The Interpreter: Author Interview With John Logan

Shah Sight
‎John Logan, welcome, I must admit that some of us might know very little about you, do you want to tell us a little about yourself, before we move to your work?





John Logan Hello, Shah, thank-you. Well, I'm a Scottish writer, living in the Highlands of Scotland. My fiction has been published by Picador, Vintage, Edinburgh Review, Northwords, Chapma, Nomad etc etc...with reviews of my work in Scotland on Sunday, Scottish Studies Review, The Spectator, The Hindustan Times. I've had work in anthologies edited by A L Kennedy, John Fowles, Ali Smith, Toby Litt. The book I published on Christmas Day, The Survival of Thomas Ford, I had under contract with a literary agent in London for over a year. 2 agents at that agency "loved" the book...the film consultant at the agency thought the book was the best she'd read at that agency in all her 4 years there, and this film consultant had discovered Slumdog Millionaire as an unpublished manuscript and got it made into a film by FILM4, so her word was taken very seriously. I suppose I;m answering your question about "myself" there by telling you right away about my work!


Shah Sight That is what we love to hear, John, thank you so much, can you break all your works down to a few more lines, please, to our audience, one by one, one more time, so exciting, we want to hear again?



John Logan http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006Q68W7U/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_g351_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0T64TBTKSYZ672N1XYYC&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

The Survival of Thomas Fordwww.amazon.com
THE SURVIVAL OF THOMAS FORD Thomas Ford is the only survivor of the car crash which killed his wife. He is also the only witness who would be willing to identify the young, reckless driver who caused the crash. But the driver has no intention of ever letting himself be identified, not ...
·


John Logan Thanks Shah, that link above is to the US Amazon page for my novel, The Survival of Thomas Ford.Of course it's on Amazon UK as well. A full break-down of my published work is at my website www.johnaalogan.com The Survival of Thomas Ford was the 5th novel I wrote. My earlier novels are not yet up on Kindle but will be over next few months. A couple of them were also under contract to another literary agent, at an earlier stage. My other novels are Starnegin's Camp,. The Major, Agency Woman, Rocks in the Head, I have some story collections also which will come out. But, right now, The Survival of Thomas Ford is the only book I have up on Kindle! Francesca Main, senior editor at Simon and Schuster said of it "John A. A. Logan is a hugely talented writer. I love books like this, that have the pace and excitement of a thriller, and the voice and emotional depth of a literary novel"

John A. A. Logan -Authorwww.johnaalogan.com
‎"Bold"


Shah Sight Thanks John, you may want to tell us about how you came up with the idea of writing your last book, we are interested to know, in a few lines, please?



John Logan ‎"Thomas Ford is the only survivor of the car crash which killed his wife. He is also the only witness who would be willing to identify the young, reckless driver who caused the crash. But the driver has no intention of ever letting himself be identified, not to mention what his father’s intentions are…or those of his girlfriend, Lorna, the hospital cleaner." A wee synopsis there....Lorna, the cleaner, is a very important character in the book...though most readers ultimately feel the story is about Jimmy, the driver. As for the idea for the book...I write very much from the subconscious Shah...I do not even WANT to know cosnciously where these ideas come from! All I know is I wrote steadily for many years, and perhaps only on this my 5th novel did I feel I really achieved what I'd wanted to. My influences had been Knut Hamsun's Hunger, Mikhail Bulgakov (The Master and Margarita)...John Kennedy's Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces...Alan Sharp's A Green Tree in Gedde...Dostoyevsky's The Idiot...many films too went into my melting pot....Equus...Barry Lyndon...even Celine and Julie go Boating would have got into the subconscious there and had an influence...oh, and The Green Ray, the Rohmer film I love best...it's focus on synchronicity and relationships...I can see that influencing me in the Ford book.

John Logan http://www.amazon.co.uk/Survival-Thomas-Ford-ebook/dp/B006Q68W7U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326909468&sr=8-1

The Survival of Thomas Fordwww.amazon.co.uk
THE SURVIVAL OF THOMAS FORD Thomas Ford is the only survivor of the car crash which killed his wife. He is also the only witness who would be willing to identify the young, reckless driver who caused the crash. But the driver has no intention of ever letting himself be identified, not ...



John Logan ‎(And for UK readers, the UK link)


Shah Sight John, thank you so much for your time, very interesting indeed, we normally ask our interviewees one single question, in excitement, we did it quite differently with you, but this is not the end, we would love to have you here again. Do you want to say something to our audience, in the end, anything you would love us to hear about yourself, or your work, or any other thing that interests you in your life, be it your car, your dog, or home, whatever?



John Logan Thank-you very much, Shah...I appreciate it! I can tell everyone one thing more.,.that I live in the Highlands of Scotland as I said, right beside a hill where long ago the Pictish King of Scotland had his home...I often walk there at 4am or so, and meet deer on the tracks who are very surprised to see a human up and about like this...I make my way to the top of the hill and sit on the plateau where the old Pictish King had his Fort built on vitrified stone. If I meditate, that's where I do it, and probably that is where I get the idea for books too...among trees and deer with a view over the sea. All best wishes Shah (and every one else reading!), John


Shah Sight We appreciate your time John, it was great to be with you today. See you soon again.



Brendan Gisby Well done, Shah and John. A brilliant interview by a fellow-Scot!