Duane Swierczynski isn’t one to slow down. The author has recently released two new books and an Audible original. First, Lush and Other Tales of Boozy Mayhem, a collection of short stories published by Cimarron Street Books, is one of his most personal releases to date. It promises to entertain readers with “crime, science fiction, and plenty of horror.”
Another recent book, Lion & Lamb, was written by Swierczynski in partnership with best-selling author James Patterson. The novel follows two private detectives investigating the high-profile murder of the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback. It quickly made The New York Times Best Sellers list upon release.
If that wasn’t enough to keep Swierczynski busy this summer, he also co-wrote the Audible original Zero Tolerance with Patterson, narrated by Academy Award winner Hilary Swank. The story takes place at Fort Irwin Army Base in the Mojave Desert, where a female soldier has gone missing after reporting an assault. Sergeant Jo Barnes (Swank) leads a team of investigators in their attempt to uncover the mystery.
In our exclusive interview, he discussed these recent titles, collaborating with James Patterson, writing comics, and more.
Horror Geek Life: Before we dive into books, I want to ask you about comics. You’ve covered Deadpool, Godzilla, Birds of Prey, Judge Dredd, X-Men, and the list goes on. Do you have a favorite character or story that you’ve written?
Duane Swierczynski: This is probably a weird choice, but the one I always loved the most that I did was a brief Iron Fist run. I followed Ed Brubaker, and that was such a fun thing because it was a total playground. Those guys set up this huge Iron Fist universe. So, it was like anything you wanted to do. I was encouraged to do a normal four-issue run, and then a one-off, and those one-offs were the best.
I pitched them on one set in old Hollywood. It was Orson Randall, and it was this pulpy, crazy Hollywood thing that I had so much fun with. It was unhinged and free from continuity. It just went nuts. It’s still my favorite, probably, of the Marvel era. I miss that kind of world-building. It’s pretty much like you’re doing your little thing, your little piece of it, of the soap opera. So, that was great fun.
RELATED: Exclusive: Nick Cutter and Andrew F. Sullivan Talk ‘The Handyman Method’
Horror Geek Life: When I think of you and your style, the things that come to mind are old Hollywood, pulp, and notorious mobsters. So, that makes a lot of sense.
Duane Swierczynski: I’m speaking to you from my office here in Old Town, Pasadena, with emphasis on the word “old.” It’s the old Chamber of Commerce building from 1906. It has an atrium and looks like an old private eye lair. I was like, I have to work here. This is the place I want to be. So, you just nailed me — all that kind of stuff. I was born 80 years too late.
Horror Geek Life: I have to ask, is it haunted?
Duane Swierczynski: I haven’t encountered things personally, but it must be. I’m going to go on record and say, yes, it has to be haunted.
Horror Geek Life: Excellent. You have also written comics for Storm King Comics, headed by Sandy King Carpenter and John Carpenter. What has that partnership been like?
Duane Swierczynski: Sandy King Carpenter is the one who keeps it up and running and creatively guides you. And she’s just so cool. She’s the most badass person I know. She knows writers, and she’s worked with writers her entire career. She knows how weird we are and what inspires us.
Some comics companies, I won’t name names, just want you to do their thing and crank stuff out. Sandy is like, “Pitch an idea. If I like it, I’ll tell you. If I don’t like it, I’ll tell you. I don’t want your IP.” Some companies want to grab all your IP. If I ever want to make something out of these things, I’m free to. Her only thing is, like, involve us if you want. And I mean, of course, I want you involved. Who wouldn’t want the Carpenters involved in projects?
I started small, doing short comic stories for their anthology, and then started doing longer story arcs. And it’s been great. I’m actually in the last quarter of a full-on graphic novel with them right now. I won’t say what it is yet. But they’re all awesome people.
Horror Geek Life: That makes me happy to hear! I can’t wait to know more about it. You have a few new titles this year, one being Lush and Other Tales of Boozy Mayhem. It’s actually on my desk now. Can you talk a bit about it?
