Tony Black - Crime & The City Solution

Edinburgh crime writer Tony Black  is an award-winning journalist, editor, and novelist. 

  

He was the editor of the brilliant PULP PUSHER ezine and the author of three novels featuring punch drunk, boozy Gus Dury, an ex  journalist turned Private Investigator. 

Paying for It, Gutted & Loss see Gus sniff around the back streets of Edinburgh and follow the trail of crime and corruption to the top. They’re gruelling, intenese and exciting journeys - not without moments of humour and tenderness. 

You feel as if you’d like to give Gus a smack every few pages but the pitbull proves himself again and again and it’s down to Black’s great writing that when you you finish one of his novels you feel battered and bruised  but can’t wait for the next round!

I asked Tony some fairly rubbish questions and he gave some cracking answers;

PDB) Gus Dury sees Scotland from inside its bowels. You're an outsider. How do you get into his way of thinking?
 

Tony B) I'm not much of an outsider ... I was born in Australia but left there when I was about nine-weeks-old to come to Scotland, my parents were ten-pound Poms who lasted ten years in the sunshine before the dreich shores drew them home. So, yeah, I'm Scots more than anything so I'd be a bit worried if I couldn't get into the national mindset.

PDB) Does it take it out of you living with Gus so much?

Tony B) He can be hard work, no shit. He's a real glass-half-empty kind of guy and I definitely wouldn't want to hang with him, just in case any of his bad luck rubbed off. But, y'know, I don't have that much trouble separating my life from his ... I close the laptop and he's away.

PDB) Do you see the world with a journalist’s eyes?

Tony B) I was a hack for over a decade so you do get into that way of thinking a bit, yeah. It's kind of hard to stop yourself coming over stories for the papers and muttering, 'good yarn', and so on ... 

I remember when I started as a cub reporter, I was green as grass and my first editor said, give it time you'll be seeing stories all over the shop and he was right. 

It's a shame the journalistic world is in such a bad way because that way of thinking has little value these days, the state newspapers are in. 

Ironically, we need people who can sift through the smoke and mirrors more and more ... it's a heavy weight to be putting on bloggers' shoulders!

PDB) Did you ever own a 'I Came In Eileen' T-shirt?

Tony B) No. But Christ, I wish I did! For the record, I never owned a Makin' Bacon one either ... remember those?

Makin' bacon - advertised at the back of 'Sounds' magazine in the 70’s.

... which brings me to

PDB) If Ken Bruen is the Iggy Pop of the new crime writers who are you?

Tony B) You're obviously not catching the Iggster's new adds for life insurance here in the UK ... man's sold out. Ken has way too much class for any of that caper, he's more a flat-out genius of the John Lennon variety ... I'd be the bloke that carries his guitar to the gigs, if I was lucky!

PDB) If there was a chance to adapt the Gust stories for films or TV, how would you feel? Would you be worried that they'd be bolloxed up like Brookmyre's Quite Ugly One Morning?

Tony B) I wouldn't be letting that Cold Feet geezer anywhere near anything I did ... he's well over exposed and has only one way to act - pish. So, yeah, I'd be against that ... but like I'd have any say. To be honest, if anyone from TV or film got in touch, I'd be too busy turning cartwheels to care what they did with it.   

PDB) I liked the story I Want Candy that you wrote for Thuglit. Was it weird writing in 'American'?

Tony B) No, not really ... I think here in the UK, and elsewhere, we're so exposed to US cinema and music and culture in general that it's almost like a default gear for a lot of writers. I've spent a lot of time in the States, visited over 20 cities, and I'm pretty well immersed in their music scene so it comes quite easily. 

In fact, I'd really like to work on a US-based novel one of these days ... maybe that's the way to get the US deal that's evaded me so far.

PDB) What's on the cards now?

Tony B) I've just finished the fourth in the Dury series, LONG TIME DEAD, and it's out in July. The paperback of LOSS comes out at the same time through Arrow/Random House here in the UK. I'm taking a bit of time off for the next few weeks to do some catch-up reading and then I'll be down to work on the new standalone, MURDER MILE. This one's a police thriller and doesn't feature Gus, but it's set in Edinburgh as well. I'm starting out with a new character, a messed-up cop called Rob Brennan and I'm looking forward to that.

Have a snifter of Gus Dury in the short story Last Ordershttp://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2010/01/last-orders-original-gus-dury-story-by.html

Tony Black's website http://www.tonyblack.net/

Tony Black talks about Ken Bruen http://pdbrazill.blogspot.com/2009/11/guest-blogger-tony-black-storm-bruen.html

(This interview was at PULP METAL MAGAZINE )