Jonathan Pinnock 'Bad Day In Minsk' interview

You may recently have spotted my review of Bad Day In Minsk, the fourth in Jonathan Pinnock's Mathematical Mysteries series starring (if that's the appropriate word) the rather hapless PR executive-turned-sleuth Tom Winscombe. It's a series I really enjoy for its mix of  action adventure, comic mishaps, and quirky characters, so I'm delighted to have been able to persuade Jonathan to join me today to answer some pressing questions ...

Firstly, I've read (and loved) all the Mathematical Mysteries series but for anyone who hasn't could you please give a little introduction to Tom Winscombe and his adventures so far ... 

 A chance encounter on a train leads disillusioned junior PR executive Tom Winscombe into a rabbit hole where he is joined by on/off girlfriend Dorothy Chan in pursuit of the secret behind the deaths of the Vavasor twins, mathematicians Archimedes and Pythagoras, ten years earlier. He is still blundering around that rabbit hole four books on, although it seems to have expanded into a full-blown warren the size of the London underground. On the way, he has faced certain death at the hands of various people, including renegade financiers, psychopathic monks and more than one faction of the Belarusian mafia. Somehow he is still alive, a sadder but not necessarily wiser man.

Obviously Tom's latest escapade takes place in Minsk, but it's not a place you've visited. How did you go about research? Lots of time on Google maps? Contacting the local tourist board? 

Google Maps certainly played a large role in my research, along with maps of the Minsk underground and images of the stations. The Minsk Metropole hotel is, however, a complete invention. Outside of Minsk, Google Maps was helpful in finding a route from the airport to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and the camp where one of the mafia gangs hangs out is actually based on images of an abandoned children’s summer camp in the Ukraine. The cottage where Tom subsequently hides out is inspired by a YouTube video I saw ages ago made by one of the many lunatics who explore the Exclusion Zone for fun. That episode in the book very nearly didn’t happen, in fact, because in an early draft of the story he ended up in the abandoned fairground, but the trouble is, that one’s quite a tourist attraction these days and in the end I decided that I wanted him to be somewhere where there weren't many other people.

I had only the vaguest idea of Minsk's location - somewhere between Poland and Russia - so DID end up on Google maps, and thought it looked an interesting place for a weekend, though Tom doesn't really get to see the city. Are you planning to put it on your destination wishlist once restrictions are lifted?

Yes, I do quite fancy going to Minsk now, if only to see how horribly wrong I’ve got everything! However, Belarus isn’t in a good state at the moment. The regime is getting ever more repressive and there are occasional outbreaks of unrest, so I might leave it for a year or two.

The Belarusian mafia families, perhaps like all mafia families or indeed all of us, are interested in ways of making money, specifically in their case by trying to use mathematical formulas and chaos theory to profit on the world's stock markets. Is this a 'real' thing? If I were clever enough and rich enough in the first place could I do it, or is it just a writer's fantasy? 

Hmmm. Good question. Certainly the algorithms behind automatic trading are horrendously complex, and if you had enough capital you might be able to start things swinging about in a fairly chaotic manner. Mind you, the amount of capital required would be vast, and you’d need to be able to predict how the other players in the market (including the regulators) would react, so it’s edging towards “writer’s fantasy” territory. Then again, I might be saying that to put everyone off the scent while my secret fund gets down to business...

There were a couple of things that seemed to mark a change in direction from the previous stories - one being Tom left to muddle his way through on his own more than usual. I was a little disappointed to see less of Dorothy. Was she always intended to sit this one out, or did the plot just develop that way? 

Interesting question. This is going to sound a bit weird, but stick with me here. One of the continual problems that the modern writer has is how to dispose of the hero’s mobile phone. You’ll notice that Tom is pretty good at either smashing his phone up, having it taken away from him or ending up somewhere with no signal. From a purely technical point of view, Dorothy’s presence has a similar effect on the plot, in that she is WAY better at problem solving than Tom. So if we want life to get as challenging as possible for Tom, we need to sideline Dorothy at least for some of the story. So in The Truth About Archie and Pye, she doesn’t arrive until page 100. In A Question of Trust, she doesn’t actually appear properly until page 220. She is there for most of the time in The Riddle of the Fractal Monks, but even then she is missing for quite a while during the sequence with the alpacas. So it’s not unprecedented for Dorothy to be absent for much of Bad Day in Minsk, although - without wishing to give too much away - their rift is a little bit more significant this time. I feel quite bad for spoiling a lovely relationship like this, but that’s what writers do, I’m afraid.

And, related to that question, do you believe in planning every move of your hero and villains in advance, or just throwing Tom in at the deep end and seeing what happens?

