Dancing With Myself: TROY D SMITH interviews TROY D SMITH

Who the hell is Troy D. Smith?

I am a writer and historian from Sparta, Tennessee. I recently earned my Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, and am currently teaching U.S. History at Tennessee Tech University. My first published fiction was a short story in Louis L’Amour Western Magazine in 1995.

What is your latest crime fiction?

Cross Road Blues, from Perfect Crime Books. It is set in the African American blues joints of Nashville in 1957, and follows the misadventures of a harmonica player who falls in with bad company. He finds himself involved with stolen drugs and is framed for murder; pursued by both police and criminals, he has to find the real killer without being caught himself. It is a noir story in more than one sense of the word (as it has an all-black cast of characters, and noir is French for black. I slay myself sometimes.) The hero, Roy Carpenter, discovers along the way that he has a knack for solving mysteries; I intend to make this the first of a series.

What do you have coming up?

I have several digital shorts due out soon from Publishing by Rebecca J. Vickery. Included among them are a couple of entries in a new mystery series and a stand-alone crime story. The series centers on Conor Mac Cormac, a 5^th century Irish chieftain with a propensity for solving mysteries. The murders Mac Cormac encounters are always more than they seem –the Irishman is often entangled in the political intrigues of the late Roman Empire. The first two entries are “The King’s Avenger” and “The Infidels.” I have plotted a third story that will take Mac Cormac to Rome. The stand-alone short is a suspense story, “All Great Neptune’s Ocean,” and is about a reporter whose family is targeted when he investigates a mob figure, and the terrible revenge he plans for the gangster. The title is from MacBeth: after assassinating the king, Macbeth asks “Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.”

I have just finished the first in yet another series of mystery short stories that will hopefully be available as ebooks in a few months –this one tackles the sub-genre known as “redneck noir,” and is called Dead Rednecks! The first installment, “Dead Rednecks Are My Specialty,” introduces our heroes, Horace and Howard Qualls: the former, more often known as Hoss, is a streetwise (and backwoods-wise) ex-con trying to go straight, while the latter is his younger, far less competent brother, who opens a detective agency in Knoxville. 

What else do you write?

I write in a variety of genres: horror, mystery, science fiction, fantasy… but my greatest success so far has been with westerns. I won the Spur Award in 2001, and was a finalist on two other occasions, and my work has appeared in several anthologies. I also write nonfiction, particularly history. The next big history project I have in the works is a book about law enforcement in Indian Territory.

Who has influenced your writing?

I’ve had several influences, including just about every author I have ever read in one way or another. There have been some that I purposefully tried to emulate along the way to finding my own voice: Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Larry McMurtry, and others. When I first began writing I was greatly impressed by two authors in particular: Ed Gorman and James Reasoner, both of whom are masters at creating and sustaining mood. I’d say the biggest influence on me, however, because his stories got to me at such a young age, was Stan Lee.  

So far as crime fiction, the first big influence on me was the master, Dashiell Hammett. When I was ten the TV miniseries The Dain Curse, starring James Coburn, sent me scrambling to the library to find more of this Hammett guy, and that summer I read all his novels. 

How is writing crime fiction different from other genres?

It would be overly simplistic to say that “there is a crime in it” or “there is a mystery to solve.” There certainly is truth, though, in the old adage that a mystery story contains a puzzle. You have to make sure all the parts fit. You don’t want it to be too obvious, nor on the other extreme too esoteric. Ideally, at the moment your reader discovers “who done it,” they should say “Of course! That makes perfect sense –I should’ve seen it!”

Some folks believe that the rational approach to puzzle-solving automatically eliminates the need for characterization. That’s not true. Especially in series crime fiction, the reader likes getting to know their protagonist –it is the little quirks and personal histories that make them stand out and keeps the reader coming back to enjoy their company again and again.

What do you think about digital publishing?

I think it is an exciting frontier. Everything has changed in the last couple of years, and ultimately those changes are going to benefit the reader and the writer (although they will hurt most everyone in between those two points.) The frontier analogy is especially apt: like all frontier situations, it is the entrepreneur who jumps into the unknown and stakes his claim early that will make his mark. “Civilization” is always just around the corner from a frontier –in this case, the hyper-organized economic forces which will come in, as the smoke is clearing, and divide the new territory up among a few corporate giants. It happened with land booms, oil booms, and various sorts of technological booms, and it will happen with digital publishing –sooner rather than later. Until then, it is sort of a wild, fun, free-for-all… like the old mountain man rendez-vous. I think any writer is smart to take advantage of that now. I recommend anyone who isn’t doing so to follow the blogs of Kristine Kathryn Rusch (“The Business Rusch,” at www.kriswrites.com ) and Dean Wesley Smith (www.deanwesleysmith.com ).

