I first got to know Craig McDonald and his work through his first book, the interview collection Art in the Blood. As a reader of crime fiction, I found it to be a goldmine. It was full of interviews with some of my favorite writers in the genre. And the term “interview” doesn’t really do these justice, not when a handful of questions e-mailed back and forth like, say, this one, can qualify. These were insightful, in-depth conversations that likely taught their subjects as much as the eventual readers.

When I learned that McDonald was going to publish his first novel, 2007′s Head Games, I knew it would be worth investigating. Now, I’ll admit, while I was sure someone with McDonald’s depth and breadth of knowledge about crime fiction, and demonstrated way with words would mean he could write a decent book, I did worry that it would be like reading a term paper written by someone unwilling to leave a shred of research in his notebook. I shouldn’t have worried. Yes, his books are full of historical details, but those details are woven seamlessly into very crafty, intricate plots in such a way that the truth and the fiction blend into something that always places the story at the fore. McDonald’s novels are enriched by his knowledge and research, never burdened.

Which brings me to his fourth novel in as many years, the fantastic One True Sentence. It again follows Hector Lassiter, McDonald’s rakish pulp writer, and his friend, the very real Ernest Hemingway, as they work to figure out who is killing off the small literary magazine editors in 1924 Paris. Unlike earlier books that followed these two — Toros and Torsos and Print the Legend — here the two writers are much lesser known, their careers more promise than production. It is interesting to see these two in such a formative state (and yes, it feels like they are equals, in writing and in terms of character; McDonald’s real gift, on full display here, is in rendering his fictional characters in realistic fashion and the real people as believable characters within the story who happen to share the name, traits and accomplishments of those upon which they are based).

I won’t share more of the plot than this, because it is so intricate and captivating that readers deserve to discover it for themselves. Suffice to say that McDonald’s mix of characters both real (Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas and others) and fictional (the mystery novelist Brinke Devlin, Hector’s love interest and perhaps McDonald’s most fully realized character beyond his main protagonist) come alive in this altogether satisfying novel.

The bad news is that we’ll have a year’s wait to get the next of his books, which will be the fifth of the seven total Lassiter books. The good news is that we have three more coming.

This is McDonald’s record-setting fifth Monday Interview, and as always, he is gracious, candid and enlightening.

To read about McDonald’s first author interview collection, Art in the Blood, click here.
To read about McDonald’s first novel, Head Games, click here.
To read about McDonald’s second author interview collection, Rogue Males, click here.
To read about McDonald’s third novel, Print the Legend, click here.

TIRBD: I know you have all of the Lassiter books written. As they are published and met with reader reactions and critical analysis, have you been tempted to go back and rework anything in the yet-to-be-published novels?

CM: In theory, that’s the dangerous thing about having all the unpublished books sitting here on my iMac: the prospect of endless tinkering. But, really, no, I don’t do much of that at all. I read all the reviews I’m made aware of and take what I can from them. Sometimes they result in a small tweak here or there. But at this point, the series is so tightly woven, that I resist big changes. It would create an ugly domino effect.

The other thing is, because the novels have jumped around in time and Hector’s later years were explored more fully in the first few novels, there is now a timeline and biographical record in place for the man you simply can’t screw with. Each editor, in theory, has a chance to put a stamp on each new book, but to date, Print the Legend was the only one of the Lassiters that changed in any significant way in editing.

This is the last Hemingway appearance in the books, correct? What has his presence meant for these stories, and what will his absence mean for the rest?

There are those who began to theorize this was actually a clandestine series about Hemingway, so that’s why, at the very opening of OTS, I make it clear it’s Hem’s swansong. What I was really going after with Hem’s presence in the series was a portrait of a writer who came up through all the phases and stages of 20th Century fiction — the ‘isms’ movements like modernism, etc. — and a look at how masculinity plays into that century and in art. Hemingway had to be at once a focal point and a counterbalance for Lassiter’s own brand of machismo.

But now, having more or less charted the length and breadth of the Hector/Hemingway arc, it’s time to broaden the scope and let Hector carry us through the middle- to late-20^th Century after Hem had pretty much abandoned the field. Hem’ll have a tiny cameo in the next-to-the-last-book, but that’s about it. There are those who thought Orson Welles was going to be a constant in the series, too, but he had his role and Orson, too, ran his course. The novel after One True Sentence has no historical figures whatever. The three novels left after that one will bring in some real people, but nobody, I think, anyone would expect.