I’m very much a pantser rather than a plotter. My approach to planning a book is to chuck a load of stuff up in the air, see where it lands and then try to work out how they connect. The amazing thing is how often things just pop up that afterwards seem completely planned. There was one thing that happened this time which I can’t mention for fear of spoilers that I’d done subconsciously and turned out to be hugely significant.

What's next for you (and Tom)? Are there more Mathematical Mysteries on the way, or something entirely new?

I’ve certainly got ideas for further Mathematical Mysteries, but I’m overdue for a chat with my publishers to see what they think! I’ve also had an idea for a proper airport blockbuster psychological thriller, although I doubt if that will ever see the light of day. It does have an excellent title though, which is always promising.

BAD DAY IN MINSK out now: www.vavasorology.com

If this interview or my review of Bad Day in Minsk have intrigued you, more can be found out at  www.jonathanpinnock.com

Jonathan has also asked me to mention his new podcast, It’s Lit But Is It Funny?, where he and his guests take a critical look at one of the most neglected genres in literature: the funny book. So far they’ve covered Lucky Jim, 1066 And All That, Heartburn, Cold Comfort Farm and Emotionally Weird. There’s more information, along with buttons to enable you to subscribe here [link: https://www.jonathanpinnock.com/podcast/].

Jonathan Pinnock - author interview

Today I'm delighted to welcome Jonathan Pinnock to talk about his new series of books - The Mathematical Mysteries -  fast-paced, funny thrillers in which innocent ex-PR man Tom Winscombe finds himself caught up in a world of murder, Belarusan mafia, cryptocurrency scams and, of course, mathematics.

My first question has to be - how, or why, did the germs for the series of Mathematical Mysteries take root? 

 Long story. I was doing an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and I was struggling to come up with an idea for my manuscript. I was actually thinking about a project that had more to do with narrative non-fiction, which is why I ended up taking the narrative non-fiction module. As it turned out, it was a terrible choice of module for me, apart for one thing. One of the set texts was Janet Malcolm's “The Silent Woman”, an investigation into the life and death of Sylvia Plath. In it, she interviews a wide variety of people who knew her, some of whom are, let’s say, more than a little eccentric. As I was getting in my car at Corsham to drive home after discussing it in class, I began to envisage writing a novel about a literary murder mystery populated with a cast of strange characters. By the time I was halfway to Bath, I’d realised that I was a lot more confident about writing about a mathematical murder mystery than a literary one, and by the time I was driving through Bath I’d remembered a short story called “Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions” that I’d written about a couple of mathematicians called (you’ve guessed it) Archimedes and Pythagoras Vavasor (it’s here, in case you’re interested: https://liarsleague.typepad.com/liars_league/2008/09/mathematical-pu.html). By the time I got home, I’d pretty much worked out what I was going to do for my manuscript.

I wrote up the start of it for my next submission to the creative skills workshop class, and I still remember the moment when our tutor, Celia Brayfield, asked the group if they felt I should continue writing this, and everyone, including her, put up their hands. There was still a lot of work to do, including changing the age of the protagonist so that he wasn’t a jaded, middle-aged proxy for myself, and also swapping the skillsets round so that the protagonist was no longer the mathematician. From that point on, the book felt like it was writing itself.

Obviously the series' title mentions mathematics. Did you know much about theoretical maths before starting this series? How much or little does the reader need to understand? Can they glide along, as with Big Bang Theory, knowing nothing about the finer theoretical consepts? and, similarly, Dorothy and Ali computer company - presumably you had some more in depth knowledge of the computing world than I did (not difficult as the average junior school child probably does)

 My first degree was in maths, so I guess the answer to the first part of your question is “yes”, although that should be tempered by the fact that it was quite a long time ago, so I’ve forgotten pretty much all of it. I’ve tried to pitch it so that the reader who understands it can nod along without being jarred by anything that’s obviously wrong, while the reader whose head starts to spin at the very thought of the subject can just treat the maths bits as - to quote Blazing Saddles - “authentic frontier gibberish” and move quickly on. Despite the fact that the books are billed as Mathematical Mysteries, the maths isn’t actually that essential to the plot, although I’d like to think that I might open the eyes of the occasional non-believer to some of the extraordinary stuff that the subject has to offer. For example, Euler’s identity is just the most amazingly weird and beautiful thing in existence, and EVERYONE should know about it. I guess the same applies to the computer content - it’s either stuff you recognise or more gibberish you can skip over, but it’s not essential to the plot.

There's wide range of odd background material packed in - Belarus mafia, off-shore private countries, pythons, cryptocurrency. How interesting, or alarming, does your search history look?  

