Category Archives: Garry Disher

Being influenced by your favourite crime writer

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

As regular readers of this site will know, my second novel, Gunshine State, has recently been re-released.

To mark the occasion, the fine folks at my publisher, Down and Out Books, asked me to stop by their site and say a few works about the book.

Gunshine State has a number of literary influences. I am a big fan of the Crissa Stone books by Wallace Stroby and Australian writer Garry Disher’s Wyatt books. But my most obvious inspiration—and probably my desert island series—is the character of the master thief Parker, created by Richard Stark aka Donald Westlake.

For my post for the Down and Out Books site, I decided to talk about the very fine line between being influenced by your favourite crime writers and falling into a straight out pastiche or imitation. Doing the former without plunging into latter is something I was very conscious of, as I was writing Gunshine State – my attempt to do an Australian take on the heist gone wrong story – and the follow up, which I am currently in the midst of, Orphan Road.

The piece is available to read in full here.

And, if you are after a good weekend read, Gunshine State is available in all formats here.… Read more

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Posted in Crime fiction, Garry Disher, Gunshine State, Heist films, Jim Brown, Lee Marvin, Parker

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Advance orders (& advance praise) for Gunshine State

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Andrew Nette| 10 Comments

Gunshine StateA quick heads up to Pulp Curry readers that pre-orders are open on Amazon for my second novel, Gunshine State, out through the crime fiction publisher 280 Steps on September 12.

For those of you who are up with things, Gunshine State is a heist thriller set in Queensland, Melbourne and Thailand. Think Richard Stark’s Parker, Garry Disher’s Wyatt, and Wallace Stroby’s Crissa Stone.

Here’s the pitch from the 280 Steps website:

‘Gary Chance is a former Australian army driver, ex-bouncer and thief. His latest job sees him in Queensland working for Dennis Curry, an aging Surfers Paradise standover man. Curry runs off-site, non-casino poker games, and wants to rob one of his best customers, a high roller called Frederick ‘Freddie’ Gao.

While the job may seem straightforward, Curry’s crew is anything but. Frank Dormer is a secretive former Australian soldier turned private security contractor. Sophia Lekakis is a highly-strung receptionist at the hotel where Gao stays when he visits Surfers. Amber is Curry’s attractive female housemate and part of the lure for Gao. Chance knows he can’t trust anyone, but nothing prepares him for what unfolds when Curry’s plan goes wrong.’

For those of you who do such things, review copies of Gunshine State are available from the Edelweiss site here.… Read more

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Posted in Australian noir, David Whish-Wilson, Garry Disher, Gunshine State, Leigh Redhead, Wallace Stroby

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Cover reveal: Gunshine State

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

Gunshine StateI’m thrilled to be able to show you the cover for my second novel, Gunshine State, out this September from the wonderful folks at 280 Steps.

Gunshine State is a heist thriller set in Melbourne, Queensland and Thailand. Think Richard Stark’s Parker, Garry Disher’s Wyatt, and Wallace Stroby’s Crissa Stone. Add a touch of Surfers Paradise sleaze and a very dangerous stopover in Asia.

Here’s the elevator pitch:

Gary Chance is a former Australian army driver, ex-bouncer and thief. His latest job sees him in Queensland working for Dennis Curry, an aging Surfers Paradise standover man. Curry runs off-site, non-casino poker games, and wants to rob one of his best customers, a high roller called Frederick ‘Freddie’ Gao.

While the job may seem straightforward, Curry’s crew is anything but. Frank Dormer is a secretive former Australian soldier turned private security contractor. Sophia Lekakis is a highly-strung receptionist at the hotel where Gao stays when he visits Surfers. Amber is Curry’s attractive female housemate and part of the lure for Gao. Chance knows he can’t trust anyone, but nothing prepares him for what unfolds when Curry’s plan goes wrong.

The novel has already had some good advance praise from authors I admire with, I hope more to come:

“A tense, fast-moving, vividly-drawn thriller.”… Read more

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Posted in Asian noir, Australian crime fiction, David Whish-Wilson, Garry Disher, Gunshine State

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Interview: New Jersey crime writer, Wallace Stroby

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Andrew Nette| 2 Comments

stroby_asbury

Wallace Stroby was an award-winning journalist who quit his job as an editor at New Jersey’s Star-Ledger of Newark newspaper, to write crime fiction full time. A life long New Jersey native, he is the author of six books, of which his debut, The Barb Wire Kiss, was a finalist for the 2004 Barry Award for best first novel. His last three books, Cold Shot to the Heart, Kings of Midnight, Shoot the Woman First, feature the female professional criminal character, Crissa Stone. This is an edited version of an interview, which I conducted at Noir Con 2014 in Philadelphia, that originally appeared in issue 17 of Crime Factory. His latest Crissa Stone book The Devil’s Share, is out now.

Let’s start of with your recent books featuring the character of Crissa Stone. What was the inspiration behind writing these?

I always wanted to write a book from the point of a view of a career criminal. In my third novel, Gone ‘Til November, half of the book was from the point of view of an ageing black hit man but the main character was actually a woman, the only female sheriff’s deputy in a small town, a woman in a man’s world and I liked that idea. So coming off Gone ‘Til November I wanted to combine those two and do a story about a career criminal who was a woman in a man’s world.… Read more

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Posted in Donald Westlake aka Richard Stark, Fawcett Gold Medal Books, Garry Disher, Interviews, Neo Noir, Noir fiction, Parker, Pulp fiction, True crime, Wallace Stroby

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My year in books: Karen Chisholm

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Andrew Nette| 2 Comments

I’ve very happy to welcome Karen Chisholm as the next contributor to the ‘my year in books’ series I’m running on this site over December.

Karen probably does need any introduction for many of you, especially readers in Australia. For those of you who are not familiar with her work, I think it’s accurate to say she’s one of the foremost crime fiction reviewers in the country. She’s certainly one of the most prolific. If you want proof, check out her great site, AustCrimeFiction.

Over to you, Karen.

Up front, I hate doing best of book lists. Obviously there’s the chance that I’m going to change my mind a nanosecond after crafting the definitive list. But the major problem is that if you’re as lucky as I am to read a lot of really good books every year, getting those numbers down to five ends up with some very arbitrary decisions being made. Which never seems fair, particularly as there is some seriously great storytelling going on out there.

So, in no particular order, and apologies for the massive cheating going on, the book(s) that have stayed with me in 2013 are:

The Discword Series, Terry Pratchett

Nothing like starting a limited list cheating, but the Discworld Series is and will always include some of my all time favourite books.… Read more

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Posted in Australian crime fiction, Garry Disher, Noir fiction

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