Jeff VanderMeer interviewed me about The Kingdom of Bones for the Amazon weblog. The Amazon daily blog is here – the post’s dated December 6 and sits between a memoir about Elizabeth Hardwick and an item about watching TV shows on your tie. Alternatively, you can skip straight to it by clicking here.

Amazon.com: Besides making sure the historical detail didn’t overwhelm the story, what was the biggest writing challenge for you with this novel?

Stephen Gallagher: There were so many strands that it allowed me to pull together. The biggest challenge was in making them all work to a single end. I wanted to capture some of the energy of the old dime novels and story papers but also to be able to say something meaningful about love, death and obsession along the way. However you think I did, give me some credit for aiming high. There’s no reason why popular fiction should be devoid of theme, and no reason why serious art shouldn’t entertain.

Follow the link for more of the same.

UPDATE:

When the headshot that accompanies the interview was taken this summer, I was in Kevin Costner’s restaurant on Main Street in Deadwood. I could look out the window across to where Wild Bill was killed.

Different kind of headshot there, though.

FURTHER UPDATE:

The interview will be added to the novel’s page on Amazon.com.