I suspect that if anyone did take a look at my search history with a view to finding anything incriminating, they’d probably just throw their hands in the air and give up. Oddly enough, not all of my research was online - for example, most of the crypto stuff came from a book by a sceptic called David Gerard. All I did online in the case of crypto was check to see what names might still be available for a new currency. This turned out to be quite surprising in itself. Would you believe that Madoffcoin, Ponzicoin and Tulipcoin all exist already? Also, Channellia grew out of a talk given to our parish council by a PR lady for Hinckley Point C, via a stag do that my son went to on another offshore platform. There’s material all over the place.

I've mentioned Simon Pegg before with reference to these novels - if anyone decided to adapt the books for film or TV, who would be your first choice to play Tom Winscombe?

Good question. I used to think that Ben Whishaw would have been a good choice (partly because Tom is essentially a less furry Paddington), but I think he’s probably a bit old now. This may be a bit of a cop-out, but I think both he and Dorothy should probably be played by complete unknowns, with loads of famous character actors doing the bit parts. For example, I would love to see Tim McInnerny (in his later, post-Blackadder, phase) do Rufus Fairbanks from the first book. It’s nice to fantasise.

What next for Tom? More mysteries to solve, I assume, but do you have an overall plan of how the series will continue (publishers permitting)?

 I have a contract for two more books, and after that I guess we have to see how things go. I’m very much a pantser rather than a plotter, so I don’t have a big idea of where the overall story arc is going, apart from the fact that there is one and that it will be driven by the characters. What I can say is that Book Three has just acquired a new title, “The Riddle of the Fractal Monks”. All the regular characters will be there, plus some old friends and enemies and one or two new ones. As with “A Question of Trust”, you won’t necessarily have to have read the other books in the series, but it will improve your reading experience if you have. Also, I make more money if people buy the entire series, so it’s a win-win situation.

Thank you for coming along, Jonathan. I hope we've intrigued readers to go out and try The Mathematical Mysteries - and for the rest of July the e-version of A Question of Trust is available at the amazing price of 99p! See publishers' Farrago website for details

Reviews of the books can be found  here - The Truth about Archie and Pye
                                                                     A Question of Trust

Cynan Jones on his latest novel "Cove" - author interview

 As you may already know, here at Our Book Reviews Online we're great fans of Welsh author Cynan Jones, so we're delighted that he's agreed to answer a few of Maryom's questions about his latest novel, Cove. As I've come to expect from his writing, this may be a short book, but it's big on impact, and hidden depths ... 

"Out at sea, in a sudden storm, a man is struck by lightning. When he wakes, injured and adrift on a kayak, his memory of who he is and how he came to be there is all but shattered. Now he must pit himself against the pain and rely on his instincts to get back to shore, and to the woman he dimly senses waiting for his return."

The publisher’s blurb describes your latest novel “Cove” as the story of “a man locked in an uneven struggle with the forces of nature”. Now the image that immediately springs to my mind reading that is of an action-packed adventure with the hero facing huge mountainous waves and maybe a killer whale or two thrown in for good measure, but I’d have imagined wrongly! How would you describe it?

Cove is about attrition, and faith.  Those are the two things you need in the face of overwhelming odds; and Nature is overwhelming.


At ninety-five pages ‘Cove’ certainly isn’t a long novel, and there’s a feeling of everything being pared down to the merest essentials. How did the writing of it progress; was it always going to be this short, or did you start with a massive epic and chip away at it till the very bones were left? Could it even be a case of more words would not have added anything?

At one stage the manuscript was 30,000 or so words. There was more before the storm, and the story travelled past the point is ends now.  But something wasn’t right. I kept trying to write around that. It got worse. Eventually, I stepped away, let the book settle in my head until I saw it clearly, and went back to the desk months later. The story found its form around 11,500 words. That’s why it wouldn’t work at 30,000…


There’s a thank you at the end which infers that at least some of this novel is written from personal experience. How much did that experience add to the story? Could you have written it without this having happened?

The thank you at the end is chiefly allegorical, but a number of personal experiences found their way into the book. I was on the beach when a lifeboat came searching the shore; I’ve been thrown out of a kayak in a squall (something about that here); I was visited by glow-in-the-dark dolphins while night fishing as a teenager.

The idea of casting a man out alone on a kayak, bringing in my experiences on the water, was in my head for some time, but it took years for that idea to fuse into a story. The lightning strike delivered the point of fusion.


One moment particularly terrified me – a point at which the kayak has drifted out of sight of land, absolute emptiness on all sides with no sense of which way to paddle to safety, then the man looks down into the depths – and it seems like he’s balancing on the edge of a cliff and could easily fall over. I’d never seen water this way but as a person with a fear of heights, I’m never  going to forget this image!

