October Murder with McBain
November Murder with McBain
ReadersRoom: Welcome to Decemberšs edition of Murder with McBain. Howdy Evan!
Ed McBain: Hi there.
ReadersRoom: This month, we will be doing a free-for all, and we have tons of questions but ....
Ed McBain: Uh-oh. But what?
ReadersRoom: Since I'm the interviewer, I get to ask mine first!
Ed McBain: Phew.
ReadersRoom: How is Hark! coming?
Ed McBain: I'm on page 198, hope to hit 200 before I quit this afternoon.
ReadersRoom: Is it coming along the way you wanted it to?
Ed McBain: I think so. It's the Deaf Man, you know. Lots of twists and turns and things to dope out as I (and the cops) go along.
ReadersRoom: Evan, do you ever find out that it's not going along as you wanted, and yet it's better?
Ed McBain:Oh yes, many times. The problem with the Deaf Man is that he's figured everything out in advance. So I have to play sort of catch-up with him.
ReadersRoom:Ah, one of those wise guys.
Ed McBain: Too damn wise, you ask me!
ReadersRoom: Our first reader question is from our old friend JP.
Ed McBain: Hello there, JP.
ReadersRoom: How come that Hill Street Blues (pardon my French), NYPD Blue,
The Shield...and other police series do so well on the TV screen and the 87th Precinct has not? Could it be that in our case -- our case -- it's because NOTHING CAN BEAT THE NOVELS? (And also there was a lack of FUN in these shows.)
Ed McBain: No, it's because CRIME PAYS, JP, CRIME PAYS.
ReadersRoom: We have a few questions from our friend Victoria.
Ed McBain: Hi, Vicster!
ReadersRoom: From your newsletters, it looks like you might be on another signing tour soon (make sure Orion lets you come to the UK!). Over the years, you must have been to a lot of places and met a lot of fans. What's been your nicest/funniest /strangest experience (please feel free to tell us how you met your lovely wife at a signing!)
Ed McBain: Oh dear, that's a long story. I write about it at length in the memoir I'm doing abut my lost larynx. Regarding the tours -- a short tri-state one for Bandersnatch, a big one for Hark! next August. I hope I'll be coming to the UK, too. Funniest experience was in Dallas when I jokingly said Bert Kling would have an affair with Teddy! The shop nearly exploded.
ReadersRoom: More from Victoria. You have two novels in the UK's "Crime Masterworks" series published here in the UK by Orion -- Sadie When She Died and Ice. Which 87th Precinct books do you consider to be your best?
Ed McBain: I like Ice a lot. I also like Long Time No See. $$$, too. But I always tend to like the most recent one best.
ReadersRoom: Would that be the last one published? Or the one you are working on now?
Ed McBain: Usually the last one published. Because I don't know how the one I'm working on will turn out. It may be lousy. Bite your tongue, Evan! But, you know, the 8-7 novels -- despite their continuing characters and identical locale -- are all so very different, one from the other. I mean, how can one equate Fat Ollie's Book with Big Bad City? Impossible. I guess I love them all. They're all my kids, you see.
ReadersRoom: You've written that you feel The Moment She Was Gone is one of your best books. Do you think you'll ever write a follow up about just what happens to the characters there? Having read other people's suggestions on your website, it would be nice to hear what you think happened!
Ed McBain: I would like to believe that Annie has been saved. I would like to believe she's on her way to mental health. I hope that's the case. I fell in love with the girl when I was writing about her.
ReadersRoom: Don't you want to go back and revisit them to see if she is saved, or would that be too hard, should it turn out she isn't?
Ed McBain: I tend to think I've said everything about any particular characters once the book is finished. I did write a sequel to Last Summer, however, and the personal stories in the 8-7s are all sequels in a way.
ReadersRoom: Last one from Victoria -- Any chance of seeing Stanley the dog again?? Go on, you know you want to bring him back!
Ed McBain: I think he got run over by a cab driver. There go all my dog-lover readers.
ReadersRoom: Poor Stanley! Okay -- our next couple of questions are from our friend Richard RDS.
Ed McBain: Poor me -- re the dogs, not RDS. Hi, Richard!
ReadersRoom: Evan -- do you sometimes fear, when drafting a plot and a "solution" that "This might be too easy for my readers to figure out?" Are you sometimes tempted to introduce more complexities because of this? (Not that I ever "saw it coming," mind you...)
Ed McBain: I get reviews saying they figured it out on page one. I don't know how since I usually haven't figured it out myself until I'm deep into the book. Anyway, am I trying to trick the reader here? Or take him on a great ride?
ReadersRoom: Sometimes, knowing the answer isn't the answer.
Ed McBain: That's the case with the Deaf Man. You think you've got him pegged, but oh boy are you wrong!
