Author Interview with Richard Kadrey (and a giveaway of 2 copies of “Kill the Dead”!)

Happy Halloween, dear readers And if you celebrate it tomorrow, happy All Souls Day/Day of the Dead Mexico has the coolest carnival/holidays

As many of you know, I’m a huge fan of Richard Kadrey and I absolutely devoured “Sandman Slim” when it came out just last year. It climbed to the top of my list as my pick for Best Urban Fantasy novel period. And I don’t mean that as an understatement. Every reader comes into the game with his or her own prejudices, likes, and dislikes. In my case, the reason why I consider “Sandman Slim” to be the top-rated urban fantasy of the last decade, if not ever, is because of Richard’s combination of gritty noir and a style reminiscent of Hammett, Chandler, and Spillane evokes a mood that’s both off-putting, bizarre, and sometimes downright frightening. His protagonist, Stark, so named after the novelist Richard Stark, is both of the old world in his similarities to Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney (if you think he had a bad attitude, amplify that by a hundred and you get Stark) and of the modern world, because of his modern sensibilities.

Kadrey’s interpretation of angels and demons is right on the money in my book. His demons are as they should be–tough, bad to the bone, mean-spirited, and they look like demons should. Angels are even better, especially the vindictive Aelita, who in “Sandman Slim” was determined to get the better of Stark.

Without further ado, I present the talented and ever hilarious Richard Kadrey:

Q: In various interviews, you’ve stated that you’re a huge fan of hardboiled detective novels and writers such as Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler. Although the influence of this style is certainly clear with your protagonist, Stark, where did you ultimately derive the influence for the “Sandman Slim” novels?

Stark comes from the world of American crime novels. They were common in the 40s up to the 70s, but like old B movies they don’t quite exist in the same way anymore. I’m talking about writers such as Jim Thompson, James M Cain and Richard Stark. Encountering some of Stark’s books when I was teenager was very influential in me writing Sandman Slim all these years later. That’s why my character is named Stark. I wanted to acknowledge his origin.

Q: What’s interesting is that you started out your career in the cyberpunk subgenre with novels like “Butcher Bird” and “Metro Phage.” Why the shift to gritty dark fantasy?

I felt that I’d written myself into a corner in science fiction. I didn’t know where to go anymore and I was losing interest in the genre. Besides, what people like William Gibson were moving toward is much more interesting than most other so-called science fiction books, so it seemed like a good time to take a breather.

I got interested in myths, fantasy and religion during the recent Bush administration. My mother is from the South and I lived there long enough to recognize some of the fundamentalist Christian code words and rhetoric coming through Bush’s speeches. I realized that I didn’t know who the people running the country were anymore. I wanted to understand them, so started reading about the history of the Christian church. I was reading other books on mythology in the first few fantasy novels of my life around the same time, so they all sort of melded together with some older ideas I had and out came Sandman Slim.

Q: You’ve stated that the name of your protagonist, Stark, derives from the crime writer Richard Stark. Tell us more about the inspiration behind your main character.

Richard Starks books are hardcore, stripped-down, mean and straightforward examples of American crime fiction. His protagonist, the thief Parker, his single-minded and brutal and Stark tells his story in a terse and unvarnished style. I was impressed with how much he could get across in so few words. I wondered if I could do the same thing in a different genre. Of course, I couldn’t make James Stark as stripped-down and brutal as Parker. No one would want to read the book. In fact, I have a version of the opening that’s written much more in the style of Richard Stark and it’s awful. It wasn’t until I found the Sandman Slim voice, the snotty black humor and the refusal to take anything, even heaven and hell, seriously is what nailed the book and allowed me to write it.

Q: You’ve mentioned in the past that one of your challenges in writing dark fantasy is the balancing act between the dark, often unapologetically sardonic humour and all the dark places you take the reader in “Sandman” and “Kill the Dead”–but I find that you marry the two very well. What aspect of incorporating Stark’s wry sense of humour have you found the most challenging?

The problem with writing Stark is the problem with the character himself. While he seems never to take anything seriously he secretly does and he broods on his own lost past. In his worst moments he can crawl right up his own ass. That’s what Kasabian it’s for. Kasabian Lives with Stark and knows him well enough to tell him off. He’s like the Fool in old Shakespearean plays. The fool is the one who always tells the truth. And because here’s the fool he’s the only one who can get away with it.

