5 Questions for Bryon Quertermous

For this month’s post instead of a review, I spent some time chatting (well, emailing) with my old writing center colleague Bryon Quertermous.  Recently, Bryon left a M-F 9-5 job for life as a full-time mystery writer and editor. Most importantly he’s living proof that guys do read, and write.

1.     Why do you read? – Because I love using my imagination. It’s the only entertainment that lets me get lost completely in a world. I also love to read because I love words. I love to see how other writers use words.

2.     Is there are “worst book I ever read?” If so, what is it?-Not really. I’ve read a few stinkers in my time, but I always learn something from them.

3.     What’s your absolute favorite book? – Catcher in the Rye, which is funny because I know a lot of people who would list that as one of the worst books they ever read. But it was a book I read at just the right time and at just the right age to really speak to me. I still try to read it once a year.

4.     You have a young son.  What 3 books do you want to make sure he reads by the time he’s 18? – Catcher in the Rye, obviously. He’s named after the private detective character Spenser, so I would love him to have read at least the first book in that series (by Robert B. Parker), and I also want him to read a really long book, the equivelent of the marathon for a reader.  My first attempt was Gone With The Wind but I never quite made it through, so my first winner was It by Stephen King and then The Stand.

5.     What’s the first book you remember reading that left you going “Whoa”?-Misery by Stephen King. Back in my day, before YA, there wasn’t much for kids who read through all of the Hardy Boys and other few books for kids, so I was allowed to go into the adult section of the library and that was the first book I checked out because it was about a writer and I was already thinking about being a writer. Whoa, indeed. Still love that book.

Bryon Quertermous is a reader, writer, and editor. He edits crime fiction for Angry Robot Books and his first novel, MURDER BOY, will be published this summer and he’s currently writing the sequel that will be published in January.