscript of a fantasy/otherworld story… this was heavily influenced by the events that transpired during those six months of captivity.

The protagonists in almost every one of my stories are strong, independent, often risk-taking, females… extremely goal-oriented and self-sufficient. My therapist says this is a form of self-affirmation for me. And, while not all of them are strictly law-abiding, they do have a strong moral code and a sense of justice.

For the most part, that ordeal is behind me now. I am a stronger person for it. I have learned to trust again… to have faith. I have learned to see beyond my own suffering. And, of all that I did lose… there is one thing that I did not… I did not lose my soul… I did not lose the capacity to love… and to be loved.

It has been almost six years since that fateful September day, and every time I step into a car, I look in the backseat first.

I'm still afraid of drowning… but, it hasn't stopped me from swimming.

Tell us about your current writing projects.

I have several 'irons in the fire', at the moment. I have a 10,000 word manuscript under consideration for an anthology due out next February… three 'works in progress'… and another story almost finished. I also write for two flash fiction sites.

I am a regular contributor to the Flash Fiction Friday community writing project. This is a weekly flash challenge, where the stories range in length from a hundred to 2,500 words, in an open genre. I also write for Lily's Friday Prediction over at Lily Child's Feardom. This is also a weekly flash challenge, where your dark little souls have only a hundred words to come up with a tasty little bit of horror/urban fantasy.

In the beginning, I wasn't sure if I would like writing flash. I tend to use a lot of words. But the challenge of telling a story with such a 'constraint' as word counts was too irresistible to pass up. My very first flash story was for Patti Abbott's Scarry Night Flash Challenge back in February… 800 word limit. My story came in at 807 words… and I sweated blood getting that thing down from almost 1,000 words! But, you know what? I LOVED it! I have been hooked ever since. Writing flash is extremely rewarding and brings some much-needed discipline to my writing.

After a marathon weekend of watching "Hoarders" with a friend, I got an idea for a story about obsession. Something a little dark… something to make one with a delicate constitution run to the bathroom with hand over mouth… something near and dear to my heart.

OBSESSION is the tale of a young woman who trades one obsession for another… with dire consequences. I am hoping to submit this to one of the online 'zines', such as Pulp Metal Magazine, Gemini, or Dark Valentine. I would really like to go with Dark Valentine, but they are currently on hiatus until October… which probably explains why I haven't finished the story.

Some months back, I received an email from a friend and fellow writer. In my eagerness for news I had been waiting for, I misinterpreted his email and began writing a story for an 'invitational' I had thought I had been accepted for. By the time I realized my mistake, I had 2,500 words written. It seemed a shame to just let them gather dust, so…

Tentatively titled LOST, this is the story of a mother's vengeance. When a young, idealistic assistant district attorney loses her daughter to the man she is trying to put away, she turns away from the law and everything she believes in to bring the monster to justice.

Back in September of last year, I wrote REVENGE WILL WAIT FOR ANOTHER DAY. This story came as a result of some idle musings to a friend on Facebook one night about a lover's betrayal. The story was never submitted for publication… chalk that up to 'first story jitters'… and languished on a shelf.

And then, a couple of months ago, a friend told me about an anthology call for lesbian femme fatale stories with an erotic element. I pulled REVENGE off the shelf and started re-writing it, adding a couple of decidedly erotic encounters… that's a polite term for sex scenes.

However, before I had a chance to submit it, the editor announced that they were looking for stories with more of a focus on a mystery; in other words… a lesbian femme fatale mystery with elements of erotica.

Well, there wasn't too much mystery about REVENGE… a fairly straightforward story of betrayal and revenge. No 'whodunit' there. So, I put REVENGE back up on the shelf and started over from scratch, which brings us to…

THIS WILL ALL END IN TEARS. Former cat burglar, NYPD detective Aimee Belanger leaves the Big Apple when her lesbian lover and partner in crime, leaves her for another woman. Now working on the West Coast, a string of high-profile burglaries and the appearance of her former lover threaten to shatter Aimee's new life.

I attended a lecture recently on justice denied and our flawed judicial system, where the suspects often have more rights than their victims. A friend and I talked about ways the 'scales of justice' might be balanced. This is what my 'dark, little mind' came up with…

SOUL TAKER is the story of a woman with a unique 'gift' and her single-minded determination that justice delayed will not be justice denied.

THE ROBE, THE ROSE, AND THE ROAD BACK (tentatively titled) is the story of a young woman, kidnapped in the waning days of the summer of 2005, her six months of captivity at the hands of a sadistic ex-boyfriend – during which time she was subjected to unspeakable brutalities – and the road back. This is my story.

I am also 'toying' with a zombie apocalypse story… glimpses of which can be seen in some of my submissions to Lily's Friday Prediction. Those little 'tidbits' are also posted on my blogs.

That is about all I am working on presently… that I am ready to share, at any rate… haha!

I have cut back a little on my writing so that I can catch up with some much needed reading. I believe it was Stephen King who said…

"If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write."

Does your Portuguese and Russian heritage ever make you feel alienated from the USA?

At times, yes…. I feel a disconnect… a sense of not belonging. Almost as if I belong somewhere else… that a shift in the collective ideals of my adopted country are at odds with the person I am now. My parents' sense of values and their heritage have always been moral guideposts for me, leading me through this journey; striving, as were their wishes, to be more than the sum of who they were.

It's not a question of moral superiority… my heritage. I would be the last one to judge others or to place myself above another. We are of the same Creator, and as we are all equal in his eyes, so should we be in one another's.

