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Q&A with David Russell, author of Last Dance

David Russell took some time to sit down with us and tell us about himself, his new book Last Dance, and his upcoming projects.

Tell us about your book.

Last Dance is the sequel to Deadly Lessons, featuring Winston Patrick, a lawyer-turned teacher whose best efforts to leave behind the legal profession are again thwarted when his students present him with their own legal problem: Tim, a gay student, is being prevented by the school’s administration from bringing his same-sex partner to the graduation dance.

The class, with Winston’s help, challenges the school’s decision, inviting scorn from opponents that turns violent against Tim.  When Tim is killed in what appears to be a hate crime, Winston finds himself embroiled in the investigation into Tim’s death.  And the more Winston investigates, the more he finds out that Tim wasn’t the student he appeared to be.

How did you come up with the idea for this work?

The genesis of Last Dance was an actual news story from a number of years ago when a student in Ontario – albeit at a private Catholic school as opposed to a public one – faced the same opposition to bringing his date to the prom. It stuck in my craw as a kind of issue that could be so challenging for students who are coming in out in a high school environment.

Describe your ideal writing environment.

My ideal writing environment is quiet and rather meticulously organized.  Some writers thrive in creative clutter, amid papers, books, posters and artistic detritus.  Some write to music or with the television on.

I am not one of those.

My office has a desk with nothing on it but my laptop – an Apple.  I write early in the mornings or late at night when the house is quiet.

The exception is public writing. I have been known to occasionally find the muse in a coffee shop or hotel bar on vacation, at least reasonably quiet ones.  In a pinch, I can get by on airplanes or tour buses: about seventy pages of Last Dance were written by hand while taking students on a tour bus through Italy and France.

What was your first publication?

When I was in the 5^th grade, my teacher, Mrs. Lumby, decided an essay I had written defining Utopia was worthy of publication and submitted it to the local community newspaper where it was published under the headline: “Utopia’s a place where birds keep dry in the rain.”

What inspired you to write your first book?

I had been working with a script consultant in Los Angeles who was trying to get me pitch meetings for some spec scripts I had written.  We had a number of long distance telephone conversations about story ideas. When I told her about the story that ultimately became Deadly Lessons, originally conceived as a Law & Order episode, she told me that the story sounded deeper and more detailed and would make a good novel, encouraging me to write it in that format.  As it turned out, I very much enjoyed writing the novel, even more so than the scripts on which I had been working.

Who did you read as a young adult?

One of my favourite writers was the late Robert B. Parker, best known for his Spenser series of novels.  I loved the toughness of Spenser (I named my cat after him!), the witty, often urbane dialogue and the continuously reappearing cast of characters that gave the novels continuity.  I also loved the moral fortitude of Spenser, how committed to his ideals he remained, even and especially when it caused him to take actions that may conflict with those ideals.

What is your next project?

Currently I am immersed in the third novel with Winston Patrick as its protagonist.  There are so many interesting human stories in the microcosm that is the public school system that I feel like I still have some interesting mining there to do.

I have another novel that I began in Italy in 2003 (doesn’t everyone who goes to Italy start a novel) that is wholly separate from the Winston Patrick novels.  It is the next book I plan to complete when I have finished the third Winston Patrick novel.

I also have a couple of script ideas I’ve been doing early work and planning on.  I live in Vancouver, after all: aren’t we all screenwriters?

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