First Chapters Q&A with J.M. Green

J.M. Green is a crime writer based in Melbourne’s western suburbs. Her debut novel, Good Money, the first hardboiled-crime novel featuring Stella Hardy, was shortlisted for a 2016 Ned Kelly Award, the Sisters in Crime's Davitt Award for best debut, as well as the 2014 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. She divides her time between writing in her backyard studio and working as a librarian. Shoot Through is the third in the Stella Hardy series, following Too Easy.

J.M. Green will be reading from Shoot Through at First Chapters on Friday 1 November.  

1. Brunswick Bound has asked you to read a piece from your published work.  Tell us what we can expect from the piece you have chosen?

The piece is a conversation between my accidental detective, social worker Stella Hardy, and her long time frenemy Marcus Pugh, minster for justice. Marcus must ask for Stella’s help, something he is uncomfortable doing. She senses this, and makes his suffering worse.

2. How would you describe the kind of books that you write?

Crime-comedy satire set in Melbourne.

To elaborate on the comedy part – I like to use exaggeration and, well, absurdity, to highlight the social issues I want to satire. What we are witnessing in the world right now is absurd – the rise of reactionary nationalism, the eroding of trust in truth and institutions against a background of climate crisis. 

And, in light of that, I sometimes get frustrated that critics have said of the Stella Hardy series that the plots are far-fetched, as if I was trying for a standard believable plot and failed. I think this has a lot to do with crime reader expectations, and the conventions of the genre. I’m not interested in the plausible. My work exaggerates the real for comedic and dramatic effect. If there is a sub-genre of crime fiction that comes with a twist of absurdity – that’s where I fit in. I hope that with this third book, having consistently skewed the world and bent realism slightly out of shape throughout the entire series, I can definitively say ‘I fetched it as far as I could!’

3. What was the first book that you read (or had read to you) that left an impression on you?

I was hooked on Narnia as a child. The Picture of Dorian Gray was the first adult book I read, when I was around twelve. It was both beautiful and disturbing.

4. Do you believe that books should answer life’s big questions?

Well, what kind of books are we talking about? The Gospel of Sri Ramakrisna does, and it’s great if that’s your thing. Can a novel answer life’s big questions? No. But a great novel causes us to reflect on our lives, and poses those questions in a way that is both new and familiar to the reader. A novel that raises arguments only to shoot them down still retains a certain honesty and integrity.

5. Do you have any writing quirks?

If I do, I’m unconscious of them so I’m probably not the one to answer that. I think readers pick up on that kind of thing.

6.  What is your favourite word or phrase?

Cannot be said/written in polite company.

7. What have you found most surprising about publishing a book?

How long it takes.

8. What is the question that you hope never to be asked in an author Q&A?

Where do you get your ideas?

9. What question do you hope you will be asked and why?

I like questions that show an engagement with the work, that asks me about something that a reader has found interesting or confusing or challenging.

10. Which author that you have read do you think should be better known or more widely read?

Tania Chandler’s work has a refined beautiful writing style and an ability to hold the reader in a state of suspended apprehension.

Find out more about the First Chapters event series on the Brunswick Bound website.