I love America. I have lived here almost my entire life… it is my home. Growing up for me here in the United States was a unique experience. We were a 'three culture' family, living in the land of the free and home of the brave… America. Sometimes, I can still hear Mama's voice… the way she would say that word… A-mareeka… a slight 'roll' to the 'r'.

While my parents' heritage was not locked away in a closet, we were a predominantly 'American' family. The Russian and Portuguese 'sense' was almost an undertone at times. This was something that was very important to Mama. She wanted me to 'fit in' with my peers for one thing; all of whom, with the exception of my best friend Talia, were several generations American.

There was another thing… something Mama never spoke of, but I sensed as I grew older. Mama could not return to her homeland, and I think she feared that if I was exposed too much to Russian culture, I would one day want to live there.

Mama would not allow any language other than English in our home, and would scold Papa whenever she caught him teaching me phrases in Portuguese. I remember one phrase in particular… 'minha princesa pequena'… 'my little princess'. I have almost-forgotten memories of Mama singing to me when I was a baby… Russian lullabies. Perhaps that is part of why I have such strong character and courage… have you read the English translation of some of those lullabies? There is some scary stuff there!

Ironically, as much as Mama tried otherwise, my parents ended up teaching me much about Russian and Portuguese traditions and cultures. In downplaying my heritage, they only succeeded in giving emphasis to it.

My parents had both come to America as young adults and assimilated into the American culture, quickly learning the ways of American democratic capitalism, and becoming quite successful. However, they never forgot where they came from and who they were. Their people were a proud peoples, to whom honor was not a small thing, and integrity and strength of character were not 'choices'… something to have or not to have, but an obligation of every 'citizen of man'. Mama and Papa imbued in me a sense of values that have stood well with me my entire life… honor, respect, courage, compassion, strength, an abiding love of life, empathy, integrity, and a desire to do good.

Yes, I love America… it is my home. Only…

I now see the emperor without his clothes…

I see dishonor… I see a lack of respect… for self and others… I see apathy… a settling for less than what one could be… should be. I see a decline in a sense of values. If America was the experiment to disprove the theory of democratic capitalism, it has succeeded quite well.

I believe each one of us has an ethical and moral responsibility to work toward and contribute to the betterment of society as a whole, regardless of where we live. Classes and prejudices have no place in an enlightened society. Political and socio-economic structures are a construct of man. Man has an obligation to tend them well and ensure equality for all.

Okay, that sounded just a bit too political, and I would sooner talk about my sex life than politics… next question! Haha!

Do you think totalitarianism is the death of existentialism and do you think sexual conditioning is more of an ally to politics than philosophy?

Oh… a two part question on two subjects I was barely on speaking terms with in school… philosophy and politics. I could sure use my friend Sandra's crib notes… haha!

Is totalitarianism the death of existentialism?

I believe that the two are mutually exclusive. Neither can exist, to its fullest potential, in the presence of the other.

Put simply, existentialism is the ideology of self, the individual.

In a totalitarian society, the state's ideology – everything within the state… nothing outside the state… nothing against the state – mandates that virtually all aspects of the social life, including but not limited to, economy, education, art, science, private life and the morals of its citizens are controlled by the state. It is an ideology that permeates deep in the societal structure, as the totalitarian government seeks to completely control the thoughts and actions of its citizenry. There is no individual.

In such an environment, where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life, the ideology of self cannot exist… it isn't allowed to.

Whether one accepts a central proposition of existentialism that existence precedes essence – the actual life of the individual constituting his or her 'essence', instead of there being a predetermined essence that defines what it is to be human… 'existence' – neither concept could be self-actualized in a totalitarian state. The state, in a manner of speaking, determines an individual's essence… their existence is only such as that allowed within the confines of the state's ideology. This of course, is a perversion of the existentialist philosophy.

Existentialism… the human being – through their own consciousness – creates their own values and determines a meaning to their life. Existentialism is about self-empowerment. Totalitarianism… the state – through its near-absolute control – creates a 'value-set' for its citizens and determines the meaning to their lives. Totalitarianism is about exerting and having power of others.

~~**~~

Forgive me if I generalize a bit here…

It is perhaps a rather jaded and cynical view for one so young, but… I do feel that sexual conditioning is more of an ally to politics than philosophy.

Humans are sexual creatures. Our lives to an extent, are guided by sexual conditioning… it is pervasive in our society. To a great many, philosophy is a concept too difficult to grasp, and politicians know that. Politicians love to appeal to our basest needs and fears, and understanding why we are conditioned the way we are, allows them to tap in to those base instincts. Our sexual conditioning makes us easier to manipulate.

By and large, politicians would prefer to leave the philosophical debates… at least, ones of any depth… to the philosophers. For fun some time, ask a politician his thoughts on totalitarianism or existentialism. He or she won't admit it, but… they just might have a tiny little streak of totalitarianism in them.

After all, politics is about power and control, right?

How do you respond to recent criticism that your lesbianism privileges a feminist viewpoint in your stories and casts males in an unbalanced light, often relegating them to a criminal role?

My first response would be 'thank you'! If you are criticizing my stories; that means you are reading them and a balance is maintained. Little purpose is served to our writing if it is not read… so… thank you!

I won't deny that most of my stories have a strong feminine presence… I make no apologies for that. I write from my heart… I don't let 'politics' come into play. If my stories have a feminist leaning or are seen as female dominant… then that is the way they were meant to be. We don't always get to write what we want to… sometimes, we write what we have to. Remember the fourth 'E'?

As for my casting males in an unbalanced light… perhaps it seems so because fewer of my stories involve males as primary characters, so they tend to 'stand out'. I am assuming the comment was directed more at the fact that the males in my stories are almost without exception… 'bad'.

