Author Chat with Tom Pollock, Plus Giveaway!

Today we’re excited to chat with Tom Pollock, 

author of The City’s Son! Below 

you’ll find our interview, more about Tom and 

his book, plus a giveaway!

YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?

Tom Pollock: London. It’s so fabulously evocative.

There’s a particular experience of walking through the city and becoming suddenly, hair‐raisingly aware of all the spaces – the padlocked sheds and electricity sub‐ stations, the attics and sewers – which are incredibly close to you but where you have no clue of what’s going on inside them.

It’s easy to imagine that the criss‐crossing web of phone lines might be home to giant spiders, or that the streetlamps might be the equivalent of trees for glass‐ skinned city‐dryads. Urban fantasy is, I think, obsessed with the secret and the local, and I think London is perfect for that

YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?

TP: Probably Pen. She’s the main character’s best friend, but I loved her so much I made her the lead in book 2: The Glass Republic. She’s complicated (like all people are) ‐ a fairly devout Muslim, but she struggles a bit with what that means for her, a poet, a lesbian, she’s kind of quiet, but incredibly strong. She’s one most readers have responded really warmly to.

YABC:  What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?

TP: There’s a scene where you first meet Reach ‐ the Crane King ‐ the god of demolition and construction who is the book’s main antagonist. You’re in a construction site and suddenly all the scaffolding comes down off the buildings and rearticulates into giant skeletal metal wolves, while Reach tears the place apart and remakes it with his crane‐fingers. There’s a real sense of the city becoming haunted and predatory, a kind of urban dance macabre. I really liked that creepy something feel.

YABC:  Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?

TP: To write what I think will be the most fun, without worrying what my agent, editor, friends or the market will think. If I’m enjoying myself, that energy will come off on the page. To paraphrase Aleister Crowley “Write what thou wilt will be the whole of the law.”

YABC: What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2016?

TP: The Raven King. I think Maggie Stiefvater’s one of the most elegant and insightful writers we have. I love the Raven Cycle. There’s a line in one of the earlier books: ‘When Gansey was polite it made him powerful, when Adam was polite he gave power away.’ It’s such a neat line, it captures so much.

YABC:  What was your favorite book in 2015?

TP: Probably, A Little Life. It was kind of a monster. Flawed for certain, but the sheer empathy it evoked for the characters in it was phenomenal. I didn’t just feel for Jude, I felt responsible for him. That’s some trick.

YABC:  What’s up next for you?

TP: I’ve just finished a thriller called White Rabbit, Red Wolf. It’s about a young math prodigy with a panic disorder whose twin sister disappears and he has to use his analytical powers to find her. It’s full of spies and codes and secrets and murder. I had a blast writing it.

YABC:  Which part of the writing process do you enjoy more: Drafting or Revising?

TP: Tough one. Drafting’s great because anything’s possible, but it also sucks because there’s nothing there to hold onto, and the howling white waste of a blank screen is kind of daunting. Revising and tinkering and putting things right is very satisfying, and actually, I tend to find that that’s when some of the best ideas come. So revising. 🙂

YABC: What would you say is your superpower?

TP: Procrastination. I know a lot of writers will say this, but I am a god damned master at sitting on the sofa in my pajamas eating handfuls of dry cereal out of the box, tabbing through the Netflix menu without actually choosing anything, and ignoring the bit of me that’s quietly panicking about the amount of work I have to do.

Also ‐ making brownies. I make the best brownies in the world. My wife married me on the strength of them. 

Meet The City’s Son!