Christopher Golden: The Golden Age

By Ray Tate

Writer Christopher Golden recently spent some time chatting with Ray Tate about his current and upcoming projects, delving into a subject the both relish, the life and times of everyone’s favorite Vampire Slayer, Buffy.

From Golden’s website: “Christopher Golden is the award-winning, L.A. Times bestselling author of such novels as Strangewood and the three-volume Shadow Saga; Hellboy: The Lost Army; and the Body of Evidence series of teen thrillers (including Thief of Hearts and Soul Survivor), which is currently being developed for television.

“He has also written or co-written a great many books, both novels and non-fiction, based on the popular TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Golden's comic book work includes the recent Wolverine/Punisher: Revelation, and stints on The Crow, and Spider-Man Unlimited and Batman: Real Worlds for DC. Current projects include a run on Buffy the Vampire Slayer; and the ongoing monthly Angel series, tying into the Buffy television spinoff.”

Ray Tate: Okay, let's talk about the new stuff first. I'm aware of three new projects: Body of Evidence, Prowlers and Straight on 'til Morning. Without any major spoilers what can you tell readers about those books?

Christopher Golden: Well, while Silver Bullet readers may be familiar with me through my work in comics, my "day job" has always been that of novelist. My first novel was published in 1994 and I think I've published more than forty since then, including The Shadow Saga vampire novels, Hellboy: The Lost Army, and Strangewood (not to mention a bushel of Buffy projects).

RT: Oh, yeah! I forgot about your involvement with Hellboy. A sort of neo-pulp featuring Mike Mignola's character and a bona fide legend of a lost Roman legion. You gave him a love interest in that one.

CG: Actually, Mike and I have been talking about several other projects that I might get involved with, including a possible second novel. We'll see.

The other thing I'm best known for these days is the Body of Evidence series of thrillers, which is aimed at high school and college aged readers. It features Jenna Blake, a college freshman who has taken a job as an assistant to the Medical Examiner, and who gets involved in all sorts of weird science murder mysteries. Body of Evidence has been optioned for television by Viacom. The seventh novel in the series (and probably the most horrific), Burning Bones, is due out in February. I co-wrote that one with horror legend Rick Hautala.

RT: Who do you see portraying Jenna?

CG: Amber Benson. I'd love for her to be able to show her stuff to all the fans who don't realize that Tara on Buffy is a CHARACTER. That's why they call it acting. I think she'd be great as Jenna.

RT: Without a doubt, Buffy has had the opportunity to attract some great young actors and actresses. It is sad when people begin confusing their parts with their personalities, but if you watch them as guests on talk shows like Letterman, you can see the differences…

Your young adult work brings up a question of craft. How do you know when the horror crosses the line into adult territory? You've done Buffy books that were marketed to teens and then Buffy books marketed to adults. Try as I might, I really couldn't see any difference in the storytelling or the elements of horror. "Halloween Rain" was pretty chilling, and quite frankly the Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels have got me into a previously unknown territory for me at Borders. The teen section.

CG: Well, that's what editors are for. Heh. Seriously, though, for instance the Spike and Dru novel is VERY adult, and meant to be. But most of the chains foolishly put it into YA. It is an adult novel. There are TWO Buffy lines, a YA and an adult, and particularly with the hardcovers, there IS a difference. For my teen novels in the BoE and Prowlers series, they're NOT YA, but rather, meant for older teens and above. Sometimes the violence quotient is high, but not as graphic as in Spike & Dru.

RT: Okay, I can see how the graphic quality would be way high for a novel whose main characters are evil vampires, but how do you make certain that you're not simply watering down a novel meant for adults?

CG: My mind just doesn't work that way. Both Body of Evidence and Prowlers ARE for adults. In other words, I write them FOR my target audience of older teens and twentysomethings, but without ever talking down at all. No graphic sex, not a lot of profanity, but is THAT what makes a good story?

RT: Of course not, but if we're talking a bad movie. That shower scene goes a long way. I've always felt it's how an actress apologizes to the viewer. Yes, this is horrible. The dialogue is turgid. Here are my ya-yas.

CG: And THEN you complain about vampire hookers?

RT: Well there's a huge difference from the bona fides on screen and badly drawn cachongas or description of globes of joy in novels. I am a guy after all.