One Man's Burden was a twist on the Ripper. I think no one will dispute that Jack the Ripper was a male. Sure, I could have taken the twist further and made the 'Ripper' in my story a female, but that isn't what came to me.

This Is How You Remind Me is a story of domestic violence and when enough is enough. Did I have to make the 'bad' person a man? No, I didn't have to…if I didn't care about truth… about being true.

This is the thing though… I wrote both of those stories as they came to me. Had I stopped and said to myself… 'Maybe I shouldn't make the man the 'bad guy'… well, that would have been a form of self-censorship, don't you think? If I 'force' something just to please a demographic, then I am not being true to my writing.

If I change how I write something for fear that someone will see it as "my lesbianism privileging the feminine", then I am writing to please someone else… to conform to their 'ideals'. And, I won't do that.

I believe it was Susan Isaacs who said this…

"Keep in mind that the person to write for is you. Tell the story that you most desperately want to read."

Thank you Veronica for giving a penetrating and great interview.

Bio: Veronica Marie is a 25 year old teacher's assistant/student/barista/accountant, currently residing in Silverdale, WA. Veronica and her partner also maintain a residence in Portland, OR. Born in Lisboa, Portugal to parents of Portuguese/Russian descent, and raised in the Midwest, she now calls the Pacific Northwest home. Veronica and her partner of almost five years, Christina Anne Shaw-Lewis, were married last October, and "are still very much on honeymoon!" Veronica's long fascination with noir fiction has recently prompted her to try her own hand at writing fiction.



Links: Veronica blogs at veronicathepajamathief.blogspot.com and veronicathepajamathief.wordpress.com and can also be found on www.facebook.com/veronicathepajamathief.

Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Daniel Polansky

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Daniel Polansky writes dark, gritty, cross-genre noir heavy on fantasy.

He builds dark, different worlds, vivid characters, and great fight scenes.

Born in Baltimore he holds a BA in philosophy from Dickinson College.

His novel 'Low Town' is out and attracting a lot of great reviews.

It's also got a lot of foreign rights acquisitions.

He met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about criminal shadows and dystopia.

Do you think the best detectives have strong criminal shadows?

In real life no, probably not — one hopes, at least, that the head of the homicide division has no non-work related experience with his subject. But it's certainly proved to be an enduring conceit in fiction. Of course, it wasn't there to begin with — there's really none of that in early detective fiction. Dupin is an upright police inspector, Holmes is an upper crust Gentleman (albeit one addicted to cocaine, but that wasn't illegal at that point).

Who are your literary influences?

In terms of just people I've loved, there are a lot. V.S. Naipaul, Thomas Wolfe, Shelby Foote, Hannah Arendt, John Keegan. In terms of more genre-oriented stuff, that Stephen King character seems to have had a pretty good run. I spent most of my early adolescence plowing through his stuff, so that really had an influence, at least in so far as I like to dress up in a clown outfit and murder people on the weekend (just kidding (as far as you know)). As far as The Straight Razor Cure goes though, my influences are pretty obvious — Dash Hammett (did people ever call him Dash, do you think? They should have) and Raymond Chandler are the two guys I cribbed most from.

To what extent do you think sexual pathology influences the kind of crimes people like to read about?

That's a great question, and one I've thought about a lot actually. Even a cursory overview of the crime genre reveals an exceptionally high percentage of books dealing with the most horrific and disturbing sexual violence. Indeed, such acts play a curiously heavy role throughout popular entertainment — how many seasons has Law and Order Special Victims Unit been on? 10? 12? To judge by the Girl Who… books roughly 1/3 of Sweden is made up of Nazi Rapists, a fact which did not strike me as being entirely accurate during my last trip through Stockholm.

On some level sexual crimes are an easy short hand for 'the villain is super super evil' — taboo subject matter that makes a fairly standard detective story seem more exciting than maybe it really is. And given the increasingly explicit nature of society, a lot of things that 30 or 50 years ago would have been left implicit in the text are now outright narrated, often in quite thorough detail.

But for me it's sometimes hard to dismiss the feeling that there is something prurient in our general cultural obsession with reading about/watching terrible things happen to women. But on the other hand, women themselves often make up a high percentage of the readership for these things. I dunno. Truthfully, I don't have a good answer for you, other than that for some reason we seem to be pretty interested in books involving sexual violence.

I guess I'm sort of one to talk, [Spoiler alert, though not really since I think it's on the back cover] the murder and implied molestation of a child plays a role in The Straight Razor Cure, though there's not much in the way of description of it.

Tell us about 'Low Town'.

Low Town is a gritty noir set in a dystopian fantasy setting. The protagonist is an ex-cop turned drug dealer, a real unsavory individual. He finds a murdered child one day and, in a bout of ill-considered self-righteousness, decides to hunt down the killer, embroiling himself in a web of conspiracy and black magic (the worst kind of web!)

It was originally called The Straight Razor Cure, but when I sold it to Doubleday my new Editor plopped a big bag of money on the table and told me they were gonna call it something different. Thus did my long journey to sell out begin. I'm mostly kidding.

I like Low Town. I think it's a pretty good book, and I'm an absolutely unbiased source. Balanced as a scale.

Do you think we're living in a dystopia and what does that notion represent to you?

You know, you caught me — I really used dystopia inaccurately there, which is actually a strong pet peeve of mine. I feel like my hypocrisy is really coming out during this interview.