The surface is everything, in Cove. It’s the place of awareness. The point where depth and space meet.
Dare I ask you to elaborate on that?
It is, absolutely, a physical thing too, the surface. But there's so much meaning in it - the meniscus that physically supports him; the place two elements (we are not able to inhabit properly - water and air) meet... it's both the tightrope and the safety net.

That image of a man precariously balanced (which again terrifies me) leads nicely to the next question ...

Although ‘Cove’ is the story of one man, I saw a wider relevance – that this is a story for any of us that feel we’re out of our depths -  and an echo of Stevie Smith’s “I was much too far out all my life/And not waving but drowning”.  Where you thinking in this way when writing or am I being guilty of reading too much into it? 

I was absolutely thinking this way. Ostensibly, I wanted the narrative to be straight forward and physical and limited to the capacity of one damaged character. But beyond (below, and above) that, it had to be massive, universal, ambiguous and faceted.


And lastly, although it’s difficult to discuss without spoilers – how did you see the ending...   I saw it as hopeful, other reviewers say it isn’t. Can we agree that’s it’s at least ambiguous?

Ah! I just used that word ambiguous. I know what happens to him because the first drafts went past the point the book now ends.  So why end it where it ends? Because the story should always go beyond the book. And that happens in the reader’s mind. Would you survive? Make it back? Give up? Much of the ending relies on the character of the reader. Clearly, you believe in the outside chance. There’s hope. Right?

Definitely! When all else is gone, there's still hope, or so I believe. It's interesting though that reviews may be letting us inside the reviewer's head ... 

Thanks for dropping by, Cynan, and giving me possibly even more to think about!

Maryom's review of Cove can be found here

Cynan Jones' website can be found at www.cynanjones.net and you can follow him on Twitter as @cynan1975

Laura Barnett - author interview

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you may have noticed that a couple of weeks ago I reviewed  Laura Barnett's debut novel The Versions of Us. Following a chance meeting in 1958, the lives of Eva and Jim play out in three possible ways, but which leads to greater happiness and fulfilment? It's a little like Sliding Doors, a little like Kate Atkinson's Life After Life. I loved it, so was delighted to be able to ask Laura a question or two about it......


Firstly, where did the idea for Versions of Us spring from?

Do you know, I’m really not sure! I woke up one morning just over two years ago with the seed of the idea planted in my mind. I’d written two novels, neither of which was quite right, and had been thinking about what to write next. That morning, I hit the snooze button on my iPhone over and over again, and lay there imagining writing three different versions of the story of one couple, from beginning to end. With hindsight, I suspect I was inspired, in part, by the fact I’d only recently got married, and was thinking about how easily my husband and I might never have met.

It's easy to spot the similarities with the film Sliding Doors, but to me there's also a certain something shared with Kate Atkinson's Life After Life; have you seen the film, or read Atkinson's book and did either influence you in any way?

I have seen Sliding Doors a few times - I was about fourteen when it first came out, and I loved it, not least because my friends and I often spent our evenings down by the river at Hammersmith, where some of the film’s key scenes were shot! And once I’d had this idea about telling multiple versions of the same love story, I watched the film again to see how the writer and director had tackled the challenge.

It’s interesting, too, that you feel my book shares something with Life After Life - Kate Atkinson’s book came out when I was about halfway through writing the first draft of The Versions of Us, and I didn’t read it until I’d finished. It’s an incredible work of fiction, and reading it gave me a lot of confidence in trying to pull off such an ambitious structure - but I wouldn’t say it influenced me, as such. We writers have to be careful to keep our own voices distinct from those of the other authors we admire. 

Of the three story-lines, do you have a 'favourite'? Mine, as I've said on Twitter, is version two, though I'm not sure why as it certainly doesn't always seem the happiest.

How did you go about plotting and planning everything? Did you write the three stories separately, then interweave them, or progress each at the same time?

It’s fascinating to hear that you feel a particular affinity with version two - every reader seems to have their own particular reaction to each version! I’m afraid I don’t have a favourite - each version presented its own particular challenges and pleasures, and I kept changing my mind about which one I was most enjoying as I wrote. I did so consecutively, chopping and changing between the three versions: the structure of that first draft was more or less exactly as the novel still is now. It just felt right to me to weave the three versions together from the start.

And...that dreadful question all authors get asked ...what next? Are you already planning/writing another book and, if so, could you tell us something about it?

