Anyway here are the interviews:
With the charming Arminta Wallace in The Irish Times. (the photograph to the right comes from that article, taken by Brenda Fitzsimons)
With me old partner in crime Dec Burke in The Irish Examiner.
I did a long and interesting (at least to me) interview with AP Maginness in The Irish News, but alas that one has been paywalled. If you're an Irish News subcriber you can read it at their website, here.
An interview with the excellent Jon Page of Bite the Book, here.
For the first time ever, I also had a TV interview on RTE's The Works. The RTE Player is available, here. And perhaps as some kind of sop to the diaspora it works in Australia and presumably throughout the world (unlike the BBC iplayer). I'm on the same show as Kevin Spacey which is pretty cool, although, of course, I didn't get to meet him.
All these links will probably die in a few weeks so get 'em while they're hot, if for some eccentric reason you're in need of a McKinty fix.
61 comments:
And the really patient reader will one day benefit from the Bookwitch interview, with photos much jollier than the one seen here. While you lot are waiting, I am having great fun with Adrian, and I will prune away only the 'you knows' of which there are far too many.
Great Interview on RTE .The interspersing of actual montage with your reading was very dramatic.Although you said life went on surely that tilt car bomb and the smoke must have been traumatic.When you write do you actually remember events that you witnessed or do you create totally new events and paint with your mind and pen .After seeing "Bloody Sunday" this era becomes more real. Your statements in one interview about ethical dilemmas re: Legal Aid shielding the guilty speaks volumes. Whether you kill off Duffy or not the most fascinating character is you being so engaged.Well done Adrian.Alan New Mexico .P.S. Former High School Teacher Hell's Kitchen New York
It is fun making shit up.. only thing is you have to remember it for future interviews...
Miss Witch,
And I shall of course link.
Yes please do remove the you knows and the Uhhhs that must be very tedious to listen to and would be even more bloody tedious to read.
Alan
I cant actually comment on that because I dont listen to my radio interviews and I'll never watch that TV one. But I imagine they did a good job because they were very professional.
Deb
Thats my problem. I cant remember what I said this morning never mind being a consistent pathological liar. Might be fun but I dont think I could pull it off...
These are all good (except the one you pay to read, I am a skinflint...).
Write your own screenplays (as I have said before).. the Dead trilogy would be great, as would these latest books. You'd get loads of reaction, not least the whingers complaining about the violence. ( I must admit to feeling a bit sick when I read the kneecapping scene).
But then I did nearly pass out on a ghost walk around York.. what a wimp..
Bit of shit to add into your next interview: You met John Delorean on your schooltrip, he ruffled your hair..
Deb
Not ambitious enough. I met DeLorean on my school trip and he liked the cut of my jib and gave me an internship on the spot and then it was all "Adrian we need a place to land a cocaine boat" this and "Burn these files, the FBI are on my tail" that.
Good, good, miles better than mine - I was trying to be believable (weak excuse).
I was blethering on local radio this morning, in the run-up to the 'king in a carpark story' news conference.
The wags are already having a field day - see http://tompride.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/atos-declare-richard-iii-fit-for-work/
Deb
Thats a BIG story. Front page of the New York Times.
Hi, I get to do my bit for the glory of "IHTHS." I was absolutely, I guess, stunned by the end of the book. I was also filled with admiration for ability to blend fact and fiction, and just how well you write. I was also frustrated because there isn't any more McKinty to read until 2014, which seems very far away. I really like your willingness to be outrageous. what can I say, you are no. 1 in my book.
Lil
2014 seems too close to me! I have an entire book to write, edit and copyedit by then! Frankly its terrifying!
Thank you for the kind words on Sirens....
I'm not involved in the RIII research - just Stoke has its own hideously battered skelly - local abbey contained the body of someone who had been sliced. Looks like it was Hugh Despenser the Younger, lover of Edward II, who was executed for treason. See http://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/research/Projects/arch-ML-hugh-despenser.aspx
Deb
Off topic but one of the many many many reasons to hate the film Braveheart was the gleeful homophobic portrayal of EII and Hugh. Mel Gibson seems to be quite the reactionary, racist, anti-semitic thug of a man.
I enjoyed the TV interview, and it was nice to put more of a face with the blogger/author.