The term dystopian gets thrown around a lot as a sort of ubiquitous term for evil — maybe it's the modern update of the term 'fascism'. Strictly speaking, a dystopia is a false utopia, a rigidly ordered police state in which the government uses repressive technology and social custom in order to limit the free will of its inhabitants. Used correctly then, my book is not set in a dystopia, though some of the qualities often associated with dystopia — the sense that life is a useless endeavor controlled by amoral superiors, that the exercise of free will is a self-destructive act — these are qualities that exist in the world of Low Town.

Back here in the real world I'm not living in a dystopia. I'm about to go take a nap on a beach. Dystopian fiction tends to assume a level of competence on the part of the government unmatched in reality. I find that the state, being run by human beings, is generally too incompetent to enforce the classical dystopian security apparatus.

What do you make of the rise of the E book and do you think traditional publishing is coping with it?

Personally, I am a strong believer in the absolute superiority of paper as a medium to convey text. More than a believer, a fanatic — I read a lot and I travel a lot, so it would make sense for me to avail myself of an e-reader but I just can't pull the trigger. It's a much less enjoyable experience for me, personally. I just never, ever, in my entire life, found myself reading a paperback and thinking — 'there has to be a way to do this better.'

I love reading books and I love being surrounded by them. The recent demise of Borders has been for me, like a lot of people I think quite sad. I hope very much that there's still a place for brick and mortar stores holding volumes of ink and paper, and not just because their survival is intimately tied with my own.

As far as the impact of e-books on the publishing business more broadly, it's not an issue on which I have any particular insight.

Do you think Noir without sex is lacking something?

I would say that there is no noir without sex. Good noir is about sin, and thus about sex on some level. Sex is dangerous, sex leads to trouble. This is, after all, the genre that popularized the femme fatale. No one needs to ever have sex of course, but the whiff of it needs to be in the air.

In a certain way you can divide noir into two categories — narratives in which the protagonist succumbs to sexual temptation (which inevitably leads to tragedy) and ones in which the protagonist holds out. I am thinking particularly of the classic detective novels in the latter — Marlowe, the Continental Op and Lew Archer are monk-like in their dedication to abstinence. Though compare that to something like say, The Lady of Shanghai or Out of the Past, which basically teach you that women are frightening creatures, at once smarter and less moral than men, and you start to think maybe their asceticism might be warranted. Interestingly for a genre which is so obsessed with it in the abstract, the act itself rarely gets much play. Noir tends to focus more on its later ramifications, the shadows it leaves on people's lives. It's a conservative genre, fundamentally.

Do you think revenge is a popular theme because it shows ordinary men and women stepping outside the law?

For we modern folk, utterly constrained by the firm hand of law and the only slightly less firm hand of convention, the idea of just getting to fuck shit up according to one's own internal morality is a powerful fantasy. Wrapped up in that of course is the idea that we might be strong enough to overthrow said shackles and not end up in the ER or in prison — you ask about 'ordinary men and women' in your question but of course the protagonists of revenge parables are never average in any sense, they're superhuman. Like most fantasies it's ultimately about power, the idea that you could impose your views with impunity upon folk richly deserving in comeuppance.

Of course revenge is a strong thread within the noir weave, in so far as noir tends to posit that society itself is corrupt or ill-functioning to the point that justice as provided by the appropriate authorities is nothing of the sort. The classic noir protagonist exists outside of the conventional mechanisms of his civilization, and that's part of what we admire about him.

You're given a large budget to direct a crime film. How would you make it different?

If it was a really huge budget (and I'm going to assume it is), I would use it to build a time machine, go back to 1971 and hire Michael Caine to be in my movie. Or Lee Marvin. Or Charles Bronson. People in movies have been getting progressively less interesting looking, which really is a critical component of crime films. Everyone's so damn good looking, it's absurd. If you were good looking you wouldn't have entered the world of crime, you'd have become a model. But I digress.

I would give it to the Coen Brothers and say 'boys, go at it.'

Truthfully, I really don't have much of an answer for this one. I don't know very much about movies in any meaningful sense, not to the point where I could intelligently discuss the subject. I barely know anything about books.

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment I am working on revisions for the sequel to Low Town, as yet unnamed. I'm also trying to do some plotting of the third book in the series. Can't really divulge anything on either of them, except that they're much better than the first book. I mean, the first book's great, don't get me wrong. But onwards and upwards, as they say.

Thank you Daniel for an insightful and entertaining interview.

Visit Daniel Polansky's website here and find him also on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and Google+

Get hardcover, paperback, or Kindle editions of 'Low Town' (US & Canada – Doubleday) at Amazon.com and 'The Straight Razor Cure' (UK & Commonwealth – Hodder & Stoughton) at Amazon.co.uk. Find more online retailers for the US here and the UK here.

'Low Town' is available in German as 'Der Herr der Unterstadt: Roman' and translations are also forthcoming in French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Russian, Czech, Polish, Turkish, Portuguese (Brazil), and Croatian.

Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Col Bury

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Col Bury is a Mancunian writer whose stories are full of a native menace. He is also funny, often starting with a form of black humour that spirals quickly into darkness. He is the editor of the brilliant magazine Thrillers Killers N Chillers. Col has an E Book, Manchester 6, out this week, with Trestle Press, which I urge you to buy. Here is what you can expect:

Manchester 6 focuses on the best and worst of human nature, featuring a plethora of no-nonsense characters you'd ordinarily want to avoid. The six stories highlight generally decent folk who become embroiled with the lower echelons of society, aka scumbags.

He met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about criminal pathology and his forthcoming novel.

How much do the skills necessary to being a good editor help you as an author?

Before the ezine editing started, I already had a critical eye. It kept having a go at the other eye 'n' when they kept staring each other out, it became a problem, so me nose had to get between them. It's snorted now though (sorry).

