In between creating some amazing artwork, Chris managed to squeeze some time in to knock out a crowd-pleasing novel, The Phlebotomist (Angry Robot) and still find time for his family, a full-time job, and answer a few questions for me.

To start with, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?

Thank you for having me! I live in Dallas, Texas, where all the heat in the world comes from. I spend most of my time being a dad to my six-year-old, and I fill the time gaps writing, drawing album covers, and practicing law.

From artist to storyteller, can you tell us what drew you to writing The Phlebotomist?

I’d been writing novels for several years when I had the idea for The Phlebotomist, though none of them had been published. In fact, I was in the middle of writing a different book when the premise for this one came to me. I was upset about the fast-moving, malignant blend of aristocratic authoritarianism that was spreading through our government and a premise came to mind. I didn’t want to write a straight-up political screed, so I couched it in a dystopian story and tied it to a well-loved trope that I’m not going to disclose because spoilers! Sorry!

Your artwork is stunning, were you not tempted to do the cover for The Phlebotomist?

Thank you! This is an interesting story. One of the first things many of my family and friends said when I told them I had a book coming out was to suggest that I do the cover. If you’ve seen my work, it’s very art nouveau and metal-y, and absolutely NOT the style I wanted for the cover. My only strongly worded desire to Angry Robot was that it be pink and gold. I wanted a book so pink that it burnt people’s eyeballs out. Beyond that, though, I was not tempted to do the cover. Soon, they began sending me their cover mocks. They had taken a medical-illustration style angle, which I had not expected at all, but quickly warmed to. It really was a perfect fit for this story, with its heavy reliance on medical science. Their very patient designer, Glen Wilkins, had mocked up the pink cover with an anatomical heart surrounded by flowers. I loved it, but wanted to tailor the image to my story, and so asked to illustrate it. They agreed and the rest is history! The pinkest book to ever exist!

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Moving from a high-powered job in the US Defense dept. to writing historical novels full-time paid off for Kathleen when she decided it was time to call it quits. But not content to write historical fiction, she then turned to (as they say) a life of crime bringing us the Detective Betty Rhyzyk series starting with The Dime.

First of all, would you like to tell us a little about yourself.

I grew up in Texas and attended UT at Austin studying literature and history. What I wanted to be was a writer, but my dad, who was a very practical man, convinced me that being a starving artist was not all it was cracked up to be.  Instead, he argued, I should study business, get a “real” job and write in my spare time.  Which is what I eventually did.  After college I lived and worked in New York for twenty years:  10 years working for the former Chairman of the Commodity Exchange, and then for another 10 years as a civilian contractor to the U.S. Department of Defense in Russia facilitating defense conversion work, converting military plants into civilian use. I wrote a lot during those 10 years, but almost all of it was factual progress reporting to my coordinating CO in Washington.

I did very little creative writing as my job was all consuming, leaving not much time, or energy, to commit to writing a full-length novel.  Finally, in 2000, I decided to take an early retirement and move back to Texas to raise my son and tackle writing creatively.  That’s when I started my first novel, which was published as The Heretic’s Daughter in 2008.  Delightfully, it was successful, which has allowed me to continue writing full time.  I’ve just published my fourth novel, The Dime, which, unlike the first three historical novels, is a contemporary crime novel.

What, if anything, made you switch from writing historical fiction, and turn to a life of crime?

I had just published my third historical novel, The Outcasts, set a few years after the American Civil War, when an editor friend called to ask if I would submit a short story for a crime anthology he was putting together  titled Dallas Noir.  I love crime fiction, but had never tried my hand at writing anything more than a basic outline.  My story “Coincidences Can Kill You” was published in the collection and my agent loved it so much she encouraged me to develop it into a full-length novel.   As I had already started on another work of historical fiction, it took some time to commit to this new genre.  It took half a year to make the mental switch, and change the tone and tempo of my writing.

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