The inaugural San Diego Festival of Books was held on August 26th, at Liberty Station in Point Loma. One of the main features of the Festival of Books were the panel discussions.
The third panel SDLS attended was called, "Crime Knows No Boundaries". The panel featured authors Corey Lynn Fayman, Lisa Brackmann, Matt Coyle, and Neal Griffin. The moderator was Peter Rowe.
Corey Lynn Fayman has written 3 novels, which feature Rolly Waters, a guitar-playing blues musician turned private detective. Fayman has worked as a keyboard player, sound technician, and interactive designer. He lives in San Diego.
Lisa Brackmann has written 5 books. Her debut novel, ROCK PAPER TIGER, set on the fringes of the Chinese art world, made several “Best of 2010” lists, including Amazon’s Top 100 Novels and Top 10 Mystery/Thrillers, and was nominated for the Strand Magazine Critics Award for Best First Novel. Her second novel, GETAWAY, won the Los Angeles Book Festival Grand Prize and was nominated for the T. Jefferson Parker SCIBA award. She lives in San Diego.
Matt Coyle is a best-selling author, & winner of the Anthony Award, the Benjamin Franklin Silver Medal, the San Diego Book Award, and is a Shamus, Macavity, and Lefty Award finalist as well. He has written 4 books in his Rick Cahill crime series. He lives in San Diego.
Neal Griffin's first novel, Benefit of the Doubt, went immediately to #8 on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. Set in the small fictional town of Newberg, Wisconsin. The third installment of the Newberg Mysteries is due for release in May, 2018. Neal resides in San Diego County, and also has a home in Northwest Wisconsin.
This was a great panel, focused mainly on the crime fiction and noir genres. Each author was asked to talk a little about their books, why they chose the particular locations to set their stories in, and their writing styles. Here are some of the responses:
Brackmann: (when asked why her novel, Go Between, is set all across the country) I needed 2 places that had very different marijuana laws. So, I picked Humboldt county for one location. I had visited Houston, and loved that city, and I wanted to write about that too. And, their laws are different from California. I'm a pantser, so I don't know where I'm going sometimes. I knew it was a California book, so I started up in Humboldt, and went from there.
I have travelled to other places, and lived in China. When I got to China, everything was so foreign and exotic to me, but, after awhile, I became accustomed to it. Then, when I returned to San Diego, it felt very strange and unfamiliar to me. What I learned is that, what you think is exotic is completely normal to somebody else. China is not exotic to the billion plus people living there, but if they came to San Diego, San Diego would seem exotic to them. I try to keep this dichotomy in mind when I write.
When Brackmann was asked how she knows when she has the idea that will become her next book, she replied: I try to figure out what I could do that hasn't been done already. Also, I look at what I have a background in. For my second book, I wanted to write noir. So, in thinking about what is noir, I defined it as "a man or woman who is in trouble, who meets a man or woman who is trouble, and together they are a nightmare". So, I proceeded to write from there. Each book presents it's own challenges. If you're writing the same thing over and over again, what's the point?
Griffin: (a retired police officer) Was asked why his books take place in a mythical town in Wisconsin. He was also asked how he creates heroes with problematic storylines, but keeps the audience on his/her side. His response was: I was careful enough to write from a place where I'd have plausible deniability. I like to write crime stories that challenge people's ideas of law enforcement. Tia (a female officer in his books) is a very real person to me. I have a lot of conversations with her. She has issues, but they are real. There are many officers that have gone through the same things (as Tia). I wanted to keep it real. I do try to create characters that have believable flaws.
Coyle: The main character in Coyle's novels is a P.I., a former cop, who has run afoul of the police in La Jolla. He was asked why his books are set in La Jolla. His response: My brother-in-law is a cop in L.A.. His son is a cop. There are a lot of cops in my family. I wanted to have a fictional police department, and I wanted it to be in a small town so it is easier for things to happen, like for the chief to be corrupt, etc.
When Coyle was asked about all of the issues his detective, Rick Cahill, has going on, he replied: I like to have him in constant pain. It is more fun to write. He (Cahill) feels guilty after the death of his wife, and he is actually a suspect in her death. I like to keep the pressure on him.
Fayman: Was asked how he came up with the character, Rolly Waters. He replied: He's not a cop. Never was a cop. He's a blues musician. I'm a musician. I'm not a guitar player, I'm a piano player. Maybe creating Rolly was my way of getting back at all of the showboat guitarists I know. (laughter) I wanted to write in San Diego because I wanted to make use of all of the qualities that San Diego offers.
My first book was pretty easy to write, because it happened to me. My second book was a little different, number 1, because I was trying to improve and number 2, it was a lot of work and much harder to write. When I write, places show up first. The trick is to figure out how to place characters and stories in it.
Additional information here:
http://sandiegoliteraryscene.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-inagural-san-diego-festival-of.html
http://sandiegoliteraryscene.blogspot.com/2017/08/san-diego-festival-of-books-highlights.html
http://sandiegoliteraryscene.blogspot.com/2017/08/san-diego-festival-of-books-highlights_27.htmlLabels: Author Appearances
