My first interview is with a gentleman that needs no introduction from me that's for damn sure, but he'll get one anyway. He's everywhere you look, involved with everything and willing to help everyone. Paul D. Brazill is universally respected and a permanent fixture in the Thriller and Crime Fiction world. He's a top shelf writer, an editor of great note and an unquestioned supporter of other writers. I'm proud to present a short Q and A session with Paul.1.) In at least 100 words, create a new biography for yourself - without the mention of writing or books.
Paul D. Brazill came into the world
kicking and screaming and he hasn’t stopped since. He’s been around a bit but
now he’s a bit round. He may not have shot Liberty Valance but he does know a
bloke who said he did. He had, once upon a crime, aspirations toward being the
one who knocks but Avon refused his application. Tired of the puerile debate about whether slow
zombies are better than fast zombies he has decided to make a film about
skipping zombies. Tony Orlando and Dawn Of The Dead will be opening at a cinema
near you in the near future.
2.) Did you grow up with artists
around you, either friends or family, who influenced or nurtured the expression
of art in any medium? If so describe what that was like - and if not, was it
the exact opposite environment or somewhere in between?
Not arty at
all! Mine was a completely working class
family though my oldest brother became a professional musician playing in
hotels, bars, working men’s clubs, cruise ships etc.
3.) Earlier in life, what art form
interested you the most; Visual, Music, Theatre, Film or Literature and the
written word?
Like a lot
of kids I wanted to be a comics artist. I used to draw my own comics. After
that, in the teenagehood, it was music. I played in a couple of post-punk bands
and really wanted to pursue songwriting.
4.) I think the most important thing
to any writer is what the next
project is, what’s up ahead and around the next turn, so let us know what that
is – but also tell us what you have just finished or have going on right now.
My comic
crime novella Guns Of Brixton will be re-published this year by Caffeine Nights
and I’m working on a follow up- Holidays In The Sun.
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The Italian
publishers Atlantis will be putting a few of my globe- well Europe- hopping
noir stories together as a novella, probably called The Noir World Of Luke
Case.
I’m
self-publishing an anthology called Exiles: A Outsider Anthology. It should be
out in April. Loads of great writers are involved including Patti Abbot, Kate
Laity, Richard Godwin and Pamila Payne.
I should
have a story in Kate Laity’s Drag Noir anthology. I have a story coming up over
at Shotgun Honey.
5.) What is your personal favorite for
a story or book that you have written, from twenty years ago or yesterday. Doesn’t
matter. Oh, by the way, why?
I recently
re- read Red Esperanto – a Warsaw set noir that was published by Atlantis
(Rosso Esperanto in Italian) and will be included in the next Mammoth Book Of
Best British Crime.
I like it
because it’s fun. Quite over-ripe in parts but all the better for it, I think.
6.) List three of your favorite
authors who you don’t know and the one book or story that makes them your
favorites.
The Picture
Of Dorian Grey – Oscar Wilde
This Sweet
Sickness – Patricia Highsmith
Hollywood-
Charles Bukowski
7.) Tell me what you believe to be
your biggest struggle or challenge is in the writing experience. Is it the
universal need for more dedicated writing time, starting, finishing, developing
the plot, outlining, dialogue, etc? Or is afterward, editing, marketing….maybe just
being satisfied with the final product?
Money, or
the lack of it. Money makes everything better. Unless you’re a dickhead.
8.) What would you say, in your own
experience, has been more helpful in improving as a writer? Reading more people
or watching more people?
For me,
reading to be sure. The other stuff was and is always there but reading nudges
observations of life into the direction where they become a story. Though, I
must say, actually writing is the most important thing. What’s the best way to
get to Carnegie Hall?
9.)Which of these negative traits do
you feel most, if not all of us share as writers (to some degree); Selfish,
Arrogant, Needy, Self-Absorbed, Clannish, Insincere or Hypocritical? Those are
just some of my own traits so if I missed one, please fill in the above.
Needy.
Needy. Needy.
10.) The most intellectual question has
been saved for last. You’re on death row looking down that Green Mile corridor and
there’s no last minute call coming from the Governor either. What is your final
meal and drink? And be specific, because well, this is it. The last decision
you’ll ever make.
A really hot
curry and a really strong lager! They’ll remember me alright …