GUEST BLOG: Simon Lewis talks about Bad Traffic and his plans for his (fiction) future...

It is an honour to be asked to guest blog on It's a Crime.
 
My book BAD TRAFFIC is supposed to be a fast paced, noirish thriller - with its story of a brutal lawman seeking revenge in a wild and inhospitable territory, it could be described as a western; except the lawman is Chinese, and the 'wilderness' is rural England.
 
The book began life as a response to two real crimes: the death by suffocation of Chinese illegal immigrants in a lorry container at Dover, and the drowning of the cockle pickers on Morecombe Bay. I felt an urgent need to write about the world these illegal immigrants and the snakehead gangs who treat them as indentured slaves - because it was secretive and unknown, because it was a disgrace, and because, as a dangerous milieu whose protagonists are involved in life or death struggles, it was obviously a great story. I felt that if Dickens was around today, it's what he would be writing about.
 
I wanted the book to be as different as possible, so I took the decision to make all the characters, both heroes and villains, Chinese. That made it challenging to write, but also gave me the great opportunity to describe my own country as it might be seen through alien eyes, as a mysterious and frightening unknown, and sometimes a place of threat and terror.

I've spent three years in China, and now I feel at home there, but my first trip was utterly bewildering - I had been commissioned to research parts of a guidebook, and was sent up to the northeast, where I spend months wandering fairly cluelessly around, befuddled and alienated. So in writing this book I took that experience and reversed it, giving a Chinese policeman, Jian, a similiar experience. I wanted to make it as tough as possible for him, so not only does he speak no English, he quickly loses all his possessions and money, and makes enemies of some particularly unpleasant 'snakehead' gangsters. Though he's not entirely sympathetic, I think his efforts to overcome his considerable difficulties leave the reader rooting for him.
 
He relies heavily on an illegal immigrant, Ding Ming, forcing the man to act as his translator and map reader. The heart of the book is the relationship between this contrasting couple - a put upon peasant and a powerful policeman turned fugitive.
 
The book was written in fairly tough circumstances - I had to rush it as I was running out of money, and it didn't seem likely that anyone would want it - the only connection I had to the world of publishing was an agent, but he thought the book was so unpromising he dumped me.
 
So I was very encouraged when Arts Council England gave me a small grant so that I could carry on working, and thrilled when Sort of Books said they were interested in it. Since publication, I've been thrilled with the reactions the book has had - it's being translated into three languages, it was picked up by a big American publisher, and the film rights have sold. Best of all, the Chinese people who have read it have reacted positively - I was obviously nervous about how it would go down in that community but I have only heard appreciation at my willingness to bring attention to difficult issues.
 
Now I'm looking forward to writing another book featuring this odd pair - maybe next time I think I'll take them to Africa...

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Crimeficeader says: The current situation for this pair can be read here, after a few pragmatics like paying and taking delivery.  Simon has so much to impart and enlighten us.  Roll on the next novel...

Comments

[Clare D]

Thanks for that, Simon. I enjoyed reading about the origins of this book very much and your book itself sounds fascinating.