Author: Rob

Best known for This Plague of Days, I write suspenseful killer crime thrillers and epic apocalyptic fiction. Love crime fiction? Read The Night Man next. Dig end of the world stories? Try AFTER Life. Time Travel? Binge read Wallflower. Is Armageddon between rich and poor to your taste? Read Citizen Second Class tonight!
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Beyond the Urgent Moment

Physically, 2019 has been hard on me. I’ve spent most of this year sick with one thing or another. I usually devote March Break to taking care of taxes. This year I spent it on my back with a terrible sinus infection. I’m still recovering and can’t do everything I need to do yet. However, I’m finally a bit more mobile. It’s been awful but also an opportunity to reevaluate where I’m steering my writing career and my meat wagon.

The first time I went into writing full-time was in 2011. I took a couple of years off from my day job to devote myself to writing and publishing. That was a productive time but my life was out of balance. I spent far too much time sitting. That’s an occupational hazard, of course. However, I took it beyond reason, often working on books 15 or even 18 hours a day. Crazy times. Also, my time management was so skewed that my family made a lot of sacrifices for Ex Parte Press. And by that, I mean they made financial sacrifices for me. I also didn’t spend as much time with them as I should have.

I wasn’t making any money then. I lived off an allowance from my sainted wife. $60 a week. I felt pressure to get on track financially, of course, so I became a workaholic. Money pressure doesn’t go away. I still feel it though it’s not the panic it once was (just constant, low-grade anxiety that makes me feel I have to prove myself and catch up for the lost years!) The dream is to get comfortable enough that I can take the family on a tropical vacation. I’m Canadian. I spend a lot of the year yearning for sugar sand beaches and palm trees.

I’ve been writing again full-time since July 1, 2018. I have rules about when I stop working each day now. I try to move more. Late last year I went through a boot camp in which I lost a lot of weight, ate healthily and got on track. It felt great. Then a few health issues hit and the stress eating began and I got off track. Well, okay, I flew off the track and killed all the spectators in the stands.

A while back, I finally got through all my medical tests. I tested negative for the health issues I thought I had. It was quite a relief but then I got hit with more illnesses and generally felt like crap all the time. I also fell back into some bad habits of overwork. I am currently working on a Lovecraftian novel called Amid Mortal Words. This one will be a stand-alone novel. I’m very happy with it but in my current condition I can’t pump it out to market as fast as I’d like. I’m working on the manuscript steadily again but now I expect it will be released sometime in April. Apologies to my wonderful editor for the delay in the publication schedule. I’m a bit furious about it but I’ll come to accept reality any second now. Yeah…any second…suuure.

Health and the habits that promote it have to come first. I learned that lesson before and let it go so I have to repeat the lesson again. I just got back from the grocery store, loaded up with healthy choices. No bad carbs, lots of vegetables, bone broth and hope that 2019 will ease its grip on me. I’ve had quite enough of feeling like shit all the time, thank you very much.

I write full-time and control my schedule. It’s still cold but no longer terrifying to go outside. Therefore, I have no excuses not to visit the gym daily. Diet and exercise will allow me to live longer and write longer. That’s how I’ll catch up: steady work and playing the long game.

When tragedy strikes someone, I send my condolences but I usually add, “And please take care of yourself.” In times of trouble or even just dealing with the daily grind, we often make ourselves a low priority. To take care of others, we have to take care of ourselves first. It’s not selfish. It’s smart. It should even be obvious but in the drive to succeed, we often sacrifice the wrong things or abandon long-term priorities for the urgent moment.

Lying on my back and being miserable for a week has reminded me about the order of my priorities. I’m back to playing the long game again because this is it. I write full-time for a living now. There is no going back to the day job. I love writing for a living. To live to write, a good diet and a healthy dose of exercise must be part of my writing regimen.

~ Hey! I’m Robert Chazz Chute. Sign up for my newsletter to get updates and deals on new books, buy my tomes of epic delight and twisty suspense (pretty please with a thunderous thank you) and happy reading!

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Coming soon: A New Apocalyptic Thriller

What if mere words could erase all the bad people in the world? What if billions of innocents would also die in the cull? On a night train bound for Chicago, Lt. Col. Zane Salvador meets an odd stranger who leaves behind a dangerous book. Now the future of the human race is in Zane’s hands. You’re in danger, too, Dear Reader.