But back to your YA novels…

CG: The books are shorter, a little simpler, but I have a lot of older readers on Body of Evidence who have realized that these are not kids books. To me, "watered down" would mean something that is less dramatic, less involving, less suspenseful, not something that doesn't have as many cuss words.

RT: You're also one of the authors in the biz that frequently works with partners. Rick Hatula--an excellent horror author by the way. Nancy Holder with whom you've written most of the Buffy novels not to mention The Watcher Guide. In comics you're frequently associated with Tom Sniegowski--who has done solo Vampirella and Temptress if I'm not mistaken. How do you adapt your style if you adapt it all with all these different people?

CG: Sorry to correct, but "Hautala" and "Sniegoski."

RT: No please do correct. I butcher names something fierce. For years I called Keith Giffin Keith Griffin. I'm also horrible at numbers. I must have reviewed three separate issues of Buffy the Vampire Slayer #28.

CG: Um… actually, it's G.I.F.F.E.N.

RT: Bugger!

CG: My rule is only to work with writers I respect and get along with. From that point, you have to work together to develop a rhythm that flows. With each collaborator, it's a different thing. I love to work with other people, depending on the project, and I'm honored to have had the chance to do so.

RT: What else do you have cooking?

CG: 2001 is going to be a very busy year for me, and April is going to be a particularly huge month. Just in that one month, I have three books coming out. My new original adult novel, Straight on 'til Morning, hits on the tenth. It's a horror/dark fantasy novel, but it's also a coming of age story. Many of my favorite novels, by Stephen King, Robert R. McCammon, Dan Simmons, and others, are coming of age stories, but they're set in the late fifties and early sixties. I turned fourteen in the summer of 1981, and so this novel is set then. It's the story of Kevin Murphy, a 13 year old kid in love with the girl who is also his best friend, Nikki French. The problem is, Nikki is 15, and he's intimidated by her. He vows that in two weeks, when he turns 14, he'll tell her how he feels. But by then, Nikki has met someone else . . . a dark and dangerous older guy who is not what he seems, and who will lead them all on an otherworldly adventure that will change them forever.

RT: Hmmn, I've been there except for the part of the otherworldly adventure.

CG: Before that mass market edition in April, however, Cemetery Dance publications will be doing a limited edition (sometime in February). This is where, for the first time ever, my career as a novelist and my career as a comics writer really collide. I wanted to make this book really special, so I went out and recruited. First of all, we have a beautiful cover by comics legend Michael Wm. Kaluta. Then, for the interior illustrations, instead of getting one artist, I enlisted twenty-two amazing illustrators. In order of appearance in the book, we've got: Mark Texeira, Terry Moore, Timothy Bradstreet, Colleen Doran, Randy Green, Jacen Burrows, Glenn Chadbourne, Don Kramer, Kelley Jones, Ray Lago, Daniel Brereton, Kirk Van Wormer, Stephen R. Bissette, Michael Zulli, Eric Powell, Arthur Adams, Ryan Sook, Philip Hester, Joyce Chin, Kyle Hotz, John Cassaday, and Mike Mignola. Needless to say, I cannot wait to see the finished product, since all the art is beautiful. The limited is available from www.cemeterydance.com

RT: Well, my mouth is watering. You really are becoming an expensive habit.

CG: I'm glad. Now I just have to get the publishers I'm working with to feel the same. The first week in April will see the publication of the first book in a new horror series from Pocket called Prowlers. It's for the same audience as Body of Evidence, but I think is particularly suited for crossover readership that is older. A lot of people probably wouldn't even notice that the series is targeted at college readers. Hollywood has taken a keen interest in it as well, and both Fox and Dreamworks are considering it as of this writing. Of course, we'll have to wait and see on that front.

RT: Must I ask what's it about :)

CG: Prowlers is the story of Jack Dwyer, a nineteen year old guy who, along with his older sister, owns and runs his late mother's Irish Pub in Boston. When Jack's best friend is brutally murdered, he discovers that the city has been infiltrated by an ancient race of sentient monsters who can look like humans whenever they want, but who are actually savage beasts preying on humanity. Along with Molly Hatcher, his dead friend's girlfriend, Jack decides it's up to him to take the monsters down.

