Interview with Debut Author Jim Wilsky

For the past couple of years, I've been posting interviews with authors I admire on a semi-regular basis. I've been privileged to bother ask questions of Lawrence Block, Robert Gregory Browne, CJ Lyons, and many others, some of whom you are probably familiar with, others you may not be.

Today I'm really excited to feature a new kid, a debut author who is older than me, and that's not an easy feat to accomplish. Jim Wilsky has written some kick-ass short fiction in the past, but never got around to writing a novel. Until now.

He has teamed up with veteran Frank Zafiro to produce BLOOD ON BLOOD, a blistering, profane noir/crime fiction effort that any fan of the genre absolutely must check out. I was lucky enough to read an ARC of BLOOD ON BLOOD, and I tore through it in about three days, diving into it whenever I possibly could.

BLOOD ON BLOOD reminds me of the best of Tom Piccirilli and Les Edgerton, and if you know how much I admire those two guys, you know what a compliment that is.

Jim Wilsky is my guest today, and he agreed to answer any question I threw at him. Here's the result:


You’re a pretty prolific short story writer, having placed tales in any number of outstanding publications, including this nasty little gem in one of my favorites, Shotgun Honey. What makes an accomplished short story writer decide to move on to novels?


Well thank you Allan and thanks even more for letting me do this interview. To borrow from your blog name this is a thrill a minute for me.

I have to say though that as far as me being prolific – well, I can’t even see the front of the prolific line from where I’m standing. Much appreciated, but I sure don’t think I’m in that category, not by a long shot. The outstanding publications mention is absolutely spot on though. There are some great homes for short stories and what talent there is these days. The editors of these publications make that all possible. Those same editors are extremely talented writers as well. I have been lucky enough to get to know them and learn from them. I’ve just been very fortunate and early on I submitted and inquired so many times that I think they finally just said Okay, OKAY, we’ll accept the damn story.

I’ve been writing quite a while but it’s been on again and off again for many years. Now it’s on again at a pretty heavy pace. For me anyway. Throughout this entire time though, the thought and dream of writing a book has always been there for me. When I say the dream, I don’t take that word lightly. It seemed only a dream forever, as time and life as a non-published author just continued to click along. I really don’t think there was any definite point in time where I firmly decided okay this is it, but I had a lot of constant support and encouragement along the way to give it a try one day. Then along came a book idea and an offered writing project made by a very good friend/associate of mine Frank Zafiro. Some more persuasion/encouragement and then bang the starting gun went off and away we went.


Your debut, BLOOD ON BLOOD, just released from Snubnose Press, was co-written with veteran Frank Zafiro. That’s a pretty unconventional way to write your first novel. What was that process like?

To be honest with you there is only one person I would have ever tried this with. It had to be Frank or this thing wouldn’t have even been considered – or hell, offered to me, for that matter. I am not what you would call the most cocky writer around. I’m just very hard on my writing and that’s as it should be, but there’s a little fear mixed in too. Fear of acceptance I suppose, or dread that everybody will read something of mine and unanimously think what the hell was that supposed to be? It’s very odd with me and writing, it’s not like I’m Mr. Trepidation about other things in life. I’ve always been outgoing, foolishly confident and simply an idiot when it comes to accepting challenges.

For me, writing isn’t like sports or business or even raising kids. When somebody reads something of mine, it’s like I look down and notice that I’m not wearing any clothes. There is a baring it all feeling for me there that is tough for a normally confident person. It’s been said many times but writing is just so personal. People are looking through my windows dammit and there are no drapes to pull. Anyway, I’m my own worst critic, half paranoid and cynical about my ability to write something of value that a few people might enjoy. Good example? This interview. Am I nervous about it and how it will read?…Oh, hell yes.

So after that little schizophrenic confession, I’d say that with anyone else but Frank Zafiro, no matter how talented, accommodating and helpful they were, I would have been very skeptical and worried that my work would not measure up in terms of quality and/or I wouldn’t be able to keep up. There would be something that I’d just be sure to screw up.

With him though, it’s different. He’s always been positive and always supportive of my writing but he also is able to tell me in a casual convincing way, ‘oh bullshit, you’re a writer, so write’. I trust his misplaced judgement, value his help and appreciate the hell out of the friendship we’ve forged. Frank and I were somehow introduced or met on line years ago. How many years ago, or when and how it happened, I have no idea. Main thing is, it did happen and without that chance meeting, my first book would probably still be waiting to happen.

