7 Questions: Paul Brazill

You are a prolific writer. What's your daily writing schedule like?

Oh, I don't have a schedule and I don't write every day.

I don't have my own computer- never have. My girlfriend's computer is in a room that her mother uses to give massages so, when it's free I sit down and maybe write but more likely mess about on Facebook or something. I've started making notes in a proper notebook most days, though.

I write in short bursts which, I suppose, is why I write flash so much.


You got started late penning crime fiction. What was the spark?

I think the discovery of ezines like Powder Burn Flash was really important. From there I discovered a new world and new writers. In fact it was Keith Rawson who sent me over to Powder Burn Flash via his My Space page and Cormac Brown - whose stories I'd enjoyed at Powder Burn Flash who encouraged me to write my first story for Six Sentences.


How did an Englishman wind up in Bydgoszcz, Poland and decide to stay?

Well, it all started in 2001. I was working as a Welfare Rights worker in London -where I'd lived for 10 years - and took a six month sabbatical. I'd done that job in Hartlepol and London for far too long.

I had the bright idea to use some money I had from the sale of my flat and travel across the USA! Of course that all went pear shaped. I ended up spending two weeks in a hotel near Times Square in New York waiting for the money to come through and-when it didn't - I returned to England with my tail betwen my legs.

So, I went back to my home town of Hartlepool and waited for the cash to arrive. While there, it was suggested that I do a TEFL (Teaching English as as Foriegn Language) course since I didn't want to go back to my old life.

So, I did. I did it in Madrid for 4 weeks in 42 degree heat.

Back in England after the summer I applied for a completely random selection of jobs around the world and within two weeks was living in Skierniewice in Poland with no knowledge of Polish, of course.

Since then I've lived in a few places in Poland. I lived in Warsaw the longest. I was ready to go back to England for a while when I came to Budgoszcz on a three month contract and met Daria, The Black Witch, and with her help became self employed, moved in with her and started writing.


Poland has had a colorful but sometimes harsh history. What is the mood of the people today?

Poland is stil in the middle of rebuilding itself. The Nazi invasion and almost 50 years of Stalinism have taken their toll. One effect of that is that there is a 'missing' generation and a massive gap between the older more conservative generation and the youth, who are completely enjoying the new freedoms, especially since Poland joined the EU.

It has became normal for young people to travel to the UK and Ireland at the drop of a hat, for example, and the level of foreign language skills has made amazing progress even since I've been here. The younger generation are very much internationalists.


How did you land the Pulp Metal Magazine gig?

Sometime last year I bumped into Pulp Metal's Dictator and novelist Jason Michel over at Outsider Writers because of something I wrote about Robert Mitchum.

He's an EFL teacher in France, he asked me if I would write a regular column for Pulp Metal and so I said yes, though I've been focusing on interviews lately.


Away from writing, what preoccupies Mr. Brazill's time?

Well, I teach just enough to pay for my keep. I don't have much money but I don't have much stress either.

My students come to me, so sometimes I don't leave the house for days in winter!

I drink far too much booze, I'm sure, though a lot less than I used to. I can't write when I drink or have a hangover though.

I occassionaly go to the opera with Daria and my mates and, if the weather's okay I go for a walk in the forest with the dogs.

I go to the local art house cinema every Tuesday. I watch Polish soap operas that I don't really understand and I usually read at least one novel a week and a few short stories.

And I faff around on the internet a lot ...


What's the most lame brain thing you ever did as a teenager?

Lame brain? Selling my cherished comic collection, which I'd built up over about 8 years, when I was 15. I sold it for 5 pounds and bought Talking Heads 77 and Jocko Homo by Devo.