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Iain Ryan is an Australian author who predominantly writes in the hardboiled\/noir genre. Four Days<\/em><\/a>, his first novel, was shortlisted for the Australian Crime Writing Association’s Ned Kelly Award (Best Debut Fiction). He has subsequently self-published three novels (Drainland, Harsh Recovery<\/em> and Civil Twilight<\/em>). His fourth novel is titled The Student.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Iain now answers the Booktopia Book Guru’s Ten Terrifying Questions.<\/p>\n 1. To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?<\/strong><\/p>\n I grew up in the suburbs in Brisbane. In my teens, my family moved to a semi-rural area about an hour south of Brisbane so my father could work on an orchid farm. It was a beautiful place to live but also painfully boring. I moved to Gatton, where The Student<\/em> <\/a>is set, when I was seventeen.<\/p>\n 2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have no idea what I wanted to be when I was twelve. Probably Han Solo. I turned eighteen in the \u201890s – at the height of grunge – so I wanted to be a rock musician. At thirty, having become a rock musician \u2013 and having seen some of the downsides of that career choice – I wanted to become an academic. By then, I\u2019d successfully enrolled in a PhD, despite having no real interest in it. I just wanted the scholarship stipend so I could work on music. And it\u2019s probably the single luckiest break of my life because it ended up being a really good day job.<\/p>\n 3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now? 4. What were three big events \u2013 in the family circle or on the world stage or in your reading life, for example \u2013 you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced you in your career path?<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. The Black Dahlia<\/em><\/a> by James Ellroy. I\u2019ve been reading and re-reading Ellroy since my teens and he\u2019s the godfather of all my writing. He looms so large in my work that it\u2019s hard to pin down exactly where he finishes and I start.<\/p>\n 2. Presumed Innocent<\/em><\/a> (Film). For some reason my vigilant parents let me go see this at the cinema with a neighbour. I was eleven. All the sex and death and mayhem kind of blew my adolescent mind. This is absolutely where my interest in the crime genre begins.<\/p>\n 3. Theory of Machines<\/em> by Ben Frost. Frost was born here in Melbourne but he lives in Iceland these days. I listened to his second album Theory of Machines<\/em> non-stop while I wrote my early (unpublished) novels. Years and years of writing to just that one record. There\u2019s something really noir about his music; it\u2019s cold music but like noir, there\u2019s a melodrama to it as well and I find that combination really helpful\/inspiring. These days I write in silence but when it\u2019s not going well, I put on one of Ben Frost\u2019s albums and it never fails to realign my thinking. It\u2019s literally the soundtrack of my work.<\/p>\n 5. Considering the innumerable electronic media avenues open to you – blogs, online newspapers, TV, radio, etc \u2013 why have you chosen to write a book?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s nice to be writing a novel. I like the day-to-day of it and the structure it adds to my life.<\/p>\n 6. Please tell us about your latest book\u2026 7. If your work could change one thing in this world \u2013 what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n At heart, the book is entertainment. It\u2019s a fast-moving mystery story. But under the hood, I think The Student<\/em> is a story about culpability. It\u2019s about how the transition to adulthood is often a transition into feelings of regret, suspicion and dark foreboding.<\/p>\n 8. Whom do you most admire and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n Aside of James Ellroy, I greatly admire Donna Tartt. I love The Secret History<\/a>.<\/em> I\u2019m one of those people. She\u2019s a vastly different writer to me, almost the polar opposite in many regards, but all of her books have stayed with me over the years. I think about them often. I never feel like I can quite unlock them completely. Lately I\u2019m super interested in Gillian Flynn. Her books are huge commercial blockbusters but they\u2019re so violent and uncomfortable. I love them. She\u2019s fearless.<\/p>\n\n\t\t
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\nI thought the most important aspect of an artist\u2019s life was their authenticity. That\u2019s a very teenage approach to the world but it wasn\u2019t helped by 90s grunge, which was deeply invested in the punk ideal. Now I think the most important aspect of an artist\u2019s life is their work.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/stydent-in-blog-1.jpg\" "\\"The")
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\nThe Student<\/em> <\/a>is a crime noir novel set in a small university town. Nate Byrne, a business student and drug dealer, is looking for his weed supplier Jesse, who has recently disappeared. As Nate begins to uncover Jesse\u2019s life, he becomes embroiled in the town\u2019s seedy underbelly, a place of spiralling drug addiction, unsolved murder and amateur pornography. Growing increasingly frantic, Nate is forced to confront the darker elements around him, with dire consequences, obviously.<\/p>\n