Tuesday, May 17, 2011

What is Christopher Farnsworth reading?

One of last week's featured contributors at Writers Read: Christopher Farnsworth, author of Blood Oath and The President's Vampire.

His entry begins:
My mother-in-law, God bless her, just handed me the most useful reference work I’ve received in a long time. Robert Young Pelton’s The World’s Most Dangerous Places is a smart, well-researched and scathingly funny collection of facts about every country where you’re likely to get your skull perforated by a cheap Chinese knockoff of an AK-47.

As a former reporter, I have a sometimes pathological need for my made-up stories about vampires and secret agents seem accurate. So I bother my friends in the military for details of aircraft and weapons and even harass complete strangers for things like the White House floor plans. (That probably got me on a Secret Service watch list.)

But Pelton’s book is exactly the sort of thing a guy who’s never...[read on]
Among the early praise for The President's Vampire:
"Thrilling... Even Lovecraftian monsters pale in the context of human terrorism... Events build to a cinematic showdown... The conclusion will leave the reader breathless and wondering what horrors the future holds."
--Publishers Weekly

"There are plenty of chills and thrills... VERDICT: Readers who enjoy adventure with a compelling cast of characters will enjoy this clever, witty sequel to Blood Oath.
--Patricia Altner, Library Journal

"Take an inhuman creature whose raison d'ĂȘtre is patriotic loyalty to an oath given over the bullet that killed Lincoln. Add a former White House political tactician now working as a liaison-slash-handler for said inhuman creature. Place them adroitly amid a secret war run by the ultimate of shadow organizations and mix in some deadly reptilian anthromorphs who can spread their condition via saliva. It makes for a heady, fast-paced (albeit gory) read and a good second entry in Farnsworth's Nathaniel Cade series."
--Diana Troldahl, Fresh Fiction
Learn more about the book and author at The President's Vampire website.

Christopher Farnsworth is a screenwriter and the author of Blood Oath, which has been optioned for film and published in nine countries. He lives in Los Angeles.

The Page 69 Test: Blood Oath.

Writers Read: Christopher Farnsworth.

--Marshal Zeringue