You have had a rather torrid publication schedule over the past four years. Does it feel like you’re always either promoting a current book or ramping up to promote the next?

In a word, yes. My one great advantage has been the fact I have a tremendous backlog of material and, in theory, could go two-books-a-year for several years and never pick up a pen. That’s a very good thing given the amount of web promotion required now. Honestly, I feel this year like I’m one of a very few still going out on the road with a traditional tour this season. At the same time, I’m putting down thousands of words for guest blogs and essays, and I try, for all kinds of reasons, to really write those pieces and say something in them. I take everything I put my name to very seriously in that sense, and it’s a huge time-eater.

I assume that you have been writing in the four years since the Lassiter series was first published, and you have three more to go. That means it may be 2015 or so before we get the chance to read what you’re working on now.  Is that frustrating?

If the publishing world stayed the way it has always been, you’d probably be right about that time frame. But in this age of disruptive innovation — i.e., the eBook — it’s tough to say what next week will bring. I retained my digital rights for all my Bleak House books, and Art In the Blood. At this point, I’ve put out my own eBook of Toros & Torsos, and not done a lot of promotion of that fact, but I can honestly say, in a royalty sense, I’m making more from that version of T&T than the printed version to date here in the States. (France is a much different beast, where significant advertising is done on my behalf and I’m actually printed in mass-market paperback). I may yet put something out as an eBook exclusive just to see what happens. Head Games will go to eBook format in early March.

That said, you will also be seeing a standalone novel later this year from Tyrus. It’s the novel I wrote between Head Games and Toros & Torsos, and I approached Tyrus with it primarily because I wanted to do something with Ben LeRoy and Alison Janssen again. It’s a brave new publishing world and terrain and I’m aiming to explore it in a lot of different ways, tactically speaking.

You have shifted the order of the Lassiter books a bit, having originally intended One True Sentence to follow Toros & Torsos, and seemed to expect Roll the Credits, which is thus far unpublished, to follow Print the Legend. Do the books mean something different taken in this order rather than another?  Have there been drawbacks or benefits to changing their order?

That’s more tactics. The order changes are a function of various editors coming and going and my own reading of the zeitgeist. I definitely have a sequence in mind for publication order in the series – one with an eye toward evolving reader sentiment toward the Lassiter character – and the publication of One True Sentence as number four puts the series back on its intended path.

Have you had any nibbles from Hollywood? One True Sentence in particular has a story that is compact and action-oriented enough to seem perfect for the big screen.

Many nibbles for the first novel, including one from the actor I once thought would be perfect to play Hector circa Head Games. It’s heady when they come courting, but getting asked out? Elusive. So far, no inquiries about OTS, despite the fact that it is the most traditionally structured of all the novels.

You talk a lot about musicians like Tom Russell. Do you listen to music as you write? If not, do you find inspiration in music that ultimately results in something creative on your part?

Nearly always, I write to music and lyrics and mood help set pace, and, once in a while, plot points. Head Games was dedicated to Russell because his music was playing throughout the writing of the novel and, in fact, his cover of Jim Ringer’s “Tramps & Hawkers” inspired the Lassiter character in the most primal form. Lassiter 2, Toros & Torsos, was written to standards and vintage torch songs, but probably the most played-song in that novel’s writing was Bryan Ferry’s cover of “Where or When.”

One True Sentence was directly affected by — and written to — an album called Thumbelina’s One Night Stand by Melissa McClelland. When you detect the strand of self-destruction that runs through Melissa’s album, and you read OTS, I think you quickly see the nexus.

Part of me really wants “The Lincoln Lawyer” to tank.

Let me explain. Unlike many of my other favorite crime writers, Michael Connelly has had decent luck at the box office. Only one of his books has made it to the screen, and that was the decent Clint Eastwood film “Blood Work.” But several others are in various stages of development, and if this first of the Mickey Haller books is successful, the floodgates are likely to open and we’ll see more adaptations.

