Keir Graff started writing his novel Cold Lessons (Five Star, $29.95) 14 years ago, and now that it’s finally being published, some guy named Michael McCulloch is taking all the credit.
Graff, senior editor for Booklist Online, chose to publish his crime novel under a pseudonym, in part because of his job as a book critic, and partly because the publishing industry eats its young. He certainly isn’t the first to do it: Joyce Carol Oates has famously written under various names, and this spring John Banville—2005’s Booker Prize winner—will publish a novel under the name Benjamin Black.
Why the pseudonym?
I’ve had some other friends publish books, where they come in with their first book and it’s a work of genre fiction, and then they get pigeonholed as doing that. And this is a fairly modest first effort; it’s not a big publishing deal or anything like that. I hope to write a lot of books, and I hope to do a lot of different things: genre fiction, nonfiction, general fiction.
How did you pick the name?
Michael is my middle name, and McCulloch’s my mother’s maiden name. And I just like pseudonyms even more when there’s some sort of connection or clue, not that anybody’s going to be searching the archives too carefully for the clues.
Was your mother psyched that you used her name?
It’s funny. I think she’s pleased, but I think that had I written a work of historical fiction set in Montana or something, she’d be more pleased than with a very hard-boiled crime novel.
Explains McCulloch, "I think 'Cold Lessons' will appeal to people who like dark but darkly funny takes on the detective story and stories that don't necessarily guarantee triumph at the end."I forgot to add that it will also appeal to everyone who enjoys the act of reading.
But being local and knowing the genre don’t mean you automatically join the ranks of the city’s crime novelists. For that, you need talent, which McCullough seems to have in abundance.
In a genre where imitation comes cheap and easy, McCulloch has written his very own book, which is no small accomplishment for a first novel, or any novel for that matter.
McCulloch also tempers the gloom with an uncanny sense of humor. The jokes are sparse, but they come off with an absurdity and intelligence reminiscent of “The Simpsons.”And the summation, which I quote at length:
Though he’s just a rookie, McCulloch is a surprisingly restrained and un-intrusive writer. He doesn’t hit the gas pedal too hard, the plot never lurches forward but gradually eases into gear and picks up speed in all the right places. What you get in addition to a first-rate thriller is a character sketch of a nearly hopeless man stuck in a lonely town during its dreariest season. Having Missoula reflected back to us this way may not be cause for good cheer. But this town has given rise to another talented writer. And that’s worth celebrating.Campana offers positive comparisons to James Crumley, James Welch, George Saunders, and The Simpsons. That would make for a pretty weird cocktail party, but it's awfully good company.
Michael McCulloch is not just another talented first novelist. Yes, his debut crime novel, Cold Lessons (Five Star), is a hard-hitting roman noir, but McCulloch is more than he seems. Lurking behind the pseudonym is our own Keir Graff, Booklist Online’s Senior Editor.
