I am very excited today to have Tom Piccirilli in interview. After reading EVERY SHALLOW CUT and THE LAST KIND WORDS, I had many questions that I was dying to ask him. Yesterday, I had the privilege to ask them and he has been more kind, generous and earnest in his answers that I could've ever wish. THE LAST KIND WORDS will be released on June 12th. Pre-Order your copy, because this will be very popular. This is my book of the year so far and it will be on many reviewer's year end list. In the meantime, get to know Tom Piccirilli a little more...
The profession of writing has always been very romanticized. "Everybody has a best-seller in them", "This is the best job in the world", etc. You've been openly critical about being a career writer. What would you say to a young soul who wants to write for a living?
I would tell him that it's a harder job than he could ever fathom. It takes you to places inside yourself you might not ever be able to get back from. It hurts, digging that deep. The financial instability, the disappointments, the loneliness tend to mount up day in and out, year by year. Writing isn't really a thing you choose to do. You don't decide to become a writer. You either are or you aren't. But be prepared. Be cautious. Chasing your dream, any dream really, is like chasing a tiger into the jungle. You could be lost, you could be eaten. But you follow because that's the thing you do.
You've made a lot of material available through the Kindle Store over the last few years. Novellas, stuff we can't really get elsewhere. Do you think eBooks are going to change the publishing game? If yes, how so?
They've already changed the game. Writers can get their catalogs back into print. Newbies don't have to spend years learning their craft, they can self-publish a book on kindle that hasn't been edited or even spell-checked. Some people are making fortunes via this form of publishing whereas they couldn't pay their rent with traditional publishing. I just hope we find some kind of balance between e-books and physical books. I'm a bibliophile. I want to be able to touch a book and feel the pages in my hands. I want to stick it on the shelf. I want to visit brick'n'mortar bookshops. I don't want to think of a world without bookstores.
Your fans point you out as the go-to guy for dark fiction. Personally, I think you're one of the darkest writers in the game. What do you think are the common threads between noir and horror (which are arguably your two main genres)?
I think there's more common ground than differences, that's for sure. Both fields ostensibly take you to a place where you are thrilled and horrified. Horror might be more graphic or delve into the supernatural whereas noir, historically, is more reality-based. But both deal with fearful situations, painful dead-ends, the long dark night of the soul. Characters might lose just as easily as win. In noir, true noir, your destiny is sealed. You will die at the end. You will have your heart torn out by a femme fatale. You will be betrayed by your best friend. In horror there's a chance that good will conquer evil. In noir, you're dead from the first sentence.
THE LAST KIND WORDS is hailed by many (included yours truly) as a breakout effort. Did you have that feeling while writing it? How did you felt about the novel throughout the writing process?
In a way I guess we all think that our latest effort is going to be the breakout, the one that takes us up to the next ring of the ladder, whatever that ring might symbolize or whatever we might associate with it. As with all my other novels, I was just trying to tell the best story I could tell at the time. The only difference was that I made a wilful decision to put emphasis on the "family drama" element of the story and dig a little deeper where the familial relationships were concerned. I didn't want women to read the book and feel it was just a "guy story." I wanted to alter my style a touch so that it didn't just feel like a crime novel but a literary (whatever that means) novel with its roots in the crime genre.
What is there about family that fascinates you?
Family is representational of the world. How one reacts to the world. You have love, you have resentment, regrets, pain, tragedy, sorrow, joy, history. Studying the depths of your feelings toward family is learning about how you'll act in almost any situation throughout the rest of your life. It's so fundamental in us. It's genetic. You are raised, you are loved, you are hurt, you carry scars, you forgive if you can, you deal. Within the context of that is just about every story you could possibly want to tell. So I dove in.
Collie's impending execution is treated very straightforwardly. You never give your take on it. What's your opinion about capital punishment in the US?
I'm unsure, really. You'd think I might have a firm stance one way or the other on such an important topic, but I just don't know. And since I didn't know, I thought I would use it as the basis of the plot so I could examine the subject from different angles. That's what makes for good drama, I feel. The not knowing, the examination, the reflection.
I'm unsure, really. You'd think I might have a firm stance one way or the other on such an important topic, but I just don't know. And since I didn't know, I thought I would use it as the basis of the plot so I could examine the subject from different angles. That's what makes for good drama, I feel. The not knowing, the examination, the reflection.
THE LAST KIND WORDS is dark, but also human and heartbreaking. Terrier is taking many selfless decisions, out of love for his family. Would you say it's an anomaly in your career or is your writing gearing towards that in the future?
I think I drew the story from the same well I've drawn many others. The themes are ones I've tried to mine several times before: the search for identity, the killing draw of the past, the selfless act that destroys, the lost love that reemerges. These are the building blocks for a great deal of my fiction. It's difficult to revisit themes and topics and subject matter without winding up just retreading the same ground. So we shift focus, emphasize other elements, toys with the ingredients and gravy.