Any discussion of modern crime fiction isn’t complete without the name Jason Starr, author of HARD FEELINGS, TOUGH LUCK and a Hard Case Crime trilogy co-written with Ken Bruen that includes BUST, SLIDE and the upcoming THE MAX. In the meantime, BOOKGASM talked to Starr about what’s ahead, the joys of collaboration and the future of the crime genre.

BOOKGASM: What are you working on now? What solo things?

STARR: Well, I just turned in a new thriller to St. Martin’s Press, which will be published in spring 2009. I think it’s my best book but, hey, I’m biased. I’ve also written a full-length graphic novel for DC/Vertigo which should be ready to roll in spring ‘09 or so. This coming December, St. Martin’s is publishing a mass market edition of THE FOLLOWER, and in September, I have a new book coming out co-written with Ken Bruen in what we’re now calling “The BUST Trilogy.” This one’s called THE MAX.
 

BOOKGASM: What were some of the plays you wrote for theater a long time ago about? Any crime standouts? Where can we find these?
 
STARR: My plays weren’t crime, or even noir, which was really the problem in retrospect — I needed to kill off my characters. I didn’t really know how to tell a story yet back then, either, so the plays kind of rambled on. I was into “theater of the absurd,” so I tried to do my spin on Beckett, Pirandello, Ionesco, etc. I’ll probably keep them in the drawer, though I’d love to write a play with crime in it someday. It’s hard to describe the thrill of hearing actors reading your words on stage. There’s nothing else like it.
 
BOOKGASM: Have you ever acted yourself? And what are the prospects of your works coming to the big screen?
 
STARR: No, I’m an awful actor. I once auditioned for a play in a theater group I belonged to in Manhattan and I was horiffic. My line was, “Hey, dude, don’t cry,” and I totally botched it. Ken has acted in movies, though, and has some great stories to tell about it. Right now, I have four film projects in development: COLD CALLER, TWISTED CITY, BUST and THE FOLLOWER. They’re in various stages of development, but hopefully they’ll all get made. I wrote the screenplay for COLD CALLER.
 
BOOKGASM: How have you he enjoyed the partnership with Ken Bruen on the three novels together? How did you guys wind up collaborating?
 
STARR: It’s been a total blast and I think that’s apparent in the books. It was just a great break from solo writing to write with Ken. We laughed till it hurt and now we’re planning another book. Pretty much since the day we met we were talking about writing together, then thank God Hard Case gave us the chance to do it. It just took off from there.
 
BOOKGASM: Does it force you to change your writing style or work process any?
 
STARR: I don’t change it, but I alter it. So does Ken. If we wrote like we normally wrote, readers would be able to tell who wrote what. So I write like him and he writes like me. Still, we’re always amazed when people tell us that they assume that we alternate chapters, or that Ken writes the Irish stuff and I do the Americans. We’re always working on the same chapters at the same time and I wish I could take credit for all of the American stuff in the books.



BOOKGASM: Hard Case Crime will publish your “lost” novel FAKE I.D. next year. Why has it taken so long to reach these shores? Can you give us a teaser?
 
STARR: My “lost” novel, I love that. I always wanted to have a lost novel. When I switched agents back around 2000, 2001, my new agent wanted to go out with my new book at the time, HARD FEELINGS, so somehow FAKE I.D. got put on the back burner. I’ve always thought it was my best pure, straight-ahead noir/crime novel — a Gold Medal-style book, but set in the present day. If Hard Case Crime had existed when I wrote it, I would’ve immediately sent it to them, so I was thrilled when Charles Ardai told me he read the book and wanted to publish it. It’s about a bouncer/struggling actor who is offered a chance to join a horse-owning syndicate and, naturally, things don’t go as planned.



BOOKGASM: How do you feel about the viability of the crime genre in literature for the future? Who/what does you think will help keep it alive? Who/what does you think is holding it back?
 
STARR: I think as long as people want to read crime fiction, the genre will be healthy. There is more competion for eyeballs now, what with portable visual media, iPhones, etc., so the challenge for crime writers is to grab people’s attention and not let go. If you can’t grip a reader on the first page, they’ll watch a movie instead. I also think we’re about to see a surge in the popularity of graphic novels. —Matt Adder

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OTHER RECENT BOOKGASM AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:
• Q&A with SCARFACE’s Joshua Jabcuga
• Q&A with STEAMPUNK’s Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
• Q&A with THE ALCHEMY OF STONE’s Ekaterina Sedia

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BUST by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
• SLIDE by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr