PW: You're in the unusual position of having published eight books in roughly 18 months with one house [Blood of Victory is the latest]. How has it been working with the Random House crew between hardcover and paperback?
AF: I can't speak for other publishers, but Random is a very good publishing organization. They have terrific people. They're committed to publishing; they like being in publishing. I'm sure that many of them could do other kinds of things, but they like doing what they're doing. They like working with writers, and they like writers. So this made it possible to do that volume of work in that period of time.
PW: You, Adam Gopnik and others were the spearhead of an aggressive Random campaign to launch its trade paper imprint. Now that a year has gone by, will this continue?
AF: I think so. Everything I know points to it, in that they really mean to succeed with this and take their place among other trade paperback publishers. No question about that. Ann [Godoff] and Ivan [Held] and others don't start things they don't mean to finish. They're not that sort of people.
PW: You always had a strong following among independent booksellers—has that been affected by your relationship with Random? Is there any notable difference between the rapport you have with the chains as opposed to the indies?
AF: I know the independent bookstore people because I've toured in the bookstores. And when I've toured in the chains, I know the managers and people who work there. I don't always see the principals the way I see the independent owners. But there's no bad blood as far as I can see, and there'd be no reason for any. I sell well at the independents, and I think I'm selling fairly well in the chains, too.
PW: Given your history with U.K. publishers and the international scope of your novels, how has your overseas rights record been between Kingdom of Shadows and Blood of Victory?
AF:Kingdom of Shadows has been widely published in Europe and will be published in Japan. It's been published in Italy, Spain—I don't think it's out yet in Portugal, but it will be. I don't think it's out yet in the Netherlands, but it will be, and it's just about to be published in Germany. I'm not sure about Blood of Victory—I don't know that it's been campaigned yet. I'd like to be published in France, but that hasn't happened yet.
PW: Aside from your novels, what other sort of writing projects are you working on?
AF: I'm not really involved with any other projects, in fact. I did this anthology, The Book of Spies, for Modern Library that's coming out next July. Basically, I'm at work on a new book. And I've been in the process of making a new deal with Random, a two-book deal.
PW: Your work is often referred to as cinematic—has there been any film rights action for your books?
AF: Frustratingly enough, no. Nothing firm. The World at Night remains in the second year of an option, as is Dark Star. Whether either of these will be made, I don't know. At this moment, you can't see anything onscreen. As for the future, one can only hope that will happen. There's been immense interest, I have to say, but everyone seems to be looking for the right director. That's a big issue for my books—they have to have the right director.
PW: What are your thoughts on the state of the espionage fiction genre today?
AF: I don't have the time to read contemporary espionage fiction, and I really don't read it. I spend all my time reading on the '30s and '40s—novels, nonfiction, reportage, contemporary history written about the period, contemporary political analysis written during the period, journalism written during the period. I have five books by my bedside, and none of them concern themselves with anything other than the '30s and '40s.
