The first of the 47 authors interviewed is Lee Child, who did not begin the Jack Reacher series until he suddenly found himself unemployed at age 40.

Q: Is it true that you created Jack Reacher from the smoldering embers of your own rage after you were let go by Granada Television?

A: It’s probably more accurate to say the adventures Reacher gets into are the product of that experience… One basic rule that applies is: it’s not the writer who decides whether a character is cool; it’s the reader who makes that decision. If the writer tries to force things --- or lead the witness, as it were --- the result is an embarrassing failure. So, really, I just metaphorically closed my eyes and wrote that first book, KILLING FLOOR, and Jack Reacher emerged.

Lisa Gardner is famous for making it as a published writer at a very early age.

Q: What made you begin writing at the young age of seventeen?

A: I had no idea how hard it is to write a novel, let alone how impossible it is to get one published. On the other hand, I had an idea for a murder mystery. So I wrote it.

Q: How did you manage to get published by age twenty?

A: My first lesson in publishing: my book did sell, and I earned just enough money to buy a computer, and even then, I had to wait for the computer to go on sale. But it was still absolutely amazing to hold the finished novel in my hands. It gave me goose bumps.

A personal favorite of mine, Dennis Lehane, talks about the novel that finally put him over the top.

Q: So, MYSTIC RIVER changed your writing life?

A: Yes. It changed the perception of me as a writer --- almost overnight. Suddenly, I was viewed as a literary writer. Until that point people thought, “He produces really well-written genre novels.” That was my label. After MYSTIC RIVER I was suddenly writing literature.

It was interesting to find out what Michael Connelly’s thoughts were about the comparison between himself and his primary creation, Harry Bosch.

Q: You’ve said that you and Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch share some similarities. What are they?

A: It depends on which Harry Bosch book you’re reading. I’ve been so lucky to have written about him over a period of twenty years. When I first began with him, I didn’t know if it would ever be published. So to make it interesting and fun, I wrote about a guy completely opposite of me. He’s a smoker, I’m not. He’s an orphan; I come from a big family. He’s never been lucky in romance; I’ve been married for a long time.

Iconic author David Morrell is asked about the work that put him on the map.

Q: Rambo is an iconic name in our culture. Amazingly, FIRST BLOOD was your debut novel. How did your first novel become such a wild success?

A: I wrote FIRST BLOOD, allowing of course, that it was a very topical subject because there were so many returning Vietnam veterans in 1972. So, it was an attempt to reinvent the action book. The response was overwhelming. It was well reviewed in virtually every major newspaper and magazine.

Many readers might be curious to learn that Patricia Cornwell has no medical training.

Q: Your Kay Scarpetta novels are so richly detailed in medical forensics, it’s hard to believe you’re not a physician. How did you learn so much forensic pathology?

A: People sometimes mistakenly call me “Dr. Cornwell.” I was an English major in college. For thirty years, I’ve been a self-educated student of medical forensics, ballistics, and all things related. It’s my avocation. I constantly cruise the internet looking for new information. I have consultants on whom I rely for the latest technologic advances. I also do field research. For one novel, I went to Texas firing ranges to test high-tech assault rifles and ammunition, the things readers will find in the book. That’s how I continue to learn.

Harlan Coben was questioned about a recurring theme in his work.

Q: Many of your novels involve someone who’s gone missing. Actually, Harlan, I view you as the “Master of the Missing Person.” What draws you to this scenario?

A: I think it’s an intriguing scenario. Just think about it: a missing person could be alive or dead. You don’t know. There’s always hope. I love writing about hope. Hope can make your heart soar or can crush your heart like an eggshell.

Probably one of my favorite modern writers and playwrights is David Mamet. Having both seen and acted in his work, his writing has a unique cadence all its own.

Q: Your dialogue has been considered a form of street poetry.

A: Maybe so. I wrote an essay about rap music, which is the operative poetry of our time. Speaking of street poetry, it has many precursors. I’ve been reading this great book by George MacDonald Fraser, a Victorian writer. He quotes many of the old Scottish border ballads that were simply folk music of the times. It's clear he was influenced by and immersed in Sir Walter Scott. He was regurgitating the Scottish border ballads.

Ian Rankin discusses how he was perceived at the start of his career.

Q: Ian, your first John Rebus novel, KNOTS AND CROSSES, was classified as genre fiction. I understand you thought it was more in the realm of Robert Louis Stevenson’s fiction. Tell us about that and your views of genre fiction.

A: I was working on a PhD in the Scottish novel and was interested in Scottish writers of the past, many of whom wrote dark psychological novels. One is THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson. Edinburgh is still a Jekyll and Hyde city, as are most cities in Scotland. It’s one thing to the tourists and something else entirely if you live there. The darker side is just below the surface.

I was curious to learn how the late, great Clive Cussler got his start as a writer.

Q: I understand you first began writing fiction just to fill your time. Will you tell us about that?

A: Well, it all started when my wife found a job working nights as a secretary and dispatcher at the local police department. After work, I’d come home, fix dinner for the kids, put them to bed, and then wander around the house. There wasn’t much to do. I said to myself, “Well, I think I’ll write a book.” I then researched all the heroes and villains in the Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and Travis McGee books. When I finished, I asked myself what I could do that would be different. Since I was very familiar with the sea, I thought I’d put my hero in and around water. That’s how Dirk Pitt was born.

The last author I will highlight is my old friend, Jon Land.

Q: I’ve read many of your novels, and they’ve all tied the protagonist’s present investigation to events that occurred many years earlier. Tell us about these connections of past and present.

A: I’ve always believed what William Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” In this future-obsessed culture, we forget how vital the past is. In the Caitlin Strong series, I use the past to highlight the tradition of the Texas Rangers in Caitlin’s family. We see how crimes were solved in 1883, in the 1930s, and in the present. It shows that no matter how things may change, they really stay the same.

THE STORYTELLERS is the most interesting and engaging work of nonfiction I have read in ages, literally filled with golden nuggets of history, background influences and revelations on every page. I envy the reader who goes on this great adventure and inhales the book as I did. If these writers do not catch your fancy, you also can choose from the likes of James Rollins, Sue Grafton, Stuart Woods, Tess Gerritsen, Meg Gardiner, Kathy Reichs, J. A. Jance and Jonathan Kellerman. I could go on and on and on…

The Storytellers: Straight Talk from the World's Most Acclaimed Suspense & Thriller Authors
edited by Mark Rubinstein

• Publication Date: July 20, 2021
• Genres: Essays, Nonfiction
• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
• ISBN-10: 1094138177
• ISBN-13: 9781094138176