This could bring two problems: One, I’d rather see Connelly focus on Hieronymus Bosch. The Haller books are fine; I’m in the middle of the forthcoming The Fifth Witness right now, and it has me in its grip as usual. Haller is again wrapped up in a high-profile case (though this time Bosch is not really present). But The Bosch books are Connelly at his best, and though he has proven himself adept at the courtroom drama, there are plenty of those already. Well-written procedurals? Not so common.

Two, if the film is successful and more are made, Connelly will earn more money. A lot more. He’s surely doing all right, and I of course wish him the best. But comfort can lead to complacency. I want a hungry Connelly at the keyboard, not one cranking out another Haller book for the masses. That’s not to suggest that Connelly has or will phone it in, but I don’t want him to be nudged in that direction.

All of that is just a part of what I want. What I really want is for Connelly to be wildly successful. The guy has earned it. The source material is top notch. The Lincoln Lawyer as a novel is riveting, with a fast-paced plot of violence and deception. Connelly seamlessly transitions from the police side of the law to the attorney’s point of view, and has created a compelling protagonist in Haller. I don’t see Matthew McConaughey in the role, but I’ll reserve judgment until I see the finished product. The rest of the cast, from Marisa Tomei to William H. Macy to John Leguizamo, seems well chosen.

In the meantime, the folks behind Connelly’s books and the film have offered five copies of the mass market paperback version of the book and five copies of the movie poster for me to give away. So, here’s the deal: Leave a comment below by Feb. 11 listing what you think is the best movie adaptation of a crime fiction novel. I’ll randomly select five commenters and each will win a copy of the book and a poster.

In the meantime, here are some things to get you primed for the March 18 release of the film:

Read an except here

So, three years ago when R.E.M. was set to release Accelerate, I wrote a post about my ambivalence toward the album. It was derivative, pedestrian and uninspiring. It was better than Around the Sun, its awful predecessor, but what wouldn’t be? I eventually warmed to the album, listening to it quite a bit (certainly more than anything since New Adventures in Hi-Fi).

Here we are, three years later, and R.E.M. is set to release another album, Collapse Into Now. My verdict thus far: ambivalence over an album that sounds derivative, pedestrian and uninspiring. At this point, you’d be forgiven for thinking that maybe the problem is me.

I’ll argue to the end that Michael Stipe is perhaps the finest vocalist in rock music when it comes to creating a compelling vocal melody. As is clear by now, the musicians in the band – guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills – usually bring music to the studio, where Stipe later adds vocals. Consistently, despite some rather bland seemingly uncreative backing, Stipe has crafted top-notch melodies that elevate the suspect source material.

That gift, coupled with a renewed burst of energy, propelled the best of Accelerate’s tracks. There was nothing new here; indeed, much of this sounded like R.E.M.’s back catalog jammed into a food processor and poured out into 3-minute servings. But the sheer verve of the performances made these songs sound fresh.

On Collapse into Now, the band seems to be masking a hangover from that period. The energy is still there, in smaller doses, but it seems to have taken its toll. This again feels derivative – is that “Drive” on “Uberlin?” And, um, what’s with the “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” vibe to “Discoverer?”

Admittedly, I’m basing this on 5/12 of the album – the songs the band has previewed thus far. That means the various guest turns from Eddie Vedder, Peaches and others remain unheard (but their presence smacks a bit of desperation).

Will my opinion change after I spend some time with the album? It’s likely. R.E.M. is among a handful of bands that get the benefit of the doubt. I’ll give them time and attention. With only one true dud in its discography, this is a band that has earned it. I hope something clicks. I’d hate to have to wait another three years for a decent R.E.M. album.

The crime fiction fairy tale contest results are here. First things first: This was very difficult. I didn’t really know what to expect from my first attempt at running a short fiction contest. I had no idea how many entries I would receive, nor the quality of that work. The answers are: more than I expected and very, very high. When I hit upon this premise, literally while reading a fairy tale book to my 3 year old, I wondered if anyone else would think it was a good idea, let alone be inspired to come up with something based on it.

I needn’t have worried. Sixteen great writers answered the call, writing some inventive, clever, funny and twisted takes on fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Alas, as good as every single story was, there can only be one winner, and that writer is:

Nigel Bird, for his dark take on “Sing a Song of Sixpence.” Nigel’s storytelling is always top-notch, and that was on display here. He blends  a great eye for detail with an economy that makes every sentence count.