It’s not a dreadful question at all - thank you for asking it! I am indeed already writing another book. It’s called Greatest Hits, and it’s about a female singer-songwriter - in my mind, she’s somewhere between Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks and Joni Mitchell - looking back over her life and her music. I’m really enjoying getting under the character’s skin, and considering what it is to make a life as an artist, a woman, and a mother.

 Thank you so much for taking time out to chat, Laura, and best wishes for your second novel. I, for one, will be eagerly awaiting it!

Kate Atkinson - author interview

 
Kate Atkinson's latest novel, A God In Ruins, takes us back to the world created in Life After Life, but this time seen from the perspective of Teddy, bomber pilot, husband, father, grandfather. Having read and loved it, I was delighted to be able to pose a few questions about it......and Jackson Brodie...

 
At the heart of A God In Ruins lie Teddy's wartime experiences, they change him and his life forever.  What led you into this area of fiction, a war novel?

“The novel I wrote before [Life After Life ed.] was also a war novel, and I knew that this one would be too.  Right back in Behind The Scenes at the Museum there were chapters set during World War II and I knew I wanted to write more. I think I was always working my way towards this novel but I was never ready, and luckily I was ready for it when I started to write! But war is such a huge subject, it sounds terrible but it is also a gift to an author in the way that tragedy is a gift to an author, we feed off misery in a way. Also in war there are so many stories of so many different kinds that some of them, I think, need retelling through fiction.” 

Teddy's author-daughter Viola makes a drunken side-swipe at the fact that writing a novel about war would make critics see her in a different light, as a 'serious' author. Do you think women's writing is trivialised and overlooked by reviewers, critics and even the readers?

“I am here paraphrasing Joss Whedon (Buffy the vampire slayer) who said ‘the very fact that you need to ask that question, is the answer’.”

How did you go about research? Reference books could give you the details of bombing raids or casualty statistics but how did you find out what it felt like actually be in a Halifax bomber, let alone flying over enemy territory? 

“I did read a lot of factual books but I also read a lot of first-hand accounts and they’re a great way into understanding what it was like.  I love recreating atmosphere. I also have an imagination, of course.”

You've described A God In Ruins as a companion piece to Life After Life - are there any more stories to be found within the world of the Todds? 

“Well, I would like to write about the Todds every day of my life, a kind of soap about Fox Corner. I think I may have mined that seam though. I would quite like to write a book about Maurice (Teddy’s older brother) because he’s so hated, but maybe that would be rather tedious. I think that if I live long enough, I’d like to write a book about the Shawcross sisters, who are not strictly Todds but who very much inhabit that world.”

And, just a little off piste, are we likely to see a return for Jackson Brodie in the near future? 

“Not in the near future (I don’t think) but I do have another Jackson Brodie in me. I don’t think it will be just yet.”

Thank you Kate for such interesting responses - and I, for one, would be delighted to read more about the Shawcross sisters.

Maryom's reviews ; A God in Ruins,
                             Life After Life,  
                             Case Histories (Jackson Brodie Bk 1)

Carys Bray - Author Interview

 TWENTY QUESTIONS WITH CARYS BRAY

Today we're delighted to welcome Carys Bray, the author of A Song for Issy Bradley, a stunning debut novel telling the story of how one family works out how to carry on, when their whole world has fallen apart.

1. What was the first book to make an impression on you?
My mum used to read Bible and Book of Mormon stories to us every night. Those books made a huge impression on me. I grew up thinking I was on the right side of an epic battle between good and evil. It was rather exciting.

2. What was your favourite book as a child?
I loved anything by Enid Blyton. We had the whole works – Malory Towers, The Famous Five, The Five-Find-Outers, St. Clare’s – and I read ALL of them!

3. And what is your favourite book or books now?
The Stone Diaries holds a special place in my heart. I think it might be the most beautiful book I’ve ever read and I also think Carol Shields was a really inspiring person.

4. What is your favourite quotation?
‘The best way to make children good is to make them happy’ – Oscar Wilde

5. Who is your favourite fictional character?
Owen Meany from John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany.

6. Which do you prefer – ebooks or the traditional print version?
Traditional print every time. I have a Kindle but I hardly ever use it.

7. What is the most beautiful book you own?
The Complete Illuminated Books by William Blake.

8. Where and how do you write?
I write at a treadmill desk in my lounge and sometimes at the dining room table, particularly if it’s cold because there’s a wood-burning stove there. I don’t write chronologically, initially. I let myself write the bits I know I’m going to enjoy until I get a sense of the shape of the whole thing. Then I start filling in the gaps.

9. What book changed the way you think about fiction?
The Stone Diaries.

10. What is the most research you have done for a book?
The novel I’m just beginning needs quite a bit of research. I’m learning about museums, buses, collecting, postnatal depression and blogging, which seems like quite a lot when compared with my first novel and my short stories.