How and why did you become a writer?

I have always loved telling stories. It’s part of being a Southerner! When I was a kid, playing with toy soldiers, cowboys and Indians, etc., I had to have a compelling story to motivate the action. Like all geeky kids, I wrote and drew my own comics throughout childhood.

The beginnings of my serious efforts to write fiction, though, came at –of all places –K-mart.

See, I used to be what we in the profession call a “floor guy” –I waxed, buffed, and stripped floors (not in that order, mind you.) When I was in my early 20s I worked (as a subcontractor) at the K-mart in Tullahoma, Tennessee. I’d get locked in from 9pm till 9am –it only took half that time to do the job, and the rest of my time was my own. But there wasn’t a lot to do. I ran out of books to read, and started making up my own stories –plotting them out while I was buffing, and writing them down when I was finished with the night’s job. I was on my third novel manuscript before it ever occurred to me I might try to get something published. My writing procedures, by the way, got me some strange stares in later years when I was working at stores that were open 24 hours… I would be buffing along, making up dialogue and speaking it aloud to myself, lost in the story. Fight scenes especially got customers’ attention. Now that I think back on it, it reminds me of the scenes in the film The Whole Wide World where Vincent D’Onofrio, as Robert E. Howard, shouted his “Conan the Barbarian” dialogue aloud while typing (by the way, in my opinion that movie is one of the best representations on film of what it is like to be a writer.)

Who is your favorite fictional detective?

Now that’s a tough one. There are a lot of contenders, many of them classics: Sam Spade, Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot. The top spot, though, has to go to Philip Marlowe. He was the perfect blend of wisecracking tough guy and introspective intellectual.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

My best advice for aspiring writers is: don’t become expiring writers. Don’t give up. Be tenacious. Keep writing, improving your craft, and submitting things. Talent without tenacity is unlikely to get you anywhere.

http://astore.amazon.com/percriboo-20/detail/1935797093

PULP INK

"Tongue-piercings. Foot-fetishists. Murderous cinephiles. This gritty, grimy, giddy collection is as pulpy as they come, transcending the Tarantino reference material and stepping into its own. All because of a stable of home-run crime writers who know just what the hell they're doing."

Chuck Wendig, author of DOUBLE DEAD and BLACKBIRDS, and dispenser of dubious writing wisdom at www.Terribleminds.com  

Starring:

Reed Farrel Coleman

Jodi MacArthur

AJ Hayes

Sandra Seamans

Eric Beetner

Allan Guthrie

Matthew C Funk

Nigel Bird

Paul D Brazill

Chris F Holm

David Cranmer

Patti Abbott

Michael J Solender

Naomi Johnson

Ian Ayris

Gary Phillips

Chris Rhatigan

Richard Godwin

Jim Harrington

Kate Horsley

Hilary Davidson

Jason Duke

Jimmy Callaway

and

Matt Lavin.

Can you really wait another week?

One Man's Opinion: THE LONG MIDNIGHT OF BARNEY THOMPSON

Man walks into a barber’s.  Asks for a Tony Curtis.  Falls asleep as the barber sets to work.  When he wakes up, he’s bald as Yul Brynner.  “I asked for a Tony Curtis, you fool.”  “Aye,” says the barber. “It’s what he’d get if he came in here.”

Hair-cutting, like many other things in life, is related to confidence.  When we meet Barney Thompson, he’s all out of it.

Things have got so bad that men will pass up the chance of a haircut from Barney even if it means they need to stay in the shop for an extra hour in order to be seen to by one of his colleagues, Wullie and Chris.  It’s not just that Wullie and Chris can do a better job with the scissors, it’s that they have the patter – football, weather, politics, art – you name it and they have an opinion on the tips of their tongues.

Perhaps it’s not surprising then that Barney is a little peeved.  Might not even be too shocking if he decided to kill the others before he ends up doing his work at the back-room chair. 

What’s more of a surprise is that Barney tells people of his murderous intentions.  And he keeps hinting at what he’s done after he’s accidentally stabbed Wullie in the chest with a tool of his trade and had to dispose of the body.

