Alan Furst, author of The Spies of Warsaw (July 27-August 7)

Please welcome Alan Furst, author of The Spies of Warsaw. Alan will be chatting on LibraryThing until August 7th.

Ah, Alan, welcome to LibraryThing and thanks for taking the time to interact with us spy thriller fans. Obviously we are all interested in your next book. Any comments?

Working in it now, I'm about half
done. The book takes place in
Greece--Balkan Greece, not Athens--
a country I knew nothing about, but
I've fallen in love with it. For example,
there's a word shepherds use to
describe themselves: ADESPOTOI

It means, "Masterless"

That reaches me.

Hi Alan, I am sorry to say I hadn't heard of you until a couple weeks ago when I was offered The Spies of Warsaw in exchange for a review. Hopefully, you'll be happy to hear I enjoyed the book quite a bit, and plan to start reading the rest. I have Night Soldiers on my Wish List.

Are most of you books like Spies of Warsaw? Following a spy as they live their normal life? Spies felt like there wasn't any over arching arc other than trying to prevent the inevitable start of WWII. Just a bunch if interesting stories connected by Mercier.

Hi Alan. First off let me say I am a great admirer of your work. I have read the World At Night and have Red Gold and The Spies of Warsaw sitting on my TBR shelves. I wonder who are your literary inspirations? Also you seem to focus on a particular time in history, is there a reason for this?

Hi Alan. I too am a big fan. I've read Foreign Correspondent and Night Soldiers with Red Gold and The Spies of Warsaw in the TBR pile. I know you're probably tired of hearing this but, I can't think of any other writer that can build atmosphere the way you can. I would swear you walked the streets of Europe in the 1930s.

It's so flawless, that I must ask if you consciencely work at it or is it more a natural product of your talent?

Good news on the book, hope all's progressing well. What time period will it cover? Involve the Italian & German campaigns? Cheers, A

I very much enjoy your books. What I find most compelling, aside from their setting, is that the protagonist is always someone trying to behave morally in an essentially amoral world. They're never saints, often operate outside of the law (whichever laws pertain), but with a strong ethical center.

My favorite is The Polish Officer and I still wonder about how the dog fared through the war.

What have you been reading, Mr. Furst, either as research for the present book or for enjoyment that you can recommend?

You seem to write about events happening on the cusp of the Second World War. What attracts you to this timeframe?

The books are different to the degree
that the politics of each country in
Europe were different. So The Polish
Officer (Polish resistance) is quite
different than Dark Voyage (Dutch tramp
freighters in the naval war). The inspir-
ation for Spies of Warsaw was DeGaulle
and the French military attaches, who
got it right, were ignored, and the French
lost their country.

Hi Deltaqueen, I guess my literary
inspirations are the 30s writers of intrigue novels--Eric Ambler, Graham Greene--and the political adventure novelists--Conrad, Malraux--and people
like George Orwell, Hemingway, and my
much loved Anthony Powell. I'm drawn
to the time in history (30s, 40s) by the
drama of conflict--Nazisim, Communism,
Democracy, and both the villainy and the
heroism of people as they fought it out.

Hi Ddelmoni, I'm not sure where this comes from--atmosphere etc. I have lived in Europe (Paris) for long periods, and I'm sort of a European at heart. And
the 30s--Django Reinhardt, Stefan Grapelli, Auden, Orwell, the whole thing,
is somehow in my blood. I don't try con-
ciously to do this, but I feel I'm there when I'm writing. Yeah, it's a little mysterious, even to me.
?

Hi Ammianus, yeah, you've got it exactly
right, the Italian campaign, and then, the
result of winning that, the German campaign. No hope there--country of
75 million v. a country of 8 million, but
the Greeks fought hard.

Hi RidgewayGirl, You're right about my
protagonists, they're good people caught
up in bad times--now what?
You can bet the dog in The Polish Officer
survived, he'd already come through the
worst, the breed (Tatra) is tough, and
the Poles really love their dogs. (yay!)

