Thursday, November 8, 2012

Book Pleasures: Q&A



Over at Book Pleasures, there's a new interview with me that is a bit different to most interviews I do. Whereas the bulk of them are on the subjects of my latest releases, this one focuses more upon the process of writing in general, my attitude towards writing, my mentors, and more.

As an example, here's an extract from the interview (which was done by Norm Goldman):

Norm: "If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?"
Nick: "It's difficult to pick just one, because there are various people, coming from different angles. Many of my books are written in a first-person, road-trip style. So, I have to say that, without doubt, two of my biggest mentors and influences would be Jack Kerouac and Hunter S, Thompson, who typified that genre.
"Between them, they wrote some of the greatest books of the 20th Century, in my view anyway: Big Sur, The Rum Diary, the list goes on and on. But, for me, a mentor is not a hero. Nor should it be. The real person behind the heroic image generally doesn't stand the test of time.
"Kerouac was a huge influence on me. But I keep it all in perspective. Let's face it: he was a raging alcoholic, dead at 47, a life utterly wasted, and a body and great talent ravaged and destroyed by booze. And Thompson took a totally cowardly way out when he shot himself. Suicide is for weaklings."
And here's the link.

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