Chronicles Interview with William Patrick Maynard - call for questions

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

A fan of classic adventure and mystery fiction, William Patrick Maynard is living the dream, penning new adventures of some classic characters and developing a character of his own to join the pantheon. His novel THE TERROR OF FU MANCHU was published by Black Coat Press in April 2009. It was the first Fu Manchu novel authorized by the Literary Estate of Sax Rohmer in nearly 25 years. His story, "The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy" appeared in the Sherlock Holmes anthology, GASLIGHT GROTESQUE published in November 2009 by Edge Publishing. His story, "Yes, Virginia, There is a Fantomas" is slated to appear in the next volume of the Tales of the Shadowmen anthologies - GRAND GUIGNOL published by Black Coat Press in January 2010. He is currently working on his first collection of stories, THE OCCULT CASE BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES as well as a book featuring an original detective character he has created.

What else?

The other stuff is the usual - married with children, work full-time as a Quality Control Manager for Johnson Controls, Inc. I spend what free time I have reading Hammett, Chandler, Macdonald, Conan Doyle, Rohmer, Derleth, Howard, Burroughs, Copper, Stoker, Tolkien, Lewis, etc. All the usual suspects. My viewing interests run the gamut from Blake Edwards to Sergio Leone to Billy Wilder to the Dr. Mabuse series to Preston Sturges to Universal and Hammer Horror to Harryhausen to Planet of the Apes and on and on. For the small screen, I'm partial to PETER GUNN, DOCTOR WHO, and GUNSMOKE. Musically, I try to follow the advice of my wife's grandmother and only listen to the wonderfully subjective "good music."

Sounds a bit like some of the members of these forums.

He's consented to doing an e-mail interview for Chronicles, so here is your chance to ask him your questions. Questions about his choice of subject matter, his take on classic pulp heroes, or on the art, craft and business of writing - the choice is yours, fire away.

 

[GOLLUM]

He's consented to doing an e-mail interview for Chronicles, so here is your chance to ask him your questions. Questions about his choice of subject matter, his take on classic pulp heroes, or on the art, craft and business of writing - the choice is yours, fire away.

It may be a little early to ask this but I was just wondering, were you going to wing it as far as a time limit on posting questions goes or did you have a cut off date/time in mind? If folk know how much time they have to formulate questions it may aid the process.

I'm still mulling over what to ask but I'll come up with something before the end of the week.

Thank you for posting this...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

The obvious questions: Is he planning to add to the sagas of any other classic characters -- John Carter of Mars, etc.? What draws him to pulp fiction? How does he approach the task of writing about characters created by other authors? Is he a Sherlockian or a Holmesian (I have heard they are quite different species of fans.)

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

GOLLUM: I thought that I'd let this thread go until Friday, more or less.

Teresa: Good questions.

 

[j d worthington]

I must admit that I feel quite inadequate when it comes to coming up with questions on this one. However: What originally drew him to Fantomas? In The Occult Case Book, will the tales be entirely original, of is he picking up some of the atmospheric hints dropped by Doyle? How does he view writing about a character such as Fu Manchu in the current "politically correct" climate, and what is his take on criticism of the original writers of such tales on this front?

These are all I can come up with at the moment, but I may have some more, given time....

 

[GOLLUM]

Well I can't come up with much at the moment as Teresa pretty much asked what I initially had in mind, except I would like to know...
Q) Can you tell us any more about the detective character you are working on to add to those already existing classic characters?
Q) When developing this new character have you tried to consciously or perhaps subconsciously resist OR allow I presume the influences other classic detective characters have had on you when developing your own creation?
Q) Will your fictional detective be featured in contemporary or older style settings AND what style of prose will you adopt? That is, will you write in a style or flavour particular to the classic detectives you have been focusing on or adopt a more contemporary style of language?

Sorry I couldn't come up with anything more original than that but I am quite keen to better understand what his new creation is about and the process involved.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Hmm, most of the questions already posed are excellent. My rather lame-by-comparison offerings are below.

Q) In your list of influences you mention the giants of the mystery/horror/murder genre but also include Tolkien & (CS?) Lewis. Is this just personal insight into your tastes or has the prose of those authors (who are from a very different genre & style) have an impact into your own writing?

Q) A lot of your influences and characters are "classic" ones. How did you tackle writing contempary work based on 19th century characters and settings, while still trying to inject new life and insight into the type of story told? Is it difficult to make these characters modern - and indeed should/could you without shattering the setting - and not sexist/racist/bigoted.

Q) Would he ever consider writing a contempory crime novel (perhaps his original creation is such) or does he enjoy the period setting too much, and if so why?