Alan, I'm also a big fan and have read all your books since Night Soldiers. It's tough waiting for each new book because as ddelmoni said no other author evokes that fascinating period of Europe in the 1930s as powerfully as you do. I notice that you don't repeat characters in your novels except for Jean Casson -- is that deliberate? And do you have any favorites among your characters?

Hi, Alan. I've read and enjoyed Kingdom of Shadows, Blood of Victory, and Red Gold, and will be reading Night Soldiers soon. (I wait for paperbacks as they're easier to carry around.) Thank you for writing them and for your meticulous research and attention to detail.

Do you read fiction? If so, which authors do you enjoy?

Hi jeffbailey, I've been re-reading the
phenomenal Gunter Grass autobiography,
Peeling the Onion. And, when I want
something difficult, the Adam Tooze
study The Wages of Destruction, he's
an economic historian of WWII, amazing, brilliant, but not easy.

Hi reademwritem, something both romantic and fateful in this period, it
gave birth to amazing movies (see films
released in 1939, you'll be astonished)
extraordinary music (Ellington, all swing)
and was a period of tragedy and nobility.
at once. I just don't know another time
like it.

Hi imprinted, thanks for the kind words.
I never wanted to repeat a character,
though these books are a series. It was
an editor at Random House that wanted
me to repeat Jean Casson, in Red Gold.
So I did, but I was never comnfortable
doing it--repated characters are great
(Spenser etc.) but there's a different
dynamic to handling a character like that.
I like the process of discovery in book
characters, you can't do that twice.

Hi ShellyS, I read fiction when I can, and
I have favorites I tend to reread--almost
never contemporary fiction. Trying to read fiction, I see, as a writer, too much
of the scaffolding. But I like nonfiction that reads like fiction. Anything, for
example, from the Italian journalist Alexander Stille--especially his Excellent
Cadavers. Tell me that doesn't read like
fiction! And in fiction I like Alberto Moravia, Two Women, and especially The Woman of Rome.

RE #14, and will it include the campaign in Crete? I'm guessing your protagonist is Greek ...any other info you'd care to share. Anyway, look forward to a new one (since I've read all your others!) Keep up the good work.

Not the campaign in Crete, though
that was important (parachutists for
Germans, 1st and last time). This is
more about the winter, when Italy
was stalemated, but worse was on the
way and the Greeks knew it. Naturally,
my protagonist is Greek. And thanks for
tyhe good wishes.

23: Sounds great, can't wait...like everyone else on here I love your books but as a military historian I especially admire your depth of research. Others have mentioned your ability to capture the atmosphere of the time, very Casablancaesque. Shouldn't you be typing away??? Cheers, A

Alan: How important was your high school experience to your interest in writing? Do you credit your high school English teachers (or other teachers) for your writing ability? Who were they?

Lately there have been a few novels, and some history regarding the responsibility and genocidal participation of a willing general German population. Will you work this into any of your future novels. I have in mind The Kindly Ones, and some of the work by Vasilly Grossman.

Thanks for the suggestion. I agree that it's hard to beat non-fiction that reads like fiction. :)

I've read all Mr. Fursts' novels, love them, great atmosphere, very well developed characters. Especially loved Dark Voyage and The Polish Officer. the books remind me of Eric Ambler. Is any one of the present commentators also a collector of first editions of A. Furst?

Thanks, Ammianus. I wish more military
history was taught--one important way
to understand history. It mattered, it
matters.

Hi Stronghart, I went to a very tough
hard-nosed prep school where they
didn't let you get away with anything--
you really had to know stuff. That's what
I had to learn as a writer. Some English
teachers taught inspiration, high-flown
thoughts, etc. But there was one who taught me grammar, what a declarative
sentence really was, and I will always
be grateful to him.
As for the German population, it's hard
to condemn them all, but there were a
lot of Nazis who prospered after the
war. What I do in novels--not like some
others--is use the term German and not
Nazi, unless in the explicitly political
sense. Watch this--movies, books--it's
an interesting phenomena.

