Last year was a indeed a year and sometimes life gets in the way. The good new is there are always books and in particular I loved Joseph Elliott Coleman’s Judges - The Patriots a novella set in the early history of the 2000AD universe and the rise of the Judges. We planned to do a quick interview and then the world continued to implode but I’m delighted that via the power of electricity Joseph and I were finally able to chat!

Hello!

Hey yourself! Sorry about the year long wait, but the horror of the then just immerging pandemic had the magical effect of making your questions vanish into the dark of interweb.

If only we knew back in March 2020 what we knew now….

 

So how would you describe The Patriots?

Hmm. I’d call it a police procedural with sci-fi elements grafted on top. I freely admit that its DNA comes firmly from the 70’s crime films (The French Connection and Dirty Harry to name a few) as well as the such movies as the Manchurian Candidate, Day of the Falcon..that sort of stuff. Plus, the obvious Dreddverse DNA there’s such material such William Gibson’s Neuromancer, John Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar, Otomo Katsuhiro’s Akira, Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man and Tade Thompson’s Rosewater.

What has been the attraction of 2000AD in your reading?  Any favourite stories?

2000AD has the distinction of being the only English language comics anthology still in print to remain consistently in print. It also has the benefit of refusing to be pigeonholed, in that it enthusiastically leaps from genre to genre being comfortable in all. It’s a national treasure and it’s a crime that we don’t celebrate it enough. I’d kill for an opportunity to write Button Man. 2000AD needs a really meaty and gritty crime epic me thinks.

 

Working with an existing series - did that allow you a lot of flexibility in what you could do or are there limits in how far you could make things happen?

Of course. Certain characters were untouchable and simply could not be interreacted with in any way, shape or form. For example: Judge Fargo never shows up in any of the stories as his timeline locked, despite his importance. Which was a good move as it forced the creators to be more creative. But apart from that the only problems I encountered where when elements of my story contradicted established canon or forthcoming material. Apart from that I was given almost absolute free reign, which was wonderful. I really enjoyed the writing experience. I learnt a lot from it.

How do you like to think about Judges Clarkson and Douglas?

I deliberately wrote the two characters to be a contrast to one another. Clarkson, the stoic analytical detective who pokes and prods until the subject reacts and the Douglas, the emotional empathic detective who reads feelings like a book which make people almost transparent to her. Seriously, I absolutely loved having their voices in my head. Not to mention all the others. I would relish the opportunity to return to that station house and deal more in depth with all those characters. To make it the NYPD-Judges Blue of the Dreddverse.

Was there a soundtrack to the book while it was being written?

My friend, I *always* write to music. Silence is horror to me.

So, while writing this I very deliberately listen to:

Don Ellis’ score for The French Connection. Vangelis Score for Blade Runner and Hans Zimmer’s and Benjamin Wallfisch’s(Junkie XL) score for Blade Runner 2047 and well as Hans’ scores for Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy. And John Powell’s scores for the Jason Bourne films

All the Wu-Tang Clan solo and group albums, especially Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Liquid Swords, Supreme Clientele and Ironman. Also a ton of Public Enemy, MF Doom and NWA. Aphex Twin is an eternal go to artist – indeed, he’s my favourite musician - but particularly I listened to the Analord LP series, Selected Ambient works Vol.2, Drukqs and I Care Because You do. And finally, Goldie’s Drum and Bass masterpiece Timeless and Grooverider’s Mysteries of Funk.

I’m sure I’ve left something out but…there you go.

 

Who have been your biggest influences in your writing?

Warren Ellis and Robert B. Parker.

Warren Ellis for ideas and looking at the world, decoding it, understanding what it is, reverse engineering it and folding it into yourself, and Robert B. Parker for dialogue and brevity of prose. Seriously, no one writes dialogue like him. NO.ONE. Reading his books teaches you that can be economic with description but not so with dialogue. I learned to shut up and listen to people speak. Everyone has inflections and ways of speaking that make them unique. Shut up and listen.

 

Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?

Several: I’m currently collaborating with Neil Mcclements’ on a project that’ll see one of my short stories entirely “The Boy-Witch of Croydon” that’ll be transformed into a “Sergio Toppiesque expressionist masterpiece” His words. We’re talking full page illustrations integrating the test into the art. We’ll be looking run a Kickstarter for the project which I’m sure’ll get eaten up. Honest, I’ve never had such a visceral reaction to one of my works and its quite inspiring. Also, I certainly mean to write more stories set in that world with those characters. So watch this space!

You’ll see in about a year or so from now. Remember folks: good work takes time!

Over the lockdown almost completely I rewrote a novel (its 20th draft) that I originally started writing in 2007 entitled “Frostfeld: The End of The World As You Know It” which is a science fantasy epic set in an alternate London on an alternative Earth.

Here’s the blurb:

“All Marlyn Frostfeld wanted to do was finish school and become an illustrator who wrote her own fantastical stories, but fate and circumstance had fantastical plans of their own. So, when she discovers that not only is she the descendant of a long line of powerful sorcerers and her girlfriend is anything but “normal”, she’s forced to investigate her parents deep past which will lead her to uncover their long lived and heroic lives but also embrace her own place and identity in that world. The answers to her many questions find her coming into possession of an ancient and deadly weapon of mass destruction, which leads both her, her huge extended family and a combined army of humans and supernatural peoples of legend to race to the defence of London when the machinations of powerful shadow organisation, centuries year old and bent on igniting a genocidal race war threatens the lives of everyone in the city and potentially, the world.

It’s the end of Marlyn’s world as she knows it and she feels anything but fine.”

If agents and commissioning editors like the sound of what they’ve read drop me a line.

And finally, I’m currently writing a short story for another anthology from the same publisher (Newcon Books) who published the superb London Centric anthology which is set in the same Decaying London World as my story Death Aid was. Be forewarned people: it’s going to break your heart people. Brace yourselves!

If there was one book (not your own) that you love to recommend to other people what would it be?

Hmm. Much like the late Harlan Ellison I believe that reading The Collected Works of Sherlock Holmes should be a rite of passage for every writer. Because Arthur Conan Doyle tells you repeatedly to do one important thing: Wake up and pay attention. Shit is happening all around you. Forewarned is forearmed. Arm yourself with knowledge. Knowledge is far more useful than a gun. Wake up and pay attention. Pay attention. Pay attention. Pay attention