Tom Leins Interview @ Urban Pigs Press

“Who would have thought a queasy cabal of millionaires and billionaires would fuck a country in such a dead-eyed, remorseless fashion?”

This Thursday will see the release of Hunger, a brand new charity anthology from Ipswich-based independent publisher Urban Pigs Press. The collection includes my story ‘In the Land of the Pig (The Butcher is King)’.

I’ll be sharing more details regarding the anthology later this week, but in the meantime you can check out this interview I did with Urban Pigs Press co-founder James Jenkins to promote the anthology.

Boneyard Dogs @ The Haunted Pen

“My little corner of Devon is a cultural vacuum, where creative endeavours are neither welcomed nor encouraged. Suffice to say, I don’t have too many readers in this neck of the woods, and I’m well and truly under everyone’s radar!”

Thanks to Dave Burnham at The Haunted Pen for giving me The Third Degree interview treatment today.

I analyse my influences and then spill the beans on some upcoming projects, including Sharp Knives & Loud Guns and The Good Book.

Last week Dave was good enough to review Boneyard Dogs, writing: “Boneyard Dogs is never going to be a cozy mystery to be made into a Hallmark movie. The story keeps the punches coming to the very end. And the ending will leave you shaking your head!” You can find the full review here.

As I write this blog post, the Kindle version of Boneyard Dogs is on special offer, priced at just 99p/99c, so grab a bargain while you can!

 

A Ticket To The Boneyard: How Boneyard Dogs Came Back From The Dead

“Dead characters were hauled away in digital body-bags. Surviving characters re-emerged to cause chaos.”

The release of Boneyard Dogs is only a month away, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on the book’s tortured origins.

I’m not usually inclined to yank back the curtain and discuss the inner workings of my books, but – now that the dust has settled – I wanted to try and work out why it took me ten years to finish.

Thanks to Paul D. Brazill at Punk Noir Magazine for running the piece, which I have titled ‘A Ticket To The Boneyard – How Boneyard Dogs Came Back From The Dead‘.

Also online at Punk Noir this week is an interview with me, conducted by John Wisniewski. Thanks to John for the questions!

New Interview @ The Flash Fiction Offensive

“As Torbay’s second most famous crime writer, I think it is probably time to unveil my fiendish Agatha Christie tribute, in which Rey gets to act like a Poundland Poirot…”

Thanks to Jason Beech, Jesse Rawlins and the rest of the new team at The Flash Fiction Offensive for running this new Paignton Noir-themed interview.

Among other things, I spill the beans on the forthcoming Boneyard Dogs, which is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

As for my Agatha Christie tribute? Watch this space!

New Interview @ Messy Business

“This is blunt force storytelling: brief, sawn-off lines weaved into dense ominous chapters; repeated motifs and phrases; stream of consciousness period details; an unflinching eye for queasy observations; and a seamless blend of real-life events and fictional content. Taken together, it’s an intoxicating blend.”

This month I have had a lot of fun discussing David Peace’s tremendous Red Riding Quartet with Jason Beech, as part of his ‘Stuff I Wish I’d Written’ series. If you have read the books you will already know how impressive they are. If you haven’t read them, check out the interview and find out why I like them so much!

Earlier this month, Dave Burnham at The Haunted Pen checked out Slug Bait, and likened it to ‘the illegitimate love child of Sam Spade and The Purge’, which is a great description!

And, last but not least, you can read my story Molotov Cocktail Lounge over at Paul D. Brazill’s new website, Punk Noir Magazine. This flash fiction piece is a taster for my book Meat Bubbles & Other Stories.

Dancing With Myself @ Sea Minor

“The common perception is that short story collections don’t sell, and yet you have published two this year. What’s wrong with writing a fucking novel, like everyone else?”

This week Nigel Bird, a fellow All Due Respect author, let me interview myself as part of his Dancing With Myself series. I tried to ask myself a bunch of questions which no one else has asked me, and realised that I am my own toughest interrogator!

You can find the feature here. Oh, and the interview took place in the Dirty Lemon (naturally), so look out for a brief Joe Rey cameo!

Repetition Kills You Interview @ All Due Respect

“For me the violence has to be bleary-eyed and unpleasant, but never gratuitous. A few years ago, I was taking my son to the library, when I walked past a pub in town, and saw bloodied people crawling out of the door. I later found out that someone had run amok with a hatchet. The surreal image of a ravaged-looking man draped over one of the many mobility scooters parked outside, leaking blood, stayed with me. This wasn’t slick Hollywood violence. Whatever happened inside was clumsy and reckless, and I think it is important to convey that feeling.”

Check out this great new interview, in which I discuss the past, present and future of Paignton Noir with All Due Respect publisher Chris Rhatigan.

Also online this week is a brief Q&A over at the The Big Thrill – the official magazine of the International Thrillers Writers (ITW).

Buy Repetition Kills You!

Paignton Noir: Weekly Round-up

“People say that Paignton turns feral after dark, but I think it’s feral all day long – you just have to know where to look…”

Brit-grit supremo Paul D. Brazill, author of the recent novella Last Year’s Man (All Due Respect), cast an eye over my latest e-book, SLUG BAIT, this week, making it one of his recommended reads of the week. If ‘vivid, lurid, lewd and crude’ sounds like your cup of crime fiction, you should probably check it out!

Meanwhile, tireless UK crime fiction blogger Colman Keane plunged head-first into the seedy world of MEAT BUBBLES & OTHER STORIES, saying ‘I’m entertained, I’m thrilled, I’m appalled, I’m amused, I’m disgusted and I’m hooked.’ It’s a tremendous review, in which Col unpicks the key themes of the book, so please check it out.

Finally, one last MEAT BUBBLES interview, before the REPETITION KILLS YOU promotional bandwagon rolls into town. This is a short Q&A on the Close To The Bone website. I discuss violent repercussions and unknown horrors: ‘Rey is a hard man – nowhere more so than in Meat Bubbles – but I don’t like the idea of an indestructible character. He is very much destructible, and every hideous thing he experiences affects his body and his mind. Watch this space to see how bad it gets.’

 

New Interview @ My Life My Books My Escape

What were some of the inspirations behind Meat Bubbles & Other Stories?

Tom: In no particular order: B-movies; pub crawls; US crime fiction from the 1980s and 1990s; Englishness; Psychogeography; abandoned spaces and places; and, of course, my home town, Paignton!

I have a brand new interview online at My Life My Books My Escape. Thanks to DJ for the questions!

Meat Bubbles aside, I spill the beans on a couple of forthcoming attractions: Boneyard Dogs and The British Meat Scene, so check it out if you want to learn more about what I have been cooking up this year…

Interview @ Toe Six Press

“Popular books fascinate me and terrify me in equal measure. I struggle to get more than 50 pages into most mainstream thrillers, and these brutal, intense stories of mine are an antidote to that.”

Thanks to Sandra Ruttan for having me back at Toe Six Press to discuss Meat Bubbles & Other Stories!