Writing Urban Fantasy with Richard Kadrey, author of BALLISTIC KISS
I’m joined in this episode by Richard Kadrey, author of the long-running urban fantasy series, SANDMAN SLIM.
These novels follow the paranormal misadventures of James Stark, a hard-to-kill, half-human magician who spent 11 years stuck in Hell as an arena gladiator and pet hitman for his demon masters. After carving a bloody path back to earth, Stark re-emerges in Los Angeles, hellbent on killing the circle of humans who sent him to suffer Downtown.
But to live and avenge in LA requires grit, gear, and allies, plus the occasional occult odd-job to keep you in kevlar. When your companions are carnivorous spider people, fallen angels and disembodied talking heads, and your enemies are kill-happy sorcerers, undead legions and Hellion lords….well, you’re gonna need a grim sense of humor, a fistful of supernatural powers, and an eagerness to get way down and very dirty.
For better—or probably worse—Stark has a triple helping of all that, which is how he earned his nickname—Sandman Slim, the monster who kills monsters.
The ten previous high-octane novels in the SANDMAN SLIM series are available now, and the eleventh—BALLISTIC KISS—is also out now from Harper Voyager. Buy it:
Books in the SANDMAN SLIM Series
- Sandman Slim
- Kill the Dead
- Aloha from Hell
- Devil Said Bang
- Kill City Blues
- The Getaway God
- Killing Pretty
- The Perdition Score
- The Kill Society
- Hollywood Dead
- Ballistic Kiss
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Listen to this interview on YouTube
About Richard Kadrey
Richard Kadrey is the New York Times-bestselling author of fifteen novels, including the Sandman Slim supernatural noir series. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime.” Chad Stahelski of John Wick fame is directing the book as a feature film. Some of Kadrey’s other books include The Grand Dark, Hollywood Dead, The Everything Box, and Butcher Bird. In comics, he’s written for Heavy Metal, Lucifer, and Hellblazer. He’s also been immortalized as an action figure.
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About BALLISTIC KISS
Sandman Slim is back in Los Angeles and kicking more supernatural ass in this inventive, high-octane page-turner—the next to last volume in the popular and acclaimed fantasy adventure series from New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey.
As the battle between warring angels continues, James Stark is focused on seemingly simpler matters now that he’s resurfaced on earth: an invasion of ghosts. L.A.’s Little Cairo neighborhood has suddenly been overrun by violent spirits, and Thomas Abbott knows if anyone can figure out why they’ve appeared—and how to get rid of them—it’s Stark.
Armed with the Room of Thirteen Doors, Stark quickly learns that the answer may reach back to the 1970s and the unsolved murder of small-time actor, Chris Stein. As he begins to dig into the cold case, another area of Stark’s life takes an unexpected turn when he becomes entangled with Janet, a woman he saved during the High Plains Drifter zombie attack.
Janet’s brush with the living dead hasn’t quenched her thirst for danger. She’s an adrenaline junkie and a member of The Zero Lodge—a club that promises “there’s zero chance you’ll get out alive.” The Lodge attracts thrill seekers who flock to perilous events such as night walks through the LA Zoo—with its deadliest animals uncaged. Joining the lodge to be with Janet, Stark makes a pair of crucial discoveries that could decide the fate of LA and Heaven itself.
To prevent the Little Cairo haunting from consuming the city, Stark must piece together the connections between the Lodge and a missing angel last seen in a Hollywood porn palace. But while he may dispatch the ghosts, Stark knows that without his help, the bloody war in Heaven could rage forever.
