Callum McSorley’s debut novel, Squeaky Clean, was praised far and wide, winning the Bloody Scotland McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year in 2023. If there was pressure to follow up that success, it doesn’t show, with sequel Paperboy longlisted for this year’s McIlvanney Prize and bound to feature in many books-of-the-year lists. SNACK spoke to Callum about Paperboy and his experiences as a writer to date.
Could you give a synopsis of Paperboy?
Paperboy is about Chuck Gardner, whose job is to destroy confidential waste with his shredding van. However, Chuck has large gambling debts – money owed to bad men who will hurt him if he can’t pay them back – and also he’s hiding this from his wife, who will murder him if she finds out.
So he does the sensible thing and starts to pass on information he’s supposed to be destroying to interested, dodgy parties.
Squeaky Clean was based, at least in part, on personal experiences. Did you have to research aspects of Paperboy?
Paperboy was inspired by a friend of mine who’s worked in shredding for years. I always thought there would be an interesting story there and squirrelled away bits and pieces of his work tales for future use. When I sat down to think about what Squeaky 2 might look like, I realised the time had come. So I asked my pal more questions and he showed me around his work and we shredded some things. We even considered buying a ballistic gel head to throw in the machine just to, you know, see.
Your books are incredibly fun, and funny, to read. Are they that way to write?
I’ve enjoyed writing the Squeaky Clean books immensely. With the first drafts, I really cut loose. I stick everything in there – every joke that pops into my head, every pun and simile, every sarky comment and pop culture reference. I push the grisly moments to the most horrible depths I can reach. It’s really enjoyable, and somewhere in that process I find the balance between the humour and the grit, the silly stuff and the heart. I can never be sure something will have the intended effect – I go with whether it works for me – but that’s where my agent and editor are invaluable.
A lot of the references are so specifically Glaswegian. Do you have arguments as to what may or may not travel? Is that even a consideration?
Not at all. My approach is not to treat the reader like a tourist, and my publishers seem happy with that too. There was never any issue about the dialogue either. When Squeaky Clean was first submitted to them it was not long after the successes of Shuggie Bain and The Young Team, so I have Messrs. Stuart and Armstrong to thank for that. I have been asked a few times at events whether I think it limits the books’ potential reach, and I’m inclined to reply that any choice you make as a writer will appeal to some and put others off. The worst thing you can do is try to make something everyone will like by sticking to the middle of the road.
Squeaky Clean was a big critical success. How do you reflect on how it was received?
It was incredible. Shortly before Squeaky Clean was published I’d started to panic about the sheer number of books coming out the same day/ week/month and how easily it could just get lost. So for it to get the reception it did was a dream, and then winning the McIlvanney Prize (‘that big glass thing’, my three-year-old calls it) was beyond a dream.
Did the acclaim make writing Paperboy easier or more challenging?
The challenge of sequel-ing is, when you have characters, settings, tone, voice, etc. that are already familiar, how do you make something that still surprises, that still feels fresh? And following a debut that got the reviews it did in the press and then the prize win, you also have to prove it wasn’t a fluke, right? It’s gotta be better than the first one. Better than Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2023. Depending on my mood, it could either make me feel more confident in what I was doing or could fill me with self doubt. Best not to think about it when actually writing.
And you are going to be at Bloody Scotland as part of a panel called ‘Scotland The Grave’. Are you looking forward to that? Do you enjoy book festivals?
I love it! I’ve met so many great people through book festivals; it’s definitely a perk of being an author I hadn’t considered before getting published. I’m very much looking forward to chatting with yourself, Marion Todd, and Foday Mannah on the Sunday, but also generally swanning about Stirling with my pass between events, and the Golden Lion, and drinking so much coffee I start to have visions – can’t wait!
Will there be more trials and tribulations for DCI Alison McCoist and friends (and foes)?
McCoist isn’t quite in the clear yet!
James Yorkston & Callum McSorley: Headbangers & Eejits: 19th August at Edinurgh International Book Festival. Tickets here.
Main Photo Credit Colin Mearns (The Herald).