I'm my own biggest critic, so this has made me sharp-eyed for stuff that doesn't ring quite true in all the fiction I read. The belief, that even little old me could one day become an author, was reinforced when I tossed it onto the coffee table in disappointment an established author's mainstream crime novel across the room about five years ago, because of glaringly obvious oversights that shouldn't have slipped through the editorial process.

Throughout the two 'n' half years I've been editing Thrillers, Killers 'n' Chillers, and reading hundreds of submissions, I can honestly say it has helped me massively. Sometimes, it's the ones that don't work which make me think and grow. Since we (Matt Hilton, Lee Hughes, Lily Childs & I) pride ourselves in offering constructive feedback with any stories we feel don't fit the site, if we're gonna turn a story down then we need a bloody good reason to do so. The four of us are writers, after all, so we know exactly how it feels to hear bad news about our beloved creations.

It's sometimes harder to fathom why certain stories are perfect fits. I wish I had the time to analyse these in more detail, but it's a busy old world being a daddy, editor, wannabe author, avid reader, blogger, full-time worker, football fan, pool shark, movie buff, alcohol consumer, etc (the order depends on mood). So please don't ask me how I balance my time, as I'm fighting for balance every day. The editing definitely helps with the writing though.

What were the glaring oversights in the novel?

Ah, right. I see how this thing works now, you little tinker! You keep it flowing by linking to the last answer, very clever. So, my last word on this one has to address my animal magnetism, right?

The last thing I wanna do is upset a fellow writer (God no), so I'll try 'n' be discreet…I was sucked in by the author of this particular novel due to the suspenseful opening. However, everyone was 'affording each other smiles' – an odd expression, if you ask me. By the third chapter, and fourteenth 'afforded smile', it was starting to get on me tits a bit (for non-Mancunians, this means: detracts from the enjoyment of the story somewhat). Then, the final proverbial straw… when the detective inspector was having dinner at his/her mum's home, the phone rang, and he/she answered it, "Hello, DI 'Bloggs'…"

Now then, it was the mum's landline number and there was no precursor whereby he/she informed his/her colleague (who'd phoned) that he/she would be at her mum's. There was no suggestion that the other person would know his/her whereabouts, and no mention of a caller display, so the DI would recognise the incoming number. Consequently, as harsh as it may or may not sound, that's where I stopped reading. I lost confidence in the author's authority to further hold my waning attention, and was totally turned off. If, by the off chance, the author reads this, I still greatly admire their success (that's me backtracking!), but this taught me a lesson. Attention to detail.

How do you think female criminal pathology differs from male criminal pathology?

My gut reaction is that men tend to be motivated by power and control, invariably in an aggressive manner, whether the latter be physical or mental. For men, this approach also spills over via the libido into sexual crimes. Testosterone has a lot to answer for, and there are examples of this everywhere, so I won't bore you.

Whereas, the cause for women is much trickier to fathom for me. Maybe it's related to revenge or money, or love perhaps?

Hmm… a woman fighting back after years of domestic abuse from her male partner, or sexual abuser. (We're back to testosterone again, but many men can't control it.) A 'bunny boiler' unable to let go of her millionaire playboy, until he gets a restraining order?

If we take the extreme of serial killers as examples, Ted Bundy perfectly illustrates all my male points, being a sadistic psychopath. While Aileen Wuornos, who killed seven men while working as a prostitute, was motivated by revenge, having claimed they raped her.

Obviously, both sexes are capable of revenge and are often motivated by the dirty cash made by criminality, so the above overlaps in some cases. On a lower scale, many young men are influenced by drink, drugs and peer pressure, and can become very destructive toward both people and property. Bravado often kicks in too, and things can get out of control, especially when the male ego is thrown into the equation. I don't think anywhere near as many females get a kick out of destroying things, or fighting. However, I know some women still do behave like this, so again it gets kinda blurry.

Just realised I missed out envy and jealousy, but I don't wanna ramble.

Do you think that crime results from an individual's distorted perceptions about what life owes him or her?

Boy, have you hit a nerve here, mate! Very topical, especially with riots in England ongoing as I write. Regarding many of crimes committed, I'd have to say, "Yes". Allow me to use the current state in the UK to illustrate. I'll try 'n' hold back, but I'm still somewhat raw from it all…

The taxpayers pay benefits for supposed 'Jobseekers' to live. Agreed, some genuine people are in between jobs and this keeps them going as they endeavour to put their lives back on track after redundancy, etc. However, I've witnessed it first hand, when fuckwits, spongers, freeloaders, low-lifes, scum – call them what you want – kick off in the Job Centre because their dole hasn't been paid. There is a sub-human section of society who have no intention of working, and some have never, will never, get off their lazy arses and contri-fookin-bute to society, like the law-abiding majority.

Did you know that some heroin addicts and alcoholics claim disability? The decent folk pay for their methadone, and supposed rehabilitation, only for the vast majority to relapse, and cost us even more. When you're driving home from another tough day at the office, passing these characters outside pubs, drinking cans of lager 'n' cider on walls, or whatever… take solace (yeah, right) in the fact that your hard-earned cash is paying for them to live their shitty little lives, and know with certainty that they don't give a toss about you. They live in a self-centred bubble and have convinced themselves (because the powers that be pander to their every need) that society does owe them. Well, no we bloody well don't! Something has to change very soon. Stick 'em on an island 'n' called it "Shitsville" or summat, or else we'll be overrun by the vermin. Grrr… I could go on, and on, but I'd best not.

Human rights… yer havin' a laugh!