This book is refreshingly fun and highly enjoyable.  Trying to find parallels is something I struggled with given the limitations of my own reading experience.

The best I can do is to suggest this.  Imagine Jeeves and Wooster.  Turn Jeeves into a senile old woman called Cemolina who lives in a stinking tenement flat.  Take Bertie and take away his riches.  Have him born into a working-class family in Scotland and turn him into a charmless barber.  Now consider the mess these guys are going to get into. 

With me?

Alongside the accidental killing, add to the ingredients a serial killer and the cops who’ve eaten too many pies and drop in the comedy of Monty Python, Benny Hill, Tommy Cooper and the like and you’re almost there.

When I read this book, I laughed out loud so much that I could feel my spirit soaring and my levels of happiness increase.  It’s hilarious.  The kind of humour I wish I could muster.

It would be a mistake, however, to underestimate the skill of the author simply because the book’s funny.  It’s only by setting you up, by getting the timing exactly right and by creating a plot that is utterly engaging from beginning to end that one can fully appreciate the talent.  Closest I can come to really helping you out is ‘Old Dogs’ by the wonderful Donna Moore; if you understand that reference, you’ll know exactly the high class of territory I’m talking about.  Not only that, but I needed to use the dictionary from time to time – slivicultural sent me scurrying, for example.

I’ve learned a few things in the process, too.

How to cover up for mistakes:

‘The first two haircuts were indeed dangerously close to being suitable cases for litigious action.  However, he was a past master of the water disguise treatment.’

And about hairstyles, the Byzantine triple weave being the most difficult in the world; that Marciano is not a type of pasta; that it’s OK to open a novel with the word breast; and where to go if I need a Heston ’86.

Douglas Lindsey, writes like he’s fully embedded in Scottish dialect, yet at the same time (and he’ll probably hate me for this) he has the beautiful English of an Oxbridge scholar (I know, not all beautiful language is English, BBC or Oxbridge, but still).   He’s written a whole series about Barney and I look forward to more fabulous reads in the near future.

Dancing With Myself: FIONA JOHNSON interviews FIONA JOHNSON

How did you first begin reading crime fiction?

I’ve been reading crime fiction for years off and on. It

all started with William McIlvanney’s ‘Laidlaw’ when I

became fascinated with the grim reality of Glasgow. I

particularly enjoy Scottish crime fiction, mainly

Stuart MacBride, Russel McLean and Allan Guthrie as

I like my crime to be noir, violent and very funny. I’ve

just started reading the Barney Thomson series by

Douglas Lindsay and I am so impressed by the

uniquely outrageous humour amidst no end of

brutal murders and body parts. I’ve never before

come across a writer who plays with the whole crime

genre as much as Lindsay. If you haven’t read him

then you really must.

Do you write from experience, or purely imagination?

It’s a mixture. I would say that I always have to write

from some kind of experience but then I let my

imagination fly. That’s the bit

that I enjoy. I take normal situations and then try to

make them as ridiculous as possible such as in the

‘Gemma’ detective stories that I write. I want to write

about a strong female character who isn’t

put down or afraid of men. Gemma also has a strong

feminine side and isn’t afraid to remind her male

police colleagues that there’s a whole side to being a

woman that they’d rather ignore in their

attempts to stereotype her. Gemma kicks ass, knees

them in the balls and explains PMT to them all in one

go.

What’s your favourite setting?

My stories are all set in Scotland or have Scottish

characters in them even if they are set in England.

I’ve written some stories based on Islay because I

lived there for 9 years and it is a fertile

setting for many more stories with its whisky heritage

and wily characters. Other stories are set in rural

Argyll where I now live.

I’m keen to show that not all crime in Scotland

happens in the big cities; there’s a lot going on in the

tartan and heather lands as well - more than you

might think! I suppose a theme in my writing is

breaking down stereotypes, whether that’s about

Scotland, women or murderers.

Which writers outside of Scotland do you love?

My absolute favourite at the moment is Josh Stallings

His two books, ‘Beautiful, Naked & Dead’ and

‘Out There Bad’ blew me away when I read them.

Josh is able to inhabit characters and get

under their skin so that you really learn some deep

truths and then the action is a total whirlwind of

violence. He has it all for me; plot, setting

characters.

Another writer I love is Charlie Huston.

I love his Hank Thomson books. He never dodges an

issue and keeps to the noir agenda right to the end.

