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| Interview with award-winning author Lev Raphael, author of the latest book in the Nick Hoffman mystery series Little Miss Evil (Walker & Co, May 2000). Lev Raphael is the winner of several writing awards: the Harvey Swados Prize [War Stories]; the Lambda Literary Award [Dancing on Tisha B'av]; the Reed Smith Fiction Prize; and the International Quarterly Award for Innovative Writing, for one of the essays published in his book Journeys and Arrivals (1996). Read our review of Little Miss Evil. Feature by PJ Nunn. PJ NUNN - Lev, first let me say I loved discovering such a unique and entertaining voice in the mystery genre. Tell us about your current project. What are you working on now? LEV RAPHAEL - I'm a 130 pages into the fifth Nick Hoffman book and it has some real surprises in store as the series takes an unexpected turn - or two, or three. I have to admit, LITTLE MISS EVIL is the first of your books that I've read. I'm fascinated with the relationship between Nick and Stefan. What inspired you to go that route? Ever want to rub your current happiness in an ex-lover's face? Something like that happened to my sister once. She ran into someone she never expected to see again and we had fun imagining what she could say to him if she invited him to dinner. As I often do when inspired by a real situation, I made the story I wrote based on this incident about two men, to get some creative distance. That story was the original inspiration for my first mystery LET'S GET CRIMINAL. Does the fact that you do a lot of reviews and write a mystery column ever have an effect on your own fiction? It's made me determined to not write a series in which death isn't taken seriously, doesn't have a real impact on the narrator. Too often that aspect of a book isn't developed enough, which lessens the believability of the characters. How did you first get started writing mysteries? I loved Agatha Christie and Henry James in high school but followed the route of more literary models in college. I started publishing short fiction in 1978. But it wasn't until the early 1990s and after having published a book of short stories, a novel, and a book of literary criticism that I felt established and confident enough as a writer to tackle a mystery. It's hard to get a mystery right. What's the first thing you had published? War Stories in Redbook magazine in 1978. Like a lot of my subsequent short stories, it's about the child of Holocaust survivors. It won the Harvey Swados Prize, awarded by Martha Foley, the famed editor of STORY magazine. Wow! That’s amazing, Redbook on your first shot. How has your writing changed since that time? It's better! Has your writing won any awards? In addition to the Swados Prize, I won the Lambda Literary Award for my collection of stories Dancing on Tisha B'av; the Reed Smith Fiction Prize; and the International Quarterly Award for Innovative Writing for an essay that's in my book Journeys and Arrivals. What kind of trends do you see developing in the mystery genre? Are they good, bad, or indifferent? Publishers are less willing to let a series develop over the time it needs. There's too much hysteria about Big Books. A good development is that there are more women writing thrillers, which creates variety - just check out the best seller lists. Who are you when you're not writing? What kind of work do you do? What are your hobbies? I write and review full-time. When I'm not doing that, I love to read books I'm not reviewing: history, politics, biography, fiction. I also work out regularly, love theater, jazz and classical music, eating out, seeing movies. I also have a 10-month old West Highland White Terrier, and taking care of him is a part-time job, especially since he keeps trying to order stuff from pets.com. Who or what has most influenced your writing? My college writing teacher who pushed me to write something real, and told me at seventeen that I would be published and win prizes. You don't get that kind of support every day. As a writer, where do you see yourself in 10 years? Retired from reviewing. Living in Santa Fe part of the year. Writing less and reading more. What do you enjoy most about writing? The sense of total immersion when the book is well under way. But I also love revising, reshaping scenes and chapters to get them right. What do you find most difficult? Dealing with the craziness of publishing itself. The only thing worse than not being published is being published. Best advice for new writers? Keep reading, keep writing, keep producing. Your craft will improve and you'll build a body of work people can respect. Also, do things that take you out of your head: walk, swim, garden, sail, run - do something, anything to take you away from the words. A writer's life needs balance since a writing career is so full of ups and down you have no control over. Where can we find your website and previous publications? My website is at http://www.levraphael.com and it is devoted to the Nick Hoffman series: Mysteries - Little Miss Evil, May 2000 The Death of a Constant Lover - pb June 2000 Let's Get Criminal - 1997 The Edith Wharton Murders - 1997 Other books - Journeys and Arrivals (memoir/essays) - 1996 Winter Eyes (novel) - 1992 Dancing on Tisha B'av (stories) - 1991 Edith Wharton's Prisoners of Shame (criticism/biography) |
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