10 Questions: Ed Lynskey

April 20

One of the unexpected bonuses of writing this blog is that I have come across writers whose work otherwise might have passed me by. One of those is Ed Lynskey, whose name I had not heard until this week. But now I have and I am looking forward to getting a hold of a copy of Ed's second novel, The Blue Cheer, a mystery set in the remote mountains of West Virginia. When I've found it and read it, I'll report back.

In the meantime, Ed has graciously agreed to be the subject of 10 Questions.

Favourite author:

Wow, a tough call. I like to reread Charles Williams, the 1950s Gold Medal books pulp writer. I don’t really concentrate my reading on one author but prefer to sample from a variety. I mean there are so many and time is always running short.

Favourite book:

 Though I've not read it in years, A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews, a hardboiled U.S. Southern gothic, seethes with the elements of fiction I find electrifying. There’s a parable on American violence and its grisly aftermath embedded there in the text. 

Favourite character:

The progression of Bill Pronzini’s Nameless Detective through his long series is both masterful and graceful. Marty Bond the tough but flawed ex-cop in Ed Lacy’s noir The Men from the Boys (1956) still knocks around in my head. George Pelecanos’ cast of unsavory characters always engage me.

Best books read in 2007:

Iregularly review books, both crime and literary fiction. Snow Ashes by Alyson Hagy, a tragic saga of two Korean War vets operating a sheep ranch in Wyoming  awed me. Lynn Stegner’s poignant Because There Was a Fire in My Head was impressive. The Woods by Harlan Coben is a recent crime fiction standout. The new books by Robert Goddard, Graham Hurley, Jo Bannister, and Reginald Hill have stuck with me, too.

Best crime city:

I’d propose Baltimore (a gritty port city) or any Southern small town (I’m the native of one) with repressed rage smoldering beneath its surface. New York City/San Francisco/New Orleans settings remain sturdy sets, but I’ve already read a slew of them. I seek out crime titles rooted in London, Edinburgh and of course Ireland (the site of my own ancestry’s roots).

Best film adaptation:

This winter I watched Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly adapted from Mickey Spillane’s book by the same title. The noir film bristles with stark scenes and cagey characters. Ralph Meeker playing a creditable P.I. Mike Hammer is an underrated actor. I believe Al Pacino gave a top-notch turn in Serpico and Sea of Love (a masterful script by Richard Price).

Book that gave you the thriller bug:

Great question. A few years back, I finished John D. MacDonald’s Dead Low Tide (1953), and it reawakened the joy in me that I’d felt reading the pulps as a kid. MacDonald’s standalones (the non-Travis McGee titles) like Cry Hard, Cry Fast, The Brass Cupcake and A Key to the Suite are robust narratives. What a storyteller he was.

Author to watch:

Al Guthrie, noir extraordinaire from Edinburgh, has an immense talent besides being a great guy watching your back. There is a plethora of superior talents. Sean Doolittle, Duane Swierczynski, and Megan Abbott are others skimmed off the top of my head.

What you snack on while writing:

I hole up with reduced fat Oreos, baby carrots, jellybeans, and too much black coffee.

Who would play Ed Lynskey in a film of your life:

Al Pacino in a very dire need for money or a fast cure for insomnia might consider such a script.