We went into it prepared with a damn good shell of a story, pretty well defined characters and a solid but flexible story outline that we constantly adjusted. We kept a lot of open room in the outline. We knew that we would have to expand and collapse the story at times depending on the story pace, our two different characters and our writing styles. We also went with 1st person and we each took one of the two main characters. This was also fairly daunting for me. We alternated the chapters though which always kept it fresh for me as a new chapter of mine would be finished and sent, then I would receive the next chapter from Frank. Once we got that rhythm going, it flowed. It just hummed along. It flowed so well that I was positive I was writing garbage. It shouldn’t come that easy, it shouldn’t be enjoyable…I mean, should it? Frank told me to just shut-up and keep writing. We had momentum and fed off each other.


Were there times during the writing of the book where you wanted to go in one direction and your co-author wanted to go in another? How were these types of issues resolved? Any bloodshed?

Well, I have finally reached the conclusion that Frank is an absolute ass. I mean that, I’m sorry, but there it is.

Seriously though, there were only two fork in the road type occasions. Pivotal points in the story, where we had to lay things out on the table and decide on where we were going, or how we were going to get there. I believe we only had two phone calls the entire time we wrote this novel. Long calls, but only two, the rest all email. I look back on that and think damn – that’s pretty amazing - I think. But him and I read each other well. Really well. We’re also a lot alike personally I believe. Like hearing someone’s tone of voice and inflection, we seem to be able to read each other’s tone. As we were writing, Frank had confidence in our plan and that our combined work would be good. Maybe better than good. I appreciated the hell out of that confidence he had in me. It was classic coach psychology. You don’t want to let them down. We just flat clicked as writers.

The last third of the book, as in almost every book or novel, was crucial. Things were really cooking, coming to a boil and we were looking for that perfect set up/ending. I don’t know that there’s such a thing as perfect but you gotta try right? We had other considerations too, like a sequel or possibly a series. At the end of the day, hey, he’s a pro and I’m like some goofy walk-on in college trying to make the team. Let’s just say I listened. A lot. No bloodshed whatsoever, although I’m sure he thought about where he could hide the body.


Talk a little bit about BLOOD ON BLOOD. It’s billed as a hard-boiled chase novel about half-brothers racing to recover missing diamonds – accurate?

Yes, I think so. That’s a pretty good synopsis. I’m terrible at that. Paul Brazill asked me to write a 25 words or less billing and what I wrote sounded cheesy, like I was trying to be too damn cute or something. For me it’s very hard to wrap it up, but hell you have to. Otherwise, the billing you write up is too long, too descriptive, too something. Attention spans ain’t what they used to be, including my own. You better hit somebody right in the nose with something. A hard, quick jab.

Since I’m a wordy bastard though, I’ll add that I liked that we chose Chicago as the setting for this story. Neither one of us are natives but I’m very familiar with that town and it doesn’t get enough stories. We felt that it was an excellent fit for what we had going on. So many possibilities there. We had a great brother thing going on but we also had some strong ethnic play mixed in. We all know about the distinct neighborhoods and burroughs of NYC but if you’ve ever been to Chicago and I mean really been there, you know that Chicago is second to nobody in the wonderful rich ethnic stew that makes up every major city. And last, the brother that I had was a great character and I had a ball with it. Known some guys like that, not to that extreme but I wasn’t writing blind that’s for sure.


I see you’re hard at work now on the followup to BLOOD ON BLOOD, again to be written with Frank Zafiro. Is this a partnership you see continuing? Any plans to work on a solo novel?

It will continue for as long as he wants to partner up on a project. He writes a lot of books and he’s very good at that, so believe me, it’s his call all the way. Hey, I’m in if he calls. Because of him, Blood on Blood was an absolute blast to write and I’m hoping we’ll get some positive reaction and a good acceptance. We do have some plans for future work together and unless he wakes up to the obvious mistake he’s made with me, or the old warrant out there on me gets noticed, it’ll happen.

Blood on Blood has also allowed me to think very seriously about a solo novel. Not only think about it, but I’m definitely going to make that jump. I’d say about a year from now if I was guessing…and I am. For me, this will be a damn leap. Actually, the equivalent length of an Olympic triple jump event.


What’s easier to write, a novel or a short story? Which is more rewarding?