Oh rats. Phenomenon (!!!)

Dear Alan,

I've enjoyed reading, and re-reading, your books. One of the things that's jumped out at me on re-reading is how often minor characters from one novel will pop up in another (e.g., "Mr. Brown"). How do you keep track of all these characters--do you have a master timeline written down somewhere?

Looking forward to the Greece book. Have you visited there?

Hi Chris, I always liked the idea of a
series with changing main characters
but recurring minor characters. Doing it
that way, you can use them like
toy soldiers--Mr. Brown is always the
same and he always does more or less
the same thing.
I did visit Greece, briefly, for a few days
in December--you have to have at least
a physical moment somewhere before
you write about it. I do, anyhow.

Have all 8 books listed above - and recommended them many times. Hoping to ask a question, my mind went blank! So, I'll ask one for a member who posted on a facebook page called "The World of Shadows: Alan Furst" - but, first I'll tell you that I am also a 'fan' on the facebook page "Alan Furst Is My Boyfriend" :-) all in fun - but the organizer hopes to get you to Portland ME to speak. Now, for the question (dunno if this person is on LibraryThing or not):

"Just finished re-reading Red Gold after re-reading World at Night earlier this spring. Now longing for a third installment in the Jean Casson saga. Has Furst ever written/said anything about reuniting Casson with Citrine?"

n.b. There's a wikipedia page that lists all the secondary/crossover characters from the books with the titles where they appear.

Thanks for all the great reading!! More, please...
Nancy, from Amherst, who has an acquaintance who went to college with you.

Hi Nancy, Not that I don't like Jean
Casson, surely I do, but a third book
about him is doubtful, he's done everything I've asked of him, as a good character should, but more interesting
to have a new character--for reader and
writer both. However.......it lately occurs
to me that the film industry in the 1930s/
1940s might yet hold further possibilities.
And, if not Citrine, perhaps another woman, the pleasure is in creating these
characters.

Hello, Alan -- how fun to find you here, giving time to LibraryThing. And how great that LT helped facilitate this interaction!

Similar to Chris_Lovell's post >32 Chris_Lovell:, re: the master timeline, I'm curious whether you have a mental map (geography, historical events or scenarios from the 33-45 period, maybe just character ideas) with areas "to be explored" in future books, or do you decide upon all of that as you sit down for the next book? Obviously it can be done either way, and any number of other ways, but your series-not-a-serial approach to storytelling makes me wonder if the situations in the different books are linked simply because they're randomly from the same historical time period, or if you're more deliberate about the various milieux.

Loved your suggestion to ShellyS in >21 afurst:, never heard of Stille but he's on my list now.

Hi Elenchus, I had to think how to answer
this. What happens to me is that I'll
hear a piece of music, Glenn Miller, or
Django Rheinhart, or the magnificent
Lee Wiley (!!) or, even, watch it, the
Samuel Barber Adagio ('36) and I'll imagine
how somebody in Paris was listening to
this and somebody else was dying in
Spain and somebody in Prague was making love and somebody in Sofia was
running away--and for some reason, in
this period, it presents itself to me as
humanity in its reality. And the '50's?
No. Sorry. No. So these books in a sense
all happen in the same moment. I look
at timeline almanacs, when I settle on a
story, and set the novel in its proper
months. I hope this makes sense.

Does make sense. And I quite like your evident inspiration from music, not sure I picked up on that when reading Kingdom of Shadows, and perhaps it's not on your sleeve like that. But it fits.

ETA: And now Lee Wiley's on my music wishlist!

Alan

So far I have read ten of your books. I first became aware of you through our local library, who pick 'books of the week' by our local librarian. Having read one I quickly followed on with as many as the library had in their system. I do find your stories very compelling and difficult to put down.
Have you written a story around the Italian Partisans in the Second World War. In the early 1960's I met a family whilst in Italy on holiday and work, who had been deeply involved with the Partisans. The stories they told were very interesting, but by their own admission the partisans were not popular with all Italians because their actions did bring reprisals from the Germans on many occasions.

