INTERVIEW WITH: DANIEL SELLERS, AUTHOR OF ‘MURDER IN THE GALLOWGATE’
Q: Describe your latest book in three words.
A: Thrilling, blood-soaked and scary (in places)!
Q: What author, dead or alive, would you like to have dinner with?
A: P D James, please! I admire her as a writer, and she was so dynamic, funny and wise — I’d love to hear her take on the state of the world today! I’m sure I’d feel better by the time we reached coffee.
Q: Who would you want to play your main character in a film/tv adaptation — and why?
A: I’m hesitant to suggest an actress to play Lola. I have quite firm ideas of how she looks, acts and speaks -- and nobody *quite* hits the mark . . . Let’s just say, I (and I think Lola!) would be chuffed if Vicky McClure would consider doing a Glaswegian accent!
Q: What is the most interesting/unique thing you've had to research for a book?
A: In Murder in the Gallowgate, David’s mum is chromaesthetic. It’s a type of synaesthesia where you perceive sounds as colours. It gives her a unique relationship to the world around her, and insights into what people are really thinking and feeling. I’ve been fascinated by it for a long time, especially as my own perception of colour is dodgy to say the least: if you could see how I dress sometimes, you’d understand . . . I read a couple of books about the subject, but the real eye-opener was talking to a genuine synaesthete, whom I acknowledge in the book.
Q: What are you currently reading and watching?
A: I’m midway through writing the second Lola Harris book, so am going easy on myself reading-wise. I’m re-reading a couple of old favourites: on audio, P D James’s A Certain Justice; which is dark and compelling; and (on Kindle) Agatha Christie’s The Murder at the Vicarage, which is funny, and as clever as you’d expect. When I finish writing the first draft of Book 2, I’ll treat myself to Kate Atkinson’s new book, Shrines of Gaiety.
