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supernatural

A Song Of Shadows. An Interview With John Connolly.

March 3, 2017 By J.F. Penn

interview with john connollyI love John Connolly's Charlie Parker series, and its blend of crime and the supernatural was the major influence for my London Psychic trilogy. I met John in person at Crime in the Court in London (at left). I'm a total fan-girl 🙂 I also interviewed John for The Big Thrill July 2015 edition, and include the interview below.

John Connolly is the bestselling author of the Charlie Parker mysteries, the Samuel Johnson novels for middle-grade readers, and co-author of the Chronicles of the Invaders plus other works.

His latest book, A SONG OF SHADOWS, is the thirteenth book in the Charlie Parker mystery series.

Your latest book, A SONG OF SHADOWS, weaves European history into a string of murders in Maine, all while Charlie Parker recovers from devastating injuries.

How much of the story is based on historical truth? Why did this particular aspect of Nazi history interest you?

My eye had simply been caught by the ongoing attempts of the United States to extradite an alleged former Nazi named Hans Breyer to Europe to face war crimes charges. (Breyer died last year just before he could be extradited.) I began to wonder how many of these men and women were left, and how seriously the hunt for them was being taken.

Out of that research came a lot of surprising details about just how little energy the Allies invested in bringing these people to trial, and how the British and American authorities protected them, mainly in order to milk them for intelligence about the Soviets. I found it fascinating, and just hoped that readers would find it fascinating too.

It then turned out to be very topical because just as the book came out Oskar Gröning, the “bookkeeper of Auschwitz,” went on trial, and I suppose that the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps also reminded people of what had taken place in them.

I suppose I was also aware that it’s really hard to find anything new to say about the Nazis and the Holocaust, so in that sense I was a bit reluctant to take on the subject. Yet those old men and women nagged at me, and their cases found a resonance in one of the recurring questions in the Parker books: are we defined only by the wrongs that we do, and are some wrongs so terrible that they cannot be forgiven?

All the Charlie Parker books have a supernatural edge, which is what keeps me as a reader coming back. Where do your ideas about the supernatural come from? How do they fit with your own beliefs?

The supernatural elements in the books drew the greatest amount of criticism early in my career, and they still make the more conservative elements in the genre uneasy. I like the fact that Americans call crime novels “mysteries,” and the roots of the word “mystery” are themselves supernatural. A mystery was a truth that could only be revealed through divine revelation.

In a similar vein, I’ve always liked William Gaddis’s quotation from the novel JR: “You get justice in the next world, in this world, you have the law.” But mystery fiction has always been uneasy about the difference between law and justice. It does not accept that justice should be left for the next world, and that we should be content with imperfect legal systems in this one. If you take Gaddis’s view to the extreme, it implies the existence of both a moral universe and an entity governing it that is capable of dispensing justice. If we call that entity “God,” then there may also be a “Not-God.”

So I suppose the Parker novels take this idea and run with it: notions of justice, of morality, of retribution, and of redemption. I keep coming back to that word because if, like me, you come from a Judaeo-Christian background—I’m a bad Catholic—then “redemption” comes freighted with a certain spiritual baggage.

Your “good guys,” Charlie, Louis and Angel, might be perceived as “bad” in many ways. But the bad guys are always worse. How do the notions of good and evil fit into your characters? Can even the worst of them be redeemed?

I don’t think Parker, Louis and Angel are “bad.” As is remarked in one of the novels, they’re on the side of the angels, even if the angels aren’t sure that this is an entirely positive development. They are prepared to compromise themselves morally to achieve certain ends, and Parker in particular is aware of the potential cost of such compromises, but it comes back to that earlier question: are we defined only by actions that might be perceived as negative, or how bad do such actions have to be before they define us in that way?

I don’t believe that most people are evil. Selfish, yes. Fearful. Angry. Deluded. All those may result in evil acts being committed, but very few people set out actively to do evil. As someone once said, everyone has his reasons. For me, the use of terms like “evil” or “monster” is, for the most part, the equivalent of shrugging one’s shoulders and walking away. It’s a failure, or an unwillingness, to attempt to understand, and without understanding there can be no change. But the books do suggest that very, very occasionally, we may encounter acts or individuals so depraved as to suggest a deeper, darker well is being drawn upon.

The Charlie Parker books are set in the U.S., but you’re Irish and live in Dublin. How does Ireland emerge in your writing, even if it’s camouflaged?