In second place is “The Flying Trunk” by Jack Bates. Based on an Aesop fable of the same name, Jack’s story was one of the longest submitted, but he kept my interest throughout with steadily building action, some real drama and a great  last line.

Third place goes to Loren Eaton‘s “King Flounder: A Monologue.” There was a lot to like here. A monlogue of this length is tough to pull off, but Loren does so admirably with a lot of detail that never feels one dimensional. And his take on, from what I can tell, is a fairly obscure Grimm tale, really takes off creatively from the initial premise.

Nigel wins two short story collections from the wonderful Tyrus Books, while Jack will receive on Tyrus collection. Loren wins an ebook forthcoming from the generosity of Spinetingler‘s Brian Lindenmuth.

I wish, of course, that I could give an award to everyone, as the stories were that uniformly solid. The good news is that every one of those 16 stories is out there for your reading pleasure. And perhaps wiser people than me will be able to figure out how to do something with all of this great work in the same way the folks behind the “Discount Noir” collection did.

Thanks again to everyone who submitted, read the stories and commented. It was a blast. I’ll definitely be doing this again.

And, as promised, here’s my story, the idea that kicked off this entire endeavor, “The Master Cat.”

This year’s Village Voice Pazz & Jop music poll is out, and it shows me to be increasingly out of step with what is considered hip. Not only have I not even heard the poll-topping My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West (nor, to be honest, do I have much desire to), but I’ve found most of the top 10 to be pretty dull and uninspiring. Perhaps 2010 was the year when I finally quit worrying about what the tastemakers thought and spent more time with what I liked.

The Voice top 10 is rounded out by (and my take):

LCD Soundsystem – puzzlingly bland
Arcade Fire – unfun
Janelle Monae – haven’t heard it
Vampire Weekend – disappointing
Big Boi  - haven’t heard it
Beach House – not as good as the live show
The National  - on my list
Sleigh Bells – intriguing but grating
Black Keys – Good, but far from their best

The National, at #8, is obviously the highest finisher among my own top 10. I didn’t rank my picks within the 10, but Voice voters did it for me. Here, in decreasing order of voters in the poll, are my picks:

The National – 97
Titus Andronicus – 75
Superchunk – 49
Teenage Fanclub – 11
Steve Wynn – 6
Besnard Lakes – 5
Devo – 5
Josh Ritter – 4
Brad Mehldau – 4
Crowded House – 3

Meanwhile, 266 critics voted for the Kanye West album. That seems like a lot compared with the paltry 3 that gave Crowded House some support, but it’s still just a fraction of the 708 who participated this year. That leaves room for a boatload of diversity, which is represented by the 1,839 albums selected by voters. That’s 2.6 unique records per voter, pretty staggering when you consider the consensus apparently represented by West’s win. According to the Voice, West’s win was by the largest margin ever, and his third #1 out of five albums.

The crime fiction fairy tale contest is closed to entries, and I now have 16 great stories to read to determine the winners. There was a flurry of entries as the final hours ticked away, so now, after having kept up pretty well, I have quite a bit of reading to do.

I’ll plan to announce the winners on Friday, Jan. 21. I’ll post my own story at that time as well.

While you wait for the results, do yourself a favor and go check out these stories. There is some top-notch fiction to be found, and some very inventive twists on the premise of basing a crime fiction story on a fairy tale.

“The Flying Trunk” by Jack Bates
“Coal Black” by Eric Beetner
“Sing a Song of Sixpence” by Nigel Bird
“Henry, Gina and the Gingerbread House“by Kaye George
“Mary” by Eric Gumeny
“Han and Greta” by Blu Gilliand
“The Flying Trunk” by Jack Bates
“Divided We Stand” by Sean Patrick Reardon
“Taking Back” by Sandra Seamans
“Candy House” by R.L. Kelstrom
“Joseph and Justine” by Patti Abbott
“King Flounder: A Monlogue” by Loren Eaton
“Life is a Fairy Tale” by BV Larson
“You Dirty Rats” by Absolutely*Kate and Harry B, Sanderford
“How I Came Into My Inheritance” by Seana Graham
“Skyler Hobbs and the Magic Solution“  by Evan Lewis
“Interview with the Pram Driver” by B. Nagel

I came across a copy of Bob Dylan’s Saved at the local public library a couple of weeks ago, and it was the catalyst that led me to a reassessment of Dylan’s trio of so-called Christian albums, Slow Train Coming, Saved and Shot of Love.

