Interview with Reed Farrel Coleman (March 2005)
Author of The James Deans (2005)
March 22, 2005
Reed Farrel Coleman is the author of several novels, including the Moe Prager series, the most recent of which is The James Deans.
Q. What made you decide to start writing mysteries?
A. I had been trained in college to write poetry and had had some middling success publishing poetry. I figured, I would always have a “regular” job and do poetry. Then in the 80s, I got pretty bored with those mind-numbing “regular” jobs and decided to take an evening class at Brooklyn College. I looked at the courses and chose to take one in The Art of Detective Fiction. To this day, I can’t tell you why I chose that class. Probably because it fit into my work and travel schedule. You see, I was never much of a crime fiction guy. To me, when I thought of the genre, I thought of the cheesy books my dad kept on his nightstand. So anyway, the first things we read for this class were The Continental Op, Farewell, My Lovely, The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. Bang! I was smitten. I recognized a certain poetry and economy in the language of Hammett and Chandler and thought, hell, I’d like to try this. I guess, I’ve succeeded.
Q. What is it about the city [New York] that makes it resonate so strongly for writers and readers alike?
A. Everything! I was Brooklyn born and raised, so for me it’s in the blood. New York is everything on overload, overdrive. It’s the extremes of best and worst, the juxtaposition of taste and tastelessness, of high art and horror. The thing is, when you’re a Brooklynite, which, much to my dismay, I no longer am, there’s an intense pride and yet a burning inferiority about Manhattan. Ask S.J. Rozan, from the Bronx, or Jim Fusilli, from Hoboken, NJ, about that weird inferiority and yearning. I suspect it plays a crucial role in why we write about NY. As to why writers and readers are drawn to it... Man, you got about a week and I’ll try to explain it. I think it’s one of the few cities that goes way beyond setting. It is a character in the book, no matter the book.
Q. Moe Prager is a nice change from the cliché of the tormented, alcoholic detective. Was this a deliberate reversal or is that just the way Moe came to you?
A. Both, but more the former than latter. And speaking of clichés, here comes one. My characters create themselves. What I’ll add to that is that my characters have only one reference source and that’s me. Moe Prager, unlike my first protagonist, Dylan Klein, evolved. He is an outgrowth of a character I worked on at the very beginning of my career. Then his name was Moe Einstein -- way, way too cute and clever. But that Moe had the essential goodness of Moe Prager. I just wasn’t skilled enough early on to make that essential goodness work. You’ll often hear authors say that bad characters are more fun to write. True, but they’re less challenging. It’s much more difficult to write about goodness and make it interesting. However, when I was done with my third Dylan Klein novel, They Don’t Play Stickball in Milwaukee, I was ready to try it again. Walking the Perfect Square was envisioned as a stand alone and that old Moe reasserted himself. When I began the book, I just knew who he was and how to make him work. I now had the craft and skill to pull it off. I understood that, like Moses of the Old Testament, he would have a certain burden. My burden was to have him be a fully realized human being, to make him bleed when he was cut. Think about it: the archetypal P.I. has been done better than I’ll ever do it. I’m not going to top Scudder or Marlowe or Spade. So Moe is taking the world of those guys and flipping it on its ear.
Q. How is the campaign to “Save Moe” going?
A. Moe is saved! Say Hallelujah. Say Amen. The thing is, I don’t know exactly where he’ll end up. I would love for him to stay where he’s already at home, where I’m already at home. My publisher, Penguin-Plume, and I have worked so hard to get my career going and to get the Moe books on the readers’ radar screens, I think it would be a shame if we didn’t share the success together. But I’ve come to understand the pressures of the business from the publisher’s point of view and I’m at peace with whatever happens. That the character of Moe will live on is the most important thing.
Q. Do you read reviews of your books?
A. No. And if you believe that, I have a bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan that I can sell you on the cheap. Of course, I read the reviews. Almost every author I know reads their reviews. It’s not the reading them that’s important. It’s what you do afterwards that counts. The thing of it is, if I’m going to get big-headed about great reviews, like the ones I’ve gotten for The James Deans, then I’ll have to shrivel up and die when they’re not good. I can’t afford to do that. I don’t think any author can. You just have to keep your head down and write.
Q. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
A. Stop aspiring. Sit your f-ing ass down and write.
Q. How did a nice Jewish guy like you wind up with a moniker like Coleman? And two kids named Kaitlin and Dylan? Is it your inner Irishman coming out or are you really Ken Bruen in disguise?
A. My mother named me after B-movie actor, Reed Hadley, who, as it so happened, was the star of a cop show on 50s TV! The F in Farrel is for some dead relative. Jews name only after the dead. My family’s real last name is Kahane, which was changed to Cohen when they got off the boat. Then after WWII, when anti-Semitism was rampant in this country, my dad changed Cohen to Coleman. The joke is, he changed it to a name where everyone would assume we were either Irish or African American. Dylan is named for the poet Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan. I didn’t think Zimmerman Coleman worked as names go. Kaitlin was just a name I always loved. In fact, Ken Bruen often accuses me of being more Irish than himself. To be compared to him is a great compliment, even if in jest.
Q. What are your thoughts about Hollywood adapting your books?
A. Do you think begging is undignified?
Q. What excites or distresses you about the mystery genre today?
A. Great question. What excites me is that there are authors of the highest possible quality working in this genre. I would match people like Bruen, Pelecanos, S.J. Rozan, Jim Fusilli and many, many others against anyone writing “literary” fiction. As a group there is such a high level of art, craft, and imagination at play in our genre that one can’t help but be in awe. And as a group, we manage to perform at a high level while still managing to entertain people. On the other hand, there’s way too much crap being thrown out there. Also, publishing is going through an inevitable transitional period that is costing good authors their careers.
Q. What’s the last book you read?
A. Who has time to read? No, really, the last few books I’ve read were Hard Rain by the best looking man in crime fiction, Barry Eisler, and Pet Sounds, a book about the Beach Boys album by Jim Fusilli. I’m currently reading Shell Games by Kirk Russell.
Q. What’s next for you?
A. I’ve signed a 2 book deal to write a new series under a pen name with a cool new publishing house. I can’t discuss the details with you, but I think people will really be surprised. The books are darker and grittier than the Moe books and are written in third person. I think they will appeal both to my current fans and to younger fans. We’ll see. When I’m done with the second book, which will happen this summer, I’ll get back to the next Moe book. I’ve also become enamored of short story writing and would love to put my stuff together and try and get a collection published. My short stories are not only crime fiction. I have some sci fi and slice of life stuff, too.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Interviews | Permalink
Comments
Having read WALKING THE PERFECT SQUARE, I had the chance to chat with Reed at Partners & Crime's THE JAMES DEANS book launch. Conscientious, down-to-earth author. Great news about Moe.
Posted by: Gerald So | Mar 25, 2005 11:02:16 PM