I suspect it emerges through a fascination with folklore and the uncanny, and a comfort with letting rationalism—which is the basis of detective fiction—blend into anti-rationalism, which is the basis of supernatural fiction. I see them as complementary, rather than the antithesis of each other. I think, too, that the process of hybridization interests me, the possibility of creating or enhancing new sub-genres.

US Song of ShadowsI love classic mystery fiction, but that doesn’t mean that the genre should be set in aspic somewhere between the birth of Sherlock Holmes and the death of Poirot.

You’ve said that writers are like magpies, picking out interesting things from the world and storing them up for stories. What’s fascinating you at the moment?

Well, I’m writing the next Parker book, and I want it to have a strong folkloric element, but I may have to invent my own piece of folklore for it to work. Then again, isn’t that what folklore is about? We imagine, we create, and it becomes part of an ongoing tale. I’m always quite pleased when someone reads my books and has trouble spotting what’s real, and what’s made up. When that happens, I like to think that I’ve done my job right.

You can find A Song of Shadows and all the other Charlie Parker books on Amazon and all bookstores.

Filed Under: Interviews with Thriller Authors Tagged With: crime, interview, supernatural

Templars And Supernatural Thrillers With Joseph Nassise

September 20, 2015 By J.F. Penn

templars and supernatural thrillersI love supernatural thrillers and if you add some kick-ass Templars into the mix, I'm a happy reader! Today I talk to Joseph Nassise about his Templar Chronicles series.

hereticWhere did your fascination with the Templars come from? Have you visited Jerusalem or some of the European Templar churches?

Originally, I became fascinated with the Templars when I began investigating the history behind the superstitions surrounding Friday the 13th.  Why was that day considered bad luck? I wondered.  Why not some other day?

As it turns out, it was on Friday, October 13, 1307 that King Philip IV of France sent troops against the Templar strongholds, arresting all they could find, and eventually trying them for crimes against the crown and the church.  That information prompted further exploration into the Templar Order and, liking what I found, I decided to use them as a key plot element in my series.

Your latest book in the series, Fall of Night, features Gabrielle, who has only been a peripheral part of the Templar series so far. Tell us a bit more about the book as my readers love a kick-ass female lead!

Fall of Night is the sixth book in the ongoing Templar Chronicles series, which features modern Templar knights acting as a secret combat squad for the Vatican, protecting mankind from supernatural threats and enemies.  The earlier books center around the character of Cade Williams, a former Boston SWAT officer who gets attacked by a fallen angel known as the Adversary.  That same creature “kills” Cade’s wife, Gabrielle, or so he thinks.

fallofnightWe find out pretty early on in the series that Gabrielle isn’t actually dead, but held prisoner by the Adversary in a kind of limbo-like plane of existence known as the Beyond.  Cade spends much of the first several books trying to rescue her from the Adversary’s control.

In Fall of Night, Gabrielle at last takes center stage.  Due to certain events that play out in books 4 and 5, Infernal Games and Judgment Day, Gabrielle returns to the world of the living carrying information that is vital to the safety of not just the Templars but all mankind.  She needs to get that information to her husband, Cade, but he’s gone missing right at the point he’s needed most.  Fall focuses on Gabrielle’s attempts to find him while safeguarding the information she is carrying.

All your books all have elements of the supernatural. What drives your obsession with what's beyond the physically real? How do your own beliefs/experiences weave into the books?

screamofangelsThis is a tough one to answer, because I’m honestly not sure.  I’ve tried to write other things, but keep coming back to supernatural thrillers/urban fantasy as my primary genre.  The idea that there is something else out there, something more, is an intriguing one and I like adding that element to the stories that I tell.

Almost all of my fiction has it, from the Templar Chronicles to the Great Undead War to the Jeremiah Hunt series.  Maybe one day I’ll break into some other genre, but for now, I’m happy where it am!

What are the themes that keep coming up in your work? What links the series' together?

Almost everything I write deals with the theme of redemption in some fashion and this comes out quite strongly in the Templar Chronicles.  Cade is first determined to avenge his wife’s death and then, when he realizes she isn’t actually dead, he vows to give her back the life that was stolen from her.