I’ll answer the last question first. Here’s the way I look at that. I think a story is a story and I love them both. I see them as two different kids. One is older, taller and has more miles, more backstory to tell, more experiences to call on and talk about. Periods of action and then not so much, times that were fast and slow and in between.

The other is younger, shorter but has a certain energetic burst, a quickness. There is an urgency and a little less to tell maybe but it’s in your face. Excited and exciting with a faster pace but still a full story.

As far as easier to write? Wow. I think a better way to put it might be which is harder to write. In some ways, I think the short story is more difficult. You need to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. You still have to have a full story though, so every word is crucial and the dialogue doesn’t have the luxury to be drawn out but it has to be meaningful. With a novel you don’t have those issues but you have pace and rhythm and continuance worries, action or lack of, the middle book blues and the dreaded premature ending.

So my answer is neither and both. I’ll take the vague/easy/cheap way out anytime. But it also depends on who you are and what you cut your teeth on. I know of people, and have read about authors, who have basically never written anything but novels or like me have the opposite experience with shorts. There is a certain level of comfort that comes with familiarity.


You’re one of the few first-time novelists older than I was when my first book came out, so I’m allowed to ask this: What took you so long?

Yes, you are allowed but no one under 40 can ask that. Great question too. I think as I mentioned earlier I’ve always had a little devil on my shoulder saying ‘no way’ on novel, but I also have been writing for a very long time so in a way that kept me from rusting out. My first story was probably at about age 8 or 9 but you have to remember, which I know you do, this thing I’m typing on didn’t exist. A typewriter or just a pad of paper and a number 2 pencil. The medium of the internet that we all take for granted didn’t exist. Neither did the opportunities. There were library cards for crying out loud and rolodex files to check books out and shut the hell up signs (I still miss all of that and it’s not all nostalgia based). I think there was true value in going to a Library. As a young kid like so many others, I was writing to myself many times.

Then life started changing a little. My kids got older and time became a little more free. I still have a career and still need to provide for my family, college, etc. of course. That has always been the number 1 priority for me. You live through your kids. I believe that strongly. Nothing different or special there, millions of other people have the same view or outlook. But people are different too, they look at themselves and the world differently. Others maybe don’t have a family or kids yet, or they never will through choice or chance. All of it figures into writing. If you write early, you take it seriously, then you do what you can when you can afford to. So the short answer I suppose is life. Life is what took me so long. And that, that’s a good thing I think. Again, a wonderful question Allan.


Is there any one author or group of authors you look to for inspiration?

Another good question. I love Western writers. They have a certain passion that I admire and a real dedication to a genre that isn’t always tops on reading list of the masses. I’ve always felt a good solid western is one of the toughest stories there is to write. Writing authentic and realistic are damn hard things to do with a western story.

Demographically, I value guys like you and others in our age group. When you’re in that age bracket and you can relate to others it can be a true inspiration to keep writing. Use our life experiences and celebrate those lifespans instead of shunning them. At the same time, the current crop of young writers is so talented and so damn deep in numbers that I think it pushes me. I mean that in a good way. Makes me compete. Work harder. Gives me a better sense of urgency and makes me realize the time I lost when I was younger. I don’t think I could have matched them back then anyway though. It seems that the younger writers are just more mature and accomplished now. Could be a generational thing - or it might just be that I’m a dinosaur.


What are you reading right now? What’s next on your “To Be Read” list?

Well I was lucky enough to get an early read of City of Heretics by Heath Lowrance, published by Snubnose Press. Wow, it just blew me away. Never stopped until I finished the damn thing. Also, just finished The Innocent by David Baldacci. I like Baldacci, like his style and have right from the beginning. Then Pulp Ink 2 is out, a short story collection with an unbelievable author list. Chris Rhatigan and Nigel Bird did a fantastic job of putting that together. This should be strong, very strong. Then there is some book called Revenant that sounds mildly interesting.


Hypothetical situation #1: You’re shipwrecked on a desert island, but before fleeing your sinking ship, are able to grab any one book of your choosing. What book do you take, and why?

This is going to sound very odd but then again it makes sense. Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The island tie in one thing but for some reason this book hit me at just the right time and age. I was young but it had real meaning. I just barely ‘got it’ at the time because of my age, but I got it.

That story has never left me. Written in 1954, the message is ageless, the depiction of our human nature is a bulls-eye and it could easily be set in 2054 or 2154, if we last that long. Somethings will never change.


