Excerpt from The Tainted Trust by Stephen Douglass

The Tainted Trust 

By Stephen Douglass

Synopsis:  Volume Two of The King Trilogy, The Tainted Trust is, in addition to a moving and action packed thriller, a brilliant depiction of what perfectly normal people will do for love and money. It is the continuing story of an inconvenient fortune and its catastrophic impact on a loving family. 

Stephen says:  I wrote this piece in an attempt to establish a bridge between the first and second trilogy volumes, and to introduce Louis Visconti, an evil individual. I chose this because some time ago, I entered it into an Author of the Week contest and received the following comment from the moderator: "The Tainted Trust by Stephen Douglass has the best mix of dialogue and narrative that I have read thus far."

Excerpt:         New York. April  23, 1980.

         

       Louis Visconti was a happy man. Alone at his massive glass topped desk on the fifty-sixth floor of the south tower of The World Trade Center, he stared pensively in the direction of the window, refusing to allow his steely grey eyes to focus on anything. He reflected on his considerable achievements. Thirty-three years of age, ten years out of Harvard Business School, and already a multimillionaire, he figured his income for the year would be between two and three million, his lofty projection based on annualizing outstanding results of the first half of the year.

        His personal spending had increased in proportion to his considerable investment successes. With every reason to believe the cash flow would continue forever, there was no need to save. The cost of most anything he wanted was irrelevant. Image and profile were everything. When he threw a party, his only concern was how lavish he could make it. No expense was spared to make certain it was more ostentatious than any he had attended. There were women in his life, but only one of his relationships had ever reached critical mass, the price of love and commitment refusing to allow that threshold to be breached. Money was his real lover, possessions and power his consuming passions.

       Finally realizing his dream of becoming one of the most important figures in New York's financial community, his picture had not only appeared in the Wall Street Journal and Barron's, but also in the financial sections of most important newspapers in the industrialized world. His brilliant and phenomenal investment record had become legendary. He was the man, in demand. Movers and shakers stumbled over one another to be and seen in his company. His schedule had become so tight that he was compelled to turn down numerous invitations to speak at luncheons, dinners and conventions in North America, Europe and Asia.    

         His brief experience with marriage was an unmitigated disaster, fortunately ending before wealth and children. He was strikingly handsome and extremely eligible, the only child of near penniless Italian immigrants who had fled to the United States in late 1946. He frequently boasted about the source of his survival instincts by claiming that both he and his mother had narrowly escaped death when she gave birth to him within minutes of her arrival at Ellis Island.

         Blessed with a brilliant mind and fanatical ambition, he had scratched and clawed his way through public and high schools in Queens. Hustling, working and studying hard eventually earned him a near full ticket scholarship at Harvard Business School. His lucky break was to have been offered a full partnership with his two friends and former classmates, Jerry Mara and Allen Griesdorf.  Seven years earlier, the three had taken an enormous gamble when they quit the relative security of their jobs as account executives with Green, Waltrum, a large and extremely prestigious Wall Street investment banking firm. With the horsepower of youthful courage and a boatload of borrowed money, they boldly formed their own company. 

        Mara, Griesdorf and Visconti grew quickly. The partners took a pass on ordinary money. They romanced and managed only wealthy money in a single investment fund. From the very beginning they had set an unrelenting minimum per account of five hundred thousand dollars. By investing the bulk of the fat portfolios in tangible assets during the highly inflationary seventies, they had enriched their clients and achieved personal success beyond their wildest dreams.  

        As word of the company’s brilliant investment techniques and incredible track record spread, more clients came, anxious to receive the twenty-plus percent annual return others had enjoyed for five consecutive years. Now that the partners were managing over a billion dollars, the fund had become unwieldy. Closing it and refusing further entry was now well within the partners’ contemplation.

        Visconti displayed a lecherous smirk as he watched Susan, his secretary, a shapely twenty-eight year old brunette, enter his office.  

       “I have a call for you on line eight,” she announced with a fetching smile, then placed a black coffee mug on Visconti’s desk.

       “Who is it?” Visconti asked, refusing to shift his grey eyes from Susan’s tantalizing breasts.

       “Alfred Schnieder. He’s calling again from Caracas...You know him?”

