Hard Truths

by Tony Black

Tony Black cross-examines the legendary, Andrew Vachss in an in-depth interview as part of the Hard Truths series.

As both an award-winning journalist and one of the most acclaimed crime writers of recent times Tony Black is uniquely placed to interview crime fiction's bestselling authors. Black takes an often no-holds-barred approach and pushes friendships to the limit as he teases out the truth on subjects as diverse as politics, the writing life, popular culture and personal histories. Always entertaining and often heartfelt this series of exchanges offers an entertaining, humorous and eclectic look at some of the genre's leading lights.

"For anyone at all interested in crime writers and crime writing - hell, for anyone even vaguely interested in writing and stories - this is an indispensable collection, full of insight and revelation."
- from the foreword by Doug Johnstone, author of Gone Again

30 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

Tony Black is the author of more than 20 books, most recently Her Cold Eyes. He has been nominated for eight CWA Daggers and was runner up in The Guardian's Not the Booker prize for The Last Tiger.

He has written three crime series, a number of crime novellas and two collections of short stories. His acclaimed author interviews series was collected under the title, Hard Truths.

His novella, The Ringer, was adapted for the stage and the Ayr Gaiety performance can be found on YouTube.

A former Young Journalist of the Year, he still writes for the press regularly.

For more information, and the latest news visit his website at: www.tonyblack.net or his blog: www.pulppusher.blogspot.com or find him on Facebook, Twitter or Linked-In.

Reviews

[Keith Nixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't tend to do non-fiction books, however the mechanics of writing and writers themselves have always fascinated me, so Mr Black had a captive audience before even opening the first page. I wasn't to be disappointed. The interviewee list is excellent, including several household names.
However, this is more than just how authors write and the struggles they've faced, Mr Black proved himself to be an intelligent and well researched interviewer and therefore in many cases drew out fascinating personal details from the subjects.
It's said that to write well you need to live life, well there are several stories in Hard Truths that made me think I've lived a totally boring life. Les Edgerton is one particular case in point.
A thoroughly fascinating, entertaining read that works on so many levels.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet

A very brief but charming, witty and sincere account of the purpose and value of writing and inspiration from one of the greats.

[Susanne Weigand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am an avid reader and I love crime fiction. This said I have to admit that I read only a minority of the authors featured in that book. But I enjoyed it very much. Tony Black is a very skilled interviewer, who (in most cases) gets the authors really talking. About their everyday lives, about their struggles and their victories and of course about their writing. Some things, like Elmore Leonard and others as a role models we will meet again and again. Other things, like traditional publishing versus selfpublishing are discussed and the opinions differ very much. Wonderful book, recommended for everyone who loves crime fiction, books about writing and a little glimpse into other persons lives. (Disclaimer: English is not my native language, sorry about the mistakes.)

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read, enjoyed and thoroughly benefited from Len Wanner's trio of interviews with Scottish crime writers this in comparison was something of an uneven patchwork, as was admitted by Tony Black himself. It would have been useful to me to have dates of the interviews appended - somewhat dislocating to read an aside about Kevin Keegan about to become manager - and better promoted the writers had a brief bio/up-to-date list of books/recent titles been included.
But what has been gained is a list of American influences to explore, once I've finished discovering Scottish, Irish and English ones.

[Andrew Welsh-Huggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the interviews are a little uneven, and some of the authors seem like the kind of folk best admired from a distance, but overall an informative and inspirational survey of (mainly UK) crime writers, literary lifestyles and tips of the trade.