AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
WITH PRESTON & CHILD
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are coauthors of the bestselling novels Relic , Mount Dragon , Reliquary , Riptide , Thunderhead , The Ice Limit , The Cabinet of Curiosities , Still Life with Crows , Brimstone , Dance of Death , The Book of the Dead , The Wheel of Darkness , Cemetery Dance , Fever Dream , Gideon ' s Sword , Cold Vengeance , Gideon ' s Corpse , and now City of Endless Night . Preston ’ s bestselling nonfiction book , The Monster of Florence , is being made into a major motion picture . His interests include horses , scuba diving , skiing , and exploring the Maine coast in an old lobster boat . Lincoln Child is a former book editor who has published four bestselling novels of his own . He is passionate about motorcycles , exotic parrots , and nineteenth-century English literature .
Please tell us a little about your upcoming book , CITY OF ENDLESS NIGHT ?
Lincoln Child : It ’ s our latest Agent Pendergast novel and it features a series of frightening and inexplicable murders — committed by someone who becomes known as “ The Decapitator ”— that plague New York during a busy , frigid holiday season .
What do you think your fans will enjoy the most about this upcoming book ?
INTERVIEWS
Lincoln Child : Among other things , we hope they like the always-popular New York City locales Pendergast tends to haunt ; the fact that he is working again with his old partner Lieutenant D ’ Agosta ; and that the book is a standalone adventure requiring minimal prior knowledge of the protagonist ’ s history ( and yet also tries to reward that knowledge when it exists !)
Your first writing collaboration started when you , Mr . Child , edited a book about the Natural History Museum , called DINOSAURS IN THE ATTIC for Mr . Preston . How did that collaboration turn into this thrilling legacy ?
Lincoln Child : When I worked as an editor at St . Martin ’ s Press , I was a big fan of New York ’ s Museum of Natural History . I thought that a behind-thescenes look at the museum would make for an interesting book , and after some research I found that a museum employee , Douglas Preston , seemed the ideal person to write such a book . A contract was signed ; Doug wrote Dinosaurs ; we got to talking about fiction instead of nonfiction … and somehow that ultimately resulted in our first joint novel , Relic .
In what ways has writing together made you better authors ?
Douglas Preston : Writing for a writer is like practicing the piano for a musician or skiing for an Olympic skier . You need to do it every day to stay in good form . What we do is encourage , inspire ( and sometimes nag ) each other to put in that good day ’ s work . No slacking allowed in a partnership . I have learned more from Linc about writing than anyone else by far . We are each other ’ s teachers and pupils simultaneously .
What ’ s something you wish you had known in the beginning of your careers , that you would be willing to share with new authors ?
Douglas Preston : In a weird way a lot of the decisions I made as a young author , in pure ignorance , turned out to have interviews
been good decisions . There isn ’ t much I regret . One thing though : I wish I had quit my day job , left New York City , and started writing full time a few years earlier . I spent eight years working in New York at a job when I should have spent four or five . Of course , I would ’ ve starved longer , but starvation is part of becoming a successful author .
Explain to aspiring authors and booksellers just how much work you do , even as a traditionally published bestselling author , to maintain your level of success ?
Douglas Preston : When I was cast down by how poorly one of my books sold , my editor told me : “ It ’ s not a book ; it ’ s a career .” You can ’ t just write books ; a lot of other work must go into it . No one out there gives much of a damn if your book sells or not . Only you can make your books successful . Writing the very best books you can is , of course , the one vital ingredient . Linc and I have a mortal fear of falling into a rut or just writing books by formula . We always strive to be original , we constantly challenge each other to do better , and we also care a great deal about English , and we feel privileged to be working in such a beautiful language . Writing evocative and original English prose is not easy .
What ’ s the biggest mistake you ’ ve seen bookstores make ? And how would you suggest they fix it ? Douglas Preston : In the age of Amazon , a bookstore has to bring to the customer something that can ’ t be found online . That would include author events , book signings , support to the local literary community , creating a warm and inviting environment , and building good rapport with customers . Having a children ’ s section where kids can sit on the floor , select and browse through books is also important . You can ’ t survive just selling books anymore , because bookstores can ’ t compete with Amazon on price .
Read more of our interview with Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child at : www . TopShelfMagazine . net
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TOPShelf magazine HOLIDAY2017