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Declan
Burke is all smiles. A new daughter, new book deal and whole new batch
of
admirers. As Houghton Mifflin Harcourt prepare to publish his Elmore
Leonard-esque triumph, THE BIG O, it seems the sky is the limit for the
talented Irishman. Shots sent TONY BLACK to ask Burke about the
spending his
mortgage deposit to get into print, conquering America and if Crime Always Pays.
TONY BLACK:
Dec, you've been on quite a ride since the launch of THE BIG O, have
you not?
DECLAN BURKE:
It’s been some go alright, Tony. A real firecracker. When
Marsha and I
published THE BIG O, we had fairly modest hopes – the main
one being to recoup
the costs of publishing it. At the time that was mortgage money I was
spending,
after losing my job … Basically, once THE BIG O was written,
I decided to
by-pass Irish publishing houses and go straight to the UK, because
I’d had
EIGHTBALL BOOGIE published in Ireland and quickly realized no one was
getting
fat getting published in Ireland … Anyway, the rejection
letters that came back
from the UK houses were broadly positive, albeit with the caveat that
the story
wasn’t commercial enough. Which I can understand, because big
houses have
economies of scale they have to justify … but my idea of
‘commercial enough’
was radically different to theirs. So I decided to self-publish, just
for the
hell of it, and to see if I could learn the industry from the ground up
…
Shortly after that, Marsha at the tiny Irish house of Hag’s
Head Press offered
to co-publish, which meant I’d have to pay half the costs and
reap half the
rewards. We did it on a busted elastic band and two bent paperclips
…So for THE
BIG O to get this far is a minor miracle. It’s got some good
reviews, been
nominated for a couple of awards (a Spinetingler and the Last Laugh at
CrimeFest), it’s been published in hardback in the U.S. by
Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt as the first of a two-book deal, and they’ve made a
beautiful job of
it … and at this stage we’re well into the black
on our original investment.
And not only that, but I’ve made a ton of new friends as a
result of [the blog]
Crime Always Pays, which I set up to promote the book and Irish crime
fiction
because we literally didn’t have a penny to spend on
publicity. So all told,
it’s been a terrific time.
For those
unfamiliar with the novel, how about a quick run-through...
Karen’s a part-time stick-up artist who meets Ray while
she’s on a job. Ray’s a
‘babysitter’, he holds people who’ve been
kidnapped until the ransom is paid.
They click and all is cool, except then Ray gets commissioned to snatch
Madge,
who is Karen’s best friend. She’s also the
soon-to-be ex-wife of Karen’s boss,
Frank, a disgraced plastic surgeon who needs to cash in on the
insurance policy
he has on Madge … Meanwhile, Doyle’s a cop with
the hots for Ray, and Rossi is
Karen’s ex-boyfriend, recently out of prison and looking for
the money he left
with Karen when he went inside …
You took a
trip to Crime Fest in Bristol to promote THE BIG O...how did you find the
conference set-up?
Well, I turned left at the quays and up the hill, and lo, there it was,
etc.
No, I loved it. It was my first crime writing convention, and it was a
smashing
time. Lovely to be able to wander around and kid yourself that
you’re a writer
for a few days, and everyone else plays along with your self-delusion.
I
already had a fair idea that the crime writing / reading community was
friendly
and generous, but that weekend kind of nailed it. Plus I got to meet
some
terrific writers … You ran away as soon as I introduced
myself, which is fair
enough … No, I got to meet Allan Guthrie, who’s a
brilliant writer, and Ruth
Dudley Edwards was lovely – it was great to be in the room
when she won the
Last Laugh award. And Donna Moore was brilliant … and it was
great to meet a
lot of my fellow bloggers, like Maxine and Rhian and Karen and Ann and
Norm.
All in all, a great weekend. I’m looking forward to next year
already …
Me,
too...promise I'll hang around longer next time. So, moving swiftly
along, I
hear you recently became a father for the first time...
Well, that’s a joy on a whole other level, a whole new
dimension. Lily is by a
mile the best thing I’ve ever had happen to me,
she’s just a wonder every day.
I’ll be honest with you, it feels a bit like I only really
started living my
life fully on the day she was born. That’s no exaggeration.
As brilliant as it
is to have THE BIG O hitting the shelves in the States,
that’s all a pale
shadow by comparison with Lilyput.
I'm welling up...can I see a Declan Burke children's book on
the horizon?
