{"id":603,"date":"2015-02-28T11:34:24","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T11:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/?p=603"},"modified":"2015-02-28T12:29:06","modified_gmt":"2015-02-28T12:29:06","slug":"the-roving-eye-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/?p=603","title":{"rendered":"The Roving Eye Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Roving<\/a><\/h2>\n

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Monday, 23 February 2015<\/h2>\n

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The Roving Eye Interviews Alastair Gunn.<\/h3>\n

.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Today’s Roving Eye Interview is with the best selling crime writer of The Advent Killer and My Bloody Valentine, Alastair Gunn. <\/strong><\/p>\n

1 \u2013 When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always written, in one form or another, but my first paid writing job was as a motor journalist for a modified car magazine called Revs. Unfortunately the magazine closed down in 2005, but losing that job prompted me to write my first book. Otherwise I might still be writing about alloys and body kits. Its funny how something that feels like bad luck at the time can prompt really positive change.<\/p>\n

2 \u2013 What made you choose crime fiction?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually I ended up writing crime fiction by chance. I had a concept fro a type of story, but it only worked if the two main characters didn\u2019t meet till the end of the book. So I needed to keep them apart, and it turned out the best way to do that was to make one a criminal, and the other the police detective who has to track them down. A crime novel just grew from there. Weirdly, though, when I got signed by my agent, she suggested getting rid of the main concept, so it never made the final draft.<\/p>\n

3 \u2013 What crime novel would you most like to have written?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Does 1984 (by George Orwell) qualify as a crime novel? I hope so, because I\u2019d love to write something so ground breaking.<\/p>\n

4 \u2013 Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steven Baxter. He writes \u2018hard\u2019 science fiction, (based on established scientific theory). I\u2019ve read lots of his books, and they\u2019re all incredible (and superbly diverse) stories, but you can feel the weight of knowledge and research behind every plot.<\/p>\n

5 \u2013 Who are you reading right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m reading Long Way Home by Eva Dolan, and I\u2019m really impressed so far. It feels like every sentence was carefully crafted, and the characters are beautifully complex.<\/p>\n

6 \u2013 If you weren\u2019t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I studied product design at University, and I\u2019ve always been a car fan (hence the motor journalism), so if I wasn\u2019t writing, I\u2019d love to be a car designer. Either that or a racing driver.<\/p>\n

7 \u2013 What was the last great book that you read?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The last book that really blew me away was Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. It\u2019s a rollercoaster thriller that hardly lets up from start to finish. Plus, its set in post-Stalinist Russia, a time as fascinating as it was scary.<\/p>\n

8 \u2013 How do you feel about e-books vs print books and alternative vs conventional publishing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I actually don\u2019t own an e-reader, but I don\u2019t have anything against e-books, either. It was only ever a matter of time until technology provided readers with genuine advantages over traditional print, so as long as people are reading, I think it doesn\u2019t matter how they do it, although there will always be some thing more intimate about reading a real book.<\/p>\n

9 \u2013 What five words best describe your average day?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Writing. Or thinking about writing.<\/p>\n

10 \u2013 Sum up your latest novel in less that 20 words.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The perfect valentine gift from Matthew Clark Leach\u2019s new favourite author.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to read the interview on The Roving eye website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Roving Eye Interviews Alastair Gunn. The last great book I read, the crime novel I would most like to have written, and what I’d like to be if not a writer (among other stuff)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions\/617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alastairgunn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}