Buffalo Books: WNY-based author and filmmaker discusses the independence, inspiration and integrity animals bring to his best-selling series.

(Above: Nick Smith)

PAK—You have a rather eclectic background, working in TV, movies and as a stand-up comic, a musician and a landscape gardener. I want to focus on your training for the BBC Natural History Unit. What did that training include, and how did it shape the Whiskers in the Dark series?

NS—My training was also eclectic! I was very curious and helped out in various departments. Everything from archival research to nature program production and editing footage of very cute animals. It helped shape my book series by encouraging me to find creative solutions to problems, work hard to achieve my goals and respect the kind of creatures who inhabit my novels.

PAK—Your main character, Julius Kyle, is described as a cynical journalist. Where does the journalist end and the cat begin? Also, I love that he is battling a milk addiction like a hack noir reporter with a taste for Three Roses bourbon.

NS—Julius is more reliant on the whims of a cat than a human journalist would be. If Julius wants to sleep for 15 hours, his deadline will have to wait. He also realizes that those whims don’t make his job easy, and he’s been fired more than once for knocking things off his desk. The sour milk is a great coping mechanism.

PAK—Why tell these stories through animals — does Julius being a cat allow you more freedom than if he were human? Or perhaps you were trying to mine an unoccupied place in the young adult marketplace?

NS—I’ve always had cats in my home, and they wanted (demanded?) their story to be told. I’m intrigued by the dichotomy between these fluffy pets who mew like babies, also being remorseless killing machines in the backyard. By exploring this contrast, I can explore human nature without preaching about good and bad traits.

PAK—In your novels, how do you balance out the stories so the animal instincts don’t overrun the logic needed to solve the mystery?

NS—The events in all my books are consequences of the characters’ decisions, so when they give in to their instincts, they either get one paw closer to solving the mystery, or get distracted by a piece of dangling string. That unpredictability makes Whiskers in the Dark different from traditional mystery fiction, and fun for me to write, because the characters are full of surprises.

PAK—In the fourth novel in the series, The Bay of Hounds, there is a chaotic, cut-throat mayoral race in Julius’s hometown of Bast. Did you get any pushback from readers or their parents at this less-than-idealistic portrayal of politics? Or am I underestimating the sophistication of your readers?

NS—The mayoral race is a natural progression of the political shenanigans that thread through the earlier books, so readers are cool with it.

PAK—You adapted the first novel in the series, Milk Treading, for the stage. The production was put on at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. How did the idea come about to turn it into a play, and how elaborate did you get with the costuming?

NS—I lived in Edinburgh for a few years and helped out with Edinburgh Fringe productions before I submitted the Milk Treading stage play to the festival. With its humor and thought-provoking themes, the play seemed like a good fit and also a challenge, since we competed for attention with thousands of other events — and still succeeded. The costuming was minimal; gang members wore battle jackets and Julius dressed in a trademark trench coat. The actors focused on moving and behaving like cats and dogs to weave their spell on the audience.

PAK—On your website, you have a tab “Influences.” I was expecting to see a wide range of movies, books, musicians, comedians, etc., but I believe it is 49 references to every Prince album and compilation ever released. You wrote that you were a huge fan of his music, work ethic and his battle against traditional distribution methods. Can you give us a couple of examples of what you’re talking about, especially as it relates to his distribution methods?

NS—Prince emphasized getting music to listeners, rather than pandering to record labels and maximizing profits. He lived to entertain, and he took incredible risks. You can see him giving his all in his Superbowl halftime show, while other performers might have canceled in the pouring rain. Rather than repeating hit albums, he would release something completely different the next year. When I start worrying about the whims of traditional publishers or a creative risk I might be taking, I remember what I learned from Prince and I make sure my stories get out there, whether it’s through traditional methods, poetry chapbooks, songs, zines, movies, artwork … I strongly believe that no one should let anyone tell them how to share their words.

PAK—What are you working on now?

NS—Dawnfire Rising is a four-book fantasy series about Noah Nelson, a teenage kleptomaniac from South Carolina who finds himself in a fantasy world called Nista, where the line between good and bad are clearly drawn. His amoral attitude upsets the balance of Nista, and Noah has to decide whether to fit in or stand out. The first novel in the series is titled Into the Shadows.