Quick update:

Fighting a cold, I’m busy writing and revising my next apocalyptic thriller, Amid Mortal Words. Unlike the others, this one is a stand alone. It should be out next month. This is really fun and as the plot unfurled I figured out, hey, this falls under the categories of Lovecraftian/cosmic horror. I’m putting up excerpts in the private Facebook group, Fans of Robert Chazz Chute if you’re a reader who enjoys sneak peeks.

Does anyone remember John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness? My story is very different but at its heart is a book that drives people mad. There lies the connective tissue.

I’m off to dive back into more revisions. I love this story. I think you will, too. In the meantime, enjoy this look back at a sorely underrated Carpenter movie:

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Were old SF movies better?

Since getting Roku, I’m getting the opportunity to see some old sci-fi movies. Most are pretty bad but one stands out as so good, firing on all cylinders, that I encourage you to check it out. It is The Day the Earth Caught Fire. What’s so striking about this film is how many parallels there are to our response to disasters generally and climate change in particular. As a writer of apocalyptic epics, I’m addicted to sci-fi about the end of the world. This is not one to miss.

The movie starts with a slow burn (no pun intended) in which a failed journalist walks through London. The city is ravaged by drought. The dry ground is cracked and the sun beats down on the city in a way we have never seen. Then we fade back 19 days to find out how things went so bad so quickly.

Released in 1961, this is SF with a conscience. The nuclear arms race is front of mind. Eventually, it comes out that simultaneous testing of atomic bombs has screwed up the planet. The Earth tilts eleven degrees and the equator has moved. Earthquakes, typhoons, fires and meteorological chaos ensues. First comes denial and things seem fairly okay for a while as the population is assured that all they have to do is cope and wait out the disaster. The initial mild reaction to things falling apart reminds me of On the Beach (1959). As things get worse, water shortages spread. The bloom of black markets and typhus follows. Then comes the civil unrest.

It’s a fascinating study in societal decay as seen through the eyes of journalists trying to report on the end of the world. To avoid panic, the world’s governments attempt to downplay the destruction of civilization as long as they can. Watching this movie I was disturbed by several of the bits of propaganda that felt eerily familiar in contemporary times. Though the science is a bit off and it feels a bit dated here and there, much of the dialogue is snappy. That helps the story move along quite well. I have a theory that old movies have better dialogue because they can’t rely on CGI as much as today’s movies do. Scripts were longer and the exchange of words was generally sharper then. Many of today’s movies seem to be made for an Instagram audience. (There’s only one Aaron Sorkin. People make fun of Sorkin’s affection for the “walk and talk” but the dialogue always sizzles with urgency.)

Finally, I can’t write about this movie without mentioning the accomplished English actress Janet Munro. She is a stunner who steals every scene she’s in. As the low-level whistleblower, it’s easy to imagine this is how the awful truth seeps out. I have an odd hobby when I watch old movies. I always look up the actors to see how they died. Janet Munro passed away at the age of only 38 of heart failure. I don’t mean to be morbid but to see how people so fit and fabulous knock off is a grim memento mori so, hey, carpe diem. Sad and true.

Check The Day the Earth Caught Fire* if you get the chance. Do not confuse it with The Day the Sky Exploded (1958) because WOW! That sucked. Also, if you haven’t already seen The Day the Earth Stood Still, stop reading this and go check it out immediately. (I mean the genre’s classic from 1951, not the 2008 remake with Keanu Reeves.) Add Logan’s Run (1976) and Silent Running (1972) while you’re at it.

I love old sci-fi. The special effects might seem quaint but there were many fun (and sometimes great) science fiction films that were made before CGI could do all the images justice.

*There sure were a lot of The Day the Blah Blah Did Something movies, weren’t there?

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Review: Can’t Hurt Me

Just finished reading Can’t Hurt Me by former SEAL, David Goggins.

This sums up David Goggins’ mentality pretty clearly: He took every failure as fuel for a win. To qualify for SEAL training, he lost 106 pounds in three months. Despite a serious lack of buoyancy and multiple ongoing injuries, he taught himself to swim and became an expert diver/underwater navigator in the SEALs. He suffered a fear of heights. Then he started jumping out of planes. He’s intelligent and accomplished. Or is he more crazy than intelligent?