11. What book influenced you the most?
The Stone Diaries. It made me realise that it’s okay to write about ordinary lives.

12. What book would you give to a friend’s child on their eighteenth birthday?
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

13. What book do you wish you had read when you were young?
The Stone Diaries (is this getting boring yet?!)

14. What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
I don’t give unsolicited advice – I don’t like it when writers pontificate about THE way to do things. I think people need to discover what works for them. If you twisted my arm, I’d say, ‘Read lots.’

15. What weight do you give reviews?
I pay attention to reviews and feedback from people I respect. I grew up believing ‘be ye therefore perfect’ was an achievable goal. Consequently I’m used to the idea of falling short and very comfortable with criticism!

16. What lessons have you learned about life from reading?
I think reading has helped me to develop empathy. I love trying on other lives.

17. What has being a writer taught you?
I think I’d have to say patience. It takes ages to write a book and then it takes ages to edit and ages to publish – the whole process is just so long. It’s a good thing to remember this when beginning a new novel:  it’s going to take a long time to get things absolutely right, and that’s okay.

18. Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Hmm, I don’t know much about dinner parties, and what I do know comes from watching Come Dine With Me on the telly, so I feel strangely panicked by this question. Do I have to cook? Is it okay if I scrape some gourmet pasta into a casserole dish? I’ve actually got a huge dining room table – an optimistic purchase made during a moment in which I was imagining myself as a sociable, domestic goddess – so I could host quite a large dinner party, in theory. I’d invite Margaret Atwood, Carol Shields, Virginia Woolf, Brady
Udall, John Irving, Oscar Wilde and Levi Peterson (I said it was a big table).

19. What is the funniest scene you’ve read?
That’s a horrible question! I honestly don’t know the answer. Hmm. There’s a lovely scene in Rodge Glass’s novel Bring Me the Head of Ryan Giggs that makes me smile every time I think of it. Sir Alex Ferguson comes to Mikey Wilson’s house for tea. Mikey’s mum puts on a posh voice and Mikey makes sure Sir Alex has his tea in a United mug. It’s a really funny scene but it’s also very touching.

20. What is your favourite word?
Serendipitous.


You can read more about Carys Bray on her site at carysbray.co.uk
Maryom's review of A Song For Issy Bradley

Denzil Meyrick - Author interview

Today we welcome Denzil Meyrick to our blog to talk about his crime novels featuring DCI James Daley. The first book "Whisky From Small Glasses" has been out a while and is much acclaimed. I encountered Daley first in "The Last Witness" (book 2) and sort of got hooked but I'm going to be going back to read the first shortly. The third book "Dark Suits and Sad Songs" is out later this year.

DCI James Daley is a character that sort of crept up on me, not having read the first book. I ended up with a visual image of Richard Griffiths playing 'Morse'. How do you see him?

You missed out a wee bit on the description of Daley from the first book Whisky from Small Glasses. Yes, he is overweight, but not morbidly so. He's described as having a 43" waist, but he's 6' 3" and physically strong, not like the late Richard Griffiths. Daley is in his early to mid forties, so not as old as Morse.

There is a fitness test that all new recruits must pass. Would James Daley be able to keep his job?  
 
With over 20 years experience in the police, he is a long way from a fitness test; basically he's fighting middle age spread, but is not obese. Think more early Tony Soprano than Mr Griffiths in terms of body shape.

He does seem to be a man of action rather than waiting for others to come to assist. Do you not see him as a team player?

I think Daley is very much a man of action, but has a brooding, cerebral approach to police work. He relies heavily on DS Scott, who he has worked with for many years and had a close personal as well as working relationship with. Again, in book one, and the third book in the series, Dark Suits and Sad Songs, you'll find out more about this. The pair work well as a team because their approach and personalities are so different. Scott is a rebel, his unorthodox methods attract criticism from superiors, but he is old fashioned and refuses to be hidebound by political correctness. I think both detectives are team players, whilst very much leading from the front.

So many fictional detectives have issues with their private lives (Barnaby seems to be the exception) - will Daley be able to buck the trend?

Daley has a complex relationship with his wife Liz. Again, reading Whisky from Small Glasses will underline this. Much more is revealed in Dark Suits and Sad Songs, but without giving anything away, their relationship is going through a very turbulent phase as book three moves into the book four.

Our heroes are based on the Kintyre peninsula and, despite some of the horrific goings on, the beauty of the area comes through. Our heroes won't be abandoning this area for Glasgow in the future will they?

