Interview with Crime Writer Peter Eichstaedt — S. 5, Ep. 10

Debbi Mack interviews crime writer and non-fiction author Peter Eichstaedt on the Crime Cafe podcast. Read along with the podcast or, if you’re in a rush, download a copy of the show notes here. Debbi: [00:00:13] Hi, everyone. This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense, and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two ebooks for sale: the nine-book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy links for both on my website DebbiMack.com, under the “Crime Cafe” link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. Debbi: [00:01:01] Hi, everyone. My guest this week has extensive experience as a journalist. He's also written two award-winning non-fiction books. In addition, he's the author of the Kyle Dawson series, one of which he's giving away to a lucky reader. I'm pleased to have with me today author Peter Eichstaedt. Hi, Peter. How are you doing today? Peter: [00:01:26] Good. How are you? Debbi: [00:01:28] Fine, thanks. Thanks for being with us. Peter: [00:01:32] My pleasure. Debbi: [00:01:34] Okay. Well, first, I have to say that I absolutely loved your guest post. And those of you who are listening, if you haven't read his guest post, just go to my blog for the Wednesday before this podcast when up on video and take a look. It's well-done. Would you describe your fiction as being---what sort of genre? Political thriller? Peter: [00:02:00] That's a good question. Yeah, I like the thriller designation, but I also like mysteries and I would think I've tried to blend the two. I don't know how successful I've been at that. But I don't really feel like I write genre fiction, but I guess I do if you need to put it into a category, it would be, you know, like mystery, mystery-thriller. But I think a lot of people, a lot of writers kind of blend genres, so, I guess that's probably a good description of it. Usually what I've done is, you know, I feel compelled to have a story, to tell a story. And so the way I look at it is, I use the devices I need to use to tell that story. And I'm less ... I'm really more focused on that than anything else, than trying to fit into a genre. I know a lot of times, you know, when you're sending a book out and trying to find an agent or something like that, they just want to know what category. And they have all these admonitions on their website, you know, we don't represent this, we don't represent that, but we do represent this and that. So I don't know. Sometimes it's hard to make things fit. Debbi: [00:03:43] I'm just thinking from a reader's perspective, say, who would you compare yourself to? Peter: [00:03:49] Well, I like, I've always liked ... I'm not going to compare myself to anybody in particular. But I like the Raymond Chandler mysteries. I really like those a lot. And that's kind of been my inspiration. And, on the other hand, too, though, I like, you know, my favorite literary writer is Hemingway, although I've written it, I mean, I've read and I've followed a lot of other more traditional literary works. But I like, the reason I like Hemingway is because ... the exotic locations and there's lots of action and there's lots of tension. And I don't mean action like shoot 'em up, you know, cowboys kind of thing. But there's, I don't know, activity, action in the story. So that's what I kind of shoot for. That's my goal. "I like the Raymond Chandler mysteries. I really like those a lot. And that's kind of been my inspiration. And, on the other hand, too, though, I like, you know, my favorite literary writer is Hemingway ... the reason I like Hemingway is because ... the exotic locations and there's lots of action and there's lots of tension."