We had the pleasure of chatting to Arthur Ellis Award finalist Rio Youers about his new novel Lola On Fire, which combines vengeance and deceit, love and bullets, secrets, and twists in this high-octane action thriller with a vibrant emotional core. Rio chats about the novel’s inspiration and the challenges he faced, as well as book recommendations, writing, and much more!
Hi, Rio! Tell us a bit about yourself!
Hi there. First and foremost, thank you for running this interview, and for supporting Lola on Fire. I really appreciate it.
Okay … I’m a British-Canadian writer of high-action thrillers (although my small-press background is mainly horror stories). I live in southwestern Ontario with my wife and our two young children. I enjoy reading, playing guitar, listening to music, and watching Netflix while I wobble up and down on the treadmill. Lola on Fire is my third novel with a major publishing house.
2020 was an incredibly bizarre year, and it’s rolling on into 2021. Have you set any resolutions for the year?
Drink less (not happening). Get my six-pack back (not happening). Read more books. Finish watching Game of Thrones.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
Somewhere around the time I was able to write complete sentences. Honestly, I have always loved writing stories. Even as a young kid, I used to fill notepads with wild and ambitious tales. It fueled my heart. When I was fifteen or sixteen, I got an electric typewriter. It would hum and rumble like a V8, and I had to keep moving it back in front of me because it would steadily vibrate its way across the desk, but I loved that old thing. Clacking away on it, I felt like a real writer.
That was around the time I started submitting to agents and publishers, and the rejection letters I amassed also made me feel like a real writer. I kept clacking away, though, slowly learning the craft, partly because I wanted to be published, but mainly because I loved writing stories. And I still do. I may get fewer rejection letters than I did at sixteen, but that fire in my heart burns just the same.
Your new novel, Lola on Fire, is out February 16th 2021! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Kickass woman with a gun.
Now tell us a little more! What can readers expect?
Lola Bear is a former mafia enforcer who goes into hiding following a failed attempt to eliminate her boss, the notorious mobster Jimmy Latzo. Twenty-six years later, Jimmy and his devious protégé Blair Mayo (another kickass female character) devise a wily scheme to lure Lola out of hiding. That’s the main drive, but there’s more to it, of course. I’d love to tell you about Brody and Molly, the novel’s central characters, but I don’t want to give too much away.
It’s an explosive, action-oriented novel, but with a truckload of heart and soul. Yes, the bullets fly, but at its core, Lola on Fire is about family and relationships, and the decisions we make to protect ourselves … and the ones we love.
What was the inspiration behind this novel?
I’ve always loved one-person-army movies like Kill Bill and John Wick. They’re completely over-the-top and highly entertaining, and for many years I wanted to do something similar in fiction. I wasn’t sure it could be done, though, not to the same satisfying degree, because thriller novels need to maintain a thread of plausibility. I kept thinking about it, though, working angles, turning ideas over, and eventually I saw how it could be done – not quite as over-the-top, perhaps, but in a way that is gratifying and believable.
Also, I wanted to bring two lethal, fight-savvy female characters together and have them face off in fierce, cinematic fashion – but to use their smarts, as well as their guns and fists. I had that scene in my head long before I wrote the book, and it kept me charged.
What challenges did you face while writing and how did you overcome them?
As above: taking a format that works spectacularly on film, and trying to make it believable in fiction. But like I’ve said, Lola on Fire isn’t really about the body count and the bullets, it’s about the story. There’s a ton of heart and emotion inside this novel, and once I found that, and once I found the life inside my characters, everything else fell into place.
Additionally, there were several set pieces that I’d mentally sketched out and wanted to include, but to do so in a way that didn’t feel forced or contrived. This meant having to rethink or cut certain scenes, which wasn’t always easy. But again, the characters and the story dictated what I needed to do. I trusted that they wouldn’t lead me astray … and hey, judging by the early reviews, they didn’t.
What’s the best and worst writing advice you’ve received?
I’m always wary of advice, because no two writers are the same, and what works for me might not work for you. You’ve just got to find your own groove and go with it. That being said, “Always make time to read,” is solid advice, and it works for everybody, regardless of how high up the publishing ladder they are. I think it was Stephen King who said, “If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write,” and that has always struck a note with me.
The worst advice: my old man always used to tell me to get my head out of the clouds. I’m so glad I didn’t listen to him.
What’s next for you?
I just handed my new novel over to my editor at William Morrow. I don’t want to say too much about it yet, because it’s the still in the early stages and so much can change. But I can say that it’s another fast-paced, character-driven action thriller – certainly on a par with Lola on Fire, in terms of explosiveness – and that it’s based somewhat around the Hollywood drug scene. I had a blast writing it.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
- The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
- Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan
- Eden by Tim Lebbon
- Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
And I know The Girls by Emma Cline has been out for a while now, but I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t picked it up yet. It’s one of my favorite novels of the past five years.
