Author Spotlight: David Burnsworth

The literary genre that David Burnsworth, our guest today at the Author Spotlight, writes with aplomb sufficient to earn enthusiastic praise from peers and fans alike goes by the name "Southern Noir." But what is this "Southern Noir," exactly? Definitional borders in genre fiction can and should be be slippery things. That said, who doesn't enjoy something slippery every now and again? So we'll defer to the site CrimeFictionLover.com, a deservedly well-respected authority in the field of, well, crime fiction. They define "Southern Noir" this way:

"The American south is a hot, sticky, vast place with a rich history, spanning all the way from Texas, through to Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama and on into North Carolina. Also called the Deep South, this was often used to refer to the seven states that formed the Confederacy, when, in actuality, the term wasn’t coined until long after the Civil War had ended. The Deep South is well known for its reputation for intolerance and staunch social conservatism as well as being a deep pocket of religious fundamentalism. More than a few authors have been able to mine this hotbed of social unrest to create some of the most compelling, violent, and downright fascinating crime fiction in recent history. Some call it Southern Noir, Rural Noir, Country Noir or Southern Gothic and it’s also called, very appropriately, Grit Lit. Whatever you want to call it, crime fans eat it up, and with good reason."

Burnsworth selected South Carolina, and particularly the lowcountry area around Charleston and Sullivan's Island, to torment some twisted Southern souls for his readers' entertainment. Gazalapalooza has been to Charleston, more than once. Unless you've been thereabouts late some summer, you don't know what villainous notions the ruthless humidity of an endless August night in Charleston will percolate in your sweaty skull.

As clearly evidenced by his new thriller, our guest today is intimately familiar with what madness that kind of Southern Heat spawns. Without further ado, we'll fire up the Gazapalooza klieg light army and aim its blaze directly at the appropriately-named Mr. Burnsworth. Let's see how he sweats.

Gazala:    In my omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the one fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and tell why you choose them.

Burnsworth:    Thanks for your leniency, Your Honor. And your discretion. I’d hate for people to find out I like catching snippets of the TV show "House Hunters" my wife watches as I pass by on the way from my home office to the kitchen. The fiction choice is a tough one. My inspiration comes from Elmore Leonard, Mickey Spillane, and James Lee Burke. But then, how to choose between those three? In the end, I’d try to sneak in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, if I could find them all beneath one cover. Non-fiction is an easier choice for me. Aside from writing, I love cars. Give me something like The Standard Catalog of American Automobiles and I’ll be good for a few years.

Gazala:  Your new book is an excellent and gripping thriller titled Southern Heat, centered around ex-racecar driver and Afghanistan War veteran Brack Pelton, who is both witness to and suspected of the murder of his hippie uncle in Charleston, SC. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us something about Southern Heat, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader.

Burnsworth:    I lived on Sullivan’s Island, just north of Charleston, for five years and it was a life-changing experience. With the Atlantic Ocean and a semi-private beach fifty yards from my front door, to say I was spoiled is an understatement. Southern Heat came out of that experience. When my wife finally talked me into sitting down to write a book, something I’d told her I wanted to do, I had the perfect setting. Because of my love of mysteries, hard-boiled detectives, and noir, I chose to take a stab at something along those lines.

Gazala:    What are books for?

Burnsworth:    Books are windows to other worlds and keepers of information. They can also be pretty darn fun to write—sometimes. Other times, they can be so frustrating you want to blow up your laptop.

Gazala:    W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?

Burnsworth:    Before I answer, I have to confess that I had to look up who W. Somerset Maugham was.  Interesting fellow. Okay, now for the answer. It’s become cliché, but I’d say the one rule is you have to sit down and write. And then rewrite. And if you’re like me, you rewrite some more (insert exclamation point).

Gazala:    I've got to take this call. Something about a lowcountry real estate deal unwise to reject. Ask yourself a question, and answer it.

Burnsworth:    Q: What’s next for Brack Pelton and his newfound friends?  A: Funny you should ask. I’m working on the second in the series. It took me six years to go from zero to a signed contract with Southern Heat. The next one should take slightly less time.

Southern noir is hot, sticky, and vast, and our guest's name is Burnsworth... Think it through. What better way to fend off the February's chill ill will than with some Southern Heat? See for yourself by clicking here for your own copy, via the folks at Amazon.com. The fire will do you good.

Author Spotlight: Justin Gustainis

Sharp fangs red and bared, St. Valentine’s Day again charges toward us sparing neither relent or mercy. In our hoary experience, not much is scarier than that. Accordingly, we who toil at Gazalapalooza can think of no better way to commemorate the imminent Valentine onslaught than by featuring at the Author Spotlight Justin Gustainis, a novelist whose writings deeply steep in the sinister and the macabre.

For the record, Guatainis’ books also are clever and witty. It’s remarkable he writes so engagingly with his tongue so firmly jammed in his cheek. We’d think that has to hurt at least a little.

