interviews
Now onto our conversation:
Raymond Benson is the author of 35+
published books, the most recent being
The Secrets on Chicory Lane. Among his
several original suspense novels, he is
the author of the acclaimed “Black
Stiletto” saga that began with The Black
Stiletto in 2011 and continued with The
Black Stiletto: Black & White, The Black
Stiletto: Stars & Stripes, The Black Stiletto:
Secrets & Lies, and The Black Stiletto:
Endings & Beginnings. He is mostly known
for being the third–and first American–
writer to be commissioned by the James
Bond literary copyright holders between
1996-2002 to take over writing the 007
novels. In total he penned and published
worldwide six original 007 novels, three
film novelizations, and three short
stories. An anthology of his 007 work,
The Union Trilogy, was published in the
fall of 2008, and a second anthology,
Choice of Weapons, appeared summer
2010. His book The James Bond Bedside
Compendium, an encyclopedic work on
the 007 phenomenon, was first
published in 1984 and was nominated
for an Edgar Allan Poe Award by
Mystery Writers of America for Best
Biographical/Critical Work.
www.TopShelfMagazine.net
You’ve also written a series of women's
action/adventure thrillers called THE BLACK
STILETTO. How does your writing style differ in
writing these books in comparison to your
others, such as the James Bond thrillers?
I started writing female protagonists with
my very first original (non-Bond) suspense
novel, Evil H ours. In fact, most of my
original novels feature female protagonists.
I think I used up all my testosterone writing
Bond, so now I write women! I do believe
I’ve improved as a writer over the years
since the Bond gig. While I’m proud of my
Bond legacy, that was quite some time ago
(15-21 years!) and my original work really
doesn’t resemble those books. I do want to
attract women readers now, and I think I’m
succeeding from the feedback I’ve received
on the Black Stiletto serial.
AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
WITH RAYMOND BENSON
Readers will find it’s a very different type
of story for me! I’m tackling more social
issues with my newer thrillers/suspense
novels. This crept into the recent Black
Stiletto books more and more, and now
Secrets deals with mental illness and capital
punishment in a challenging way. My
next book with Skyhorse Publishing, out
in May 2018, is called, In the Hush of the
Night, and it, too, has a female protagonist
—a Chicago FBI agent in charge of the
human trafficking division. My work-in-
progress has a female protagonist and the
story deals with racism and Hollywood.
I’m hoping that readers will find The
Secrets on Chicory Lane to be something
more serious and emotionally-charged
than what I’ve done before. It’s certainly
a more personal story.
These “media tie-in” books are work-
for-hire projects that are nice if you can
get them. Sometimes they’re
challenging, depending on the license
holder and how much they want to
micromanage you. I’ve had mostly
good experiences doing tie-in work. In
some cases the books are strictly based
on the game (or movie screenplay), and
sometimes they are original stories that
you create in the same universe. The
former is somewhat easier because
you’re given the story and you just have
to flesh it out into prose. The latter can
be more challenging, more like writing
a novel of your own—you’re just given
the universe in which to run around in.
Your newest novel, THE SECRETS ON CHICORY
LANE features romance novelist Shelby Truman
visiting her childhood friend of five decades who
now sits on death row due to murdering his wife
and child. What are some of the things your
audience can expect from this new book?
You've written novelizations to video
games such as METAL GEAR SOLID and
HITMAN: DAMNATION. What is the most
challenging aspect about this process?
INTERVIEWS
You also teach college classes in film history.
Where do you teach and how might a student
go about attending your classes?
I teach at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn,
Illinois. If you’re in the area, you can take the
class! I’ve been doing it for almost nine years
now. I’ve always been a film historian, I love
movie history, and I can think of nothing
better to do than explore the vast archives of a
hundred years’ worth of filmmaking.
In 2007 you teamed up with film critic Dann Gire to
present Dann & Raymond's Movie Club. Please, tell
us what that is and when it's available to attend.
One of my regular gigs besides teaching film is
a monthly performance I do in the Chicago
area with Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire,
called “Dann & Raymond’s Movie Club.” We
do this live in front of an audience at area
libraries, and we’re in our 11th year. I
suppose you can say it’s like a “Siskel &
Ebert” show only it’s two hours long. We
discuss various movie-related topics, show
clips, and tell jokes. We have amassed quite a
following. Our “Oscar” shows in February
each year draw hundreds in attendance.
Read more of our interview with Raymond Benson at:
www.TopShelfMagazine.net
TOPShelf magazine
OCTOBER2017 17