Interview with Radgepacket from Byker Books (November 2008)

So, we're walking down the road - scratching our heads on who we can torture...I mean interview...when who should we see?  Only the Portico Prize shortlisted author, Rod Glenn.  We helped him escape the posse of literary groupies that were chasing him with breasts bared for signing of and he was so grateful he gave us this interview.

So, Rod, what’s happening with you at the minute?  I was going to say Hey Rod ’Sup, but remembered I’m not from South Central LA.

Yo, homie.  Life is good, ma friend.

You’ve written two novels and a couple of shorts – is there anything else imminent?

I’m currently working on a third novel called The Killing Moon (aye, the title is inspired from the Echo and the Bunnymen song) – it’s a ‘what if’ scenario about the global collapse of civilisation set it northern England in the imminent future.

Your latest book ‘Sinema’ is bloody entertaining and very well located up here in a dark corner of the frozen North but who or what would you say was the inspiration for your very ambitious serial killer?

Strangely enough the central anti-hero character is based more on me than I’d like to imagine.  There are elements of his character beyond a physical resemblance that we both share.  Although, I haven’t butchered hordes of Northumbrian rural folk…officer.  I wanted to delve deep into the dark side of human nature and in doing so learned a bit more about my own.  There is real darkness in everyone, it’s just most of us choose not to act upon it.

What are you reading at the minute then (apart from Radepacket obviously)?

Aye, that’s a damn good read, man and loving the Club Men too.  I’m re-reading some Edgar Allan Poe shorts at the moment, as well as listening to an audio book collection of H P Lovecraft tales in the car.  I’m in the car a fair bit going backwards and forwards from Newcastle to Hexham, so I get through a fair few audios too.  Just recently finished a James Patterson, a Nick Hornby and a Mark Haddon too.

You’ve had a bit of an action packed life, sometimes involving broken limbs and buckets of blood.  And now you run your own business.  How do you find time to write?

I’m back into the free climb rock climbing (climbing without ropes) two years after one of my legs decided to do 180 degrees on itself in a place that shouldn’t bend, but I don’t do the close protection stuff any more – that was a bit of fun in my youth.

You’re a bit of a film buff – what’s ya favourite movie?

Bloody hell, you can’t ask a film fanatic that!  I’ll list ‘some’ of my favourites – Alien, The Thing, Jaws, Zulu, The Wild Geese, Get Carter, Life of Brian…I better stop before I really get rolling!

And what have you lashed all the millions on then – knuckle dusters, Star Trek convention tickets or ten pence mix ups?

You don’t make much in this game unless you’re Jo Rowling, Stephen King or Dan Brown unfortunately, but some dusters or a kubatan are always handy for home defence ;)

Any advice you could give the millions of writers and authors out there who never get a sniff of publication?

Never give up – keep sending your work out.  When you’ve collected a few rejections (and we all get f’ing fist fulls of em) then take a fresh look at your work – go through another revision process.  Repeat this cycle until someone starts taking notice!  In the meantime, while that one piece of work is doing the rounds keep writing on other projects.  To get better at any craft you have to practice and that means putting in the time and getting yourself into a routine of writing.  It is also damn important to continue to read prolifically too.  Anyone who says a writer doesn’t have to be a reader is full of the brown smelly stuff.

Ever considered pretending to have ‘become intimate’ with someone vaguely recognisable from a reality show in order to boost your profile?

Who needs to pretend? :P Nah, my wife is a Blyth lass she’d kick my ass.

What sort of tunes do you like to hear when you’re at the coal face (by that we mean sitting at home, drinking coffee and tapping on the keys while the central heating keeps the nasty Northern wind out)?

Aye, it’s a hard life, mate!  Like films, I’ve got quite a varied taste in music – Johnny Cash, Stones, The Jam, ELO, Floyd, Chilli Peppers, Cranberries and Bowie just to name a few.

Do you follow the old adage of ‘write what you know’ and if so how many people have you killed?

I refuse to answer that question until my lawyer is present!  I’m modest, I don’t like to kill and tell.  To properly achieve a sense of realism you should at least use as much of your own experiences in your writing as you can.  Having said that, those experiences can then be used as an undercoat to liberally paint several layers of total bonkers fantasy over the top if you want.  Like a good lie, a good book should always have its origins in the truth, but where you go from there is anyone’s guess.

In your time you’ve done a bit of bodyguarding – anyone we’re likely to know?

I didn’t do any celebrity contracts (they’re all preening prima donnas, so they’d have gotten right on my wick).  I was looking after the low-key business types who didn’t like any unwanted attention.  They were usually in London just for a couple of days at a time and needed a Brit for added security.

We’re all writers here at BB towers (I didn’t say we were any good mind!) and we’ve all been inspired by various people.  Who would you say your inspirations were?

I’ve been inspired by Tolkien, Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, Clive Barker, H G Wells, James Herbert, Hunter S Thompson and Terry Pratchett.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

Me, unless I was dead!  Although, a recent newspaper reporter did liken me to a hard version of Simon Pegg.  So if Simon beefs up a bit and takes a leaf out of Jason Statham’s book then I guess he can have the part.

And what sort of soundtrack would you like playing?

When the Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash, Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones, Mr Blue Sky by ELO, Life on Mars by David Bowie and Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire would all definitely be in there.

The Radgepacket team and all at Byker Books would like to take this opportunity to thank Rod for giving us his time so freely during this interview and for not kicking our heads in.  We wish him lots of success with his writing career and urge you all to look him up and buy his books because they deserve to be read.

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