Chris Coppel was born in California and has since split his time between the USA and Europe, living in California, Washington DC, Utah, Spain, France, Switzerland and England. Chris has held senior operations positions for both Warner Bros. and Universal Studios. Chris also held the position of Director of Operations for UCLA’s Film School where he also taught advanced screenwriting. Chris and his wife Clare spent many years helping animal rescue with Best Friends Animal Society in Utah. Before joining Best Friends, Chris was President and Managing Director of the Home Entertainment Division of Testronics in Los Angeles. Following in his father’s footsteps (Alec Coppel wrote Vertigo among many other successful movies) Chris has written numerous screenplays as well as the novels Lifetimes, Lingering, Logistics, Double Down (as C.J. Axelrod), Liner, Lucy, Lakebed, Legacy, Lodge, and Luck. Chris is also an accomplished drummer and guitarist.
His new book, Latency, just released today, is a riveting blend of police procedural and supernatural thriller. Up until now, the only monsters the LAPD had ever seen were of the human variety. When two down-on-their-luck detectives are forced to work together on a series of cold cases, they slowly begin to uncover a common thread that may hold the key to solving some of their town’s grizzliest unsolved murders. Little do they know that the same key will unlock secrets from a different dimension; one filled with monstrous creatures that should never be disturbed…
Chris stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about his writing process:
First, a little about me and my writing.
I wrote my first book, Lucy, thirty years ago, then managed to not write another word for over twenty-five years. Now I write a minimum of one book a year. While my original novel was a gentle tale (or tail) revolving around a Golden Retriever that gets stolen and has to, along with other fine hounds, escape their capturers and find a way home, most of my other works have been in the horror – ghost genres. Why do I choose to weave tapestries of dark and cloying fear? I have no idea. What I can say for certain is that I have always enjoyed a good horror story. Before I go on, I think I need to point out the sort of tale that I DO NOT define as good horror. I am not a fan of gratuitous orgies of blood and gore that start on page one and maintain that same sordid level until the very end without any benefit to the story or the setting. I find that type of horror to be the genre-equivalent of the bottom shelf romance novels that are all written according to a preordained script that dictates content, romantic interaction timeline and conclusion. Having said that, those books sell in the billions every year, so that just shows how much I know.
Horror for me must be original. I don’t find an axe wielding psychopath targeting young sorority girls to be clever or worthy of even a sample read on Amazon. I like subtlety in my horror. I also like a dash of humour, a drop of pathos and most importantly, I want the feeling of discombobulation. I want the reader to feel the same emotions as the characters. To date, I feel that my books have encompassed all those criteria.
I was questioned about how I deal with research. Firstly, the need for in depth research beyond what my imagination can provide, varies from book to book. In Lucy and in Lingering, for example, I didn’t see the need for any research at all except for a little Google map work seeking out a few locations in Southampton. In Luck and Legacy, I needed quite a lot of science, armament knowledge, Native American lore etc. I found that the internet was all the tool I needed. I also learned not to grab the first data chunk from the landing page and then think that I was, at that point, highly knowledgeable on the subject at hand. Look deeper! For example, I needed to know about sniper rifles from the 1990s. I found that by digging deeply in the Google mine then branching into YouTube for some hands-on visualisations, I was able to get a good understanding of the weapon I needed for the story.
The only book I have written that required in-person research was the one I am editing at this moment. Titled Lusas Naturae, it is set in a small coastal town in England that is close to what was one of the biggest coal mines in England. In addition, the town sits atop a plethora of subterranean tunnels that were used by pirates and smuggles hundreds of years earlier. As my knowledge of tunnels and mines is on a par with my knowledge of quantum physics, I chose to meet local historians as well as volunteer tour guides at the local mine museum. The depth (literally) and breadth of knowledge that these individuals were able to impart to me was priceless and enabled me to add a layer of texture that couldn’t have been achieved otherwise.
You can read more about Chris and his writing via his website and follow him on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Latency is now available via all major booksellers and via publisher Cranthorpe Millner.
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