Tom Piccirilli is the author of twenty novels including SHADOW SEASON, THE
COLD SPOT, THE COLDEST MILE, A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN, and THE DEAD LETTERS. He's won the International Thriller Award and four Bram Stoker Awards, as well
as having been nominated for the Edgar, the World Fantasy Award, the Macavity, and Le Grand Prix de L'imagination. Learn more at: www.thecoldspot.blogspot.com.
TBA: SHADOW SEASON is the story of a blind ex-cop, Finn, now a teacher at an all-girls academy in an isolated town in upstate New York.. The novel is written completely from Finn's point of view, one of total darkness. How did you manage to write in this manner? Was it a minor shift or a major change for you?
PIC: It forced me to alter my narrative style a great deal. I couldn't write with any concrete images or visual details, which are inherent in my style. In most writers' styles. You don't realize how often you do it until you can't do it anymore. So the other senses had to fill in a lot of the descriptions for me. I had to paint characters in a different way than I had before, put more of an emphasis on what they sounded like, smelled like. And how close they were at any given time. Are these people twenty feet away or six inches away. How would that affect a blind person? Also, since Finn can't see anyone, he's forced to base his mental images of them on other people from his past. When he talks with an older woman he imagines he's talking with his mother. When he meets with one teenage girl, he pictures his first puppy love. So not only is his blindness a factor on the storyline, but so is the constant draw of his memories and past. A portion of the book is written in flashback, which fills in some backstory and shows Finn as a much different person.
TBA: Was it easier to do the flashback sequences since Finn was able to see at the time?
PIC: In one respect they were easier since I could write in my natural narrative voice, but it was also difficult to present Finn in such a different way, as a young cop with a new wife, since I had already developed him as an older blind teacher whose wife is dead. But it was necessary to do so in order to develop some of the other plot threads. As the release date of his imprisoned former dirty partner comes up, Finn begins to get swept up in his own need for revenge. The strain of his handicap is taking its toll on him, and he discovers that a couple of bad guys are trolling the school grounds, possibly to kill him or to cause other trouble. He's also torn between the memory of his dead wife, his current girlfriend, and a seductive teenager who won't quit throwing herself at him. All of these aspects tell Finn's tale. Structurally, the flashbacks always begin after some bit of violence in the present story. A recent reviewer actually said she was in the precarious position of actually looking forward to the rearing violence because that's when the reader learns more about Finn's past.
TBA: The draw of the past is an important theme that you've used before in your work. THE COLD SPOT, THE COLDEST MILE, THE MIDNIGHT ROAD...
PIC: You could go on. HEADSTONE CITY, NOVEMBER MOURNS, A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN, it's an essential dramatic theme that I use. It's tied to another one that holds a great meaning for me about the nature of identity. Why are we who we are? What made us this way? Were we always fated to be who we are or are we the product of our successes and our failures, our hopes and our regrets, and can we do anything to change or are we simply unable to?
TBA: What inspired you to use a blind protagonist in SHADOW SEASON?
PIC: At its heart is my own fear of blindness. I can't see a damn thing without my glasses, and I actually wrote most of the novel with my eyes closed. Sounds goofy, I know, but it's true. I didn't need to get inside Finn's head, I just needed to get into my own. And imagine what it would be like to deal with that darkness every day, every minute, of my life. When I told a few friends about my basic concept of the book they immediately though I was going to write a story where the blind hero easily outfoxes the sighted villains. He shuts out the lights and plants MacGuyver-like traps around the school and is suddenly Daredevil. But that's not the way I wanted to go. I wanted to show the real emotional strain and mental toll that a handicap can have on a person. The overwhelming fear any of us would feel if we lost our sight. Having Finn run around easily beating up bad guys because he could smell their cologne or some shit was just such an insult to the scope of terror. I wanted to show the deeper truth of the matter.
TBA: To that end, you don't make Finn a saintly figure. He does have an affair with an underage student.
PIC: I wouldn't call it an affair but in a scene where she's trying to entice him into a sexual encounter he does touch her naked body. The moment has great impact and resonance, especially since a single touch would mean so much to a blind man. But no, Finn is far from perfect, as we come to learn through the course of the novel. But he's making an effort to be righteous.
