Interview: Charlie Huston

Charlie Huston is one of those writers that has experienced a meteoric rise in his career. He’s been a published writer for only 6 years, but in that time has published 11 books – 3 in the Hank Thompson trilogy, 5 in the Joe Pitt case books, 3 standalones, and numerous comics along the way. I’ve only had the chance to read Sleepless (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound, my review), Already Dead (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound, my review), and No Dominion (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound, my review), but certainly plan to read more. Charlie now lives in LA with his family and is trying his hands at TV while taking a (short) break from writing books. The TV projects he’s working on are a potential pilot for HBO based on his book The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound) and a cop show that he can’t talk about yet.

This interview stands apart from others I have done – I did this one in person. Charlie’s first stop for his Sleepless tour was at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale and I was able to combine this even with a work trip to the Phoenix area. When I first approached Charlie for an interview he suggested that we chat for a bit after the event. At this point the event became both more exciting and somewhat terrifying – I have no problem with a bit of chit-chat with an author (though I’m quite introverted and generally uncomfortable talking with people I don’t know well), but this was different, a formal interview. The Questions Five interview format is well suited to the anonymity of the internet, working best when authors take time to think and get creative with their responses. In person the questions sound corny.

So, I scrambled to change a few of the questions, add a few and try not to sound like a complete idiot for the interview (I estimate that I was only about half successful at this, if that). I’m not an experienced live interviewer, I have no skills at dictation, I’m a terrible note taker, I did not record our conversation, and I can barely read my own chicken scratch. The answers to the questions are therefore my interpretation/memory of Charlie’s responses. Quotes are not exact and if something seems off it’s safe to blame me. Heck, the questions probably aren’t even the exact questions I asked him.

Charlie is one of those authors that doesn’t have a huge public life on the internet (he’s present, but not overtly so), so I had only my own preconceptions of what he may be like. Which were mostly proven wrong rather quickly. He’s tall and thin, casually dressed and has several tattoos climbing his arms. His voice which I expected to be dark and brooding is somewhat higher pitched and laced the child-like enthusiasm. He’s funny, friendly and comes across as an optimist. Having read some of his books, I found much of this a bit surprising. Anyway, I suppose I should get on to the interview. So, thanks again to Charlie for humoring me and enjoy!


While living in New York City you were drawn to noir fiction (some of which involves vampires). After living in L.A. for a while your fiction turns apocalyptic. Can you explain?

Well, the Apocalyptic come from more than just the city, but L.A. is an apocalyptic city. It’s hazardous – earthquakes, fires, etc.

Sleepless has been brewing for a while and you just don’t jump into an apocalyptic book without planning. I did most of the writing during 2008 when it really did seem that an apocalypse was coming – this resulted in significant re-writes to include much of what has actually happened. The calendar has as much do with it as anything.

As the parent of a small child, much of Sleepless reads to me as a collection of all the terrible things that can haunt a parent when the imagine things gone horribly wrong. Is this what you were aiming for? (Note, Charlie is the parent of a 2-year old girl)

Well, the idea of Park being the parent of a small child was conceived well before my daughter was. The pregnancy happed a bit before planned, so we were (happily) surprised when we got the news. The result was that I was learning to be a father at the same time I was writing the book, so it got more relevant.

Sleepless was a hard book to write. I was glum and not very fun to be around for much of the writing.

Sleepless has the heart of a noir-style detective novel such as those that you have become famous for (with or without vampires). But it also could be described in varying degrees as being a thriller, horror, near-future sci-fi, Apocalyptic sci-fi, and even cyberpunk. What is Sleepless to you?

A crime story. It’s really a classic crime story with an uncover cop investigating a conspiracy.

Who is Park – hero? Anti-hero?

Park is a close to a classic hero as I can write. Sure, he’s misguided, but defiantly a hero.

Likewise, is Jasper a villain?

[major spoiler redacted]

Anti-hero. I don’t believe in redemption for the things he’s done.

[earlier at the signing event he did use the word evil to describe Jasper]

Does being sleepless bring out the worst in people? Or….

The worst. [at this point we talked about the sleep lost when you’re a new father and discovering rather bad things about yourself.]


