Dave Devereux - Interview

Today I delighted to introduce Dave Devereux, author of Hunter's Moon (loved it) and Eagle Rising (must get it) through Gollancz. I like this picture of Dave, I can't decide whether it's dastardly or dashing, it's definitely fitting. Anyway, here is the result of a pleasant evening of emailing, there is even a scrummy looking pudding to try, which I shall report back on when i've had a go.

HR: Ok, diving right in, what prompted the shift to fiction?

DD: In terms of prose, you mean? That was my mate Steve Jackson's idea. He
was reading the test material for Memoirs as I produced it and suggested
that I should have a stab at writing fiction once I'd got Memoirs out
the door. So I gave it a shot between the test material and signing
contracts on Memoirs, Steve liked it and encouraged me to write more,
and that ended up as HUNTER'S MOON.

HR: And I guess it stuck since Eagle Rising is also out now with Gollancz. Both books
feature Jack, who is not the most pleasant protagonist. Why did you want your lead to
be so unsympathetic to your audience and were you concerned people wouldn't want to read about a character who is hard to like?

DD: Jack has rather evolved his own personality through this, to be honest.
He's the confluence of a number of people I knew as I was growing up and
some that I know now, and while we do share a similar sense of humour
I've been a little disturbed when people have suggested that he's either
me or someone I want to be disguised with a thin veneer. I mean, really,
who wants to be that messed up?

There have been moments when writing Jack that I've wondered if I should
have done something differently, but I have to go with what's right for
the character and the story and I'm delighted to discover that people
seem to really rather like him. What's really surprised me is the number
of women who've told me they like him, but half the fun of this is that
once a story's out there you can't predict how people are going to react.

And as Jack's so fond of saying, if you can't take a joke you shouldn't
have joined.

HR: Well I liked him, but he does actually deliver on the "bastard by disposition" which was refreshing.
Speaking of messed up, a certain Mr Savile suggested I ask about the time you let him down for a beer because of a train?

DD: Ha! We were supposed to be signing together in Birmingham back in '07,
and I was running a touch late because the Tube across London to Euston
included the Northern Line. I got to the station, I got my ticket, I was
halfway to the train... and I managed to trip over a suitcase being
dragged along by some brain-dead loser who decided that it was my fault
she hadn't kept the thing under adequate control. Practical upshot:
missed train, a twisted knee and some embarrassment over having to miss
the signing at short notice.

Next time you speak to Mister Savile, by the way, ask him about the time
he blew off my party because of an aeroplane.

HR: Ha, I shall do that. :)
So are there more books to come and how do you see the series and Jack developing?

DD: I'm just writing the third at the moment, oddly enough. But how much can
I tell you without spoiling the arc? Hmm...

Jack's a tough old sod, but he's still human under all that scar tissue.
The kinds of things that he's had to do have left him pretty jaded,
though, and what we're going to see in the future is more of the fallout
from that. There's also the price of being able to ride roughshod over
pretty much anyone who gets in your way, and more importantly what being
too used to that does to someone. There's also an arc for the Service
itself, but there's sod all I can say about that without spoiling things
except "New Boss."

Let's just say that the one I'm writing at the moment is called
TURNABOUT and the one planned to follow it is called PAYBACK, and leave
it at that.

HR: Oooh wonderfully cryptic, I can't wait. So do you think British thrillers have a
different flavour & feel to their American counterparts?

DD: Oh, most definitely! I think you made the point very well in your review
of Hunter's Moon, but in my mind it's almost a matter of budget as well
as culture. A lot of American thrillers are written like big Hollywood
blockbusters, with huge effects and location budgets that take you all
over the world and let the cast play with all sorts of great toys. Over
here, though, we have to make our movies on the cheap, and that leads us
to a tighter focus and more subdued tone. That also seems to sit well
with our respective cultures - the cliché of the brash American versus
the more genteel Britisher, if you will.

I like quite a few American thriller writers - I have a fondness for
early Tom Clancy, Dale Brown and Clive Cussler, for example - but I also
love the work of people like John le Carré, who produce these incredible
character studies within their tales. The styles are very different, but
that doesn't make any of them a less satisfying experience than the others.

HR: I'd never thought of it in Budget terms but it makes sense. Ok I guess
we should touch briefly on the paranormal aspects of the book. The use
of magic in Hunter's Moon is almost utilitarian, as though it's just
another specialist field weapon. Was that an intentional decision on
your part?

DD: Very much so. If you look at anybody's job, you'll note that all the
really cool stuff is just wallpaper to them and in the same way that
many people think that guns are cool, most of the people who carry them
to work tend to be less enthused about the things. I wanted Jack to
reflect that same attitude - a magic item or technique is no different
from a knife or pistol to him, it's just a means to get his job done.

HR: So if magic is a tool to Jack, is music his only whimsy?

DD: As far as I know so far, yes. I think he probably enjoys hill walking or
something that gets him away from people as well, but I won't really
know until it comes up in a story.

