Back in January 2012 I was just an unknown author
who had the audacity to invite the legendary Russell Blake onto my blog for an
interview. Ten months on and… well, I’m
still an unknown author, but Blake has gone from strength to strength, as
demonstrated by his latest series JET.
I love his new hero and wanted to find out just how
Russell comes up with these stunning plots, so I invited him back for another Q
& A and I’m delighted that he accepted.
Can you give us the elevator pitch for JET? You’ve got thirty seconds to
make people want to buy it.
So no pressure, right? Shortest
possible pitch? Kill Bill meets Bourne.
Longer? JET features a new kind of female protagonist – smart, sexy, kick-ass,
over-the-top, take-no-prisoners, and is a non-stop action roller-coaster with
more twists and turns than a silly straw, intelligently written for jaded
connoisseurs of action/adventure thrillers. If you loved Lizbeth Salander in
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Bourne trilogy, Ian Fleming’s James Bond
novels, or even the TV show 24, JET is a must-read.
Jet
is an extraordinary character. What made you choose a non-US background
for her?
Well, the whole ex-CIA thing has been done into the ground, as far as I’m
concerned, and frankly, knowing what I do about the CIA’s competence, I wanted
better than that. These are the guys who didn’t see the Berlin wall coming down
a week before it happened, and told the world that Iraq had WMDs capable of
destroying the region within 45 minutes. Ooops. So I looked at some of the
hyper-competent clandestine agencies, and the Mossad was an obvious one. One
thing led to another, and pretty soon she was Israeli, of mixed ethnicity, but
burned out and ready for something new. And I wanted her to be international in
flavor, equally at home in the Middle East, South America, Asia or the U.S.
Most Americans tend to look, well, very American, for the most part, so I
wanted something more exotic, even if that’s totally stereotypical and
judgmental of Americans, which I suppose it is. I’m really happy with the part
Asian, part Dominican Israeli female protag. Can’t imagine much more exotic and
unusual than that...
There
are a lot of exotic settings for the JET series. Are the descriptions all
based on your personal visits?
Yes, most of them. I’ve had a
colorful life, and had the opportunity to travel extensively for this reason or
that. It’s given me a good perspective for writing fiction, that’s for sure.
You’ve
used females in the lead role in a few books now. Is that something you
see continuing in the future?
Right now, I’d say probably not.
Between JET, Silver Cassidy in Silver Justice, and Tess Gideon in Fatal
Exchange, I’d say I’ve exhausted my possibilities for compelling female
heroines. They’re all so different, I can go back to the well and develop Tess
and Silver more, and have enough material to last ten years. But I’ll say that
Jet is probably my most developed to date – she’s more than just a killing
machine, and is pretty three dimensional. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Bronte
this isn’t, but compared to most of the protags I’ve read in this genre, Jet is
a living, breathing person to me, and hopefully, to readers. So far so good.
How
much research went into the JET series? Is there anything about the
storylines that you found challenging?
I set out with JET
to accomplish several things. The first was to write the fastest-paced thrillers
anyone has ever read. The second was to structure plots that were as intricate
as anything I’ve seen. And the third was to create as intriguing a set of
characters as possible. Truthfully, the concept of JET came to me when I was
writing Silver Justice. I was out for a hike, and this book cover just jumped
into my consciousness, with one word: JET. Ironically, the cover I wound up
with was better, although different. I originally saw a black cover with red
metallic lines, like etching, very asian, with an asian symbol, and the word,
JET. From there, I sort of had bits and pieces come to me before I started it.
But I didn’t really know where the story was going to go – I sort of figured
out about half the book, and then was so excited to start writing it, I did the
first few chapters, just to see how I could make it turn out. And then I
cheated and did the next few. Before I knew it, I was about sixty percent
through, and had an entire series in mind. So the challenge was really to piece
it together so that a highly-complex storyline was coherent, with just enough
foreshadowing to keep the reader interested, but without any deus-ex-machina
trickery. As to research, I did virtually none. Everything is based on personal
experience, and my imagination. Any detail, I research as I go along, or I save
for second draft and just put in placeholders. Like detail on weapons, or
specifics about geography or whatnot. “She gripped the XXX with trembling hands
as she sighted on her assailant’s head.” And so on.
According
to your Amazon author page, you’ve released 19 books in the last couple of
years. That’s a phenomenal output. How did you manage it?
I have no life
outside of writing. Really. For the last 18 months or so, all I’ve done is
write. About one novel every 5 weeks or so. Including three drafts, editing,
and proofing. It’s an insane pace, and one that will stop at the end of the
year. Next year I’ll release 4, maybe 5 books. That’s it. I’ve sort of proved
what I wanted to, at least to myself, and it’s time to slow the pace down to
something resembling sane. The irony is that 4 or 5 novels in a year would be
considered a watershed for most authors, whereas for me, it’s going to seem
like I’m on vacation most of the year. I’m looking forward to that, BTW, and
maybe travel some more. Being chained to the computer 12 hours a day, seven
days a week isn’t a ton of fun, after a while. I don’t recommend it, even if
it’s great for one’s literary career, such as it is.