Hypothetical situation #2: You are given a choice by the Gods of Publishing. Your books can either bring you tremendous monetary wealth or they can be universally acclaimed as outstanding by the critics. Which do you choose, and why?

That’s an evil question Allan. You really ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Hey, okay, here’s what I think. It depends on the author. Authors are people and people are different. You won’t ever find me dissing a popular bestselling author. A bestselling author who by the way writes books that people f’n buy and buy a lot. They write in a way that rings bells for readers. Whether or not that happens because of reputation, or because everybody else is buying it, or because everybody is reading it in the airport, or Oprah likes it…or because his last ten books did the same thing. I hear people say the masses just don’t appreciate good writing and the masses just jump on the bandwagon. I got news for the gifted ones, if you think you have the corner on brilliant, deep writing well that might be true – for some people.

Because you have preferences and appreciate a particular writing style or content doesn’t mean you’re right and others are wrong, but it does mean you have an opinion. All I know is that ‘good’ books are as varied and different as ‘good’ food. Sorry but that’s the truth.

I could find you a minimum of ten paintings, that in my opinion, beat the living hell out of the Mona Lisa. I have a little art, and the appreciation for it, in my background so I’m not Jed Clampett studying art on the wall and cocking my head sideways. It also means that the Mona Lisa is still a helluva piece of work.

If you write what’s true to you, what you’re proud of, then that’s the choice for me. Hey, if I by some serious (almost impossible) stroke of luck, happen to sell some books with a story I love then I’m good. I’m all good in fact, because I don’t find money to be necessarily evil. I sure as hell find some people with money to be evil. I don’t measure illuminated critics opinions anymore higher than I do everyday readers buying books.


Thanks for taking the time to visit A Thrill a Minute. Any last words of wisdom you’d like to share with my thousands hundreds dozens handful of readers?

The pleasure was, and is, all mine. I really mean that and I very much appreciate you extending an opportunity like this. Also Allan, if you have a handful of readers, that’s a pretty big hand. It also means, doing the math comparison, somehow I have a negative 4 readers.

As far as words of wisdom, man have you got the wrong guy…However, I’ve always been a big quote guy. I love reading quotes from people in history. Sometimes they are misquoted or outright taken from someone else and credited to the wrong person. There is one that I’ve always liked, because it’s honest and true, and those two words have to be at least part of the definition of wisdom. I’m relatively sure it comes from Carl Sandburg and he said, “I’m an idealist. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.” It sure as hell fits me and probably some others too. Thanks again Allan.

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BLOOD ON BLOOD was released by Snubnose Press on August 4. It's priced very reasonably at $4.99 and is well worth your money, not to mention your time.

Review - THE BITCH, by Les Edgerton

Jake Bishop is a two-time loser, a B&E specialist who is down to his last shot at life. One more conviction and he'll be sent away for good as part of Michigan's three strikes and you're out habitual offender law, or The Bitch, as it's known to the cons.

But Jake has no intention of ever seeing the inside of a prison cell again. He learned a trade - hairdressing - while on the inside and discovered he's got a talent for it. Using hard work and a little luck, Jake turns his newly discovered talent into steady employment and eventually the opportunity to open his own shop.

Jake is determined to turn his life around, and he's doing it. His wife is pregnant with their first child, his shop will be opening in just a few weeks. Things couldn't be going better.

Until he receives a call from his from his old prison cellmate, Walker Joy, that is. Walker is fresh out of the can, and Jake owes Walker big-time, thanks to an incident that occurred in prison. The ex-con is planning a big score. He needs Jake's help and has come to collect on the debt.

One last job.

And that's how it starts. Things go rapidly downhill from there for Jake Bishop, who is forced to walk a razor-thin line he hoped never to walk again, knowing that getting caught would mean the end of his family, his freedom, his life.

I finished reading THE BITCH last night and haven't stopped thinking about it since. Les Edgerton has written a rare crime novel, making a sympathetic character out of a guy most people would cross the street to avoid if they saw coming the other direction.

THE BITCH isn't for everyone. If you prefer your crime fiction sanitized, suitable for all viewers, you're probably going to want to stay away from this particular novel. It's violent and gritty and profane. It's also incredibly human and even, at times, tender, as we watch in open-mouthed horror a guy forced into a course of action that can only end one way - badly.

