My Top Ten List of Books

Yes, if you look closely you’ll see my autographed photo of Kevin Smith.

Please note: What follows is a post from my Facebook Fan Page. If you’ve read my books and dig what I do, you could join us for daily updates, peeks behind the curtain, excerpts from my work in progress and assorted fun bits of nonsense from Ex Parte Press.

I have revised 20,000 words of Bright Lights, Big Deal. I have 93,000 to go. I’ll probably end up cutting a lot of that down. For every book I write, I keep an ODDS file. In this file, I put all my deleted passages, the boring bits, the inappropriate bits and stuff that doesn’t work or serve the story.

I wrote Bright Lights, Big Deal a very long time ago, before This Plague of Days. It’s been interesting to see what I did then and how I’d do things differently now. The differences are fairly subtle most of the time. The later, genre stuff is more action-oriented. I’d say my main sin from back in the day is that my prose was too Canadian. By that I mean there was too much emphasis on character rather than plot movement. I like it when a lot of stuff is happening and character is revealed in reaction to the action.

Same thing happened with This Plague of Days. Originally, it was a plague novel but it was not a zombie novel. I wrote the first book with no zombie content. It was more about society falling apart and how the disaster affected one family. As I wrote and revised and wrote and revised, I added more action because (shrug and smile): too Canadian. (I wanted to write something commercial with the literary aspect in the background.)

There isn’t much Canlit I really like. I have a Robertson Davies reference in Amid Mortal Words. I liked Atwood’s Oryx and Crake but couldn’t get through The Handmaid’s Tale. The Canadian sci-fi I read was Spider Robinson, Robert J Sawyer, and William Gibson.

The writing I love is mostly from American writers: Heinlein, Truman Capote, Stephen King, and William Goldman. (I went through a Norman Mailer phase in university but got past it.)

Who are the authors you most admire? What books are on your must-read or must-read-again list?

My top ten list is:

1. The Color of Light by William Goldman.
2.
The Stand by Stephen King.
3.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (loved all the movies, too, but especially the version with Phillip Seymore Hoffman.)
4.
Boys and Girls Together by William Goldman.
5.
The Princess Bride (Goldman again for the win.)
6.
Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth.
7.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.
8.
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston (the only book that ever truly scared me)
9.
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King (wild card choice a lot of fans wouldn’t put in their top ten but I loved it and learned a couple of writing tricks from it, too.)
10.
Stephen King On Writing, more for the biography than the writing advice. I’ve read it once and listened to it twice.

I’m looking at favorite books I didn’t write, of course. Choosing favorites from my backlist is like asking me to choose a fave child.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute, a writer from Other London. I pen killer crime thrillers and apocalyptic epics. Want a binge read? Click the links to the right. Want to join us on the Facebook Fan Page? Here’s the link to Fans of Robert Chazz Chute.

Big Announcement: A new Facebook Group for Readers

I’m starting up a Facebook group for my readers.

Come hang out with me and the like-minded here.

BONUS:

Fans who join the new page will be entered into a draw to have a character in a future book named after them. With your permission, immortality (of a sort) is now possible.


One of the struggles of being a writer is connecting with an audience. I have a newsletter I don’t put out often enough. The newsletter format feels artificial and I want the interaction to be more organic and fun. Besides, aren’t we all sick of newsletters? I’m still signed up for a bunch I hardly read. Newsletters don’t allow me to interact with readers. The signal goes out but who knows what that means? Building a base of 10,000 true fans* requires more and I’m going to give you more. 
There’s an easy solution and it’s a lot more fun for both of us.

Major changes are coming for both of us.  If you dig what I do and want to know more about the stories I sling and the ideas behind them, join me in the new Facebook group:

Fans of Robert Chazz Chute

Yes, that Facebook group title feels a like a bit of douchebaggery to me. However, a linear title is called for when launching a new endeavor. I considered, “Chazz Chute Fan Cave” but I didn’t want to hit the spelunking demographic. I want to talk with readers. I want to hang out with you.

Think of it as a daily mini-blog of my writing, publishing and life progress.

I’ll be posting every day about SFF, writing, new books, old books, updates and upcoming events. Expect movie reviews, book reviews and my usual brand of nonsense, shenanigans and whatnot. You’ll get sneak peeks at what’s new, what’s fun and what’s up. Join me in the group and get a lot of whatnot!

I look forward to seeing you on the inside.

(Um…inside the collective mind. I didn’t mean inside your rib cage. Really!)

*Yes, I know the marketing cliche is 1,000 true fans. I aim for 10,000 true fans because to hit the target, you have to aim beyond the target.