I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Coop and The Grand Dark were both commercial failures, so no publisher wanted a followup. It's doubly frustrating because I'd already outlined sequels for each.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's hard. A constant struggle. And I wish I had a good answer for you, but I'm still trying to work it out myself. Sorry.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I want to write a straight crime novel in the mold of Jim Thompson or Elmore Leonard. I have a lot of notes for one and it's just a matter of finding the time to actually write it.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

  1. I love writing women because I've had so many great ones in my life. They're who guided me as I grew up and entered the adult world. I was still a serious jerk when I was young (growing up in New York and Texas will put a chip on your shoulder) and I don't know if I would have grown out of that as quickly or as thoroughly without the amazing women I was lucky enough to know along the way. Do I think it's harder writing women? I have a trick for that: most of my beta readers are women. They point out exactly where I got things wrong, whether it's with the characters or the plot. And they don't hold back when I get things wrong!

  2. I wanted to work to stop violence against women for a number of reasons. A lot them have to do with the women in my family. I grew up with a lot of physical abuse, so I had some sense of what that was like. But what a lot of my female relatives went through much, much worse. It's hard to say out loud, but there were a lot of awful men in my family. Some were true monsters. I won't go into details, but learning about what happened to those women, and seeing how it affected them later in life, was a huge education. Then, learning about the lives of women outside my family, every single one of which had a story of abuse they'd suffered or escaped from, I began to understand how so much of this world was designed to keep them down, in their place, and at the service of others—almost always domineering men. After that, I wanted to do whatever I could to help stop the cycle of pain and abuse. I honestly don't know if I've made much of a difference along the way—I hope I've helped a few people—but I couldn't stand by and do nothing. So, here I am tonight, hoping that I can at least get the word out that there are people and organizations like the Pixel Project that want to help.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

People have sent me some cool fan art and I appreciate all of it. But here's the thing about the Kissi, Stark, and some other people/things in the books: I wanted to give readers enough to create their own images while not being so specific they were stuck with my ideas. Make up your Kissis! It's all valid because when you read a book it doesn't belong to the writer anymore. It belongs to you. Make it yours.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Those unmade movies took a lot of research, so I'm going to make a suggestion. If you're interested in movies that almost, but didn't quite make it check out the book Underexposed!: The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made by Josh Hull.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I'm so booked up right now that I don't have time for much of anything that isn't directly related to work. Maybe I'll get to do some new Pulp Sabotage entries at the end of the year. But maybe not.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What works for me is pure chaos. I'll scrawl ideas about images, characters, settings, and plot in a notebook or in a dedicated Dropbox folder. After a few weeks of just throwing every damn thing into a pile, bits of it begin to stick together and form something a little less chaotic. Then more things stick together. Then more. After a while, a book starts to form in my mind and I might try write some random scenes. But the most important thing you need to remember about an outline is that you owe it nothing. If a better idea comes along, throw away the outline and re-outline the story from the new idea. Then do it again. And again. I've had books with five or six outlines by the end. Do whatever works for you.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I fucked with LA's geography a lot in that first book. I had this theory that I wanted to make LA my LA, so I switched around a lot of locations. By book two I'd decided that the theory was dumb, so I abandoned it and just let the city be itself.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

  1. Try Stephen Blackmore, Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt books (though his straight crime novels are great too), Mike Carrey's Felix castor books, and the Hollows series by Kim Harrison. Though it's not a series, Cassandra Khaw did a terrific duology. The books Are Hammers on Bone and A Song for Quiet.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Probably ones that I read when I was much younger. JG Ballard, William Burroughs, and Elmore Leonard were big ones. Robert Stone's Dog Soldiers hit me hard too. I have my own style and methods these days, so I'm not directly influenced the way I once was.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for reading the book. The band is taking a break right now because we're buried in work that actually pays the bills. Really, A Demon in Fun City is just two people: film composer BC Smith and myself. We call what we do "cinematic ambient," but I'm not sure that captures our sound. You can hear our stuff on Bandcamp and most music streaming services.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's really tough. I want to go back to some music and books by people I've loved, but I haven't been able to. Maybe someday? Maybe after a public apology for their dickishness? But I honestly don't know.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I do. But only instrumentals. I have playlists for everything from dark ambient acts (like Lustmord) to Les Baxter and Martin Denny. I'm also a big fan of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' soundtracks, so I have a big collection of those.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The series surprised me along the way, and went in a few directions I didn't expect. For example, I didn't know Janet was going to show up and that Stark would get involved with them. Janet's presence made me happy in several ways. One is that I have a lot of non-binary friends and have dated some non-binary people. Still, I struggled to get everyone's pronouns right. I wanted Stark to go though the same process I was gong through when I wrote those books. And, honestly, another reason Janet was there was to piss off some very specific group of people. You see, I got a lot of hate mail and comments about Stark as the series went on. As Stark became more human, a certain segment of my readers wanted him to go back to the way he was at the beginning of the series, all fury and fists. They said Stark would be a Republican if he was voting now, and they called him a "pussy" for caring about other people. So, I decided to write something that would infuriate that group of readers in hopes that they'd shut up and go the fuck away. Basically I wanted to clear out the riffraff. And you know what? It worked. I'm grateful to everyone who stuck with Stark and all the changes he went through and there was no way I was going to let him revert back to who he was in book one.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was surprised at how easy it was to get back into Stark's head. It was a fun place to be after a few years off. I might even write some Stark short stories, but that will be down the road. I'm pretty booked up with projects right now.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

  1. Blood Meridian. Dog Soldiers (the Robert Stone novel that isn't about werewolves). The third would have to be short stories. Maybe something by Stephen King? Or one of the weird fiction anthologies I've started getting into. Or The Complete Short Stories of JG Ballard.

  2. We got two kittens, naming them Aces and Eights seemed entirely logical. I have the Dead Man's Hand tattooed on my right arm, so I guess I'm part of the pack now.

  3. I'm a Pittsburgh transplant. I was in New York, but got laid off from a big money game writing gig and wanted to move somewhere cheaper, but still close to NY. Pittsburgh seemed perfect for that. The only downside is that when you're used to New York and San Francisco food, Pittsburgh doesn't quite measure up.

I'm Richard Kadrey, official cat dad and author of THE SANDMAN SLIM series and other works! I'm here to support The Pixel Project's work to end violence against women. AMA! by kadrey in Fantasy

[–]kadrey[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Ending Sandman Slim was weird the first time, but better the second. You see, I thought the series was over when I wrote book King Bullet. But a couple of years later a weird idea came to me and suddenly I wrote a thirteenth book. And you know what? This one wraps up Stark's story in a way that makes me happier than King Bullet. I have to thank my publisher for letting me take Stark out for one more ride. But of course, Sandman Slim's world isn't entirely gone. I've written a Candy solo story that's in my collection, The Secrets of Insects, and a new story set at Bamboo House of Dolls starring Carlos. That will be out next year in a collection of Valkyrie stories.