ReadersRoom: And sometimes, it's not the who, but the why.
Ed McBain: The why is all-important.
ReadersRoom: And also from Richard: Do you not have any ambitions in respect to "producer" or "director" roles involving any of your books, since you could guarantee to do justice to your characters this way?
Ed McBain: Producer? Never! Director? Boring! Besides, no one's asked me.
ReadersRoom: Screenwriter, maybe?
Ed McBain: In fact, no one's even asked me to write a screenplay nowadays.
ReadersRoom: Okay -- and here is another from JP. If and when you got an idea, any idea -- I know you have lots -- in the period of writing one novel, (or two, as you explained), do you try to put them all -- or most of them -- in the novel you're writing, or do you stow away some ideas for future novels?
Ed McBain: Hmmm. I tend to write down titles when they come to me, because they often serve as springboards to a story or a novel. I don't start thinking abut the next project until I'm almost finished with the one I'm on. Then it starts growing in my mind, so that when I'm finished with a), I'm ready to move on to b). Is that at all clear?
ReadersRoom: As a matter of fact, yes! Next, we have a question from Gert in Stuttgart, Germany.
Ed McBain: Hey, Gert, how are you?
ReadersRoom: As Ed McBain you are an expert in writing about crimes. But what is your personal experience with crime? Have you ever been mugged, robbed, defrauded? Obviously you weren't murdered. Can you tell us something about some real-life crooks you've met?
Ed McBain: I've never even been burglarized -- a miracle since I've lived in and around NYC all my life. I don't think I've had a fist fight since I was twelve. I've met many criminals -- including murderers on my visits to various prisons doing research. They're just like you and me. It's just they think crime is the solution and not the problem.
ReadersRoom: Are there any who stand out especially?
Ed McBain: Yeah, a guy who'd murdered his wife and was editing the newspaper at San Quentin. Nice quiet guy, I felt certain he'd never kill again. I often wonder if he ever got out.
ReadersRoom: Our next question is from Kevin in New Haven: This might be a stupid question but, after over 50 years, how to you keep from getting tired of writing?
Ed McBain: Hi, Kevin. You're right around the corner. Tired? I would drop dead tomorrow if I couldn't write again. I love it -- every minute of it. It keeps me happy, it keeps me young. Tired? No -- energized!
ReadersRoom: From Tyrell in Brooklyn: Do you ever ride around with real cops, or hang out in the precinct, and if so, is your research what makes your details and dialogue so realistic? If not, how do you "do" cops so well?
Ed McBain: I don't anymore. I used to when I was researching the books, and again later, when I worked on the pilots of several proposed TV shows. I decided it wasn't too healthy when some guys started shooting in an alleyway, and I was the only one there without a gun.
ReadersRoom: Scary!
Ed McBain: Tell me about it!
ReadersRoom: I bet that allowed you to pump some adrenaline into scenes like that, though!
Ed McBain: I think so. You know, whenever Carella looks down at a dead body on the sidewalk, I remember the first time I saw one in Spanish Harlem while I was researching a play there. This later turned out to be See Them Die.
ReadersRoom: Very apt title. From Phil in Lansdowne, PA: Hi Mr. McBain. Have you ever considered working in a genre other than mystery? Like science fiction or horror?
Ed McBain: Some of the first novels I wrote were science fiction for young adults. Three of them in fact. Then I wrote an adult science fiction novel titled Tomorrow and Tomorrow, the only really good science fiction I ever wrote. Horror, no. Never tempted.
ReadersRoom: From Frank in Toledo: Do you have any New Year's resolutions?
Ed McBain: To stay alive!
ReadersRoom: Good one!
Ed McBain: I promised my wife I'd be here till I'm 92!
ReadersRoom: And I have one more question, if I might. How is Let's Talk coming?
Ed McBain: I've finished with my part. I've asked my wife Dragica to interject her thoughts and feelings. This way we have what the wife of the victim -- I hate that word--was going through. I think that's a good idea, don't you?
ReadersRoom: I think that's a great idea! Well Evan, I see that Mickey's hand is on his .38 Special, so I think it's time to wrap this up for this month.
Ed McBain: Who's Mickey? Spillane?
ReadersRoom: Or Mouse. If he's packing, I'm listening!
Ed McBain: Me too, pal!
ReadersRoom: Next month, our topic will be ... well, we'll just let our readers decide that!
Ed McBain: Same time, same place.
ReadersRoom: Send your topics to Murder with McBain at ReadersRoom2@aol.com. And Evan, a very happy Thanksgiving to you! And to all our readers.
Ed McBain: Same to you and all of you out there. Our nicest holiday, I think.
ReadersRoom: See you next time!
Ed McBain: Adios!
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