Keep writing please, the stories are always of great interest.

Robert Griffen

Lol, Alan I guess you've gotten enough advice here to last you a decade or so. (#33) I hope you continue varying the main character, I enjoy how you follow the main currents of the run up to and into the war but vary the focus by selecting characters from nations that often are seen only in the sidelines. When you move on from Greece, I'd like to see North Africa &/or the Levant roped in to the series. I suppose you've read Olivia Manning's The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy or seen the BBC version with Emma Thompson & Kenneth Branagh? Very similar to you (of course your series is better!). Regards, A

Gee, Mr.Furst, I was hoping that you would name that school, Horace Mann, and that wonderful grammar teacher, Dana Niswender, or was it Harold Clausen for you? Hope you knew Al Baruth too, and just think about the great John Oliver, always on stage, even when in the classroom. Of course, like a few others, I had a crush on Mary Webb, the librarian.

I was graduated way at the bottom of my class, but I owe so much to HM, and, in particular, to the teachers I had there. Did I leave out anyone who was important to you?

Once I had an article in the NY Times published and one of my sentences ended with "of." You can't imagine the number of letters that my classmates sent to me. I answered them only with Al Baruth's anecdote about Winston Churchill-- "Yes," I said," 'That is the kind of English up with which I cannot put." '

Thanks for giving us Library Thingers a chance to chat with you.

Hi RobertGriffen, I did write about
Italian resistance, in The Foreign
Correspondent, but not about Italian
partisans. Very little about partisans,
some in The Polish Officer, and I
thought at one time I would write about
that a lot. But then I did the research,
and a lot of it is pretty heavy, very, very
heavy--too much for readers of novels
meant to be good companions. Most
people don't know what went on, not
really, and better that way. You can find
out if you want to, but likely it won't be
from me.

Thanks, Ammianus, I absolutely love The
Balkan Trilogy, Olivia Manning's Levant
Trilogy not quite as much. Great stuff,
best Russian emigre in literature (I forget
his name) and wonderful quotidian des-
criptions of Romania.
Like trilogies? Read Waugh's Sword and
Shield? Bet you have, but, just in
case . . .

Hi Stronghart, yes it was Horace Mann
and it was Dana Nyswender, and his
Horace Mann handbook of English. And
now, for you, and for all Librarything
people, hope you're sitting down, because
here are the exceptions to the i before e
spelling rule:

Neither leisured sheik nor counterfeit
heir seized the weird foreign height.

Bravo, Mr. Nyswender.

#43: Lol, didn't we all go though a Waugh phase? Your mentioning Greece makes me think of Anthony Quinn in "Guns of Navarone." I just ploughed through The Hollow Legions this week after you brought up the subject ... pretty incredible.

I love your books and am just wondering what your general writing process is. When inspiration usually strikes, what your schedule is like, etc. What do you do when you lack the motivation or get distracted? Do you just force yourself to write anyways, or are there little tricks up your sleeve that you pull out to get the words flowing?

Oh, if I'm remembering correctly, I may have met you very briefly? I used to work at a Barnes & Noble in Corte Madera, California, and you came in to sign some of your books? I may be remembering wrong, haha.

Thanks for your reply. You are quite right of course. The stories I heard were not very easy to listen to particularly as the family I met were deeply involved and had suffered both from the Germans and Italians opposed to the Partisans(who were not saints by any means). I have to agree that if based on true facts, then such stories would not make pleasant reading.

I look forward to your next novel.

Best wishes

Robert

Dear Mr. Furst,

I am pleased to see you mention Eric Ambler. I enjoy his books very much and it is interesting to read his European espionage novels and compare them to your own. Neither you nor Ambler write about super-heroes or super-villains, is that a deliberate choice to avoid being pigeon-holed as a genre writer or not? I notice that in the bookshops I go into that your books are in the general fiction section, not in the crime section where many other thriller and spy books are placed.

What plans do you have for future novels, is there another period of history that you have in mind?

