Booksquawk: Tell us a bit about the Fem-Noir
manifesto. What are its roots?
The first rule of Fem
Noir is you don’t talk about Fem Noir.
The second rule is rules
are there to be broken.
Quite honestly, we’re
making it all up as we go along. But very approximately, it’s about pensioning
off the traditional big strong action hero – he of the chiseled jaw – and
writing stories that deal with issues that matter to us. While having fun with
the genre and f*cking with the rules.
The roots? That’s a
longer answer.
When I was younger and
confused about all kinds of things, it was a rare pleasure to discover a writer
or character I could feel a real connection to. Val McDermid’s Lindsay Gordon
was one. Mary Wing’s Emma Victor another. However, the literary roots of
FemNoir come from two more of my favourite series.
Andrew Vachss’s Burke
was a supreme creation. Along with his cast of supporting characters – or
Family of Choice – most especially Michelle and Mole, Burke has been a huge
inspiration to me. As has the uncompromising and appropriately brutal
minimalism of Vachss’s writing.
Lauren Henderson’s Sam
Jones series is another that I cherished growing up. The first lady of Tart
Noir – yes, it was a thing – Sam was a dirty, dirty girl and she’d punch your
lights out if you dared call her feisty. Willful, irrepressible, razor sharp,
and far too damn cute for her own good, she stood in stark contrast to the
typical mystery-crime-thriller female of her day. Who was invariably either
love interest or victim. Along with Lindsay, Emma, and Modesty Blaise, Sam
showed me things didn’t have to be that way.
I've been a huge fan of
noir, pulp fiction, and kick ass heroines ever since, and the intention for
Cars and Girls was always to take those forms, push their boundaries, and
subvert them. I think we’ve made a decent stab at that.
Lauren Henderson is now
my FB friend – which only goes to show how ridiculous the world has become. She
*likes* my posts from time to time and we chat about shoes and TV. Her Tart
Noir concept was not a direct influence on the style of FemNoir but it
definitely pointed the way. I understand Lauren originally wanted to call her
genre Slut Noir, and I came very close to stealing that but in the end – after
a popular vote – we decided to go in a different direction. Perhaps that was a
mistake. I’m not sure. (Evangeline)
I detected a wee hint of Bond in 500 – were you
deliberately looking to subvert Ian Fleming’s hero?
Zoë Spencer, who wrote
500, isn’t available at the moment. She’s somewhere in the Mediterranean
dancing on a boat. But I worked with her as the editor of 500 so I can tell you
the answer is a resounding Yeah, kinda.
Zoë came into our
project very late after another writer dropped out so she was able to see what
Tee, Maddy, and I had already written. And she decided to do everything
differently. Where we were all writing first person, she decided to go with the
third. Tee and I were both writing in the present tense, so she went with the
past. And since our characters were waitresses, whores, and runaways, she came
up with Emily, the blue-blooded daughter of a peer of the realm. And although
Emily is clearly not a spy or licensed to kill, Zoë went out of her way to have
a little fun with the classic Fleming Bond. I don’t know how many you noticed
and I don’t want to spoil the read for anyone but she did some very clever
things. Luckily you don’t have to spot them to enjoy the story but knowing
they’re there definitely makes us smile. (Evangeline)
One for each of you – what would be your ideal road
trip car, and why?
I'd drive a Ford Thunderbird. Like Elvira's Macabremobile
from Mistress of the Dark. Because it's badass. Enough said. (Tee)
A Lincoln Continental. I’m less likely to get hurt when I
get into the inevitable fender bender. Also, I could sleep in the backseat and
not waste money on hotels. I’m pretty cheap at heart. Zoë would probably say
her own Fiat 500. (Maddy)
I’m a huge roadtrip fan
– it seems to go with my love of mixtapes – and I once drove from Houston to
Olympia – just short of Seattle – non-stop in a rattling old Mustang sharing
the driving with a friend. So my answer now is entirely practical. Give me
something comfortable, spacious – with room to make up a bed in the back – and
wholly reliable, with a great sound system, even better AC, and windscreen
wipers that will never ever die when I’m driving along the Atchafalaya
Basin Bridge in a big mad massive storm. Basically, my 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe
with decent wipers and an instant magical warranty. (Evangeline)
The stories were very good at showing some decent men,
as opposed to the loathsome villains. Was it a conscious decision to let in
some light?
Definitely not a conscious decision,
but maybe subconsciously we put some good men in to counteract the
real motherf*ckers. I’m struggling to think of anyone good in Crown Victoria,
but in general maybe we love the idea of having a white knight on reserve. Like
I'm going to do this myself, but I will take a bit of help from a nice
gentleman along the way. And none of them were conventionally beautiful or
heroic. The women called the shots and the men fell in line. That can't be
coincidence. (Tee)
Holly Hellbound’s backstory (Roadrunner) was the most
affecting in the book, for me. Was it difficult to build in such harrowing
content in a seemingly straightforward revenge tale?
I wanted the reader to root for Holly. How do you get them to cheer a
vicious woman on a killing streak on? You give them reason to. Her story
bothered me. And I remember crying at a certain part near the end. I wanted
there to be growth with her too which was also a bit of a challenge. (Tee)
I liked the setting for Barracuda – of all things, I
thought of the Dukes of Hazzard. Could you see the two sisters stealing the
General Lee for a road trip?
I think they already have.
I'm embarrassed to say I had to look up the Dukes of Hazzard. Bit
before my time and I never saw the poncy movie with that Jackass bloke. Still,
the General Lee is Etta's style for sure! I intended for the story to have a
dusty feel to it. Not sure if I pulled it off. (Maddy)
Crown Victoria was a kinky one, but it seemed to me
that all the stories were very deliberate in their use of fairly explicit sex
scenes. To paraphrase Pat Benatar, was sex used as a weapon in this book?
Yes. And as a release. All the characters knew what they could get with
a wink and smile and hand job. But I don't think sex was just sex in any of
these stories. I think it changed the characters. Opened them up. Made them
more vulnerable. And let's face it, sex is a matter of life. It happens. Even
to vengeful women. (Tee)
Maybe it depends on your
definition. Or what your question means. I don’t believe any of our characters
used sex as a weapon. Although you could make a case that Emily and Holly both
exploited their appeal. As writers, I don’t think we were using sex as a
weapon, per se. Certainly there was never a party line. Zoë, for example, wrote
her first ever sex scenes for 500. She thought it was important to show that
Emily had a healthy – if slightly Bond – sexual appetite despite her backstory.
If anything, these
stories are a reaction to the fact that men have always used sex as a
weapon.
That or we just like
sex.
I’m inclined to disagree
that Crown Victoria is kinky. I think it’s actually highly moral within its
frame of reference. It’s about loyalty and trust, and the cycle of abuse. The
fact that the lovers at the core of the story are ‘unconventional’ in their
needs and desires is less kinky to me than it is natural given their backgrounds. But I may be playing with words. (Evangeline)
Tell us a little bit about Pankhearst. What can we
expect in the future?
The original idea was
simply to have fun writing together. It seems to have become a little more than
that, and the official line is now that Pankhearst is a collective of emerging
writers who want to learn by doing. Personally, I’ve always seen it as an
independent record label for books. That’s why Cars and Girls is described as a
‘sampler’.
It took us a year to get
our stuff together and make Cars and Girls a reality, but now we’re on a roll
and with luck we’ll release two or three more full length books this year. The
next will be Heathers, a brilliant collection of very different YA short
stories featuring contributions from a host of exceptional writers. It’s going
to be legendary.
I’d also like to see us
release a few ‘singles’ later in the year. (Evangeline)
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