My next victim in the “20 Questions For” feature is the lovely J A Marley, author of Stand Still, who is currently blog touring around and about and today stopping off at Liz Loves Books. So lets find out a little more about him….
So. Stand Still. That’s a book that you wrote – what’s that all about then?
I know nuts isn’t it…I mean me? Write a book? How the hell did that happen? I can barely tie my own shoelaces…. But if you were asking about the book itself, it’s about a thief, a good cop, a very bad cop and a really big robbery in Central London. It’s supposed to be a page turner, but then what book isn’t? I mean if you don’t turn the page you can’t read the bloody thing. They really should sort that out.
What is your worst habit?
Drinking Bourbon…but I also happen to think it is one of my better habits. Also it’s my most endearing quality…I especially believe that after drinking bourbon.
Danny Felix – ambitious thief. Is he based on anyone you know? If so could they steal me some diamonds?
Danny, as with all good characters, is an amalgam of about five or six people, none of whom are actually thieves. However, if the diamonds are not in a deposit box in Hatton Garden, we should definitely talk…
Would you ever break the law? In fact HAVE you broken the law? This is just between us you understand…
I have broken the law…usually in my beloved Mini John Cooper Works…the council were so impressed by my driving they even wrote me a letter about it… As for Grand Larceny, I haven’t ever tried that…yet…
When was the last time you got really, really angry?
Ha! You do realise I’m a Saint right? But if you had to push me, I got angry with my laptop not that long ago. I returned from holiday to a nasty letter from HMRC (which turned out to be a cock up on their behalf I might add) and I had to scan some documents urgently to send to my accountant. This was the day my laptop decided to crash and crash again. The urge to throw it through the window was almost irresistible, until I remembered it basically contains the product of my labours for the last 8 years on it…There was a lot of swearing.
I have just bought a Mac Book Pro now though, and I am about to make the leap…
If you go to a friends for dinner and they cook something you hate with a fiery vengeance do you eat it anyway to be polite or go no. Just no…
I used to be a producer on SMTV:Live and we had a segment on there where kids sent things in for Ant & Dec to taste. We usually got things like huge Quavers or foods from far flung places that other cultures consider delicacies but we would baulk at. The audience (and crew) would then proceed to chant “EAT IT!!” until one of the two lads (usually Ant) tried a little bit. One week a kid sent in a huge toenail. From that day onwards I have learned the lesson that you should never… and I mean never… put anything in your mouth that you find distasteful. So that dinner party? The chef can shove it…
On that note what is your most hated foodstuff?
Marzipan…simply wrong…
What was your favourite part of writing Stand Still?
Finishing it! Hahahahahaha.
No the real answer here is a bit dull, but I loved every second of writing it. It was a purely creative pursuit which I was completely blown away by. Also, that moment when you hold the first bound, uncorrected proof is just off the charts exciting. You just keep picking it up, staring at it and saying “I wrote a book” over and over like a crazy person…awesome.
You know that sneaky Rod Reynolds stole a copy from Sophie the other night – you need to watch that one. Are we hoping he likes it or don’t you really care?
God no I care! Firstly anyone who has the balls to nick my book….respect is due. Secondly I want anyone who reads it to love it. I know not everyone will, but still, I’m an optimist. By the way, he nicked a pen at First Monday Crime too.
Tipple of choice – if you say gin apparently you are a psychopath. As told to me by Susi Holliday…
As I mentioned above…Bourbon. The best I have ever tasted is called Pappy Van Winkle and is incredibly hard to find these days. I also had the pleasure of having a shot of Old Watermill, a pre-prohibition Bourbon from Kentucky. There were, at that time, only 6 bottles left in the world. My main character Danny Felix seems to have picked up this habit from me…
Are you nervous about publication day?
Bricking it…totally. I have already had a stress dream in which I walk by the window of my local charity shop and the book is in there, cast aside already. It now all feels a little beyond my control…but that is a good thing, right?
Sophie is STILL pondering her favourite cheese. What is your favourite cheese? (If you’ve answered Cheese to the most hated foodstuff question above then we cannot be friends)
Breathe easy…I like cheese. I am particularly partial to smoked cheeses and really, really mature Cheddars. I also like Rosary Ash Goats cheese sprinkled on salads and you can also get cheese with Guinness in which is a gift from God.
Do you have any handy writing tips? Those are always useful. Well not to me as I’m not writing a book but lots of people are…
All the clichés you ever hear about writing a book apply. They are clichés for a reason, because there is truth in every one of them. But my favourite tip is this: The only way you can find out if you can write is by writing. The only way to write a book is to sit down and write. Write every day, even if it is only a single paragraph. Just write.
One thing you are passionate about outside of writing…
Only one? Can’t I pick three? Manchester United. My dogs, Bobby and Baxter and movies.
One thing you could care less about in the world…
Cricket…I mean seriously? A sport? A sport that stops for tea?
Some serious corruption at the heart of Standstill. Any real life events inspiring that? Don’t tell me if you would then have to kill me….Today is NOT a good day to die.
Corrupt cops are such a delicious archetype in crime fiction, I couldn’t resist going there for this book. But I have to admit, growing up in Northern Ireland during the 70’s and 80’s doesn’t exactly leave you with a rock steady confidence in authority figures…
If you could share a desert island for a week with one person apart from friends and family who would it be and why?
Mel Brooks – it would be hilarious and fascinating in equal measure. Anyone who can conceive of Frankenstein’s Monster performing “Putting on the Ritz” is someone you want to hang out with.
What is your most embarrassing moment to date…
The time I was looking after Jill Dando when she was a guest on Noel’s House Party and I was a lowly researcher. We had a habit of monkeying with her name as a joke, but obviously not to her face…until of course I called her it to her face by accident within the first five minutes of meeting her. Can you work out what we used to call her? Let’s just say you need to swap parts of her first name and last name around…got it yet? Cue red faced Marley…
Stand Still comes out very soon. Sell it to readers in one sentence…
Would you like to read a book that is pacy, funny, action-packed, London set and features twists, a huge robbery and an irritating cat?
How much do you hate me right now?
And to think I bought you a gin and tonic…
You did! I thank you.
Standstill by J.A. Marley is published 15th September by Avocado Books, price £6.99 in paperback
About the Book:
When young, ambitious thief, Danny Felix, is dragged out of bed by a psyhcotic cop in an early morning raid, little does he know that he’s about to be plunged into the robbery of a lifetime.
Corruption, coercion and chaos follow the very bent Detective Inspector Harkness everywhere he goes and now he has Danny by the proverbial balls.
But even the deadliest criminals leave a trail, one that dedicated flying squad officer Christine Chance is getting closer to, while trying her best to be mother to a seriously ill daughter.
Can Danny escape Harkness with his life intact? Can he avoid detection by Chance?
And most importantly does he have what it takes to use the teeming streets of modern day London in order to pull off the theft of the 21st Century? Danny thinks he can…but there will be bloodshed….
You can find out more HERE
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You can purchase Stand Still by clickety clicking right HERE
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Happy Reading!