I agree with you about the beauty and allure of the Kintyre peninsula - I very much see it as a character in the books in its own right. Because Kinloch is a port, it is easy to introduce new characters and plots, which come from a clear blue sky, or more likely, sea. I have no plans to remove the action to other parts of Scotland, but like the fate of any of the characters, nothing is set in stone.

There are plenty of people to hiss at in the story - not all of them are fully brought to justice either. During the next book will we be seeing any of this addressed?

Though the first three books are stand-alone novels, an underlying theme definitely underscores the plots. This will be resolved in Dark Suits and Sad Songs, with many loose ends being tied up. I've deliberately left some aspects of the stories hanging. For me, neat plot resolution at the end of every novel detracts from the realism I'm trying to achieve. I always resolve the main plot, but threads of relationships, crime and the dynamics between the personalities involved carry on. Great wee tasters for the next book, too.

What can you tell us of the next book - without spoilers?

Without giving anything away, Daley finds himself immersed in the murky world of politics in Dark Suits and Sad Songs. A senior civil servant from the Scottish Parliament spectacularly takes his own life in Kinloch at the beginning of the book. As the story unravels, we see Daley facing betrayal and tragedy, as a new, deadly foe, emerges. There are strange lights in the sky over Kinloch; they herald change. For certain, Daley's life will never be the same, as the fate of nations hang in the balance. Dark Suits and Sad Songs will be published by Polygon in May.

While the Denzil tells us that that the books "stand alone" that doesn't really follow with character development (as I have found) so I recommend starting with "Whisky From Small Glasses" - but do check out my review for "The Last Witness". Many thanks to Denzil Meyrick for taking time to answer our questions today.

Helen Lederer - Losing It - Blog Tour!

Helen Lederer, actor and comedian, is soon to add author to her CV with her first novel "Losing It" to be published next week (12/2/15) - a laugh-out loud comedy about 50-something Millie, who desperately wants to lose her debts and some weight, and hopes fronting a diet-pill campaign is the answer to both worries.... 

So, as part of her blog tour, we took the opportunity to ask Helen some questions about writing, comedy and tantric sex.....


Firstly - I'm old enough to remember the days of Naked Video and the first showings of the Young Ones and Ab Fab, but how would you briefly sum up your career ....
You've obviously written comedy material for stage and TV before, how different is settling down to write a full length novel?  

Well the early monologues for Naked Video were co-written, it has to be admitted, by wonderful Ian Pattison who wrote Rab C Nesbit. We had such fun writing them – his style was outrageous and SO RUDE! My character was a precursor to the Bridget Jones type and the first single women with half a brain to be found musing with a filo fax. I’m proud  of that and thank you for remembering Naked Video !  My career began after I did stand up comedy –and as de- railing as it was, it was a great way to learn how to write sparsely but with content  in order to attempt to induce laughter! Writing the novel was an amazing adventure. I’d write for ten hours at a stretch and forget to breathe - sadly I was able to make regular trip to the fridge –just as Millie would. I loved the freedom to venture inside the bitter private negative head space - as  well as describe places and people -in a way stand up would not allow – no time you see!

.... and was this something you'd toyed with before, maybe slaved over in secret for many years, or something that popped into your head almost ready-written?

 I always used to write –in fact I have a teenage file which has the word ‘anthology’ written on it. I used to write poems a lot and read them out loud to people (or  ‘over share’ as we might describe it now) I abandoned  three novels before Losing It was born - and I’m glad I did  - now I am in the zone. 

Will this mark a permanent move away from acting and stand up?
I’m hoping to write the next book as soon as I finish in Hollyoaks, but when you get the call – you get the call – I might turn up on stage again. 

With a 50-something heroine, Losing It falls into a genre that I like to call 'chick lit for grown-ups'. Do you think that's a fair description of the genre? Do you have a better way to describe it? 

I love the term chick lit for grownups. I labelled it  ‘Mid Lit’ as this is  a shorter  way of copying Chick Lit – but differentiates  itself  from ‘Granny Lit’ – as that role has as yet not happened to me and I’m not sure what Granny Lit gets up to…Knitted Thongs… ? Noooooo 

I found Millie to be someone I could easy empathise with, and, however bizarre they are at times, her experiences always ring true. Did you base her and what happens to her on personal experience?  

Yes –always. I did  attend a tantric  sex couples workshop where the straddle was demonstrated ( I was writing about it!)  – and yes, I was invited to take a herbal diet pill for money and strangely I’m still not slim  …

Do you think today's average 50/60 year old is looking for more from life than previous generations? That we're no longer prepared to be written off as old and past-it? 

