Interviews

Impractical Joker James S. Murray on Debut Novel: "Awakened"

July 10th, 2018

No, this isn't a prank. James S. Murray—"Murr" of Impractical Jokers fame—has written a novel. If you are unfamiliar with the man and his hijinks, TruTV runs the show pretty much round the clock. It involves a group of life-long friends feeding one another direction as they interact with the unsuspecting public. Basically, it's a hidden camera show of improvisational one-upmanship.

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Classic Crime, New York Style: An Interview with Terrence McCauley

June 5th, 2018

There is crime fiction and then there is classic noir crime fiction, of which Terrence McCauley’s newest novel could be a poster child for. The Fairfax Incident hits shelves today, but if you didn’t know it, you might suspect the novel was actually written in the noir heydays of 1930s New Yok City, where the tale is set. I recently had a chance to catch up with New York native McCauley and toss a few questions his way.

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Interview: Justin Kassab of Akashic Imprint Oddities by Kaylie Jones Books

June 1st, 2018

The Akashic imprint, Kaylie Jones Books, has published some excellent literary fiction. What made you and Kaylie decide to pursue more unique and risk-taking genre fiction with Oddities?

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In Conversation: Alex Segura and Joe Clifford on PI Fiction, Flawed Characters and Fighting Your Demons

May 9th, 2018

Writing is a solitary, lonely process—don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. But, if like me, you write a series, you know that once a year or so you’ll get to pop your head up and promote your work. That can be anxiety-inducing, but it can also be fun. In the process, you often meet other writers who share the same literal shelf space. Sometimes, you meet writers who share your headspace and seem to be interested in tackling the kind of stories you aim to spotlight in your own work.

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Owen Laukkanen on Boats, Trains, Dogs, and His Latest Novel 'Gale Force'

May 8th, 2018

Who knew deep-sea salvage could be so fascinating? It's a subject I knew absolutely nothing about, until I read Gale Force. Besides learning a lot about what happens when a big boat carrying a lot of stuff goes ass-up in the water, it becomes clear that this world is a very fertile setting for action-packed storytelling.

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Sunshine Noir: An Interview with Jeffery Hess, author of 'Tushhog'

May 7th, 2018

Jeffery Hess’ Tushhog, a follow-up to his 2016 debut novel Beachhead, hits shelves today and is, as expected, all dive bars and attitude, all sweat and blood and sand. Tushhog continues the adventures of Scotland Ross, a Navy-prison parolee making his way on the West Coast of Florida in the 1980s and trying, without much success, to keep his head down, his nose clean and have a shot at maybe just a little bit of happiness in a life otherwise filled with hard knocks.

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Laying Down the Law with Jeff Noon

April 11th, 2018

Last August saw the release of A Man of Shadows, Jeff Noon's first novel to feature down-on-his-luck private eye John Nyquist. Now, less than a year later, The Body Library comes nipping at its heels. In this psychedelic sequel, our protagonist awakes in a room next to a dead body, an event that triggers a murder investigation set in a city infected by story.

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Elle Nash On Writing As A Parent, Tom Spanbauer's Basement, and Her New Novel 'Animals Eat Each Other'

April 3rd, 2018

The first page of Animals Eat Each Other knocked me on my ass. I was not surprised, as this was not the first time Elle Nash had knocked me on my ass. 

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Howling from the Mountains: An Interview with Taylor Brown

March 15th, 2018

Gods of Howl Mountain, the third novel by acclaimed and all-around-awesome author Taylor Brown, hits shelves today. And what better way to celebrate than to take a moment to read up on whiskey, snake handlers, and writing-gritty-from-the-gut with the man himself? I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at Gods of Howl Mountain— a dark, lyrical story of deep love and deeper secrets in 1950s North Carolina— and even luckier to have a chance to sit down with Taylor Brown and pick the mind of a master.

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LitReactor Instructor Joshua Isard on Creative Writing, Getting an MFA, and the Long View

March 12th, 2018

You are the Director of Arcadia University’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. Are you yourself the product of an MFA program? Yes, I am. I graduated form the University of Edinburgh program in 2003. It’s not an accident that I take my own MFA students to Scotland every year. How did that shape you as a writer? And did it prepare you for the harsh realities of the publishing industry?

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