What are your
favorite book(s)?
It's a long
list, but here are my top three:
Imajica, by
Clive Barker. I didn't know what to expect from this novel, but what
I got was the strangest of fantasies and the most epic tale of magic
and reconciliation that I've ever read. Gorgeously written.
It, by Stephen
King. Of all his novels, this is the one that I return to time and
again. Pennywise is easily the strangest of all entries into the
Lovecraftian Mythos, and one of the most horrific.
Neuromancer, by
William Gibson. Completely changed my view of what science fiction
could be like. From the opening sentence, I knew that I was reading a
very powerful novel: bleak, nihilistic, and frighteningly believable.
And Molly Millions, the street samurai with razor-sharp finger-blades
-- who doesn't love her?
Who is your
favorite author?
Clive Barker.
I've read all of his novels and short stories, and I'm anxious to
read The Scarlet Gospels. His turn of phrase is intoxicating, his
characters are powerful, and I'm blown away by his take on werewolves
("Twilight at the Towers"), vampires (The Thief of Always),
and fairies (Weaveworld). And let's not forget, this is the man who
gave us Pinhead.
Where do you
get your inspiration from?
I get my
inspiration from everyday life; I simply superimpose the supernatural
over everything I see. When I read about terrorist attacks, I imagine
werewolves hunting them down. When I'm waiting for a flight at the
airport, I envision severed hands crawling over screaming passengers.
As I navigate a busy street in a crowded city, I see Cthulhu toppling
buildings, swatting steeples, crumpling trucks.
Friends, family,
and strangers take on supernatural qualities: fangs, tentacles,
claws, a hunger for flesh, a thirst for blood. I see a car and I
imagine it flipped over with a writhing obscenity trapped inside,
surrounded by flamethrower-wielding werewolves.
How do you
get into video game writing?
A few weeks
after graduating from college, I saw an ad for a job testing video
games. I quit my position as an editor with a major company, took a
huge pay cut, and started testing video games for Electronic Arts.
Sixty-hour work weeks, no benefits, low pay, and the best job in the
world. I had some real good times and made great friends. Then the
studio shut down.
I took another
editing job, as you do when you've got a degree in English Lit, and
while trying to scheme my way back into the video game business, I
self-published a role-playing game called Dread: The First Book of
Pandemonium. It was fairly well-received, and it got me a job
interview at Ubisoft, where I wound up working as a writer and
designer for the next three years.
But all roads
lead to Rome: for someone interested in video game writing, it's
possible to transition from another medium (such as writing fiction,
comic books, TV, or film). Or one may well enter the industry as a
designer or producer or programmer, and later migrate into a role
focused on narrative.
The key is to
remember that jobs are scarce: a 100-person studio may employ dozens
of programmers and artists, but only one writer. Therefore, you've
got to keep your expectations realistic, and you may need to relocate
to another part of the world for work.
What was your
favorite aspect of working on video games?
I love the idea
that the participant is going to be interacting with a story that
I've created. A host of challenges are created by this opportunity,
and creating an immersive experience requires the writer to be
disciplined, organized, and methodical in her or his approach to the
narrative. I've developed an appreciation for spreadsheets, folder
organization, and good note-taking.
Also, I've been
lucky enough to work on several high-profile titles. It's insane to
think that millions of people have been exposed to my writing.
Another thing
worth pointing out: free beer. At work. No joke. That's how we do it
in the video game industry.
What made you
decide to self publish?
I've worked with
major publishers before (as a nonfiction author), and for
Hexcommunicated, I never even considered pursuing the
traditional-publishing route. For me, complete ownership and control
of every aspect of this novel was critical. I had no desire to give
anyone else the ability to alter my plot or characters, or to select
the cover artwork, or to manage the approach to marketing, or to
change the book's price.
The PDF version
of my latest role-playing game, Spite, sold for $6.66. I really doubt
any publisher would have come up with that price point, but given the
subject matter (hunting and killing angels), it seemed appropriate.
I started
self-publishing 12 years ago, with the release of my first
role-playing game, so for me, the issue of self-publishing's
legitimacy was put to rest a while back. I've bought indie novels,
and traditionally-published novels, and you get the good and the bad
in either case. Same goes for movies and RPGs and music and video
games.
What was the
hardest part of writing a full length novel?
It was a
challenge to control the flow of information. Introducing readers to
the world of Hex Division, and the Force Amplified Entities (FAE),
required me to develop a back-story, but I was then required to
parcel it out, rather than dumping it in slabs of exposition. I
learned to integrate the details of a complex world without slowing
down the action or interfering with character development.
Why do you
love horror and vampires?
Horror has
always fascinated me. I grew up on a steady diet of late-night
slasher movies on HBO while the gum-cracking babysitter skimmed
gossip mags. I read horror novels by Stephen King and Clive Barker,
and I listened to heavy metal music with lyrics about demons and
serial killers.
I'm enthralled
by the predatory nature of vampires: they bite, they feed, they kill.
Sure, there's variety: some vampires seduce, others simply attack and
mangle; some are polite, some are feral. But they're all hunters, and
to them, we are a source of sustenance. It seems such a horrific way
to die: to be consumed by another living creature.
Personally, I
prefer my vampires to veer towards brutality and animalistic hunger.
My favorite depictions of vampires include novels like Stephen King's
'Salem's Lot and Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, comic books like 30
Days of Night, and films like Near Dark and Blade 2.
Tell us about
your new novel.
Nick Tepes is a
federal agent with Hex Division. He's also a vampire. He likes fried
chicken, beer, and breaking necks.
Nick's having a
hell of a night. First, he's sent to find and kill a rogue vampire.
Then he gets word that a psychic has foreseen Nick's death: in eight
hours, a beautiful woman is going to kill him.
It gets worse:
the Al-Hazred terrorist network, who were responsible for the
horrific attack on the city of Providence, have now targeted Nick's
hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. According to the psychic's
vision, Nick will be murdered just after the terrorists complete
their attack.
The Hex team has
one night to prevent this prophecy from coming true, but the psychics
of Hex Division are never wrong.
Hexcommunicated
is an urban fantasy thriller featuring Fearwolves, Soultergeists,
Lovecraftian horror, vampire-versus-zombie action, and a ferocious
romantic subplot between Agent Tepes and the woman who may well prove
to be his own assassin.
About the
Author
Rafael Chandler
writes video games. His titles include MAG, Final Eden, SOCOM 4,
Rainbow Six: Lockdown, Gangstar Rio: City of Saints, Deep Black:
Reloaded, and Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation. He's also the author of
The Game Writing Handbook, which was a finalist for the 2007 Game
Developer Front Line Awards. When not writing novels or video games,
he designs tabletop role-playing games, including The Books of
Pandemonium, Mall Jongg, and the upcoming Necrotroph. He lives in
North Carolina. For more information, please visit
http://www.rafaelchandler.com, or find him at Amazon.
Thanks for the interview, Natasha! Great chatting with you.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad! :)
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