He takes you on a downwards spiral, throws you out

of a plane without a parachute and lets you fall.

I would also recommend Benjamin Whitmer's book

Pike.

The descriptive language he uses is outstanding.

Who should we look out for?

I’ve been reading a lot of short stories written by

Thomas Pluck. There are so many talented people out

there writing short stories at the moment, but his

stand out for me. Great characters and believable

tales of the struggles people have in their lives. His

story ‘The Forest for the Trees’ is one of the best I’ve

read all year.

I also love anything by Chris F. Holm

and his stories stay with me for a long time and

seriously creep me out especially if I hear anything

scratching in my bedroom wall late at night.

I’m also desperately keen to read a novel by

Steve Weddle

and I’m hoping that will happen soon. His Oscar 
Martello stories are tremendous and Steve is great at

turning on sudden and deadly violence.

So what can we expect from you next?


I’m definitely going to keep writing about Gemma and

develop her character some more. I’d also love to

write a crime novel set in Argyll that’s very noir and

extremely funny. But just now I’m having

fun learning so much by reading as much as I can

and just trying out new styles and voices.

I’ve discovered that I love writing dialogue and I’m

trying to use Scots without making the writing too

difficult for non Scots to access. That’s a lot of fun

and I’ve now become a great eavesdropper into other

people’s conversations in shops. That’s

where you find the really colourful everyday language

that I just love so much. The two boys in

 ‘ A Straight Game’ were directly based on two young

lads in a games shop in Kilmarnock. The way

they were talking to each other was fascinating so I

pinched it for a story.

What do you have coming out?

I’ve got a new ‘Gemma’ story that I’ve submitted and

a story about death and childhood coming up on

The Flash Fiction Offensive .

You could also read ‘Hard As Nails’ in Shotgun Honey

and then there is ‘A Straight Game’ and ‘Ferry Late’

up at the Flash Fiction Friday site.

If you want a good old rummage through my writing

then they can all be found on my blog:

http://mcdroll.blogspot.com/  

so go and have a nose around and let me know what

you think.

You can also catch my book reviews at

http://imeanttoreadthat.blogspot.com/

Dancing With Myself: DOUG JOHNSTONE interviews DOUG JOHNSTONE

Q: Let’s start by talking about your drink problem.

A: I don’t have a drink problem.

Q: Have you read your own book Smokeheads?

A: Yeah, I read it. Too many fucking times.

Q: Anyone who writes something that fucked up about whisky has a drink problem.

A: A drink problem is when it affects your daily life. OK, I like a single malt, but I know not to swig it on the way to pick up the kids from nursery and school.

Q: And you consider that a success? Not being drunk in a school playground?

A: Yes I do.

Q: Are you drinking whisky right now?

A: Yes. But it’s midnight and everyone’s in bed.

Q: Do you often drink on your own late at night?

A: Yes I do, look I thought we were here to punt my books and shit.

Q: OK, tell me what’s so good about Smokeheads then?

A: I once saw A. L. Kennedy at a book event. She was asked which of her books was her favourite. She said: ‘It’s not my job to like what I write.’

Q: What are you saying? You don’t like Smokeheads?

A: It’s fine, I guess. It’s got its moments. The DIY brain surgery is OK, and some of the chase scenes across the snow are pretty gripping maybe, if you like that sort of thing. There’s some snappy dialogue in there too. And some nasty deaths.

Q: You are really selling it to the readers.

A: OK, fuck, it’s Whisky Galore meets Deliverance. Bam!

Q: I’ve read that on eight other websites. Got anything new?

A: Yes, I do. It’s The Wicker Man meets Shallow Grave.

Q: That sounds OK. Care to expand on it?

A: Four late-thirties ex-uni mates go to Islay, one of them has a secret plan to get another one to invest in a business plan. The weekend goes spectacularly wrong in ways you couldn’t begin to comprehend. OK, you could if you were a sick fuck.

Q: It sounds like a very blokey book – all guys and whisky and violence and macho bullshit – is that correct?

A: Incorrect. The strongest character in the book is Molly, a distillery tour guide who gets mixed up with them and, without giving too much away, saves (some of) their asses.

Q: Strong women saving drifting, hapless loser blokes - a theme in your work?

A: OK, same thing happens in my first two novels Tombstoning and The Ossians, so fucking sue me.

Q: Sounds like one for the psychiatrist’s couch?

A: I’ll save you the bother – I like strong, independent women, and I’m a hapless loser.

