Interview with author Pat W. Hendersen...

Here:

http://www.dontpaniconline.com/magazine/ritual/decade

And here:

A new novel about drug dealing and the Scottish rave scene, but it's not written by Irvine Welsh? Exploring a side of Scots culture that most St. Andrews undergrads will never see, Pat W. Hendersen spins an allegedly fictional tale of a major drug deal gone wrong.

To say that everyone has a past is a hoary old cliche. What it really means is that everyone has a naughty past, which is probably universally true. Look no further than any of your friends’ online photos and you’ll see evidence of such history in the making.

Very respectable and sensible businessman turned novelist Pat W. Hendersen has decided to fictionalise his own despicable exploits for his debut novel, Decade (originally titled Five hundred disco biscuits). The action is played out during the Scottish rave scene of the late 80s and early 90s. Published this week, Decade centres on the unlikely friendship of Martin and Colin and follows them as they haplessly navigate dodgy drug deals, football hooliganism and Scotland's underground rave scene.

Hendersen has protested in interviews that, although the novel is based on his own experiences, it is not autobiographical and the characters are entirely fictional. In an informal setting, I probed him for the dirt, the truth and the stories.



So, is 'fictional' just a tag for dodging lawsuits?



It’s like the start of Anchorman; “The book is based on a true story. Only the names, dates and events have been changed.” I can honestly say that the main event of the characters Colin and Martin meeting and all the major events of fighting, jail-time and drug deals gone wrong are complete fiction. Background events may have happened. The Cosmos & Rhumba clubs are all pretty accurately based on fact and the characters are definitely an amalgam of people I met but not to the extent that anyone reading would be able to say ‘That’s me, that is!’



Are you still in touch with any of the people you reference from you own past in the book, or have you re-invented yourself in a completely new life?



Yeah, I still have contact. I don’t live far away from Dundee now and still enjoy the odd night out there. Moving away in the first place wasn’t an attempt to re-invent myself. I’ve no interest in re-inventing myself and hope I never do!



You write under a pen name - is this because you wish to remain anonymous for safety reasons?



Trust me, I’ve no reason to fear my safety. Sure a few football casuals may be upset at their portrayals in the book but football casuals fall into two categories. There’s the proper nutters who won’t be offended in the slightest and who know me anyway and then there’s the bottle merchants who... Well, they’re bottle merchants, so what do I care.



There will inevitably be comparisons drawn between you and Irvine Welsh - how do you plan to answer those?



Firstly I should say I’m a fan of Irvine Welsh. I do however think that any comparisons are tenuous and based really only on the overt Scottishness of the stories. I actually think that it’s unfair to even compare Irvine Welsh with Irvine Welsh. By that I mean, compare books such as Marabou Stork Nightmares with Crime, for instance. Both are completely different stories with only the theme of sex crime really linking them. The marker for Welsh will always be Trainspotting though, won’t it? The difference between my stories and his is that Welsh injects more fantasy. You couldn’t really read Trainspotting as a story that might have actually happened. You probably could with Decade.



Why do you think there have been so many stories told about the Scottish rave scene and comparatively so few stories about the English rave scene?



Cue incredibly pretentious answer. Nah, not really. I didn’t sample that much of any particular English scene, but what I did sample was no less vibrant or vital. I think it’s more to do with the Scottish disposition to tell stories. Something we share with the Irish I think. Not to decry English literature but if you look at the size and population of Scotland that’s a hoor of a lot literature we’ve lent the world (Burns, Scott, Lois-Stevenson, et al). Equally it might well have been that English clubbers were too busy having the times of their lives to be sitting behind a word processor. Yeah… Probably that actually.



There is an element of anti-drugs moral to the story, was your intention to make a statement against drugs with this book?



Not anti-drugs, no! I couldn’t really do that, it would be a bit hypocritical. The drugs message in the book is that if you rip the tits out of it, expect repercussions.



You're already writing a sequel, right? Can you give any teaser as to where the story is going to go in the next book?



Funny, I didn’t intend to write a sequel. I sat down to write another novel using some bit part characters from Decade but now that it’s about four chapters from a finished first draft, I might as well admit to myself; it’s a sequel. Writing is like that though. It can take you to places that you didn’t necessarily intend to go. So the second novel starts with a policeman named Clover who was very much involved with one of the protagonists from Decade, Martin Bridges. Never having met the other protagonist from Decade, Colin, before, Clover realises that Colin is a partner. And so the chase begins. But expect twists, that’s all I’m saying.



Decade is out now via Phoenix Publishing. For purchase information, click here