<annaTRR> You had quite a past in a movie industry, directing and producing movies ( in the eyes of regular mortals) is one of the most glamorous jobs that one can have and you were also involved with some of the biggest living movie stars... what is it that books and writing have that film making never gave you?
<[G]Peter James> The big different between making a movie and writing a novel is that every movie is made, ultimately, by a committee. You have two or three producers who claim it is their film, the director who claims it is his (or her) film, the Director of Photogrpaphy who KNOWS actually it is is film. Four actors who all know actually, darling, it is our film. The editor who claims it is his film. The composer who claims the film was rubbish without his music. Then the distributor who demands a new ending! When I write a novel it is just me, and it is my vision, purely, that is on the final printed pages.
<annaTRR> ... and how do you feel about readers taking it later and making it into their won stories in their own heads?
<[G]Peter James> I think that novels fire the imagination in a way that movies never can. Few screen monsters can ever be as scary as the one you make the reader imagine!
<annaTRR> Well I have to say that quite a few of your monsters haunted me for a while.
<annaTRR> Your Inspector Roy Grace novels have been a huge hit right from the start and yet you keep dipping in and out of them creating stand alone stories in between, why not stick just to him?
<[G]Peter James> I have always had a huge interest in science, medicine and the paranormal, in addition to the world of the police and forensics. 12 years ago when I met the head of Brain Genetics at Caltech in Pasadena and he said to me, "Peter you might be interested to know we have just identified the cluster of genes responsible for empathy... parents of the future - and I am talking in our life times - will be able to choose the level of empathy of their child. So, you want a sweet, gentle little boy? Hey, he could get trodden on. You want a tough little boy? He could end up being a psychopath! I knew right then I had to write a novel about "designer babies" - which became Perfect People.
<annaTRR> I am a new mother so I have to tell you that this novel has been one of the scariest to read, it reminded me a bot of the Fifth Child by Doris Lessing... brrr
<annaTRR> Inspector Roy Grace is based on a true person of retired Detective Chief Superintend Dave Gaylor - Who came first the inspiration or the idea? ... and what are the main differences between the fictional and the real?
<[G]Peter James> I first met Dave Gaylor when he was a young Detective Inspector in Sus:):):) CID about 17 years ago and we became good friends. He helped me with all my pre-Roy Grace novels by reading all scenes involving the police and helping me to get them right. When in 2001 my publishers Macmillan asked if I would be interested to create a new fictional detective I went to Dave, who by then had been promoted to Det. Chief Superintendent, Head of Major Crime for Sus:):):) and asked him if he would like to be a fictional cop. He loved it! He helps me with my plotting, reads every book as I write it and tells me how Roy Grace would think as a real homicide detective. The big difference is that Dave does not have a missing wife...
<[G]Peter James> Ooops sorry, it keeps putting smileys instead of "e"s !
<annaTRR> We like Smileys :-Your novels are full of incredible police work details, it is well known that you spent a lot of time with the actual police force researching their work and real cases. Do you have a plot of the book first and than fit the details of a particular procedure into it or have you ever been so fascinated by a particular technique that it gave you an idea for a story?
<[G]Peter James> Just figured it out! Because Sus:):):) has ":):):)" it is being sensored!
<[G]Peter James> It totally varies. For instance in Not Dead Yet I have a forensic podiatrist who plays a key role. I met this man, Haydn Kelly (I use his real name in the book which he likes!) who told me about his incredible breakthrough work he is doing on homicides: He can, from a single footprint, run this through his computer imaging software and then identify a person walking in a crowd from his or her gait. It is called "gait analysis"
<annaTRR> Sorry I have to come back to Sally. Each Inspector Roy Grace novel is a stand alone story but like in all good series your main character changes and evolves. In the case of Inspector Grace he also has the mystery of his missing wife going through the whole series.
<krycha> wow!
<annaTRR> This particular story takes an interesting turn in your newest book "Not Dead Yet" Have you already planned all the hows, whats and whens of Sandy's story or is it something that is evolving in your mind with each book?
<HayleyCrandell> When you say that you met the head of Brain Genetics 12 years ago, and they had already identified the genes for empathy, what progress do you imagine they've made since then? Or have you done further research that says that things may be progressing along that line 'in real life' (as opposed to just in a research environment)?
<[G]Peter James> You mean Sandy, I think! I had already planned it long back when I wrote the first in the series, Dead Simple. Then I was going to resolve the mystery of Sandy'
<[G]Peter James> You mean Sandy I think. I had already planned it long back when I wrote the first in the series, Dead Simple, to resolve it in the second book. But I had an overwhelming amount of emails from readers, speculating what had happened to her, I thought I could have fun by stretching it out and expanding the details over many books....
<annaTRR> You have created and written about some truly horrible characters and awful crimes, but yet Inspector Grace remains at heart a very understanding and human person. Is that telling us something about how Peter James feels about human nature?
