THE CRIME SCENE INTERVIEW:

A Day in the life of Joe Konrath

Author of "Whiskey Sour" and "Bloody Mary"

Interview by Pat Mullan

How many times have you picked up a book that you couldn't put down, and then spent all night into the wee small hours with it? Well, if you knew the author, would you want to stay up all night into the wee small hours with him too? No, you wouldn't! Unless that author was Joe Konrath!

I spent not one, but four, days in the life of Joe Konrath at this year's LOVE IS MURDER conference in Chicago. I met him at breakfast that first morning and his wit and satire often made eating impossible. I love satire, something that's almost bred in the bone here in Ireland and Scotland. Not so in the U.S.A. Slapstick rules the roost there. With some notable exceptions: Robin Williams and George Carlin, to name just two. And now I've added the name of Joe Konrath. Oh, he's good at slapstick too. I found that out later in the many roles he played at the conference: facilitator, host, MC, interviewer, raconteur, and of course late night drinker! Yeah, Joe, your secret's out of the closet!

...for the rest of this interview go to CRIME SCENE SCOTLAND:

http://www.crimescenescotland.com/article_ja_konrath_interview_july_aug_2005.htm

                       Ken Bruen and The Killing of the Tinkers

                                             by Pat Mullan

Before we begin, I must confess. I am an addict. Yes, that's right, an addict. A bookaholic. I can not walk past a bookstore. When I'm in Galway you'll find me in Eason's or Kenny's or Charlie Byrne's, often absorbed, intoxicated, in the suspense and thriller shelves. Jack Higgins, James Patterson, Jeffery Deaver, Ken Follett, James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly …….. just some of the sources of my drugs. …….

On one of those days, about two years ago, a most unusual, inauspicious looking volume had squeezed its way in between the Clancys and the Deavers on the shelves at Eason's. I couldn't resist. What addict can resist a new drug? I had never heard of the publisher with the unpromising name: the Do Not Press. And the author's name rang no bells either. Ken Bruen, an unusual name I thought. I browsed the author bio: born in Galway , turned down a place at RADA and then completed an MA in English at Trinity and a PhD in metaphysics, spending the next twenty-five years as an English teacher in Africa, Japan, S.E. Asia and South America, with the added note that he'd been arrested in drunken brawls everywhere from South America to Vietnam! His own story was, in itself, the stuff of thrillers I thought.

Go to BACKSPACE and read the rest of this article here:

http://www.bksp.org/articles_IntKBruen.html

An Argument for Writers' Taking Charge

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