1. What do you wish people would ask you about your writing?
CK - Ha! Everything! Like all writers, I'm sure, it's exhilarating to talk about, but the part that's really captured my attention lately is process. Steven King has a bit in 'On Writing' where he talks about his process and it's fascinating, and more than a little bit inexplicable to him. He just sits down and it pours out of him. And he's got no memory at all of writing say, Cujo, because of the liquor and coke involved. He's certainly not wrong about portions of it coming out of nowhere, but then I don't think the majority of the process should be explicable (even without the booze and coke). I'd like to pursue it more like, say, Picasso does painting. Experiment, play with it. Dig deep and deconstruct and reverse-engineer the greats and your favorites to see what moves you, and hopefully others. Everyone writes a little differently, though, which is one of the brilliant parts about it.
2. Which of your characters would you most like to meet and why?
Certainly Justice Kasric & Avonstoke from Shadows, and I'd love to *see* a great many of the Faerie characters, but from behind safety glass or from a real safe distance. They're not stable people. Dragons! But in terms of sitting down and getting to know them...there are a group of aliens from Black Hole Whiskey built something like a real fuzzy cross between 60-pound shrimp and ferrets called Nightwalkers. They're sort of the geek crowd of the alien set. Like Japanophiles from the U.S. they've come and fallen in love with some of the more romantic parts of Earth culture (Westerns & Samurai) and go around with six-shooters and katana. I didn't exactly intend for them to be humorous and adorable, but that's how they came out. Those are guys I'd love to hang out with.
3. Do you have any plans for writing the Sherlock Holmes meets Dracula story from Dracula's point of view?
(This should have been my answer to question #1! Questions I haven't thought of! Any interview I walk away with something knew to ponder, like this, is good stuff!)
I didn't have any plans for this, partly because I'm more a fan of Holmes (really Watson's voice) than Stoker's work. Don't get me wrong, Dracula is one of the coolest, sinister, strangely sympathetic characters in history. (Though it's hard because of all the movies to distinguish the literary version from Hollywood's version.) But I feel that one of the most interesting parts of Dracula is his 'Prince of darkness among outsiders' aspect. He's an enigma in Stoker's work. Vampires and their origins (dark fey/anti-christy roots) can be understood, but Dracula himself has a distance to him that makes him intriguing in a way distinct from all of Stoker's narrators. That being said, there are books that have done it well. (Saberhagen's Holmes/Dracula file has a very engaging Dracula P.O.V., along with an interesting Holmes/Dracula connection that you should go discover, if you haven't read it.) Hmmm...I didn't before you asked, but now...I just might.
Holmes/Dracula: Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula: The Adventure of the Solitary Grave: From The Supernatural Case Files of Sherlock Holmes (Volume 1) [Christian Klaver] on Amazon...
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Shadows Over London (House of Thorns) (Volume 1) [Christian Klaver] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. It’s 1872, in Victorian England and most Lo...
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This author of Science Fiction and Fantasy lives in the suburbs just outside the sprawling decay of Detroit, Michigan. There he resides with his wife (Kimberly) his daughter (Kathryn) and a group of animals he refers to as 'The Menagerie'.
He has been selling short stories since the early '80's, including recent sales to Escape Pod and Dark Wisdom Anthology from Elder Signs Press.
Contact at: [email protected]
www.christianklaver.com