The Black Swan Killer received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Daniel McKay.
What is the name of the book?
What’s the book’s first line?
A woman stood on the edge of a roof, ready to jump, and I stood beside her.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
It’s a classic grumpy-genuis-detective story but with a philosophical twist. Instead of knowing all about blood spatter or forensic psychology, John’s expertise is in philosophy and logical argument.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
This was basically my attempt at writing what I know. Normally I write more fantastical things, but I thought it might be interesting to try writing about something (in this case philosophy) that I know a lot about. In my entirely biased opinion, it turned out pretty well.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Really, I think whether you enjoy the story comes down to whether you enjoy the main character, who acts a bit like if Dr. House was grading philosophy essays. If you’re going to get annoyed with a sarcastic and, frankly, arrogant main character, then it might not be for you. Unless of course you really like philosophy, in which case you’ll have fun for entirely different reasons.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
I mean, he reminds me a little of me, though that is both bigging myself up a lot and telling people I’m an arrogant arse. It would really be more fair to say that he reminds me of elements of my own personality. I feel like the most interesting characters borrow from real life and in this case I borrowed elements of myself and magnified them, and then added some classic arrogant-but-brilliant detective characteristics into the mix.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
No, I think it’s about the ninth. I self-published six books a while back, but they had a few issues that come with being a newer writer so I’ve currently taken them out of print so I can do bit of tidying and maybe take them to the editor depending on how the budget is looking (so, ya know, buy my books and I can afford to keep paying my editor).
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I’m a philosopher. I work at a university tutoring and sometimes lecturing in philosophy.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
For me it depends a lot. When I’m actively working on something, I am spending several hours a day about five days a week. When I’m not, it’s very much on the back burner and would be lucky to get a couple of hours of my time in a week.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Yes, definitely. Mostly because I don’t know much about marketing and I’d much prefer someone who did could take care of that for me.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
I mean, fortune would be nice. Mostly I just really like writing and it’s really nice when people enjoy the stories I’ve written. If I could sell enough books that I could continue to pay for covers and editing and the like and get something that looks like an income afterwards, that would be great.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
The Name of the Wind. Man alive, that book is well written. And I think that was a first novel. Ridiculous.