“You know Florence?”

Clarice Starling: ‘Did you do those drawings, Doctor?’

Dr Hannibal Lecter: ‘Ah. That is the Duomo seen from the Belvedere. You know Florence?’

Clarice Starling: ‘All that detail just from memory?’

Hannibal Lecter: ‘Memory, Agent Starling, is what I have instead of a view.’

Thomas Harris / The Silence of the Lambs [1998]

A few months ago, my wife suggested we go to Italy, specifically Florence for a little break, just the two of us. This Tuscan city was mentioned because she has always wanted to view the paintings in the Uffizi Gallery, and wander through the city, viewing the historic architecture. She is also aware of my interest in exploring the place where Thomas Harris set a significant part of his 1999 novel HANNIBAL. Florence is where his character Dr Hannibal Lecter fled after his escape from Baltimore at the close of 1988’s THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, taking on the disguise of Dr Fell.

Though she has grown irritated at my recent obsessive behaviour, related to my fascination with a novel released last week.

She said last night as I was reading aloud a scene from Thomas Harris’ 6^th novel - “It’s getting tiresome, all you ever talk about is Cari Mora, by Thomas Harris.” Continuing “You carry that bloody book around with everywhere, quoting from it to anyone who passes by, it’s mental and driving me insane; and it’s not the first time, and is not normal, it’s weird.”

Florence apart from being the hiding place of Dr Hannibal Lecter (a setting in Thomas Harris’ 4^th novel Hannibal), also lends its name to a ‘condition’, one that some appear to suffer from: when a piece of ‘art’ resonates within them.

I should know, as I suffer from Florence Syndrome [aka Stendhal Syndrome]. Sometimes a piece of writing, music or art resonates so deeply within me, it’s like the peal of a bell, chiming within, so my thoughts become trapped, as my mind focuses only of that piece of art, again, again, again, especially triggered by evocative writing, thought-provoking narratives - like my current obsession with Cari Mora.

 “I was in a sort of ecstasy, from the idea of being in Florence, close to the great men whose tombs I had seen. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty ... I reached the point where one encounters celestial sensations ... Everything spoke so vividly to my soul. Ah, if I could only forget. I had palpitations of the heart, what in Berlin they call 'nerves'. Life was drained from me. I walked with the fear of falling.”

French author Stendhal (pseudonym of Marie-Henri Beyle)

Who described his experience in 1817 with his work “Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio” where he was overcome with profound emotion at what he experienced in the art that spoke to him, in Florence.

It gave rise to the term Stendhal Syndrome, or Florence Syndrome - a psychosomatic condition involving rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations, allegedly occurring when individuals become exposed to objects or phenomena of great beauty.

I pass an apology to those I have annoyed with my Stendhal-like utterings about the sixth novel by Thomas Harris. This weird feeling lingers inside me, like it does whenever I have been exposed to a piece of art, music or writing that for some reason resonates, plaguing my mind. It gives me a racing heart; I feel dizzy, faint and plagued by nightmares whenever this occurs. It is also exhilarating, and I get affected by varying degrees, from the literature, art and music, that speaks to me.

When it does, I become obsessive.

My personal Stendhal Syndrome is always at a zenith, an apex, whenever I read a new novel by Thomas Harris, or listen to his voice narrate his own work; narratives acted out in his native Mississippi twang, that becomes a ‘southern gothic’ that makes me think so very, very deeply, haunting my conscious and subconscious mind.

I am so very sorry if I have annoyed you, with my love of Cari Mora and the writings of this author who I have followed since I was a clueless 17-year old.

It has never been my intention to annoy, as I mean no harm – sorry.

“We don’t invent our natures...they’re issued to us along with our lungs and

Pancreas and everything else.”

Dr Hannibal Lecter, speaking to Will Graham

Thomas Harris / Red Dragon [1981]

That was ‘then’, this is ‘now’

I was admiring my new set of backlist Thomas Harris novels, featuring Dr Hannibal Lecter, just re-issued with stunning Artwork from the Arrow paperback Imprint of PenguinRandomHouse to coincide with the release in Hardcover of Thomas Harris’ sixth novel, Cari Mora.

I thought also of conversations with my Father, who was always amused at my interest in this character, the deranged psychiatrist from Johns Hopkins Baltimore. Though now retired, my Father was a former psychiatrist – hence his amusement.  

I have been having a rather surreal time lately. Firstly, after weeks of sitting on my hands, thanks to Charlotte Bush of PenguinRandomHouse who kindly allowed me [and a few others] an early read [coupled to a non-disclosure agreement].

I have finally been able to speak about Thomas Harris’ sixth novel Cari Mora last week in London on 16^th May 2019 for UK and Ireland, and May 21^st 2019 in North America / Canada. It was amusing to see Thomas Harris’ sixth novel appear on the European side of the Atlantic, before it was released in the author’s native continent.

Prior to release my anticipation was visible HERE, HERE and HERE.

Due to the enforced silence until I could publicly review Thomas Harris’ new book last week, I have become rather vocal, as to my sheer joy at the new novel. Some may consider that I have going a tad mental, a tad all Stieg Larsson and perhaps I have, as my enthusiasm for Thomas Harris’ narrative skills knows no perimeter.

They say anyone who was alive on 22^nd November 1963, the day John F Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, remembers what they were doing and where they were at that moment, when those shots were fired.

As nutty as it may sound, I know where I was, who I was and the context of my life when a new novel by Thomas Harris was released; apart from 1975’s Black Sunday, which missed my radar at that time. I was twelve and clawing my way through Ian Fleming, Alistair Maclean, Adam Hall, Desmond Bagley, Hammond Innes, Eric Ambler and all those myriad British Thrillers that The Talented Mr Mike Ripley so amusingly and informatively recounted in his book KISS KISS BANG BANG, now available as a paperback, with more info HERE

I was a clueless 17-year-old kid in 1981 buying RED DRAGON by Thomas Harris in Hardcover purely on Stephen King’s recommendation, from of all places the SPCK, Chester [surreally a Christian Book-group]. Immediately after reading it three times back-to-back, I tracked down BLACK SUNDAY by Thomas Harris, a paperback edition, a film-tie from Earl’s Eye Books, a second-hand bookstall in Chester market I frequented and traded books in my youth. I enjoyed Black Sunday, though it was a workman-like thriller, but as a debut it was a portent for what would follow. It dates back from the days when Harris and two colleagues worked as journalists for The Associated Press. Rumour has it that the advance was split three ways, but it was Thomas Harris who actually did the writing as well as the typing for the novel. It was the film option that allowed Thomas Harris to escape Journalism.

I was aged 25, a marine chemicals surveyor in 1988. At London Heathrow I screamed, spotting an ‘early / advance’ copy of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS by Thomas Harris in the airport bookstore. It was my second trip to the Arabian Gulf (for a six-week tour of duty). That novel made the flight to the Middle East so memorable, as well as that six-week tour of duty, where I read the novel four times [back-to-back]. The last time I recall finishing it; I was resting on the deck of a Chemical Tanker berthed on a jetty in the Arabian Gulf. As dawn broke I watched the Sun emerge from the horizon, just as Starling read the letter from Dr Lecter about Orion, which closed the novel.

Just before the Millennium, I was 36 and working for a German Chemical Engineering company. I queued at Maxim Jakubowski’s MurderOne in Charing Cross, London on 7-8th June 1999, with a hotel Room Booked, and a bottle of Amarone waiting for HANNIBAL by Thomas Harris. I was the first in the queue, for this book.

In 2006, I was 43 and under a huge burden setting up a complex business that was in its infancy. I recall those difficult years. My readings of HANNIBAL RISING by Thomas Harris helped me cope with the adverse camber of setting up a business, and watching it so very closely, because a business is like a flower, it can be crushed or wilt without close, close management especially in those early days.

In 2008, I contributed to an academic book, “Dissecting Hannibal Lecter, a collection of essays on the novels of Thomas Harris”, edited by Benjamin Szumskyj and published by McFarland Press.

During Crimefest 2010, I was one of four competing in the Criminal Mastermind, and chose The Novels of Thomas Harris as my specialist topic – giving me a valid excuse to re-read the five [at the time] novels by the author, Click Here to see what happened. Martin Edwards unsurprisingly won [again] with Peter Guttridge and I joint runners-up and poor Cara Black was in the rear, as her specialist topic ‘French Crime Novels’ was far too broad a church.

In 2013, I helped Barry Forshaw [with a little background material] for his excellent book on THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, part of the Devil’s Advocate series, which coincided with the release of the 25^th Anniversary edition of that extraordinary book from Thomas Harris – CLICK HERE for more information.

In 2019, I will turn 56, and Thomas Harris has published his 6^th novel entitled CARI MORA. I was very fortunate to have an early reading, though having to sign a legal agreement not to publish a review until after Midnight on Thursday 16^th 2019, the day of its release in the UK and Ireland by  William Heinemann - one of the oldest and most respected publishing imprints in Great Britain, part of the PenguinRandomHouse conglomerate.

I could go on and on, but moving to 2019, Mike Stotter kindly edited my enthusiastic review of the Cari Mora British Edition HERE for Shots Magazine, and Jeff Pierce kindly edited my review of the US edition of Cari Mora HERE for January Magazine.

I have been reading varying commentary about Cari Mora; much revolving around comparisons to 1981's RED DRAGON and 1988's THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, [though little mention is made of 1999's HANNIBAL or 2006's HANNIBAL RISING]; Perhaps, the first two novels to feature Dr Hannibal Lecter remain at the summit of the Crime / Horror Genre in the opinion of many, including my own - so it is natural to compare.

Particularly interesting are commentary from Barry Forshaw in the FT, John Connolly in the Irish Times, as well as from Marcel Berlins and John Dugdale in Saturday’s THE TIMES and THE SUNDAY TIMES [respectively]

Though I have affection for Hannibal and Hannibal Rising but not to deride or compare them to the two novels that preceded them. Like a parent we love our children, each for different reasons, rationalizations.

I sometimes quote Francis Dolarhyde [from Thomas Harris’ RED DRAGON] who sent a letter to Freddy Lounds of The National Tatler, signing it as 'Avid Fan'. When it comes to the writings of Thomas Harris, that term Avid Fan does makes me smile.

Though I have issues with his debut, BLACK SUNDAY, a workman-like thriller, and a good calling card, while he worked with two others at the Associated Press, the film option being his way to exit journalism.

And I stand resolute in my admiration of his 6th Novel, the weird and terrifying CARI MORA, and as a caveat, would say, with regard to RED DRAGON and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS - "that was then", and as for CARI MORA, "this is now".

For those who write vivid and thought-provoking prose drawn from the darkest wells of the imagination, and find interest in ‘The Weird’ - will find resonance in these words from Harris.

“You must understand that when you are writing a novel you are not making anything up. It's all there and you just have to find it.”

CARI MORA is written by a person who takes his craft, writing prose, exceedingly seriously, and his 6th novel is a very different book, to those that preceded it.

The bottom line, for me is that I loved it so very, very dearly and still do, applauding the authors audacity so hard, that my palms became red, but they have now turned crimson.

But you make up your own mind, but remember the dark excesses it contains, the black humour is in terms of its narrative artistry, because the 'beauty' or 'horror' always resides in the eye of the beholder.

“The exposition of Atrocious Torture Instruments could not fail to appeal to a connoisseur of the worst in mankind. But the essence of the worst, the true asafoetida of the human spirit, is not found in the Iron Maiden or the whetted edge; Elemental Ugliness is found in the faces of the crowd.”

Thomas Harris, Hannibal [1999]

And what can this novel CARI MORA signal about our own natures?

For little has changed from when we resided in caves, to the draw of the coliseum back at the times of gladiatorial games in Rome, to watching John Wick 3 today.

One thing I can state, is that despite your opinion, Thomas Harris' writing ability is in mine - extraordinary, and at times so very scary, as he holds a mirror to our faces, and our inner fears and worries.

For a rare and insightful interview with Thomas Harris, Click HERE for the recent New York Times feature.

Regards,

Avid Fan

Footnotes

If you’ve never read Thomas Harris’ THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, RED DRAGON, HANNIBAL, or HANNIBAL RISING then the new paperbacks from Arrow, [PenguinRandomHouse] with the beautiful new covers, are a great place to start, scroll to the bottom of THIS LINK for more information on securing them.

And more information from Publisher Jason Arthur of William Heinemann recorded HERE and embedded below in a six-minute clip filmed in angular gonzo-vision, of the launch last week at Goldsboro Books London >

Part of the launch included details of a nationwide Treasure Hunt, for Gold Bullion, mirroring the narrative of Cari Mora – the prize being a unique ‘Gold’ Edition of the Thomas Harris novel – details from The Bookseller HERE

And finally I highly recommend the audio narrated versions by Thomas Harris from Audible, with RED DRAGON, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and HANNIBAL being abridgments, while HANNIBAL RISING and CARI MORA are Unabridged. Because of the gothic nature of these books, Thomas Harris US Southern Accent, and his talent to act the roles makes them a unique experience, one that decorates your mind.

Remembering The Duomo, Florence

Some people comment and query upon how come I have such a good memory. The older I get the more important an active memory becomes, for memory is a critical aspect of thinking, cognition, and therefore how we see the world. It also helps manage (for me) the Anxiety of Existence; the randomness of 'Being' and combatting negative, depressive and dangerous thinking.

The process of cultivating a sharp and extensive memory is not easy, it requires effort and an organisation of the thought processes. This effort, this cultivation, & activation of 'Memory' not only requires the managed and lucid recall of 'good & insightful' past events, but also the management of bad ones too. It also requires constant maintenance, as well as an awareness of how the memories we keep, morph and distort as we reflect, re-interpret as well as rationalise what we construct as reality, our existence, and who we share it with.

Ultimately memory also helps explain 'who we are' - by the context of our existence from our memories.

I smiled many years ago when I stumbled upon a book by Jonathan Spence, about Matteo Ricci. At the risk of emitting a loud clanging name-drop; I came across this work from my correspondence with Thomas Harris many years ago, when I asked him about Dr Hannibal Lecter's ability in drawing (with charcoal) The Duomo [The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore], from Florence (from Memory as he didn't have a window in his cell) while incarcerated in Baltimore. Harris told me that Dr Lecter's Memory sprang from this book on Ricci, which he would later name check in the footnotes of 1999's much misunderstood (and from some quarters much maligned) HANNIBAL.

This Sunday morning the house is silent. My wife Muriel is at the Gym. Our eldest daughter Sophia has gone into work of her own volition, as like all the Karims' - we work hard. Our Son Alexander is in Malaysia to view the upcoming Grand Prix with friends and our youngest daughter Miriam spends her first day at University, in Hall.

I am alone in bed, with my thoughts.

Last night we hit traffic (Sophia, Muriel and I) returning back from moving our youngest daughter to University. There were road closures, diversions, it was bad biff. We argued in the car as we were tired and after a long and emotional day, we were stressed leaving the youngest Karim to fend for herself in this weird reality we share.

At one point while bypassing the Sat-Nav (which had gone rogue) Sophia said 'Dad you are weird, you think weirdly' it made me silent as that observation made me ponder.

Yesterday our youngest daughter Miriam presented me with a gift from her recent travels in San Francisco - as we ate a meal, part of the ritual families do when they part, she passed me over a gift, a small square piece of plastic, with a microchip embedded beneath the surface.

The gift was a device called ‘Tile’ that links your keys, IPhone to a computer. It attaches to your key-ring and has a button that makes your phone ring if you've misplaced it, so you can find it. Miriam said 'so it will help you, if your memory fails'

I smiled at the word memory.

Sure, I touch my bulky key ring (which also acts as a defence tool) many times in the day, feeling its comfort in my trouser leg (during the day) and now (thanks to Miriam's gift) it can help me locate my IPhone, if I misplace it.

The 'Tile device' is small and attached to my key chain, so i feel the white plastic gift from my Daughter all the time, and I mean all the time. So several times of the day, I will think lucidly about our youngest Daughter Miriam Karim, because of this 'Tile', now part of my defensive key ring - something I see and feel throughout my 'conscious' day, as it comforts and is a tangible part of my realty; and makes me think about Miriam when I see or feel it.

Though Miriam thought that she gave me a practical gift (from her vacation in San Francisco) to ensure I always remembered my Iphone, but in reality it will be my way of thinking about her every day, and several times, having the comfort that there is in what we remember; in our Memory.

I also have items on my person, that remind me of my Wife, my Eldest Daughter, my Son as well as my Mother, Father and two Brothers.

This memory technique, the solidification of memory (the recall of days now passed) by physical touch / association to provoke thought - (among other techniques) was noted in the book that Jonathan Spence wrote, based on the life of Matteo Ricci; the same book that Thomas Harris told me about; the same book that helped him flesh out the character of Dr Hannibal Lecter - his remarkable memory.

So as I pondered upon the comment my eldest daughter Sophia said last night as we battled traffic adversity 'Dad, you're 'Weird' and which my Wife added 'Yes, you do think in a weird way' - I now smile, as I'm glad I think the way I do, for with our thoughts, we make the world as Buddha once conjectured and Rene Descartes confirmed, for 'I think, therefore I am'

I like weird; enjoy your Sunday, and perhaps some of us may purchase a charcoal stick and draw an image, something that resonates, something from what we term a memory, of a day now passed, perhaps of that Duomo, that Dr Fell would later view after fleeing Baltimore - and perhaps we'll fold it and place in our wallets, to remind us of the beauty contained in this world; to protect our thoughts and distract them roaming over all that scares us in this random and weird place.

"Typhoid and Swans, Officer Starling, they come from the same place"

Dr Hannibal Lecter, Baltimore, Maryland

More information about THE MEMORY PALACE OF MATTEO RICCI by Jonathan D Spence available Here

MORALLY CHALLENGED HEROES

Last Friday I met up with my writing Colleagues Liz Hand, Lou Berney, Chris F Holm and Seth Harwood, in Cleveland for our Bouchercon Panel, a discussion on “Morality in the Crime Fiction Hero / Anti-Hero.” Considering there were three other excellent panels, as well as key-note event with Toastmaster John Connolly in conversation with fellow bestselling novelist Karin Slaughter, we were very surprised at the turnout. It was standing room only, and for those who attended, we wish to thank you. As ‘morality in crime-fiction’ is a very broad and interesting topic, we had far more questions than time’, so I thought it might be fun to publish my notes and questions that we raised, as well as the ones we didn’t have time to debate. These points both those discussed and those not, should provoke thought. This is the pleasure of reading, it engages the mind and makes us think about life and reality, and the prism of crime fiction, an excellent way of viewing matters in an existential light. And we all know it rains on the just and unjust alike.

I would urge you to explore the panelist’s work, though Wallace Stroby emailed me that afternoon, with an apology as he was taken sick and therefore unable to participate. In honour of Clint Eastwood, who played the amoral Dirty Harry, we left Wallace’s chair empty………

Elizabeth Hand In the 1970s, Elizabeth Hand flunked out of college and became involved in the nascent punk scenes in DC and NYC. From 1979 to 1986 she worked at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air & Space Museum, and eventually received a BS in cultural anthropology. She is the author of eleven novels and four collections of short fiction. Her work has received numerous honors, including the Shirley Jackson Award, World Fantasy Award, and Nebula Award, and her novels have been New York Times and Washington Post Notable Books.  A regular contributor to the Washington Post, LA Times, Salon, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, among others, Hand divides her time between the Maine coast and North London.

Her novel Available Dark [2012] is a foray into crime fiction and a sequel to her highly regarded 2007 Novel Generation Loss, which received the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award for best work of psychological suspense.   Both books feature her antihero Cassandra [Cass] Neary who she describes “as your prototypical amoral speedfreak crankhead kleptomaniac murderous rage-filled alcoholic bisexual heavily tattooed American female photographer.” Perfect for our panel on amoral heroes!

Lou Berney is an accomplished writer, teacher, and liar. He is the author of WHIPLASH RIVER (William Morrow, 2012) and GUTSHOT STRAIGHT (William Morrow, 2010). GUTSHOT STRAIGHT was nominated for a Barry Award and named by Booklist as one of the best debut crime novels of the year. Often compared to Elmore Leonard with a dash of Carl Hiaason, his short fiction has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and the Pushcart Prize anthology, and he has written feature screenplays and created TV pilots for, among others, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Focus Features, ABC, and Fox. 

Currently he teaches writing at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University. Berney’s antihero Charles "Shake" Bouchon, is a professional wheel man [aka getaway driver] and is described as “too nice a guy for the life he's led, but not nice enough for any other”

Chris F Holm - was born in Syracuse, New York, the grandson of a cop with a penchant for crime fiction.  It was punk rock and Star Wars, two influences that hold more sway over Holm, than perhaps his wife would like.  But it was books [like many of us] that defined his childhood, from his grandfather’s Wambaugh and Lawrence Sanders paperbacks, to the timeworn pulps picked up secondhand from the library. Apparently, he wrote his first story at the age of six.  It got him sent to the principal’s office and he’d like to think that right then is when he decided to become a writer.

Since then, he’s fared a little better. His stories have appeared in a slew of publications, including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Beat to a Pulp, and Thuglit.  His novella “The Hitter” was selected to appear in THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2011, edited by Harlan Coben and Otto Penzler. He’s been an Anthony Award nominee, a Derringer Award finalist, and a Spinetingler Award winner.  His Collector novels, DEAD HARVEST [Feb 2012] and THE WRONG GOODBYE [Sept 2012], recast the battle between heaven and hell as Golden Era crime pulp. They feature Sam Thornton a collector of souls from the damned and sends them into eternal misery. So it should have been straightforward to collect the soul of 17-year-old mass murderer Kate MacNeil, but something isn’t right; her soul is too pure. The collection of an innocent soul can throw off the balance of good and evil and spark a chain of events that leads to the end of the world, biblical style – hence the moral / amoral dimension.

Wallace Stroby – I first met Wallace on a late night drinking binge at Bouchercon Las Vegas in 2003, in a bar called ‘The Peppermill’, which was featured in John Ridley’s amoral novel ‘Everyone Smokes in Hell’, and we’ve been bumping into each other at Bouchercons ever since. Stroby is an award-winning journalist and the author of the novels

"Kings of Midnight," "Cold Shot to the Heart," "Gone 'Til November," "The Heartbreak Lounge" and "The Barbed-Wire Kiss.".

A Long Branch, N.J., native, he's a lifelong resident of the Jersey Shore. "The Barbed-Wire Kiss," which The Washington Post called "a scorching first novel ...full of attention to character and memory and, even more, to the neighborhoods of New Jersey," was a finalist for the 2004 Barry Award for Best First Novel.

A graduate of Rutgers University, Stroby was an editor at the Star-Ledger of Newark, Tony Soprano's hometown newspaper, for 13 years. In Stroby’s latest KINGS OF MIDNIGHT, Crissa Stone, the cool-headed professional thief from Stroby's acclaimed COLD SHOT TO THE HEART returns and when reviewed at Kirkus she is described - "Crissa Stone may be crime fiction's best bad girl ever."

Seth Harwood – Boston born but now residing in California, Seth is the author of the Jack Palms novels. In 2005, Seth Harwood began writing his debut novel, Jack Wakes Up. No stranger to the literary scene, Harwood had graduated from the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop just a few years earlier and his short stories had been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies; getting attention from publishers for Jack Wakes Up, however, proved more difficult. So in July of 2006, Seth recorded a podcast of Jack Wakes Up and posted it on his website, SethHarwood.com, for free download. The podcast was a major hit and the Jack Palms Crime Podcast Series was born. Soon JACK WAKES UP was published by Three Rivers Press Paperback Original [Random House]. Since then he has written This is The Life [Jack Palms #2], Czechmate [Jack Palms #3], Triad Death Match [A Jack Palms Novella], A Long Way from Disney [a short story collection], In Broad Daylight [a Jess Harding FBI thriller]. 

The Jack Palms’ novels feature the eponymous anti-hero, former Hollywood one-hit wonder and ex-drug addict now has cleaned up his act, and is sorting his life out, but aspects of his amoral past still lay in his mind, and Palms is described by some as “half-likeable and half-asshole”. Though it is his 2010 novel Young Junius, that is perhaps his most intriguing, taking the 14 year old Junius Posey, who sets to track down his brother’s killer in a rundown area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Junius ends up a killer, crossing the line but it’s the amorality he’s learned that allows him to sort out the dangers around him.

Seth teachs English and writing at CCSF [City College San Francisco] and Stanford University, and previously at UMass Boston and the University of Iowa.

Q         Would you agree that the basis of the success of the Crime Fiction /  Mystery Genre is the understanding of ‘Morality’, and the restoration of  order? Unlike in life, in the crime novel we have the ability to solve the problem, punish the guilty and restore order, giving the reader a sense of ‘closure’ / catharsis as satisfaction is often absent in the real world, due to the random nature of reality [where the rain falls on the just, as well as the unjust, in equal measure]?

Q         In some crime novels we often have the good guy, who restores the order  but in order to do so, he has a side-kick [to do the dirty work] so the hero keep his uniform white, eg Bubba works with Patrick and Angie in Dennis Lehane’s PI novels, Robert B Parker’s Spencer has Hawk, Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar has Win, Bob Crais’ Elvis Cole has Joe Pike, while        some writers allow their ‘heroes / anti-heroes to do their own dirty work. What are your thoughts on this matter, should the hero clean up his own mess, or have a side-kick? And what do you do in your own writing with this dilemma?

Q         Many critics indicated that the Bond villains were very, very bad because James Bond was a deeply amoral character himself, so his enemies had to be even more grotesque, a bit like the Batman villains [as Bruce Wayne was a psychopath] would you agree that when your character / hero / anti-hero is a bad-ass, then his foes have to be even more evil?

         At this point the panel were asked “if you were in deep, deep trouble and need to call upon a fictional character to help you out of a jam, who would you call?” Seth Harwood asked “…but what sort of trouble?” At which I replied “consider it a big bloody problem, so big it would take an imaginary character, a real bad-arse to resolve." The panelists spoke about the character they would call, and the audience voted for a winner, and it was Chris Holm’s nomination of Bruce Wayne / Batman that was voted the biggest bad-arse, and the one they would call if mired in a huge problem, beating Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley, Richard Stark’s Parker and Helen Zahavi's Bella.

       At this point, a giant cockroach fell from the ceiling to much consternation from the audience, luckily the Editor-in-Chief of Shots Magazine, and insect-wrangler managed to stamp on it, before it attacked the panel. This was a good time to open up the panel to the audience, for their questions.

            This left the following questions un-debated, but you might find them of interest and may provoke thought.

Q         When writing a amoral hero[s] / anti-hero[s], how hard it is to ensure the reader retains sufficient sympathy with the character[s] so there is a  willingness to continue to read, on. What writing tactics do you deploy with examples to keep the reader engaged even when the lead has some unpleasant character traits? [eg Elmore Leonard deployed humor, Westlake / Stark deployed violence and an efficiency, sense of purpose in the ruthlessness in Parker, Harris gave Lecter some very insightful dialogue and a scary intelligence, Larsson gave Salander autism linked to her backstory and hi-tech skills, Fleming gave Bond an upperclass  perspective, exotic tastes and locations, etc]

Q         I recall being chilled when I read that Adolf Hitler loved dogs, as he was a huge animal lover, this made him [in my opinion] all the more hideous as a monster, seeing that he was ultimately responsible for the deaths of so many innocent humans, but loved animals, so how important is it that we show the good and bad natures of our characters, antagonists and protagonists as the world is no longer black and white but murky grey?

Q         What about the good guys that appear in the genre, how important is to ensure they have dark sides to their nature, and not totally good-two  shoes types, so there is cross-over to the amoral anti-hero? Or is there legitimacy in have all characters with good and bad, and the hero is the one who is least bad?

