Jonathan
What can I say about Charlaine, except that she is the sweetest, nicest person to ever write about vampires, shape-shifters and you name it. She broke the mold when she crossed genres and became a success despite the warnings of agents and editors who told her it couldn’t be done. Listen to her tell how she did it.
Elmore Leonard was the very first Master Class writer I invited to Crime Fiction Academy and he said yes! He is every bit as sharp and funny as his novels, which you can see in this video.
This past September I was guest columnist for the Crime Fiction Lover blog talking about how one can become a crime writer. Here is an excerpt: “Today we’re honoured to present a guest column by one of the most respected names in crime fiction – Jonathan Santlofer. The author of numerous bestsellers in the genre, including The Death Artist, Color Blind, The Killing Art, Anatomy of Fear and The Murder Notebook, last year he helped found the Crime Fiction Academy in New York. His classic crime cred is impressive as well, with his short stories appearing in the Ellery Queen Magazine, Akashic’s New Jersey Noir, and LA Noire, a compilation which tied in with a PlayStation/Xbox game of the same name. He edited the book, which also included stories by Megan Abbott, Lawrence Block, Joe R Lansdale, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine Prose, Duane Swierczynski and Andrew Vachss. We thought it would be a great idea … Read more
Lawrence Block and I were interviewed on the Leonard Lopate show about writing crime fiction. “Jonathan Santlofer, Director at the Crime Fiction Academy, and Lawrence Block, author and Crime Fiction Academy Master Class Instructor, talk about the academy, a program at the Center for Fiction that’s dedicated to crime writing in all its forms. Jonathan Santlofer is the author of five bestselling novels, including Anatomy of Fear and The Killing Art. Lawrence Block has been writing award-winning mystery and suspense fiction for half a century, and his most recent novel is A Drop of the Hard Stuff.” Listen here: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/lopate082312cpod.mp3]
The mystery writing magazine Ellery Queen asked me to contribute a blog post about writing the short story. Here is an excerpt: “More and more the short story has become an important part of my writing life. The other day I was thinking about the old Alfred Hitchcock TV show, one in particular where the housewife kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb then serves it to the police who come to investigate, and another about a restaurant where human flesh was the specialty of the house, and The Twilight Zone and Mr. & Mrs. North and Dragnet and Hawaiian Eye and Surfside Six and The Mod Squad, all of them running together in my brain, commingling with the detective and mystery stories I read as a boy, the Hardy Boys my favorite series, along with horror comics like Tales From the Crypt, and Classic Comics like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which … Read more
By Micki Siegel When mystery writer and artist Jonathan Santlofer wakes up each morning, he can smell the roses — literally. That’s because Santlofer and his wife, Joy, a food historian, live right in the heart of Chelsea’s flower district. He recalls the day they saw the apartment, back in January 1979: “It was gardenia season,” he says, “and the street was filled with gardenia plants. It just smelled so wonderful. That was one of the reasons why we bought our loft.” In spite of the flowers, the area — industrial by day and deserted by night — left much to be desired. As did the loft itself. “It was horrible,” Santlofer says. “It was in an old furrier’s building. Our apartment had been a deserted fur vault. And it was filthy! There were 4 inches of fur stuck to the walls and the ceilings. There was no heat or hot water. No passenger elevator, … Read more
Joyce Carol Oates is an icon in today’s literary world, a brilliant writer who believes that all novels contain some sort of mystery. Listen and learn from one of the great writers of our time.
I so enjoyed being interviewed by Jane, a writer of mysteries and a generous soul. To connect to Jane: www.janecleland.com
My short story for New Jersey Noir anthology called “Lola” was reviewed at Little Big Crime Blog. “I didn’t think this story was going to be my favorite of the week. It felt like a pretty ordinary piece at first. But stories, like people for that matter, can surprise you. The narrator is a would-be portrait artist who makes his living preparing stretchers for more successful painters. One day riding the PATH trains back to Hoboken he becomes attracted to a young woman. Pretty soon he is obsessed with her, and this is obviously not the first time he has gone down this path. I was pretty sure I knew where this journey was headed. Well. Can’t say much more without giving away the store. Let’s just say Santlofer has some surprises in store for his characters, and for us. A perfect ending is one that leaves the reader saying: “I never saw that coming, … Read more
Mulholland books asked the contributors to LA Noire: The Collected Stories why Los Angeles is so associated with the Noir genre. Here is my response: “When Rockstar asked me to put together an anthology to accompany their darkly beautiful video game, LA NOIRE, I pounced. Having been enamored with noir both on the page and on the screen since my brooding teenage years, my mind was spinning Chandleresque tales before I wrote a single word or asked another author to contribute. I wanted to invite a hundred writers but it ended up a small collection, every story burnished black as ebony, all jittery gems that invite the reader to trespass along those sunny/seamy LA streets. For my own story I slipped into the mind of a killer and had fun mixing fact and fiction, bringing in shadowy underworld figures I’d only read about, like Mickey Cohen and Johnny Stompanato, real life bad guys who seem … Read more