Interviews
by Mark Sieber

Christopher Golden Interview

Christopher Golden is a veritable industry in the genre. Novels, short stories, Young Adult books, comics, and movie tie-ins are among the many ventures he has conquored in his career. He took time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for Horror World.

HW: Chris, how long have you been interested in fantasy/horror?

CG: It's in my blood. My childhood recollections are full of old movies on Creature Feature (on the local stations in Boston) and Kolchak the Night Stalker. My favorite comic books were the monster comics, and when I started to read, it was Stephen King and anthologies edited by Charlie Grant that drove my hunger for more books. I honestly don't remember a time when I wasn't passionate about this stuff.

HW: Can you point to a single book or film or experience that triggered your career?

CG: There are many experiences that were catalysts, but honestly, the one that stands out the most in my memory is having my father wake me up to watch Kolchak. The episode "Chopper," about a headless biker, and "Zombie," were two of my favorites. Reading Marvel Comics' TOMB OF DRACULA was a huge influence. Discovering King for the first time with THE STAND, which is still my favorite novel. I also read, when I was in elementary school and junior high, a great many DOC SAVAGE novels, and that was a huge influence on me. Add in THE TWILIGHT ZONE, of course. I think it was a cumulative process to get me to the point where I wanted to do this for a living, but as for the experience that really made it all happen and made it feel possible, that would be attending my first Necon in July, 1989, the summer I graduated from college.

HW: You are extraordinarily prolific. Can you describe your typical work day?

CG: Well, I'm up by 7am checking e-mail and my wife and I get the kids ready for school. I'm home by 8:30 if I don't have to go to the gym. (On those days, I'm not back until 10:30.) I speak to Tom Sniegoski on the phone nearly every weekday morning. Then I try to take care of paperwork and e-mail and that sort of business (like this interview), and hopefully, I've got an hour or so to write before lunch. Sometimes other phone calls and business will intrude after lunch, and then I write until 6pm. There are many nights when I go back to write for a while after dinner, and about half the time I have to spend a few hours on Saturday and Sunday trying to finish up work from the week. I'm fairly diligent, but honestly, since this is my full time job I find it difficult to understand people being so surprised that I'm prolific. Some days I write three pages. Some days I write sixteen. On an average day, I'd guess I get eight or nine pages done. That about 2,500 words, which, honestly, is not a lot by many people's standards. I just keep my nose to the grindstone.

HW: You've collaborated with Amber Benson, from the Buffy show. How did this come about?

CG: When I was working on various Buffy novels and comics, I was introduced to Amber by a mutual friend of ours, who worked on both of our web sites. A group of us were out at dinner one night and I found out that Amber had written stage plays and a movie that she was going to be making. I mentioned that I'd love to read her plays, and if she ever wanted to write a Willow & Tara comic, I'd be happy to work with her. I don't really remember the follow up conversation much, but suffice to say that's what ended up happening. We enjoyed our collaboration so much we did a couple more of those and then the BBC invited us to pitch them an idea for an animated serial for the web, and GHOSTS OF ALBION was born.

HW: Chris, you've done a lot of collaborations. Do you enjoy them?

CG: I've said this before, but here's the thing: writing is a solitary occupation, and I'm not a solitary person. When I'm chatting with a friend and we come up with a great idea, I want to share that enthusiasm. That's how most of my collaborations come about. I've just done a novella with James A. Moore that's sort of a secret at this point, and I've been talking with Tim Lebbon about doing something in the future. Ironically, I'm also looking to do LESS collaborating in the future. Much as I enjoy it, I'm really trying to bring my focus back to all of these ideas I have that I want to explore on my own. While I'd like to live forever, since that's unlikely, there are stories to be told. Amber and I have more GHOSTS OF ALBION planned, and possibly some original fantasy novellas. Sniegoski and I will continue THE MENAGERIE. I love the collaborating I do, but other than this thing with Tim Lebbon, I see myself focusing on more personal work.

HW: I know that you are a father. Do you let your children read your fiction?

CG: I'm fortunate that I've written various types of books for various age ranges, and so there are different things I can expose them to. Most of my work I would never let them read until they're much older.

HW: Have they shown an interest in writing? (Chris, I know you have one son, but I'm not sure if you have more children than that. I can fix the questions to suit)

CG: Not so far, but they're voracious readers, so you never know!