I'm a pretty easy grader when I review books. I write novels, and I know how much blood, sweat and tears go into the process, so I don't often have a whole lot to say about any book that's openly negative. But a book like THE BITCH makes me question my reviewing process because it's so head-and-shoulders above most other fiction.

I love noir fiction precisely because it's so real. I consider Tom Piccirilli the master of modern noir, and I'm here to say Les Edgerton has vaulted himself to a position right behind Piccirilli with THE BITCH. I give this book five stars, only because I can't give it six. Or seven.

It's just that good.

My Three Favorite Reads of 2011

I used to read a lot; roughly seventy books a year. I would finish one novel and immediately start on the next. My library card probably spent more time out of my wallet than in.

Then I started writing seriously and found that making time to write cut deeply into my  reading time. Don't get me wrong, I still love to read and always will, but instead of reading seventy books a year, now I'm probably down to around twenty.

That being the case, I almost never try a book any more that I'm not reasonably sure I'm going to enjoy, which in some ways is a shame. It's kind of fun to take a chance on an author or a book title I've never heard of, with a description I'm a little leery about.

But on the other hand, reading only books I believe I'm going to enjoy makes it really difficult to pick my favorites. Plus, as a writer, I know how much blood sweat and tears it takes to write a book, so I'm not about to trash anyone's work.

And I want to be clear about one thing: This is a list of my favorite books of 2011, not necessarily the best books of 2011. I didn't read anything close to the number of books to be able to venture an educated opinion on the best books. But I sure do know what I like, and I really dug the following three titles.

So, without further ado, here we go. My three favorite books of 2011:


#3 - The Bastard Hand - Heath Lowrance, New Pulp Press

This book was my introduction to Heath Lowrance's work, and it held me spellbound from the first page to its final, shocking conclusion. Lowrance uses exquisite powers of description to evoke a rich southern aura, while weaving a tale of sex, violence and corruption.

I reviewed The Bastard Hand back in April, if you're interested in a fuller description of the book, but if you enjoy noir, or even just outstanding fiction, you're doing yourself a disservice if you haven't yet checked out this debut effort.

Heath Lowrance has followed The Bastard Hand up with a short story collection and several standalone shorts, and you can't go wrong with any of them. Rumor has it he's working on a second novel.


#2 - The Paradise Prophecy - Robert Browne, Penguin

Robert Browne is a former screenwriter who penned his first novel just five years ago. I had read most of his previous work and enjoyed it when I picked up The Paradise Prophecy, but had no idea what I was getting into. Robert Browne has stepped up to the next level with this book, writing a thriller that puts him in a class with the best of the best.

The Paradise Prophecy is based on John Milton's Paradise Lost, but if that premise sounds dry and uninteresting, all you have to do is open the book and you'll lose yourself in a globetrotting thriller filled with intrigue, deception and a final, supernatural apocalyptic confrontation.

I was fortunate enough to interview Robert Browne in October, and found him to be not just a talented author, but a gracious and humble individual as well. Considering the ability he demonstrates with his latest book, that's saying something.


#1 - Every Shallow Cut - Tom Piccirilli - ChiZine Publications

I love genre fiction, and one of the elements of genre fiction I love the most is noir. It's gritty and brutal and honest, and for my money, the leading practitioner of modern noir fiction is Tom Piccirilli. Every Shallow Cut might just be the best thing he's ever written.

It's a novella - a noirella, as he likes to call them - and not a full-length novel, but that didn't matter to me and shouldn't matter to you. Every Shallow Cut cuts like a knife and packs a punch that will stay with you long after you've finished reading. Piccirilli picks at scabs we can all relate to with his work, and he's going to have a hard time topping this beauty.

I reviewed Every Shallow Cut back in March, if you're interested, but if I were you I wouldn't bother checking it out. Just go to Amazon or wherever you prefer to buy your books, and get this one. You'll be blown away.

Actually, I can say that about all three of my favorite reads for 2011. You can't go wrong with any of them.

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The genesis of a short story

One question I get asked all the time is "Where do you get your ideas?" Usually by people that have read some of my darker stuff, and usually as they glance around uneasily, trying to remain casual while they map out an escape route while trying not to be too obvious about it.

You might think it would be an easy question to answer, but just the opposite is true. Many of the stories I write started out going one way before being hijacked by the characters or the situations, and moving off in an entirely new direction, with me simply scrambling to keep up. Sometimes they start out as snippets of song lyrics, or snatches of overheard conversation, less often they're inspired by news stories or personal experiences.

