Please join me today in welcoming C.D.Gallant-King to my blog. It's his second visit here and today he will be talking a little about himself and about his wonderful new comedy horror, Hell Comes to Hogtown.
C.D. Gallant-King
Hell Comes to Hogtown - Interview
A comic book nerd and a pro-wrestler try to clear their names in a kidnapping while evading a bloodthirsty demon hobo…
THE TRAILER!
THE INTERVIEW!
THE BOOK!
When last we spoke you had just released your first book, Ten Thousand Days. Your new book is called Hell Comes to Hogtown - tell us a bit about it.
Hogtown is a horror comedy about two losers who get involved in a paranormal mystery and wind up in way over their heads. The protagonist, Fitz, is an awkward, socially inept underachiever whose life is turned upside down when he encounters a beautiful woman in a comic book store. Through twists and turns completely outside his control, the chance encounter ends up getting him implicated in a murder and kidnapping plot involving the prime minister’s family. His best friend Dee - a narcissistic, drug-addled professional wrestler - winds up dragged along for the ride. In addition to the cops and the feds on their tail, Fitz and Dee have to deal with an even more dangerous threat: a drunken, demonic hobo with a taste for blood.
Fitz sounds a little different than what we normally picture as the hero for a paranormal mystery.
Yeah, from my experience one would usually picture a tortured hero with magical abilities, cool skills or some sort of special destiny. Fitz on the other hand, is not special. Like, at all. He’s a hapless loser who gets shoved into extraordinary situations without the skills or knowledge to deal with it. And he doesn’t always succeed. He makes mistakes, he stumbles, and he even runs away (repeatedly) before he figures out what he has to do. I don’t like characters that are special or magical or have ridiculous skills, like genius hackers who are experts at hand-to-hand combat, or smooth-talking superspies that can speak a hundred languages. I don’t find those kind of characters believable or relatable. I want to see a regular, flawed person who gets in over their head succeed by pure luck and stubbornness. Or maybe they don’t succeed. That’s way more interesting than the hero that pulls out victory by the skin of his teeth when you never really believed he was in danger in the first place.
When did you write your first book and how old were you?I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but the first "book" I know I wrote and still have is actually in French. I wrote it when I was about eight years old. It’s called “Bras d’or” (which means “Golden Arm”) and it’s about an elf archer who has to defend his village from a giant blue ogre. Like, really giant, like Godzilla-sized. It’s completely illustrated in all my third-grade glory, and the monster is so big I think you only ever see his feet. The archer eventually has to defeat it by luring it into a volcano.
I don’t remember why he was called “Bras d’or.” I remember he used a golden arrow, but that has nothing to do with the colour of his arm.
What motivated you to become an indie author?
Impatience and self-respect. I don’t want to spend a year querying authors and agents for what will probably amount to nothing. I tried it in my youth when I had time to mess around with it and it’s frustrating and demoralizing. Now, with a full-time job and a wife and kids and a million other responsibilities, I don’t have time to grovel and beg trying to get someone’s approval as a writer. I’m not looking for their validation. If I feel that I’m improving at writing, and people enjoy my book, that’s all I’m looking for right now. Getting an agent or a publishing contract is no guarantee of fame or money anyway (today more than ever). I can publish a book myself and get the same non-guarantee.
What is your role in the writing community?
That’s an interesting question. Am I a cautionary tale, perhaps? In other words: Don’t do what I do? I’m far from a leader and not really a cheerleader, but I try to be supportive of my fellow indy authors by promoting their work, giving them encouragement and picking up their books and writing reviews when I can. I know I’m ahead of many people as I’ve not only finished a couple of books but I’ve also put them out them out there for the world to see, for better or for worse. If I have to be something I hope to serve as an example that you can do this for fun and produce good work without living or dying on your next sale or review. I don’t have a long term marketing plan or branding strategy. I’m not doing this to become famous, to win an award, to make a living writing full time or to create some esoteric piece of art. I do this for fun, in my way, under my rules.
Hogtown is a horror comedy about two losers who get involved in a paranormal mystery and wind up in way over their heads. The protagonist, Fitz, is an awkward, socially inept underachiever whose life is turned upside down when he encounters a beautiful woman in a comic book store. Through twists and turns completely outside his control, the chance encounter ends up getting him implicated in a murder and kidnapping plot involving the prime minister’s family. His best friend Dee - a narcissistic, drug-addled professional wrestler - winds up dragged along for the ride. In addition to the cops and the feds on their tail, Fitz and Dee have to deal with an even more dangerous threat: a drunken, demonic hobo with a taste for blood.