        Visconti nodded. “One of the old-time banking farts. Been around since Methuselah was a teen-ager.”

       “Want me to tell him you're busy?”

        Visconti took a micro sip of his coffee, then shook his head. “Nope. I’ll take it. Thanks for the coffee.” He lifted his receiver, then forced a smile. “Alfred, thanks for calling. What’s shaking?”

        “I have clients for you.”

         Visconti tightened his lips and rolled his eyes skyward. “Don’t do me any favors. I need more clients like I need another wife.”

        “But these are not ordinary clients.”

        “What makes them different?”

        “Over three hundred million reasons.”

         Visconti bolted upright and immediately began to salivate. “How much?” he shouted.

        “I believe you heard me the first time.”

        “Who are they? You said clients.”

        “I had the distinct impression you had no interest.”

        "Well suddenly I do. Who are they?”

        “The ownership is quite complex. I’m compelled to tell you it’s hot money.”

        “If it’s In God We Trust, I don’t give a shit what the temperature is.”

         Schnieder chuckled. “Am I to assume you’re interested?”

        “That’s a gigantic understatement! Jesus, Alfred, who the hell are these people?”

        “Shortly, you will receive a telephone call from a man named Mike King. He will arrange a meeting with you to determine your qualifications to manage that vast sum of money.”

        “Is he one of the clients?”

        “Yes. His wife was married to the man who accumulated the money. Currently, it’s under my care and control, but the wretched calendar never lies. Soon I will be too old to continue the responsibility. That is the primary reason I have referred you to Mike King. If he approves of you, I will make the necessary arrangements to transfer the responsibility to you.”

        “What’s your fee?”

        “One percent on the capital, and ten percent of real annual gains in excess of ten percent.”

        “Visconti completed a quick mental calculation and salivated more. He wondered however, why Schnieder had chosen him. “Why me, Alfred?” he asked.

        “Elementary, my friend. You are the most qualified,” Schnieder conceded, well aware of Visconti's larcenous tendencies.

        “Cut the bullshit! What’s in it for you? I know you're not doing this for the good of your health.”

        “As perceptive as ever, Louis...I want my retirement to be as comfortable as possible. If King gives you the job, I plan to give you the number of my bank account in Geneva. Then before we complete the transfer of responsibility, I will expect to see the balance increased by five million.”  

        “I’m sure you will. Maybe you can tell me where the hell I'm going to get five big ones.”

        “From the trust, my friend. Your first assignment will be to arrange five million of transitional slippage. Of course it will have to be replaced with first proceeds...Do you understand what I’m saying?”

        “Exquisite,” Visconti declared, chuckling at the irony of Schnieder’s proposition. Five million dollars would be removed from the trust during the transfer, wired to Schnieder’s Swiss account, then replaced with future income in the trust. Subsequently, the accounting would be cooked to hide the removal. “You need me to help you to steal five million dollars of stolen money.”

        “Precisely, my friend. I prefer to think of it as an interest free loan, to be used for the balance of my useful life... I expect King will call you very soon. When he does, you must be prepared to romance him.”

        “I’ll be ready. You can bank on it.”

        “Good pun...One final word of advice. Beware of interest rates. They are heading north.”

        “When and how far north?”

        “Soon. Bankers are living in fear of Paul Volcker's intentions. They’re convinced he’s serious about killing inflation. They think he’ll raise Prime to twenty percent, perhaps higher. With twelve percent inflation in the United States, you can draw your own conclusions. Real rates must climb well above historic norms to break inflationary psychology. You know that.”

        “Thanks again, Alfred. I’m gonna start liquidating. I’ll talk to you soon.”

For more on Stephen, check him out on FACEBOOK or LINKEDIN  or GOODREADS; order his books from AMAZON and follow him on TWITTER @douglasssteve

Who's the Victim?

I finally figured out why I'm having such a hard time with the fourth Sasha Jackson Mystery. 

Seems that until just now, I'd forgotten about a very good piece of mystery writing advice:  Know Your Victim

When I first began writing, I remember being told to start with the victim.  The author must know who died - of course - but knowing who the victim was, what his life was like, what his influences were, what his values were and so on makes the story unfold for the author (and ultimately for the reader as well).