TBA: Usually you're dealing with metaphorical darkness, but this time out it's literal. What is it that draws you into this bleak arena of noir/crime/horror?
PIC: I suppose I'm simply after good dramatic conflict. The conflicts themselves just take on a different form from genre to genre and book to book. Crime fiction offers the greatest umbrella, I think-you can have crimes of a large nature or a small, crimes against man or against God or against nature or even yourself. My protagonist Chase from THE COLD SPOT and THE COLDEST MILE is a getaway driver and a thief, but he's still my good person, especially when compared to his vicious stone cold killer grandfather. Things aren't so cut and dry, so easily defined in noir. An inherently decent man is driven, let's even say fated, to destroy his marriage and rob a bank because he lusts for another woman. That's a classic noir set-up. But it's a relatively honest one. How many people do we all know who have gotten divorced later in life and taken up with a younger lover? How many people do we know who might be tempted to abscond with funds if they thought they could pull it off? Especially in this economy? Who isn't pushed to the very edge of what they consider right and wrong practically every day?
TBA: You were nominated for an Edgar Award and you're a winner of the International Thriller Writers Award. Do you think these honors truly help an author's career?
PIC: Well, they sure can't hurt. I think that everything helps to some extent, even if it's only by increments. Whether it's an award, an interview, an excellent review, a blurb from one of your literary heroes, they all have their place in this insane biz. They give you some small recognition, bulk to your bio and credit list, and present you to at least a handful of new readers. And it never hurts that your publisher shares in that glow of attention. If nothing else, awards look nice on your bookshelf or the corner of your desk. They're a validation of your hard-fought efforts and proof that you're not working in a complete vacuum.
TBA: What can we expect to see from you next?
PIC: THE UNDERNEATH will be out in 2010 from Bantam (although the title is subject to a possible change). It's the story of a young thief named Terry Rand who returns home after a number of years when his manipulative brother, a death row inmate, asks him to come for a visit. That visit sends Terry on a strange journey to find a possible killer and to face up to events from his past, including the abandonment of his pregnant girlfriend, now married to his former best friend. As I've said in other places, it's as much of a dark family drama as it is a suspense novel.
TBA: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Pic!
PIC: Thanks, brother, much appreciated
TBA: SHADOW SEASON is the story of a blind ex-cop, Finn, now a teacher at an all-girls academy in an isolated town in upstate New York.. The novel is written completely from Finn's point of view, one of total darkness. How did you manage to write in this manner? Was it a minor shift or a major change for you?
PIC: It forced me to alter my narrative style a great deal. I couldn't write with any concrete images or visual details, which are inherent in my style. In most writers' styles. You don't realize how often you do it until you can't do it anymore. So the other senses had to fill in a lot of the descriptions for me. I had to paint characters in a different way than I had before, put more of an emphasis on what they sounded like, smelled like. And how close they were at any given time. Are these people twenty feet away or six inches away. How would that affect a blind person? Also, since Finn can't see anyone, he's forced to base his mental images of them on other people from his past. When he talks with an older woman he imagines he's talking with his mother. When he meets with one teenage girl, he pictures his first puppy love. So not only is his blindness a factor on the storyline, but so is the constant draw of his memories and past. A portion of the book is written in flashback, which fills in some backstory and shows Finn as a much different person.
TBA: Was it easier to do the flashback sequences since Finn was able to see at the time?
PIC: In one respect they were easier since I could write in my natural narrative voice, but it was also difficult to present Finn in such a different way, as a young cop with a new wife, since I had already developed him as an older blind teacher whose wife is dead. But it was necessary to do so in order to develop some of the other plot threads. As the release date of his imprisoned former dirty partner comes up, Finn begins to get swept up in his own need for revenge. The strain of his handicap is taking its toll on him, and he discovers that a couple of bad guys are trolling the school grounds, possibly to kill him or to cause other trouble. He's also torn between the memory of his dead wife, his current girlfriend, and a seductive teenager who won't quit throwing herself at him. All of these aspects tell Finn's tale. Structurally, the flashbacks always begin after some bit of violence in the present story. A recent reviewer actually said she was in the precarious position of actually looking forward to the rearing violence because that's when the reader learns more about Finn's past.
