Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Rachel: With us today to talk about his latest novel is Brad Smith. Brad, tell us a little about your book!
Brad: Billy Crawford’s Double Play is a comedic look at the world of baseball, politics and that confounding thing called life.
Rachel: What inspired you to write this book?
Brad: As an avid baseball fan I’ve always intended to write a book about the game. And, as a political junkie, I have always enjoyed writing about that fascinating, maddening, complicated world. With the Greenbelt issue being so contentious in Ontario these days – I thought, why not combine the two?
Rachel: You may have landed on the blog of two authors with very strong Greenbelt opinions! If you could meet your characters, what would you say to them?
Brad: I would tell Billy Crawford to stay back on the ball and drive it to the opposite field and I would ask Carroll Miller to stop being a deceitful weasel!
Rachel: If your characters met you, what would they say?
Brad: They would both advise me to mind my own damn business.
Rachel: Who is your favourite fictional character someone else wrote? And why?
Brad: It varies from day to day but right now it’s Mack from Steinbeck’s very funny novella Cannery Row. Mack is a vagrant – sly, charming, manipulative, big-hearted – a real character who manages to be at once as honest as the day is long, and as crooked as a dog’s hind leg.
Rachel: What about from the characters you’ve written?
Brad: Nate Cooper from The Return Of Kid Cooper. Nate is a man of contradictions – not entirely law-abiding, yet not a criminal. He has humour, integrity and loyalty. He’s a man of the old west, trying to find his way in the “modern” world, circa 1910, while at the same time balking at what he is constantly being told is “progress”.
Rachel: Is your work more plot-driven or character-driven?
Brad: Tricky question. I would have to say a combination of both. A good plot doesn’t travel far without well-drawn characters and visa versa. What begins in Billy Crawford as a tale about a standard city mayoral election is turned on its ear by the introduction of a cast of characters, all of whom have very different motivations.
Rachel: What’s your next writing project?
Brad: I’m working on a book set in Moose Jaw in the 1920’s, when that small prairie city was known as “Little Chicago”. It deals – in part – with the decades-old rumours that the notorious Al Capone spent time there during that period.
Rachel: Sounds very cool! Tell us where the Night Beats community can find you and find your work!
Night Beats Extended Universe 