with Iain Cosgrove
We are delighted to welcome mystery author Iain Cosgrove to Omnimystery News today.
Iain's new novel of suspense is The Storm Protocol (Iain Cosgrove, February 2013 trade paperback and ebook formats).
We recently had a chance to talk to Iain about his book.
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Omnimystery News: In our introduction, we called The Storm Protocol "a novel of suspense". Would you agree with that description?
Photo provided courtesy of
Iain Cosgrove
Iain Cosgrove: I think my books contain snippets of many genres. What I strive to do in my writing is to take the best elements of each theme and then try and harmonize them together into a cohesive whole. Having said that, I think thriller and crime would best cover the main elements of the current book.
I'm not sure if there are advantages or disadvantages to marketing the book as such, but sometimes I wish we, as a literary collective, weren't as rigid with genres or themes. Don't get me wrong, they are great for targeting to a specific audience. I do think though, that being too rigid with labeling can tend to put off prospective audiences, especially those who have preconceived ideas on specific genres. I think good writing stands out by itself without the need for a label sometimes.
As for myself, when I am reading something, if the writing is good, I would be pretty much genre agnostic.
OMN: Tell us something about your book that isn't mentioned in the publisher synopsis.
IC: There are two unusual and offbeat love stories running through the second half of the book. One of them is almost a "blink and you'll miss it" scenario, but I wanted to flesh out the other one in much finer detail. I especially wanted to explore something different and slightly darker in the relationship aspects of this story and it is most definitely not a "rugged hero falls for beautiful heiress" scenario, as this didn't fit into the profile of what I was trying to do with the specific storyline. It is very much a modern romance.
OMN: Did you incorporate any of your own personal experiences or character traits into the book?
IC: Of course! I'm a very positive person and very transparent, and I don't hold anything back when I'm writing. As a consequence, every character in the book has some aspect of my personality and experience attached to them. I have never been afraid to unleash my imagination, and I think that helps me enormously as a writer too.
I have written in all styles and all genres during my writing career and have come to my current style over a period of years. I think my "voice" has been very much a slow evolution over time. As I said earlier, I keep coming back to the core tenets of my writing, which are to create thrilling, action filled, crime centered books, but I also like to think they have more dimensions to them than just those mentioned. I want my work to force people to ask themselves questions, and not just about the plot and the plot devices, but also about the way the book makes them feel.
OMN: Tell us more about your writing process.
IC: My two previous "unpublished" novels — at least not published yet! — were written almost in a stream of consciousness style. In the case of the second one, I had the first sentence, "Death; it's not a pleasant word," and I just allowed the book to develop from there. I had no set direction and just kept writing until I had it finished.
This current one started life as a short story, but I realized when I'd finished it that it was an iceberg; a huge amount was unwritten below the surface. So, I sat down to write a potential synopsis and 8000 words later, I had the full plot, story line, character biographies and full chapter outline. As the book grew, it rarely strayed from the original imagining. The only things I really let develop organically as I wrote were the characters. I knew what their names and roles were at the start, but that was all I knew. I only become acquainted with them as I started actually writing them.
OMN: What sources do you use to research your plotlines?
IC: I have been in IT for almost 30 years, so the Internet is an obvious source for me. I would also have some pharmaceutical domain knowledge due to my current job, and I read a lot of factual books too, especially in relation to the Second World War. The most challenging topic to approach in this book was the drug that the story is built around. I didn't want to make it too fantastical, so there had to be some elements of reality there, and it was difficult to find a chemical/compound to build a compelling story line around. The most exciting aspect for me was managing to tie that into the Second World War and some of the "shadow" organizations in existence around that time, while still making it seem conceivable and believable.
OMN: How do you integrate the setting of the book into the story?
IC: I try to make the setting as real as possible, and generally do not take liberties with the geography and the local environment, unless I really have to. For example, the street and the house in Cork where my main character resides are real places. I selected them as locations because they were near the main railway station in Cork, and the distance between the two sites plays a key part in the story. As a consequence of that, I had to take some small liberties with both the house and the street. The actual house does not have a rear entrance or a rear lane way, but these elements were a key part of the story and overrode the need for absolute adherence to reality.
OMN: What is the best advice — or harshest criticism — you've received as an author?
IC: Probably the best advice is to write what you would like to read. Write in the style that you want and the genre that you want and the length that you want. If it is any good, people who read it will recognize the quality.
The harshest criticism I ever received was stylistic in nature; the critic wanted the reviewed work to conform to their own stripped back style, and couldn't seem to understand the fact that I didn't write like they did. I also got a review of some "love" dialogue that I had written once that said "I have an awful feeling that this is meant to be taken seriously."
I am old enough now not to take things too much to heart. If the work is judged on its merits, I have no problem with reasoned opinions. It's the short sharp put downs without any backup or counter argument that make me see red, but touch wood, I have never had any of those!
OMN: If The Storm Protocol were adapted into a film or television drama, who do you see playing the key roles?
IC: It's funny, but if I imagine the book as a movie, I still see the characters in my head as I imagined them. I can't translate them to past or present actors. The thing that I do imagine very strongly in a potential movie of my work would be the music. I have already selected the songs that I would have playing over various sections of the book; that is, if it ever makes it to celluloid. Here's hoping!
OMN: What kinds of books did you read when you were young?
IC: When I was growing up, my parents had a "pulp" bookcase on the upstairs landing that was filled with paperbacks. From about the age of twelve, I used to sneak these under the covers with a torch and managed to get through most of the works of Alistair Maclean, Desmond Bagley and Helen MacInnes before I was sixteen. I try to apply many of the lessons I learned from reading those books to my own writing, with the basic one being to try and sustain the action and the suspense all the way through. If you grab your audience from the first page, you have more of a chance to hook them into the journey you want to take them on.
Those books also taught me to try and make the writing flow seamlessly as much as possible. I want my work to carry the reader like a fast flowing river, almost to the point where they have no choice but to follow through till the end.
I still have a couple of books from each of the authors mentioned above on my own shelves and regard them at this stage as dear friends. I can quote whole sections from some of the books from memory!
OMN: Who are you reading now?
IC: At the moment I love Elizabeth George and Henning Mankel. I really like the way their stories are so complex, multi-layered and interwoven and I love the way they force you to think. They are also beautifully written, which helps!
OMN: What are your hobbies or interests outside of writing crime fiction?
IC: I am a lover of all things car, specifically old car, and have been lucky enough to indulge my twin passions for V-engines and old sports cars. The Series 3 E-type is supposedly the ugly sister of the E-type family, and the purists don't particularly like them, but I love the combination of V12 grunt and sensuous 1960's inspired curves. I don't drive it every day, as it averages about 9 mpg, but if you see an azure blue vision of seventies sports car perfection in your rear view mirror, it might be me!
OMN: Create a Top 5 list for us on any topic.
IC: I am a music lover and my taste is quite eclectic, so my iPod is bulging with stuff from classical to rap to jazz.
I do have a top five of songs that I love to drive my E-type to, and in reverse order these would be …
5) Sons of Orange County/More Trouble Every day - Zappa plays Zappa
4) Lonesome Highway - Rory Gallagher
3) Harder than You Think - Public Enemy
2) Portrait of Tracy - Jaco Pastorius
1) Don't Take Me Alive - Steely Dan
OMN: What's next for you?
IC: Trying to get the current book out there and making people aware of its existence.
I honestly believed the intricacies of the plot, the quality of the writing and the superb cover — Rolf Zaska, who did the cover art, is an absolute genius! — would alone sell the book. I am now only starting to appreciate how much work, blogging, blagging and luck is really involved. But it is really a very good read, honest!
I am also about two thirds of the way through the next book (the rough draft anyway!) so we'll see how that ends up.
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Iain Cosgrove was born in Canada to English parents. He was educated in the UK and went on to study at Brighton Polytechnic before starting a career in the City of London in IT. He moved to Dublin, Ireland in 1988, following hot on the heels of his future wife, and they subsequently got married and had three sons. He is currently an IT Director and has been writing in his spare time for the last 20 years.
He has written two novels, a number of short stories and has a number of projects underway, including a sequel to The Storm Protocol. Apart from his recent foray into novel publishing, he has had flash fiction stories published in "A Twist of Noir", "Every Day Fiction" and "Indigo Rising Magazine".
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The Storm Protocol
Iain Cosgrove
Imagine creating the perfect drug; all of the highs with none of the lows. No side effects, no painful physical withdrawal, no drawbacks.
Or are there …
Deep in the Louisiana bayou, Thomas Eugene O'Neill, a.k.a The Street, an Irish immigrant mob enforcer, waits patiently with his gun amidst the sweltering heat of a southern storm. His employers, Italian American drug lords Guido and Ernesto Mancini, have a guaranteed formula to create the perfect narcotic and Thomas knows too much.
But he is not alone.
Detective Charles Roussel, ex hot-shot city lawyer turned small town Louisiana lawman, is investigating a strange case at the old plantation house he used to call home. He gets drawn inexorably to Ireland, as all his research begins to guide him to the same inevitable destination; Cork.
Agent Dale Foster, unorthodox New York DEA agent and victim of one too many bogus leads, hears murmurs of the next big thing; a drug without equal. The whisperings lead him to one last tumultuous confrontation with his superiors, who compel him to take an enforced vacation. As his plane lands in Ireland, and he follows the trail of rumours to Cork, he knows his professional instincts are leading him to the biggest bust of his life, or ending his career forever.
For Thomas, the middle-aged hit man, all roads seem to lead back to Cork; the city of his birth and the ghosts of his past.
He has plenty of questions and needs some answers, and all the while the words echo in his head …
"Be careful what you wish for!"
