What's cooler than having author Tom Piccirilli stop by on his blog tour to talk about his latest novel? Nothing much. He was kind enough to answer a few of my questions and his replies are fascinating as always.
DTW: You have a new thriller out that everyone’s talking about called THE LAST KIND WORDS. Tell us about the story and how you came up with it.
PIC: I never know where I come up with any of my tales, short or long. Something hits me, something drops into place, and off it goes. I'm not one of these writers that can point to a specific day or series of events and explain how a piece came into being. But anyway, LKW is the story of a young thief named Terrier Rand who returns to his criminal family on the eve of his brother Collie's execution. For no apparent reason Collie went on a killing spree murdering eight people. Now, five years later, Collie swears he only killed seven people during his lethal rampage, and the eighth was the work of someone else. Terry not only has to deal with an ex-best friend, a former flame, mob guys, and other assorted people from his dark past, but he's also forced to investigate the night his brother went insane and find out if Collie is telling the truth. But more than anything, he really wants to know the reason why his brother went on a spree, in the hopes that Terry himself is never pushed to that kind of edge. Thankfully the novel has been getting some nice buzz, some first-rate blurbs, and a lot of excellent reviews thus far. Hopefully that'll translate to sales. One lives in hope.
DTW: In what ways does this novel differ from past work?
PIC: I put as much emphasis on the family drama angle as I do the rest of the plot. And my worldview has shifted. I'm older now, with different responsibilities and different emphasis on areas of my life. As moody as my work has been over the years I think it's become even more atmospheric in recent times. Moody realism as opposed to unrealism or surrealism.
DTW: You’ve written everything from fantasy fiction to horror and westerns; what made you focus on dark crime the past several years?
PIC: I hit middle age. Horror and fantasy especially, for me, seem to be young men's genres, where one is looking forward, fantasizing, world-building, dreaming. Crime is more of an old guy's genre, where characters are scarred and broken, the fight isn't so much about good vs. evil as it is a fight for survival. You need money and don't have any, so you need to rob a bank. How many people in today's economy can't understand that kind of thinking at a core level? You're going to lose your house so you pick up a gun, you're going to lose your family so you climb in somebody's window. It's got more authenticity to it, at least so far as I can see. I still dabble in horror and fantasy, but for the time being most of my work is centered in crime fiction.
DTW: What else do you have coming out and what are you working on now?
PIC: Oh, there's always bunches of stuff. Apex has another offbeat crime/quirky novel called WHAT MAKES YOU DIE that should be out at some point this year. Creeping Hemlock, who did my novel THE FEVER KILL, have two zombie projects: a novella called PALE PREACHERS, about some redneck backwoods yahoos fighting zombie hordes in their swamp town, and VESPERS, about a deep cover agent posing as a syndicate hitman when the zombie apocalypse/rapture occurs. Right now I'm working on a sequel to LKW and another noir novel called BLUE AUTUMN.
DTW: What’s the best way for folks to get the latest scoop on Piccirilli news and releases?
PIC: My website or blog or Facebook or Twitter. You can't wander the web without tripping over my fat ass someplace. <http://www.tompiccirilli.com> <http://www.thecoldspot.blogspot.com>
Tom Piccirilli is the author of more than twenty novels including SHADOW SEASON, THE COLD SPOT, THE COLDEST MILE, and A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN. He's won two International Thriller Awards and four Bram Stoker Awards, as well as having been nominated for the Edgar, the World Fantasy Award, the Macavity, and Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire.
