Today I'm delighted to welcome
JAMES BUCKLER
to share his BEST OF CRIME ...
... AUTHORS
I am
currently obsessed by Martin Cruz Smith, and his series of novels featuring the
Russian detective Arkady Renko. I had never come across the author until it
turned out he had already used a title that I wanted for an early version of my
novel. I was intrigued and began to read Gorky
Park and was blown away by the quality of the perfectly pitched writing and
the supremely intelligent story telling. I would thoroughly recommend him to
anyone.
... FILMS/MOVIES
There are
so many great crime films I could list, but as my current book is set in Tokyo,
I will suggest Stray Dog by Akira
Kurosawa. It is in black and white, shot soon after the Second World War and
features Kurosawa’s first collaboration with the great actor Toshiro Mifune. It
is a cold blooded, anxiety inducing depiction of crime in a pitiless city on
the verge of collapse.
... TV DRAMAS
Prime Suspect is hard to beat as a benchmark for all that is
great about British crime drama, especially the first series. The camera
doesn’t ever stop moving as it follows DCI Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) as she
outwits both the killer and the old-school, misogynists on her own team.
... FICTIONAL KILLERS
After Patrick
Bateman in American Psycho, can any
fictional killer ever escape his shadow? He is the embodiment of sadistic terror
and unintentional hilarity in one perfectly groomed, narcissistic package. With
terrible taste in music.
... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES
I’m sure
everyone gives the same answer – Philip Marlowe. I love the way he’s so jaded
he is barely motivated to solve the crime at hand, whilst also having all the
best lines. I always remember, “I needed a drink, I needed a lot
of life insurance, …. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and
went out of the room.”
... MURDER WEAPONS
This
instantly made me think of Alabama Worley (Patricia Arquette) using a cork
screw as a weapon in True Romance. Of
course, she goes on to use a toilet lid bowl, a flaming aerosol can and a shot
gun - all in the same scene. Typical Tarantino-esque restraint.
... DEATH SCENES
How about Jean-Paul
Belmondo’s “dégueulasse” speech as he breathes his last in A Bout De Souffle? Or the nihilist gang
finally doing for Donny outside the bowling alley in The Big Lebowski? The scene that always gives me nightmares is the
death of Julian Wells in Imperial
Bedrooms. Another cold, amoral murder from Brett Easton Ellis.
... BLOGS/WEBSITES
Am I
allowed to say YouTube? My novel is set in Tokyo, a city I last lived in about
eight years ago, so when I needed to be reminded of the look and feel of the
place I used the infinite amount of video on YouTube to help me. Of course, I
also watched clips of cats making funny faces.
... WRITING TIPS
Never get
disheartened. Keep going despite all practical evidence telling you to stop.
And always keep reading. Every technical problem a new writer encounters has
been tackled before by an expert. Follow their lead.
... WRITING SNACKS
A cup of hot sake, mixed into a bowl of chicken broth. Try it and it might just
change your life.
About JAMES BUCKLER
James
Buckler grew up in the South West of England and currently lives in London. In
the past he lived in America and Japan, where he worked as an English teacher,
providing inspiration for Last Stop Tokyo. He studied Film at the
University of Westminster and worked in lm & TV for many years, most
notably as a post-production specialist for MTV and BBC Films. Last Stop
Tokyo is his debut novel.
About LAST STOP TOKYO
Publisher's description
The funny thing with suffering is just when you think
you’ve suffered enough, you realize it’s only the beginning.
Alex thought running away would make everything
better. Six thousand miles from the mistakes he’s made and the people he’s
hurt, Tokyo seems like the perfect escape. A new life, a new Alex.
The bright lights and dark corners of this alien
and fascinating city intoxicate him, and he finds himself transfixed by this
country, which feels like a puzzle that no one can quite explain. And when Alex
meets the enigmatic and alluring Naoko, the peace he sought slips ever further
from his grasp.
After all, trust is just betrayal waiting to
happen and Alex is about to find out that there’s no such thing as rock bottom.
There’s always the chance it’ll get worse . . .
Last Stop Tokyo was published by Doubleday on 24 August 2017.
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