FINALIST of the 2016 Shelf Unbound Competition for Best Independently Published Book
“Inspector Kwong and Matson solve a murder in San Francisco, cope with the serial killer the media calls The New Year’s Avenger, and chase a dangerous assasin to Guangzhou.”
Shelf Unbound: How did you come up with your main character, Inspector Kwong?
Vic Warren: He first appeared in my novel, Hong Kong Blues. Readers liked him so much that I created this spin-off series of The Inspector Kwong Mysteries.
Shelf Unbound: Your style is both hard-boiled and humorous. How did you develop it and who are your literary influences?
Warren: When I read, I prefer some humor, even in a violent story. I think it keeps the reader more interested than having just the one side. I like a lot of writers, among them Elmore Leonard, Ray Bradbury, Michael Chabon and Neil Gaiman.
Shelf Unbound: You spent your career as an advertising executive. What lessons from advertising have you brought to your novels?
Warren: Wordy ads don’t work. I think the same rule applies to fiction.
Shelf Unbound: You have another quite different series, The Neptune Chronicles. Tell us about those novels.
Warren: They’re classified as sci-fi, even though they read like mainstream. The reason is obvious. They deal with the discovery of a race of underwater humans. I’ve only finished the first two books, but plan on tackling book three, Ooci, the Seamount.
Shelf Unbound: What’s next for Inspector Kwong?
Warren: I’ll be finishing the sixth story soon. It’s called The Rain and is probably the most violent of the Kwong series.