"Sick city, gonna be the death of me"

"The original idea came from a conversation I was having with a friend of mine about Manson lore, and that’s where I first heard the urban legend about the LAPD confiscating a sex tape starring Sharon Tate and a bunch of Hollywood A-listers. The story went that the cops had organised underground screenings of the flick for years. I heard this at the time I’d been considering my next book, what direction to go down, all of that stuff. I had this half-formed idea lingering around about two junkies involved in a get-rich-quick scheme that goes wrong because they can’t keep off drugs. Jim Thompson on crack was my starting point with that. When I heard the Sharon Tate story, the two ideas came together and I was off and running. I never really plan these things out, I just start writing and trying to piece it all together like a puzzle."

- The mighty Tony O'Neill speaks to Alan Kelly for 3:AM