Q: What does your wife think of that?

A: My strong, independent, clever, funny, beautiful wife is unavailable for comment.

Q: OK, so what next on the writing front? More shiftless dicks saved by Joan of Arcs?

A: Actually no. The next novel is called Hit and Run and is out through Faber in March 2012.

Q: Hit and Run? Wow, original title. What’s it about?

A: Take a fucking guess. I am obsessed with car crashes. Obsessed. Three young professionals hit a guy while driving home from a party loaded. They panic. They fuck up. It comes back to haunt them big time. They get involved like you wouldn’t believe. As the strapline for the cover says: ‘Hit and Run – but what if you had to go back?’

Q: How does it compare to Smokeheads and the previous work?

A: It’s much, much nastier, much more stripped down, much more plot driven, much deeper psychologically and full of prescription pills instead of booze. And it’s set in Edinburgh for the first time. Southside, to be specific.

Q: OK, one last question – what advice would you give aspiring writers?

A: Get outdoors. Become a tree surgeon or a furniture maker or a farmer. Or a nurse or doctor. When the apocalypse comes, novelists will be at the bottom of the pile, but if you can grow crops or heal the sick or make a fucking comfy chair, well, that’s something isn’t it?

Sea Minor would like to point out that Smokeheads is a terrrific read, a fast of pace distillation of On The Road with less likeable characters and blood.

Word is that 'Hit And Run' is even better.

And you should click here.

Dancing With Myself: R THOMAS BROWN interviews R THOMAS BROWN

If you've been out in them there woods in the last while, you'll no doubt have bumped into the most excellent blog, Criminal Thoughts.  It's one of those sites dedicated to crime fiction and short work where you'll be able to find comment on the hottest fiction around. 

The man behind it, accomplished author in his own right, is R Thomas Brown and he's here today to tell us a little more.

Go RT.

So, why are you here?

I’m not really sure. Now that I’m here, I’m surrounded by some really good writers. I feel a bit out of place.

You a writer?

Yeah. I guess. I had a story accepted over at The Flash Fiction Offensive. First time I submitted anything in years. Oh, and another coming out at The Molotov Cocktail. But that’s not what I’m doing here.

So, again, why are you here?

To promote my blog. Criminal Thoughts over at rthomasbrown.blogspot.com

What’s to promote?

Reviews of crime fiction. Mostly short stories and collections. Not detailed descriptions or anything, just what I thought about or felt when I was reading.

And why would someone care about that?

I think that’s why short fiction works. It’s a direct channel to get to a feeling or reaction in the reader. You may be looking for fear, or dark comedy or mystery. Whichever your taste or that day’s inclination, there’s a story out there for you.

Why shorts? You got something against novels?

Easy with the tone, we’re friend here, right? Anyway, I like novels. I’ve reviewed a few on the site, and I read about one a week. I just like the short form better. I think most people do, really. We’ve just migrated to huge novels in books. But its short stories that really appeal.

What the hell are you talking about? I’ve been to bookstores. I don’t see any short stories.

Well, there are anthologies out there, but that’s not the point. Look at movies and television. They’re really just short stories. Even ones adapted from novels end up being some short fiction version of a longer book. TV shows are shorts. They may have an arc, but that’s more like a collection of encapsulated stories. Really, you’d have to look at saga shows (like Lost) or miniseries to see the equivalent of a novel. They can work, but I think most prefer the short form.

Assuming you’re right, which I am not willing to accept yet, why would that be?

Short fiction is about a single thing. A mood, or a character, or a relationship. Everything moves to that one thing. Only the needed settings, only the needed characters. They’re tight and focused on touching the reader (or viewer) in a very specific way. There’s no burden of complexity to hold attention through long stories. And, obviously, they’re shorter. Want a whole story in about half an hour or less? I don’t think picking up the latest five hundred page opus is gonna hook you up.

That sounds like a bunch of crap spewed out by someone who spends too much time thinking about what a story means.

I did say I was promoting a blog about reviews of crime fiction, remember?

Oh, yeah. I forgot. Short attention span.

Another reason to focus on short fiction.

Very funny. Why crime fiction?

Because it gets at the motives we all carry. We all want revenge sometimes. Sure, we don’t go out and kill people because they glanced at us cross ways when we jaywalked, but anger, fear, regret, it’s all in there for all of us. So, I think in general the crime stories resonate. They do with me anyway.

