Saturday, August 7, 2010

On Tight Jeans And Strategically-Placed Zips

Tony Clayton-Lea interviewed the ever radiant Alex Barclay (right) for the Irish Times to mark the publication of TIME OF DEATH, and was clearly very taken by the feminine charms of his interviewee. To wit:
A CITY-CENTRE Dublin hotel, Saturday morning, July 31st. A slim, attractive woman in a silver-blue top with strategically-placed zips, tight jeans and black, heeled boots sits down in a low sofa and starts to speak. She will spill only as many beans as she wants to, and will, occasionally, be as difficult to determine as the stain on a nearby rug.
  Half conundrum, full beauty, Irish crime writer and former journalist Alex Barclay is currently sitting atop various bestseller lists with her latest novel, TIME OF DEATH. Her fourth book in a thriller-writing career that commenced six years ago with DARKHOUSE has clearly benefited from her former role as a journalist. Discipline with words, awareness of deadlines, structure, research, and knowing how important beginnings, middles and ends are to stories have filtered down into a writing style that is as trim as Barclay herself.
  She won’t give too much of herself away, either, which also comes from her former life of interviewing people and hearing too much personal guff; Barclay sticks to the facts, clear and simple.
  For the rest, clickety-click here
  How come no one ever mentions how trim I am when they interview me? Or my tight jeans and strategically-placed zips? More to the point, how come no ever wants to interview me?
  Oh. ‘Best-seller lists’. Right.

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Declan Burke has published a number of novels, the most recent of which is ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. As a journalist and critic, he writes and broadcasts on books and film for a variety of media outlets, including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Independent. He has an unfortunate habit of speaking about himself in the third person. All views expressed here are his own and are very likely to be contrary.