Bonus question for inclusion in The SFF Literary Pub Crawl:

Please recommend a favorite pub or similar establishment – it doesn’t have to be local to you, but that is encouraged and if you can’t limit to just one, recommend more, but try to keep it to 3 or less. And don’t forget to say why it’s so great. [Note: Charlie used to support his writing habit by tending bar in New York City]

I hate pubs – they are places people drink cocktails in stem glasses.

My favorite bar at the moment is the Lost & Found in L.A. It’s in a strip mall with a cleaners and across from a grocery store. It has a pool table and popcorn machine – things I value in a bar.

[Note: right after answering this question, Charlie caught a ride to a nearby dive bar – Tallyho Cocktail Lounge]

Review: Sleepless by Charlie Huston

Right from the very beginning I knew that Sleepless (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound) was going to be something different – potentially something of excellence and almost certainly depressing as hell. Equally clear right from the start was skill that Charlie Huston was wielding with his writing – it’s far superior to other books of his that I’ve read (admitted I’ve only read a couple of the Joe Pitt casebooks). The potential was enormous – potentially something that would break all genre barriers and wind up on Oprah’s list (like The Road a few years ago). And ultimately Sleepless delivers – perhaps not to the same level as The Road (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound), but something special nonetheless.

Sleepless can be described as apocalyptic science fiction, a detective story, a thriller, noir, cyberpunk, near-future sci-fi, or even horror. While all are true to one degree or another, Sleepless is a crime story at its heart – this is simply the story of a dedicated cop working undercover to unearth conspiratorial crime. But let’s not forget that it’s equally apocalyptic – not post-apocalypse, or pre-apocalypse, events in Sleepless occur while civilization is unraveling.

Think about the economic crisis as we’ve known it over the past couple of years – now add to it a plague that is 100% lethal, that infects 10% of the population and is spreading. This plague knows no bounds or economic class – it is everywhere and it is incurable. Once infected a person looses their ability to sleep – they have waking dreams, hallucinations, and are unknowably tired, but they will never sleep again. And they will be sleepless and fully conscious until their inevitable death comes. And they will wreak havoc. The only potential relief comes in the form of Dreamer, a drug that will allow them sleep and if they choose, a peaceful death while sleeping. Dreamer is the drug they need and there isn’t nearly enough.

Park is a unique man who believes in absolute black and white. He truly believes in justice and injustice and absolutely believes that everything will right itself and the world will turn out right. In Park’s world there is no other possible outcome, the world must be right for his wife and infant child. Even if his wife is Sleepless and maybe the infant too. Huston paints Park’s point of view through short absolute bursts of words, approaching telegraphic prose that is perfect for a man of absolute black and white. Huston’s misguided Park denies reality by diving into his work – to infiltrate the Dreamer black-market and find out who’s behind it all. In Park’s mind this will literally save the world.

Balancing Park and his point of view is a more fluid voice, more nuanced, yet in its own way, equally absolute. Jasper is a killer. A man with the experience of a relatively long life, Jasper has embraced the apocalypse as the ideal environment for someone like him to flourish. Through these contrasting voices an interesting truth emerged as I read – the point of view of the killer was much more comforting and less infuriating that the point of view of the hero. And that’s horribly appropriate when the world is ending.

Huston creates an absolutely terrifying world – terrifying because it’s so close to our own. It shows the illusion of civilization that we all live behind for what it is. It shows just what human nature can (and does) do. These are the truths that become evident right from the start and my most optimistic reaction was ‘this can’t end well’.

Oh the end – I wish I could talk about it in detail without spoiling. It is either absolutely brilliant or stunningly wrong. Or perhaps both. I’ve thought on it for days and still haven’t decided, but I think I’ve come to accept that it fits the world that Huston has built. As I said above, ‘this can’t end well’ – the question is just how bad will it be – will any hope be left. Or does everyone die.

So Sleepless is an apocalyptic crime story plus many other pieces that all add up to literary fiction. Yes, this is a book that is both genre and literary (in spite of having a plot). It is very much a discussion on the human condition – it’s just that most of the human conditions viewed are what so many of us would choose to deny exist. This is both a book that I can’t recommend highly enough and a book that I don’t think I ever want to read again. It is excellence, it is depressing as hell, and thankfully, it’s not entirely without hope. 9/10

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