Alex Hammond, author of The Paris Collaborator took some time out to have a chat with Beauty and Lace.
We know you’ll enjoy getting to know more about Alex in this interview:
What is your schedule like when you’re writing?
I take leave and write as a working week. This gives me enough momentum to work through my plot structure. I’ll start at 9 am and write through to 5 pm, Monday to Friday, setting a word count for each day.
A lot of this involves what Bryce Courtenay called “bum glue”.
What 3 items would we find on your desk?
A framed letter from Thomas Harris with advice for an aspiring writer, a leggy Coin Plant, and a pen mug with every Japanese prime minister up to Yukio Hatoyama.
All gifts from friends and family.
If you could invite any three people for dinner, whom would you invite?
Malcolm Gladwell, Alan Moore and Isabel Allende – all amazing writers who challenge preconceptions and think in very different ways. It would be a fascinating conversation.
Name an underappreciated novel that you love.
Elisabeth Hand’s Available Dark – from her Cass Neary series. It’s a neo-noir crime novel steeped in mythology and mysticism.
A New York rock journalist is drawn into the world of Scandinavian Death Metal and ritualized killings in Finland and Iceland. It’s almost 10 years old and may be tricky to track down.
What books did you read growing up?
A lot of British dark fantasy. Tolkien obviously, but I was really drawn to The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper, which was very influential, as was Michael de Larrabeiti’s The Borrible Trilogy.
What are you currently reading?
I’m working my way through my to-read pile, so I’m a bit out of date. Currently, it’s The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman.
His passion for Oxford (even a fantastical one not located in our universe) oozes off the page and he has an amazing ear for engaging dialogue.
Who are your favourite authors?
Jennifer Egan, William Gibson, Thomas Harris, Donna Tartt, Christos Tsiolkas and Jeanette Winterson.
Where can our readers follow you?
I have a not so well-maintained Twitter and Instagram but my website is always up-to-date.
What is next for Alex Hammond?
I’m about to write the last page for a pilot for a TV series to send off to my screenwriting agent, and there’s definitely a sequel to be written to The Paris Collaborator.
I am a mother of four beautiful children. I can’t leave a book unfinished which equals a lot of late nights! When I’m not reading you can find me in the garden, or helping out at Beauty and Lace.