Fitz sounds a little different than what we normally picture as the hero for a paranormal mystery.
Yeah, from my experience one would usually picture a tortured hero with magical abilities, cool skills or some sort of special destiny. Fitz on the other hand, is not special. Like, at all. He’s a hapless loser who gets shoved into extraordinary situations without the skills or knowledge to deal with it. And he doesn’t always succeed. He makes mistakes, he stumbles, and he even runs away (repeatedly) before he figures out what he has to do. I don’t like characters that are special or magical or have ridiculous skills, like genius hackers who are experts at hand-to-hand combat, or smooth-talking superspies that can speak a hundred languages. I don’t find those kind of characters believable or relatable. I want to see a regular, flawed person who gets in over their head succeed by pure luck and stubbornness. Or maybe they don’t succeed. That’s way more interesting than the hero that pulls out victory by the skin of his teeth when you never really believed he was in danger in the first place.
When did you write your first book and how old were you?I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but the first "book" I know I wrote and still have is actually in French. I wrote it when I was about eight years old. It’s called “Bras d’or” (which means “Golden Arm”) and it’s about an elf archer who has to defend his village from a giant blue ogre. Like, really giant, like Godzilla-sized. It’s completely illustrated in all my third-grade glory, and the monster is so big I think you only ever see his feet. The archer eventually has to defeat it by luring it into a volcano.
I don’t remember why he was called “Bras d’or.” I remember he used a golden arrow, but that has nothing to do with the colour of his arm.
What motivated you to become an indie author?
Impatience and self-respect. I don’t want to spend a year querying authors and agents for what will probably amount to nothing. I tried it in my youth when I had time to mess around with it and it’s frustrating and demoralizing. Now, with a full-time job and a wife and kids and a million other responsibilities, I don’t have time to grovel and beg trying to get someone’s approval as a writer. I’m not looking for their validation. If I feel that I’m improving at writing, and people enjoy my book, that’s all I’m looking for right now. Getting an agent or a publishing contract is no guarantee of fame or money anyway (today more than ever). I can publish a book myself and get the same non-guarantee.
What is your role in the writing community?
That’s an interesting question. Am I a cautionary tale, perhaps? In other words: Don’t do what I do? I’m far from a leader and not really a cheerleader, but I try to be supportive of my fellow indy authors by promoting their work, giving them encouragement and picking up their books and writing reviews when I can. I know I’m ahead of many people as I’ve not only finished a couple of books but I’ve also put them out them out there for the world to see, for better or for worse. If I have to be something I hope to serve as an example that you can do this for fun and produce good work without living or dying on your next sale or review. I don’t have a long term marketing plan or branding strategy. I’m not doing this to become famous, to win an award, to make a living writing full time or to create some esoteric piece of art. I do this for fun, in my way, under my rules.
Author: C.D Gallant-King
Genre: Comic Horror
Length: 65,000 words
Cover Art: Jason Salvatori and C.D. Gallant-King
Editing: Amy Allen-MacLeod
Release Date: July 1, 2016
Fitz is a broke night manager for a grubby comic book store. His only friend Dee is a drugged-out, womanizing pro-wrestler. Together they’re the most pathetic losers on the face of the planet. Their lives cannot possibly get any worse.
And then they’re implicated in the kidnapping of the prime minister’s wife.
On the run from the cops, Fitz and Dee discover there is something far worse than the RCMP stalking the dark streets of Toronto. They are being hunted by an ancient demon of unspeakable evil with an insatiable taste for blood... or maybe it’s just your run-of-the-mill giant murderous hobo?
Either way, life in prison might be better than whatever the creepy drifter has in store for them…
THE LINKS!
You can purchase Hell Comes to Hogtown at any of the fine retailers below:
THE WRITER!
C.D. Gallant-King is an independent writer originally from Newfoundland, Canada, though he's not fond of fishing and hates boats. He moved to Toronto to study theatre, and then later moved to Ottawa where he does absolutely nothing related to theatre.
He hangs out on Twitter and Facebook, and blogs at Stories I Found in the Closet and Rule of the Dice.