I have to say, I'm enjoying I hear the Sirens in the Street, and I'm looking forward to the next one, but if you leave us up in the air again like with Killian I may have to scream. I'm still going around in circles with my husband when the mood strikes as to weather he lived or died.
Glenna
Oh no there will definitely be resolution to the Duffy saga one way or another. He'll either die or find a girl or otherwise have closure, that I promise.
Dont forget to leave me a review on Amazon if you get the chance. That seems to be my only way of getting any reviews in America these days as none of the newspaper reviewers or even many bloggers have deigned to look at the book!
I haven't even been able to get the book yet. Book Depository has let me down.
You appear to have stolen the me-me-me meme from Declan Burke. Not that any of us mind you guys promoting your books.
Seana
Coincidence rather than homage.
Amazon might be a better bet?
Done.
I watched the TV interview and you have nothing to worry about. You don't even seem cantankerous.
The one I am really looking forward to, however, is Bookwitch's.
TV interview? God, that must have been frightening
Maybe, but he doesn't look at all nervous, Swooperman.
Swooper, Seana
It was with Mick Heaney, who, of course, is Seamus Heaney's son. Like I say I havent seen it and won't see it, but the atmosphere was very typically Irish and therefore pretty darn relaxed unlike the BBC which was quite nerve wracking.
He did seem a pleasant sort. Especially for a famous poets son. Glad to know that extra tidbit.
TV work depends on the folks you work with, says someone who has done a fair bit of TV - some of it live (aaargh). Just before Xmas we gave a press conference, and I was set up for interview with our regular regional BBC TV person, didn't realise she was covering for someone, wondered why we hanging around. She said, oh, we are going out live on BBC World and then live on BBC News Channel! I was also on Radio 4, Radio 5 Live, BBC six o'clock and ten o'clock news.. treasure eh? Folks can't get enough of it.
Someone did a screengrab of the few seconds I was on screen. I look like Mrs Mad from Madsville...
And yes Adrian, Braveheart is horrendous in many ways, just don't get me started - I think I have ranted on one of your posts before about that execrable film!
Deb
There are two types of people who like Braveheart: naive fools and deluded idiots. Rarely has a film made me more irritated and I walked out fifteen minutes before the end.
Stewart Lee on Braveheart:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybQCNb4AuW4
part 2 of Stewart Lee's Braveheart bit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuLSoyn-OBM
And homophobes! And big wig-n- woad lovers... How come you lasted that long? (Rubbish films always seem very, very long) ... I will look at the links, thanks
Good interviews. I was having a bit of a think on the subject of why your fictional treatment of the Troubles has been problematic for some people. In the UK it seems obvious that the subject brings up bad memories, but in North America I think people just don't know who to root for in any fictionalized representation of that time. Americans (more so than we Canadians) are caught between a sentimental love of all things "Oirish" and an equal affection for the Britain of Churchill/the Special Relationship/Royalty etc. Most crime/thriller fiction provides easy and obvious villains. The Troubles challenges that paradigm. On a side note, I recently read that Johnny Carson was one of the suckers who backed DeLorean's plant in Belfast and even made a trip there. I'd pay good money to read about Duffy running into Carson. And I forgot to add this to discussion about the NFL. It's something I wrote about NFL owners back in September.
Deb and Adrian
I slept through Braveheart.
Adrian
Enjoyed the Wallace, Burke, and Page interviews. Couldn't access the others.
In photos, you and K. Spacey could be brothers.
Was it intimidating, creating Sean Duffy? Or did his perspective come naturally?
What's it like when NI writers from diverse backgrounds get together?
We Americans are really too busy watching Downton Abbey to bother thinking about Ireland at all. Well, except for the radical chauffeur guy.
I liked your post, Cary. Americans are a weird mix of wanting to think of themselves as beyond class, but of course somehow having the skybox too.
Cary
You might have a point about that. I've always suspected that the Irish American community was a little bit un nuanced in terms of their literary tastes judging from the books that I used to sell in barnes and noble. I did think that times were changing though and TCCG had a chance of connecting with America on a deeper or wider level than my previous books, but, alas, I've been proved wrong so far.
Seana
That rebel Irishman on Downton Abbey is such an Uncle Tom caricature. I knew all along that - potential spoiler alert - he would secretly grow to respect and love those jolly decent upper class English oligarchs.
