Interrogation—Mike McCrary

August 30, 2016 — 2 Comments

Who: Mike McCrary

What: Author of REMO WENT ROGUE and GETTING UGLY. His shorter work has appeared in ThugLit, All Due Respect, Dark Corners, Shotgun Honey and Out of the Gutter. He’s been a waiter, a securities trader, dishwasher, bartender, investment analyst and an unpaid Hollywood intern. He has quit corporate America, come back, been fired, been promoted, been fired again. Currently, he writes stories about questionable people who make questionable decisions. His latest novel, GENUINELY DANGEROUS, comes out Sept. 26.

Where: Texas

Interview conducted by email. Some questions and answers have been edited.

Your latest novel, GENUINELY DANGEROUS, is a truly original, off-beat story. What was the inspiration?

I’ve kicked it around for a while. It kinda started with seeing Gene Wilder’s tiny role in Bonnie in Clyde. Someone completely out of his element, a civilian, thrown into the mix with a crew of criminals. Completely in over his head, but doesn’t get that he’s completely in over his head. Always thought Gene’s story could be another movie. I carried that idea around for years, but couldn’t find a good place for it. So I tucked it away. Then years later, I saw that whole mess with Brian Williams and the stories he told about being embedded with the military. That sparked the idea that maybe I could work something out of that. Also around that time I’d had a couple of huge nut-kicks in screenwriting. So all that starting fitting together into a crazy little story idea. Thinking, now maybe I’ve got something.

As far as being off-beat, thank you by the way, the great Peter Farris (Last Call for the Living) blurbed a book of mine and compared my stuff with Chuck Palahniuk and Elmore Leonard going on a blind date. I loved that. Wanted it to be true and I’ve tried very hard to live up to that almost impossible standard. So there you go. GENUINELY DANGEROUS. You take Gene Wilder, Brian Williams, Palahniuk, Elmore Leonard, Hollywood nut-kicks, mix well and serve over toast.

Interrogation—Gabino Iglesias

August 22, 2016 — 1 Comment

Who: Gabino Iglesias

What: Author of ZERO SAINTS, HUNGRY DARKNESS, and GUTMOUTH. His reviews have appeared in Electric Literature, The Rumpus, 3AM Magazine, Marginalia, The Collagist. Heavy Feather Review, Crimespree, Out of the Gutter, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, HorrorTalk, Verbicide, and many other print and online venues.

Where: Texas

Interview conducted by email. Some questions and answers have been edited.

ZERO SAINTS is one of the most original crime novels I’ve read in a while. What was the inspiration for this story? How did it evolve as you wrote it?

Thanks! I had something to say. There is something that folks in the streets go through that is amplified by inhabiting Otherness. I wanted to tell a crime story that was weird, but that also dealt with loneliness, fear, and identity. Folks love genres and categorizing authors, but I write nonfiction, crime, horror, and bizarro. I knew there was a way to bring them all together. I started writing ZERO SAINTS and let the story tell itself. I also decided that this one was going to have a lot of my past and that I was going to tell it in Spanglish because that was the only way it would sound authentic. It got darker and weirder from there. I don’t outline things the way the pros do, so the narrative developed as I wrote, elements came into play, and fun took over.

Guest DJ—Andrew Hilbert

December 18, 2015 — Leave a comment

Andrew Hilbert is a writer living in Austin, TX. His poems and stories have been in numerous journals and websites since 2009. His novella, DEATH THING, was released by Double Life Press in Spring 2015.

Here’s what Benoît Lelièvre at Dead End Follies had to say about DEATH THING in his review: “Stories like DEATH THING are the best legacy Ronald Reagan America left to the human race: grindhouse, paranoid tales of conservative America gone rogue. Not that there are several stories like DEATH THING, for it is quite unique and amorphous, but it shares a fascination with the underbelly of the Norman Rockwell revival of the late 70s, early 80s.”

Along the way, Hilbert co-founded Beggars & Cheeseburgers, has contributed articles to Austinist.com, and was a columnist at Out of the Gutter Online. He was a fiction editor for Foxing Quarterly for three issues and co-founded an audio short story website, Slagdrop. Andrew is also a founding member and creator of the weirdo-press Weekly Weird Monthly.

This week he is spinning an eclectic collection of songs ranging from The Minutemen and Parliament to Slick Rick and Townes Van Zandt.

Find Andrew Hilbert: Website and Amazon

Previous Playlists:

Guest DJ—Eryk Pruitt

Guest DJ—Tom Pitts

Guest DJ—Craig T. McNeely

Guest DJ—Angel Colon

Guest DJ—Josh Stallings

29 SoCal Punk Songs

S.W. Lauden’s debut novel, BAD CITIZEN CORPORATION, is available now from Rare Bird Books. His novella, CROSSWISE, will be published by Down & Out Books in 2016.

Interrogation—Mike McCrary

November 9, 2015 — 3 Comments

Who: Mike McCrary

What: He has been a waiter, a securities trader, dishwasher, investment manager and an unpaid Hollywood intern. He’s quit corporate America, come back, been fired, been promoted, been fired again. Currently he is a screenwriter and author who writes stories about questionable people who make questionable decisions.

Where: Austin, TX

Interviewed conducted by email. Some questions and answers have been edited.

Your 2013 novel, REMO WENT ROGUE, is one hell of a read—fast-paced, vicious and dark. How did the character of Remo come together?

Thank you, sir. Glad you dug it. Yeah, Remo kinda came out of a fascination of defense attorneys and the weirdness of their jobs. All the information that must be swirling around their heads at any given time, knowing all the horrible shit that your clients have done and it’s your job to set them free or at least get the best deal possible. It’s extremely necessary to the legal process, but thinking of actually doing it as a profession is a whole different thing. I also really liked the idea of one of these guys having a crisis of conscience and falling off the deep end. So, those elements plus I have a deep affection for drunk, broken, pill-popping, foul-mouthed bastards with a heart of gold.