Q: One of the main things I’ve enjoyed most about your novels so far has been your clever use of mythology with your worldbuilding. Several readers (myself included) prefer the kind of demons who actually kill their prey instead of trying to be romantic to it. What kinds of source material did you draw on for your presentation of what angels and demons are?

Paradise Lost is always a big inspiration, but I spent a lot of time reading about the history of the Christian church and that naturally leads you to reading the heretical texts. That leads you to reading the Gnostics and old Jewish mystics. I’d already read quite a bit about Buddhism and other Eastern religions, so the background of the Sandman Slim books is a mix of all those stories. I didn’t want to root the mythology in any single religion or belief system. I took bits and pieces of all the systems and mixed them with my own fantasy ideas. The idea is that all the religions are right and all of them are wrong. Each of them has a piece of the puzzle, but none of them has the whole thing.

Q: When I read the first chapter of “Kill the Dead” the octane started flowing right away, and I got excited at the prospect of vampires, because I knew you would handle them more as Tarantino and less as Meyer, and boy was I right–do you plan on writing future novels that feature vampires more prominently?

I don’t have a lot of plans for vampires. At least not in books. I might be doing a vampire screenplay later this year, but the point will be to have a vampire story with almost no vampirism in it. It’s a vampire story told as a 70s action movie, with the vampire mythology controlling the opening and the ending of the story, but what happens in between is deliberately non-mythic.

Q: You’ve also stated that “Kill the Dead” was hard for you to write, and certainly many writers fear the dreaded curse of the second novel/sequel. For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, it’s basically every writer’s fear that since their first book kicked so much ass, the second one has even higher expectations, so the fear is that the sequel won’t sell as well or that critics will puke all over it. Did you ever go through that during the writing of “Kill the Dead”?

Kill The Dead was by far the hardest book I’ve ever written. I’d never written a sequel before and I’d never written a mystery. In retrospect, it was a pretty dumb decision to try and do both things at the same time. The good part is that having gone through book two writing book three, Aloha From Hell, wasn’t as painful. Writing a series has been a huge learning experience and a challenge I have a feeling that’s not going to stop.

Q: As well, it appears that a “Sandman Slim” movie is in the works, which is both exciting and a bit nerve-wracking, because as we all know, Hollywood has a history of not always getting adaptations right, even with the best of intentions. What would be your fantasy cast? Who do you think would play a good Stark?

I won’t talk about that. People ask me all the time what Stark looks like and who should play him in a movie. Stark looks like whatever you want them to look like. If the movie happens, Stark will look like whatever actor the producers think is appropriate and, maybe more importantly, available. There are a lot of good actors out there who could play Stark, but a lot of them are booked up years in advance.

Q: We’ve heard that the third “Sandman Slim” novel will be called Aloha from Hell, and that you’re going to shape it more as a quest plot–what else can we expect from the third (but hopefully not final) volume?

Aloha From Hell is a quest. Stark has to go and find something so he can accomplish a specific task. It’s also time for him to return the hell and clean up the mess he left there. It goes back a bit to the first book because Stark finds himself isolated again and having to relive the trauma of those early years in Hell.

And there you have it, readers!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
***Remember, there are two copies up for grabs, so there will be a total of two winners for this giveaway ***
1. Contest is open to North American (US and Canadian) residents only.
2. Contest begins today, October 31, and ends on November 6 (Sat) at 12:00AM EST
3. To enter, simply comment on this post about what you loved most about “Sandman Slim” or why you’re looking forward to reading “Kill the Dead” and please include your name, email address, and a Twitter handle if you have one.
4. For one extra entry, “Like” Darkeva’s Blog on Facebook (icon located in right sidebar) and mention that in your comment.
5. For two extra entries, add me on Twitter.
6. For three extra entries, add me to Google Friend Connect (icon located in left sidebar) and mention that in your comment.
7. For four extra entries, retweet this post on your own blog/website, “Like” my Facebook page, add me to Twitter, and add me to Google Friend Connect.

Good luck to everyone!