Do you think the late 1960s and early 1970s were Manchester City's glory days and what would a player like Colin Bell make of the club's present wealth?

Ah, at last… a question that hasn't made me head pop! Don't get me started on footy, mate, as you'll lose readers who think it's called soccer! (They've probably already left, anyhow, after that last rant.) I'll link this question from football to writing. Promise.

Unfortunately, I only saw 'Colin the King', aka 'Nijinsky', after that red… Man. United (metaphorically spits)… player, 'Fartin Fuchan' (aka Martin Buchan), broke our best player's leg. I was told by the older blues that he wasn't the same after, but he was still good. If I dared to guess what a footballing legend may think, I'd say he'd be pretty chuffed at seeing City buying players who will have us competing with the elite. However, it's probable that all the old pro's secretly regard the crazy wages being paid now with envious eyes. I mean, a quarter of a million quid per week, during a global economic meltdown! WTF?

Those old successes, when I was a toddler, were certainly glory years, but hopefully the best is yet to come. Having said that, something feels rather phony about receiving a deluge of Arab oil money. City fans have kinda become accustomed to watching a struggling team. Is our soul being ripped out, with the academy players being replaced by mercenaries? We used to be a lot of fans' 'second club', but now I sense envy. Although it's exciting, I feel a tad uneasy after years of doubt and struggle. Is this how a wannabe author feels when he finally wins that elusive book deal, I wonder? Squirming uneasily amid the fear of success…? And, could this fuel the writer's procrastination…?

Football is in the lifeblood of England. Do you think it stems from our feudal history?

It's possible the territorial allegiances developed in the psyches of the English during this period, did contribute to our current passion for the game. However, I'd hazard a guess that it was more down to the invention of the football (sorry, I'm no historian, mate). Much to the annoyance of Edward II (oh, he was really pissed off, I'll tell yer) the streets were abuzz with people playing 'Mob Football' with a pig's bladder, and this could have sparked the competitive edge we now see. Alas, especially among the English football fans, some of whom still use 'Medieval techniques' whenever they meet!

Tell us about your novel.

I really can't say too much, as I'm still at work on it, but I can give you the gist…

For rookie cop, Jack Striker, life is a constant battle to keep his dubious past a secret from snooping colleagues. He had moved away from the notorious Bullsmead estate in Manchester, after a family feud erupted due to his teenage escapades. Striker's motivation to join the force stemmed from, his desire to make amends, show his true worth to his dad, and also to help secure his future with pregnant fiancee, Suzi. However, his older siblings blame him for their dad's untimely death. Not only that, he is posted as a cop back on his old stomping ground, Bullsmead. It's only a matter of time before the anti-police locals, and his colleagues, find out the truth, putting not only Striker at risk, but also his mother who lives alone on the estate. If things weren't bad enough, Suzi dumps him, and he's teamed up with the partner no cop wants. They attend an armed robbery, and that's when the proverbial shit really hits the fan, and this crime novel takes a massive twist…

I'm bursting to tell you more, as I'm really excited about this one, especially after last year's experience.

Who are your literary influences?

Although I was gud at England at school, innit, I don't ever recall actually finishing a novel back then. I used to get easily distracted (still do), so books couldn't hold me. However, I've always had a deep love of words and huge respect for books.

In my teen and early twenties, I'd have to say British horror writer James Herbert was a big influence. The Rats trilogy were the first novels I devoured, and I went on to buy all his work. Herbert's characterisation and humour-horror mix were perfect for my tastes. Twenty-odd years ago, David Barber and I used to often chat about books and writing. I recall reading Stephen King's IT and Dean Koontz's HIDEAWAY, and although I really liked them, I always reverted back to Herbert.

The first crime novel I ever read, that kindled my interest in the genre I now love, was William Bayer's "psycho-logical", hardboiled American thriller, SWITCH. This one book influenced me more than any other. It truly is a crackin' piece of work. I did an article about it a couple of years ago over at The Rap Sheet, for their "Forgotten Books" series. A very close second would be THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS by Thomas Harris, which resulted in my fascination of serial killers.

More recently, Brit crime novelists, Simon Kernick, Mark Billingham and Chris Simms stand out for me. Adrian Magson, Sheila Quigley and Nick Quantrill are also authors I admire. It would be remiss of me not to mention someone who has been an inspiration, and now a damn good friend. Author of the Joe Hunter thriller series, Matt Hilton, has been a tremendous help, and if I'd not met him, I would probably still be trying to convince me mum I could write.

You're given a large sum of money to direct a new Brit crime film. What plot line would you choose and who would you cast?

"The Hoodie Hunter" is a character close to my heart. The name is self-explanatory, though it's not to be confused with an aggressive shoplifter. It's simply a highly skilled vigilante who's pissed off with society, the lame government and the lenience of the British justice system (aren't we all?).

When his family are directly affected by these hooded fuckwits, this is the trigger (literally) that sparks a systematic slaying which cleanses the streets of Manchester. Obviously, there are a few twists 'n' turns, with no nonsense, Detective Inspector Jack Striker on his tail throughout.

Before anyone thinks of nicking this ground-breaking idea (coughs), this character featured in my first ever published story via Tonto Books, MOPPING UP (as in the streets). I'm chuffed to say this short was also selected for the next Mammoth Book of Best British Crime. The Hoodie Hunter also features in two of my very early stories over at TKnC. Namely, BLIND ALLEY and RESPECT, where he gives DI Jack Striker the runaround, and the hoodies plaguing our streets receive some particularly tough justice!

