SEPTEMBER: Talk with Jason Starr, author of THE MAX

[ROCKETRAY55]

Thanks Charles,

Off to read the sample chapter right now...

-Ray

[JasonStarr]

Hey Ray, great to hear from you! I think Charles is dead-on (as usual ) and Fake I.D. is definitely one of my most Hard Case Crime-ish books. As you'll see from the chapter online, like Twisted City it's written in first-person, and it has a narrator who scared the hell out of me while I was writing the book. I was definitely going for the Gold Medal style, straight ahead crime novel, but I also wanted to write about the underground world of horse racing and gambling. I can't think of a better publisher for it than Hard Case.

[ROCKETRAY55]

Hi Jason,

So where do you get the ideas for your books? Do they came from things you see around you in New York, out of the newspapers, TV.? Or do you just get an idea and run with it?

[JasonStarr]

Hey Ray

I usually come up with a situation, or a scene, I find interesting and, as you say, run with it. For example, when I wrote Twisted City, I remember I had the idea of a guy having his wallet picked in a bar as an opening. I didn't know who the guy was--in my head he was just "a guy"--or exactly what would happen next until I started writing the story. I know a lot of writers start with a character, but I almost always start with a plot idea.

[ROCKETRAY55]

Thanks Jason,

So anything new coming out? Maybe a fourth book for Max?

-Ray

[JasonStarr]

We have a plot for a fourth book, and we also started something completely different that we might do first. But, yes, Ken and I definitely want to do another book together...

Next year I have two big books I'm very excited about. I don't have exact pub dates yet, but in 2009 St. Martin's Press is publishing my new thriller PANIC ATTACK (my Hollywood agent has described it as American Beauty meets Cape Fear meets Disturbia). Also in 2009, DC Comics new imprint Vertigo Crime is publishing my first graphic novel. I can't give any details about the graphic novel until next month, when the project is officially announced at the Bouchercon mystery convention in Baltimore. Mid next month I'll be posting all about it on www.jasonstarr.com .  I'm lucky to be working with an incredibly talented artist

[The_Great_Stan…]

Jason,

I have eagerly read your work since I found Cold Caller in a Parisian used bookstore.  An English copy, someone had written French translations to certain phrases in the margins.

When visiting NYC one time, I bought Twisted City at The Mysterious Bookshop in the morning then saw you walking in midtown that afternoon.  I had wanted to approach you but had left the book back where I was staying then when I had got my wits about me, you were already around a corner and gone...

I started The Follower last night and am already sucked in by it.  So far it feels like a NYC novel of manners, not unlike the work of Bret Easton Ellis.  (There's even a little of that misogynistic mating ritual depicted in Charles Willeford's The Shark-Infested Custard.)

You have been blurbed by Ellis and he seems quite a supporter of your work.  Has his writing influenced you?  Maybe you and Ellis could write a novel together?

[JasonStarr]

Hey, what a wonderful story, thank you for letting me know, and I'm going to have to sign that copy of Twisted City someday!

A light bulb went off when I read this post because I never thought about The Shark-Infested Custard in relation to The Follower before, but I love that comparison. I gave a shout out to Custard on this board as I think it's my all-time favorite Willeford novel (and I think Tarantino also thinks it's Willeford's best). While I wasn't thinking about it at all while I was writing The Follower, in retrospect I can definitely see the influence. I was going for that same type of dark satire, and I wanted to really get into the heads of the characters. Bret Easton Ellis, yes, a great guy, and another of my all-time favorite writers. I thought his latest, Lunar Park, was incredible.

Thank you for posting! 

[JasonStarr]

Hey, if anyone would like to take a look at my new book trailer for THE FOLLOWER, it's up on You Tube.

Cheers, Jason

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ejHULhs5yE

[Paul_Hochman]

Very cool trailer, Jason!

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JasonStarr wrote:

Hey, if anyone would like to take a look at my new book trailer for THE FOLLOWER, it's up on You Tube.

Cheers, Jason

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ejHULhs5yE

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[RRebelo]

The trailer looks great! I also want to add that The MAX was another great chapter in teh Max Fisher saga. It was cool to see who Jason feels should play teh roles. I allways felt that Paul Gamatti is the Perfect MAX. and for Angela Jennifer Ellison is my choice. I am looking forward to fake ID Next year and Jason's new book as well.