The Bonafides

Goggins has had an amazing career both in the military and in endurance sports. Anyone who can endure two Hell Weeks in SEAL training and then go back for more is a tough person. When he could have taken a breather, he went to Army Ranger School. He ran marathons and ultramarathons, went through two heart surgeries, faced illness and got back to training ASAP. He broke the world record for pull-ups. He is an unusual person who developed mental powers to perform amazing physical feats.

Can’t Hurt Me, while a compelling and motivational read, is not going to be for everyone. No book is for everyone, of course, and this book is selling like crazy. I have to wonder how many people will rise to Goggins’ uncommon standards. With a few tweaks and refinement, his message might have reached more people.

The Good:

  • Toughen up, stop making excuses.
  • Goggins’ tragic childhood is a sad backstory and he’s candid about every struggle. Compelling reading.
  • Goggins is of the opinion that people generally think they’ve given their all when they’ve actually only expended about 40% of their potential effort.
  • His life will make you wonder how many great experiences you’ve passed on because it was too much effort to get off the couch.
  • His mom’s life story isn’t as outwardly dramatic as her son’s, but given where she ended up, she deserves a biography, too.
  • The challenges at the end of chapters are pretty good and will get readers interacting. Goggins believes we get prepared to deal with life by enduring challenges. His personal challenges generally involved suffering but others are about clear-eyed self-awareness, planning, and accountability. He encourages readers to take the lessons beyond physical training so maybe your challenge will be a new personal best in impressing your boss.

The Negatives

  • I was a book doctor on a motivational book last year. That audience doesn’t tolerate foul language very well so I cut back on its gratuitous use in the manuscript. Goggins, though a model of self-discipline in most areas of his life, can’t hold back on gratuitous swearing. Can’t Hurt Me is and will continue to be an amazing success. It could have pulled more sales if his editors had considered that many readers would have been repeat buyers if they could buy it as a gift for others. They won’t be able to get past it. Goggins’ writing partner made sure the book was written as the sailor talks. Unfortunately, in print, the constant repetition has a numbing effect. There’s no impact or meaning behind it. The swearing didn’t bother me personally. Characters in my books swear, too, but I mostly write SF, crime fiction and apocalyptic epics.
  • Similar to the above point, many readers aren’t going to take the misogyny lightly, either. There’s a subtext here that, in order to achieve, others must be pushed down. At Ranger School, he learned leadership skills that rose from empathy and teamwork. To his credit, Goggins admits he soon forgot that leadership lesson as soon as he graduated. I think his best moment was when he chose to finish a marathon with a brother SEAL side by side instead of smoking him. I have no doubt Goggins’ motives are pure and he’d be a better team player now. He wants readers to succeed.
  • Goggins often fetishizes pushing his physical limits beyond reason. I hope anyone reading his book who is in physical training has a coach with the brains to tell them when to hold back. Goggins does acknowledge the need for rest and recovery but it’s outweighed by the obsession with being tough, acting tough and looking tough in his quest for self-perfection. In the end, it’s to inspire others but for a long time his adventure was a very self-centered journey. After reading case after case of this man torturing himself, you have to ask: Is he tough or is he just a crazed masochist?

mas·och·ist
/ˈmazəkəst,ˈmasəkəst/
noun

a person who derives sexual gratification from their own pain or humiliation.
“the roles of masochist and mistress”
(in general use) a person who enjoys an activity that appears to be painful or tedious.
“what kind of masochist would take part in such an experiment?”

~ Citation from Google
  • Goggins is abrasive and admits he has a hard time making friends, so much so, it might have hurt his military career. (It might have been racism, too.) I can’t help but think Can’t Hurt Me would have been more effective if he’d worked on his interpersonal skills half as hard as he worked on pull-ups. (Read: Take David Goggins, titrate his personality so he’s diluted maybe 15% and you’ve got inspirational perfection.)
  • Goggins never seems to take much time to celebrate his many victories in the moment. He only seems to hold on to the happy memories as fuel to get him through the next beat-down. As soon as he breaks the world pull-up record (after three brutal attempts), he can’t wait to get out of there. He’s no quitter but he doesn’t seem to be a lot of fun to be with or have much fun. Last year I listened to Living with a SEAL on audio. The author hired Goggins to train him and toughen him up. Wandering through the world as a civilian, Goggins comes off as a pain in the ass immortal who finds himself in foreign territory among ordinary civilians. It was often quite funny. Living with a SEAL is a good book but I’m struck by one small anecdote. After his training was over, the author invited Goggins to a tropical resort. It might have been a fine vacation but Goggins spent the entire time in his room training on a bicycle! He didn’t even bicycle outside! Dude, stop to smell the roses once in a while!

