Christopher C. Starr's Blog, page 12

Festival of Fiendishness: ANNIE WILKES

Writers are pretty much the top of the food chain: we have few natural predators. Our imaginations and Wikipedia keep us, for the most part, out of harms way. We spend the majority of our time in a seated position, scribbling on pads or tapping at keyboards. The most likely hazard of the writing profession [...]

My Day With Real Life Angels

I write angels at night. I didn’t expect to meet them in broad daylight. And you always hear these stories but this is true: Today was a big day for me (more on that later)–a REALLY BIG DAY. That big day had me up at 3am to be on a plane leaving at 5:45am. Because [...]

Come Hell or High Water FIRST LOOK EXCLUSIVE!!

So you know I’ve working on the sequel to The Road to Hell a little bit, right? You did know, didn’t you? All the gang’s coming back: Lucifer’s up to his tricks, Michael still ain’t happy, Gabriel’s watching the store, and Raphael’s–well, Raphael has his own demons to contend with this time around. And today, [...]

Festival of Fiendishness – MOMMIE DEAREST

For the record, I’m scared of wire hangers after this chick. And I’m a grown ass man. I can’t be the only person taking plastic hangers to the dry cleaners, can I? Really? Just me, huh? So, if you can’t tell (or didn’t read the last post), today’s fantastic fiend is the Mother of Year [...]

GOOD INTENTIONS? PSSSHHT! THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH CHOICE

It is said, “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, but Heaven is full of good works.” And the biggest difference between the two is choice. That’s what this book, The Road to Hell, is all about. The cost of choice. The consequence of choice. The power of choice. These were the themes [...]

Making Heaven Un-Heavenly

Heaven’s not what you think. At least not in my book. And you’re either gonna love it or you’re gonna hate it.

I generally get questions about the world, about the version of Heaven, I built for The Road to Hell. It’s not a world of fluffy clouds and fat babies with harps. It’s not even a grass-covered meadow with wondrous waterfalls and hordes of wildflowers (well, not in the beginning), and there are absolutely, positively no diamonds or golden streets, rainbows or unicorns. My version of Heaven is kind of minimalist, kind of bleak. Kind of blah.

But there’s a reason for it…

You wanna know, doncha? Well, you gotta check out my guest post over at The AvidReader for the answer.

Then swing by the new Facebook page, Like Us, and join the discussion!

Festival of Fiendishness: THE VAMPIRE LESTAT

In the midst of this heavy promo season, I’ve come to a realization: as awesome as I am (and I am awesome), you’re not actually interested in all that. I know it; you can admit it: you want your villains, right? Still liking the darker, are we? Well, as your Master of Malevolence, I am here to serve. And to get donuts—didn’t know donuts were part of the gig, did you? That’s why I’m in charge.

Anyways, today’s marvelous miscreant is the vampire who put emotion in the emotionless, who showed us being a vampire is not all blood and bad news—it can actually be powdered wigs and puffy sleeves: Lestat.

Now, I am admittedly not a vampire fan. I know, I know, I did a whole post on Dracula but truth is, I’ve never really been into the whole slightly-effeminate, let-me-bite-you-on-the-neck, turn into a bat bullshit. What you always got was a pale, gangly white dude with a funny accent who couldn’t figure out how to run when the townsfolk came. Note: when you see a mob with torches, RUN. It never, ever ends well.

Not that Lestat doesn’t meet that stereotype—he absolutely does: he is a gangly white guy with blond hair from France. What makes Lestat interesting or even relevant is his grander purpose. We are introduced to Lestat and Louis—a terribly effeminate Brad Pitt and a Tom Cruise in a horrible wig—on a New Orleans slave plantation in Interview With The Vampire and we see Lestat turn Louis into a vampire in a discussion over the value of life. Louis wants to die; Lestat gives him an eternal life that is dependent on killing others instead.

Kinda fucked up, huh?