The one thing they usually have in common is that when I'm done, they rarely resemble what I envisioned when I started.

Every once in a while, though, the genesis of a story is perfectly clear. My story in the latest issue of Needle Magazine, "The Ticket," is a perfect example.

You may or may not know - or care, for that matter - that in my second job (AKA, The One That Pays The Bills) I am employed by the FAA as an air traffic controller. It's a job I've been doing for nearly thirty years, and one which I enjoy, because it keeps my interest while I'm working position, and especially because it affords me a fair amount of time to devote to writing while on my breaks, away from the radar scopes.

About a year-and-a-half ago, one of my coworkers took a few days off suddenly. Why? He was celebrating winning half a million bucks on a lottery scratch ticket! I'm not the most knowledgeable gambler in the world (Buy me a beer if we ever meet up and I'll tell you my Las Vegas slot machine story - I guarantee you can't top it for sheer embarrassment value), but I had no freaking clue you could win that much on a scratch ticket.

I don't play them very often, maybe three or four times a year at the most, and probably the biggest jackpot I've ever scratched off is five bucks. My daughter won $75 on a scratch ticket a couple of years ago and I was blown away by that. So when I heard this guy had won five hundred grand I immediately thought two things:

1 - That lucky bastard, why couldn't it have been me? and,

2 - How can I use this in a story?

Or maybe it was the other way around, I can't really remember. Anyway, out of that serendipitous event, "The Ticket" was born. Beyond the circumstances of the jackpot - a scratch ticket - there's not really any resemblance between the real-life event and the story.

I embellished the jackpot amount in "The Ticket," figuring if a half-million dollar scratch ticket was cool, a million would be even cooler, and in my story the air traffic controller suddenly became a guilt-ridden gangland enforcer who views his unexpected windfall as the perfect opportunity to leave his old life behind and go straight. Unfortunately, his sense of timing sucks, and he scratches the ticket in the presence of his boss, Fat Tony Filichiccia, who decides he deserves a cut, too.

How my lottery winner works out his dilemma is something you'll have to buy Needle to find out. I can tell you my coworker didn't have to go through anything close to what my character does. Unless his wife is particularly greedy.

And that's the genesis of a story.

Strange but true addendum: About a year later, the same coworker won another hundred grand. On, you guessed it, a scratch ticket.

Interview with noir/crime author Julia Madeleine

One thing I've learned about the writing community as I've taken this journey to publication is that it's filled with some very cool, interesting people. The stories of some of these authors would rival the stories in their books, and over the past couple of years I have made connections and struck up friendships with people I would never have imagined.

One of those people is noir/crime author Julia Madeleine. A tattoo artist from north of the border, Madeleine owns a small business with her husband, and in her down time writes some of the most dark and disturbing fiction you will find this side of your trusty Edgar Allan Poe collection.

Julia Madeleine was a finalist for a 2011 Derringer Award this past spring, and her second novel, NO ONE TO HEAR YOU SCREAM, is available now. She has very bravely agreed to join me for an interview, despite my well-known penchant for putting authors through the ringer. Or at least asking them a few questions.


You are the Canadian daughter of Irish immigrant parents, and the plot of NO ONE TO HEAR YOU SCREAM is driven by Irish expatriate gang member Rory Madden. How much of your real-life upbringing is reflected in your work?

As a kid I heard (and overheard) a great deal about the Troubles in Belfast from my parents, and Grandparents when they visited from Ireland. So that, and listening to my parents Irish lingo all my life, making my bad guy from over there was quite instinctive I think. I’d wanted to make the antagonist a foreigner and what better foreigner than one you’re familiar with. At least the Irish part. Unfortunately there were no actual gang members in my family or I’d have moved in with them and taken over their sofa while writing this manuscript.


Your first book, SCARLET ROSE, was published by Black Heart Books in 2008. How long have you known you wanted to write crime fiction, and what prompted you to finally try?

You know I never set out to try and write in that thriller/crime-fiction genre. In my teens and my early twenties I was into horror; Anne Rice, Stephen King, Koontz. I wrote a lot of supernatural type stories at the time. Then in college my tastes in fiction evolved. When I got the idea for Scarlet Rose, about fifteen years ago, I was more into reading literary fiction. Yet here I was creating these really dark characters and writing about murders. I just didn’t realize it was crime fiction until much later when someone actually pointed it out to me.


