Irvine Welsh

By Joel Stein

Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting, just released his latest novel, Filth, in the U.S.

Q: You ordered decaf? Isn't that kind of wimpy for a guy who writes about drugs?

A: Yeah, totally. But in America they keep pouring you coffee, so I've had about eight cups of coffee this morning.

Q: I hear that you like to write on a drug comedown. I sometimes like to write on a sugar high, so I know what you mean, man.

A: That's why my books are quite nasty.

Q: Yeah, there's not a lot of love in your books. Do you need some love?

A: Yeah, definitely. That's one of the points of the book: when there is an absence of love, the void is filled by bitterness, manipulation, anger and resentment and unrest.

Q: You make the British cops out to be bad guys, but aren't they really wusses? I mean, they don't even have guns.

A: Your cops can blow you away, but they're not as good at giving kickings in the cells. Ours are the best at that.

Q: What's the worst you've ever been hassled by cops?

A: When I was about seven or eight years old, I got arrested with some friends for playing football in the streets. I was in the housing projects, where they had all these rules.

Q: Do you still do drugs?

A: Of course.

Q: But not heroin, right?

A: Not for a while. It was never a drug I really enjoyed. It got to that stage where you're not real social. You become a liar and a thief as well, which isn't very good.

Q: Are you afraid that you have fewer American readers than you would if you didn't write in Scottish dialect?

A: Yeah, I'm doing a reading tonight, and nobody's going to understand a word.

Q: I haven't understood anything you've said. I'm going to have to make most of it up. Oh, well, thanks anyway.

--By Joel Stein