The Roving Eye Interviews William Ryan

Today's Roving Eye interview is with crime writer, William Ryan. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin and the University of St Andrews he worked as a lawyer before taking up writing full-time. His first novel, The Holy Theif, was short-listed for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year, The Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award, The CWA John Creasy New Blood Dagger and a Barry Award. His second novel, The Bloody Meadow, was short-listed for the Ireland AM Irish Crime Novel of the Year.

 When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

 

Certainly when I was at school - I was lucky enough to know people who made their living from writing when I was growing up so it always seemed possible to me. But I think writing isn't always something you're ready to do earlier in life. I had a brief go at writing screenplays professionally in my early thirties but it wasn't until I was nearly forty that I was able to produce anything decent. Or maybe I was just a slow developer.

What made you chose crime fiction?

 

Ithink it's all about moral choices - and that's interesting for most writers. And I like reading crime fiction, so it's good to be writing something you're enjoying reading at the same time.

What crime novel would you most like to have written?

 

Very difficult - but almost everything Georges Simenon wrote was brilliant.

Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

 

I don't have a favourite author as such - but I certainly love writers like Kazuo Ishiguro, Hilary Mantel and George MacDonald Fraser. I like books that entertain me basically - and keep my mind working at the same time.

What’s the earliest memory you have of writing a story?

I remember writing short stories at primary school - but I'm pleased to say none of them have survived to this day. I can't remember what they were about but I suspect they featured cowboys and knights and so on. Maybe I'll find one in the attic one day and be pleasantly surprised, but I doubt it.

   

If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

 

I'd do whatever I had to, I suppose. I had a lot of dodgy jobs when I was a student - including being a bathroom attendant in a New York nightclub. In fact, I wouldn't mind doing that again - the tips weren't bad and I met some very curious people ...

 

What is your least favorite part of the writing process?

 

I find the time around publication to be pretty stressful. You hope your book will do well but you never know how people receive it until it's out there. The Twelfth Department is coming out on 23rd of May, so I'm a little nervous in the run up.

One record and one book to a desert island, what would you take?

 

It's another tricky one - I'd take the Encyclopaedia Britannica, if that wasn't cheating (and if it still existed) - otherwise the risk of taking a much-loved book and ending up hating it would be quite high, I think. But maybe Anna Karenina - that's a book you could read over and over, I think. As for one record? Maybe Henry Purcell's Rondo from Abdelazar - I'd play it as I made my way down to the beach for my morning swim.

With the rise of ebooks and self publishing, what are your thoughts concerning the current state of the literary world?

 

I'd imagine you get some fairly long and detailed answers to this but I'm afraid all I can say is that, despite all the doom and gloom, I'm optimistic that the publishing industry, which includes indie writers as much as anyone else, will start selling books at price levels which bear some relationship to common sense.

Sum up your latest novel in less than 20 words.

 

A Soviet detective finds himself caught between rival branches of State Security, with his son's life the price of failure.

And, lastly, just for fun..

Have you read or would you ever consider reading 50 Shades of Grey

 

It's not my sort of thing - but I'm not going to judge it. Anyone who manages to finish a novel gets a pat on the back from me. And if they manage to sell as many as EL James has, then I'm delighted for them.

The Roving Eye Reviews The Wicked Girls.

The Wicked Girls - Alex Marwood. 

5/5

I’m going to start this review with a word of warning (which really should be highlighted on the book jacket) and that is, if you chose to read The Wicked Girls, then make sure that all other plans are put firmly on hold, because if ever there was a case for a ‘one sitting’ novel, then you’d have to go a long way to beat this.

The Wicked Girls

Every once in a while a novel comes along that revitalises a genre. In the same way that J.K Rowling did fifteen years ago with Harry Potter and, more recently, Justin Cronin with his horror epic The Passage, Alex Marwood’s story of the death of a young child and the resulting lives of her killers, is currently doing the same for the crime genre.

