Entertainment

Thursday Q&A: Neville on Ellroy and Van Halen

Brian Campbell puts artists on the spot about what really matters to them. This week: Armagh crime novelist Stuart Neville

Stuart Neville is an acclaimed crime novelist and screenwriter
Stuart Neville is an acclaimed crime novelist and screenwriter Stuart Neville is an acclaimed crime novelist and screenwriter
By Brian Campbell

1. When did you think about writing as a career and what were your first steps into it?

Id wanted to be writer since I was a kid but I got diverted into music as a teenager. But I always held on to the idea of writing and started working on it more seriously in my mid-30s. I wrote two novels quickly, but they werent very good and theyll never be published. It was the third novel that caught an agents attention and was published as The Twelve here, and as The Ghosts of Belfast in the US.

2. Best gig or gigs youve been to?

I saw Iggy Pop in the canteen at Queens students union in, I think, 1989. I couldnt take my eyes from the tiny stage for fear of missing something. Jeff Beck at the Ulster Hall a few years ago was another brilliant gig.

3. Fantasy wedding/birthday party band of choice?

Id say AC/DC would be the most fun. Im not sure my wife would agree, though.

4. The record youd take to a desert island?

Im tempted to say Pacific Ocean Blue by Dennis Wilson because Ive been listening to it obsessively since a friend gave it to me a few months ago, but probably itd have to be 1984 by Van Halen. It was the first album of theirs I heard, and it remains my favourite 30 years on.

5. And the book?

American Tabloid by James Ellroy; the plot is complex and dense, and the characters so intricately drawn; I think I could discover something new every time I read it.

6. Top three films?

Right now, Id say Billy Wilders The Apartment, the original Star Wars, and Terry Gilliams Brazil.

7. Worst film youve seen?

The Devils Own, that terrible film about an IRA man hiding in New York that starred Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford. So bad its actually offensive.

8. Favourite authors?

James Ellroy, Megan Abbott and Dennis Lehane.

9. Sports you most enjoy and top teams?

Ive close to zero interest in sports. I have tried to make my interest in football extend beyond the World Cup, even picking Spurs as my team, but Ive always failed.

10. Ideal holiday destination?

My wife and I have friends in Barcelona, so we always enjoy a trip there. Or New York.

11. Pet hate?

Rude and ignorant people, the kind who use their phones in the cinema, park in disabled spaces, or drop litter. The kind of people who never pause to consider others.

12. Whats your favourite:

Dinner? Steak from Hannans butchers in Moira.

Dessert? Peanut butter flavour ice cream.

Drink? Either Jaipur IPA or Kill Your Darlings Vienna-style lager by Thornbridge Brewery.

13. Who is your best friend and how do you know each other?

Thatd be James, who I met on our first day at the Royal School in Armagh in 1983. We dont see so much of each other these days, but Id still consider us best mates.

14. Is there a God?

I honestly dont know. If there is, then I wonder how far he or she is removed from what the churches present.

:: Stuart Neville launches his novel Those We Left Behind at the No Alibis bookshop in Belfast at 6.30pm today, as part of the Belfast Book Festival. Admission is free.