Gustainis joins us today to share thoughts and insights about authorial crafting generally, and to discuss his just-released novel, Known Devil: An Occult Crimes Unit Investigation. We’ll concede that via his writings he’s sojourned countless midnights round the creepiest block in the ‘hood. We’ll admit too that his robust educational achievements (a Master's degree in English plus a Ph.D. in Communication), and his day job as a professor in Communication Studies at Plattsburgh State University, may permit him to labor under the misapprehension that he’s eminently prepared to withstand the broiling rigors of our infamous Author Spotlight’s klieg light army. But as with all things sublime or ominous, the proof’s in the actual pudding. Without further ado, let’s give the man a hefty spoonful of blinding glare, shall we?

Gazala:    In my omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the one fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and tell why you choose them.

Gustainis:    For fiction, I’d take Tolstoy’s War and Peace – but not for the reasons you might think. I read the abridged version in college, and even that sucker was hefty enough to hurt somebody with, given the inclination. Being stuck on the island with it, I’d have no choice but to read the damn thing – all of it. Not only that, but after the fifth or sixth reading, I’d probably even start to understand it. Once I returned to civilization, my insight into the book would surely make me a hit at academic cocktail parties – if I ever went to any.

The nonfiction choice is easy – I’d take How to Get Off a Desert Island, by I.M. Stranded. And if such a book doesn’t exist, it should.

Gazala:    Your new book is the third in your celebrated "Haunted Scranton" series, marking the hotly-anticipated return of Detective Sgt. Stan Markowski of the Occult Crimes Unit. It's an excellent and wicked paranormal thriller titled Known Devil, centered around a street drug addictive to supernaturals that births a crime wave as the creatures of the night struggle to get drug money. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us something about Know Devil, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader.

Gustainis:    Like the first two books in the series, Known Devil is set in an “alternate” universe where magic (both white and black) and supernatural creatures really exist, and everybody knows it. But even supernaturals have to obey the law. As Stan puts it, “When a vamp puts the bite on an unwilling victim, or some witch casts the wrong kind of spell – that’s when they call me. My name’s Markowski. I carry a badge.”

In Known Devil, Stan and his vampire partner Karl Renfer are dealing with three big problems. As you mentioned, a new street drug called Slide has appeared, and it’s addictive to supernatural creatures. Some get hooked and then, like junkies everywhere, turn to crime to finance their habit. Thus, the book begins with two elves trying to stick up a diner in which Stan and Karl are taking their nightly coffee break. Things don’t work out too well for the elves on that occasion.

Related to that is the second problem. A gang war has broken out in Scranton between the local Mafia family (which is made up of vampires) and a branch of a big Philadelphia family (also consisting of vampires). The locals want to keep Slide out, because it has the potential to addict their own. The new guys see the great economic potential in the drug and are willing to do whatever it takes to turn Scranton into a new market. Stan reluctantly sides with the local “fangsters,” reasoning that the devil you know is better than the one you don’t. Or, as he says to Karl at one point: “I know the difference between a mean dog and a mad one.”

And there’s also turmoil among the rest of the city’s supernatural community. Victor Castle, unofficial leader of the various “children of the night” who make Scranton their home, has been blown to bits by a bomb. The perpetrator and motive are unknown, but it seems clear that someone wants to take over as head of the local “supes,” and the strongest contender is a particularly nasty vampire who likes to refer to humans as “bloodbags.”

Then there’s the upcoming city election. It’s not Stan’s business, but he can’t help but notice that a new political entity calling itself the Patriot Party, whom nobody had even heard of a year ago, seems poised to take over the city government. That worries Stan, because the PP takes a very hard line on supes, and if they take over, he may be faced with another war in the streets – this one between supernaturals and humans.

A perfect storm of supernatural strife is descending on Scranton. As usual, Stan and Karl are right in the thick of it.

Gazala:    What are books for?

Gustainis:    You might as well ask me, “What is oxygen for?” or “What is food for?” As far as I’m concerned, the answer to all three questions is the same.

Gazala:    W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?

Gustainis:    I think it was Andre Norton who observed that writing is a simple, three-step process: “Place butt in chair. Write. Repeat.” I’m not big on rules (although I think Elmore Leonard’s ten rules for writing make a lot of sense), but I’m pretty sure I know what leads to being successful as a writer: talent, persistence, and luck. That was certainly true in my case. And the greatest of these is all of them.

Gazala:    There's what appears to be a scowling elf pounding on my front door, waving a big gun. This may take a while. Ask yourself a question, and answer it.

Gustainis:    Okay, how about this: “Tell people why they should buy a copy of Known Devil.”

Wow – that’s a tough one….

My natural modesty prevents me from going overboard on this, but seriously – in what other work of modern genre fiction can you find:

• Elves with guns

• A naked Siren

• Vampire gang warfare

• A gnome who sets off car bombs

• A hamster named Quincey, AND --

• Twelve distinct uses of the word “haina”

I rest my case.

And so Gustainis emerges from the Spotlight fairly unscathed. We attribute this as much as anything else to the armed elves as to Quincey’s good offices. So grab a haina or two and head to Amazon.com to sink your teeth into a copy of Known Devil. What better St Valentine’s Day gift for your beloved than that?