Q&A Interview and Giveaway with Christopher Golden

Hello everyone!  LITERAL ADDICTION and Book Monster Reviews are honored to have a prolific writer such as Christopher Golden with us today!  With triple digit available titles, Christopher’s library of literary excellence would take pages to list outright.  Instead, we’ll give you his formal biography, tell you about his newest release, his upcoming release, and then go from there. 

Christopher’s Bio:

Christopher Golden is the award-winning, bestselling author of such novels as The Myth Hunters (The Veil series), Wildwood Road, The Boys Are Back in Town, The Ferryman, Strangewood, Of Saints and Shadows (Shadow Saga series), and The Map of Moments (Hidden Cities series with Tim Lebbon).  He has also written books for teens and young adults, including Poison Ink, Soulless, and the thriller series Body of Evidence, honored by the New York Public Library and chosen as one of YALSA's Best Books for Young Readers. Upcoming teen novels include a new series of hardcover YA fantasy novels co-authored with Tim Lebbon and entitled The Secret Journeys of Jack London.

A lifelong fan of the "team-up," Christopher frequently collaborates with other writers on books, comics, and scripts. In addition to his recent work with Tim Lebbon, he co-wrote the lavishly illustrated novel Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire with Mike Mignola. With Thomas E. Sniegoski, he is the co-author of multiple novels, as well as comic book miniseries such as Talent and The Sisterhood, both currently in development as feature films. With Amber Benson, he co-created the online animated series Ghosts of Albion and co-wrote the book series of the same name.

As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies The New Dead and British Invasion, among others, and has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, the online animated series Ghosts of Albion (with Amber Benson) and a network television pilot.

Christopher is also known for his many media tie-in works, including novels, comics, and video games, in the worlds of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, Angel, and X-Men, among others.

He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His original novels have been published in fourteen languages in countries around the world.

One of the best comments we saw with regards to Christopher came from Peter Straub, and we simply have to share it.  Peter said:  “Golden is one of the most hard-working, smartest, and talented writes of his generation…Everything he writes glows with inspiration.”  Now THAT is some high praise!!  J 

His latest release, “The Shadow Men”, Book #4 in the HIDDEN CITIES series co-written with Tim Lebbon, was released on June 28, 2011 and has been called “an adrenaline pumping thriller”.  For readers not familiar with the HIDDEN CITIES, we’ll do our best to explain the premise behind the series and give you the synopsis of Book #4. 

In HIDDEN CITIES, there is another universe where the cities are basically sentient.  This consciousness is embodied within a human Oracle whose main purpose is to help the inhabitants of the city and the city itself.  “Mind the Gap”, Book #1 of the series was about London.  Book #2, “The Map of Moments” told the tale of New Orleans, while Book #3, “The Chamber of Ten” took readers to Venice.  “The Shadow Men” is set in Boston.  As a side note, while written as a series, each book can be read as a standalone without confusion.

“The Shadow Men” Synopsis: 

Jim is happily married to Jenny and has a daughter named Holly.  Jenny’s best friend Trix is basically a member of the family, though she has secretly been in love with Jenny for years.  When Jenny and her daughter mysteriously disappear, leaving behind a Boston that has never even heard of them, only the two people who still remember them—Jim and Trix—can solve the mystery and bring them back (though they will need the help of Boston’s Oracle to do it). 

With the Oracle’s help, the two travel between the fractured cities (the two versions of Boston) in search of Jenny and Holly, but someone with deadly allies at their disposal doesn’t want Jenny and Holly found, because if Jim and Trix should fail, the spell that holds the different Bostons apart will fail as well, reintegrating the cities and causing a cataclysmic implosion. 

Queue dramatic music!  ;-)  Now let’s chat about Christopher’s upcoming release.

On October 4, 2011, Christopher will be releasing the official novel of Naughty Dog’s award-winning videogame franchise.  The book is titled “Uncharted:  The Fourth Labyrinth”. 

“Uncharted:  The Fourth Labyrinth” Synopsis: 

In the ancient world there was a myth about a king, a treasure, and a hellish labyrinth.  Now the doors to that hell are open once again. 

