| Steven James January 2010 Author of the Month |
With a Masters in Storytelling and over twenty books in his arsenal, it is shocking to us
that critically acclaimed author Steven James has managed to virtually fly under the radar
for so long. His latest series of thrillers—The Bower Files—focus on FBI Agent Patrick
Bowers who hunts down the worst monsters our world has to offer. After reading “The
Knight”, it was an easy choice to include Steven James in the Suspense Magazine list of
Top Ten Books of 2009 (November 2009 Issue). We have no doubt that “The Bishop”
(scheduled for release summer 2010) will follow suit.
A few weeks ago, Steven was kind enough to permit us to interrupt his writing schedule
(which we can’t thank him enough for) and we hope that you’ll enjoy getting to know him
as much as we did.
Suspense Magazine (S.MAG.): How are you doing?
Steven James (S.J.): I’m good. I am working on my next book you know and I am a little bit
behind but it is coming together. My stories are a little bit complex.
S.MAG.: I am very picky about what I choose to read and I am one of those readers who
will often put a book down within fifty pages if it doesn’t draw me in. I picked up your
book and couldn’t put it down. I lost track of time. Even though I read the third one in the
series first, I found it to be a great stand-alone.
S.J.: That is one of the things I really do try to do. I never want a book—that I write—to
require reading another book.
S.MAG.: The only item I worried about, after starting with the third book in the series
was whether Patrick Bowers, your main character, was going to Chicago to testify in the
trial of a killer from one of the two previous books.
S.J.: That makes sense. His name appears in “The Pawn” and he actually grows in
importance. You kind of hear about him and then in “The Rook”, he begins to emerge a little
bit more and obviously in “The Knight”, he becomes more significant and he figures into the
next book as well. It is hard because you have story threads that you need to pick up and you don’
t want to give too much away but…
S.MAG.: A major strength for your character Patrick, and I don’t know how much
thought you put into this, was how much you humanized him. His softer side was very
strong.
S.J.: I think that characters become multi-dimensional when you show them in relationship to
other characters. When you see him relating to Tessa and the struggles he has there or when you
see him relating to the women in his life, his buddies at work, his boss; each one of those
relationships opens up and reveals another facet of the main character. I try to keep in mind
that in every relationship he has a different attitude and goal in that relationship. That is
reflected in how he treats that person and then when we read it we see that he is like a real guy.
He relates to people and has attitudes about differences.
S.MAG.: It is more of a humanizing of the character. I think that many of the suspense
writers who tend to write several books a year, their characters seem to become too much
of a Superman. They lose the human side.
S.J.: It takes me almost nine months to write one of my books. Because I continually am editing
and going back through the book and am definitely not and will never be one of those guys who
can pump out five or six books a year.
S.MAG.: When do you expect “The Bishop” to be released?
S.J.: Summer of 2010. I actually have four more books in the series contracted “The Queen”,
“The King”, “Checkmate” and a prequel called “Open Moves”. It is pretty exciting to have a
broad scope and as I am writing to think ‘Okay, two books from now… what do I want to have
happen?’ Obviously, I don’t plot out everything. I am still working on this.
S.MAG.: Will Patrick and Tessa be continuing forward? They were last seen in Minnesota
with the scene of her real father. Will that be explained any further?
S.J.: Yes, each book does pick up where things left off. Again, it is a challenge to try not to do
it in a way that it doesn’t give up too much in the event that people choose to go back and read.
In “The Bishop” they do locate her real father immediately and that really ignites the main
story threads.
S.MAG.: [laughing] He’s going to start killing people isn’t he?
S.J.: It would be too cliché to do anything like that. When I write each book, I write from the
perspective of a question and so in “The Knight” the question that drove the book was what is
more important, truth or justice. Should I protect the innocent or should I tell the truth? In each
of the books Bowers has to face these moral dilemmas. In the first, the question was what makes
me different from those who do the unthinkable. In each book, I have him struggle through these
personal moral dilemmas and so in a sense every book is a different struggle.
It is a broad scope of him turning into character in relationship to the other characters, like his
daughter. It is interesting with Tessa because I don’t want it to ever become like, OK, here’s this
guy and his daughter just has a problem and they’re parallel stories and they have nothing to do
with each other or every book she’s in danger and the serial killer comes after Tessa or something
like that. It is pretty safe stuff, so trying to craft an overarching view of the books where each
one is unique and different but also there is stability in the characters, it is not easy. I also try
to keep the flavor a little different. First, “The Pawn” was a little bit like “The Knight” in the
sense that it was gritty almost not “Silence of the Lambs” ish or anything but kind of more of a
gritty serial killer, psychological, climbing into the head of a killer sort of book but in between
them “The Rook” was more of a techno-thriller. People kind of compared it to CSI meets 24.