RT: I feel extremely lazy now. Apart from the reviews, all I'm doing is working on one novel and a few short stories.

CG: Well get off your ass, Tate! Go write some vampire hooker stories!

RT: Now, see, there you go again. I was going to avoid any mention of the vampire hookers and chalk it up to a case of bad burritos or something, but oh, nooooooooo, you just had to go there :).

CG: I'm just going to maintain that you didn't get it. : ) I mean, here's a sexy, brooding guy women drool over who has had sex ONCE in more than a hundred years, as far as we know. He's a horny s.o.b. Working in an office with a smoking babe who can't find a decent guy to date, and a repressed Englishman who is probably also not getting any. We wanted to do a story that would play on the sexual tension involved in all that . . . and vampire hookers are just a classic, funny bit. I know, I know, too sophisticated, right? Heh heh.

RT: So you really were purposely trying to do a "Mystery Science Theater" version of vampire hookers? Shoot. I apologize then. I guess I'm too cynical having been beaten in the head with so many bad comic books--hell, novels too--and thought you meant this as a serious subject to be explored by Angel. So all the phallic symbolism--the actual vampire hookers, everything was meant to be funny bad? Maybe Kevin Maguire should have been your partner on that one.

CG: Well, we had to play it as straight as possible for the licensers, but yes, all the penetration humor, the polishing of the weapons, the jokes about no sex life, Wesley mauled by sexy vampires, was all a riff on Angel not being able to get laid and how fondly we recall things like "Vampire Hookers" with John Carradine.

RT: You said Prowlers was for an older crowd, but will it be in the teen section? I'm a little surprised that they would allow a series where the main characters are involved with selling alcohol.

CG: Again, it is NOT YA. Yes, it'll likely be in the Teen section, but I wouldn't be surprised to also find it in general fiction or horror in many stores as well. It has a great cover treatment, very adult.

RT: Anything else?

CG: On April 23rd, The Stephen King Universe will be released. It's a huge volume by me, Stanley Wiater, and Hank Wagner. It took almost three years to produce, and in a nutshell, it is a guide to the myriad worlds in King's fiction, and how they all intertwine. King has, throughout his career, actually been writing about ONE battle, one huge conflict, one overarching story. This book is our attempt to explore that, long before King gets around to writing the final battle.

RT: You must really like Stephen King :).

CG: He was one of my first inspirations. And, of course, I'm at work on other projects right now.

RT: Such as a Buffy/Angel crossover scheduled for Dark Horse. What makes this storyarc different from any others where Buffy and Angel guarded Sunnydale?

CG: Well, first and foremost, it doesn't take place in Sunnydale. "Past Lives" takes place almost entirely in Los Angeles, and includes some VERY nasty flashbacks to the days when Angel was the evil Angelus. A woman with mysterious ties to both Angel, Giles, and the Council of Watchers has set her sights on Angel and manages to make his life a living hell, nearly killing Cordelia and Wesley in the process. Buffy, Giles, and the rest of the gang come down to L.A. from Sunnydale to aid in the battle against Alexa Landry. Simply because this is comics, we were able to do a fuller and more complete crossover than you'll ever see on television.

RT: I can see how it would be easier to do. You don't have to worry about the cast's schedules or how tired they may be from filming. With a comic book project you and of course the editors are god. The crossover is also a tradition in comic books. So you won't have to worry about anyone missing a chapter or so.

CG: I should also mention two other related projects at Dark Horse. First up, in April, you can look for a Willow & Tara one-shot that I wrote with Amber Benson, the wonderful, talented actress who plays Tara on Buffy, and who is also an incredible writer. Just as exciting, the one-shot is illustrated by Terry Moore of Strangers in Paradise fame. SiP is my favorite comic book, bar none, and I never thought I'd have the honor of working with Terry. Being able to work with both Amber and Terry at once just blows my mind.

RT: It does sound great. It also brings up another question--yes, big Columbo fan. Tara and Willow are lesbians on the series. Their relationship is even more open than that of Xena and Gabrielle. Have you been given any special guidelines regarding the characters for either the BtVS novels--adult/teen--or the comic books?

