I. A Conversation with Leonard Chang

Q: What made you decide to write this sequel to Over the Shoulder?

A: Actually, I had intended to write a series with Allen Choice from the very beginning, even before I finished the manuscript of Over the Shoulder. I was and always will be a tremendous fan of writers like Ross Macdonald and Dashiell Hammett, and their contemporary counterparts, and was amazed by their abilities to develop and extend their single series characters over time. When I decided to write a crime novel, of course the first thing I considered was a series, and thus Underkill was already percolating in my head as I finished Over the Shoulder.

Q: So does this mean there's another Allen Choice novel?

A: Percolating as I speak. Yes. I've just started it. I love the idea of being able to elongate a character's development over time. In addition to the aforementioned writers and contemporary crime novelists like Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Sue Grafton, and James Hall, I've found great pleasure in reading the Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom novels by John Updike and the Frank Bascombe novels by Richard Ford. The sequel, the trilogy, the tetralogy, or the long-running series is a wonderful and artful way to explore in every dimension a character as he or she grows. In some respects a stand-alone novel, a self-contained story, though enjoyable, is a little too neat and contrived. Life can rarely be encapsulated in 250 pages, and thus to explore fully and thoroughly a character, a series seems almost necessary. This is my goal with Allen Choice, and what better way to explore Allen than through a mystery series?

Q: Any hints as to the next installment?

A: No hints, and even if I had a hint it would be invariably misleading or plain wrong, since in the process of novel-writing everything changes as I write. All preconceived notions go out the window when the characters take over. I never really know what Allen will do until he does it, and that often changes the entire novel and requires new drafts and revisions. That's the beauty and pleasure of writing novels, because you become a simultaneous reader and writer as you follow your characters. In Underkill I did not know how it would end until I finished the first draft and said, "My goodness, where did he come from?" and that required me to go back and rewrite the novel with this new ending in mind. It's not the most efficient method of planning and writing, but for me anything else would take my own pleasure away from writing. I write to read and to experience the characters and stories as you do. I love being surprised by Allen or Linda or Serena. So I can't promise any hints or sneak peeks, since I often don't know anything either. I'm eagerly awaiting the next adventure.

Q: Well, how did Underkill come about, then? How did you start it and how did you write it?

A: It's amazing how the subconscious plays a role. Because I had an idea that I'd be doing a series I planted (consciously and subconsciously) different avenues for further stories in Over the Shoulder, which included Linda's troubled brother. The novel began for me--well, the first draft of the novel began for me with the image of Hector dancing at a rave, and then his burned up car down in the canyon. I used to live in that area and rode my motorcycle in those canyons, around Topanga and Latigo, and I was in a bad accident about ten years ago. I've never forgotten those dangerous canyons.

Q: What did you mean by the "first draft"?

A: As I implied before, I tend to do many drafts, and Hector was the impetus for the first draft, but a view of Linda looking out over the canyons, from Allen's perspective, propelled the second and subsequent drafts. It was that sense of loss, longing, and distance that I felt coming from Allen, and that permeated the writing.

Q: Do you always begin novels with an image or mood?

A: Yes and no. I always begin novels with characters, and often start off with character sketches, seeing what a character does and how she or he acts in different situations--I'm getting to know them. As I get to know them, the stories revolving around them slowly coalesce, and I'm able to see how they function among others, with others, against others, and then, and only then, do the images come. I begin to see them. They become flesh. So that's a long answer to a short question.

Q: So you see characters as the most important element in a novel.

A: Yes. Because it's why I feel we read fiction. We read to see people like and unlike ourselves, and we become enveloped in their lives. We read not just for the details and plot and action, but for an understanding of people. Story is important. Conflict is important. But above all this is the immersion of the reader into the lives of characters.

Q: Can I ask about the philosophy of removement and Allen's thoughts about that? Where did that come from and where is it going?