That last point is key: This book may inspire you to do more but I doubt you want to live a life of pure suffering in order to prepare for life. To be comfortable in hostile environments (i.e. underwater), relax more. Sometimes I wished, for Goggins’ own sake and ours, that he would use that lesson more instead of furiously trying to dominate all the time. It’s an angry life.

What I got from Can’t Hurt Me

I had to have a talk with myself in the Accountability Mirror. I’ve been waiting on a medical test to find out if I’m facing a dire illness. It’s been a stressful couple of months as I make my way through the gauntlet of tests and sleepless nights. I’ve spent a lot of time worrying, eating too much, cocooning and feeling sorry for myself. Can’t Hurt Me has helped me get back on track. I still worry, sure, but I’m getting more done in the meantime.

  • I’ve been making needless excuses and I’ve been too comfortable doing so.
  • Trapped in victimhood and entitlement, I’ve been waiting, figuring I’m under stress now so after I get the good news, then I’ll get back to taking care of myself better.
  • I looked at my schedule and my productivity. Per Goggins’ suggestions, I began to strategize. I typically top out at writing three or four hours a day. I broke that up into two writing sessions, morning and late afternoon. That translated to six hours of writing time each day, a massive boost to my output.
  • I challenged myself to do 1,000 squats in a single day. It was a pure mental block on my part because, doing 50 or 100 reps at a time throughout the day turned out to be a fairly small challenge. I was intimidated by that big round number but when I actually committed to doing it, I was fine. I still feel it in my quads but the fix is easy: more squats!
  • Limits are real. They’re also self-imposed and often illusory. We only discover where that line is when we push ourselves to find our personal best. I’m not seduced by macho bullshit. I’ve already gone down that path. It was violent and lonely and I was constantly angry. However, I do see the worth in transcending that facade to get to the underlying value in Can’t Hurt Me: I’ve got to be real about my failures and commit to doing and being better.
  • Freaked out about the illness I fear, I looked in the accountability mirror and said, “It doesn’t matter what the next test says. That’s next week. Don’t wait. Do better for yourself now.”

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All Empires Fall: New Cover Reveal

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JNSRJT4/

Note: This anthology will be fan-priced this Sunday, January 20. (Hint: that means free.)

The new cover reflects my favorite story of the collection: a planet-killing meteor striking the Earth. This new design take reminds me of a bunch of SF covers so -4 for originality, +8 for SF reader appeal. (Numbers are approximate.)

I liked the old cover very much but it wasn’t as clear as it could be as a thumbnail image. Also, it reflected multiple disasters befalling Earth instead of one big one. This new one should have more punch and attract SF readers.

The story behind the stories

I’ve written several big apocalyptic epics with long story arcs. Here’s the weirdo rundown:

This Plague of Days is a paranormal on the spectrum zombie/vampire/good versus evil apocalypse.

AFTER Life is the nanotech-zombie apocalypse/invasion of America from Canada.

Robot Planet is the humans versus the Singularity war.

The Dimension War is a New Adult alien invasion/ghost fantasy series written with Holly Papandreas.

For a while there, I swore off writing shorter fiction. Then my friend Armand Rosamilia asked for a short story as part of a promotion for the Project Entertainment Network. When Armand said short, he meant just 750 words. I figured I could accomplish that, no problem. It didn’t quite work out that way. I knocked out a story that was much longer than what Armand was looking for. Then I wrote another, and another, and…suddenly I had a little anthology.

It occured to me then that I’d been a little too precious about writing shorter fiction. I remembered that I loved a format where anybody could have a quick read they could enjoy on a long commute or over their lunch hour. All Empires Fall hits on several apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic scenarios and I had a really good time writing it.


~ RCC