Wallace Stroby is the author of Cold Shot to the Heart (Minotaur Books, January 18, 2011) and three other novels: Gone 'til
November (2010), The Heartbreak
Lounge (2005) and The Barbed-Wire
Kiss (2003), which was a finalist for the
Barry Award for Best First Novel. A former journalist, he lives on the Jersey
Shore.
On your nightstand now:
The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian, Innocent Monster by Reed Farrel Coleman, Do They Know I'm Running? by David Corbett.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Silver Chief, Dog of the North by Jack O'Brien, and its sequels.
Your top five authors:
An ever-changing list. At the moment, Larry Brown, Lorrie Moore, Richard Price, George Pelecanos, Tom McGuane
Book you've faked reading:
The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra. It was recommended to me by Clive Barker. I was lost after 15 pages.
Book you're an evangelist for:
The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett. His best novel, better than The Maltese Falcon.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Rendezvous in Black and the other Cornell Woolrich novels reprinted by Ballantine in the '80s. Loved the Hopperesque cover paintings by Larry Schwinger, and the neon type font. Loved the books, too.
Book that changed your life:
The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley. The traditional American detective novel meets the real world.
Favorite line from a book:
"I wait like a denied lover for the blue glow of dawn."--from James Lee Burke's Heaven's Prisoners.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.
Characters I wish I'd created:
Ray Hicks from Robert Stone's Dog Soldiers, Will Graham from Thomas Harris's Red Dragon, DCI Jane Tennison from Prime Suspect.