Manuel Martin Ferreras. Interview with the author of The Great Detective Byron Mitchell

We chatted with the author of Malnazidos, who has a new novel.

Photography: Manuel Martín Ferreras, Twitter profile.

Manuel Martin Ferreras, born in Zamora but raised on the outskirts of Barcelona, ​​was so successful with his first novel, Night of the dead of 38, which was adapted to the cinema with the title of malnazidos. now present El great detective Byron Mitchell. I thank you very much for the time dedicated to this interview where you talk about her and several other topics.

Manuel Martin Ferreras — Interview 

  • CURRENT LITERATURE: Your last published novel is titled The great detective Byron Mitchell. What can you tell us about her and where did the idea for her come from?

MANUEL MARTÍN FERRERAS: I grew up in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, on the outskirts of Barcelona. Every time I took the subway to go to the city center I was fascinated by discovering the modernist buildings of the XNUMXth century survivors among the most modern glass and steel constructions of the 60s, 70s and 80s. The evident contrast magnified in my head its image as Scenarios for some classic style story, and what more classic than a detective investigating a murder at that time?

  • AL: Can you remember any of your first readings? And your first writing?

MMF: The Comics Mortadelo and Filemon, the Marvel comics and some of DC, Julio Verne (20.000 leagues of underwater travel y Journey to the Center of the Earth), Arthur Conan Doyle (a couple of story books Sherlock Holmes), Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers y twenty years laters), many Youth Literary Jewelry of those published by Bruguera, and later by Isaac Asimov (the Foundation saga) and William Gibson (the Ensanche trilogy).

My first writing? A story that honors, bordering on plagiarism, Sandman by Neil Gaiman. The protagonist was a Lord of Mirrors who fell in love with a mortal whose life he could only contemplate from a distance on the other side of the mirror. 

  • AL: A leading author? You can choose more than one and from all periods. 

MMF: I guess I would choose Neil Gaiman. I remember reading Sandman, the comic that he created and scripted since the late 80s, I was aware that I also wanted to create my own dreams… my own stories, I mean.

  • AL: What character in a book would you have liked to meet and create? 

MMF: Well, I don't know how to tell you: there are several. Since I just mentioned Neil Gaiman, he comes to mind andthe demon crowley, of the novel Good omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Crowley was a convivial too accustomed to enjoying material pleasures among mortals to allow the Apocalypse to end his way of life.

  • AL: Any special habits or habits when it comes to writing or reading? 

MMF: Since I started writing as a teenager I have been trying all types of electronic keyboards which I have been able to access. devices like a alphasmart, which was a keyboard with a screen of just a couple of rows of text, or also a keyboard with a side screen that I bought fifteen years ago on vacation in Japan. Later I tried it with a physical keyboard linked to one of my first mobiles and even with a tablet. After wasting so much time testing, I have discovered that my ideal device is the MacBook Air with which I have been writing for ten years.

Manias regarding reading? I don't think I have any highlights.

  • AL: And your preferred place and time to do it? 

MMF: Write, better for the morning, after having a coffee. Or with a coffee in the middle of the writing session, depending on the day. I like to move with the laptop from the office to the dining room or kitchen table. Some good paragraphs The great detective Byron Mitchell I wrote them lounging in a deck chair on the balcony, surrounded by my wife's plants.

Read? I am one of those who settle in the armchair, although if I have had a tiring day, it is best to sit upright in a chair, firm with the book in front of me. As if I had to study it for an exam, come on, if I don't get sleepy.

  • AL: Are there other genres that you like? 

MMF: The detective novel, fantastic, terror, the science fiction, the novel History… All of them seem to me a great framework to develop stories. Its more or less defined conventions help me when creating my novels, which, from the beginning, come to mind associated with their particular genre. 

  • AL: What are you reading now? And writing?

MMF: I just started reading London Connection, by Charles Cumming, the third book in the trilogy starring spy Thomas Kell. And regarding writing, I'm starting a thriller set in the current Barcelona; a bit of a story Hitchcock.

  • AL: How do you think the publishing scene is and what decided you to try to publish?

MMF: The publishing landscape is always complicated. We are many aspiring to publish. I decided to try it because I have never been one of those who write only for myself, to keep the texts in a drawer. I wanted to know if my stories could interest someone else, I wanted to share them.

  • AL: Is the moment of crisis that we are experiencing being difficult for you or will you be able to keep something positive for future stories?

MMF: I'm finding it a bit overwhelming not being clear about what the short-term future holds for us globally, but what scares me the most is that our political leaders (local, national and international) don't seem to have a clear idea either. Trying so hard to see the positive side of it, For a writer, moments of crisis and conflict are an important source of ideas.. Also, as someone said, in times of crisis, people seek refuge in fiction.


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