But he does spend a lot of his time playing guitar, and works as a
session musician between assignments - I have an idea of some of the
records he's played on, for example, and he goes on tour with pop bands
playing from behind the screens to cover for the bits that the pretty
lead axeman up front can't quite manage.

HR: haha, the pretty one they stick at the front.

DD: Yep, that's the one. Next time you see a show where the guitarist looks
like he's fudging it, just think who might be backstage making that solo
sound much better than it has any right to.

HR: So do you listen to music when you write?

DD: Constantly. There's a hell of a range, though, depending on my mood and
what I'm working on at the time. It can be anything from Marilyn Manson
(who's great for keeping my typing seed up - I hit keys in time with the
beat) to Jean-Michel Jarre or Pink Floyd. I'm lucky enough to have one
hell of a music collection to start with, thanks to some fairly eclectic
tastes, so there's no guarantee what's going to be playing from one
track to the next.

I like to have something playing, though, as a way of shutting out the
world so I can concentrate on what I'm doing.

Oh, and I write the first draft of my big finishes to the Indiana Jones
soundtrack. Does it show?

HR: Hey your music collection sounds like mine.
So what is the whimsy in your life?

Well I fart around on the Internet way too much, for a start! Beyond
that eternal timesink and the reading I imagine everyone in this line of
work mentions, I tend to walk a lot and I love riding my bicycle, but my
great (unpaid) creative passion is food. I adore cooking and creating
new dishes, and I love to eat; hell, I've been known to shed tears over
a couple of particularly sublime dishes. But the great thing about
cooking, for me at least, is the joy of making food for other people and
watching them enjoy it. That's an incredibly satisfying feeling.

In fact, you know what makes me smile the most? Making other people
smile. I know it sounds trite, but there you go: underneath it all, and
in spite of what some people seem to have assumed, I suppose I really am
just a big softy.

HR: Ok, well I was going to finish there, but I have noticed you tweet your cooking
sometimes and it makes me drool, so are you a savoury or sweet person?

DD: I suppose I tend more to the savoury - I put most work into main course
dishes most of the time. That said, when I really go for a dessert you'd
better bring something a size larger to wear home!

HR: Ok now you are just taunting me. Share a pudding recipe? Chocolate would
be a fave for me. And tell me how you have ended up committing to
writing a cookbook?

DD: Ah, the cookbook. This is mostly Alex Bell's fault, oddly enough. We
were talking a while back about food (a subject it's all too easy to get
me going on) and Alex claimed that she couldn't cook. Now I've held for
some time that pretty much anyone can cook, and said so, and a few
drinks after that I'd said that not only could I teach her to cook, I
could do it by email.

Which is what I've been doing ever since.

But this was only half of it. I sent Alex my recipe for meatball sauce
(which she was going to make with Quorn or whatever-you-call-it) and t
went down rather well. In fact, it went down so well that I had an email
from Alex's MUM telling me how much she'd enjoyed it and insisting, like
so many before her, that I should write a cookbook. It was the final
straw, so I'm slowly working together a book of recipes based on the
theory that pretty much anyone can cook if they're willing to put a bit
of effort into (a) trying and (b) practising. I call it the
Necronomnomnomicon, because of something a plushy toy (http://twitter.com/fluffcthulhu) said on Twitter.

Anyway, here's the first dessert recipe I found in my cooking notes: a
little thing I came up with when presented with a bunch of bananas that
was about to need throwing away.
I call it Burrow Banana Brulée.

What You'll Need:
1 large or 1.5 medium banana per person - the riper the better.
nutmeg
cinnamon
lemon juice

What to Do:
Skin the bananas and mash them. The smoother a consistency you can get,
the better - in an ideal world they'll end up like expensive custard.

Get some nutmeg, and add a pinch about 1cm around and 8mm high to the
custard mix (this is assuming you're making enough for about four
people. Scale up or down as necessary)

Add about one and a half times the amount of cinnamon and mix both
powders, together with a fair slug of lemon juice, thoroughly into the
gunky banana.

Heat the grill and throw your mixture into a glass dish. Once the
grill's hot, put the dish underneath it.

DO NOT LEAVE THE DISH UNATTENDED UNDER THE GRILL AT ANY TIME!

In about thirty seconds, the mix will start to brown. Take it out.

Spread a decent layer of sugar across the top of the gunk, taking care
to let it climb about 1cm above surface level at the edges.

Pop it back under the grill, and watch as the sugar starts to melt and
bubble. Once it's all bubbling, take it out again. This will take about
a minute.

Let it cool and the sugar will solidify to a layer of caramel that looks
like glass.

That's it: serve.

It might sound complicated, but I can knock that out in under ten
minutes while talking to people as I do it. This lets you look casual
about the whole process, and thus makes it a nifty posing dish.

And apart from the sugar topping, it's even healthy!

HR: ooooh I love banana based puds. :)
I shall be very happy to add your cookery book to my umm many shelves, when it comes out. Thanks so much for your time, it's been great fun.

DD: Thank you, and bon appetit.