In 1986 we meet Jade and Annabel, two eleven year old girls from very different walks of life and with very little in common, who are thrown together for one fateful day in which they are responsible for the death of four year old girl. Imprisoned for their crimes and rehabilitated separately, they are finally released on licence with new identities and able to begin new lives.

Skip forward to the present day and we are introduced to the rag bag cast of characters of the Funnland amusement park in the seaside town of Whitmouth. In the grips of a series of vicious attacks on young women, the town has become the focal point for the country’s media and freelance journalist Kirsty Lindsay arrives to report on the case. It is then that her life is turned upside down when a brief encounter with fairground cleaner Amber Gordon threatens to shatter a 25 year secret that both women have tried desperately to protect.

For me, the true strength of this novel comes from Marwood’s expert characterisation. Each and every one, major and minor alike, fizzes from the page jaded and trapped against the backdrop of the shabby glamour of the British seaside in recession hit Britain.  

With the secret of the two main characters being no secret to the reader, and with no real mystery to solve, this in no way detracts from the novel’s power, in fact, it heightens it. The continuing daily struggle that our protagonists face in keeping their terrible secret from family, friends and colleagues as they are unexpectedly thrown together is expertly crafted. Intersperse this with an hour-by-hour account of the happenings on the day the girls met, and you have the makings of a gripping, thought provoking and wonderfully unsettling novel.

The Roving Eye Interviews Kerry Wilkinson

Today's Roving Eye interview is with crime author Kerry Wilkinson. Kerry is one of the UK's most-successful self-published authors with sales of over 250,000 copies of his DS Jessica Daniel series. In February 2013, the fourth Jessica Daniel book, Think of the Children, became Amazon UK's no.1 Kindle pre-order.

When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

 

I never have, really. I still think of myself as a journalist and it's going to take a while to stop thinking that. Even when I'm writing, there are all sorts of other things I'd like to try. I think to just label yourself as a writer and decide that's what you're going to do for ever is a bit limiting. 

What made you chose crime fiction?

Pure accident: it was just an idea that I had, so I started writing it. 

What crime novel would you most like to have written?

I've probably only read half a dozen crime novels in my life. It's not really my thing. I watched Luther on a plane and really enjoyed it, so ended up watching it all from the beginning. Probably that, though I read a lot of comics, so if that counts then Sleeper by Ed Brubaker or Powers by Brian Bendis.

Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

Probably Stan Lee. Nowadays, superheroes are cool and absolutely everywhere - but Stan was the man who came up with all of that stuff when it wasn't cool, alongside people like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. The first 130-odd Spider-Man comics are an incredible read. The pacing teaches you all you might ever want to know about long- and short-term plotting, regardless of what medium you're writing in. Writing twenty pages of comics to tell a singular story, while also writing an arc that can take years to unfold is a very skilful thing to do.

What’s the earliest memory you have of writing a story?

In year two at school, so I would have been six. We had to produce our own hardbacks. I made some mental pattern on a piece of cloth with a cut-up piece of potato and some paint. Some cardboard, sticky-back plastic and crude crayon writing later and it was ready. My mum's probably got it somewhere. 

How do you balance your working life with your writing life?

Well, that's the question I've been asking myself for two years, where I've been essentially doing two full-time jobs. For the most part, I just get on with it. I'm not easily distracted. I figure it out. Live could be worse.

What is your least favorite part of the writing process?

Editing afterwards. When I'm done, I'd be happy never reading a word of it again. I want to get on with the next project. 

One record and one book to a desert island, what would you take?

Frank Turner's England Keep My Bones is an amazing album. I could listen to it all the time and not get bored. I'd have the Alan Partridge autobiography too. I've read it about a dozen times and it's still hilarious.

 

Having successfully navigated the world of self publishing, what advice would you give those thinking of treading the same path?

Being lucky is the first one. There's a lot to be said for being in the right place at the right time. Other than that, just write something you think is cool. If other people like it, then great. If not, then you've already won by doing something for yourself. 

Sum up your latest novel in less than 20 words.

 
Stuff happens, then more stuff, then there's some fire.