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January Murder with McBain
February Murder with McBain
Rob Holden: Hello Evan, and welcome to the March edition of Murder with McBain.
Ed McBain: Hi, Natalie and Rob, happy to be here again.
Rob Holden: First off, how was the vacation -- or are you still on the beach?
Ed McBain: I'm here, forty degrees or so. Big change, from sunny and eighty.
Natalie Collins: Brrrrrr.
Rob Holden: Well, the Groundhog hosed us again, so we have a bit more of this to go.
Ed McBain: Should have stayed down there a while. Me, not the groundhog.
Natalie Collins: I am ready for summer!
Rob Holden: THIS month, Evan, I thought it might be a good idea to talk about Evan Hunter and Ed McBain.
Natalie Collins: Ah, two fascinating men.
Ed McBain: Good idea. And thanks, Nat.
Rob Holden: And the differences between them -- set the record straight, as it were.
Ed McBain: And about time!
Rob Holden: So let's start at the beginning -- where did Ed McBain come from?
Ed McBain: The name? Out of the blue. The motivation? My publishers told me I would ruin my career as a "serious novelist" if it became known I was also writing mysteries.
Rob Holden: Your career as Evan Hunter?
Ed McBain: Yes. I had written The Blackboard Jungle and Second Ending before the first 8-7 came out.
Natalie Collins: And how did YOU feel about it?
Ed McBain: I felt they were wiser, older men, and knew what they were taking about. I was only 30!
Natalie Collins: I can understand that, but how do you feel about now? Knowing what you know about this business?
Ed McBain: I think they were right. I think the moment it became known that Evan Hunter and Ed McBain were one and the same, the critical climate changed.
Rob Holden: In what way?
Ed McBain: Well, you know how critics are always saying, "This is very good... for genre fiction." Well, if McBain is writing genre, how good can Hunter be?
Natalie Collins: So, do you regret that it became common knowledge?
Ed McBain: I regret that critics can be so stupid. One critic reviewed The Moment She was Gone as a bad suspense novel. Some surprise, since it wasn't a suspense novel at all. I know how to write suspense, kiddies!
Natalie Collins: How reliant on reviews do you really think the general public is?
Ed McBain: I don't think a bad review can kill a book -- but a rave on the front page of the Times Book Review can't hurt!
Rob Holden: So, in essence, are you saying that Evan Hunter has suffered from critics who expect to read Ed McBain in a Hunter novel?
Ed McBain: I think, for the most part, the McBain books get wonderful reviews. For the Hunters, it's a crap shoot each time out.
Rob Holden: Let's go back a bit -- I was trying to think about this earlier, and I can't remember a time when I didn't know that Evan Hunter and Ed McBain were the same guy. When did the world find out, and how did it happen?
Ed McBain: I think it was when the books went hardcover. That would've been Killer's Wedge, the seventh book in. Until then, it was a secret.
Rob Holden: And that would have been the mid-fifties?
Natalie Collins: Who told?
Ed McBain: 1958 and we did, actually, because the reviews were so very good, we didnšt think it could hurt Hunter.
Natalie Collins: And do you regret that now?
Ed McBain: I think what happened was this: the literati began thinking, "Oh, this guy writes mysteries." The mystery writers began thinking, "Oh, this guy is just slumming." I had a foot in each camp, and therefore in neither.
Natalie Collins: One thing I've noticed since we've been doing these chats is that you have a very loyal fan base. Do they cross over, and appreciate both writers, or do you find they read one or the other?
Ed McBain: Some cross over. Most are McBain fans, I would judge from my web site.
Natalie Collins: Who do you give more credence to -- reviewers, or your readers?
Ed McBain: I don't know any writer who reads reviews except to get lines he can quote in an ad.
Rob Holden: Evan, in 2000 you brought Hunter and McBain together for Candyland -- can you tell us a bit about why you decided to do that?
Ed McBain: Primarily to show the difference between the two writers. The content, the style, the themes.
Rob Holden: The story was amazing, and the contrast between the two styles made the book a lot of fun. Are you going to do it again?
Ed McBain: No, I don't think so. It was hard work, and I'm not even sure it made the point. Also, it was sort of like showing off.
Natalie Collins: Do you have a preference for the books written under either name?
Ed McBain: I love them equally. It's easier to write an 8-7 because I know the characters so well. With an Evan Hunter, they're all new people I'm meeting for the first time. And the style changes each time out, to suit the theme.