Duane Swierczynski: Oh, happily. It’s my pride and joy. It’s definitely a mom-and-pop shop kind of thing. It’s very indie. I realized at a certain point that I had enough stories to build a collection. And I love story collections, as it’s a great way to sample someone’s work. I always felt like I’m not quite a real writer without having one out.
I have a good friend, David Schow, who you may know from a bunch of worlds. He’s a brilliant writer. He’s most well known in the film and TV world as he co-wrote The Crow. He’s one of my favorite writers, and we became friends years ago. He’s working with a publisher named John Scoleri and a small press called Cimarron Street Books. David was reprinting all of his work through Cimarron, and they’re just really beautiful books. They’ve put a lot of care into them, and I was impressed by it. Whereas a lot of print-on-demand, small press stuff can be a little shaky. I didn’t want a crappy cover. I didn’t want a lousy-feeling book. I wanted to do something that felt real. And John’s a dream to work with.
RELATED: How ‘Blade’ Paved the Way for Future Comic Book Adaptations
I spent a while gathering the stories. I commissioned the art. The cover art is by Heather Vaughan, a Philadelphia artist. I love her work. So we met up last November, and my idea was I’ll walk her through my goofy collection and see what she has in mind. We both realized that the same dive bar in the first story and the last story, we both knew it very well. It’s a dive bar called McGlinchey’s, and it’s in downtown Philly. So we had that connection, and she nailed it. The whole front wrap-around cover is basically my hazy memories of McGlinchey’s.
I was involved in the process of making this book in a way I never was before. Usually, you write it, turn it in, and the publishing machine takes over doing the covers and the layouts. This was all John doing layouts, Heather doing the cover and the art. I was very involved every step of the way. And it was super cool to do that.
Horror Geek Life: I’ve read some of your other work, and it can get absurdly violent. Despite you being so mild-mannered! I’m assuming Lush goes down the same path.
Duane Swierczynski: Oh, big time. That’s my secret sauce. I present myself as a normal human being in the real world, but my brain is a rat’s nest in a weird, spooky attic. That’s where it comes out.
It’s called Boozy Mayhem, which comes from my company name, Gleeful Mayhem. It just sums up what my work is about — it’s mayhem and violence. But hopefully, it’s the kind where it makes you laugh or question reality rather than depress you. I don’t want to be dark and suffering. I’m not some edgelord trying to depress you. To me, life is an absurd comedy, so I’m trying to capture some of that.
The Boozy Mayhem part of it was when I collected the stories and I was trying to do the introduction. What’s the throughline between all these stories? What connects them all? I’m like, oh, it’s alcohol. Every one of these characters is either a drunk, a recovering drunk, or drinking while they’re doing something. It’s almost a shadow history of my last 20 years to the point where I’m like, I should have called this A Cry for Help: A Collection. Obviously, my subconscious was working stuff out. I could either run from it, or I could embrace it. So, of course, I chose to very messily embrace it.
Horror Geek Life: Let’s talk about your James Patterson collaborations. First, I have to ask, what is it like working with such a successful mainstream author?
Duane Swierczynski: He’s so down-to-earth. He calls you up, and it’s not like, “Please hold for Mr. Patterson.” It’s like, “Hey, it’s Jim. I have some notes for you. Let’s kick this around.” He’s so down-to-earth and chill. His genius, honestly, is storytelling. He really does have a billion ideas, and he knows he can’t do them all himself. So, he made this empire, and it’s fun to be part of it.
RELATED: BookTuber Criminolly Brings the Best in “Crime, Pulp, Horror… That Kind of Thing”
He works just as hard as all of us do. He’s a hard-working person. He doesn’t waste your time with a lot of “This is good” puffery. It’s like, “Good pages. We should work on these things.” He’s just to the point, which I appreciate. Hollywood is known for the “Oh, we love you. Love your work. You’re amazing.” And that’s their translation for “We can’t stand you. You can leave our office now.” Jim is just super straightforward and doesn’t waste anyone’s time. The writers he works with, but also the readers’ time. I’ve always admired his short chapters and momentum, and pages fly. I love books that you keep turning pages.
