Interview with Author and Screenwriter James Longmore – S. 4, Ep. 18

The Crime Cafe

Debbi Mack interviews crime author and screenwriter James Longmore on the Crime Cafe podcast. Check out the show notes below. Or, if you’re in a rush, click here to download the transcript! Debbi: [00:00:13] Hi, everyone. This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense, and thriller writing. I'm your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, I'll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two ebooks for sale: the nine-book boxed set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy links for both on my website debbimack.com, under the "Crime Cafe" link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You'll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. [00:01:02] It's my great pleasure today to have James Longmore as my guest. James is not only an author, but a screenwriter and a publisher. He has written and directed short films, as well, and even done standup comedy. So thanks for being here today, James. James: [00:01:21] Thank you for having me. Nice to see you. Debbi: [00:01:25] Sure thing. It's great to see you. You've done so many interesting things. Let's start with your writing, though. What do you write mostly? Is it mostly horror or do you do other genres, as well? James: [00:01:39] A lot of it seems to be horror, because that's sort of where my mind defaults to, but mostly, you know, dark stuff. You know, if it's dark, whether it's your crime or horror or dark romance or whatever. I think if it's got a dark element to it, then that's me. A dark comedy is what I'm a big fan of already, which is something we British people do incredibly well. Debbi: [00:02:08] I do love dark comedy, and that's pretty awesome. But let's see. You've written five novels, three novellas, and a bunch of short stories. James: [00:02:19] Right, yeah. Apparently so. Yes. On my resume. Debbi: [00:02:24] Are all of your novels standalones? James: [00:02:27] They are, yeah. I envy authors who sort of plan and write a series of three, four, five. We spoke to somebody recently who's planned a series of like ten books. Maybe I just haven't had the idea yet that it would sustain any sort of series. A couple of my novels I think would make a good sequel, but I just seem to like to move on to the next idea. I'm not one for rehashing, to be honest. Debbi: [00:03:02] Interesting. Or for stretching things out. James: [00:03:04] For stretching things out. Yeah, yeah, it's the same reason I tend not to commit to long TV series. A nice little 10-part series or an eight-part series, that's fine. But these that go on for like 13 seasons, it's just ... I just can't commit to that. Debbi: [00:03:27] And they tend to kind of run out of gas after a while if they don't do it right. James: [00:03:32] They do usually. I mean, I remember I really got hooked on Breaking Bad and that was just about the right length. I think it was seven, maybe eight seasons, and that was enough. But some of them, they just go on and it's like ... really should have stopped. Season Seven, you should have quit. But honestly. I mean, obviously, as long as people still watch it and advertisers still fork it out, they'll still keep churning them out. Debbi: [00:03:58] Exactly, exactly right. Can you tell us a little about Flanagan? What's the book about? James: [00:04:04] It's a sort of dark psychological sort of ... I don't like to use the word erotica, because it's not really erotica. It's about an everyday or seemingly everyday couple who have a couple of sort of weird ways of getting their kicks, and I don't want to give too much. It has a twist that I don't want to give away because it's one that people [won't see coming]. I swear you'd never see it coming in a million years. But, for me, because I like dark things, I like horror. You know, I mean for me one of the most horrific monsters, if you like,