Unknown Unknowns by Adam Bromley (Piqwiq publishing)
After punching an American captain into a mound of profiteroles, Kat Foster’s future in the Foreign Office looks bleak.
She is given one last chance to redeem herself,
thanks to her boss and a shady US intelligence agent. It involves
travelling to Ozerkistan to debrief a prisoner, aka “The Chemist”. He
has contacted a US embassy claiming to have valuable
information about a former Russian weapons programme, codenamed Pandora
, which he will trade in return for his freedom.
The only snag is that her destination, Ozerk City, does not appear on any printed maps and Ozerkistan does not appear to exist.
Nevertheless, faced with almost certain career
ruin, Kat launches herself into the unknown, promising to contact no
one, entirely unequipped by an unhelpful and obscure brief.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, the vodka-swigging,
foul-mouthed General Berezin has also intercepted The Chemist’s message.
Determined to prevent the truth about Project Pandora emerging, he
makes a beeline for Kat and The Chemist. Also making his
way towards Ozerkistan is Kat’s aristocratic and over-cultivated boss,
fearing for her safety on the journey he assigned to her.
First off please tell us a little
about yourself.
My background is producing comedy for
the BBC, mostly for Radio 4 as well as CBBC. I’ve also produced
pilots for E4 and BBC3. These days I’m Managing Director of
Rushforth Media, one of the UK’s leading audiobook production
companies. As a writer, I’ve co-written sketch shows for Radio 4
and devised a BBC3 pilot.
I hear you have a new book out,
Unknown Unknowns? Could you give us a little info on that?
It’s a comedy spy novel, about a
disgraced diplomat who is a given a chance to rescue her career by
travelling to a lawless country, Ozerkistan, to debrief a prisoner.
Unfortunately a Russian general also wants to reach the prisoner
first as does a corrupt CIA official, as the captive claims to have
the Pandora formula – a weapon of devasting power. So it’s like
Bourne film, with jokes.
How do you balance writing with
everything else you have going on in your life?
With difficulty is the honest answer.
My wife, Jenny, is very supportive, otherwise I think it would
impossible. I have to find time on evenings and weekends to write
which isn’t ideal. If I was able to spend several months only
writing, I’d have finished the book much sooner.
You worked as a comedy producer for
the BBC for 8 years?! How did you find going from comedy to writing
Thrillers?
My novel is not a straight thriller,
there are plenty of comic moments throughout, so that’s an easier
transition than writing serious fiction. Yet I think the same
principles apply to all writing whether it’s comedy or drama and
whatever the medium. You have to engage with your audience and keep
them hooked. The hardest part was structuring the book and keeping
track of rewrites. A sitcom script is only 5,500 words, a novel is
typically 70 to 80,000 words long. So when you change something in
the opening chapters, there’s a lot of work making sure you’ve
followed up any loose ends.
You also created a childrens show
for CBBC called Stupid!, how different was that from what you were
doing before?
I can’t take credit for creating the
show, that was the brainchild of the wonderful writer Dean Wilkinson.
But I did work with Dean and others from the pilot script to the
finished show. The highlight for me was being able to design the look
of Goober, the gremlin butler, who ended up with purple pot belly and
a furry tail.
How do you handle any negative press
or comments (if any) from readers/listeners?
Feedback is what every creative person
needs to do a better job next time. I’ve got a fairly thick skin
from my producing days, where my shows would be reviewed in most
national newspapers. You shouldn’t take every negative review to
heart, as sometimes it’s just a matter of taste. If more than one
person picks up on the same point, then it suggests there’s room
for improvement.
Would you rather write or do radio?
That’s a tricky question. I loved
making radio shows, but it was a different era then. Before the
scandal with Russell Brand, BBC producers were left to their own
devices more or less. I produced The Now Show for two years, without
much oversight – the perfect way to make comedy. These days, it’s
all about compliance. What that means in practise is anything
sensitive or potentially offensive has to be vetted. Often it can
mean the joke gets cut. For me, that takes a lot of the joy out of
the process, in particular for radio which is a pure form – script,
actors and usually an audience. So to answer your question on a
roundabout way, I prefer writing these days.
Who are your favourite authors?
Tibor Fischer, PJ O’Rourke, Ian
Rankin.
Who's your favourite actor?
Another tricky question... From TV
actors in the UK, I’d say Olivia Colman is the best and most
versatile there is, who I have had the privilege of working with on
several occasions. And then of course, there’s the McConnaissance:
Matthew McConnaghey has delivered a series of stunning performances
in recent years.
Thank you so much for visiting today
and sharing with us Adam!
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