<[G]Peter James> HI Hayley I've been keeping up to date with their work and with work in this field in general, so Perfect People is pretty much up to speed. I reckond the list o 2,800 genetics options Dr Dettore offers for enhancing their child is no more than a decade or two at the most away. You can right now go to a clinic in LA and choose the :):):), skin colour, hair colour, eye colour of your child plus have a whole range of disease genes knocked out....
<[G]Peter James> I think civilisaton is a very fine balance - there are so many examples in the world of where, today, there is unimaginable horror when it breaks down. But I think the fact we have survived for 100,000 years indicates the human capacity for good to triumph over evil. But sometimes that boundary is very blurred. I think we all learn something from reading about the dark side of human nature.
<annaTRR> ... and while creating a perfect person we are also creating something unknown and if I take your last book also quite scary...
<[G]Peter James> In Perfect People I'
<annaTRR> You have chosen to set all the Roy Grace novels in Brighton which clearly has a special spot in your heart. Do you believe that people are defined in any way by the place that they chose to live in?
<[G]Peter James> In Perfect People I have presented the argument, though the central protagonist Dr Leo Dettore, as to whether the human race will fare better if left to natural evolution, or whether it is time for man to take control of it future, which is now becoming possible. The world is not in a great place right now, but possibly it would be in a much worse place if the hubris of man took over control of its future..
<HayleyCrandell> And then there's the whole 'Brave New World' complications that come from the haves and have nots.
<[G]Peter James> I think people are very much defined by where they live, and I think in crime novels "place" plays almost as big a role as characters. Roy Grace's Brighton is very different, say, to James Ellroy's Los Angeles. Different cultures, different weapons, different crimes.
<annaTRR> You have toured quite extensively and your books have been translated into many languages, have you ever been told (by a reader) something that you did not know about your books or your characters?
<[G]Peter James> Yes, Dr Dettore makes the point in the book that people who do not choose to go the "designer baby" path risk their children being born into a genetics underclass. For sure if we continue down this path - and we will, because the genie is out of the bottle - at some point people of limited intelligence will be designed in order to do menial tasks. That is when humans will truly be starting to play God...
<[G]Peter James> Ha! Good question. The Roy Grace novels were recently chosen as a Specialist Subject on the famous UK TV quiz Mastermind. The contestant who chose them, Ken Owen, got all 16 answers on the Roy Grace novels right. I only got 11 !!!
<annaTRR> You must be thrilled as an author to see you character so alive!
<annaTRR> Your newest novel Not Dead Yet (which I devoured in a couple of long nights) is particularly chilling as it deals with obsession and people who can not distinguish between the imaginary and the real. I do not want to give away this gripping story but I understand that you based this novel on your own experience of being stalked... can you tell us a little bit about it?
<[G]Peter James> Yes Roy Grace really feels like my best friend at times! I love starting a new book, because with Roy, Glenn, Bella, Emma-Jane, Norman Potting etc I feel as if I am returning to my family...
<[G]Peter James> Yes, the starting point for Not Dead Yet was a stalker that I have had for 10 years! It started when I saw a woman in the audience at a talk in Newcastle nodding and smiling at me as if we were old friends. She kept appearing at subsequent talks all over the country, but for two years never approached me. Then she started emailing me saying things like "I thought you looked nice in that black t-shirt... I liked the way you smiled at me..." if I repled, I would get an email back within 2 mins. If I didn't reply I'd get an email saying "dear Peter I've not heard from you for two hours, are you OK? I hope you are not lying unconscious somewhere..." Then one day she send me a chilling photo - it was like a shrine: Rows and rows of shelves of every book I had written, every anthology I had contributed a story to, and candles burning either side....
<annaTRR> I have one more question that I have been dying to ask you. You are one of the worlds most well known crime writers, and you also had an amazing experience in the film industry so it would not be surprising if one day somebody would decide to make a movie about your life. If that was the case who do you think should be cast in your role?
<[G]Peter James> OMG!!! What a question. Well, I have always wanted to have an unknown play Roy Grace rather than someone who is already typecast in another role. So I guess an unknown to play me. Although I wouldn't moan too much if it was George Clooney :-)
<annaTRR> Mr James, it has been a great honor, and an absolute pleasure talking to you. On behalf of TheReadingRoom.com and our readers many thanks for first of all creating the amazing reading experience for us and secondly for finding time in your very busy schedule to share some secrets with us. We all hope that you have many more books to come ...
<[G]Peter James> Thanks so much, it is has been huge fun!
<annaTRR> ... George Clooney as Peter James... count me in the audience :-)
<krycha> Thank you
<annaTRR> Thank you to glaymore, krycha, nb92, Hayley Crandell and Kim for tuning in, don't forget to check the site for more books of Peter James and see you next time!