It's easy to forget this advice since the victim will most likely not be an "active" part of the story.  You won't likely give the victim much dialogue.  There aren't likely to be many descriptions of him going about his day, going to work, interacting with others.  (Keep in mind that in North American mysteries the dead body usually turns up within the first few pages).

In Frisky Business, book four of the Sasha series, I have two victims, both female.  Right from the get-go, I've had a solid background of Victim #1.  Because of this, it's pretty easy to figure out (and write) who killed her and why.  I have a good understanding of what made her tick.  Knowing her well tells me who will be in her life, with whom she would have interacted, and so on; thus I have a pool of characters that my sleuth can turn to during the investigation. 

But Victim #2 is another story... I keep getting stuck on this one.  Everything I've written ends up being deleted a couple of days later.  It finally occurs to me that I need to figure out more of her background.  My gut tells me that once I do that, the rest will fall into place.  
When I know who the victim is, I'll know what else I need in order to write the story.

Interview with mystery novelist Liz Bugg, author of Yellow Vengeance

For the folks who haven’t met her yet, give us a brief description of Calli Barnow, and since the bio on your website mentions that your birthday falls on the cusp of Sagittarius and Capricorn, you’ve got to tell us Calli’s sign too!  How much of you is in Calli?

Calli Barnow is a middle-aged, private investigator who lives and works from her office in the

Kensington Market area of Toronto. Due to her homophobic father, she left home while still a teenager, thus relinquishing the silver spoon with which she was born for the school of hard knocks.  Because of that, Calli has developed psychological scars and personality quirks she might not otherwise have possessed.  Although she does have close friends and a steady love relationship, her emotional challenges still often get in the way of not only her personal life, but also her professional endeavours. Nevertheless, Calli is not a dark character; in fact, she often sees the world in a rather humorous light.

Regarding astrological signs, Calli would be an early Sagittarian. (By the way, although such things can be fun, I take them with a grain of salt.) She’s independent, doesn’t like to be tied down, and she can come across as rather unemotional.  

I’m often asked if Calli is based on me. No. She is a fictitious character, and almost every aspect of our lives, both past and present, are different.  We do, however, share the same attitudes toward many things. 

The Calli Barnow mysteries are all set in Toronto.  With all else remaining unchanged (plot, characters, themes, suspects, red-herrings and so on...) do you think you could have or would have been able to write this series if it were set in, let’s say, your hometown of Regina, SASK?  Or would Calli have ended up being a different character all together?  In other words, how much influence does setting have on the story and to what extent does setting impact the character?

Setting has a tremendous effect on the story. The size and multicultural nature of Toronto make it ideal for providing textured and changing backdrops for both individual scenes and ongoing story lines. I consciously use locations to create mood and atmosphere, as well as to provide interesting venues for crimes. My books would be very different, if they were set somewhere else.

Toronto has also had a considerable effect on the character of Calli. As a young lesbian who was trying to make a life for herself, she was able to find community support that might not have been as readily available in a place with a smaller population. The size of the city also gives her a certain amount of anonymity, which is sometimes necessary in order for her to perform investigations. On the most basic level, Calli is a big city Ontarian. She is the product of Toronto, and it’s where she belongs.

Interestingly, your bio mentions that it really wasn’t until somewhat later in life that you began reading mysteries, and yet here you are a thrice published mystery novelist!  Do you think that your writing is influenced much – if at all – by all the non-mystery books you’ve read?

Absolutely. Two of my favourite writers are Virginia Woolf and Thomas Hardy. I have always admired Woolf’s stream of consciousness techniques and Hardy’s ability to create a cinematographic feel through his narrative. The most profound influence on my writing, however, is my background in theatre. Having studied dramatic literature extensively, and having trained and worked as an actor, my writing is character-driven to the core.

What is the one thing that a writer in any genre can do to turn you off as a reader?  Are there any books you’ve begun reading but never finished?  

Yes, there are some books I have begun reading, but never finished. I’m not, however, going to name them. In general terms there are a few things that will turn me off reading a book. Perhaps the most important and the most quickly recognizable aspect would be poor or simplistic use of language. I also need to feel that there is an underlying truth within the characters and story line. I appreciate humour, but I’m not big on things that are trivial. I’m also a happier reader if there is at least one character who really grabs me in some way. I recently read an acclaimed novel in which all the main characters were unlikeable. Although that was appropriate and in fact necessary for the plot, I found it did not satisfy what I look for as a reader. Sorry, I seem to have more than one turn off point.

