Craig McDonald, author of Edgar-nominated HEAD GAMES, gets grilled by reviewer Brian Lindenmuth

Craig McDonald is an award-winning journalist, editor and fiction writer. His debut novel, HEAD GAMES, was nominated for a 2008 Edgar Award® for Best First Novel by an American Author. We decided to put Craig up against Brian Lindenmuth, reviewer for Mystery Bookspot to rate HEAD GAMES.


Violence
1 is no violence, 100 is… Wait, was there one scene without blood and gore in it?





Craig: A solid 100.
Brian: Lots of unplay and beheadings, so I have to go with 75.


Swearing
1 means no penance, 100 means you’re putting truckers to shame.





Craig: Again, at least 100. An acquaintance’s wife actually counted the number of cocksuckers as she began reading my novel. She reached 14 in the early going and stopped keeping track.
Brian: I seem to recall Hector using a lot of smaller cuss words but I can’t remember too many big ones being tossed around. My mom would blush but my brother the marine wouldn’t notice, so 70.


Sex
1 means a nun can read it without blushing and 100 is… Wait, is this actually erotica?




Craig: About 40… the forthcoming sequel’s a good deal racier.
Brian: Don’t remember any particular scenes, so 10.


The Fido Factor
1 means animal lovers won’t be offended. 100 means PETA’s planning a book burning in protest.





Craig: No animals were harmed in the production of the novel. Well, there was a horse or two killed in a flashback, but it’s “offscreen” fortunes-of-war stuff.


Too Stupid To Live
1 means your characters have brains and use them, and 100 means it’s a wonder they weren’t killed 1000 times over.




Craig: In HEAD GAMES, Hector is at ends and coping with some hard losses… so maybe 40, but with cause.
Brian: Because George Bush is a character in the book it’s tempting to say 100. But kicking a lame duck while he’s down doesn’t seem fair so I’ll go with 60 because of the frat boys.


Other Sins…





Craig: Just some sundry things that fell outside the scope of the quiz: grave robbery… desecration of a corpse or two… 100 X 2
Brian: Off the charts – more like 1000.



The verdict? We're too busy wondering how many beheadings it takes for Brian to rate the violence as 100...

A graphic novel of HEAD GAMES is forthcoming from First Second. You can visit his website at www.craigmcdonaldbooks.com To read Brian Lindenmuth's review of HEAD GAMES, click here.



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