Featured Interview With C. Robert Cales
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Ohio and apparently the off-switch for the imagination pump malfunctioned and I ended up getting a triple dose. That can either be a gift or a curse, depending on how the overdose is used.
When I was ten I became addicted to the horror genre at the hands of Christopher Lee as Dracula. This addiction drove me to any movie with the slightest potential to provide the next big scare. I’ve seen it all and frankly, a great deal of horror is just lame. I’ve grumbled a lot, but I’m like a moth drawn to porch light. I have no choice.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was a Freshman in high school when I took my hard earned grass-cutting money to the bookstore the first time. I doubt if anyone was surprised by my first purchase, Dracula by Bram Stoker. That’s when I started feeding my addiction a higher quality fix.
I was about sixteen when my imagination started demanding an outlet. I thought about making movies, but even to my teenage mind the start-up costs were prohibitive. On the other hand paper and pen were dirt cheap. I made my decision and set my sights on the writing craft.
I dabbled in science fiction and political intrigue, but nothing was really clicking with me. When I wasn’t trying to figure out the writing craft I was feeding my addiction. This particular afternoon I was leaving the theater after a particularly poor excuse for a scary movie. I was grumbling to myself that I could create a better story. It was at that precise moment that I witnessed a three-way collision between my imagination, my need to write and my love of horror.
My first product was a short story titled Devil Glass. The concept was exactly what I wanted, but I was dissatisfied without really understanding why. After the third rewrite I had a sixty-five page short story with which I was still unhappy. It didn’t have the impact I wanted. That’s when I was hit with my first major lesson along the path to the writing craft. I needed more character development. That’s when I realized the story had to be a novel and suddenly I felt like I was way over my head. I needed help. I needed to see how others did things. I needed to study their work. I needed unwitting mentors.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
The unwitting mentors I selected were Stephen King and Anne Rice. They were my goal posts. Everything I wrote was compared to their best works.
I read horror, but I want it to be good. Horror has a tendency to be plot driven with only enough character development to show the reader who the zombies are eating. I want a dynamic plot, but I want a great cast of characters, also. The most minding plot is doomed to be flat and lifeless if it doesn’t impact real characters offering emotional attachment.
I’m inspired by authors who move me, of course, but there is an answer of greater clarify. At times my imagination leaves me stunned. I begin a story with a basic concept, some concept relevant characters and turn it over to my lifelong invisible companion. Periodically I view film clips that are prepared for me and then I use my skill as a writer to show the reader what I’m being shown.
I am not unaccustomed to being shocked by the actions or dialog of characters. I never know the ending except in the most general terms until it’s exposed to me. The entire process is quite entertaining except when it’s not. I’ve killed off some good characters, but not all were by design. Sometimes a sacrifice is demanded.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
George Saunders was the quintessential bookwork who grew up to be a rare book dealer. The Bookseller, his bookstore and the residence above sit across from Boston Common and was a wedding present from his father-in-law thirty years before the story begins. He’s married to his college sweetheart who runs a coffee parlor in a corner of the bookstore. These are good people with good friends. Their lives are about to be turned upside-down.
Carlos Ramirez, drug lord, child molester, murderer and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Nonhuman spirit, hundreds of past lives, billions in treasure, bloody footprints across history, memories of everything. His best men have perfected a process for infusing liquid cocaine into the pages of books and withdrawing it at the destination point. He’s looking for a bookstore in the perfect location for acquisition to complete the next step of his plan.
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