Karl and I caught up with Scottish thriller author John A. A. Logan, who offers up some thought-provoking insights to the recent skirmish between Amazon and Hachette in this week’s interview. John shares his publishing experiences, current projects,  as well as reflections on what it means to be “literary” and “popular”. Enjoy!

I find authors who might be described as “literary-by-stealth” quite interesting – authors who seem to write popular genre titles, but whose style is so well-written, with a “voice” that might be called literary. Peter Straub’s Ghost Story seems to fall into this category. Or Harvest Home, by Thomas Tryon. Or Jim Thompson, known as the “dime-store Dostoyevsky”. Or James M. Cain, author of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity etc.

With these authors the style and theme are popular and accessible, but there is a depth there that gathers in upon the reader, as the story continues.