TBA: The draw of the past is an important theme that you've used before in your work. THE COLD SPOT, THE COLDEST MILE, THE MIDNIGHT ROAD...
PIC: You could go on. HEADSTONE CITY, NOVEMBER MOURNS, A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN, it's an essential dramatic theme that I use. It's tied to another one that holds a great meaning for me about the nature of identity. Why are we who we are? What made us this way? Were we always fated to be who we are or are we the product of our successes and our failures, our hopes and our regrets, and can we do anything to change or are we simply unable to?
TBA: What inspired you to use a blind protagonist in SHADOW SEASON?
PIC: At its heart is my own fear of blindness. I can't see a damn thing without my glasses, and I actually wrote most of the novel with my eyes closed. Sounds goofy, I know, but it's true. I didn't need to get inside Finn's head, I just needed to get into my own. And imagine what it would be like to deal with that darkness every day, every minute, of my life. When I told a few friends about my basic concept of the book they immediately though I was going to write a story where the blind hero easily outfoxes the sighted villains. He shuts out the lights and plants MacGuyver-like traps around the school and is suddenly Daredevil. But that's not the way I wanted to go. I wanted to show the real emotional strain and mental toll that a handicap can have on a person. The overwhelming fear any of us would feel if we lost our sight. Having Finn run around easily beating up bad guys because he could smell their cologne or some shit was just such an insult to the scope of terror. I wanted to show the deeper truth of the matter.
TBA: To that end, you don't make Finn a saintly figure. He does have an affair with an underage student.
PIC: I wouldn't call it an affair but in a scene where she's trying to entice him into a sexual encounter he does touch her naked body. The moment has great impact and resonance, especially since a single touch would mean so much to a blind man. But no, Finn is far from perfect, as we come to learn through the course of the novel. But he's making an effort to be righteous.
TBA: Usually you're dealing with metaphorical darkness, but this time out it's literal. What is it that draws you into this bleak arena of noir/crime/horror?
PIC: I suppose I'm simply after good dramatic conflict. The conflicts themselves just take on a different form from genre to genre and book to book. Crime fiction offers the greatest umbrella, I think-you can have crimes of a large nature or a small, crimes against man or against God or against nature or even yourself. My protagonist Chase from THE COLD SPOT and THE COLDEST MILE is a getaway driver and a thief, but he's still my good person, especially when compared to his vicious stone cold killer grandfather. Things aren't so cut and dry, so easily defined in noir. An inherently decent man is driven, let's even say fated, to destroy his marriage and rob a bank because he lusts for another woman. That's a classic noir set-up. But it's a relatively honest one. How many people do we all know who have gotten divorced later in life and taken up with a younger lover? How many people do we know who might be tempted to abscond with funds if they thought they could pull it off? Especially in this economy? Who isn't pushed to the very edge of what they consider right and wrong practically every day?
TBA: You were nominated for an Edgar Award and you're a winner of the International Thriller Writers Award. Do you think these honors truly help an author's career?
PIC: Well, they sure can't hurt. I think that everything helps to some extent, even if it's only by increments. Whether it's an award, an interview, an excellent review, a blurb from one of your literary heroes, they all have their place in this insane biz. They give you some small recognition, bulk to your bio and credit list, and present you to at least a handful of new readers. And it never hurts that your publisher shares in that glow of attention. If nothing else, awards look nice on your bookshelf or the corner of your desk. They're a validation of your hard-fought efforts and proof that you're not working in a complete vacuum.
TBA: What can we expect to see from you next?
PIC: THE UNDERNEATH will be out in 2010 from Bantam (although the title is subject to a possible change). It's the story of a young thief named Terry Rand who returns home after a number of years when his manipulative brother, a death row inmate, asks him to come for a visit. That visit sends Terry on a strange journey to find a possible killer and to face up to events from his past, including the abandonment of his pregnant girlfriend, now married to his former best friend. As I've said in other places, it's as much of a dark family drama as it is a suspense novel.
TBA: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Pic!
PIC: Thanks, brother, much appreciated