“The Bishop” is a little bit more of a political thriller. By trying to have a little different
perspective, I want readers to read all of my books. I don’t want them to think that this is the
same story just rolled over with a different girl and a different killer and doing the exact same
thing. I really strive to make every one of them distinctive so people can’t wait to read the next
one because they know it is going to be a different story.
that critically acclaimed author Steven James has managed to virtually fly under the radar
for so long. His latest series of thrillers—The Bower Files—focus on FBI Agent Patrick
Bowers who hunts down the worst monsters our world has to offer. After reading “The
Knight”, it was an easy choice to include Steven James in the Suspense Magazine list of
Top Ten Books of 2009 (November 2009 Issue). We have no doubt that “The Bishop”
(scheduled for release summer 2010) will follow suit.
A few weeks ago, Steven was kind enough to permit us to interrupt his writing schedule
(which we can’t thank him enough for) and we hope that you’ll enjoy getting to know him
as much as we did.
Suspense Magazine (S.MAG.): How are you doing?
Steven James (S.J.): I’m good. I am working on my next book you know and I am a little bit
behind but it is coming together. My stories are a little bit complex.
S.MAG.: I am very picky about what I choose to read and I am one of those readers who
will often put a book down within fifty pages if it doesn’t draw me in. I picked up your
book and couldn’t put it down. I lost track of time. Even though I read the third one in the
series first, I found it to be a great stand-alone.
S.J.: That is one of the things I really do try to do. I never want a book—that I write—to
require reading another book.
S.MAG.: The only item I worried about, after starting with the third book in the series
was whether Patrick Bowers, your main character, was going to Chicago to testify in the
trial of a killer from one of the two previous books.
S.J.: That makes sense. His name appears in “The Pawn” and he actually grows in
importance. You kind of hear about him and then in “The Rook”, he begins to emerge a little
bit more and obviously in “The Knight”, he becomes more significant and he figures into the
next book as well. It is hard because you have story threads that you need to pick up and you don’
t want to give too much away but…
S.MAG.: A major strength for your character Patrick, and I don’t know how much
thought you put into this, was how much you humanized him. His softer side was very
strong.
S.J.: I think that characters become multi-dimensional when you show them in relationship to
other characters. When you see him relating to Tessa and the struggles he has there or when you
see him relating to the women in his life, his buddies at work, his boss; each one of those
relationships opens up and reveals another facet of the main character. I try to keep in mind
that in every relationship he has a different attitude and goal in that relationship. That is
reflected in how he treats that person and then when we read it we see that he is like a real guy.
He relates to people and has attitudes about differences.
S.MAG.: It is more of a humanizing of the character. I think that many of the suspense
writers who tend to write several books a year, their characters seem to become too much
of a Superman. They lose the human side.
S.J.: It takes me almost nine months to write one of my books. Because I continually am editing
and going back through the book and am definitely not and will never be one of those guys who
can pump out five or six books a year.
S.MAG.: When do you expect “The Bishop” to be released?
S.J.: Summer of 2010. I actually have four more books in the series contracted “The Queen”,
“The King”, “Checkmate” and a prequel called “Open Moves”. It is pretty exciting to have a
broad scope and as I am writing to think ‘Okay, two books from now… what do I want to have
happen?’ Obviously, I don’t plot out everything. I am still working on this.
S.MAG.: Will Patrick and Tessa be continuing forward? They were last seen in Minnesota
with the scene of her real father. Will that be explained any further?
S.J.: Yes, each book does pick up where things left off. Again, it is a challenge to try not to do
it in a way that it doesn’t give up too much in the event that people choose to go back and read.
In “The Bishop” they do locate her real father immediately and that really ignites the main
story threads.
S.MAG.: [laughing] He’s going to start killing people isn’t he?
S.J.: It would be too cliché to do anything like that. When I write each book, I write from the
perspective of a question and so in “The Knight” the question that drove the book was what is
more important, truth or justice. Should I protect the innocent or should I tell the truth? In each
of the books Bowers has to face these moral dilemmas. In the first, the question was what makes
me different from those who do the unthinkable. In each book, I have him struggle through these
personal moral dilemmas and so in a sense every book is a different struggle.
It is a broad scope of him turning into character in relationship to the other characters, like his
daughter. It is interesting with Tessa because I don’t want it to ever become like, OK, here’s this
guy and his daughter just has a problem and they’re parallel stories and they have nothing to do
with each other or every book she’s in danger and the serial killer comes after Tessa or something
like that. It is pretty safe stuff, so trying to craft an overarching view of the books where each
one is unique and different but also there is stability in the characters, it is not easy. I also try
to keep the flavor a little different. First, “The Pawn” was a little bit like “The Knight” in the
sense that it was gritty almost not “Silence of the Lambs” ish or anything but kind of more of a
gritty serial killer, psychological, climbing into the head of a killer sort of book but in between
them “The Rook” was more of a techno-thriller. People kind of compared it to CSI meets 24.
“The Bishop” is a little bit more of a political thriller. By trying to have a little different
perspective, I want readers to read all of my books. I don’t want them to think that this is the
same story just rolled over with a different girl and a different killer and doing the exact same
thing. I really strive to make every one of them distinctive so people can’t wait to read the next
one because they know it is going to be a different story.
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