Best wishes for your future writing,

Gavin Webb

Hi Gavin, you're right about super-heroes
and supervillains, both Ambler and I
avoid them. Point being: these are books
about the political reality of the world--
with s'heroes and villains it's easy to
dismiss novels of intrigue--never happen
here. But Ambler saw it happen, in real
time, check the publication years on his
books, and I follow him. I used to say that I wrote (historical) spy novels, but
with reviews and general response I finally changed that: I write novels about
spies. Not quite the same thing, and I
guess that qualifies me to change positions in the bookstores.

No, no new period. I am more than ever
fascinated with what happened in '33
'42, so I guess I'll stick there.

#45 Nonetheless I like Waugh. I do wish
there was more, translated from other
languages, in the way of fiction about
this period. But, a lot of the non-fiction
is as good as or better than the fiction.
I assume you've read Curzio Malaparte, Kaput, and The Volga Rises in Europe
Dear Librarything readers: NOT for the
tender-hearted, and Malaparte was a
fascist, but these books are rare insights
into the period.

>50 afurst: -- thanks for these recommendations, too, Alan. I've just started participating in these Author Chats, but those sorts of introductions to (for me) unfamiliar books are a primary motivation for joining the chat. That, and of course any insights into your creative process and influences, which I've also been pleased to learn about in this chat.

Wonder about your take on Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy. Not quite spy novels, or perhaps even novels about spies. And yet, I really enjoyed them and there is something about the trilogy that attracts me in the same way your work struck a chord.

ETA I think the link in >50 afurst: to Kaput is to the wrong work -- assume it should be Kaputt, a work by Malaparte, not the graphic novel from Trondheim.

Hi Alan,

Just two quick questions, when do you think your next book will come out...middle of 2010?

Also, do you research city maps, streets, etc to evoke the atmosphere of the city landscapes? It seems to me you have a great grasp of Paris in the 30's and 40's.

Jeff

Hello Alan,

I find it very enjoyable to see you here. I met you in Seattle in the 1970s and read a pre-publication novel of yours at the home of a mutual friend. I loved it and have watched for you ever since. Have been delighted to see your success. I have not been able to read as many of your books as I would like to have read; however, ever hopeful...I have them on my pile of To Be Read books. Bravo for your success.

Was in Paris last September and totally could understand your loving it there. I shall return.

When writing I imagine it is important to pick certain details that describe people, places and events. It's some of the stuff that creates atmosphere and immersion (corroborative detail) It allows readers to not just feel that they are there, but specifically 'there', as in Paris 1942 for example. With your work you seem to carefully describe and choose how to word an environment or a set of events. Not sure if it's possible but I would be curious to know how you choose which details to include and where you find the origins of your details. I'm mainly interested in the non-obvious parts like to know how to describe what people wear, not just what they wear.

#50 E-mystery! Don't know what the
Trondheim is, but I meant Malaparte.
I've tried Philip Kerr but it doesn't engage
me all that much, it's impossible to
really explain these things. If I offer a
book to somebody I sometimes say 'You'll
like it or you won't, who knows why, some people like, or don't like, clams or olives.' Who, at the end, really understands this? Not me.

Sorry, I meant #51.

Hi, Jrubyaz. My next book, I'm writing
the hell out of it at the moment, will be
out in June of 2010, trade paper to follow
in June 2011. (If the world is still here.)

I do use city maps, but they have to be
of the late 1930s vintage. After the war,
all over Europe, street names were changed to honor people from the war
or because the old name wasn't appropriate. Finding these can be a
problem but, a novelist, I do the best I
can, but will make something up if I have
to.

#53, Hi Maggie, I suspect you're Maggie
H. of the good old Post-Intelligencer,
which is mourned and should be.
I'm more than happy to be on anybody's
'to-be-read' pile and particularly honored
(youre smart!) to be on yours.

Hi TheCriticalTimes. This is a very hard
and very probing question, and I've
spent some time thinking how to answer.
One of the best things I know how to say
is one of my very rare critical insights, but it will help people understand how
fiction works:

All writers are readers before they're
writers.