So that earns my attention. But what I like about this character is that he makes us explore the darker side from the darker side. You never think about if it is good or evil to take a man who wants to commit suicide and turn him into a vampire. Or if vampires even consider good and evil. And I’m not talking about the current spate of eco-friendly, “vegetarian,” sparkly-ass vampires (you know what raggedy shit I’m referring to); I’m talking about the goodness or evil of saving a child from death, only to give her an immortal life as a murderous child. Lestat ponders these things, wonders if he has a soul, wonders if God exists and, if so, what He must think about vampires.

I’ll ignore his penchant for high fashion and the ludicrousness of a vampire heading up an 80s hair band (seriously? Nobody said, “Um, Miss Rice, this idea, um, SUCKS?”). I’ll just focus instead on his investigation of life itself. When you consume humanity, when you live off of it, you begin to look at it differently. There’s discussion of his sexual preference (highlighted the abovementioned penchant for high fashion—in the books, Lestat is considers himself bisexual). From our perspective, this matters; from his, life is life. w\When you are eternal, you are able to look at things from a much larger context. From a more external perspective. I think that’s what Lestat gives us.

I’m still not a fan. I think Lestat is a cruel “prince” of a character who neither understands the full implications of his powers on others nor really cares about them. I think he’s awfully self-centered for something that has existed for so long. But Lestat gave me, as a writer, the ability to see from another’s perspective. I write angels from their perspective—I couldn’t have without his blueprint. For that, I rank him AWESOME.

That’s my word! Up next, the reigning champion of the Mother Of The Year award: Joan Crawford AKA Mommie Dearest!

You Asked For It, You Got It!

Nope this ain’t a Toyota commercial (‘amember that?) but it is me finally fulfilling a request. Santa’s paying what he owes (if you’re a Boondocks fan, you get it) . Anyway, I told you that I needed to reconcile the light with the dark side, right? That folks swinging by after reading my book were a touch “dismayed” at the villainous approach to life we take over here on Crooked Letterz. So, to that end, I made a new page.

A new Facebook page. Yes, boys and girls, friends and foes, there is a new Facebook page for the Heaven Falls series. Everything you wanted to know that I wouldn’t post here, you can find there. Want to know what I was smoking when I gave Lucifer creation powers? Ask me on the Heaven Falls Facebook Page. Think individuals floating around in metal armor with wings sounds awfully SilverHawks-ish? It should. And I talk about why on the Facebook page. You can too.

Here’s the best part: I’m in the middle of Book 2 in the series, Come Hell or High Water, and I’ve gotten Rainy Kaye (from rainyofthedark.com) and Kris Wagner from Kris Wagner Design & Illustration to give me some sample cover images. Stop by and tell me what you think.

In the end, this page is for you: I want you to make it what you want, ask me anything, and tell me what else you’d like to see. See, I’m lost without you: you complete me. Yeah, enough of that jazz. Come check out the page at www.facebook.com/HeavenFallsSeries

Author Interview: J.A. Beard’s Unnecessary Musings

Like VISA, I’m everywhere you wanna be this August. And today, I’m hanging out with J.A Beard, author of The Emerald City, a 21st century take on The Wizard of Oz. J.A. knows his stuff and gave me one of the more in-depth interviews I’ve had.

Check it out at Unnecessary Musings. Your support for me and the bloggers who support us indies means the world–give J.A. (and all the others) a strong shout out for hosting this month!

And then swing back today–I know I’ve been heavy on the promo stuff but I’m gonna give you what you want, what you’ve been aching for: the villains are back, and the Vampire Lestat will be taking a bite out of Crooked Letterz today!

My Top Ten Heroes #OBSummer #Books

So the next magnificent miscreant in our repertoire is…wait, what? Heroes? Did I read that right? My Top Ten Heroes? Yes, friends and foes, after all this time pouring over the dastardly deeds of about 50 of my favorite baddies, it’s time to give a brief – and I mean BRIEF – introduction to my all-time favorite do-gooders.

But you know I’m not doing that nonsense here, right? Oh no! As part of the Orangeberry Summer Splash, the good folks over at WeFancyBooks are hosting my first ever Top Ten Heroes list. Swing by and pay them a visit!