Well, looks like we’re out of time. Any last words?

Yeah, there are really great markets for short fiction. Most are run simple because somebody loves doing it enough to keep going. Give them a look and make some comments. Let the editors and authors know you’re reading it, cause that’s why the stories are out there.

I've also got a few final words of my own.  You can find RT's collection Mayhem at Amazon and it's another of those 'cheap as chips' not to miss bargains. 

Dancing With Myself: FRANK BILL interviews FRANK BILL

Frank Bill, King of the hill.

Q: You really get up at 3:30 am, Monday thru Friday to write?

A: Depends on how much I’ve had to drink.

Q: You an alcoholic?

A: No. Alcoholic’s go to meetings. I don’t go to meetings.

Q: Didn’t you meet your wife at an AA meeting?

A: No, it was a Teamster’s rally for recovering methamphetamine chewers.

Q: Chewers, you serious?

A: She’d chew that shit straight from the Pyrex dish before the microwave finished off-gassing. Called her a teething-crank-headed-harlot-chewer.

Q: Off gassing?

A: It’s what the ephedrine tablets do after soaking them in distilled water, letting the junk float to the bottom. You cipher off the pure ephedrine. Then add one can of Liquid Heat to the bowl. Cook it in the microwave until the matrix becomes a paste. But she’d eat it.

Q:Isn’t your wife gonna kill you for saying that?

A: No, that’s how you tell a story. You gotta know how to lie and lie very well about what you you’ve seen, heard, read and done. Let the reader decide on what’s true and what isn’t.  

Q: Is it true you were cooking crank while writing the stories for your debut book?

A: Well, I’m banned from buying Lithium batteries in bulk.

Q: So, you’ve cooked meth?

A: No, but I watched a guy shoot it up. He told me right before he broke the skin, “Boy don’t you ever try this at home.” And after seeing how many teeth he didn’t have, he didn’t need to worry. Besides, needles are not my thing. They’re for sewing. Guns are for shooting.

Q: You’ve ran in some rough circles. You ever did meth?

A: Back in high school I went on a seven day jag with my buddy who got meth in the mail from the west coast. We burned through a month’s supply in about a week or less. Then jones’d for more. Raided our parents and friends parent’s prescription medicine cabinets. Crushed and snorted pills until there was nothing left to snort.

Q: Ever met a killer?

A: One time a buddy and I went to buy weed from a lady and we found out her boyfriend was wanted for murdering someone. We joked afterwards, kept calling him a throat kiper.

Q: Kiper, the hell is a kiper?

A: A made up word, rather than cutting a throat, you kipe it.

Q: How long ago was that?

A: Twenty years or so. We got stoned that night and watched Mike Tyson fight Buster Douglas. When Tyson hit the mat, my buddy and I thought something was wrong with the television. Couldn’t believe Tyson got knocked out.

Q: This was high school?

A: Yeah, I was around seventeen or eighteen years old.

Q: True you dated a stripper in high school?

A: Moved in with her. My mother was none too happy. I also pimped the high school cheerleaders and any female who wore high top tennis shoes.

Q: Why?

A: Needed lunch money.

Q: Are you lying?

A: No, I’m telling a story.

Q: Are your stories real?

A: They come from real places. Things I heard growing up from family or things I done. Or in some cases it’s just things that interest me.

Q: True you’re working on a Trannie novel?

A: Backwoods Trannie vampire who comes from a broken home and falls for a zombie detective with a taste for sorghum. It’s based on actual events and research I did on the Terre Haute border with Aaron Morales. Lot of weird shit goes on up north.

Q: You telling another story?

A: Yeah.

Q: Your first book, Crimes in Southern Indiana is being published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, when will it be hitting the shelves?

A: Street date is August 30th.

Q: Will you be doing a book tour?

A: I’m sure I’ll be doing a few signings.

Q: Are you going to Bouchercon?

A: Yeah, September 15-18 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Q: Will you be doing panels and signing books?

A: I’ll be in the lounge with Jenn, Neil Smith, Scott Phillips, Jed Ayers, Benjamin Whitmer, Rod Wiethop, Victor Gischler, Keith Rawson, Aaron Morales and Team Decker telling stories and drinking bourbon.

Q: Won’t your agent be pissed?

A: Only if it’s her turn to buy another round.

Paperback release, 30th August.  Pre-order (recommended)

Frank Bill at Crime Factory

Bonnie Prince Billy