When
you’re not writing, who are you reading?
I recently finished
Blood Land, by RS Guthrie, and it is a remarkable example of just how good
indie authors can be. I’m reading Nelson DeMille right now, and have Faulkner
scheduled next. One of the things I miss about this full-immersion writing
approach I’ve taken is that I have no time to read – only at the gym, and then
only if not editing (I edit on my kindle, so can do it anywhere). Oh, and I
recently finished up a collection of short stories by James Lee Burke, who is a
masterful author and probably one of the best living American talents, bar
none, now that David Foster Wallace is no longer with us.
Of
all your protagonists, which is your favourite?
Al Ross from The
Geronimo Breach, with Jet a close second. Al is one in a million, and unfortunately,
he’s a one novel character. But he is so flawed and broken and downright funny,
you can’t help but like him. And of course, El Rey from the Assassin series.
There’s something about him – he’s just so frigging cold and bad, but so damned
interesting. What does it say about my character that my favorite characters
are a drunk misanthrope, a broken female spy, and a stone cold killer? Now you
know why my dating life leaves something to be desired. Hard to put that up on
Match.com – “Malingering misanthrope with shady past and assassination fixation
seeks companion to party with.”
Are
there any characters from your previous series’ that you would like to bring
back?
I think I’ll do one more Dr. Steven Cross novel over the next few years.
I like him rather a lot. And Tess Gideon from Fatal Exchange will get another
crack at it, this time in Fatal Deception. Maybe next year. I already have it
mostly plotted, so it’s a definite. And I think it’s safe to say Silver Cassidy
will get another book next year, as will El Rety and Captain Romero Cruz from
the Assassin series. So next year is looking like one more Assassin volume, two
more JET, one more Silver, and possibly Fatal Deception. You can see why I
write so much – Michael Derrigan from The Delphi Chronicle gets regular fan
mail demanding a sequel, but where’s the time to pack it all in, much less keep
it all fresh and original? I’d say that the world has enough Russell Blake
books at the moment, so maybe the following year we’ll see a Delphi sequel, a
Cross sequel, and a Jet and Assassin sequel. But then doesn’t it seem like
maybe Silver should get another? And so begins the problem of not enough hours
in the day, and far too many plots and story ideas...
Do
you plan the whole series out beforehand, or one book at a time, or just write
by the seat of your pants?
I generally try to plot out one book
at a time. That gets me into trouble sometimes, as JET III will show, because
sometimes I get to the 90K word mark and discover that to finish the idea, I
need another book of at least that many words to carry it through and finish
the threads. But generally, I do one book at a time, and often that turns into
seat of the pants. Zero Sum I wrote pantsing it, as well as King of Swords and
Night of the Assassin. Geronimo Breach had just the barest outline before I
plunged in. The rest I’ve plotted to one extent or another, but I’m impatient
and lazy, so I will usually get tired of plotting about halfway through and
start writing, and figure it out as I go along.
When
can we expect Jet 4 to hit the shelves?
Early-to-mid December,
2012. It will all be in the hands of my editor and proofreader soon. But I’m
hopeful.
Have
you ever thought about going the traditional publishing route, or are you indie
forever?
You know, the trad pub route has so many pitfalls,
as does the indie road. Unless you get a deal with a house that really thinks
you’re the next Lee Child, you won’t get much push, and will wind up wallowing,
making little money, and waiting 18 months to see a book released. On the plus
side, you get broad distribution, a real marketing push, and a shot at movies
and the like – but that’s only if they have a considerable investment in you,
and are committed to giving it the full court press. At which point you’ll be
digging into your pocket to do book tours and appearances, in the hopes that
you’ll make your advance back and maybe get enough traction to break big. On
the negative side, you have to get your books written by committee, where
marketing, editors, and your agent all have their take on how it should read, which
could be good, or bad, depending upon how the stars align. As an indie, I’ve
been extremely fortunate so far. In 2012, I’ll have sold around 100K books, so
my income vastly exceeds most trad pub authors – all but maybe the top top
tier. I get to release as many books as I like, written the way I want to write
them. I don’t have to censor my work, or include a rape scene in the first five
pages because marketing wants a shocker to push, or spend six months in editing
while a lesser talent goes over every sentence trying to dumb it down to sixth
grade level so it will have broader appeal. My personal philosophy is that
there are all kinds of readers, from the dim and simple to the highly
intelligent and complex, and there are books for all of them. I tend to write
what I like to read, which is at the higher end of the smarts curve – harkening
back to the days of Ludlum and Forsyth more than the current Patterson et al
bunch. I think I would put my work
somewhere between Silva and Baldacci – certainly the right neighborhood to be
in, if not the absolutely most popular, although I’d probably argue that JET is
more Ian Fleming than anything else I’ve written.
Alan, thanks for having me on again. It’s always a
pleasure. Now I’ve got to get back to work and finish JET 4 and figure out what
the hell Assassin 5 is going to be about so I can write it and have it out by
Xmas...
Russell, the pleasure is all mine.
I
can’t recommend the JET series enough, and you can get your first taste of his
alluring assassin for just 99 cents.