Not a tautology, rather that all good writing has in common that it happens on
revision. You learn, internalize, become
intuitive about, what's good, what's
telling, a sight, a sound, an aroma, a
reaction--there could be 30 more things
here, and from this you assemble and
save what hits you in the heart. THERE
IS NO OTHER TEST. All instinct, and these are learned from everything you've
read and enjoyed. Hard country, out there.

Re: msg 58, so sorry, not Maggie of the P.I. although I agree it was a great newspaper, and wish it still were. My RL name is Karen Morgan and our mutual friend Peter Miller and Kathy Rogers. It was a long time ago, eh?

Thanks for answering the question that actually makes a lot of sense. Doesn't make it easier of course but does make a lot of sense.

Hi Karen, your answer brings me back
to my great, and highly crazy, days in
Seattle. I'm still in touch with Peter,
and others in Seattle, from time to
time. Ahh, Montana Books, Ray Mungo,
and The Winterlude Water Readings,
me and Tom Robbins and Mariel
Hemingway. To say a good time was had
by all is barely to describe it. Best, Alan

#61 I only wish I knew more, but a lot
goes on that I don't really understand--
it's just there in my fingers when I sit
down to write in the morning. E. B White
was once asked a searching question
about his method and said, "I don't like
to look under the hood."

Alan- Like a lot of the folks on this thread, I have thoroughly enjoyed all of your novels and am very much looking forward to June 2010. Not sure if you've seen it yet, but be sure to see Flame and Citron, a recently released Dutch film about the Resistance in Copenhagen in 1944. The movie focuses on the two Resistance fighters pulled in different directions by competing Allied handlers, some of whom are similar to Mr. Brown. Furthermore, the Gestapo Chief reminded me somewhat of Dr. Lapp.

Balkan Trilogy - I really liked that, read it after seeing the televised version, and read it again. The Levant Trilogy wasn't as engrossing but needed since I wasn't ready to be finished with it all. The Russian - Yakimov (Count?). He did take advantage of people and was pretty useless but if I remember, he did step forward and do his part (though I can't remember when or what the circumstances were). Great characters throughout - I still have a mental image of the guy with the toy terrier on wheels. :-)

Besides all your research into daily life and historical happenings, your characters are what draw me to your books.

Forgot to acknowledge Olivia Manning there - with those titles!! I was just so pleased that AF liked the Balkan Trilogy I got carried away.

#64 Dr. Lapp? Gestapo? No, please,
he's my good German, my military
intelligence German! He was in here
earlier today, wringing his hands, and I
told him to cool it, it's just the LOOKS
of the actor in a movie.
Thanks for the heads-up about Flame and
Citron, which sounds interesting, and I
never would have heard about it if you
hadn't written--so, serious appreciation.
Dr. Lapp is having a Frappacini, so I
guess that's going to be okay.

#46, CarteyBlanch--how did I miss
answering this? There are two good
tricks I know about to keep away from
blockage, Hemingway said to stop
writing when you still know what happens
next, which gives you a good start the
following morning. Me, I always start
by fixing something--will read back over
a page, maybe two back from where I
am, find something wrong, and fix it.
This gets me going, and doesn't demand
anything all that creative. I'd say 75%
of my writing time is spent in revision.

#65 I have to say that characters are the central fact, the essence of all fiction
(and maybe most non-fiction). Plot is
plot, I hate it, and, to me, setting is
always a character.
That leaves diction--which I finally
figured out is a function of who you're
writing about. So character is everything
to me, and thanks for the kind words

A character I'd like to meet is the Brasserie Heiniger. :-) It's something I look for, after realizing it would always appear (it _will_, I hope!). Given that, can Paris itself be considered a character?

There is someone on Facebook who has been working on a Furst map, actually it's a series map.

>70 nbtOO:, nbtOO, I'm not on Facebook (and don't want to be), but I'm intrigued about the Furst series map. Any hints as to how I might view it, esp from outside Facebook itself?

