{"id":17080,"date":"2013-01-31T07:05:16","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T12:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/?p=17080"},"modified":"2013-01-31T07:05:16","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T12:05:16","slug":"ten-questions-about-dead-things-by-stephen-blackmoore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/2013\/01\/31\/ten-questions-about-dead-things-by-stephen-blackmoore\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Questions About Dead Things, By Stephen Blackmoore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I am a fan of Stephen Blackmoore. I also consider myself his friend, even though he keeps taking restraining orders out on me — seriously, now I have to stay 603 miles away from him at all times, which will make the next WorldCon very awkward. WHATEVER. I dug the hell out of his first novel, City of the Lost<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, but for me,\u00a0Dead Things<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is an epic favorite — I don’t read fast, but this book was like a gun pressed to the back of my head and I read the hell out of it in very short order. I loved it. So will you. Let Herr Doktor Blackmoore tell you all about it.<\/em><\/p>\n

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?<\/h2>\n

I am a sparkly unicorn who grants wishes and frolics in the… Wait. \u00a0Where am I?<\/p>\n

Oh. \u00a0OH. \u00a0Sorry. \u00a0That’s, uh, that’s for something different.<\/p>\n

I’m an author. \u00a0I write books. \u00a0There’s CITY OF THE LOST, about an undead thug who gets caught up in a hunt for the item that raised him from the dead. \u00a0KHAN OF MARS, which comes out later this year, set in the 1930’s pulp adventure world of the role-playing game SPIRIT OF THE CENTURY, about a hyper-intelligent gorilla\u00a0fighting\u00a0for freedom on the red planet. \u00a0My newest book, DEAD THINGS. \u00a0I also write short stories and co-host the bi-monthly lit event Noir At The Bar L.A. and run a true-crime blog called L.A. Noir<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m kinda all over the place.<\/p>\n

GIVE US THE 140-CHARACTER STORY PITCH:<\/h2>\n

DEAD THINGS is an urban fantasy novel about a necromancer who comes home after 15 years to solve his sister’s murder to find it’s a trap.<\/p>\n

WHERE DOES THIS STORY COME FROM?<\/h2>\n

The protagonist of DEAD THINGS, Eric Carter, is a necromancer, a rarity among mages. \u00a0He sees the dead, talks to them, makes them do what he wants. \u00a0It gives him a perspective on life and death that a lot of people don’t have. \u00a0It’s isolating for him in a lot of ways.<\/p>\n

Carter disappears from his old life leaving behind a lot of resentment, anger and confusion. \u00a0And when he comes back fifteen years later to deal with his sister’s murder he finds himself having to deal with the fallout of his decisions. \u00a0His old friends don’t know how to handle him and he doesn’t know how to handle his friends. \u00a0It’s not easy for him.<\/p>\n

Between that and his abilities with the dead a lot of the book is about ghosts. \u00a0Ghosts of dead people, ghosts of dead relationships, ghosts of the way things were and aren’t anymore.<\/p>\n

And for me that’s the core of the story; disconnecting yourself from your life and the challenges of trying to come back to it. \u00a0That doesn’t always work. \u00a0People change. \u00a0Sometimes it’s the people you thought you knew. \u00a0Sometimes it’s yourself.<\/p>\n

We’ve all done it at one point or another. \u00a0It’s part of growing and defining your own life, whether you do it at eighteen, thirty or sixty. \u00a0And there’s always fallout from those actions. Carter’s forced to confront the choices he’s made and the consequences of his decisions. \u00a0A lot of the story comes from examining what kind of awkward homecoming that might be like.<\/p>\n

HOW IS THIS A STORY ONLY YOU COULD\u2019VE WRITTEN?<\/h2>\n

A lot of writing is about choices. \u00a0Which words to use, which ones to leave out, what plot points to emphasize, that sort of thing. \u00a0All of those together, and a dozen other things, contribute to a writer’s voice. \u00a0I’d like to think that I bring something unique in terms of style to the stories I write. \u00a0Another writer would have made different choices, focused on different things. \u00a0I’m sure, hell, I know, that someone else could have written Eric Carter’s story. \u00a0But it wouldn’t have been this one.<\/p>\n

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT WRITING DEAD THINGS?<\/h2>\n

Making the character of Eric Carter unique and not a rehash of Joe Sunday, the protagonist of CITY OF THE LOST.<\/p>\n

Though it’s set in the same world as CITY OF THE LOST, DEAD THINGS is a very different book. \u00a0The protagonists are very different people. \u00a0How they view the world and their place in it and the challenges they face are about as far removed from each other as it’s possible to be. \u00a0In CITY Joe Sunday is trying to adjust to a sudden new world that he’s been thrust into.<\/p>\n

But with Carter, it’s coming back to a world that he thought he knew. \u00a0Sunday’s very much a fish out of water character, and Carter is more of a guide. \u00a0He knows his world, or at least he thinks he does.<\/p>\n

I tried to keep Carter different from Sunday by focusing on Carter’s relationships and his character more than I did Sunday’s. \u00a0It’s a much more emotional and character driven book. \u00a0I think it worked. \u00a0Guess we’ll find out.<\/p>\n

