The Poisoned Pen interview with Boston Teran

Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

Big Island LA is told through Landshark’s eyes and commentary. It is, as you write, “as much about the state of his Los Angeles and soul as it is about a pyramid of corruption and murder.” Why did you decide to bring him back now? It does seem like we’re at a peculiar turning point in time, and Los Angeles as always is a funhouse mirror.

Twenty years since NEVER COUNT OUT THE DEAD and Landshark… That long! Blade Runner should be collecting Social Security by now.

The Los Angeles of that first book—NEVER COUNT OUT THE DEAD—used to be utterly definable. Much of the city’s persona was born of movies, music, books, art, and television. It was a faux reality that people came to love, believe in, and lean on.

But now, Los Angeles is besieged and being broken to pieces. Not only historically, but culturally, socially. And no one is yet sure, nor is it possible to be sure, what Los Angeles will come to be, and to mean.

The city wants to portray itself as the ultimate progressive vision. A vision buffed up by social media and the soft sell, while it bears the curse of poverty, homelessness, disillusionment, and a host of lesser sufferings—all with a quiet and invisible disdain.

It seems the city would like to raze its dark side with bigger and even better dark sides. And the strain of those extremes its domineering force. Its arsenal the new era of TikTok, X, and all the usual big ticket tech platforms where lurk unseen agents known as indifference and moral paralysis.

So who better to bring down from the shelf, dust off, shine up, and let loose other than William Worth—aka Landshark—the living embodiment of Los Angeles extremes?

Read the full interview here.