How do you come up with bad guys?  How do you create a killer?  Is it ever difficult to write about nasty characters with vicious tendencies?  How do you balance the writing of a bad guy and keeping readers with you?

My bad guys appear as the story evolves. I never plan them ahead of time. In fact, I plan very little

ahead of time. In creating a killer, I look at the motivation to kill that is presented from the circumstances in the story, and I tie that to the psychological aspects of the character that would enable him/her to do the deed. I personally find it easier to write a nasty character than a pleasant one. I do, however, research the psychology behind all my villains. I don’t believe in generic bad guys. I think that’s the key to keeping the readers with you. The characters who commit the crimes need to be as real, as individual and as complex as your main characters. You should be able to believe that the bad guy could be your neighbour, at least until the layers of civility start to be stripped away. One of the most important things I learned as an actor was the necessity for one character (and/or reader) to constantly be discovering something new about another character, even if it’s an old friend. That element of surprise will keep the relationship alive and it will keep the audience/reader engaged. This applies to the bad guys too.

Once upon a time, the mystery genre was dominated by male writers whose protagonists were all white tough guys.  In the last 25 to 30 years or so, the mystery genre has opened its arms quite widely to protagonists from all sorts of backgrounds and from various walks of life, which is a great thing!  How is this trend reflected in your novels?

Yes, mystery novels are certainly not as narrowly-defined, or as predictable as they once were. Had things not moved past white tough guy protagonists, I would never have attempted to write a mystery. My protagonist embodies some aspects of the diversity that is now being seen in the genre. I made my main character a white female. That’s not a big leap, but I chose not to appropriate voice in this instance.  Calli is a lesbian. That’s a little less mainstream, but once again, I know what I’m talking about. Calli does not have a background in law enforcement, but rather a varied list of past jobs, including construction worker.  She often finds her cases a huge challenge, and she sometimes makes mistakes. In other words, she isn’t what you might expect from a private investigator. In fact, she often falls into the category of reluctant hero.

Since a writer can only go so far with a protagonist, I consciously try to address the issue of diversity through other characters, both ongoing and within individual novels. Calli’s sidekick is a Jamaican-Canadian drag queen. Calli’s love interest is Asian. One of the characters in Oranges and Lemons is in a wheelchair, and in Yellow Vengeance many of the characters, including the woman who hires Calli, are South Asian. As I said earlier, Toronto is an ideal setting for this kind of mosaic. In striving for an accurate cross section, I also make an effort to include characters from a wide range of socio-economic situations. I hope that the end result is an interesting and unpredictable slice of life.

You’ve done a lot of book events and you’re also quite active in social media.  What is one of the strangest or funniest interactions you’ve had with a reader (whether in person or online)?

I actually don’t have any strange or funny interactions to relate. That pleasure is yet to come. I have met some wonderful people, both in person and through social media, and it’s those people who keep me writing.

What is the worst bit of writing advice you’ve ever heard?  What is the best piece?  

I need to preface my first statement by explaining that this probably doesn’t apply to everyone. The worst piece of writing advice I’ve heard is that you have to be disciplined and write every day. That doesn’t work for me.  The best piece of advice is that everything you write, including fiction, should be true - not factual, but authentic.  It must contain some element of a basic, human truth. This can be achieved by being specific. Only then will your writing near the ultimate goal of being universal.

I know book three, Yellow Vengeance, has just come out of the oven, so to speak, but what can you tell us about your current work in progress?  I assume there’s another Calli Barnow caper on the way?

I’m taking a bit of a break from writing fiction. Although I have a vague idea about how the next

Calli Barnow novel would begin, I have no definite plans at the moment for when I would write it. I may try a standalone book next, and I’m not sure if it would be a mystery or not. I’ve also started work on the life story of visual artist, Joelle Circe, and I’m ten thousand words into a creative non-fiction book based on the life of my grandmother. What I need right now is time to recharge my batteries, and decide what direction I want to take my writing life.

Clues, clues, clues!  For a mystery novelist, playing fair with the reader is tricky business!  How do you pepper in enough clues to give the reader a chance, without making it obvious, but not so few that it becomes unfair?  

