One-on-One with Author Christopher Golden
By Joseph McGee

Best-selling Framingham-native author Christopher Golden has carved himself out a very unique publishing niche ~ he has had tremendous success with his original novels, Wildwood Road and The Boys are Back in Town, among others, and with what are called “media tie-in novels,” books that are authorized extensions and/or spin-offs of TV series. In Golden’s case, his Oz: Into the Wild and Spike & Dru: Pretty Maids All In A Row are tie-ins to the wildly popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer phenomena.

I recently got a chance to chat with Chris about his past work and his upcoming releases.

How, then, did he go from Buffy fan (“I loved Buffy from the night the pilot aired!”) to part of the extended Buffy family? “As to getting the gig, it was a matter of having my agent figure out who had the rights to do novels and sort of ‘auditioning’ for the job.”

As soon as Wildwood Road was released, it grabbed the attention of Buffy fans and the general horror community alike, earning an endorsement from the master of horror and suspense, Stephen King himself: “A brilliant novel of supernatural suspense…a keeper.”

Golden offers a little background on the book, explaining that “The first three chapters of Wildwood Road are almost entirely taken directly from a dream I had. The only problem I can recall while working on it was that I made it, initially, more gruesome than the final, published version, and had to rework some of that to fit the tone of the overall story.”

Up next for this author who says of his 15 year career that’s going stronger than ever, “I’ve been very fortunate?” He’s releasing a new trilogy on Random House called The Veil, with the first installment ~ The Myth Hunters (available now) and the second novel, The Borderkind, which will be hitting stores this March. The release of the series’ third book, The Lost Ones, has yet to be announced, but is already eagerly anticipated by Golden’s substantial following.

So does Golden have any advice for up and coming authors? “I always say write as much as you can, read as much as you can, and network.  Meet people and make real friends who share your passions. Beyond that, the only words of advice I can offer come by way of a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, which I’ve had taped to my computer for seventeen years:
 

‘It is not the critic who counts.  Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause.  Who, at the best, knows the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.’”

For more info on Christopher Golden, visit
www.christophergolden.com.
To find out about the production of the animated Ghosts of Albion, his collaboration with Buffy alumna Amber Benson (Willow’s beloved Tara), head to www.bbc.co.uk/cult/tamaraswift/index.shtml.