There are some outstanding female crime fiction writers, but as a woman writing in this field, you are definitely in the minority. Who are some of the writers you consider role models?

My writing role models are not so much in the crime fiction genre. I’m sure my greatest influences have been Mary Gaitskill, Heather O’Neill, Janet Fitch, Evelyn Lau, Joyce Carol Oates. Wow, those are all women. Ok, well I did read a lot of Poe and King growing up. So I’m sure they’ve been an influence on me as they have with a lot of writers.


What is your favorite part of the writing process? What is your least-favorite?


Creating the story, when ideas just flow with ease. That’s really exciting. My least favourite aspect of writing would be reading and re-reading the same passages over and over looking for type-os. It’s maddening. I have nightmares about misspelled words hiding in my sentences. I swear they crop overnight like weeds.


Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what would be a couple of typical songs you might have playing in the background while penning stories of murder and mayhem?

I listen to classical music when I write because it’s unobtrusive. I love the cello and in particular Yo-Yo Ma. He’s an amazing musician. I also love listening to Andrea Bocelli. It sets the perfect mood for me.


As a 2011 Derringer Award Finalist for excellence in short mystery fiction, you obviously write a mean short story. Which gives you greater satisfaction, writing novels or short stories?

Short stories are like instant gratification. I really enjoy writing flash fiction. It appeals to my short attention span. But I think writing novel length manuscripts are far more rewarding. I enjoy character development and it’s difficult to get deep into a character in a short piece the way you can with full length novels. Sometimes I like writing short stories as a distraction from working on my manuscript because, quite frankly, it’s a hell of a lot of work. Having said that, the manuscript I’m currently working on is all consuming and it’s got me really fired up so I’m trying hard not to take any time away from it to write short stories. But those flash pieces are like chocolate brownies when you’re on a diet; hard to resist.


What’s next in the pipeline for Julia Madeleine?

This would be the manuscript that’s got me all fired up like nothing else I’ve written. Recently I had this crazy dream—a nightmare that woke me up in the middle of the night. My first thought was, wow that would make a great story! And then my next thought was no, it’s way too scary for me to write. Like Silence Of The Lambs scary. When I told my husband about the dream, he said it was such a great idea I’d be crazy not to write it. So with a little push from him, I’m now writing that story and it’s scaring the hell out of me. So much so that one afternoon I spotted the same kind of vehicle that the bad guy in my story drives around in, parked outside my work and I actually gasped. My husband laughs at me. But it’s cool when I tell people the premise and they get these physical reactions of revulsion, it’s like a compass that shows me I’m on the right track. I’m having a lot of fun with it.


Hypothetical situation #1: You are marooned on a desert island but before your ship sinks, you’re allowed to grab one book of your choosing. What book would that be?

A thesaurus. I couldn’t live without one.


Hypothetical situation #2: You are given a choice by the Gods of Publishing. Your books can either bring you tremendous monetary wealth or they can be universally acclaimed as outstanding by the critics. Which do you choose, and why?

I’d definitely choose wealth over fame. While receiving critical acclaim would of course be fantastic and I would certainly be honoured if my writing ever received awards, greatness in the publishing industry has never been my ambition. Farley Mowat, who’s an icon of Canadian literature, recently said in an interview that he’s given up writing to paint houses because there’s more money in it. He’s 89. And he said he figures he can make more money painting three houses a year than if he wrote three best sellers. Now, while I do find that statement astonishing given the success some authors are having with eBooks., it’s an interesting example of how being an award winning author (he’s received the Governor General’s Award and a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame), doesn’t necessarily equate with book sales. Maybe Farley Mowat would have had more monetary success writing crime fiction.

So, yeah, give me the money. Because when I’m 89 I plan on chilling on a cruise ship sucking back Margaritas while Speedo-wearing Pool Boy dances for me between foot massages. The only paint brush I’ll be picking up will be to polish my nails.


What are you reading right now? What’s next on your “To Be Read” list?

Currently I’m reading Diane Fanning’s true crime book Mommy’s Little Girl, about the Caylee Anthony case. I’ve also just started reading Frank Duffy’s Mountains Of Smoke and it’s awesome. And I’m just about to start reading Jenn Ashworth’s new book Cold Light. I read her debut A Kind Of Intimacy last year and loved it. I’d like to read more Andrew Vachss. I just recently discovered him and I really like his style. I’ve also got Final Vector on my to-read list.