I don’t have any sort of a formula for handling this issue. It is at the back of my mind, as I’m writing, but as with the story line, I tend to let the clues present themselves to me. Sometimes a thought will appear, and I’ll say to myself, “Yes, that’s a decent clue to include.” At other times, I will become aware as I’m revising that I need a hint here or there, and then I’ll figure out what and how to work them in.

Let’s have some fun with quotations about mystery fiction!  Take a look at the lines below.  Do you think crime fiction in particular and genre fiction in general are yet taken as serious literature?  Will they ever be taken as serious literature?  And does that even matter? 

"Detective stories have nothing to do with works of art."  -W.H. Auden
             
"I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of."  -Dashiell   Hammett
 
"[Dashiell Hammett’s] The Glass Key is better than anything Hemingway ever wrote."  -Rex Stout    

Those are great quotes, and certainly food for thought.  Varying opinions on the subject abound.  There will always be literary elitists who turn up their noses at genre fiction in general and crime/mystery/detective fiction in particular. I don’t fall into that camp (obviously). Sure, there’s no shortage of mediocre and even bad genre fiction out there, perhaps due in part to the formulaic nature of the beast. P.D. James says, “One of the criticisms of the detective story is that this imposed pattern is mere formula writing, that it binds the novelist in a straitjacket which is inimical to the artistic freedom which is essential to creativity, and that subtlety of characterisation, a setting which comes alive for the reader and even credibility are sacrificed to the dominance of structure and plot.” She also goes on to say that she is always amazed at how good writers manage to go beyond the restrictions. I agree with her. I think that nowadays, more than ever, writers are not afraid to play with form and structure in genre fiction, even to the extent of sublimating traditional aspects of it in order to more fully develop things like character or relationships.  I know that when I’m writing, I make conscious decisions about what parts of “the formula” I will use, and when I will totally go against convention to achieve my goals. In the scheme of things, I don’t know that it really matters if genre fiction is ever taken seriously, but I do think it’s moving in that direction. That having been said, I would be delighted if my novels were considered in a serious, literary light.

The last question is a bit of a freebie.  What is the one question you wish I had asked you but didn’t?  Now go ahead and ask and answer that question.

How do you decide what to write about, when you begin a new novel? Where does the plot come from?

As I said previously, I plan very little in advance. It would be nice to have the security of a detailed outline, but that doesn’t work for me. My plots evolve bit by bit, as Calli goes through her days, meeting a client, pursuing leads and so on. What I usually do have in my head either before I begin writing, or shortly thereafter, is a social issue I want to investigate. Red Rover looks at parental homophobia, Oranges and Lemons centres around Internet gambling, and Yellow Vengeance examines international adoption. Once I have my core issue, everything else seems to fall into place. Underpinning the issues and the mysteries is the ongoing saga of Calli’s personal life. It is woven both structurally and thematically through the other elements in the novels.

Follow Liz on Twitter @MysteryBugg 

Check out her books on AMAZON  

Have a look at Liz's website HERE

Guest Blogger Cathy Ace: The Chicken and the Egg...

Two Firsts = an egg and a ????

My thanks to Jill Edmondson for inviting me to write this, my first ever “guest blog”—one First. Yesterday I gained a spot on my first ever “Bestseller List”—another First.

Two Firsts in two days. It makes me think of chickens and eggs. 

The week my publisher offered me the contract for my first novel, THE CORPSE WITH THE SILVER TONGUE, I bought myself a memento: a one-foot-tall plaster egg with French windows cut into it, flung wide to reveal a chicken inside, peeking out. Quite surreal, and referencing the unanswerable question: “Which came first?” 

I know that traditional publishing, i.e. having a printed book published by a recognized publisher, is not the route every writer wants to take. Personally, I self-published two volumes (one of short stories, one of novellas) in order to help find a traditional publisher. For me, it worked: TouchWood Editions read the Cait Morgan Mysteries I’d written in my first two volumes, liked them, and asked if I could produce a full-length novel showcasing Cait’s character. THE CORPSE WITH THE SILVER TONGUE was well reviewed by The Globe and Mail, Publishers’ Weekly and Library Journal—three highly influential sources covering Canada and the USA. I was, of course, delighted. That was in the spring of 2012.

