What’s new
If you haven’t already, check out the new Tastemaker Salon feature of my newsletter! My first interview with Kate Hergott went live a few weeks ago, and I already have interviews lined up through September! I’m so excited to have this new interview series to share with you.
In addition, you can find a fun podcast episode I did with Kate about our favorite books from childhood and how we have, and haven’t, changed as readers, here.
The fantastic Argentinian noir, Never Open That Door, will be out on DVD on June 4! The DVD features include an interview with moi, alongside Gary Phillips, Maria Elena de las Carreras, Alan K. Rhode, and the Czar of Noir himself, Eddie Muller. I really loved this movie, and can’t recommend it enough.
Eric Beetner has been hailed as “the new maestro of noir,” by Ken Bruen and “The 21st Century’s answer to Jim Thompson” by LitReactor.
He has written more than 2 dozen novels and his short stories have been featured in over 30 anthologies and along the way he’s been nominated for an ITW award, a Shamus, Derringer and three Anthony awards. He’s won none of them.
For more visit ericbeetner.com
[Editor’s note: I first met Eric at his Noir at the Bar readings here in LA, which have been a staple in my life since about 2016—truly, such an amazing crime writing community and my favorite ongoing reading series in LA.]
What tabs do you currently have open on your computer?
Let’s see…I’ve got my Gmail tab, the tab for my online payroll so I can fill out my timecard for work. My Slack channel for work since I work remotely these days. A tab for a Google doc of all the notes for this episode I’m editing. Instagram, Twitter and Facebook which I probably should close and not waste so much time. Spotify which I am not listening to currently but the tab is there. And then the Amazon page to my new book The Last Few Miles Of Road which I am trying not to obsessively check for reviews and rankings. I should know better by now. Is that a lot? [Editor’s note: Talk to me once you’ve cracked a hundred open tabs, amateur.]
Where do you go to refill your creative well?
I find that walking dogs is a great creative recharge. I think it’s a combo of the physical activity (both my day job and writing are very sedentary tasks) and the calm and comfort of being around dogs. Highly recommend.
What was the last piece of art that made you want to create something?
Oh, wow. What didn’t!? I love seeing new ways of storytelling as much as I love being reminded of well-crafted stories done traditionally but with care and great execution that doesn’t feel like it’s only warmed-over tropes from the past. A well-crafted book or movie that sticks to traditional storytelling tried-and-true methods but is exceptionally well done is always a great reminder to stick to the basics. You have to know the rules before you can break the rules. So as much as I like the truly unique visions, I do love the classic structures exceptionally well done.
I also love seeing the creative process in action so I love documentaries about musicians and artists.
There’s a British show I love called “Portrait Artist Of The Year” and it is the farthest thing from crime drama you can imagine. A sweet, well-meaning reality show about artists painting portraits but everyone has a different style and technique and that is fascinating to me to watch different artists approach the same task. And I could listen to musicians talk about making music endlessly. It all adds to the creative fire for me.
Tell me about the last internet rabbit hole you went down.
It’s almost always music-related. Digging into treasure troves of old clips, live performances, stuff you remember from your youth. I love seeing musicians at work and seeing long-lost moments captured. And seeking out new music, too. I am always on the hunt for new sounds, new bands, new music to love and oftentimes to find the really interesting stuff takes some digging. I’ve never been much of a top 40 kind of person. I always love the obscure and out-of-the-way. These days I marvel at how we found anything prior to the internet. Like, how did I find all those punk rock records and weird bands from Japan and things?
And it kills me that there is so much from my own era that I never heard. I LOVE finding a new-to-me band who were around when I should have been paying attention but they just passed me by.
What factors have to come together for you to feel your most creative?
This is interesting because I feel like if you wait for the right set of factors to come together you’ll never get anything done. [Editor’s note: Actually, agreed!] The thing that makes me feel most creative is really the act of doing it. By sitting at the keys and starting in on a project, that alone revs up that engine and begins the ideas flowing.
So the short of it is that to be creative you have to start the process of creativity, which is to say that creativity will only find you when you’re working at it. You can sit in a quiet room and meditate on creative ideas and get nowhere, but if you sit and start the work even before you think you’re ready, it will find you and you’ll be ready for it.
What would you like to shamelessly plug?
Of course my new novel, The Last Few Miles Of Road is the thing I’m talking the most about these days.
People have really be responding well to it, which is nice. But I could always use more readers!
What are you craving to see (or see more of) in books, movies, tv, or other art?
