Stuart MacBride, King of Tartan Noir, spoke to HorrorScope's Craig Bezant once again as his sixth Logan McRae novel, 'Dark Blood' (HarperCollins) hits the bookshelves.
Since our interview last year, you have released two novels, ‘Halfhead’ and the very recent Logan McRae novel, ‘Dark Blood’. Your past novel, ‘Broken Skin’ (2007), was also nominated for a 2009 Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award. So, it’s been a busy year.Firstly, we’ll start with your brand new novel. Would you like to elaborate on the premise behind ‘Dark Blood’?‘Dark Blood’ was the first time I’ve ever really taken inspiration from real life. Normally I avoid that like the plague. I’m not really fond of true crime, it makes me feel quite uncomfortable to read it. So I’ve suffered, because lives have been horrifically impacted by this stuff. I’m not fond of it (true crime), whereas in fiction it’s just all made up. But there was this interesting case for ‘Dark Blood’, the case of Stephen Beech. He was described as the most dangerous rapist in Britain. He was convicted on quite horrific counts, served his time, and after that the authorities basically had no control over where he could go.
He got hounded out of his own home and moved around England for a bit. Then he decided he’d had enough of that and wanted to go live by the sea. So the police stuck Beech here in Aberdeen, even though he had no connection whatsoever with the North East of Scotland. And so we just suddenly had this guy who was so dangerous and hated in Britain, who was so likely to reoffend. He had to be supervised 24 hours a day. It ended up costing something like 120 thousand quid a year. We had him for 18 months before he headed off down south again. The police and Sacro, a volunteer agency, did a great job, they made sure he didn’t do anything while he was up here.
So this was the basis that started you writing ‘Dark Blood’?Yes. Well, from a crime novelist’s perspective, that has to go badly wrong, doesn’t it? It had been ticking away in the back of my head for quite a while, this notion that society has no control over you once you leave (prison). Well, what would happen if something went really, badly wrong? And then of course you just have to make it worse, because that’s what crime novels are.
All of your previous novels have started with a murder or crime that sends Logan and his team immediately investigating. ‘Dark Blood’ starts with what we assume is a murder, but this isn’t something that is realised until much later. Instead, the focus is on the arrival of a nasty character, Martin Knox (based on Beech), and the continued fall of Logan. Was this a new angle you wanted to try, or did it just suit the story in your mind?Yes, I was trying to make it more of a police procedural this time, with ‘Dark Blood’. Obviously I didn’t quite make it – it turned back into thriller territory quite rapidly. That was just the way the story took me. I’ve always tried, in my books, to make sure there’s more than one thing happening, to make it a bit more lifelike. Lots of stories just focus on the one case, and then you start another one – that happens a lot on television. But there are a huge number of cases you have to do at the one time. Then I like having not everything starting at the beginning of the book; some stuff finishes at the beginning of the book, some stuff doesn’t start until the middle – I hope to show that this is just a chunk of Logan’s life.
Logan’s ties to the underworld are even tighter in this novel, and he also has to address his increasing alcoholism (carried from ‘Blind Eye’). What made you want to take your main character down this path?Well, I can’t stand it how some books have the big red reset button. You know, you get to the end of the book and all these dreadful things have happened and next time, ‘click’, it’s right back to the start again. That’s the way a lot of television shows are, too. They put a lot in but have no lasting impact. I thought, given what I have put Logan through, especially from ‘Flesh House’ onwards, there had to be consequences to the things that he’s done and the things he’s had done to him.
The book more or less starts in real time, so in the time between the end of ‘Blind Eye’ and the start of ‘Dark Blood’ [6 months], things have happened. Relationships have changed, stuff has moved on.
‘Blind Eye’ was set in summer, now ‘Dark Blood’ is heading to the freezing grips of winter. Is there are preference of seasons to set your novels in? (Do you think cold weather is just better suited to a crime novel?)I quite enjoy winter in Aberdeen. I like rain, snow, wind. These are good things for me. But I like a bit of variety, especially with ‘Blind Eye’ having been such a summery book. The new book [‘Dark Blood’] is set in May, and of course we had sleet here this May.
So, if I could briefly talk about your sci-fi crime novel, ‘Halfhead’. Would you care to explain the origins of ‘Halfhead’ – how this novel, different from your rest, came into being?‘Halfhead’ had been submitted to HarperCollins for quite a while, and in between then I had written two other books. Then HarperCollins said, ‘Yeah, I quite like this – has he written anything else?’ I had just handed in the first draft of ‘Cold Granite’ to my agent, who said ‘Yes, he’s done this...’ ‘Ooh, a crime novel – we’ll have that, thank you.’ So then ‘Halfhead’ was confined to a draw. So it was really nice to finally get it dusted off. Mind you, I did spend about six or seven months rewriting it.