I’d love to
write one, to be honest … Some of my favourite books are
kids’ books. PETER PAN
is one of my all-time reads, and I love things like TREASURE ISLAND, THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS … But I
don’t know if I’m good enough to write
a good kids’ book. I’m happy enough planning to
read them to Lily for the time
being … I’ve got a whole mini-library of books
just ready to go.
Treasure
Island was a children's book? I need to grow
up...Anyway, I've seen the jacket for the American version of THE BIG O
and
it's one hell of a good looking book...
Cheers, squire. I’m hugely pleased with it. It’s
actually an old Elmore Leonard
cover jazzed up, so that’s a nice touch from the designer,
given that the book
opens with a quote from GET SHORTY. You know what they say, if
it’s good it’s
homage, but if it’s crap it’s pastiche …
well, it’s a great homage. Funnily
enough, the smoking gun with the ‘O’ as the
gun’s muzzle was my initial idea
for the cover of the Irish edition, but we didn’t follow
through on it … so I’m
really happy with it.
To be published Stateside, you must be rapt...does it feel
like just reward
for flogging yourself so hard?
Tony, I’m not kidding you – being published in the
States is a dream come
through for me. Really, a childhood dream … America is the spiritual home of the kind of crime
writing I love, people like Elmore Leonard and Barry Gifford and Ray
Chandler,
et al … so yeah, it’s very satisfying. As for
flogging myself … I doubt very
much if I work any harder than any other writer. I guess I maximise the
amount
of time I have available, because the writing time I have is fairly
minimal –
I’m working away at a real job and like everyone else I have
a family and a
life away from the desk. Besides, it’s not really work when
it’s so enjoyable.
And like I said earlier, the blogging is terrific fun because
I’ve met so many
great people … I just had Peter Rozovsky from Detectives
Beyond Borders staying
with me for the weekend, and that was great, he’s marvelous
company.
I'm
thinking about the partnership route you took to publishing THE BIG O
--
originally you said that took some serious hustle...
Hustle,
absolutely … but I’ve never been afraid of hard
graft, and it’s not exactly
working on a building site or down a mine … and
it’s been a fascinating
experience. In the early stages, I was our official distributor (!),
walking
into shops with books in my bag and asking for the manager to see if
they’d
stock a few copies. Most of the booksellers in Dublin, I have say, were terrific, and my hometown of
Sligo did me proud too. But I do remember thinking,
hey, Cecilia Ahern – the chick-lit author who just so
happened to be the
daughter of the Irish prime minister when she first got published
– never had
to do this, all churning guts and sweaty palms … and
she’s missed out on
something. I’d have hated, 40 years from now, to look back
and say ‘I coulda
been a contender’ except I wasn’t prepared to sweat
and hustle and look
ridiculous … Well, if this writing gig never takes off for
me, it won’t be for
the want of trying. Plus, it was always fun, a real buzz. I take as
much
satisfaction from all the work that’s gone into the project
as I do anything
else, to be honest.
I'm also
thinking about the blog you run, CRIME ALWAYS PAYS, it seems to grow
from
strength to strength, but there must have been times in the last year
you felt
like packing it in...
I never have,
to be honest with you. I do scale back at times when work is busier
than usual,
or I want to take a holiday, or spend more time with the family, but
the
blogging has taken on a separate life to the book … I hugely
enjoy it, and for
its own sake. I’ve met loads of great people … And
I like the idea that it’s my
own personal magazine … I’ve worked as the editor
of magazines in the past, and
you never get the kind of freedom you’d like …
This way, I can put in whatever
I want. If I want to write about quantum physics, I will. Lawrence Durrell? Brilliant. So that’s a nice
buzz …
Were there
any changes to the US version of THE BIG O, any editorial tinkering
undertaken?
No, no changes … the editor who signed me up, Stacia Decker,
was happy to run
with it the way it was. I’ve had a few comments about how
some references don’t
translate, but they’re fairly minor.
I always find a few cryptic references add to the texture of a
work...I
don't get a lot of Derek Raymond's patois, but it doesn't matter a jot
to my
enjoyment of his work.
Yeah, it never
bothers me when I come across something I don’t get straight
away … I just
presume the context will explain it for me at some point, or else I
just brush
by it. If it’s important to the story, the writer will make
sure you don’t miss
out on it … And I agree with you, having references you
don’t get can give a
story something of an exotic flavour. An example – the early,
really hardboiled
crime writing … I hadn’t a clue what those guys
were talking about half the
time, the slang / argot was impenetrable at times … But that
was half the buzz.