In the spring of 2013 my second novel, THE CORPSE WITH THE GOLDEN NOSE, was published. Again it’s been very well reviewed (how can being likened to “Christie or Marsh, with a bouquet of Kinsey Millhone” in the Globe and Mail, March 2013, be bad?) and, yesterday, my publisher excitedly passed on the news that it had appeared on the list of the Top Ten Bestselling Adult Books in BC. In fact, it was the only work of fiction listed! They were delighted, as was I. And, again, I returned to the age-old question about chickens and eggs.

During the past year I have learned something very important: neither the chickens nor the eggs will survive if there isn’t a farmer tending to them all the time, so I’ve become the farmer.  I’ve

Facebooked, Tweeted, reviewed on GoodReads, Liked, Shared, Commented, typed countless smiley faces, and winkey ones. I’ve found groups of people online, who, like me, enjoy traditional mysteries without strong language, sex or gratuitous violence. I’ve grown to feel a true sense of camaraderie with people I’ve never met, and probably won’t. We share photos of our dogs, other people’s cats, agree about the importance of coffee, reading, and staying positive in the face of challenges, big and small. They’ve graciously commented upon my news, and I’ve been inspired and, sometimes, saddened, by news of their lives. It’s been a revelation. I am not alone! Who knew? 

There’s also been another revelation: I’m not just the creator of the chicken, or the egg (depending on which you think comes first) I also have to be the farmer. It’s not enough to write a book. It’s not enough to find a publisher. It’s not enough to polish your original work with a team of professionals who’ll midwife it into the world with you. You have to hang in there, tend to it, guide it toward people who can enjoy it. No, I’m not complaining about this aspect of living the life of an author—I know there are many who’d kill (!) for the chance to have this work facing them every morning. I delight in it. It’s become an important part of my life. I know how very fortunate I am.

So: chicken or egg? If the egg is the author, the chicken is the character. If the egg is the character, the chicken is the manuscript…you get the idea, I’m sure. Manuscript/finished book. Finished book/ reviews. Reviews/sales. Sales/happy readers. Happy readers/the Bestseller List. And, if the egg is the Bestseller List for BC, then the chicken is…..? 

I have no idea. 

Sorry. I didn’t mean to let you down there, but it’s inevitable. As I said, it’s an unanswerable question. I know…if the original egg is the author—me—then I should refer you to my Mum. She

must be to blame for it all!

You can find out about Cathy Ace’s traditional mysteries at www.cathyace.com.

You can keep up to date with Cathy Ace at her author’s Facebook Page: Cathy Ace – Author, or you can follow her on Twitter: @AceCathy

 Cathy's books and bio on AMAZON




Update May 29th, 2015: Cathy and I finally met for the first time last night at the Bony Blithe Awards Dinner!  Here's the evidence:

Interview with author Ailsa Kay

Your first novel, Under Budapest, will be released this spring.  At the risk of starting off with a soft-ball, low-brow question, how does it feel to have your first book coming out?

Really exciting, and every part of it is new to me.   I received the proofs in the mail a couple of weeks ago and thought, “Oh, so that’s what they mean by ‘proofs.’”  The pages were formatted as they will be in the published book.  I didn’t know that.   And they look great.

You have published short fiction in magazines such as Exile and The New Quarterly.  For you, how does short fiction writing differ from writing a full length novel?

That’s a great question because Under Budapest started as a collection of linked stories, which then kind of novelized itself.   I wrote it in stories at first because I wanted short do-able writing tasks.  I could imagine writing a short story in a few weeks, but a whole novel?   As it turned out, though, the stories were inseparable as each contributes to the same story arc.   The book still has aspects of short fiction because each story/chapter focuses on one “problem”  and they are told in different narrative voices.  But, together, all stories contribute to a single narrative arc, the resolution of two main characters and a mystery. 

Any and every author in 2013 must must must promote and publicize and engage with readers such as never before.  I’m talking, of course, about social media.  I know you’re on Twitter@AilsaKay  and that you have a blog/website http://ailsackay.com/   Tell me, is this kind of interaction fun for you?  Did you have an idea of what you would need to do?  Do you resent it at all?  Has anything about the world of social media surprised the author in you?