HW: Are you comfortable with the term "horror writer"?

CG: Absolutely. I'm proud to wear that badge and to be a part of a community I love so much. Ironically, though, very little of what I've done is actually horror. I do believe there is such a thing as "dark fantasy," and that most of my writing falls into that category. THE FERRYMAN is horror, for sure. WILDWOOD ROAD may be billed as a "supernatural thriller" or what have you, because it's gentler than the typical horror, but certainly it fits comfortably into the horror niche. My series PROWLERS is definitely horror. But STRANGEWOOD, THE SHADOW SAGA, STRAIGHT ON 'TIL MORNING, THE MENAGERIE, GHOSTS OF ALBION . . . dark fantasy. Some of it is VERY dark, verging on horror, but for instance, my upcoming trilogy for Bantam, THE VEIL, has a lot of horrific elements, but it's the most "Fantasy" of anything I've ever written (other than the YA fantasy series OUTCAST). Then again, some of those books have been labeled "horror" and some "dark fantasy." The thing is, they're only labels. I don't care what the publisher wants to call the book for marketing purposes. Whatever. I just write it, and I'll let other people define it. As for myself, if I'm a "horror writer," I'm honored to be in the company of the dozens of remarkable horror writers I've read over the years and continue to read.

HW: You have a book coming this January called The Myth Hunters. Would you mind telling our readers a bit about it?

CG: THE MYTH HUNTERS is the first book of THE VEIL, a dark fantasy trilogy I've been fiddling with for a while. I'm nearly done with the second book right now, which is called THE BORDERKIND. It has influences that come from my own novel, STRANGEWOOD, and from Clive Barker and Charles de Lint and Robert Holdstock and Neil Gaiman and many others, but it's all thrown into the pot to create a story that's very much my way of doing things. The story concerns a young man named Oliver Bascombe, an attorney from a very wealthy old New England family. He's struggled all his life with his controlling father, made worse after his mother's death when he and his sister were just children. Oliver never wanted this life, never wanted to be an attorney. He wanted to be an actor. He loves myth and story, and remembers a time when he believed in magic. But he's become everything his father wanted him to be. He's very much in love with his fiancee, but the problem is, her father is also one of the founders of the law firm they all work for, old New England money, and marrying her is the final surrender to becoming the man his own father wants him to be. Oliver loves her, but he doesn't want to become that. The night before the wedding comes the first snowfall of the year, a real doozy. That night, from the blizzard, there comes a creature made of ice, wounded and in need of his help. It's Frost. Jack Frost. He's being hunted by a monster called The Falconer and if Oliver does not help him, he will die. Numb with disbelief, Oliver doesn't know what to do, but he ends up helping . . . and is dragged through the Veil into another world, where ancient "lost" civilizations still exist, where Amelia Earhardt opened a bar and started a family, where every bit of legend and folklore is real. The thing is, Frost is one of a special breed, called Borderkind, who can move back and forth across the Veil. But humans are NEVER supposed to do that. Those who slip through, the Lost Ones, are touched by the Veil's magic and can never return. But because Frost brought Oliver through, he CAN go back. And that makes him an Intruder. A fugitive. So while Frost is trying to figure out why the Myth Hunters are slaughtering the Borderkind and who's behind that conspiracy, Oliver is being hunted with him, and also has a death warrant sworn out for him throughout the Two Kingdoms beyond the Veil. And that's only the beginning. When an ancient horror is released after centuries and slips back into the human world, Oliver's loved ones are in terrible danger, and the more he learns about this new world the more he realizes that no one can be fully trusted and nothing is what it seems.

HW: You've published a lot of books in a relatively short period of time. Do you have a personal favorite?

CG: Still STRANGEWOOD. There are a lot of books I'm very proud of. I'll happily hand THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN to anyone as an example of my work. It think it and WILDWOOD ROAD have the broadest appeal. You don't have to like horror or fantasy or mystery to enjoy those. And though it's disconcerting to discuss a trilogy when you're only finishing up the second book, I'm very pleased thus far with how THE VEIL is taking shape, and kind of intiimidated by the convolutions of the thing. But at the end of the day, STRANGEWOOD is still my favorite. It means a great deal to me and was a real milestone for me as a writer.

HW: Thanks a lot, Chris!