Cade’s journey takes him deep into the heart of darkness – not just the darkness created by the supernatural creatures around him, but the darkness in his own heart as well.  Darkness spawned by his belief that he has failed both his wife and himself in not protecting them from the Adversary in the first place. The entire series traces his fight to restore himself to the light, so to speak.

Where are you in the world and what does your writing space look like? Give us a hint of behind the scenes

jeremiahhuntI live in the heat of the desert in Phoenix, Arizona and my writing space is a dedicated office on the second floor of my home.  I do most of my work in that room, though I will sometimes head to the local Starbucks when I need a change of scenery.  I have several dogs and cats and they will often keep my company during the day while I am working.

I write full time, so my routine is pretty fixed. After taking the kids to school I’ll be in my office writing by 7:30 each day and will do so until about noon.  I’ll take an hour or so for lunch and then be back at the keyboard until about three.  Later afternoons and early evenings are spent doing all the other stuff that a writing career requires – answering emails, marketing and promotion, prepping for the next release, etc.

What are a few of the books you love and that you'd recommend readers check out?

I am a huge fan of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker novels, detective fiction with a touch of the supernatural.  Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books are right up there as well.  In terms of straight up genre fiction, I’m a fan of Kat Richardson, joenassiseRichard Kadrey, Steven Savile, Caitlin Kittredge, Carrie Vaughn, Jonathan Maberry, Kelley Armstrong, Seanan McGuire, Chris Golden – hell, the list could go on and on!

Where can people find you and your books online?

People can find information about me and my work at my website – www.josephnassise.com – or on my Facebook page – www.facebook.com/joseph.nassise

Filed Under: Interviews with Thriller Authors Tagged With: supernatural, thrillers

Exorcism, Supernatural Fiction And Sense Of Place With Michael Lister

August 24, 2014 By J.F. Penn

One of the perennial themes of my fiction is the supernatural, and a continuing search for what my characters, and what I, really believe in.

Michael LIsterI recently read ‘Blood Sacrifice,' by Michael Lister, which features a death during an exorcism, a popular topic right now as the film ‘Deliver Us From Evil,' hits the big screens.

The main character of the Michael's books is John Jordan, a prison chaplain, who also struggles with his beliefs even as he investigates crimes, so I was keen to talk to the author about how we both walk the line of faith and reality.

You can watch the video below, or here on YouTube. You can also listen or download the audio on SoundCloud or below. There's also a transcription below the multimedia.

Listen, download or share audio

Michael Lister is the award-winning and bestselling author of the John Jordan suspense thrillers, with a supernatural edge, as well as historical hard-boiled thrillers. He also writes non-fiction, screenplays, and short stories.

We discuss:

  • How Michael's writing journey started and progressed
  • How Michael was himself a prison chaplain and how his own work has impacted his writing
  • What the job of prison chaplain involved
  • The character of John Jordan and his struggles with faith
  • Balancing belief with story and walking the fine line of religion
  • How the exorcism can be read as possession, but it can be read as psychological. I come down on the side of the demonic and we talk about our own interpretations
  • Why are people so interested in exorcism?
  • Talking about our influences – including my own experience of Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness at aged 15
  • Michael's non-fiction books about the meaning of life in film, based on a series of reviews he wrote for a paper
  • The themes in Michael's work that he keeps returning to
  • Sense of place and why Michael is passionate about his area of Florida

You can find Michael and his books at MichaelLister.com and on twitter @michaellister. Blood Sacrifice is here on Amazon.

[Read more…] about Exorcism, Supernatural Fiction And Sense Of Place With Michael Lister

Filed Under: Interviews with Thriller Authors Tagged With: exorcism, religion, supernatural

Talking Cults, Religion And Maine With Mystery Writer Jen Blood

March 24, 2014 By J.F. Penn

My obsessions with religion, psychology and the supernatural are clear in the books I write, and I'm always thrilled to meet other authors who share the same interests.

Jen bloodToday I interview Jen Blood, the best-selling and award-winning author of the Erin Solomon mysteries. We talk about the Erin Solomon books, cult suicides, our obsession with religion and the supernatural as well was walking the line between belief and respect for people's faith, plus how Jen does research and her love for Maine.

You can watch the video below or here on YouTube, and the full transcription is below the video.

[Read more…] about Talking Cults, Religion And Maine With Mystery Writer Jen Blood

Filed Under: Interviews with Thriller Authors Tagged With: cult, occult, religion, supernatural

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