Definitely! We are closer to our own offspring in lifestyle –we tend  not to favour a twin set and a perm and  we rarely wear sensible shoes. We look and act younger and offer value in the work place – as well as socially. Life is for living in the fast lane.  

Do you have plans for any more novels? Perhaps some further adventures for Millie... 

Oee yes!! I know this area now and I can’t wait to start the next book – it’s called ‘Extra Time’

Thank you Helen for taking the time to join us today and best wishes for this and future writing projects. 




Next week Maryom will be reviewing Losing It but meanwhile catch up with the blog tour so far

Dea Brovig - author interview

 Today we're delighted to welcome Dea Brovig, author of The Last Boat Home, to the blog. For those you haven't read it, the novel tells the story of single mother Else, and is set in a small Norwegian coastal town, in the present day with flashbacks to the 1970s. 'Else' is not a lot older than I am, so I was growing up at a similar sort of time but in a very different world; I was so intrigued, I wanted to know more.....

Else's hometown is deeply religious, with a slightly puritanical lifestyle in which something as innocuous as a cinema trip is considered frivolous. Is it typical for the time and place?

Norway has a history of strict pietism, especially on the western and southern coasts. It’s a side to the country that I find fascinating, not least because of its reputation for liberalism. My mother-in-law tells a story from when she was growing up of being pelted with stones by the neighbour children because they’d seen her mother wearing lipstick – something that no “good Christian” would do. My father remembers the fire-and-brimstone sermons he sat through as a boy, and stumbling upon a prayer meeting in which the participants were talking in tongues.

Over time that brand of Lutheranism has tempered itself, but in the mid-1970s, when we first meet Else in The Last Boat Home, there were still people in religious milieus who didn’t go to the cinema, who abstained from alcohol and listening to rock ‘n’ roll, who considered it sinful to play cards or football on a Sunday. Nowadays, the Norwegian State Church preaches benevolence, but there remain pockets of the population whose Christian beliefs demand a more ascetic lifestyle.

Being a teenage mother isn't an easy thing even today, but Else's community seemed more likely to ostracise her for sinning, than rally round and help....

This is close-knit community where everyone knows each other’s business, and the rumours surrounding Else’s pregnancy are scandalising. Her situation isn’t helped by the pastor’s warnings about God’s judgment, which only serve to legitimise his parishioners’ treatment of her. But Else does have friends who stand by her and who help her to make a life for herself. More than that, she has the support of her mother, who defends her to the last.

From the pictures I found on your publishers website, the area looks very beautiful - but all those photos were taken in summer. I assume it's very different in winter...

It is! The winter landscapes can be beautiful, too, especially if you’re lucky enough to be out in nature, but the weather has its challenges, like having to start each morning by scraping the ice from your windscreen, or having to peel off layer upon layer (snowsuit, trousers, long johns) when your child suddenly announces they need the loo. Sometimes it’s bitterly cold, but the darkness is worse. In the south of the country, you can expect a few hours of dim sunlight every day and a season that drags on from November until April or even May. On the other hand, the conditions are ideal for fireside reading, and if you like cross-country skiing, there’s nowhere better to be.

 

By the end of the 'flashbacks' to the 1970s, there's a feeling of change coming with the discovery of North Sea Oil. I assume it must have altered life in the coastal towns considerably, with an influx of jobs, money and incomers?

The first of Norway’s oil fields was discovered in the North Sea in 1969, but it took a few years before the country began to feel the benefits. Then, in a relatively short period of time, Norway was transformed from one of Europe’s poorest countries to one of its wealthiest. The two storylines in The Last Boat Home bracket this time of change. Else lives in the same, small town as a 16 year old in 1974 as she does in 2009, but it is almost unrecognisable. In 1974, its inhabitants are suspicious of a troupe of foreign circus performers; in 2009, the town is multicultural. Where before most people eked out a living on land and sea, now the coast is cluttered with second homes and the fjords are busy with leisure boat traffic.

And finally the question every author is asked, do you have plans for your next novel? You've moved around a lot, living in nine countries, will you be drawing on any of them for future inspiration?

I imagine I will, at some point, but for now I’ll continue to look to Norway. It’s a place that’s very special to me, and even though I’ve been abroad for much of my adult life, in many ways it still feels like home. Belonging to somewhere but being separate from it gives you an unusual perspective. There’s also something about the landscape that lends itself to storytelling, I think. The country’s size and ruggedness mean there are clusters of people who live intimately, but far from everyone else. There’s an interesting mix of claustrophobia and isolation, which is a great starting point for a novel.

I’m currently researching a book set in the north of the country – but it’s still early days, so I don’t want to say more than that!

Thank you for dropping by, Dea, and best of luck with your future novels.