Nathan Drake, treasure hunter and risk taker, has been called to New York City by the man who taught him everything about the “antiquities acquisition business.” Victor Sullivan needs Drake’s help. Sully’s old friend, a world-famous archaeologist, has just been found murdered in Manhattan. Dodging assassins, Drake, Sully, and the dead man’s daughter, Jada Hzujak, race from New York to underground excavations in Egypt and Greece. Their goal: to unravel an ancient myth of alchemy, look for three long-lost labyrinths, and find the astonishing discovery that got Jada’s father killed. It appears that a fourth labyrinth was built in another land and another culture—and within it lies a key to unmatched wealth and power. An army of terrifying lost warriors guards this underground maze. So does a monster. And what lies beyond—if Drake can live long enough to reach it—is both a treasure and a poison, a paradise and a hell.  Welcome to The Fourth Labyrinth.
 So, now that we’ve given you some background into our Guest Author’s amazing accomplishments, got you up to speed on the premise behind Christopher’s newest release and the series it belongs to, and introduced you to his upcoming release, let’s get to the interview and see if we can find out even more.

LITERAL ADDICTION/Book Monster Reviews:  Hi Christopher!  We’re honored to have you here today; glad to help you and Tim promote “The Shadow Men”, and excited to find out more about you and some of the other series in your extensive library of literary excellence. 

LITERAL ADDICTION/Book Monster Reviews:  We like to start out by finding out a bit more about our guest author, and then we’ll dig into your work… 

Q1): Can you tell us 3 things about yourself that we couldn’t find out easily on the Internet?

Christopher: Hmm, let’s see.  I love musical theatre and performed in shows in jr. high, high school, and college. More recently, I directed several middle school productions and loved working with the kids (including my sons, who were enrolled at the school during that time).  I also sang in a rock cover band all through high school.  I’m a diehard New England Patriots fan, but I’m not that interested in other sports.  And this fall, my wife and I will celebrate twenty years of marriage.  Our first date was on my 20^th birthday, which works out well, since I never forget that anniversary.  [Next July, we’ll have been together 25 years.]

Q2):  How and when did you start writing?  Did you always know that you wanted to be an author?

Christopher: I started writing in junior high school but didn’t attempt it seriously until I was in high school. I still have a couple of those early stories.  I submitted short stories to various magazines in high school and a couple of times in college, but it was only during my senior year at Tufts that I began writing my first novel and realized it was what I wanted to do for a living.

Q3):  Can you tell us who your favorite author is and what some of the titles on your TBR pile are?

Christopher: I can’t name a favorite author, but I can tell you that my two favorite novels ever are THE STAND by Stephen King and A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving.  My TBR pile is enormous.  Some of the books in it are LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES by Shirley Jackson, PRINCE OF THIEVES by Chuck Hogan and A HUNDRED WORDS FOR HATE by Thomas E. Sniegoski.

Q4):  Who is your favorite musical artist?

Christopher: Again, an impossible question.  I love music and I listen to a broad variety of artists.  Growing up, it was Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers Band. Now it’s everything from Flogging Molly to Coldplay to Adele.

Q5):  What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing or taking care of other author business?

Christopher: I have a deep love for movies and good TV.  Obviously I read, both books and comics.  Any other time I have I spend with my family.

Q6):  You clearly love collaborating.  Are there any authors that you have not had a chance to work with yet that you would absolutely love to do something with?

Christopher: There are a couple of things brewing, but I don’t want to talk about them right now.  In general, though, I’ve collaborated with authors who were my friends first, and I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon.  I’ve also done enough collaborating that as I go forward I’m likely to do less, rather than more.

Q7):  Do you have a specific writing routine that you follow for the days that you know will be hard-core, head down writing days?

Christopher: Put the music on.  Try my damnedest to stay off the Internet.  Fail at that, then try again.  Screen my calls.  Write my ass off.  J

Q8):  What made you choose Fantasy and Sci-Fi?   What fascinates you the most about it or drew you to it?

Christopher: I don’t honestly know.  It’s not really SF that intrigues me, though I enjoy it.  I’ve always loved the WEIRD stuff.  Horror and fantasy, stories that involve things lurking just outside the mundane world, or right here with us that you can’t quite see but that would amaze or terrify you.  As far back as I can remember, those have been the things I’ve loved.

Q9):  If they were to make a movie about your life to date, what would it be called?

Christopher: ODD DAD.  My kids certainly have a strange character for a father.

LITERAL ADDICTION/Book Monster Reviews:  O.K, now let’s find out some more about some of your work…

Q10):  You have an unbelievable amount of available titles.  Do you have a favorite series or book that you’ve written to date; one that you were the most proud of, etc?

