Featured Interview With Christian Warren Freed
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
This question always feels wrong and too self serving for me, but here goes. I was born in the blizzard in Buffalo, New York a long time ago. We moved down along the PA border and I grew up in the middle of farm country. That wasn’t the life for me so I joined the Army- or circus as my mother called it- in the fall of 1990. I mean like 2 weeks before Iraq invaded Kuwait. How’s that for a welcome to the party special? The Army took me all over the world but I settled on Raleigh, NC. It gets a little hot from time to time but there’s not 6 feet of snow to worry about. Aside from running our fish tank, I spend most of my time with our two Bernese Mountain Dogs.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
4. We went to go see the original Star Wars at the drive in and I was hooked. After that came the animated Lord of the Rings and my mind was off and running. I devoured everything my tiny brain could handle- and more it couldn’t. I even pretended to read the Fellowship of the Ring in 1st grade. I say pretended because I had no idea what I was reading and would have been totally lost if I hadn’t seen the movie. Then came goofy comic books and I eventually won the student of the month award in 10th grade for writing a very, very bad horror novel. (And no- there is no evidence of this project aside from a handwritten manuscript my mother has squirreled away)
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I am truly a man of few favorite anythings. For real, I didn’t realize I had a favorite color until I hit 45. But, my go to series is Steven Erickson. Not sure what it is about the Malazan Book of the Fallen but the intensity and complexity sucks me. Each book is over 1000 pages so it’s an investment, but damn do I like a good epic. David Weber’s Safehold series also provides me with great inspiration. As far as reading goes, I try to stick to military history, fantasy, and sci fi. I’ve gotten on a kick lately of reading war stories. I suppose that makes sense since I spent 20 yrs in an Army uniform and almost 5 of them deployed overseas: Korea (2), Afghanistan in 02, and Iraq in 03 and 05.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is called Repercussions: A Lazarus Men Agenda. This is a fun book to write. The sequel to the Lazarus Men, it is about a shady organization that has existed for centuries with the goal of manipulating governments and now planetary governments to get what it wants. The story is a cross between James Bond, the Maltese Falcon, and Total Recall- in space. I wrote the first one a few years ago, got sidetracked by other projects, and then started writing this one. Funny thing is, I spent months trying to write it and only got 20k words in before realizing it was not the time. I set it aside, wrote two other books, and picked this one back up. Now the story flows better and, to quote Happy Gilmore, I am feeling the flow, doing the bull dance. Can’t wait for you to read it. And if you haven’t, you want to pick up a copy of the Lazarus Men now to get caught up.
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