Which put a bit of pressure on your Logan McRae novels?I’m probably still struggling because of it.
Do you feel it was worth it, though?Well, I hope so. It’s been a strangely quiet novel. When I do events, even in Scotland, packed with people who love the [McRae] books, not many have read ‘Halfhead’ – they haven’t heard of it.
Is the sci-fi thriller element something you care to explore again, or something now buried in your past?I always describe it as a near-future thriller rather than a sci-fi, because I got into trouble with that from SFX magazine when they reviewed it. A lot of crime writers won’t try something that they think is science fiction, will not go anywhere near it. I guess, from events that I’ve done, asking people who in the audience has even browsed the science fiction section in their local bookshop, I am lucky to see six hands go up. It is just incredibly difficult to get people past this notion that anything set in the future has to have spaceships and aliens in it. ‘Jurassic Park’ is science fiction. It doesn’t have to be tentacles and tractor beams.
I mean, I would love... I’ve got a plot and a premise, and a title, for the next one, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be allowed to write one.
Now something I didn’t get the chance to ask you in our interview last year was to impart some of your earned wisdom about writing. So firstly, what advice could you give to someone looking to write particularly dark fiction such as yours?Well, I’ve actually been doing a lot of crime writing workshops with Allan Guthrie. Probably the quickest piece of advice I can give is: never take advice from someone whose writing you don’t admire. There’s no point taking advice from your Mum or Auntie unless they write.
And friends who are just going to say it’s good?Yeah, it has to be someone who is going to be honest. I mean, if someone couldn’t sing then you wouldn’t take their advice about singing, would you?
No! Now, what authors would you recommend to others, besides yourself?Well, I would never recommend myself. ‘Oh yes, you should all read me, I’m brilliant.’ [Laughs.] Well, currently, Allan Guthrie – a wonderful writer. He’s the guy I go to for advice. Also, Zoe Sharp. And when I spoke to you last time I’d just got into Joe Abercrombie – it’s well worth it, completely unlike fantasy used to be when I was growing up. And there’s Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Christopher Brookmyre. Slightly further off the beaten track, have you read Charlie Williams? You’re in for a treat. And Ray Banks is another one – two terrific writers.
Do you use the Internet to connect with your readers, or do you prefer physically touring?Well, I don’t blog as often as I used to. Mostly because I’ve become incredibly grumpy, about deadlines and things. I can go online and whinge about my deadlines, or I can just shut up and get on with the actual writing. But it’s always nice to get in touch with people. It’s a very isolating lifestyle, being a writer. You’re on your own in your house all day, for months and months and months. I do enjoy the touring, getting out and seeing people. I certainly took the opportunity last year to come down to New Zealand and Australia. It was absolutely terrific. I would bite their hands off for another chance at that.
Okay, what’s next for Mr MacBride? I know you had an original contract for six books, and now a further four, so where does that leave you now?The four are broken down into a Logan book (2) and a stand-alone book (2). So once I’m finished with the current one I get to try something completely new, which I’m looking forward to. I like Logan, I like the character and all the rest, but... if you eat the same thing all the time, then eventually you start to crave beans on toast. I’ve been living with these guys for seven and a half, eight years now. I think we need to see other people [Laughs].
Last time I saw you, you said how much fun you had writing a novella, ‘Sawbones’. Are you thinking about doing something like that again?Well, there is a plan for getting together and maybe collaborating on one. That might be quite fun, as well, to actually work with somebody else for a change. But that’s not going to be at least until I finish this book before I even start writing.
We’re still making Blood as well. We recorded a trailer for ‘Dark Blood’ that’s up on YouTube, and we went slightly over the score, shall we say. You know, the norm is you maybe get a bit of one scene with a cheesy voiceover and the book cover, and that’s it. But I think we had to do something like 52 separate shots, locking together dozens of scenes. It wouldn’t have taken a lot more effort to actually film the damn thing – a fifteen minute short, some really nasty crime fiction.
Lastly, when can we expect to see you back in Australia?I have no idea. As I said, I would love to come back – one of my favourite places I’ve ever visited. I think it’s going to be one of those cases where HarperCollins will look at how many books get sold, and if it gets to a certain number they will send me back. So everybody has to buy more books!
Thank you very much, Stuart, for taking time out of your busy schedule for this interview. Great to talk to you again.
Stuart MacBride is also the Programming Head Chair for this year’s Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival (22-25 July, Harrogate).Interview by Craig Bezant
Aurealis 43 showcases the efforts of some of the country’s brightest up and coming speculative fiction writers, as well as a couple of genre stalwarts, in this cracking edition.
