Interview With Author Don Carr
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
For over fifteen years, I’ve investigated and written about America’s worst polluters from the gas fields of North Dakota to the “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. My writing has been featured in Politico, Sierra Magazine, the Washington DC City Paper, the Huffington Post, Grist, Civil Eats and the Food and Environment Reporting Network.
I’ve also worked for national environmental groups like EWG, the Environmental Defense Fund, and now with The Alliance for the Great Lakes.
The Midnight Rambler is my first novel.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Midnight Rambler was inspired by a series of events that took place in 2016. While I was driving in southern Italy to Positano, I witnessed the Camorra mafia burning toxic chemicals on Mount Vesuvius. After doing some research I learned they’d been doing it for decades.
On that same trip I was reading Rocks Off: 50 Songs that Define the Rolling Stones and chapter 22 is about the Midnight Rambler and how it was written in Positano! And the song is about a mass murderer — the Boston Strangler. From there I had my antagonist and a good idea for the plot. Then when I retuned stateside I interviewed several EPA special agents for a non-fiction book proposal on biofuel fraud (that never ended up getting published — we got scooped buy Wired magazine) and realized I had fully formed environmental heroes to draw from for my protagonist.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know about unusual but a try and write two hours a day.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Lester Bangs’ music writing. The optimism and subversion in Tom Robbins’ Another Roadside Attraction. Elmore Leonard is hilarious and perfect. Tom Clancy painted a convincing portrait of global conventional war and terrorism that we later found out was “assisted” by the DOD. Michael Chrichton was an early hero. Congo rules and everyone forgets how good Jurassic Park was because the movies just overtook it. Don Pendelton’s pre-John Wick style Executioner actioners. Samuel Fuller’s The Big Read One describes the horror of combat in what I can only assume is authentic detail. Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys was the book that almost made me give up because it’s so good. William F Buckley Jr’s Thank You For Smoking, Nick Hornsby’s High Fidelity, and Christopher Moore’s Practical Demon Keeping all hit me in the right spot right when I needed them in my mid 20’s.
What are you working on now?
The Midnight Rambler is the first book in a planned three-book series, so I’m on number two tentatively titled The Republic of Awesome.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Love it or hate it Facebook obviously is the place where most books are sold. I’m also enjoying the local indie book scene in Minnesota, too. The community is so welcoming and energetic in championing books, especially those by local authors.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t Give Up.
Learn the difference between “story” and “plot.”
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I can’t remember who said it first, but every character must clearly want something, even if it’s just a glass of water.
What are you reading now?
I just finished Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightening which was an awesome story about a Native American monster hunter and Nick De Semlyen’s Wild and Crazy Guys that chronicles my comedy heroes of the 70’s and 80s’. Been a while since I read Bester’s The Stars My Destination, so that’s next. And waiting for each new issue of Brian K. Vaughan’s and Fiona Staples’s Saga is excruciating.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Second book. Third book. Then rest and whiskey.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Ooof, that’s tough. But in this moment in time I’d say:
Robert Ludlum’s The Matarese Circle. Read it at least a dozen times.
Stephen King’s The Stand was like the Beatles on Ed Sullivan for me and tons of other writers.
Jason Aaron’s Scalped series.
Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Author Websites and Profiles
Don Carr’s Social Media Links
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