C.T. Phipps - Monsters, Magic and Technology

C.T Phipps is a lifelong student of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. An avid tabletop gamer, he discovered this passion led him to write and turned him into a lifelong geek. As our Author of the Day, he tells us all about his book, Cthulhu Armageddon.

Please give us a short introduction to what Cthulu Armageddon is about

Cthulhu Armageddon is a post-apocalypse adventure story that takes place in the world of H.P. Lovecraft's writings. Well, sort of. The Great Old Ones have risen and destroyed the world, leaving it a burnt out monster-filled wasteland. Monsters, magic, and technology co-exist with humanity surviving in small isolated enclaves.

The protagonist, John Henry Booth, is a soldier for one of the remaining city states and attempted to help rescue some missing children by going into an ancient ruin where they'd supposedly been taken. This proves to be a terrible idea and he ends up losing his squad. He's promptly exiled with another criminal and decides to spend the rest of his probably short life getting revenge.

Who is John Henry Booth and what makes him so special?

John is a product of the hard and unforgiving world he's found himself growing up in. He's had access to the remnants of civilization to be found in his home city but has also trained himself heavily to survive the Wasteland. He can't fight one-on-one against many of the threats present but he can do better than most. He's also a man with a harsh but consistent code of ethics. It contrasts him against his fellow exile, Mercury Takahashi, who is far more flexible in her morality.

Why did you decide to combine sci-fi with a western feel?

Post apocalypse storytelling is something that has always blended well with Westerns. Mad Mad: The Road Warrior was a story that took a classic Western theme and put it in a post-nuclear wasteland. Ditto Fury Road. The Walking Dead also has Western themes even though it is set in a zombie-ridden Georgia. I felt like people struggling to survive in a newly created desert worked well with a single rugged individual trying to bring his own brand of justice to it.

Was there a single defining moment or event where you suddenly thought, 'Now I'm an Author,' as in—this is now my career?"

It was the release of my first book, The Rules of Supervillainy, which is a superhero parody deconstruction based around the premise of a guy getting a magical cloak before deciding to use it for criminal gain. It's just, well, he's not EVIL enough to pull it off. His wife also pulls him back from his worst excesses (that aren't that excessive anyway). It was written, ironically, while trying to finish Cthulhu Armageddon. It's very popular with my fans, especially audiobook listeners.

Is there something that compels you to write? And do you find that writing helps you achieve a clarity about yourself or ideas you've been struggling with?

I think every author has a story they have in their brains that just needs to be told. George R.R. Martin said that the man who doesn't read lives only one life while the man who reads lives a thousand. I believe the man (or woman) who writes is someone who experiences the ability to live potentially an infinite number of them.

How do you force yourself to finish what you're doing before starting the next project when the new idea is nagging at you?

Oh, I'm a terrible person to consult for that because I often work on a project until I get bored then come back to it when I feel inspired again. It means I have a bunch of uncompleted projects but ones I very much intend to return to. Basically, I advise you to follow your instincts.

Do any of your characters take off on their own tangent and refuse to do what you had planned for them?

I think a good character will do the majority of his or her own writing. If you create an interesting cast in terms of personalities, backgrounds, and roles then you will have a story that writes itself. Indeed, some of my most beloved stuff by funs is just the characters bouncing off one another.

What did you have the most fun with when writing this book?

Writing John and Mercury's interaction. They are deeply fun characters that have very different ways of dealing with the amoral brutality of the Wasteland.

Many people dismiss the genre as pure escapism—and nothing more. What would you say is the purpose of fantasy and sci-fi?

To explore things we can't necessarily explore in real life. There's nothing wrong with escapism as it's a form of space travel every bit as much as NASA. However, sci-fi has helped inspire real-life technological advances as well as social advances. It's 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale as well as Star Wars.

What are you working on right now?

The Future of Supervillainy, which is the 6th book of my Supervillainy Saga.

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charles.phipps.946

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Willowhugger

Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/

Website: https://ctphipps.wordpress.com/