Interview with S.A. Cosby: Tearing Up the Crime Fiction Scene with High-Octane Tales
August 12, 2020
The first time I encountered S.A. Cosby’s writing, he was speaking it. I was attending a “Noir at the Bar” event at the Bouchercon crime fiction convention in Dallas last year, and Cosby gave a reading that tore the house down.
The fresh booming voice, the electrical charge and the emotional thrum I and the rest of the audience heard is the same voice and charge and thrum a reader “hears” whenever reading Cosby’s work themselves. This goes double for his stunning and widely acclaimed new novel, Blacktop Wasteland(Flatiron Books). I’d need a whole separate website to fit all the raving testimonials the book and Cosby have received from some of the biggest names in crime fiction since it launched last month. Here’s just a tiny sample:
“Blacktop Wasteland is an urgent, timely, pitch-perfect jolt of American noir. S. A. Cosby is a welcome, refreshing new voice in crime literature.” ―Dennis Lehane
“…S. A. Cosby reinvents the American crime novel. … Blacktop Wasteland thrums and races―it’s an intoxicating thrill of a ride.” —Walter Mosley
“Sensationally good―new, fresh, real, authentic, twisty, with characters and dilemmas that will break your heart. More than recommended.” ―Lee Child
Now, you may be thinking, Wow, why would a big new breakout novelist like Cosby waste his valuable time doing an interview with someone like Greg? It’s okay—I thought the same thing. But then I remembered how generous, humble and good-natured Cosby has been with me—and everyone —ever since I met him on Twitter last year, and I realized it’s no surprise at all that he agreed to be here today.
So let’s get to it!
Welcome, S.A.! And huge KUDOS on Blacktop Wasteland.I can’t remember the last time I saw a neo-noir novel garner as much praise and accolades as your book has. (Well deserved, I must add.) Has all the attention and buzz been a dream come true, or totally terrifying? Or both?
SA: It’s been an amalgamation of fear, excitement, surrealness, and a smidge of inebriation.
When did you know you had something really special cooking with this book?
SA:Like most writers, I often think I’m just barely treading water, but I will say there is a section towards the end of the book where I felt like maybe just maybe this story was pretty good. If you’ve read the book its the scene with Ronnie and Bug in the cornfield. That was when I thought I’d found the rhythm.
I have read that scene, by the way, and yeah, it’s damn good. Moving on: The book—like the muscle cars featured in it—is a fast machine that takes readers on a wild, dangerous ride. How much research was involved in nailing the life of a world-class getaway driver? Was it your love of cars that compelled you to write the book, or was something even bigger driving you?
SA:I grew up around cars and shade-tree mechanics who liked to test there engine building skills against each other from time to time in drag races, so I had a somewhat tertiary appreciation for high-level driving. In addition to that, I’m a huge fan of chase movies or films with great chase scenes But I also wanted to talk about the complexities of tragic and toxic masculinity and how those issues intersect with how we find our own identity.
Is there something in particular you hope readers will take away from reading Blacktop Wasteland, or do you simply want them to enjoy the ride?
SA: I hope readers will gain a bit of an understanding about how desperate generational poverty can make a person. A lot of people will tell you to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps but ignore the fact you are barefoot. But I hope it’s also a fun ride. As they say, a spoonful of honey makes the medicine go down.
Switching gears a little, do you feel enough is being done with regard to diversity in publishing—specifically with regard to bringing new voices to crime fiction? What more would you like to see?
SA:I think there have been great strides in bringing more diverse voices to the table, but my hope is that this movement isn’t viewed as a trend. It needs to become a part of the general fabric of the publishing business.
I personally love reading and writing noir—stories told from the perspective of “criminals” who have a heart. What does noir mean to you? What do you like most about writing it?
SA:I think noir can be defined as bad people doing bad things for the right reasons. I find that fascinating. The ways we compartmentalize our morality for what we consider the greater good. In a way, that is similar to the term hardboiled—but to me the difference is that in a hardboiled story the hero survives and perseveres. In a noir tale the hero is damaged, broken on the inside in ways that never heal.
The only thing more captivating than reading your writing, S.A., is having YOU read your writing out loud. You've developed quite a reputation for powerful and entertaining public reads—is that something you've had to work hard at or does it come naturally to you?
SA: Well I was a drama club kid in school, so I guess I retained a little bit of the performance bug from my days reciting Shakespeare, lol. But I always attempt to write in a way that replicates actual speech, so I often read what I've written out loud to myself so doing a live reading comes pretty naturally to me.
Who are a few of your favorite authors and/or biggest influences as a writer?
SA:As far as crime fiction goes I have to say Walter Mosley and Dennis Lehane. They are on my Mount Rushmore of crime fiction. But one of my early influences was Stephen King. His naturalistic style and plain-spoken syntax, even while describing Eldritch horrors had a big impact on me. Also, I was influenced by the late Ernest J. Gaines, a masterful writer of the black southern experience.
I’m sure you have your hands full with this big launch for Blacktop Wasteland, but can you share a little about what you’re working on now?
SA:Currently I’m in the editing stage of my next book, a revenge novel tentatively titled Razorblade Tears, about two fathers—one black, one white, both ex cons—who return to their violent ways to investigate the murders of their married gay sons who were murdered in what appears to be a hate crime. While seeking vengeance the two men also attempt to redeem themselves for their callous way they treated their sons because of their sexuality.
Is there anything you were hoping I’d ask but didn’t?
SA:I was wondering if you were going to ask how I came up with the title, lol. It's a play on T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land.
Cool—I love that poem and I own the book. Still, I dig YOUR book even more, S.A. Thanks for taking the time to chat about it, and for sharing your insight. Wishing you continued success with your writing career—which is currently a rocket blasting straight through the stratosphere. Please remember the rest of us here on Earth!