Thanks for taking the time to visit A Thrill a Minute. Any last words of wisdom you’d like to share with my thousands hundreds dozens handful of readers?

Thanks for having me, Allan. I’d like everyone to know what a great writer and a really cool guy you are.

 

I'd like to point out, I didn't ask beg Julia for that compliment at the end of the interview and I don't have any evidence of some deep, dark secret from her past that I threatened to go public with. She's just that nice. Or that warped, I'll leave it up to you to decide.

 

I'm in the middle of reading NO ONE TO HEAR YOU SCREAM right now, and I will be posting a review when I've finished, but it's fair to say that Julia Madeleine has crafted a pulse-pounding book, with multi-layered characters and non-stop suspense. It's well worth your time and money.

Sometimes, you CAN judge a book by its cover

Interesting post by Joelle Charbonneau at Do Some Damage today. In it, she wonders about the effectiveness of cover art for e-books. What's the point, she wonders?

With physical books, the covers provide a very specific purpose - to draw the reader in, to make her curious about the book, to get her to open it up and skim through the pages, with the ultimate goal, of course, being to interest her enough to make a sale.

But with ebooks, there are no readers wandering through the bookstore, pulling your book out and examining the cover. There's no physical book at all!

It's a really good question, and one I wondered about myself for quite a while. My answer is a long one, though, so I thought instead of writing an endless comment at Do Some Damage, I would write a post on the subject myself.

You may or may not know the history of my debut thriller, FINAL VECTOR. I originally signed with the publisher, Medallion Press, for a mass-market paperback edition of the book. A few months after signing the contract, however, and almost a year before the book's release, Medallion bowed to the new realities of the publishing world and eliminated mass-market paperbacks entirely, choosing instead to publish ebook editions of those books slated for MMPB.

This gives me an interesting perspective, because although FINAL VECTOR was released this past February as an ebook, the cover art was designed to be placed atop a paperback book.

And it's a damned good cover, I think. I've gotten literally dozens of compliments on it, and although I had nothing to do with it beyond providing some ideas, I believe it represents the book well.

That's the point. Although you will not find a single copy of FINAL VECTOR in your local bookstore, the cover still matters, for a couple of very important reasons:

1) First impressions still matter, whether the book is inked onto dead trees or transmitted through the Interwebs to your handy dandy reading device. Whether the reader finds out about FINAL VECTOR through the "Readers who bought (X) also bought" feature at Amazon, or through a review they read, or a blog post, or whatever, they will still form a powerful first impression when they see the cover art.

A cover that appears sloppily designed or unimaginative or generic will likely not invite the reader to check out the book further, and will leave certain negative impressions foremost in their minds, both about the book and the author.

On the other hand, cover art that is interesting or entertaining or different may just convince the reader to pursue the book further, maybe check out an excerpt, which is exactly what I'm going for as an author, particularly an author most people have probably not heard of.

2) Ideally, the cover should give a potential reader some idea of what she's getting herself into when she downloads the ebook.

The design for my upcoming release from StoneHouse Ink, THE LONELY MILE, captures the feeling of the book perfectly, and in several different ways. In the book, a divorced father faces what might just be every dad's worst nightmare: His own teenage daughter is kidnapped by a sociopathic killer, and he's responsible.

The cover is meant to evoke a feeling of brooding, of darkness, of a man facing a gathering storm alone. Check it out, and tell me if you aren't left with that exact impression.

Same thing for the cover of my September horror novella release from Delirium Books, DARKNESS FALLS. The plot revolves around a big old farmhouse whose owner went insane twenty years ago and savagely murdered the main character's entire family while he was at school. My protagonist's name is Tyler Beckman, but the star of the novella is really the house - it stands at the heart of the entire story and drives the plot.

So when the folks at Delirium asked for my input on the cover art, I immediately thought of a creaky farmhouse, dark and disturbing, with ghostly-looking windows and an overgrown yard. My goal was to draw the potential reader's attention and at the same time try to pass along a little taste of what the book is all about.

So that's my answer, Joelle: Yes, the cover of an ebook is absolutely as critical to the book's success as the cover of a mass-market paperback, trade paperback, or hardcover offering. You can write prose like a master, but if the outside of your book turns people off to the point they're not willing to try it, no one will ever know.