I wonder how successful Downton Abbey would be if the dripping, pervasive racism and anti-semitism of the real upper classes at that time period was accurately potrayed?
Kate
The TV should work. It works in Oz. But then again, I think you've had your McKinty fix.
I don't know that there is really any need for a spoiler alert for Downton Abbey, because you can predict everything.
I don't know that you can really call the chauffeur an Uncle Tom, though. I haven't seen his reconciliation, but no matter what, he has hit the privileged class where it hurts. To his own sorrow, sure, but supposedly, that's the cost of attacking the Establishment.
I was looking at that NYT piece and I have to say, the shape of that poor man's spine was pitiful, no matter where your loyalties lie. Also, my mom was an advocate of Richard III, so I have to hope that the claims for Richard's reclamation hold up.
I'm also wondering what other readers here might think of Lucky Jim, which I just finished reading.
Seana
I liked Lucky Jim. I thought it was very funny esp, of course, the meltdown speech. I havent read a whole lot of Kingsley Amis but I've got a lot of affection for 3 of his novels: Lucky Jim, The Old Devils and a strange little sci fi novel no one's read called The Alteration which is set in an alternate medieval clerified 1970s England haunted by an alternative history novel written by a man called Philip K Dick.
I have a very ambivalent feeling about the book. On the one hand, I understand the frustration of the character. But on the other, I have a strong feeling that if I was cast to play a role in it, I would be playing the obstacle female Margaret, which sets me against it a bit. Also, I went to college with some Lucky Jim types and they were note my favorite people. There is also a feeling that men think they are entitled to more acclaim based on less accomplishment than women do, which is a problem. Another problem is that in his letters to his pal, and yours, Philip Larkin, he takes a jab at Tolkien as a teacher, which may be just, but all the same, Tolkien contributed more than he has, and he was blind not to have seen this. It's a young man's flaw, but I don't entirely excuse him on account of that.
Seana
Is it still funny though? Funny excuses a lot in my book.
It is, and also just in its targets in some ways, which is why I'm ambivalent.
Adrian et al,Downton Abbey certainly is no "Upstairs Downstairs" and appeals to an audience who feel kinship to the spate of Jane Austin sagas.The class consciousness and hostility that made such drama in Upstairs has by now dissolved into lovable Aristos who try to uphold some priority and ethical standards against the rapacious "Mammon" loving new classes lurking in the backround.The Irish nationalist may never learn to love big brother but he has learned to at least respect his betters.PBS is imperiled in the States and will if possible strive for a wider audience rather than stir the post 9/11 pot.I am still grateful it exists.It appears that class focus and controversy has fallen to the mystery writers.Thanks and Best Alan
I was enjoying a quiet early afternoon breakfast right after I posted my reply to your Musil comment when a neighbor I run into every few months walked into the restaurant. I'd recommended a bunch of crime novels when he'd met previously, and here was his report:
"I really liked that McKinty guy, the Sean Duffy novel, the first one of the trilogy. I'd been looking for someone like that Ken Bruen, but I hadn't found anybody."
So you have a fan here in South Philadelphia.
Seana
Well Amis was a dyspeptic, unpleasant man, a borderline racist, a misogynist etc. His letters to and from Larkin are a time capsule of Daily Telegraph views from the 1950
s.
Alan
I understand the ethical dilemma. PBS is a good that we would be poorer without. Downton Abbey brings viewers to PBS so it therefore is in the service of a higher calling.
I can't bring myself to like the programme however. I see it as ruling class propaganda written by a man whose heart is definitely not in the right place.
Peter
Thats how you get 'em one reader at a time. Of course it will be too late for me as I quit "the business" disillusioned and in penury.
No I was quasi serious over there in twitter land, I'd love to do a DBB interview at some point.
Adrian you are quite right that indeed it is ruling class tripe,there is no "Dr.Finlay,or Saturday Night Sunday Morning " in my country of "Exceptionalism." The dream of a better world seems to be dissolving into holding onto Medicare and Social Security.Yes ,you are right there could be much more. Even the British version Of House Of Card sends a powerful message about the dangers of Class and Power whereas the American version though well done has rid itself of any ideological message.Best Alan
Alan,thanks for making the distinction between Upstairs, Downstairs and this current fare, because I was beginning to doubt my memory. I was heartened to hear one of my friends and coworkers say that this season is terrible, which for me is better late than never.
