A Quick One on The Side - Bruce DeSilva

Yes we're back. It's the return of 'A Quick One on The Side' and my guest author today is Bruce DeSilva. His only request was that I allow him to smoke. Just this once, Bruce...

Bruce DeSilva is the author of "Rogue Island", winner of the Edgar and Macavity awards for the best first novel of 2010. "Cliff Walk", his second crime novel featuring Providence, R.I., investigative reporter Liam Mulligan, is due to be published on May 22nd, and he has just finished writing the third. Bruce was a journalist for 40 years before retiring to write crime fiction. (It works for me) He worked as an investigative reporter, editor, and writing coach at The Providence Journal and The Hartford Courant newspapers; and, most recently, he was writing coach worldwide for The Associated Press. Stories he assigned and edited have won virtually every major journalistic prize including The Polk Award (twice), the ASNE (American Society of Newspaper Editors), and the Batten Medal. He also edited two Pulitzer finalists and had helped edit a Pulitzer winner. He has worked as a consultant on writing and editing for more than 50 newspapers and is currently a masters' thesis adviser at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His crime fiction reviews have appeared in The New York Times book review section, and he continues to review crime novels frequently for The Associated Press.
Bruce was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, and now lives in New Jersey with his wife, the poet Patricia Smith, and two enormous canines, a Bernese Mountain Dog called Brady and a mutt named Rondo.

So, here we go. Ten quickies for Bruce.....

Who is your favourite author?
"Like most word-lovers, I could list 1,000 names and still feel terrible about the ones I had left off. My first love is the hard-boiled crime genre, so I have to begin with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, who first lifted those dark stories out of the pulp magazines and turned them into literature. I have a deep admiration for contemporary literary crime novelists including Daniel Woodrell, Thomas H. Cook, Walter Mosley, Kate Atkinson, Dennis Lehane, James Ellroy, and several others. I love the quirky characters and lyrical style of Howard Frank Mosher, the closest thing we have now to the great Mark Twain. And my wife, Patricia Smith, one of our most honored living poets, is the most gifted writer I know. But, all that said, the opening paragraph of John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" is my favourite passage in the English language."

What would be your favourite book read?
"Naming one book is harder than naming one author.Today I'll say "Winter's Bone" by Daniel Woodrell. In this brutal tale, told in breathtaking prose that verges on poetry, the author transforms a simple country girl into the most memorable female hero in modern American literature. But wait! What about "Waiting for Teddy Williams" by Howard Frank Mosher, a whimsical, wise, funny book that deserves to be read and re-read for generations? And then there's...Damn, this is difficult."

Who is your favourite band/group/musician?
"I dig rock 'n' roll, but not as much as I love the blues. So I'll have to go with the legendary Buddy Guy, our greatest living blues guitarist."

What is your most listened to album?
"Oddly, it's not a blues album. It's Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks"."

What has been the best gig/concert you have attended?
"Way back in 1981, when I was a journalism fellow at The University of Michigan, I sat in a little club in Ann Arbor as Chuck Berry played classic rock 'n' roll for two hours. Musically, it wasn't the best concert I ever attended; but the intimacy of the place (I was so close to the godfather of rock 'n' roll that his sweat splashed on me) and the company by my side made it a magical evening."

What is your favourite food?
"Do cigars count? If not, then I'll say Thai food. No, pizza. No, Thai food. Why don't they make a Thai pizza?"

What would be your favourite holiday destination?
"Paris on a rainy evening or Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox, on a sunny afternoon. If the Red Sox played in Paris instead of Boston, I'd move there in a heartbeat."

What would be the most autographs you've ever signed in one session?
"About 200 if you don't count all the checks I sign to the gas company, the electric company, and the credit card companies every month."

Have you ever been mistaken for someone else?
"About ten years ago, when I was 20 pounds lighter, I was sitting on a stool in a hotel bar in Los Angeles with a baseball cap pulled low over my eyes. At the other end of the bar sat two attractive young women. They were tittering and staring at me. After a few minutes, the women waved the bartender over and whispered instructions. Then the bartender wandered down the bar to me. "The two ladies want to know if you are Steven Spielberg", he said, "and if you are, they want to buy you drink." I don't know what got into me, but what I said was this: "I don't want to be rude, but it's been a long day, and I'd like to be left alone with my thoughts. Please thank the ladies for me, and tell them I appreciate the offer." The bartender said, "I'll do that, Mr. Spielberg." A few minutes later he brought me a refill on the women's tab. Somewhere in Los Angeles, there are two women who still talk about the day they bought a beer for the director of "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan." (...and one bemused bartender?)"

Bruce or Steven?

Steven or Bruce?

How often do you get recognised?
"When I come downstairs for breakfast in the morning, my wife and dogs usually recognise me.Otherwise it rarely happens, and I'm grateful for that. Fame is a curse."

My thanks go to Bruce for being my guest author today. His new book "Cliff Walk" is published on May 22nd.

As ever, many thanks for reading.....