A: I'm smiling right now because you almost sounded like Linda. Okay, here's the thing about Allen and his delving in amateur philosophy. My academic background is not in English or creative writing; it's actually in philosophy, and I've been wanting to integrate some of that background into my fiction, but of course it's completely unrealistic to have Allen Choice, who is self-schooled and somewhat even scornful of organized and institutionalized education, pontificating about Descartes or the pre-socratics. However, it is absolutely realistic to have a thoughtful and inquisitive person like Allen attempt to order his world and his life in any way he can, and he searches for those patterns and motifs that can help him. He looks for answers in what he knows. He knows the patterns of his life and thus he tries to formulate some kind of coherent theory as to why he is the way he is. Not just psychologically, which is of course an important component, but globally, ontologically. He's trying to figure out who he is and how to function. Thus, he begins his search. I began this for Allen in Over the Shoulder, and he's had a bit of a rough stretch in Underkill, but he is by no means finished with his attempt to order his life. I'm sure of that much. So, there's your hint.

Q: How close is the character of Allen Choice to your own character?

A: That's a common and understandable curiosity we readers have for novelists and their novels, isn't it? The answer lies somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of biographical or autobiographical impulses in creating a character. Of course there are some parts of me in Allen and vice versa, but with the first novel he has definitely taken on his own distinctive personality. Think of it as a child inheriting characteristics of the parent and at the same time developing into his or her own person. I gave Allen some of my character, yes, but he's turned into a separate and distinct human being. I actually have little interest in writing solely about myself in autobiographical modes; that's why I write fiction. I love discovering new things about others.

Q: I've noticed your novels, including Over the Shoulder, listed on syllabi for Asian American literature courses. Is the reception of Allen Choice different in Academia?

A: It's definitely an odd experience to have students write papers about your novels, often finding things you either hadn't thought about or simply hadn't intended. What I like is that close readers, and that almost by definition includes academics, will find many of the nuances in the novels I strived for, but which many readers might miss. In the excitement of a mystery, a reader might be too caught up in the story to stop and analyze, for example, the racial and ethnic dynamics that underlie some of my stories. That's fine. Different readers want different things from a novel. However, when a professor is teaching the novel for an ethnic studies class, that's one of the first things they focus on. So, that's nice. By the way, my movement into crime fiction actually was instigated in a small way by a student writing a paper about my first novel, citing comparisons to Jim Thompson, the noir writer. I had read a lot of Thompson in college as a self-study of crime and noir fiction, so when I heard about the paper I went back and reread a bunch of Thompson novels. The student was right. Jim Thompson was an influence and I hadn't even realized it. This prompted me to teach a class on Noir fiction, which immersed me further into this field, which soon began giving me many ideas of how to integrate this genre into my own work. Then I wrote Over the Shoulder, and now Underkill, and I've become absolutely committed to the Allen Choice series for the tremendous long-term possibilities for the exploration of character and themes that intrigue me. So, in a way, I owe this new path to a student writing a paper.

II. Topics and Questions for Discussion

1. The novel opens with a "sense of regret," with relationship problems. How is this opening motif used throughout the novel? How is mood, tone, and voice used throughout the novel, and how, if at all, did it affect your reading?

2. Allen's feelings of being out of place and unwanted are particularly acute once he arrives in Marina Alta. Why does he feel this way, and how does he deal with this? How did this affect his relationship with Serena? What would you have done differently and why?

3. What did you think of Allen and Serena's participation in illegal raves and activities? Does Allen have a responsibility to the law? Why or why not? What's the author's role and responsibilities in portraying illegalities? Does an author have a moral responsibility to set an example through his or her characters?

4. What did you think of Linda's family's reaction to Allen? How did Julie's attitude towards Allen affect your sympathy towards the family and towards Allen?

5. Hector's role and place in the family was complicated and frustrating for Linda. Do you have similar experiences with family members, and how complicit was the family in Hector's behavior?

6. How did you feel about Serena and her role in both the investigation and in Allen's life? Did you find Allen's actions and attitudes towards her understandable? Why or why not?