This was the theme of crime novel I wrote last year, under the guidance of New York agent, Nat Sobel, and not something I've really spoken about as yet. We got real close, but, alas…

If we'd have sold STRIKER (original title "The Hoodie Hunter"), then the sequel would have seen vigilante groups breaking out all over Britain. As for the cast: Clive Owen and his team could sort Manchester and the north, Idris Elba could do the biz in London and the south, while Robert Carlyle seems ideal for Scotland.

Dream on, Col…

You mentioned your agent, Nat Sobel. Could you share with us the process in which you acquired Nat's representation, and then worked on the novel together, despite Nat being in the US?

I'm not really one to brag. Quite the opposite really – self deprecating, my own biggest critic. Humility wins every time for me, so if any of you ever feel I'm 'blowing my own trumpet' (am not double-jointed anyhow), feel free to suitably chastise me! This humble approach is the main reason for my reticence on this matter. Well that, and the fact that my first novel didn't sell, despite the weight of a powerhouse agent! Does that make me a failure? Well, us writers are made a sterner stuff, aren't we? Anyway, since Nat's okayed it, I'll open up…

It's probably common knowledge that Nat Sobel finds new talent by scouring the ezines (he now subscribes to both my blogs and TKnC). In September 2009, A Twist Of Noir editor, Chris Grant kindly pointed Nat in the direction of TKnC, and, via Matt Hilton, this led to emails to several writers. Being a complete tit, I deleted mine! Anyway, I managed to redeem myself, and Nat read my opening fifty pages via email, suggesting changes. He'd already warned me he'd be "tougher [on me] than any editor", so the next six months were extremely gruelling. Especially as I have a demanding job and two children, so time and energy are somewhat scarce. After numerous rewrites of the first 100 pages or so, in early 2010 he suggested I start from scratch! I could've easily quit then, such was my frustration. However, the learning curve was massive, and working with Nat absolutely priceless.

I finally completed the first full draft in May 2010. FOUR rewrites later, in August 2010, Nat finally told me he was "planning to go forward with the novel". (Had I just passed the so-called "agent's test"?). Nat's UK co-agent, Caspian Dennis, read STRIKER, saying it was "Gripping", so the signs were looking good. At last, all the 'big boys' would be reading my very own novel! However, for the next few months I waited… and waited, for news. It was possibly the most stressful period of my life.

Then the rejection emails began… but it was a peculiar experience, as many of the compliments amazed us…

"Col Bury is clearly a talented writer, with a flair for sharp prose and action-packed scenes… BUT…"

"Col puts thought and careful attention to detail into his fiction. STRIKER has an evocative way with accents and a nuanced sense of place… BUT…"

"Bury writes crime like a natural, and his dialogue captures in pitch-perfect tone the local color of Manchester, as does his vibrant prose. Striker himself makes for a compelling, flawed protagonist who harbors a deeply-buried, dark secret of past violence, and the tension of the prologue is exceptionally well-managed. Hats off to Bury—he is clearly an author who is going places… BUT…"

"The author has a remarkable sense of place, and he brings these streets to vibrant life, mining his setting for menace and grit… BUT…"

"Nat-I read every word and loved it. He is a great writer, and reminded me of Mark Billingham… BUT…"

"Perhaps another house can make a success of this wonderful writer…"

There were more, "BUT"… I'll leave it to Nat to summarise…

"Col, We've collected a bunch of brilliant reviews on both sides of the Atlantic . You could paper the walls with all the praise – but no one has offered to buy the book. I'm not discouraged. I hope you are not. Put aside the sequel, and let's try something new. We will break through, if you don't give up. I won't."

What a first class agent Nat Sobel truly is. As for me, well, I've learned a lot from the process to date, and staggered back up from the punches of rejection. And, since I know Jack Striker so well now, we've returned from the 'drawing board' and made him more unique, so he stands out from the crowd. So… ding, ding… get ready for round two!

Thanks for having me, Richard, and a hat tip to all my writing buddies for their ongoing support.

Thank you Col for giving a frank and brilliant interview.

Col was voted the Best Fiction Magazine Editor online, in the Preditors & Editors Readers' Poll. His short stories can be found in anthologies, including, Even More Tonto Short Stories and The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 9, and are forthcoming in many more. His fiction is scattered around the blogosphere, at the likes of A Twist Of Noir and The Flash Fiction Offensive.

Read more about the 'Manchester' series deal with Trestle Press at  Gelati's Scoop.

Visit Col's blog, Col Bury's New Crime Fiction, for word on the release of Manchester 6 and for his reviews and interviews of crime authors.

Find Col's gritty Manchester crime fiction, crime shorts from other writers, and genre news on his website here.

And for the acclaimed Thrillers, Killers 'n' Chillers webzine, click here.

Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Reed Farrel Coleman

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Reed Farrel Coleman is a hard boiled poet and Noir writer who was the executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America. He has published twelve novels, two under the pen name Tony Spinosa, in three series, and one stand alone with Ken Bruen.

He is also the three time winner of the Shamus Award for Best Detective Novel of the Year.

He met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about crime fiction and totalitarianism.

Do you think Noir without sex is lacking something?

I'm generally not a rules dedicated kind of guy. I guess my one writing rule is anything goes if you can make it work. So I never approach any reading of genre or sub-genre with preconceived notions of what that book or story must contain. Well, a PI novel must have a PI, but beyond that it's the quality and entertainment value of the writing that matters. I like sex in Noir as much as the next reader, but don't feel it necessary. In any case, I find the implications of sex or sex as a rewards for misdeeds more provocative than the act or acts themselves. My flip answer would be that I find sex lacking without Noir.

