Hello, everyone! Today I have a nifty interview with author Joe Schreiber, who wrote the most recent Supernatural tie-in novel, Supernatural: The Unholy Cause. Now, you all know how much I love Supernatural, but the fact is, I’ve never read one of the tie-ins. I won’t get into why. Let’s just say I was given Joe’s novel and gave it a try on an airplane trip…and liked it so much I had to check him out!

The Unholy Cause is a stand-alone “episode” but with ties to the overall apocalypse arc, and takes place in Civil War country with the war as a backdrop. Not my favorite subject, and yet Joe managed to craft a tightly plotted, fast-paced and true-to-the-show ride I thoroughly enjoyed!

So…here he is!

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself — writing background, biography…whatever you like!

Born 40 years ago in Flint, Michigan, but my father’s restlessness nature carried me to Alaska, California and Wyoming before it eventually totaled his marriage and infected his kids–my siblings and myself– with the same nomad virus.  I’ve lived in everywhere from New York to Portland, Oregon, with stints in Hollywood, Chicago and Martha’s Vineyard.  Been writing seriously since I was thirteen, doing everything from travel guides to screenplays to ghostwriting Jesse “The Body” Ventura’s wrestling memoir, I AIN’T GOT TIME TO BLEED.  Getting married saved my life and having kids saved it again, re-introducing me to the pure pleasure of storytelling and play.  Nonsmoker, too poor for drugs.  Big drinker until recently when I decided to quit.  Favorite band of the moment: The Hold Steady whose new album HEAVEN IS WHENEVER is a work of genius.

2.  Unholy Cause is your first Supernatural tie-in novel, but you’ve written others. What was different (or the same) about writing for this world versus the others? And can you tell us a bit about your other media tie-in work?

I love the Supernatural world because it always seems bigger than it actually is, like you could hop in the Impala and drive right out of the scene into something just as big, scary and American as what’s going on in front of you.  If I could do it again, if I wasn’t writing in such a blind deadline panic, I think I would have let myself get seduced into a few more diversions off Sam and Dean’s mission just to show a little bit more of that universe.  What’s the place in New Hampshire that has Dean’s favorite cheeseburger?  What does the Supernatural version of New Hampshire even look like?  I imagine the boardwalk is a salty marvel of warped post-Labor Day planks and sea spray with mostly empty storefronts from which Led Zeppelin faintly plays.

Other media tie-in work — I guess that’s Star Wars.  It’s a big sandbox, and the more I played in it, the more cool toys I dug up to play with and disfigure.  Imagine being given the keys to the biggest pop culture machine of your generation and basically being allowed to paint it day-glo red and supercharge the engine.  Big fun.

3. You also write your own fiction — do you approach it differently than you do the other work?

Not really.  I approach all fiction with the fear and trepidation of a man coming home to find a stranger sitting at his kitchen table drinking his beer.  Either that guy turns out to be your best friend with a great story to tell, or you kick him out and wait for the next guy to show up.

4. You’ve stated that the idea for Unholy Cause, which centers around a Civil War theme, was your least favorite, and yet that’s the one that was chosen. How did you feel after writing it? Did it come out better than expected, or how were you able to get excited about the idea that originally wasn’t as appealing to you?

Gunpoint enthusiasm is, I believe, the phrase I’m looking for here.  Basically, I didn’t want to have to go research the Civil War, which in my ignorance, I assumed wouldn’t be interesting.  It turned out of course that the more I read about that period of American history, and the living historians who commit astonishing talent and energy into their re-enactments, that it was actually fascinating, and I was the dullard for not bothering to learn a little bit about it.  By the time I was done I had to force myself to leave parts out.

5. You wrote Unholy Cause pretty fast — is that your usual pace?

I do tend to write quickly, but I also find that I’m spending more time rewriting.  It’s pretty project-dependent.  At the moment I’m helping a friend out with a screenplay for Disney, and we’re turning out pages every day, but when it comes time to start another novel I’ll probably slow my pace considerably, just to see what happens.

6. Can you describe a typical writing day?

Get up.  Make coffee.  Run with the dog.  Return home.  Regard the blank screen.  Do the kids want to play?   Try valiantly to find some aspect of research that will require me to go online and surf the web.  Confront the inevitable and type three pages of current work in progress.  Delete.  Repeat.

and for the rapidfire portion…

Black or white? black
Up or down? down
Left or right? left
In or out? heh-heh-heh
Front or Back?  oh ho ho
Chocolate or Vanilla? yes please
Wars or Trek? really?
Picard or Kirk? kirk
Kirk or Spock? kirk (JJ Abrams’ version, when his hands are all puffy)
Han or Luke? Han
Ocean or Lake? Danny Ocean.  Veronica Lake.
Coffee or Tea? Coffee
Mac or PC? PC, although I can’t really defend that choice.  It’s about as sexy as my old funeral and wedding shoes

and finally…you stand in front of three doors. What colors are they, what is behind each, which do you choose, and why?

The first door is blood-red and shaped like a gigantic vampire bat.  Something back there keeps scratching and crooning and I keep my distance.  The second door is a normal door, perfectly rectangular, absolutely unremarkable in every way except that its brass knob is sculpted into a perfect replica of Rondo Hatton, and when touched, it vibrates ever-so-subtly, to the rhythm of Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me.”  Rumor is that it goes directly into the past, perhaps 1914.  The third door is an eight-foot-thick oxydized iron slab on massive hinges who dimensions are just small enough that, although it seems like I should be able to fit through it, no amount of contortion and manipulation will allow me to pass without scraping my head.  I persist, however, over and over, until I am tired and it’s time for bed.

Everyone, check out Joe’s blog. And check out the book, too!

M