Thirty years after the fact, these albums don’t feel like the radical departure they were depicted as at the time. That’s not to say I wouldn’t have felt that way – a sense of betrayal, really – at the time. But rather that the value of hindsight affords me the chance to hear these in the full context of Dylan’s catalog. With that context, these feel less like Dylan allowing his talents to be diminished as he channeled his new-found faith and more like an artist who was burned out finding a new subject that positively revitalized him.

I won’t get into the particulars of Dylan’s conversion – you can read much more about it elsewhere – but will instead focus on the music he made during this period. After the Rolling Thunder Revue, which seems like the culmination of his second great phase, Dylan seemed to be searching for a new direction. Street Legal, while containing its share of strong mid-period songs, seems to be an album by an artist searching for a larger narrative. On its follow-up, Slow Train Coming, Dylan has found it.

The album is clearly the strongest of the three Christian albums, as a Dylan still in full ownership of his songwriting prowess brought those powers to bear on these new lyrical pursuits. “Gotta Serve Somebody,” “Precious Angel” and “I Believe in You” are a strong 1-2-3 punch to start the album, the middle of those about as gorgeous a song as Dylan has recorded. There are clunkers here – “Man Gave Names to All the Animals” is a misguided bit of comic relief, and “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking” feels a bit hamfisted among its neighbors – but this is a potent album.

Saved is the most overtly religious of the three albums, as Dylan’s faith seems to be in full flower. This is as close as he got to a gospel album, from the praise-worthy title track to the quietly insistent gem “Pressing On.” The singer’s passion elevates some of his most pedestrian songwriting, the fiery performances making this a real joy to hear.

Shot of Love feels like the other end of the bell curve that started with Slow Train Coming. Where that album signaled the ascent of Dylan’s faith, this one records its recession, at least from a musical standpoint. The religious content is still there, of course, but the music is more interesting and thus not as beholden on the singer’s delivery for their success. That he continues to sing with verve that practically oozes a focused intent certainly delivers these songs to a place otherwise unobtainable. Classics like “Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar” and “Every Grain of Sand” make this otherwise uneven album worth hearing.

Ultimately, these three albums are full of love songs. The problem for some is the subject of that feeling. One can try to divorce them from that source as they listen, but Dylan’s passion is difficult to ignore.

Not everything here is good, but the best of it is fairly outstanding. A playlist assembled from many of the songs mentioned above makes a 10-track collection that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with nearly anything outside of Dylan’s ’63-’66 heyday.

There is one week to go on my fairy tale crime fiction challenge, and the response thus far has been fantastic. Already, six writers have submitted top-notch stories, and I have heard from more than a dozen more that plan to submit something.

To refresh the memory, here’s the original pitch:

Write a crime fiction story of between 1,000 and 3,000 words (with some flexibility on either end) that is based on the premise of an actual children’s fairy tale. For example, a story about a predatory thief based on “Little Red Riding Hood.” Post it to your blog or web site, or find someone who will do that for you. Put the link in the comments here.  Do so by midnight on Jan. 14, Cinderella, or your coach to (the relative) fame and fortune (of modest web-based attention) will turn back into a pumpkin.

You don’t need to reveal which fairy tale you used as source material. While some will probably be obvious, others may not. Guessing can be part of the fun.

I since have fielded questions about the length requirements and how stringently the “fairy tale” rule will be applied. The word-count guidelines are just that — guidelines.  If you’re story needs 500 words or 3,500, that’s fine. Don’t send a novella, but anything else will be considered. As for the source material, those who want to try nursery rhymes instead of more traditional fairy tales have certainly piqued my interest, so give it a shot.

I’ll select three winners: First place will receive two short fiction anthologies from the wonderful folks at Tyrus Books, while second place will receive one Tyrus collection. Third place will receive an eBook from the generosity of Brian Lindenmuth with the great Spinetingler site.

UPDATE: Want to see what your peers have cooked up? Here are the six entries thus far: