Pure Talent

 Hello my little chickadees,

How are you all today? Oh really? Never mind I'm sure you'll get over it in time. I'm wearing my sympathetic coat today. Did you notice?

On my blog today we have the multi talented Rod Glenn. Not just an amazing writer in the crime/horror genres, but a talented actor as well. Oh, and he also owns a publishing house with approximately 90 authors which include, a former X factor finalist, the brother of murder victim Lesley Ann Downey, a former darts champion, a couple of former detectives, and me! He’s also a big Reacher fan. So, let’s introduce him to you.

Thanks Tee. I’m Rod Glenn and I live in Newcastle, in the North East of England and lived equally in the library and on the stage growing up, with an acute love of books and acting (even though, perversely, I was extremely shy). I grew up in the 70s and 80s during the decline of the mines and shipbuilding, which were the two main industries in the area. It was a pretty bleak time, so I lost myself in books, films and television. I started writing short stories from a very young age, usually based on stories I had read or seen on the screen. I quickly discovered H G Wells, Lovecraft, Poe, Tolkein etc and never looked back. Long before I probably should have been reading them, I began devouring the likes of Stephen King, James Herbert and Dean R Koontz. Then later, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Hunter S Thompson, Richard Matheson and then into crime and true crime.

How many books have you written Rod and what genre are they? 

I currently have seven published novels and then short stories in a number of anthologies. My most well known are the Sinema trilogy, based on a film-obsessed serial killer (crime thrillers with a horror edge to them), 

The King of America (an epic sci-fi fantasy inspired by Frank Herbert’s Dune), 

The Killing Moon (a UK-based post-apocalyptic thriller, inspired by I Am Legend and Mad Max), 

Slaughterville (a surrealist re-telling of the first Sinema novel) No Chance In Hell (an action horror taking inspiration from The Magnificent Seven and Aliens).

Tee Edit: Having read most of them, I can highly recommend them and no, Rod didn’t pay me to say that.

UK Crime Book Club mainly focuses on crime novels; how would your books fit into this slot? 

I tend to start writing a story without a genre in mind – I focus on the characters and the plot and then they tend to fall into one or more genres. The Sinema series and Slaughterville are the ones that the UKCBC members will probably be most interested in.

What is your favourite pastime? 

Reading, watching films and listening to music. A good writer HAS to be a voracious reader as well, and of all genres. Read old and new and everything in between. Recent books I’ve read include a Richard Burton biography, a Lee Child, (Gotta love a bit of Reacher) a true crime book on serial killers and some H P Lovecraft.

Have you a favourite food/drink? 

I love all sorts of food dishes and love to cook as well. I do a mean lasagne and chilli, but I guess my favourite has to be a traditional roast dinner (either beef or turkey). Drinks wise, I’m particularly partial to whiskies and bourbons when the light fades and coffee through the day.

You own the Wild Wolf Publishing company, alongside Lupin Publishing Rod; What genres do the authors write in? Do they interact at all and are any of them actually sane? 

I set up Wild Wolf back in 2007 to publish predominantly dark fiction, as I felt that it was being overlooked by the big publishers and there was a mass of unpublished talent out there, who were being ripped off by vanity presses masquerading as traditional publishers. I’ve since opened up the books to anything that grabs my attention. I don’t care what genre anymore – if I think it’s worthy of publication we’ll publish it. We’ve published a lot of crime, obviously, but also sci-fi, horror, fantasy, historical fiction, true crime, biographies and children’s books. Lots of the Wild Wolf/Lupin authors have become friends and interact with each other socially – we like to think of Wild Wolf as being a family community. In my experience (myself included), very few writers are sane. You have to be a little unhinged to create the worlds and characters we create. Probably why I love acting too – I think they go hand in hand.

What do you do to relax? 

If I’m stressed, I like to listen to music. I have a particular playlist entitled ‘Morose’. It is filled with Leonard Cohen, Kate Bush, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, The Cure, Jim Reeves, Pink Floyd, ELO, Alison Krause, Carol King and a multitude of others. I usually sit in the kitchen drinking bourbon or whisky in silence and get lost in the music. Works for me. Otherwise, a good book or film always does the job too. I also like to work out daily – I think it’s extremely important to balance healthy mind with healthy body. 

You have acted with some of the greats of TV and Screen; who was your favourite actor to act alongside. Who was the funniest? 

It was absolutely amazing to work with Michael Keaton on American Assassin – he was a lovely, quiet and humble man. Sheridan Smith, Sally Phillips and Jo Brand were hilarious to work with on The More You Ignore Me.

What was the scariest film you starred in? 

Got to be Monster (2018) – I play the most horrific serial killer in it. It was a hugely challenging role getting inside the head of such a horrible person, but my research into serial killers for the Sinema books helped a lot to ensure that the character remained human and real, rather than becoming a movie monster like Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees.

How many different dialects/accents have you achieved? 

I’ve always listened to and tried to mimic other people’s accents since I was a kid. It must’ve annoyed people over the years, but I couldn’t help myself. I’ve managed to master a few, like standard American, RP, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cockney, Yorkshire and a few others.

Links to Rod’s books

Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rod-Glenn/e/B0034PNPFU

Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rodglennauthoractor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rodglenn

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm34Rk0Z7JriKLVHokGjRLQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roddglenn/ 

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5406988/ 

So there you have the brilliantly talented Rod Glenn and if you're interested in live author interviews, little known author interviews, with lots of other exciting things going on connected to authors, or just want to read about crime, then join us both at the UKCBC of which we are both members. Here's the door to knock on... https://www.facebook.com/groups/ukcrimebookclub

Laters Potaters

The jewell was a cop

Hello my little chickadees. 

Well there's a lot of tumbleweed moving about my author victim cave today. I really think it's about time I purloined a few more bodies to hang up and torture.They only need to spill the beans about their books, what they're up to and a little bit about themselves. I can't help it, if I'm the nosy type and it's for their benefit after all. It's looking decidedly tidy now that there is no blood, guts and torn limbs etc laying about. It can be quite unnerving you know. I'm just not used to it being this quiet. I do like the constant moaning and screaming I hear, when I prod with my taser. I nicked it from a previous victim and I can put it to much better use. Having said all that, as I wandered through the recesses at the back I did find a couple of dead mice that were quite suitable as a quick snack.

Oh and belated Happy Easter egg day. I bet there were loads buried in your neck of the woods. Did you go on an egg hunt? I haven't done that since I walked the earth as a dinosaur. Stick with me kid, I know many things!

Today on my blog I have David Jewell. A cop turned crime writer, who at one point was mistaken for a porno author of the same name. Honest. He’s had thirty one years police experience at the sharp end of some of the toughest areas in the North East and has also received several commendations. His writing captures the voices and attitudes, of a tough, working class Northern city and often the black humour of those who police it. Since then, his retirement has enabled him to get involved in several other occupations as you will discover.

In his debut novel Death Rattle, David introduces you to Detective Inspector Jack Slade of the Homicide and Major Enquiry team, who brings a new dark and gritty realism to the crime writing genre. A body is found stabbed in a notorious Newcastle Upon Tyne gay cruising area. What appears to be a robbery gone wrong, takes a dramatic turn when the identity of the victim is revealed. Slade is drawn into a dark underworld and forced to seek help from people on the fringes of the Newcastle gay scene. Jack finds himself embroiled in a sinister world of sexual exploitation, missing teenagers and murders. His unorthodox policing methods, result in the death of a suspect and he finds himself on the outside shunned by his colleagues and a suspect in a homicide.

So, let’s learn a bit more about David Jewell the author.

Who is David Jewell

I think it’s usual to identify oneself by the occupation that you have at the time. For over thirty one years if you had asked me that question I would have immediately replied with the cliché “Like a stick of rock snap me in half and it reads “cop” from top to bottom.

However, over the past four years with the success of my TV Series “Write on” and the Royal Television Society nomination for the political biography “From Pit To Parliament” I would have been able to claim that I was a documentary film maker. Covid has put a temporary halt on that.

If you ask me today then I would have to say that I am a writer and crime novelist.

Tell us about family members

I come from a large family and we’re very close. I’m sure that just like everyone reading this during the Covid pandemic I miss my family like crazy. Facetime is a great tool and I now speak to my sister in Australia more often than before the crisis but no amount of zoom or Facetime can compensate for giving loved ones a hug. I’m hoping that the nightmare is over soon, but couldn’t help but smile when my five year old niece told me last week on Facetime “Uncle David… when this is over we’re all having a big party.” I’m so looking forward to that day.

Tell me about your writing routine

I’d love to say that I have a set routine but that would be a fib. I’m envious of my friends like International Crime Writer Mari Hannah who says it is her full time job so she gets up in the morning and writes until late afternoon with a break for lunch. Playwriter and screenwriter Michael Wilcox works in the morning until lunch time but the Horror writer Stephen Laws is the opposite and starts work around Midnight writing throughout the night. When I made a TV documentary on Stephen I called it “The Midnight Man” after one of his novels. I just write when I come up with an idea but once I start I seem to keep going for hours into the night.

Although I am determined to establish a routine … that has been my New Year resolution for a few years now.

What genre do you write in/would you consider other genres?

I’m a crime writer and use my experience of more than three decades as a front line cop to fuel my writing. That being said, I am working on a potential television comedy drama but I’m finding comedy is very difficult as we all have different ideas of what is funny. I find it disconcerting when I watch classic comedy like One Foot in The Grave, Father Ted or Fawlty Towers and think to myself I could never ever be as good as that.

Favourite food/Drink.

Probably my favourite type of food is a curry but that is best enjoyed with a pint of English Real Ale… and not that fizzy lager concoction.

I enjoy cooking food for friends and weather permitting dining “al fesco” in the garden. I really love relaxing on the patio in the Summer with a good crime book and a glass of Rose wine. 

Do your characters take over at all and if so how do you deal with it?

My character Jack Slade in the crime novel “Death Rattle” has definitely grown larger than life and whilst he (rarely) breaks the law, he has no compunction about frequently bending it if the circumstances require him to. His sometimes unorthodox methods of policing have certainly found favour with my readers and he is a firm favourite amongst police officers who constantly email or message me to say how much they love him and ask when is the next Jack Slade book coming out. Maybe some of them are thinking “I wish I’d done that” whilst others muse “I know someone who got away with that.” Cops frequently say “I know who that character is!” The reality is that Jack and all the other characters he works with are fictitious with the exception of the barman in the Police club who shares his name with a real person…. along with that persons dry wit. 

I did have one reviewer who said that they found one of the things Jack Slade did far-fetched and that any police officer who did that would end up in prison. I had to smile and was inwardly pleased that I hadn’t put any clues in to identify who had done that particular deed.

Truth is very often more stranger than fiction.

Any pet hates about books.

I hate the inaccuracies in procedure in books marketed as “Crime Procedurals”. I know that it is easy to make mistakes and for typos not to be picked up by readers despite having been proof read several times, but there are basic procedural actions that keep repeating.

Very rarely is a warrant required to search a property and never if a person is arrested. Searches are almost always covered by The police and Criminal Evidence Act.

Almost never is a warrant of Arrest issued for anyone unless they have failed to turn up for a scheduled court appearance. Police have widespread powers of arrest set out in legislation. 

My real pet hate is the frequently repeated portrayal of the cop who is sick at the sight of a crime scene or autopsy. A cop like that isn’t going to last long. It has become a cliché and in more than thirty years as a cop I have never witnessed it.

The reality is you just get on and do your job despite the gore, death and destruction around you. It’s only when you finish work and go home that you might sit and reflect on what has happened. I think that is why cops have such a black sense of humour. It’s a coping strategy and I try to bring that out in my writing.

Sometimes especially in Television inaccuracies might not be the writer’s fault. Many years ago when I was working as a detective A great friend of mine Michael Wilcox was writing an episode of Inspector Morse and rang me to ask about the correct procedure for an identification parade. I told him but when it appeared on screen it was nothing like I’d explained. When I next spoke to him he said, “I know David but the Director said doing it the right way… just didn’t look as good on screen.” 

Where do you go to escape

Some years ago my brother and I invested in a renovation property in North Northumberland that is central to all the scenic places I love. Now restored it has become a holiday home which unfortunately due to Covid, is not getting visited at the moment. When I’m there I can curl up on a lounger overlooking the garden and disappear into the pages of a book. Sometimes I also use it to escape from distractions if I need to work on a novel or screenplay.

I have always loved the Northumbrian countryside and following the success of the fantastic television series Vera with the lovely Brenda Blethyn and Kenny Doughty, the world is discovering Northumberland and it’s doing wonders for the local tourist industry. 

Have you any WIP at the moment, or anything due to be published?

As I mentioned I’m working on a spec script for comedy drama television series set on Tyneside so I’m hoping that will work out. 

With regard to my Crime Novels, I’m rewriting and editing the second Jack Slade novel which will be released when Lockdown is over and we can have a traditional launch.

There’s a third novel in the pipeline which is an international thriller with strong psychological undertones. Concerning technical issues with the weapons aspects of the novel I have a good friend and former colleague with whom I’m in frequent contact. He keeps me up to date concerning firearms but he has just sent me a real writers’ joke.

A priest, a pastor and a Rabbit walk into a blood donation clinic.

The nurse asks the rabbit “What is your blood type?”

The rabbit replies “I think I’m probably a Type O”.

 

 Links:

Jewell, David — The Crime Writers' Association (thecwa.co.uk)

David Jewell (@D_Jewell_Author) / Twitter

David Jewell Author | Facebook

Amazon

www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Rattle-David.../dp/B08DJ9CXD8

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