I think if you lose the reader, you’ve lost. The only value you have as a writer is keeping them turning pages, getting to the end, and making sure they have a great time. I think he has a similar mission, so that makes it easy to work with him. He’s awesome to work with.
Horror Geek Life: Lion & Lamb had a pretty successful release, so congrats! What can we expect from the novel?
Duane Swierczynski: The title Lion & Lamb is for two different private eyes, Veena Lion and Cooper Lamb. They’re competing private eyes in Philadelphia and end up in a high-profile case. One’s working for the prosecution, and one’s working for the defense. It’s a clash between the two. They like each other a lot, but they’ll never admit it.
To me, it is a bit like William Powell and Myrna Loy in Thin Man, based on the Dashiell Hammett novel. I just love that interplay of two super smart people trying to outsmart each other all the time, and yet just kind of want it. That’s the underlying current. It becomes a great clash of personalities. It’s like, I hate you, but man, would I love to hold you. That was fun to play with.
The funny thing was, he said, “Hey, I have an outline for a novel. What do you think?” And he knew I’m a Philadelphian, born and raised. What he probably didn’t know is that I’m the rare Philadelphian who was not a sports fan whatsoever. So the murder plot is based on the Eagles, with the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback being murdered on the parkway. I love the idea and setup. But I know nothing about football. My mom does, my sisters do. I don’t; I missed the sports gene. So, I talked to other fans who were like, okay, here’s a touchdown. Here’s the yard. I walked away with more admiration than I thought I would for football. I understand better the Eagles mania. I know you being from Dallas, the Cowboys and the Eagles, that’s a whole thing.
To me, research is the most fun part of any running project. If I can research and never have to write, that’d be great. But at a certain point, you have to actually write. So that was great fun. I hope people check it out. It’s hopefully a fast read and probably more funny than anything else.
Horror Geek Life: It was great to see the news that Hilary Swank narrated Zero Tolerance. How exciting was it to learn about the casting?
Duane Swierczynski: It’s super exciting. Having someone of her caliber speak words you’ve written is kind of phenomenal. I’ve done a previous Audible original with Jim called The Guilty. It had John Lithgow and Bryce Dallas Howard. When I first heard the audio, I thought, wait a minute, they rewrote me. But I realized they didn’t change a word. It was all in how they performed it. I’m proud of my words, but they elevated it to the point where it sounds natural.
RELATED: How ‘The Vault of Horror’ (1973) Brought Comic Book Horror to Screen
A good actor will transform any prose into something wonderful. That’s the exciting part for me, to hear how it kind of all comes out. That’s the joy of writing these projects.
Horror Geek Life: Before we wrap, is there anything you’ve recently read or watched that you really enjoyed?
Duane Swierczynski: In the comics world, I’m really blown away by a comic called Swan Songs by W. Maxwell Prince. He did the Ice Cream Man comic horror anthology. In Swan Songs, the idea is that every issue is the end of something, like the end of a relationship. The first two issues go places you don’t think it will. It’s a heartfelt comic you think about for hours afterward, even days. Like, damn, I’m still unpacking issue two in my head. He nailed a universal truth about people and yet presented it in a fun, bizarre way.
Also, the folks who did That Texas Blood have a spin-off called The Enfield Gang Massacre. Issue one came out recently. Loved the hell out of that. Old-timey Western badasses.
Movie-wise, Talk to Me was great. The hype was real. I thought it was wonderful. I also saw Cobweb and really enjoyed it; I’m a big fan of the cast. But it needed a bigger release. It kept me guessing, and then the third act kicked into some weird place. It reminded me of how Malignant kicked in at a certain point. I love that feeling where all the doors go off the hinges — that kind of unrestrained lunacy. I wish more people saw it.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