WHAT DID YOU LEARN WRITING DEAD THINGS?<\/h2>\n

That writing a book is something I can repeat and do it on a deadline.<\/p>\n

I’ve looked at my writing career, though it’s new enough that calling it a career feels pretentious I don’t know what else to call it, as a series of stepping stones. \u00a0I always want to be moving. \u00a0I don’t want to do anything that isn’t going to lead me to something else.<\/p>\n

The first novel I ever wrote was a weird, little mess for NANOWRIMO back in 2002 to prove to myself that I could do it. \u00a0After that I focused on writing and publishing short stories, get my name out there, get some bullets on the resume. \u00a0I didn’t try to tackle anything longer for a few years. \u00a0Then I wrote CITY OF THE LOST, sold that and jumped onto DEAD THINGS.<\/p>\n

I’m proud of CITY OF THE LOST. \u00a0I think it’s a good book. \u00a0I wanted to make sure that DEAD THINGS was, if not better, at least as good and yet different enough that it stood out.<\/p>\n

Up until the point that I turned the book in I wasn’t entirely sure I could do that. \u00a0NANOWRIMO notwithstanding (and I don’t really count it) I had never written a book with a deadline. \u00a0I was playing with things that I hadn’t really done before, digging into some emotional territory that wasn’t always fun to write, dealing with the pressure of knowing that I could completely blow it.<\/p>\n

Now that the book is making its way into people’s hands I’m fairly confident that I pulled it off. \u00a0Knowing that I can do that gives me something to hang onto when I run into a rough spot and start believing that I can’t. \u00a0I have proof that I can.<\/p>\n

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT DEAD THINGS?<\/h2>\n

That Eric Carter is a fuck up.<\/p>\n

It’s not that Carter’s incompetent, it’s that he makes bad choices because of flawed assumptions. \u00a0You know, like we all do. \u00a0He set in motion a series of events based on what he thought people needed and when he comes back into the life he left behind he’s still operating as though everything should be the same and it isn’t.<\/p>\n

I don’t like characters who can’t fail. \u00a0Superman holds no appeal for me. \u00a0Indiana Jones is more my speed. \u00a0Watch Raiders of The Lost Ark and you’ll see just how much of a failure as a hero Indiana Jones is. \u00a0He screws up just about everything he tries to do in that movie. \u00a0Loses the gold idol, burns down Marian’s bar, gets her killed (not really, but he doesn’t know that) and ultimately loses the Ark. \u00a0He’s a fuck up. \u00a0he just looks good doing it.<\/p>\n

That kind of character is much more interesting to me and I tried to put that sort of limitation into Carter.<\/p>\n

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?<\/h2>\n

Well, I’m about to do a next time. \u00a0The sequel to DEAD THINGS, BROKEN SOULS, is due to be delivered in July for a 2014 release. \u00a0DEAD THINGS was written during nights and weekends because of my day job. \u00a0This time I’m going to try to carve out a couple weeks off the day job and go somewhere I can’t be interrupted. \u00a0I don’t know if it will help, since I have an enormous capacity for distraction, but I’m hoping to find out.<\/p>\n

Also, the outline for BROKEN SOULS is slightly more comprehensive than the one for DEAD THINGS.\u00a0 The DEAD THINGS outline started something like, “Stuff happens and then this thing over here and then\u2026” eventually getting into the actual plot.\u00a0 I didn’t really have a beginning in mind.<\/p>\n

This one is a lot more locked down, which on the one hand should make things easier and on the other, as I write it, I realize that it might be a little too tight.\u00a0 I’m curious to see how far away I diverge from the outline with the finished book.<\/p>\n

GIVE US YOUR FAVORITE PARAGRAPH FROM THE STORY:<\/h2>\n

I don’t have a favorite paragraph, but I do have a favorite line. \u00a0“Death keeps her promises.”<\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S NEXT FOR YOU AS A STORYTELLER?<\/h2>\n

I’m working on BROKEN SOULS at the moment and then I have the next one in the series, HUNGRY GHOSTS, along with a couple of short stories I need to do and, depending on how things shake out, some gaming work that I can’t really talk about, yet.<\/p>\n

I’m hoping to branch out into some other directions this year and try my hand at a comic script, maybe a screenplay, two things I’ve never tried before. \u00a0I don’t really expect much to come of them other than getting used to the form and use them to jump toward other things.<\/p>\n

Like I said, they’re all stepping stones.<\/p>\n

Dead Things (Feb 5th): Amazon<\/a><\/span> \/ B&N<\/a><\/span> \/ Indiebound<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Read the first chapter here<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

site: stephenblackmoore.com<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter: @stephenblackmoore<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a fan of Stephen Blackmoore. I also consider myself his friend, even though he keeps taking restraining orders out on me — seriously, now I have to stay 603 miles away from him at all times, which will make the next WorldCon very awkward. WHATEVER. I dug the hell out of his first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-theramble","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-4ru","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17080"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17087,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17080\/revisions\/17087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}