As for Lucky Jim, well, I can see why it was like a thunderbolt to complacency in its day, but it isn't as funny to an American reading it in 2013 as it would have been in its day, or perhaps to anyone who had been through the British school system.Unlike Wodehouse, or quite a lot of other British comedy. What's interesting to me is that Kingsley solved Jim's dilemma by writing the novel and so had a similar deux ex machina moment.
Alan
I'm on part 6 of House of Cards. I'm afraid its not half as much fun as the original. Kevin Spacey underplays(!) the lead, indeed he seems sleepy and disengaged. This a Richard III role that should be campy and over the top and delicious, but, as I say, its not. I dont know what they were thinking.
Seana
Maybe try The Old Devils and then give up K Amis. Life's too short.
Okay. I'll give that one a try at some point.
I wasn't going to watch this House of Cards because I liked the first one so much, but decided to give it a go. It isn't as good--I think you'd have to have someone like Mitch McConnell play our protagonist to make it work in the same way. But it isn't bad so I'll keep going.
Oh yes, and we do all need a DBB interview please.
Dear Adrian - this is another one here (Adrian, that is - Hyland, your fellow Melburnian writer)
I never get round to posting things on-line, but I did so want to compliment you on the Sean Duffy books. Received the first for Christmas, raced through it and went out and bought the second. They are quite brilliant - witty, engaging, shot through with moments of real poetry.
Congratulations.
Warmest regards (literally - you're lucky to be overseas right now -bloody hot in our city, especially when you live where I do, ringed with fire)
Adrian
http://www.litographs.com/products/alice-t
There are several of these 'complete books on a teeshirt' - just imagine a McKinty special!
I have read 'Lucky Jim' and 'The Green Man', but no other Amis... I am just not keen, don't know why.
I have been reading Ellie Griffiths crime novels - 'starring' forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway - my comfort zone on a cold winter evening...
Adrian
Thank you SO much for the kind words! These books mean a lot to me personally so its nice to get the feedback.
Yup we've been back in St Kilda for about 2 weeks and apart from one scorcher its been quite pleasant really.
I imagine country Victoria is a different story, surrounded by tinder. The day we flew in we could see three different fires scattered around Melbourne.
Anyway Adrian again many thanks and if anyone out there hasnt read Adrian Hyland's wonderful, lyrical, Emily Tempest novels, well, now is the time to begin!
Deb
Those t shirts are fantastic. It would be a total godsend if you were ever taken hostage in Beirut or awaiting trial in a third world country.
Yes, er, that is how my mind works.
Seana
I believe the problem with House of Cards is because Spacey has been playing Richard III on stage for the last year and therefore couldnt face playing a kind of Richard III on House of Cards too. But that is exactly what House of Cards requires: a campy, joyous, over the top, villain who likes being a villain. Making him vulnerable, meek and lacking in authority was a major mistake.
Yeah - reading a book in unusual circumstances stays with you. I read 'Heart of Darkness' in Pisco and Nazca, Peru. I read most of 'Germinal' in Pinochet's Chile.. the border police got it out of my rucksack as we crossed from Peru. They looked at it closely (as they did all our books), and asked me if it was a work of a political nature. I kept a completely straight face when I said no. They let me keep it. But plainclothes chaps with handcuffs dangling from their back pockets followed us around Arica.
I have to say that that image of poor Richard's spine gave me a great deal of sympathy for him. My Mom was always a champion of his after reading Josephine Tey's book, so I have to hope that that Richard the Third society is right and he will prove to have been much maligned.
Deb
Kudos for reading Germinal. I couldnt finish that one. Nostromo might have been more appropriate though in Pinochet's Chile.
Seana
Is that the same Richard III Society who say that the crooked back thing is Tudor propaganda?
Yes, they did! Bet they've removed that from the website now.
Well, in checking out their current website, they talk about how the Tudors used the deformity to preach his evilness. Whether this was always the line, I don't know.
Being lefthanded, and also having had a touch of scoliosis in my youth, I know how easily these rumors get started. Okay, actually I don't, but I can still empathize.
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