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C.E. Barrett lives in a small village with three children (well, two are pretty much adults now), one granddaughter, five cats and a dog. Massage therapy pays the bills; writing fulfills other essential needs. At the ripe old age of 46, Chris has been writing for over thirty-five years, mostly fantasy, and hopes to get it right one day.
Char: CE, Angels Among Us was a look into alternate reality and parallel universes, combining past, present, future, history, cultures, and beliefs. Please tell us about Angels Among Us and the inspiration for this fascinating look into possibility.
C.E. Barrett: Angels started with a dream that I had years and years ago. In the dream, I was in the field of grass with hundreds of other people, all of us heading toward the road along the hillside. It seemed to be one of those "end of civilization as we know it" dreams, and when I found the empty farmhouse with the food moldering on the table, I *knew* there were bodies upstairs that I didn't want to see. I also had a dream of escaping something by jumping into a painting in a room full of them, and there were other aspects of other dreams, all tied together in the book.
The different cultures and parallel worlds came about when I was trying to figure out why Daffyd would resist his attraction to Seren. Being the 3-D character that he is, he whispered into my ear, so to speak, "Did I ever tell you about my world? My life? How I grew up?" Once I realized the basis of his society, that opened up other questions that I had to dig into, like: How does this affect the species' need to reproduce? What happens when men are disenfranchised as far as parenting goes? What are the social ramifications? The same for Devany. What would happen, I asked myself, if communism went to an extreme? What if the State is all?
I hope I managed to make sense of all that in the book.
Char: I was very impressed by the character development in this story. Tell us a little about the challenges of bringing together characters from such diverse cultures, beliefs, and times and maintaining continuity in your story.
Barrett: Continuity was the biggest challenge of all. I kept having to refer back to notes and earlier drafts to make sure I didn't bugger it all up. I think it's a book that bears re-reading because there are elements that might not have hit the first time through, but on the second go-round, you see them. For instance, the house they find is just as they leave it, complete with the toppled tricycle and the five plates on the table. It makes a circle of the events in that "non-place".
Part of the challenge, I think, was in making believable societies with standards that I, personally, don't care for. I would absolutely hate to live in Devany's world, but I still needed to make it as real as possible. I'm still waiting for Rapsim to tell me more about his world. :)
Char: As with character development you managed to weave rich, plausible, diverse realities for each character's origin and use those difference to maintain tension and build subplots throughout the story. Did working with these differences make that easier or more of a challenge?
Barrett: A bit of both. More challenging because there were just that many more things to keep track of, and easier in that if I got blocked in one person's reality, I could pop over to the other society to have a look at what was going on there. I have a lot more written down about Daffyd's life, especially as a teenager and university student, than ever made it into the book. And although I didn't get it all down, I know more about Devany's world. One of these days, I'd like to look at it a little more, although I don't know what story can be told. Weaving the subplots together was kind of fun.
Char: Your website has more stories about two of the characters in Angels Among Us, Resnik and Rapsim. I love these guys. Are we going to see more stories about the Recruits?
Barrett: I hope so. I don't know if you've read the Randarma story, but if you have, you'll have realized it's the world that Reznik stumbled into--the forbidden planet, so to speak. I have hopes for that story and I *think* I can flesh it out to something half-decent. Some of the other Recruits from her team on Randarma talk to me, too. I'd like to make the time to listen to them and get some of their adventures down on paper.
Char: Your page bio says that you started reading at a very early age. I think this is true for many writers. What authors have most influenced your writing and your desire to write?
Barrett: I'll have to say that C.S. Lewis and the Narnia series captured me very early on, spurring on my love of parallel worlds, which had already been kindled by Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking-Glass. I wish I could write humour like Terry Pratchett, and I love Stephen King's writing. I find his work very visual, which is something I strive for in my own work. I try to give readers enough to stimulate their imagination and then let them fill in the blanks.
Char: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Barrett: Master grammar and spelling, but more importantly, have a story to tell. Let your characters breathe and listen to what they have to say.
Char: What would you like readers to know about CE Barrett, and about Angels Among Us?
Barrett: I've been serializing a novel online for over four years--a fantasy epic which has finally wound to its conclusion as far as one of the books is concerned. And, not surprisingly, Rapsim found his way into it. Trust him to insinuate himself into someone else's story. Doing this (writing online), I discovered a truth about myself--I'm not ambitious, and I enjoy reader feedback. Having one of my books hit the bestseller lists would be nice, but knowing that other people have enjoyed my efforts feeds my ego.
What pleases me most about Angels Among Us is that I know for certain that it made at least two people think about their beliefs and prejudices about homosexuality and contributed to those two people becoming more tolerant. That is the ultimate success--that something I wrote kick-started real thought in someone else's head. What a rush!
Char: Thank you CE for taking the time to talk with us.
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