You’re right.   I struggled for a while with the idea of a blog—does the world really need to know what I think about… blah?  And then when I decided one day that the blog really had to be about Budapest, and about where the stories began, then it all came together.  Now, I love writing the blog.  It gives me an excuse to post photos of my favourite spots in Budapest, drop teasers about the book, and in a way it lets me live inside the book and with my characters just a bit longer.   I don’t resent it at all.  I’m curious and slightly addicted.   It’s a massive shift, for sure—a modern-day version of the eighteenth-century explosion of print culture.   So where do we go next?  What does it make possible?

For those who haven’t yet heard of your debut novel, give me the one sentence pitch.

A mystery in pieces, Under Budapest excavates what lies beneath post-Communist Hungary as a woman searches for the sister she lost in the ’56 Revolution and her son becomes an involuntary witness to a murder. 

Which is harder for you to write: dialogue or description? 

Dialogue.  It takes me hundreds of revisions.  It’s not just about getting the characters to “sound” right, but also making sure the dialogue does something, provides the right information (and right amount of it) to keep the plot going.   And then, obviously, it’s about character.  Would Tibor really give that much away to his mother?  Would Agi really be so manipulative?

Now tell me about your work in progress or next release.

I’ve got one project I’d like to return to, a novel about an accountant in eighteenth-century Venice who falls in love with a counterfeiter.   Money is made and lost. Chaos ensues.  

What was it like doing the research for Under Budapest?  Was it ever overwhelming?  Trying to sift through facts and data and details and trivia?  And then trying to work all of that into a novel?

I love writing about historical events. It gives me something to start with, and some constraints.  So no, not overwhelming.   I found autobiographies, memoirs of the Hungarian Revolution incredibly moving and helpful.  The amazing thing is that when writing fiction, there’s no such thing as “trivia.”  The more trivial, the better, in some ways.  I hunted out the most trivial detail because detail is how we make fiction feel real.   And interestingly, the memoirs often provided that detail.  It’s as if the brain fastens on trivial things in traumatic times—a snippet of conversation, the weather, the headline, the jacket a woman is wearing, the sound and feel of marching in protest.    

This may seem like another dry, dreary question, but every author is different.  What is your writing approach?  Pen and paper? Laptop?  Silence?  A daily quota?  And how long - from the germ of the idea to submitting to publishers – did it take you to write Under Budapest?

I work on a laptop and I like to work in the morning.  I start early—7ish is best—and work as long as I can.  I’m also a college teacher, so I have the fortune of a flexible schedule.  Some days, I don’t have to teach until late afternoon and that means I can usually get a good long morning of writing done.  Under Budapest started with one story, which took a few weeks to write and then I put it aside.  I returned to it a year or so later, revised it and sharply scaled it down.  The rest of the book came very quickly after that.  I wrote most of it in 4 months of full-time writing—which felt like a fabulous luxury.   I was lucky; a couple of grants allowed me to take time off work to do this.

Name two authors who influenced you the most, or to whom you’d like to be compared.  

I loved Jonathan Safran-Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  I don’t think Under Budapest is anything like his work, but his daring in that novel inspired me.  He writes great plots out of world-shifting events, and with real, laugh-out-loud humour.  I also marvel at Ian McEwan’s control over plot.  He’s a master of pacing and suspense who makes it seem effortless.  

If a hotshot Hollywood director knocked on your door with an offer to make the movie version of Under Budapest, who would you cast in the lead roles? 

Tibor:  Matt Damon     

the older Agnes:  Helen Mirren    

 young Agnes (Agi):  Romola Garai

The last question is kind of a freebie.  What is the one thing you wish I had asked you but didn’t?  Now go ahead and ask and answer that question.  

Did you want to be a writer when you were a kid? 

No.  I wanted to be a detective.  But, that said, my idea of detective work had little to do with the reality of policing.   I just liked solving mysteries and puzzles.  Probably, I had read Sherlock Holmes, and decided it seemed right.  I think that what draws me to writing is similar; I like solving mysteries.   Only, as a writer, I get to set the mystery as well as solve it.  

For more on Ailsa, follow her on Twitter

 @AilsaKay  or check out her website and blog: 

http://ailsackay.com/

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