That you were listening in on these conversations you didn’t
really understand,
but which had their own language, almost … It made for a
very dynamic sense of
energy.
So far as I can tell, the early reviews for THE BIG O in the
States have
been very kind. Did you always expect the Americans to get you?
The reviews have been terrific. I’m stunned, to be honest
with you. Kirkus even
gave me a star, and I haven’t had one of those since primary
school … No, it’s
great. And I didn’t ‘expect’ anything,
that’s being straight. The way THE BIG O
came about, being co-published and all, everything since has been a
bonus, just
enjoying the ride. So to get good reviews Stateside … I
guess it does make
sense in one way, because the influences on THE BIG O are all American.
The
models for the kind of story it is were Elmore Leonard and the movies
of the
Coen Brothers … that kind of off-beat comedy crime caper
they do so
brilliantly. So I suppose it’s hardly surprising that
American readers might
‘get’ the story, or the way it’s
presented. Mind you, I should probably say
that the reviews, they’ve been very kind in that some of them
have mentioned
Elmore Leonard and Donald Westlake and Carl Hiassen … but I
think that that has
more to do with how few reference points reviewers have in the context
of comedy
crime capers than the quality of the book.
Some
huge names to be compared to, do you feel a weight of expectation?
This is going
to sound stupid, but no – I don’t feel any weight
of expectation. Partly that’s
because the book is already written, and there’s nothing I
can do to change it
at this stage, and people will either like it or they won’t
for what it is. But
mostly it’s because I know better than anyone that
I’m nowhere near as good as
the likes of Leonard, Westlake and Hiassen … Funnily enough,
Publishers Weekly
gave me a negative review on the basis that other people were comparing
me to
him, and I wasn’t up to scratch …Like, who is? No,
I think those names get
bandied around for the simple reason that the ‘comedy crime
caper’ paradigm is
fairly small – there just isn’t that many people
writing that kind of screwball
crime story. And those writers I’ve mentioned are handy
reference points for
reviewers. In one sense it’s great to have the book compared
to theirs, because
it can only benefit the book, but in another I don’t really
take them too
seriously … I feel a certain detachment from those reviews,
because I don’t
really believe they’re intended for me … Does that
sound weird? But look, I’d
love to be sitting here with you in twenty years time, ten more books
under my
belt, and to believe that I’m half as good as Elmore Leonard
… Even if I never
made a penny out of writing, that would be its own reward.
How many of your influences are American?
In terms of writing crime fiction, I’d say virtually all. And
even the Irish
writers who inspired me to get writing – Colin Bateman,
Vincent Banville – and
the ones that I admire now – Ken Bruen, John Connolly, Adrian
McKinty – they’re
all heavily influenced by American culture. I mentioned Chandler and
Gifford
already, and Elmore Leonard, but there’s a lot of other
American writers I love
… Jim Thompson, James Ellroy, Pelecanos, David Goodis
… And then there are
writers who don’t write crime, like Kurt Vonnegut, Cormac
McCarthy, Bukowski …
there are loads. And that’s without getting into the movies
and the music …
So, are we likely to lose you to the States any time soon?
Won’t be happening, squire. I like the States a lot, and I
think the people are
terrific, but I have a little girl to look out for now, and
what’s best for her
will be making our decisions for the foreseeable future. And as much as
I like
to bitch and moan about Ireland, it’s a pretty decent place to bring up
kids.
Plus all of Lily’s extended family are here, and as you get a
bit older, that
kind of thing starts to matter more. On top of that, I like my job here
in Ireland … even if the chance to go writing
full-time
did come along, I’m not so sure I’d want to give up
my job. In saying that,
Aileen and I have chatted before about the possibility of heading to
the States
to live for a fixed period, maybe a year or two, if the opportunity
arose … I’d
love to live in the States, even if it was just for a while.
Would
you set a novel there?
