Your (author) name: Alex Barclay
Tell us about yourself: I live in Cork, I write crime novels, I love coffee.
Tell us about your latest book: It’s called Killing Ways and it’s the fifth featuring Ren Bryce. Brief lowdown: a serial rapist and murderer is operating in Denver, Ren makes the link between the killings, and it leads down a truly dark path with devastating consequences.
When did you start writing? When I was very young; it was something I always loved. I worked as a journalist from the age of eighteen and, later, as a copywriter. I was twenty-eight when I started writing my first book – Darkhouse.
Where do you write? Mainly in my office, sometimes in the living room, and sometimes in my local coffee shop. If I’m away, I love quaint little hotel foyers, and, in Dublin, I like Tower Records café on Dawson Street. I’m always on the look-out for somewhere with the right atmosphere.
Which other authors do you admire? In no particular order, Chuck Palahniuk, Daphne du Maurier, David Sedaris, Declan Hughes, Donal Ryan, Philip Roth, Elizabeth Strout, Michael Koryta, Kevin Wignall, Tom Spanbauer, Alexander McCall Smith, Jim Thompson.
Book you wished you’d written? Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
Greatest fictional criminal: Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford from The Killer Inside Me.
Greatest crime or criminal from the real world: Three-quarter-length pants and the men who wear them. It’s hot out, but, whoa, not so hot that my calves can be exposed. Shorts/trousers: they’re your options.
What scares you? Spiders. And men in three-quarter-length pants.
Are you ever disturbed by your own imagination? I can be disturbed by the scenes I write, but not by my imagination. I love to go dark, but the darkness is always attached to a character, so it feels at a remove from who I am.
3 crime books you would recommend to EVERYONE:
- Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter
- The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
- Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Do you listen to music when you write? Most of the time, yes. It can be eerily quiet otherwise. From 7 to 10 on weekdays, I listen to Marty in the Morning on Lyric FM: it’s also feelgood and funny – no bad news. After that, I move back and forth between Lyric FM for classical, Spotify for classical/ambient/acoustic/chill-out playlists, and cinemix.fr, which is purely movie scores. On Saturdays, I listen to Movies & Musicals on Lyric. I love how you can hear stories in scores.
Are you on social media? Harper Collins looks after my Facebook page, and I’m getting there with Twitter…
How can fans connect with you? The best way is to email me at alex@alexbarclay.co.uk.
Look out for: KILLING WAYS