7. Contrast your feelings for Serena with your feelings towards Harlan. What role did Harlan serve in Linda's life, and how did this affect, if at all, your attitude towards her and Allen?

8. Why do you think Allen adopted the guise of "Mack" at a few points in the narrative. What function or purpose did it serve, if any? Was if effective or understandable? Why or why not?

9. Did you find Marianne a sympathetic or unsympathetic character? Give detailed examples of her actions that might be interpreted in different ways by different people.

10. Did race or ethnicity play a role in this novel? Did Allen's race ever become a factor?

11. What did you think of the occasional shifts into the third person, i.e., into the point-of-view of "The Block"? Why do you think this occurred?

12. What did you think of the ending? Were you satisfied? Why or why not? Where do you think the characters will go after this ending? What will they do? What do you imagine a sequel would be like and whom would you like to revisit. Why?

III. Author Biography

Leonard Chang was born in New York City and studied philosophy at Dartmouth College and Harvard University. He received his M.F.A. from the University of California at Irvine, and is the author of three previous novels: The Fruit 'N Food, Dispatches from the Cold, and Over the Shoulder, which introduced Allen Choice. He is currently the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Mills College and is on the faculty at Antioch University's MFA Program in Los Angeles. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is working on a new Allen Choice novel. For more information, visit his web site at www.LeonardChang.com.

IV. Praise for Leonard Chang's first Allen Choice novel, Over the Shoulder:

"A truly impressive achievement. Over the Shoulder is a rich and engrossing novel, a thriller with the head and the heart of a fine work of literature."
-- Gary Krist, author of Chaos Theory

"Leonard Chang's new novel is a riveting noir thriller, with something more to offer: a well-informed look at the culture of Korean assimilation on the West Coast. Over the Shoulder is a strong and serious work, as well as being excellent entertainment."
-- Madison Smartt Bell, author of Master of the Crossroads

"Leonard Chang's Over the Shoulder is a fascinating novel. Lyrical and thoughtful at the same time, it is as intense and unpredictable as a ricochetting bullet; it is a gripping tale that explores the neverending mysteries that link the past and the present in all of us."
-- Michael Connelly, author of A Darkness More Than Night

"Readers...will be delighted with the speed, intensity and worldly wisdom of this story, from which none of Chang's accustomed subtlety of insight has been lost. Over the Shoulder is at the one time obsessively readable and intellectually satisfying, and Chang's highest achievement to this point."
-- Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's List

"Chang's intricately constructed plot moves easily from the minutiae of protecting a client to the cultural rootlessness affecting his hero. Choice's dual journey--of self-discovery and the uncovering of his partner's killer--makes for an absorbing blend of literary novel and crime thriller."
-- Publishers Weekly

"Chang unfurls a thriller that's content to grab you by the neck and shake hard.... A smoking Korean-American Presumed Innocent..."
-- Kirkus Reviews

"Engrossing and fast-paced...Mr. Chang...creates characters who earn our quick attention and sympathies; and he describes events and emotions with equal grace."
-- The Wall Street Journal

"Every once in a while, a reader is introduced to an unfamiliar author and is overjoyed by the discovery. Chang's third book is dark and complicated, with a Hitchcockian flair...Realistic racial and family tensions make this a winner."
-- USA Today

"It is Chang's most sophisticated and best novel to date. His prose has never been tighter or more precise, the dialogue snapping into place as snugly as a revolver in a shoulder holster. With this work, Chang has broken new ground, and it may prove why he is considered to be one of the most audaciously independent and intriguing writers in Korean American fiction today."
-- Korean Culture

"This is a novel of intrigue by an author who appears to have read Marcel Proust...Chang handles his material with a sense of pace that keeps the reader fully engaged even when Choice is wandering among his memories. This is a different sort of crime novel, with some legitimate pretentions to literature...It's an unusual and unusually good novel."
-- Winston-Salem Journal

"Chang succeeds brilliantly. Over the Shoulder is one of the most exciting and innovative works to come out of Asian American and noir fiction in a long time."
-- KoreAm