MANY readers routinely skip footnotes, especially in fiction, and that doesn't affect the reading experience, but it's a big mistake to skip the footnotes of Spanish writer Jose Carlos Somoza's philosophical thriller "Cave of Ideas" (Spanish and Chinese) or "The Athenian Murders" (English).

The footnotes are part of the novel. Cuban-born Somoza constructs a sophisticated structure to follow two entirely different cases in one book - a series of puzzling murders in Platonic times described in an ancient Greek book, and footnotes from the book's modern translator who describes his own strange experiences as he continues working on the book.

Before he was one year old, Somoza left Havana in 1960 with his parents who went into political exile in Spain. He lived mainly in Madrid and Cordoba. He completed studies in psychiatry and interned for a short time before deciding to become a full-time writer.

"Cave of Ideas," his fifth long novel, earned him a CWA Gold Dagger Award, given by the UK Crime Writers' Association for the best crime novel of 2002; it was short-listed for the UK's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. It also helped establish Somoza's reputation outside Spain. The book has been translated into more than 30 languages.

Besides "The Athenian Murders," Somoza has written two other books published in English - "The Art of Murder" (2004, originally "Clara and Shadow" as Clara is the protagonist and "clara" means bright in Spanish) and "Zig Zag" (2006).

"Cave of Ideas" and "The Art of Murder" have both been published in China by Wenjing Book and "Zig Zag" will be available in Chinese in August. In "The Art of Murder," Somoza creates a world where modern artists use human beings as canvases. Some great art works are created on human beings, who were brutally murdered. "Zig Zag" follows the mysterious deaths of quantum physicists in a group that made huge progress in time travel.

The author was in Shanghai at the invitation of his Chinese publisher, Beijing Division of Shanghai Century Publishing Co Ltd and The Cervantes Library. He spoke to Shanghai Daily about his passion for writing, his wide range of interests and how he creates such intriguing stories.



Q: Of the three books available in English and Chinese, do you recommend a reading order?

A: "Cave of Ideas" is loved and obsessed about by many people because it is a very different novel. Its well-designed structure has drawn many readers into my world and they start reading my other books. "The Art of Murder" can be a good second book. It touches upon a completely different subject, not ancient Greece anymore, but modern art. It also follows a more linear and simplistic storytelling method and structure. "Zig Zag" explores mysteries that happen among quantum physics scientists and it will be published in Chinese very soon.

These three novels represent my style of writing - I don't repeat myself and I talk about different subjects in my different books, even in those that haven't been translated into English or Chinese. My readers like me because they never know what to expect for my next book. People can understand difficult subjects even like quantum physics if they are explained in the right way. And these subjects are more important than one may expect. Ancient Greece is the source of all Western culture, and physics explores the basic matter that we are made of.



Q: How did you get interested in so many topics?

A: My father was a great reader, who introduced me to literature and told me that I must read everything I can get hold of and never close doors to anything, because I might miss something very important. I have been following that instruction all my life. I read all kinds of books and I'm interested in all kinds of different subjects.



Q: You touch upon a wide range of subjects but to some extent, all these books contain murders and are thrillers. Why always thrillers?

A: It's very important for me to have mysteries and murders in my books, even when they are talking about completely different contents. Our life is a mystery, because we don't know what comes next in life. I prefer thrillers because it is a very free way of expression. I can write a thriller about everything - science, arts, physics - everything. It offers such freedom for the author to construct a mechanism to explore any subject.

It is also very attractive for readers to have suspense because they want to find out who did it.



Q: Often writers of thrillers don't get the credit they deserve and are not considered writers of serious literature. Your views?

A: First, I want to give some examples of Nobel Prize laureate William Golding, who wrote a lot of great thrillers like "Lord of the Flies," and William Faulkner who also wrote many mysteries. Of course, Shakespeare's "Macbeth" was also a thriller. Back in those times, there wasn't much concern about genres or categories, and many great writers wrote different kinds of books that explored various genres and subjects.

It's much harder to do so in today's market, though. The modern book marketing strategy divides writers and their books in such small and detailed categories that it almost requires a writer to stick to one certain style or subject in order to maintain a stable number of fans, in other words, sales. It is particularly obvious in the USA where they have extremely detailed marketing strategies. They wouldn't let Stephen King to write a love story. The Spanish market is a little better in terms of this, but we are imitating the American model a lot, so it's not much better. My books, for example, have been categorized in many different genres in different countries, from science fiction, philosophy, psychology, to thriller, historic fiction, and even erotic novel. But I don't really care about the categories. I just write what I'm interested about. It is true that some readers may get disappointed when they thought I was certain kind of writer and realized I kept changing in every book. But a lot of my fans love me for exactly that. My disadvantage is at the same time my greatest advantage.