If I spent
enough time there, and got a good feel for the setting, then sure
… I’d love
that. But it’d be like bringing coal to Newcastle in one sense … I don’t know,
I’d certainly
love to try it. America is a fabulous place, I love it there …
Sometimes you get the sense that
the whole place is one vast crime fiction setting. And plenty of Irish
writers
set their novels in the States … John Connolly for one, and
I’m currently
reading Alan Glynn’s excellent THE DARK FIELDS. So yeah, sure
… I mean, even if
I only go somewhere on holiday, I’m always sniffing around
for settings and
scenes, sizing places up … The sequel to THE BIG O is
actually set in the Greek
islands, because I love the Greek islands, and I always thought
they’d make a
great setting for a crime caper … Here’s hoping
they do.
And
what's this I hear about some Kerouac-esque road-trip you're planning?
Yep, that
should be a laugh … John McFetridge is published by HHM as
well, and I think
he’s a terrific writer – actually, he’s
being compared to Elmore Leonard AND
James Ellroy, and he deserves it, he’s well worth checking
out … Anyway, we’re
both going to Bouchercon in Baltimore and we thought it’d be
good fun to take a
road-trip through New England in the Fall … We’re
kicking off in Toronto and
meandering down through Vermont, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, doing
some
signings and events along the way, hitting B’con on the
Thursday. Man, a week
of talking books with John McFetridge … If we
don’t hate one another’s guts by
the time we hit Baltimore, we’ll probably just go ahead and
get married.
What are you working on now, Dec?
I’m not. I was
up until Friday night, when I had a chat with Paul Johnston.
He’s got way more
experience in the area I was writing in, and it was a bit of a
head-check for
me. I think I need to either dump the story or radically rethink it
… Either
way, I don’t see myself doing much writing for the
foreseeable future. I just
finished the sequel to THE BIG O, though, and that’s gone off
to HMH, with its
publication due for next year, so maybe I should take a bit of a break
… Or I
might start tinkering with A GONZO NOIR again. Or redrafting a Harry
Rigby
story. And I have an idea for a third in THE BIG O series buzzing
around in the
back of my head. We’ll see …
I hear you're putting together a
book on the whys and wherefores of contemporary Irish crime writing,
with some
big names involved...
The Irish crime fiction project …
Yeah, it's in the mix right now, and there's some really strong
interest out
there from the Irish writers. John Connolly, Colin Bateman, Declan
Hughes,
Adrian McKinty, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Gene Kerrigan, Brian McGilloway,
Gerard
Donovan, Gerard Brennan … some really great writers.
Basically, the idea is to
create a 'narrative of Irish crime writing', a series of chapters
written by
the writers on their own speciality or a particular aspect of crime fic
they're
interested in exploring. I'm still waiting back to hear from a few
people, so
the final running order is a long way off … The vibes are
good, though, and
there's an Irish publisher already interested, and I've had quite a bit
of
support come through from other blogs and websites … so
we'll see how it goes.
And the
Burke TBR pile, what's on there? Skip the Barney books, though...
No Barney yet,
no … The TBR pile, crikey, where do you start? I’m
reading SONGS OF BLUE AND
GOLD right now, by Deborah Lawrenson, which is fascinating for me
because it’s
a fictionalised take on the love-life of Lawrence Durrell, and
I’m a bit of a
Durrell nut. I’m also re-reading Cormac McCarthy’s
BLOOD MERIDIAN and THE THIRD
POLICEMAN by Flann O’Brien … wonderful stuff,
both. After that I have literally
three shelves’ worth of material I could read …
and new books come in every
day. A few random examples … THE PHYSICS OF IMMORTALITY by
Frank J. Tipler; THE
BOOK OF MURDER by Guillermo Martinez; TRAUMA by Patrick McGrath;
HEARTBREAK AND
VINE by Woody Haut; THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson; I
REMEMBER by Noelle Harrison … It’s a mixed-up
bunch of books, some for pure
pleasure, others for review, others for curiosity … And by
this time next week,
I’ll probably have a different five or six books queuing up
to be read. Hey,
it’s a dirty job …
THE BIG O is
published in the US by Harcourt
(Sep 2008)Hbk
and
July 2007 in the UK by
Hag’s Head Press
Tony Black's
first novel PAYING FOR IT was published by Random House in 2008. Ken
Bruen
kindly praised the book, saying it "blasts off the page like a triple
malt
. . . one adrenaline-pumped novel that is as moving and compassionate
as it is
so stylishly written". More of his writing can be found online at:
Scotsman.com, Books from Scotland, Thug Lit,
Pulp Pusher and is forthcoming
in Demolition and Out of the Gutter. Black lives and works in Edinburgh. Reach him
at: t_black_uk@yahoo.co.uk
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