In the Box with Duane Swierczynski

Welcome to a new feature on My Year in Crime, From the Box.  Not so much an interview, not quite a press release.  All in all, it's five simple questions for a writer whose work I enjoy.  These will usually be timed with a book release of some sort, such as today's victim, Duane Swierczynski.  His novel Expiration date came out on Tuesday.

MYIC: Not really a question, but tell me a little about the book.

DS. EXPIRATION DATE's about an unemployed journalist who is forced to move into his comatose grandfather's apartment... and then takes some Tylenol that send him back in time. (Yeah, *that* old plot.) Thing is, our hero, Mickey Wade, doesn't know if he's just crazy, or really traveling through time. And then he runs into the 12-year-old kid who will grow up to murder Mickey's father.


MYIC. What made you decide to add a sci-fi angle to it?

DS. It wasn't a matter of adding a sci-fi angle... that element was there all along. I think if you mix genres, you've got to be sure that those genres are in the DNA of your story, not just an add-on.


MYIC. What else are you working on at the moment?

DS. Right now I'm writing the next book in the LEVEL 26 series I'm doing with CSI creator Anthony Zuiker. The first, DARK ORIGINS, appeared last September, and the new one (DARK PROPHECY) will be stores this October. Also working on one of my own, but it's too soon to talk about quite yet.


MYIC. What is your favorite crime book and/or movie?

DS. Geez, that's like asking me to name my favorite finger. They're *all* important to me. Some recent crime novels I've read and enjoyed: SNOW ANGELS by James Thompson, THE BRONX KILL by Peter Milligan, MEMORY by Donald Westlake. And a few days ago I watched the 1972 crime flick CISCO PIKE, starring Kris Kristofferson and Gene Hackman. Totally brilliant.


MYIC. And just because I'm curious, if you could commit any crime and get away with it, what
would it be?

DS. Vintage paperback book theft. No doubt about it.


There you go folks.  Hopefully that was quick, painless and quite a bit informative.
Expiration Date can be ordered here , here or hopefully found at any of your local bookstores.  Duane's blog can be read at http://www.secretdead.blogspot.com/