I've been toying with the idea of making a Chicago area Media Map, showing my fave bookstores, music stores, venues, and so forth. But I'd like to see others in action, first, and how better than from a map in which I have an interest?

Alan:

I am a huge admirer of your work. I have read most of your books and usually buy each on the date of publication. There are very few other writers to compare you to, who do such an extraordinary amount of research. I just want to thank you for your extraordinary contributions to historical fiction. I do have a question which is: Are any of your works ever going to be made into films ? Your writing has a cinemagraphic quality that I feel is very well suited for the big screen.

#71 Umm, Elenchus? I have absolutely no
idea what you're talking about. What is
this map? Where is it? I've been on my
Facebook page, but there's no map there.
Is there? How do I see it?
Signed: Confused in Sag Harbor

Thanks, Alsek, I too would like to see
my work as a movie, but this is the
single area where nothing seems to happen. I'm asked all the time, on tour,
interviews, but I don't have any real
answer or explanation. Wish I could
respond better.

re mssg. 72: AF, the map was done by a fan of the Facebook interest page called "The World of Shadows: Alan Furst". I'm emailing Elenchus the instructions for finding the map.

For the map on the Facebook group, just go to http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2508117340&topic=4299

To follow up on my last post, the idea behind this map is to have a map/timeline on Google Earth that shows where all of the characters in all of the novels are at any point in space/time--so in theory you can have a map that tells you where Khristo Stoianev, Janos Polanyi, Mr. Brown, and S. Kolb are on 14 April 1942.

Thanks Chris, I looked at the facebook
page, and Campbell Stephenson's post.
Y'know this is kind of what I've been
doing, all these books. I loved sports
when I was a kid (10/11)--I still do,
more than ever--and I started to create
teams, and then leagues. For pro football,
22 players on a team, with colleges,
and I'd get up to 5 or 6 teams. I had one
in basketball as well. I was creating hundreds of names, trying to match
names with what sort of players they
were, etc.
Thius novelists.
It never stopped.

I have enjoyed the 1930s novels for more than 10 years now. I pre-order and read them as soon as they come out but my favourites are Polish Officer, Dark Star and Night Soldiers, all of which I have read and re-read several times. The stories just seems so realistic, partly because they evoke the Eastern Europe I remember from living in Russia and partly because the plotting is so intricate. More recent novels seem more stripped down with the focus on creating atmosphere and a narrower canvas, usually just one country plus Paris rather than a whole bunch of people in various locations. I know the earlier books didn't sell but is there any chance that you will return to the more epic sweep of the earlier novels? Also, I am interested in reading the Danuble Blues Esquire article from the early 1980s. Is there a link to it anywhere?

Just one other question: Which of your novels and characters do you especially like? I know the Polish officer is many people's favourites but I always preferred Szara myself. Maybe because he's less of a natural hero and always unsure whether he's a player or being played. The first few chapters of Dark Star are better than Ambler and more exciting than Le Carre at his best (Honourable Schoolboy) with the added bonus that the Russian and German characters really come to life, something that hardly any other English or American writers can achieve. Ambler is good but some of his supporting characters fail. Le Carre can write great dialogue but his female character's don't convince the way that Furst's do.

Thanks, Richard, for kind words. Those
early novels were panoramic in part
because I'd never used--had never known--any of this material. But inter-
locked progressions of books suffer from
the author saying the same thing over
and over. I did like the big themes, in
those three novels, defection from the
Soviet services, and in the Polish Officer,
the great resistance of the war. But I
couldn't do it again. When I went to The
World at Night, and started using the
form of the "existential" novel for spy
stories, it meant I could work a different
way, with more refined material, smaller
plots, narrower apertures. In a way, the
climax book of this change was Kingdom
of Shadows, then I started over again.
Hint: the book I'm writing now, following
The Spies of Warsaw, the most popular
book I ever wrote, is a second stage of
that novel. And, who knows, even if
it's the same Europe, I may change again.