Author Interview – Chris Strange

For my very first author interview, I’d like to introduce Chris Strange, the author of The Man Who Crossed Worlds. I first reviewed his book in the beginning of this month. I was so impressed with it, I thought it would be great to get to know the mind behind the work better.

 1. Was there a catalyst or a single event that you can point to that led you to your writing career?

First of all, thanks for having me on! It’s great to be here. I’ve dabbled in writing ever since I was young. Creative writing assignments were always my favorite things in school. But it wasn’t until the last few years that I started to take my writing seriously. After a couple of abortive attempts at writing novels, I finally managed to complete my first full-length work during NaNoWriMo (2010,
I think). For those who aren’t familiar with it, NaNo is a very popular event held every November where people all around the world
try to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. It’s a crazy, awesome adventure with an amazing online community. The humorous sci-fi novel I wrote during that month was pretty terrible and it will never see the light of day, but the event showed me that I could actually sit down and write a novel from start to finish, and have a blast doing it. I’ve been trying to write seriously and improve ever since.

2. Do you have any writing rituals?

I have to have music while I write, preferably something with lots of  guitars. I’ve tried writing on a laptop in various trendy locales like coffee shops and libraries, but it never worked for me. My best writing comes when I’m sitting in a comfortable chair at home in front of a nice big screen while I mainline caffeine in some form or other.

3. If you had a chance to sit down with you favorite author who would it be? what would you say?

To be perfectly honest, when I’d almost certainly turn into an awkward, stammering fool, so I wouldn’t have a clue what I would say. But one day I’d love to meet Haruki Murakami, the bestselling Japanese writer. Especially if it gave me an excuse to visit Japan. I’d love to see the mind of such a genius in action. Plus he just seems like a really cool dude.

4. How did you decide to write Urban Fantasy?

I love exploring what happens when the strange intersects with the familiar. I read pretty eclectically, but the stories that stay with me are the ones that can bring those two clashing worlds together and present something fascinating and new. Urban and contemporary fantasy is also an exciting genre to be writing in at the moment. A huge range of different worlds and stories and characters and voices have been emerging in the genre for the last few years, from Justin Gustainis’ Occult Crimes books to Joe Hill’s delightfully dark comic book series Locke and Key. It’s incredibly thrilling to be a part of.

5. Your style is very similar to Jim Buther’s, was he a heavy influence in your work?

Absolutely. It’s almost impossible to write in the male-protagonist-noir-urban-fantasy style without being inspired by incredible writers like Jim Butcher, Mike Carey, Richard Kadrey, and Simon R. Green. I’m also a huge fan of the hardboiled, metaphor-laced works from the times of the pulp magazines by writers like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, so that’s been a heavy influence as well.

6. The cover for “The Man Who Crossed Worlds” is very striking. How was it conceived?

The cover art is all down to my fantastic artist, Hiep Ha Dzung. I found Hiep through deviantART and gave him a few ideas for the tone I wanted to convey, and he did the rest. I was aiming for something exciting, over-the-top, pulpy, and with a bit of magic, and I think he really delivered.

7. Can you talk about any future works?

Sure. I’ve got two projects in the works at the moment. I’m in the middle of edits on a superhero adventure novel called “Don’t Be a Hero.” It’s a mashup of comic books, rocketpunk, and New Zealand culture, and I think it’s a fun book. I’m also nearly done with the first draft of the sequel to “The Man Who Crossed Worlds,” so I’ll be finishing that off and getting started with edits soon. It’s been great to get back into Miles’ head and get him into a whole lot more mischief. After that, I’ve got a few story ideas sketched out and the general arcs for the next couple of Miles books. So much to write, so little time!

Get your copy of The Man Who Crossed Worlds here.

Find Chris over at the following places:

WEBSITE – TWITTER – FACEBOOK – GOODREADS

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