This is an interesting question. I sat and thought about it for a long time and wondered if any answer I give would only reinforce getting more of the same old stuff. Shouldn’t I want what’s new and unexpected and never been seen before?
In the end, I realized the thing I find lacking in a lot of entertainment these days that would make them more enjoyable to watch, is a simple sense of humor. I find that a balance of humor, not just easy jokes and sitcom laughs, is a dying art. Dark, gritty crime shows used to be balanced with a light touch. You look at the sense of humor in the films of people like John Carpenter or Alfred Hitchcock. That’s what made those dark stories tolerable. It gave levels, it gave release when the tension grew too high so that the story could build again. If you just start a car and red-line the engine from the start, you’re going to burn out. A good story is the same. There is gallows humor, quiet in-jokes between people, little light touches even in the darkest hour that we all see daily that help keep our sanity when things turn grim.
I wish more writers, novels and screenwriters, would infuse more humor into the story. When done right it doesn’t diffuse tension or ruin suspense, if anything it helps those rises and falls by pacing and changing so the unexpected thrill comes as a shock. So yeah, more humor please.
What draws you to noir?
I like small stakes stories about ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances: finding a bag of money, now what do we do? I fell in love with someone else, now how do I get out of my marriage? Things are desperate, how far am I willing to go? Stories that make you think — what would I do?
They might be exciting, but I can’t relate to the world’s greatest spy or the best assassin. But a regular guy who gets greedy or makes a simple mistake and has to extricate himself from it? That’s relatable.
And I’ve been alive long enough to know that things don’t always work out. Justice isn’t always served.
The good guys don’t always win, so I’m fine with a noir story if it doesn’t have a neat and tidy ending. It rings more true to me.
What are some of your favorite works of noir (film, book, whatever)?
I could list you a hundred films. I’ll default to what posters are on my wall that I see every day and include some of my favorites like Narrow Margin, Raw Deal, The Set-Up, Criss Cross, Sudden Fear, The Big Clock, Too Late For Tears, Crime Wave, The Big Heat.
Some that aren’t discussed enough I think would include Framed, Night Editor, Roadblock, Shield For Murder, Where The Sidewalk Ends.
Noir novels? I think anyone wanting to explore the genre should start in the past with the obvious James Cain like Double Indemnity and Postman Always Rings Twice. But don’t miss out on some real gems like Fool’s Gold by Dolores Hitchens, Hell Hath No Fury by Charles Williams, To Find A Killer by Lionel White, The Kiss Off by Douglas Hayes, You’ll Get Yours by Thomas Wills, Say It With Bullets by Richard Powell, Do Evil In Return by Margaret Millar, The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding.
There are many more but to more modern novels: The Cold Kiss by John Rector, Queenpin by Megan Abbott [Editor’s note: One of my all-time favorites], Dope by Sara Gran [Editor’s note: An underrated classic!!], Stray Dogs by John Ridley, The Clean-Up by Sean Doolittle, Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman, Hell on Church Street (or anything at all) by Jake Hinkson, A Very Simple Crime by Grant Jerkins, The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips, Twisted City by Jason Starr, Know Me From Smoke by Matt Phillips, Drive by James Sallis, so many more!
What do you think a lot of people get wrong about noir?
That it’s bleak and nihilistic. I find it anything but. Yes, you might get an ending that doesn’t see everyone (or anyone) ride off into the sunset, but a story about someone confronting the darkness and seeing how they react to that is a very human story to me. I don’t find a character having a more cynical view of the world, or really what is just a more realistic one, makes for a downer of a story. We all have our moments when the world gets your down or you feel that forces are out to get you. Why not write or read about that sometimes?
There are some titles I can tell people to steer clear of if they’re dipping a tentative toe into Noir, but for the most part the stories are not as all-dark-all-the-time as people who don’t even read the genre tend to think it is. Much in the same way that people who’ve never read cozies think they’re all one homogenous thing, which is far from the truth.
My open tabs
This only in LA story about squatters who have set up camp in Beverly Hills.
Pondering how psychogeography—the idea that our environment shapes us in subtle but indelible ways—might play into my next novel.
This November 1975 issue of Esquire, in which readers could learn how to imitate Bogart…including expert instruction on tap-dancing.
Leigh Stein’s midlist pyramid theory posits that writers need to be doing a better job of creating content that speak directly to readers’ interests—not sales, not inside baseball about publishing. Something I’m mulling over—if you have examples of people doing this well, I’d love to see it!
Always appreciate your fresh takes on noir!