You are given a large sum of money to carry out a hit. How would you go about it to avoid detection?

There are a few ways one might go about it:

1. Take the money and run, forgetting about the hit.

2. Pay someone else to do it for you and then kill the person you hired.

3. Find someone dying who needs the money for his or her family and let them do it.

4. Make it look like an accident.

5. Of course the most detestable is to kill many people with something like a bomb so that it is unclear who the actual victim is.

Do you think killing and fucking are related?

My wife and the women I was with before her sure hope not! Do I think they're related in the mind of the Noir fan? Some yes. Some no. I would be lying, however, if I denied that culturally there is a blending or rather an association between sex and violence. And it's so odd that in our culture full nudity in movies is frowned on in a purely sexual context, but if a totally nude woman is brutally murdered, that's somehow okay. That's the perversity.

Tell about Gun Church.

Well, depending upon my frame of mind, I either see GUN CHURCH as a labor of love or an albatross. Here's the story: At the very first Thriller Fest, I was listening to a weapons demonstration given by my friend, Jim Born. Someone in the audience asked a question about the spread of shotgun pellets and Jim said something like, "You'd have to really be a gun nut to answer that question." When Jim said that, a complete plot popped into my head. It was about a once-famous writer who had fallen on very hard times and was now teaching creative writing at a rural community college. This guy saves his class from disaster and then falls in with a cult-like group of people who basically worship handguns. I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say it's sort of WONDER BOYS meets FIGHT CLUB with guns. It took about 5 years to write and it went through wholesale changes. 5 years! I usually write a 300 page book in about 5 months. Finally, Audible.com expressed real interest in the book and they worked with me to get it just right. It will be out this November as an exclusive audio book. I can't wait to hear it.

Do you think the rise of the theocratic right is a bigger threat in America than the criminal underclass?

Frankly, I think there are any number of threats to America and most of them are self-inflicted. I think our founding fathers would be horrified by the right and left. I know I am. No matter where one falls on the political spectrum, it would be hard, if not impossible, not to be disgusted with the level of our political discourse. The criminal underclass has nothing on the government.

Do you think that totalitarianism is the death of existentialism?

How did you know philosophy was one of my majors in college? I have to say many of the questions you've asked me are deep and require actual thought. I've gotten so used to giving pat answers to pat questions that I'm a bit rusty. Briefly, no, I don't think totalitarianism is the death of existentialism. I'm not particularly fond of existentialism, but one of its beauties is that it can exist (sorry) in a vacuum, independent of a particular culture or societal norms, whatever they may be. As long as one person holds onto an existential view of his or her life, existentialism can't be wiped away. Even if someone devised a way to eliminate existential thought from current discourse or found a way to go back and erase it from textbooks, computers and scholarly works, it would inevitably be rediscovered.

Who are your literary influences?

Actually, I love answering this question. My early influences were poets and sci fi writers—interesting combo, huh? I loved Asimov, Rod Serling, Harlan Ellison, Orwell, Poe, Wallace Stevens, TS Eliot, Vonnegut, chandler, Hammett … the list is long and varied. I continue to be influenced by almost everything I read. In some sense, current writers influence me more directly than my early favorites. For instance, Lawrence Block, Philip Kerr, Peter Spiegelman, SJ Rozan. Even writers whose work is very different than mine influence me; people like Daniel Woodrell and Megan Abbott.

Is there any one incident that has changed your life?

There are hundreds, but the one that had the most profound impact on me was watching a man die from a gunshot wound. I was fifteen and walking to work when I heard a gunshot. Like a total idiot I ran toward it. There, lying in the street in front of the post office in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn was a man with a dime-sized red spot on the belly of his shirt. He wasn't bleeding very much—what did I know about internal bleeding when I was fifteen? His breathing was all ragged. He didn't moan or anything and I remember people were kind of frozen around him, not moving, just watching. Me too. When the ambulance came, the EMTs—that didn't have a name for them then, but that's what they were—worked on him. Then he stopped breathing. I thought, how could someone die from such a little, barely bleeding wound? Then this thing happened that I will never forget. One of the EMTs removed the man's sock and ran a tongue depressor along the bottom of the dead man's foot. It just seemed so fucking weird to me. Only years later did I find out they were looking for something called a Babinski reflex. It seems only the newly born and the dead don't have one. I've written an essay about the incident that appears in BROOKLYN NOIR 3 and a poem about it for THE LINEUP.

If you could ask one question to any writer living or dead what would it be?

I would ask Shakespeare who he really was.

Is writing worth the sacrifice?

A: Most casual readers, I think, tend to have romantic visions of the life of writers and artists. My life is anything but romantic. Writing is a job and it's a struggle like any other job except that it doesn't always come with a steady paycheck or paid vacation time or benefits. Is it worth the struggle? That's easy to answer for myself. Yes, I would do this insanity all over again given the same choices. I wonder sometimes, though, if my family feels the same way. My wife and kids—they're not really kids anymore—have had to make sacrifices too because of my choice of career. We haven't traveled as much as we would have liked to. My kids didn't go to the colleges they might have gone to had I been a clerk or worked in middle management. My wife has had to work summers to keep us afloat. So when I write on my acknowledgment pages that none of this would have any meaning without the love and support of my family or when I get up and accept awards and thank my family, I couldn't express just how much I owe to them.

Thank you Reed for a thoughtful and insightful interview.

[image error]Reed Farrel Coleman links:

Author website

Facebook

Twitter

In addition to the audio book 'Gun Church' coming out this November, look also for 'Hurt Machine', reportedly the last Moe Prager book, coming from Tyrus Books, December 2011