|
|
| photo: Iliana Wilson | |
Carter Wilson is the author of 10 standalone psychological thrillers as well as numerous short stories. He is an ITW Thriller Award finalist, a five-time winner of the Colorado Book Award, and his works have been optioned for television and film. Additionally, he is the host of the podcast Making It Up and founder of Unbound Writer, which provides coaching services, writing retreats, and online classes. His latest novel, Tell Me What You Did (Poisoned Pen Press, January 28), is a thriller that features a host of a popular true-crime podcast and asks the question: Are murderers always the bad guys?
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
Poe Webb hosts a popular podcast in which anonymous guests confess their crimes. A guest stuns her by confessing to having killed Poe's mother.
On your nightstand now:
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann. You might be surprised to hear I mostly read nonfiction, and this beautiful volume details an 18th-century shipwreck and the amazing stories of its survivors.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Child? Not sure I even remember. But as a teen, it was undoubtedly The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. It was the first time I realized books could be fun.
Your top five authors:
Stephen King
Erik Larson
James Clavell
Douglas Adams
Cormac McCarthy
Book you've faked reading:
I don't fake reading books--I wear my literary ignorance proudly on my chest. I'll be the first to tell you I haven't read something or have no idea what your clever reference means. Gravity's Rainbow? Ulysses? I'm good, thanks.
Book you're an evangelist for:
William Goldman's The Princess Bride. This might have been the only book I had to read in high school English that I fell in love with. The sheer creativity of Goldman is astonishing.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Well, it's much more common I don't buy a book because of the cover. But I will say I was persuaded by the gorgeousness of Anne Rice's complete Vampire Chronicles. Gorgeous wrought-iron detailing all over the cover of that one.
Book you hid from your parents:
Are you kidding? My parents would have loved to have seen me reading but I couldn't be bothered; I don't think I started reading for pleasure consistently until my 20s. If anything, I was hiding albums from my parents. Quiet Riot's Metal Health comes to mind. Back then, that was basically listening to Satanic music.
Book that changed your life:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Not sure any book has truly changed my life, but The Road is a book that forces you to read every single word. I can't think of any other author whose use of language is as compelling as McCarthy's.
Favorite line from a book:
"Don't Panic." --Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Five books you'll never part with:
Well, they would all have to be signed editions, wouldn't they? I'd go with:
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
When I Died for the First Time by Tim Booth
Six Years by Harlan Coben
Particle Theory by Edward Bryant
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version). What a story; 1,200 pages has never felt so pulse-pounding. I've read it twice.