Today’s Punk Noir Interview is with New Yorker, Nick Kolakowski. Author of numerous novels and editor.
Hi Nick, to start off, can you tell our readers a little bit about how you got your start in writing and the indie lit scene? Your origin story if you will.
My Dad gave me a paperback copy of “Trouble Is My Business” when I was a kid, and Chandler hooked me forever on reading crime fiction. I fell hard for Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy when I was a teenager, to the point where my early attempts at fiction writing were a sad mashup of their styles. I enjoyed writing fiction but didn’t pursue it aggressively until 2017 or so, when I decided I’d finally developed something of a style to call my own.
You’re best known for your novels Boise Longpig Hunting Club and Payback Is Forever. How did those novels come into fruition and what were your inspirations for those stories?
“Boise Longpig Hunting Club” is my riff on “The Most Dangerous Game” and the whole man-hunting-man subgenre. I wanted to write something that used that basic plot as a jumping-off point for exploring America’s increasingly divisive politics and culture—basically, how we’re getting to the point in this country where one half of the population would be increasingly willing to hunt the other for sport. “Payback Is Forever” was written during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was trapped inside and in desperate need of distraction; I decided to write something that paid homage to the pulp paperbacks of the 1950s and 60s, as well as the Parker novels (which I love dearly).
What advice would you give to up-and-coming indie authors?
Never sell yourself short. If you feel like you’ve developed a style and a point of view, and you’re writing solid work, you should absolutely shoot for that publishing label or magazine that you might doubt you can reach. Not all your wildest swings will hit, but you might surprise yourself sooner than you think.
What are your plans for the future and what are you working on now?
Late last year, I finished a California detective novel that I’m currently shopping around. I’ve also been delving more into the horror genre—I recently had a haunted-house novella, “The Faithful,” come out via Blackstone Publishing, and I want to write a longer horror novel at some point.
What is an issue you care about deeply?
The environment. Last summer, massive forest fires in Canada sent smoke sweeping across the eastern U.S., turning the sun blood-red and darkening the sky. The scientists said climate change drove the fires’ size. Seeing something like that, it’s hard not to think that we need to do something different as a species or we’re going to be screwed.
What novel are you reading now?
I just finished “Smoke Kings” by Jahmal Mayfield. Killer concept, really interesting execution!
What music are you listening to now?
Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” is pumping through my headphones as I write this.
What did you last eat?
The last Girl Scout cookie in the fridge.
If you could go on a drinking binge with 5 writers alive or dead who would you choose?
Martin Amis, Christopher Hitchens, Patricia Highsmith, Chester Himes, Dorothy Parker—it would be a night of incredible conversation (and argument) that nobody would remember in the morning.
What would you like written on your gravestone?
Husband. Father. Writer.
Bio:
Nick Kolakowski’s work has appeared in The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, Thuglit, Shotgun Honey, North American Review, and Carrier Pigeon, among other venues.
He lives in New York City.
(Interview by Stephen J. Golds)
Bio:
Stephen J. Golds was born in North London, U.K, but has lived in Japan for most of his life. He speaks the language pretty well and makes great takoyaki.
He writes primarily in the noir and dirty realism genres and is the editor-in-chief of Punk Noir Press. Some of his writing influences are Charles Bukowski, John Fante, James M. Cain, Tobias Wolff, Sarah Kane and Jim Thompson.
He enjoys spending time with his daughters, reading books, traveling the world, boxing and listening to old Soul LPs. His books are Say Goodbye When I’m Gone, I’ll Pray When I’m Dying, Always the Dead, and Shadows Slow Dancing in Derelict Rooms. His poetry collections are Poems for Ghosts in Empty Tenement Windows I Thought I Saw Once, and Half-Empty Doorways and Other Injuries. He also has a short story and poetry collection titled Love Like Bleeding Out With an Empty Gun in Your Hand.
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