CG: Haven't written their relationship in the novels yet, but in the comics, well . . . Amber plays Tara, so she gets a certain leeway, I think. And last night, Willow actually said she was gay. So, hello there! Problem solved. : )

RT: I'm definitely going to have to put a spoiler warning before this interview. I think the Brits are a couple of seasons behind us.

CG: The other project is a three-issue OZ miniseries that will tell the story of Oz's trip to Tibet, during which he was able to learn to control the beast within. It hasn't been scheduled yet, but the first issue is written and John Totleben is supposed to be doing the covers.

RT: I can really see Totleben doing this. He's got just the right art-style for Oz, and I loved his bloodsucking moths cover for an issue of Buffy. Slipping in missing adventures between episodes is always a dicey affair. Generally speaking comic books and the novels will follow suit with the source--namely the series. So we know why Oz left Willow, and we know the outcome of his return. How will you keep the fans interested in wanting to know the middle?

CG: Heh heh. Ray! Trust me.

You know NOTHING about the journey, and the journey is really all that matters, right? There are supporting characters, there are villains, there are grand panoramas . . . and all the while, Oz is trying to get control of that beast within him, just when he most needs to let it out!

RT: Okay....New Question. Denny O'Neil said something like that there were at least five Batmen running around Gotham. This was in reference to the Batman in Detective being different from the Batman in Brave and Bold. Now, you've written Buffy YA novels, you've written Buffy comic books, you've written Buffy adult novels--oh, that doesn't sound good at all does it? Lucy Hanover from the Gatekeeper trilogy--co-written with Nancy Holder--even popped in on the comic books, but is there only one version of your Buffy? Is the character we read about in the novels the same character we read about in the comic books?

CG: Yes . . . with one exception. I'm currently working on a serialized novel called Buffy: The Lost Slayer. I'm not going to say much except that in that one, you get to see both our usual, friendly neighborhood Slayer, AND a different, much grimmer version.

RT: Naughty writer! Teasing we readers like that!

CG: Other than that, though, I do think that Buffy remains the same throughout. Since it's based on a TV series, there IS a consistent template, whereas in comics, each writer had to answer to different demands as far as what they needed Batman to be, in those days.

RT: Let's discuss that template. Joss Whedon has a strong continuity for his characters and a specific mythology for his vampires. Do you find the mythology challenging, restraining or both at times?

CG: I find the mythology, like many other similar fictional constructs, to be inspiring. Joss has specifically said he's not really interested in exploring that mythology very much. Though he is, apparently, willing to let us go into it, there are definitely limits on what we can do. However, there are upcoming projects from Pocket Books, Dark Horse Comics, and Joss himself that may indicate that his feelings about exploring the mythology are changing.

RT: I thought that might be your answer. I noticed in "The Immortal" you and Nancy Holder got around the idea that a stake makes a vampire go poof. Great book by the way. I actually believed a series regular could die somewhere other than television. In a way Buffy the Vampire Slayer de-emphasizes the vampire as the main character. Occasionally, you get an Angel, a Spike, and a Dru but generally speaking, they're there to be dusted. I'm actually into the genre more for the Van Helsing, the Kolchak and the Slayer, but that's not where the majority of opinion lies. From whence do you think the attraction to vampires comes? Is it just vampires are portrayed as having sex appeal or is there something more?

CG: In a nutshell, I think it's as simple as this: we're afraid to die, and vampires don't. The allure, though, is also our fear of what escaping death might cost us.

RT: So far all your work, apart from a couple of Gen13 and X-Men novelizations, that I'm aware of has been in the horror field, do you think you'll ever have the urge to "expand" into other genres like science fiction or the straight mystery?

CG: Well, there are horrific elements, but technically my Body of Evidence teen series are mystery novels. And, in fact, I have a few other things cooking that are definitely not horror, including a teen conspiracy thriller I'm writing with Tom Sniegoski called Force Majeure."

RT: The lion's share of your books seem geared toward teen. Any particular reason why you decided to target that audience?

CG: It's just sort of happened that way. I do really enjoy writing for high school and college aged readers, though. Maybe I just never grew up, but I feel very connected to my time as a student. On the other hand, if you look solely at my original novels, you'd find that I'm always at work on both adult novels and teen novels, not favoring one for the other at this point.

RT: Chris, thanks for the interview.

CG: Much appreciated, Ray!

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