April 10
On April 19, Steve Mosby's third novel The 50/50 Killer is set to be published by Orion. It's an unusual, but first class thriller, which I reviewed a couple of months ago. Steve very kindly agreed to answer a few quick questions about his reading habits and influences, in what I hope will be the first of a series of mini interviews.
Favourite author:
Hard to pick one, but I'd
probably have to say Michael Marshall Smith. It's mainly for his earlier
novels, but he's the one single writer where I'm hanging on for the new book
and buy it literally the first day it becomes available.
Favourite book:
I'm actually not going to
pick a Smith book (but it would be Spares). Instead, I'll go for The Affirmation by Christopher Priest, which is easily the most astonishing novel I've read. It's the kind of book that, as a writer, makes you wonder why you're even bothering. Which
is good.
Favourite character:
This is tricky. Can I get
away with a film character? If so, I'll pick Seth Gecko in From
Dusk Till Dawn. Cool tattoo (I'm easily pleased) and totally unfazed
by the chaos that unfolds. Plus, he's a bastard, but ...
Best book read in 2007:
I've got a fast-approaching
deadline and haven't had chance to read as much as I'd like this year, but I
thought Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects was really special. I loved
every word of that.
Best crime city:
This is cheating a bit again,
but I'm going to pick a general prison setting. I don't think I'd ever dare
write one, but it seems like the perfect place for the dangers and themes that
interest me. "Green River Rising's another contender for favourite
book.
Best film adaptation:
Fight Club. It's
a great film from a great book, but more to the point, it captures the feel of
the novel. Palahniuk's prose seems a natural fit for the screen, and David
Fincher's direction takes the whole thing up a level.
Book that gave you the
thriller bug:
I'd like to think it was
Stephen King, but the honest answer is Dean Koontz's Watchers,
which appealed to me on every level. I think I was about twelve at the time,
but I loved the idea of the dog and the monster, and towards the end I realised
I had a lot invested in the outcome.
There's a small press writer
called Simon Logan. He's a friend of mine, but it's a happy coincidence that
he's also really good and deserves to break through. It's difficult to describe
his style, exactly, but it's a bit like a Nine Inch Nails song done in prose.
Although he'd probably hate that description.
What you snack on while
writing:
Just coffee. I'll drink it
any which way, but usually strong, with lots of sugar and milk. And I'll
chain-drink cup after cup.
Who would play Steve
Mosby in a film of your life:
God knows. Although I've noticed I have a passing resemblence to the horror writer Tim Lebbon, so maybe we can sort out a deal and play each other...
Steve Mosby
Tim Lebbon
Have these two ever been seen in the same room together???
Thanks to Steve for being gracious about the interruption while on deadline.