Q&A with Adam Novak, Author of "Take Fountain"

1) I'm fascinated by Take Fountain's premise. Where did you get the idea to turn a podcast transcript into a noir novel?

I first heard the name Dollars Muttlan when a mysterious briefcase was left at an office building on Camden Drive that belonged to a desperate screenwriter who was attempting to distribute a script to a lit agent. The BHPD responded by evacuating buildings and blocking off streets in the area. The screenwriter Dollars Muttlan was questioned by BHPD and released. The briefcase was destroyed by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department bomb squad as a precaution. 

It was the suggestion of the Santa Clarita Chief of Police to call the podcast transcript between that briefcase screenwriter Dollars Muttlan and reader Larry Mersault a novel. 

Adam Novak [Photo: Aldo Mauro] 

2) Take Fountain has been compared to the work of Bret Easton Ellis and also James M. Cain. Who are your literary influences?

Leaving Las Vegas by John O'Brien. The last sentence of Michael Tolkin's The Player. Bad Sex on Speed, Pain Killers, and Happy Mutant Baby Pills by Jerry Stahl. And Bruce Wagner, the voice of Los Angeles. 

3) What about cinematic influences?

Cannibal Holocaust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiXukKBLpPA&app=desktop

4) What's next for you? Anything we should be on the lookout for?

They never did capture Dollars Muttlan. Expect to hear more from him. 

[Photo: Rare Bird]

Adam Novak will sign and discuss Take Fountain on Thursday, March 19 at 7pm. 

http://booksoup.com/adam-novak-2015