Rob Holden: I wanted to ask about that, actually. The 8-7 novels are, I think, the longest running series written by one person in fiction history, and yet you have never, to my recollection, returned to characters you created as Hunter. Is there a reason for that?
Ed McBain: Well, I did once. Last Summer and Come Winter both have the same trio. But I think in an Evan Hunter novel, I've said everything there is to say about a particular theme in any given book. In the 8-7s, there's always another angle on crime and punishment.
Rob Holden: So I guess that means we aren't going to see what happens with Andy and Annie from Moment, huh?
Ed McBain: No, that's all I had to say in a somewhat flawed book. But it was the best I could do when I wrote it.
Rob Holden: Okay ... I have to ask (since I loved it) -- what makes you say Moment was flawed?
Ed McBain: If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have used the flashback approach. I'd have told it from beginning to end, chronologically.
Natalie Collins: For what reason?
Ed McBain: An old adage in the movie business is "flashback is death." I should have listened. People find it hard to jump back and forth.
Rob Holden: Okay -- back to Hunter vs. McBain ....
Ed McBain: Sounds like a law suit.
Rob Holden: Do your habits change depending on which writer you are? Your writing habits, or schedule, etc?
Ed McBain: No, it's always the same old, same old. To work at nine or ten, quit at five or six, try to get my eight or ten pages a day.
Natalie Collins: Do you wear different clothes, or hats, to get into the writing persona?
Ed McBain: Always the same old shabby work pants and sweater.
Rob Holden: Which kind of novel do you enjoy writing more?
Ed McBain: I really LOVED writing HARK!, which I delivered just before we went off to Tortola. But that was the Deaf Man, and he's always a hoot!
Rob Holden: In general, do you prefer working on a McBain or a Hunter? Or doesn't it matter.
Ed McBain: I'll tell you, it's always nice to know that at the other end of the process, a good review is waiting. Therešs more I have to prove with each Hunter, so that makes it harder.
Natalie Collins: But does the challenge that comes with "being" Hunter make you strive harder?
Ed McBain: It's more like an actor paying a role. The 16-year-old narrator of Last Summer is very different from the blind narrator in Streets of Gold. The "voice" is different each time. In the 8-7's, the hidden voice is always McBain's. He's the narrator, not Carella or any of the characters. Does that make sense to you?
Natalie Collins: Yes, it does.
Rob Holden: Let's talk about a bit about the future, since it will be a few years yet before you hit 109 ... you have averaged three or four McBains for every one Hunter novel you publish. Do you think this trend is going to continue in the foreseeable future?
Ed McBain: I don't now what's next frankly. Išve just finished an 8-7, and I'm waiting for Dina's pages on Letšs Talk, so I can deliver that. I'd like to write the mother of all anti-war novels -- an Evan Hunter, but I've done three of those already, and they don't seem to have slaked the human taste for blood, so I don't really know. Got to deliver the throat book first, then I'll see.
Rob Holden: Just out of curiosity, if there was only ONE thing specifically that people who read this chat today could understand as being the difference between Evan Hunter and Ed McBain, what would you like that one thing to be?
Ed McBain: I suppose I'd want them to know we're both serious about what we do. Neither of us write down, but I think they should know that we tackle different themes. McBain writes mysteries, and there are mystery rules to follow. Hunter plays in a different ball park.
Rob Holden: The important thing, I suppose, is that BOTH keep stepping up to the plate.
Ed McBain: I suppose so. A writer can't be afraid, you know. Afraid to think, afraid to express, afraid to expose himself. If there was one thing I had to tell any new writer, it would be "Be brave. Trust yourself."
Rob Holden: Well, I see that Mickey's big hand is on his .38, and his little hand is on the Patriot Act, so I think it's about time to wrap this up for this month.
Ed McBain: So soon?
Rob Holden: Evan, as Carol Burnett used to sing: "Seems we just get started and before you know it comes the time we have to say so long." As always, it has been a pleasure!
Ed McBain: Shall I tug on my ear?
Natalie Collins: And until next time...Goodnight everybody!
Rob Holden: As long as you don't tug on mine!
Ed McBain: Ha! So when's the next one?
Rob Holden: Next month, and we shall be talking about ... well, let's let the readers decide! Send your suggestions for topics to readersroom2@aol.com.
Ed McBain: And who is Mickey?
Rob Holden: Mouse or Spillane -- take your pick!
Ed McBain: Is there a real Mickey there?
Rob Holden: Yes, but my cats have him cornered. See you next month Evan!
Natalie Collins: You know, big ears, long tail... See you next month!
Ed McBain: See you Nat, Rob and everybody!
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