Neil McMahon
Describe your latest book.
Lone Creek is a novel set in western Montana, where I've lived since 1971. It's contemporary, and I'd call it a thriller, although that's not clearcut.
The main character, Hugh Davoren, is a local man who once had a rosy future — he was a promising amateur boxer, went to Stanford, and then on to marriage and a career as a journalist in California. But fate and/or failure ended all that, and now — pushing forty — he's back in Montana, working as a carpenter (the trade he learned during summers in college).
Hugh is currently rebuilding an old mansion on a ranch that holds powerful memories for him — especially of a girl he loved as a teenager, who died there. It was ruled an accident, but more likely was murder.
That history interweaves with trouble that suddenly comes to him here and now, when he hauls a truckload of construction trash to the ranch dump, and finds the carcasses of two horses that have been brutally killed and hidden.
This puts him afoul of the ranch's wealthy, arrogant new owner, for reasons Hugh can't fathom. He's immediately assaulted, held at gunpoint, and railroaded to jail. Things keep getting worse for him, fast.
His longtime friend and work partner, Madbird — Blackfeet Indian, Vietnam vet, a fierce, funny renegade who thinks way outside society's box — steps in to mentor him. Still, Hugh ends up running for his life.
Along the way, he hooks up with the ranch owner's lovely wife, who — desperate to escape her dangerous husband — shares both his peril and his bed. Until he discovers that she has a treacherous agenda of her own.
If someone were to write your biography, what would be the title and subtitle?
He Never Saw It Coming (A Life Spent Leading With The Chin).
What fictional character would you like to date, and why?
Quite a few, but Anna Karenina stands out — smart, soulful, and willing to take a chance.
Offer a favorite sentence or passage from another writer.
Sir Walter Scott, speaking of his own earlier works: "Look upon them again, I dare not."
Share an interesting experience you've had with one of your readers.
I got a long distance phone call from a somewhat agitated lady who was reading one of my earlier medical thrillers, and had come to a passage suggesting that (protagonist) Dr. Monks might be questioning his religious faith. She began quoting scripture to straighten Monks and me out. I extricated myself as tactfully as I could, by blaming it on him.
Who's wilder on tour, rock bands or authors?
I'm afraid the rockers rule there, man. The main problem is, there's only one groupie for all us authors put together (a retired English teacher who's full-body tattooed with
Faulkner quotes and pierced with Waterman fountain pen nibs), and while she's a hell of a lot of fun, she's always at somebody else's signing.
On a clear and cold day, do you typically get outside into the sunshine or stay inside where it's warm?
I spent much of the last thirty-plus years working outside, through a lot of Montana winters and a few Sacramento Valley summers. As a result, I tend to regard weather with respect, wariness, and as something that really should happen to other people.
Who are your favorite characters in history? Have any of them influenced your writing?
Thomas Beckett comes to mind. I haven't written about him or modeled a character on him, but I think that he (or, probably more accurately, his legend) has influenced me greatly in non-obvious ways.
Recommend five or more books on a single subject of personal interest or expertise.
I hold the following books in reverence. They're all beautifully written, incredibly powerful, and driven by inner struggle that's all the more poignant because it's rarely, if ever, discussed.
Death In Venice by Thomas Mann
The Heart Of The Matter by Graham Greene
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Winter In The Blood by James Welch
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