Q         What happens when a writer / creator feels perhaps their anti-hero has crossed the line between the fantasy world and become a tool for the mentally unstable in the real world? Does the writer creator have a duty to society to keep the amorality behind a line? [Examples being Stephen King withdrawing RAGE, an early book published under his name   Richard Bachman which allegedly was linked to some school kidnappings  / shootings, Stanley Kubrick withdrawing A CLOCKWORK ORANGE in the UK as it allegedly inspired anti-social gang violence as some youths  copied Alex and the Droogs, now available again following Kubrick’s death, and more recently the BATMAN massacre in Denver], so what responsibility does the writer / creator have when walking the morality line?

As a coda to that question / discussion point, I’d bring out the anecdote / dilemma that British Composer Clint Mansell faced when that Norwegian nutter Anders Behring Breivik admitted in having the score from Darren Aronofsky’s REQUIEM FOR A DREAM [based on a novel by Hubert Selby Jnr] ‘Lux Aeterna’ playing on full volume, and on shuffle-repeat on his IPod as he killed the young people on the Norwegian island.

He said at the trial “In addition, I will put my iPod on max volume as a tool to suppress fear if needed. I might just put Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell on repeat as it is an incredibly powerful song. The combination of these factors (when added on top of intense training, simulation, superior armour and weaponry) basically turns you into an extremely focused and deadly force, a one-man-army.”

Q         Can you go too far in having amoral heroes in novels or cinema of the extreme, for example has anyone here seen the very disturbing ‘A SERBIAN FILM’? [show of hands please], where the lead character is a male ex-porn actor, basically a decent man, forced into some unspeakable acts and acts of extreme sexual violence. I’m never for agreeing with censorship, but that film disturbed me deeply, and is one that I think crosses the line. Have any of you, lines on your own value and moral system that you would not cross, or is any scared cow fair game?

Q         Is there a response to amorality by subversion? When Austrian Michael Haneke wrote and directed ‘FUNNY GAMES’ in 1997 [which was remade for US audiences a decade later], it was deeply shocking. I found it hard to watch. Haneke in an interview said that his film was in direct response to the laughter he heard from a teenage cinema audience when they viewed some of the random and amoral violence and death in Pulp Fiction. The teenage laughter chilled him, so in response, he made FUNNY GAMES, where the two psychopaths that terrorise and torture [and murder] the couple and their young son, are portrayed as charming, well dressed and their madness / amorality masked by their charm and joyful natures. We see that amorality is not funny, and the camera lingers over the violence and no one laughs.

            Other examples of subversion of morality could be Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, where the cops are corrupt while the mob appear to be the good guys in the neighborhood, or in ‘Mute Witness’ by Robert Fish which became Bullitt, or the Dirty Harry Movies the amoral [fascistic] cops are better than the politicians that should be our protectors - Care to comment about the subversion of morality?

Q         There seems to an issue with regard to the treatment of morality when viewed through the looking glass of different cultures, as some ‘things’ maybe palatable in one culture but not in another. A case in point is the amoral ‘hero’ such as Thomas Harris’ 1999 novel “Hannibal” which was lauded by the British / European critics while on the whole unappreciated in Harris’ native America, and Patricia Highsmith whose work especially the Tom Ripley novels were critically acclaimed in Europe but only after her passing did they become more than cult books in her native America, she even left the US for Norfolk and eventually Switzerland? Would you agree that an amoral hero is more accessible to a European sensibility than an American one?

Q         What fictional characters do you consider really special? And why are so many popular characters amoral with often sociopathic tendencies? Can you pick examples from the book world, as well as comics, films and tell us about the ones you most liked and perhaps influenced you eg -

            Examples being Silence of the Lambs with Clarice Starling, and the Dr Moriarty style villain with Dr Hannibal Lecter, Carol O'Connell's Kathleen Mallory, Larsson’s  Lisabeth Salander, Fleming’s James Bond, Richard Stark’s Parker, Highsmith’s Tom Ripley, David Morrell’s John Rambo and there are many more, not just in books, but comics, films eg Batman, Catwoman, The Joker, The Watchmen, Clint Eastwood’s Spaghetti Westerns, Dirty Harry, Bullitt, The Magnificent Seven, Any Tarantino movie, The Dirty Dozen, et al

            We had a lot of fun, and I do hope you explore the panelists’ work, because they plough    the amoral furrow well, because like in life, it rains on the just and unjust in equal measure.