Christopher: You’re full of impossible questions, aren’t you?  This one has many answers.  The book that represented my coming of age as a writer, my step into maturity (at least, from my perspective), was STRANGEWOOD.  It’s still my favorite, though it may not be the best one.  I also love THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN.  My wife’s favorite is WILDWOOD ROAD.  The novels I’m most proud of include the Body of Evidence series, the two books I’ve written with Mike Mignola, and the two I’ve written under the pseudonym Jack Rogan (THE COLLECTIVE and THE OCEAN DARK).

Q11):  Can you tell us a little bit about what it’s like writing the media tie-ins?  It seems like that would be a lot of fun, but also challenging…

Christopher: You have to love whatever it is you’re working on.  Doing it just for a paycheck is going to result in something less than your best…and maybe even less than that.  I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve gotten to write media tie-ins to film and TV and comic book properties that genuinely excite me.  I’m very busy with my original work, but I still get excited about certain media tie-in projects that came along.  I’ve turned down plenty of them, including one just a couple of weeks ago.  I was happy to be asked, but I just wasn’t into it.  But I’ve got two out this year, and both were a blast.  DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK: BLACKWOOD’S GUIDE TO DANGEROUS FAIRIES is something I did with Guillermo del Toro, and UNCHARTED: THE FOURTH LABYRINTH ties into the video game series.  These were two of the biggest challenges I’ve encountered with media tie-in work, but so much fun in spite of that.

Q12):  We heard that your Comic Book Mini-Series are being looked at for feature films.  Congratulations!  Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Christopher:  The two things that are definitely in development right now are TALENT, a comic book miniseries I wrote with Tom Sniegoski (and which was illustrated by Paul Azaceta) and THE SECRET JOURNEYS OF JACK LONDON, a novel I wrote with Tim Lebbon.  TALENT has been optioned by Universal over and over, but now we’ve got a great script by Zack Whedon, so hopefully that will proceed.  Lebbon and I did the first draft of the script for JACK LONDON and now the studio, Fox, has brought in someone else.  I’m not sure I’m supposed to say who it is, but I will say he’s someone we’re very excited about—a fantastic writer with a great track record.

Q13):  What do you feel are the challenges of switching between regular Fantasy and Sci-Fi versus YA (if any)?  Do you enjoy writing one more than the other?

Christopher: I don’t approach them differently except to try to watch the sex and drugs and profanity in my books for teens.  I love writing for teens because of the response you get.  When teenagers love something, they REALLY love it, and it’s been incredibly rewarding over the course of my career to get that kind of response from teen readers.  That said, what I enjoy is being able to go back and forth between teen and adult novels, between non-fiction and fiction, between comics and books, between fantasy and horror and thriller, between short stories and novels.

Q14):  We tried our best to pitch “The Shadow Men” and “Uncharted:  The Fourth Labyrinth” above, but it’s always better coming directly from the author.  Can you give us a little bit more information about each and what we have to look forward to?

Christopher: If you’ve played the UNCHARTED video games, you’ll know what to expect, but what I love about the games and what I loved about writing the book is that it has so much of what I love all packed into one series.  History, mythology, folklore, adventure, and smartass remarks.  Raiders of the Lost Ark and Doc Savage.  [Influence-wise, I mean.]  Ancient civilizations.  All of that.  And the characters are wonderful.  THE SHADOW MEN takes a subject that’s always fascinated me—Boston’s immigrant history—and spins it into a story about three parallel versions of Boston, and what happens when a woman and her daughter slip from one into another…and her husband and best friend have to find a way to go after them.

Q15):  Is there anything that you would like to make sure and say to your readers while we have you with us today?

Christopher: Only “thank you.”  Thank you for reading, not just my books but any books.  Thank you for loving stories and for your enthusiasm.

LITERAL ADDICTION/Book Monster Reviews:  Christopher, thank you so much for being with us today!  We feel privileged to have been able to talk to an author of your experience, and are looking forward to chatting a little bit more Live later on. J 

Christopher:  Thank you!

CONTEST:

Christopher is graciously offering up a signed copy of THE SHADOW MEN to a lucky follower of the Book Monster Reviews blog. 

To Enter, make sure you’re a follower of the Book Monster blog and post a comment to the Contest/Event  with your email address.  Any comments without an email address will NOT be entered into drawing.

Want a 2nd chance to win??  Go to the LITERAL ADDICTION website (http://www.literaladdiction.com/authors-corner.php#/), make sure you’re a Member, and enter to win the contest on their site too by leaving a comment with your email address on the Interview post.

GOOD LUCK!!!