Today
on the blog I am joined by Allan Guthrie as part of the Bloody Scotland Blog Tour
which is taking place between 11 to 13 September 2015.
Al
Guthrie will be at Bloody Scotland in Stirling.
For more details please click here
and here. His latest book is the Kindle bestseller Bye Bye Baby. He is also the co-founder of digital publisher Blasted Heath.
Describe your writing in a sentence?
Can
I do it in a word? Stuttering.
Do you have any literary influences, or
writers that you admire?
When
I first started trying to write crime novels my main influences were
Christopher Brookymre, Douglas Lindsay and Charles Higson. As time went by and
I realised I wasn’t capable of being even one-tenth as funny as Brookymre,
Lindsay or Higson, I started reading a lot more American noir fiction from the
30s through to the 60s. So my influences tend to come from there – James M
Cain, Horace McCoy, David Goodis, Jim Thompson, et al.
When you are writing, which has the slight
edge plot or character?
For
me, character tends to drive plot. Having said that, a great character with a
dull plot is a terrible waste of a great character.
What made you decide to write standalone
novels instead of a series?
It
wasn’t so much a conscious decision as me just writing some novels back-to-back
that happened to be standalones. I also don’t write the kind of novels (at
least not so far) that lend themselves to a series. In most of my novels, the
few characters who remain alive at the end of the book are too traumatised to
go through something similar again. Having said that, I do have a recurring
character in Gordon Pearce, who pops up in a few books, sometimes in a central
role and sometimes as more of a peripheral figure. He’s a fairly robust kind of
guy and apparently quite hard to traumatise. I do try, though.
When can we expect the next book from
you? The last book (If I am not
mistaken) was Bye Bye Baby back in 2010.
That’s
quite true. I did co-write a novella, Replacing
Max, with Stuart MacBride (anthologised in Dark Duets (HarperVoyager)), which is slightly longer than Bye Bye Baby. But that was a while ago
too. I’ve made several predictions as to when there might be a new book, but
they’ve all been horribly wrong. So I’ll not make any more bold pronouncements
for now, other than to say that there are a couple of books in the works that
might see the light of day sometime soon. Possibly. But don’t quote me on it.
You have also written a number of short
stories and contributed an essay to one of my favourite books of all time Books to Die For. Which do you prefer, writing novels or short
stories?
Novels
are seriously hard work. It should get easier, but I find it gets harder with
each book and becomes increasingly labour intensive. So short stories make
sense if you don’t have a lot of spare time or write slowly (or especially if
both are true). I’ve always been a big fan of novellas, though. Both as a
reader and a writer. I like to be able to see the end when I start and then
hold the entire book in my head when I’m finished. Novellas are perfect for
that.
On the one hand I love Hard Case Crime not
solely because of the books that they publish but also because of their
covers. The downside is that I have had
to stop reading them on public transport because I keep on getting really weird
looks. They published Kiss Her Goodbye. How did you feel about being published by
them? They are in their own way a unique
publisher.
At
the time Kiss Her Goodbye was commissioned, Hard Case Crime was brand new, so I
had no idea what to expect. But I took to Charles Ardai, the man behind HCC,
straight away. He’s one hell of an editor and taught me a lot about the craft.
I loved the cover they commissioned for my book too. Some publishers ask for
ideas for covers and then proceed to ignore them. Charles asked which scene
from the book I’d like to see painted, I mentioned a couple, and one of those
ended up as the basis of the cover art.
Of all your books which is your favourite
and why?
Slammer. It’s the one that achieves the
closest approximation of what I set out to do. I think it’s possibly the most
affecting too. But authors are notoriously bad judges of their own books, so
although it’s my favourite, it’s quite probably not the best one.
You started Blasted Heath back in 2011
along with Kyle MacRae. What was the reason for this? One has to admit that you
have some pretty outstanding books and authors on your list.
Thank
you! I think so too. Kyle broached me out of the blue with some fascinating
suggestions about how to help authors in this new digital age (as it was then).
We talked for a while and then ended up deciding the logical next step was to
set up our own publishing company. And Blasted Heath was born. It happened very
quickly. We first spoke in July, and launched the company in November. I said
at the time that we were insane to be even contemplating becoming publishers. I
was right!
England or Scotland for the Crime Writers
football rematch?
If
last year is anything to go by, you’d want to stake your mortgage on Scotland.
How do you manage to juggle the day job as
a literary agent with your writing?
I’ve
been doing a lot of editing in the last couple of years, to the point where
it’s now become the day job (if the day job is defined as the one that takes up
most time). I’ve done a lot of freelancing for various publishers, as well as
the bulk of the editing for Blasted Heath, but since March I’ve been working as
an executive editor for a fascinating new joint venture between Imperative
Entertainment, a Hollywood production company, and Bastei Luebbe, a big German
publisher. They’re highly innovative and we’re working on some exceptional
projects. I’ve worked part-time as an agent with Jenny Brown Associates for ten
years now. I maintain a small but extremely talented client list there. Finding
time to write can be a challenge, but it’s usually possible to find an hour or
so at the end of the day.
Do you have a favourite recurring crime
fiction hero/ detective?
I’d
have to go with Charlie Williams’s Royston Blake, the nightclub doorman “hero”
of the Mangel series. Royston Blake is an original and Charlie Williams is a
comic genius.
Which
five crime novels (not necessarily your favourites) would you encourage a new
reader of the genre to read?
A Philosophical Investigation by Philip
Kerr, – because it’s the book that got me into crime fiction. (Even though some
would call it science fiction.)
The Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel
Woodrell, – because it does happen to be one of the best
The Missing And The Dead by Stuart
MacBride, – because it’s technically brilliant, multi-layered, authentic and
ambitious
Double Indemnity by James M Cain, – because it’s beautifully streamlined.
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett –
this one’s for writers as well as readers. It’s the best-known example of a
technique I’ve heard referred to as “behaviourist”,
in which an author chooses to avoid describing any of his characters’ thoughts
or feelings. It also explodes the myth that PI novels have to be written in
first person.
For those that have never been to Edinburgh
describe your Edinburgh?
Ah,
but that would be cheating. If you want to know what my Edinburgh’s like,
you’ll have to pick up one of my books!
The state of Scottish writing especially
Scottish crime writing is amongst the best and is in a buoyant state. What do you think is the reason for this and
how do you feel about being seen as part of the Tartan Noir rank and file? What do you think of the term?
It’s
an oft-asked question, but I don’t know that anyone’s come up with a terribly
good answer. I suspect a large part of the success of Scottish crime writing is
down to the early practitioners. William McIlvanney, then Ian Rankin and Val
McDermid made Scottish crime writing very attractive to publishers, and canny
writers write what publishers find attractive. And we’re a canny bunch up here.
I’m happy to be called part of the tartan noir rank and file, but it’s mainly
just a useful term that’s used by other people for marketing purposes.
Bloody Scotland has only been around for 4
years now but it has firmly established itself as one of the crime festivals to
attend why do you think it has become so successful?
I
don’t think there’s any one factor, but it’s more of a combination of the great
organisation, the excellent programming, the tremendous writing talent on
offer, the financing, the location, the publicity, and most importantly, the
readers. It’s great that there’s so much enthusiasm for a celebration of the
best of crime fiction from Scotland (and elsewhere) in our own back yard. Long
may it continue!
Thanks to Allan for a wonderful interview.
Follow the blog tour at #bloodyblogtour
Follow the blog tour at #bloodyblogtour
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