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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The What’s Uncool Edition

Blame the media over two outrages you probably won’t believe. Annoying grammar police shoot three and The Undercover Man, Chapter 4 of Higher Than Jesus pours you some hot coffee.

My mistake: The link to the Moment of Clarity podcast is actually leecamp.net (not the link I gave in the podcast. Here’s the link to Lee Camp’s video with more about the true perpetrators of the assassination of MLK. To donate a tweet to Lee Camp, go here.

Check out our sponsor, Kit Foster at KitFosterDesigncom. Excellent graphic artist!

Check out the Fitbit by clicking the affiliate link in the right sidebar. Click donate to help with bandwidth and best of all, buy the books by Robert Chazz Chute from the “Shop” menu.

Thank you and thanks for listening!

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Podcast: Furious!

Definitely NSFW: Furious with the phone company and myself, I lose it. Also, Atheists vs Christians and the third chapter of Higher Than Jesus hits the fan.

Please check out our sponsor, Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign.com for your graphics needs.

Thanks for listening to the All That Chazz podcast. If you like it, please leave a happy review on iTunes.

Cheers!

~ Chazz

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The Ticking Clock Edition

Love for Michelle’s bangs, a review that’s the good kind of bad, an invitation to you to join the podcast and a reading of the second chapter of Higher Than Jesus, “The Ticking Clock”. The title makes sense now, doesn’t it?

Thanks to our sponsor, Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign.com, and to Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com for the music “Pop Goes the Weasel”. 

If you’re interested in being interviewed on the podcast, use Speakpipe (on the sidebar to the right) to leave a message with your contact information. You’ll need a USB microphone (not a built-in mic) on your end and for the show you have to be on Skype. Or email me at expartepress@gmail.com.

Thanks for listening!

PS Blooper at the end. It’s sad.

 

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Writing the novel: Overcoming plot problems & cranking up the pace

IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM…

I’ve been stymied. I hate that. I’ve been working on the new novel in the Hit Man Series, Hollywood Jesus. Several chapters went well, but there was something missing and I just figured out why it wasn’t firing on all cylinders. I was holding back. I wasn’t being reckless enough.

MY SOLUTION…

What makes Bigger Than Jesus such a great read is that it has the pace of a long chase scene with lots of twists and cliffhangers and no chance for anyone to catch their breath. I wrote Bigger Than in a certain way that was braver and less calculated than what I have been doing. As I wrote Bigger Than, each night I finished a chapter I often had no real idea how I’d get Jesus Diaz out of the corner I’d written him into. The next morning the answer came. (Sometimes it didn’t and I had to think longer, but when you ask the right question, the answer always appears.)

CUTTING & REWRITING…

The first stab at Hollywood Jesus wasn’t all bad. The chase scene with the cops and the scary way Jesus gets out of it? I’m keeping that. The meeting in the office? I’ll lose that. It’s too static and talky. I’m also keeping the big ending I’d planned, but the plots and plans and surprises go deeper and I’ll introduce new motivations. 

The first two books started out with a murder. This time? It’s different, but no less scary and creepy. The key to making the character work for the reader is that he was terribly abused as a child and my funny hit man identifies with innocent victims. Jesus has a code and he always tries to make sure no civilians are hurt on his missions. Now that I see how this plot is going to unfold, it’s a much bigger, more sweeping story that has roots all the way back to the heart of book one of the series.

Jesus Diaz was in deep trouble with my first attempt at this book. I understand now how I can shove him down so deep, Hollywood Jesus will have a deeper emotional impact as well as more action with a pace that matches Bigger Than Jesus. Maybe even faster.

THE BIG PICTURE…

Bigger Than Jesus

New York; Opens with fast, perilous action; it’s a quest for money, love and escape with the alluring Lily Vasquez. 

Theme: A man stands up to the Machine. He is not a cog.

Higher Than Jesus

Chicago; Opens with increasing tension, battling drug addiction while fighting  two opposing forces over an arms deal and trying to save the body and soul of the sexy glamazon, Willow Clemont.

Theme: To become who you are meant to be, you have to conquer your failings.

Hollywood Jesus

L.A.; Opens with a rescue; opens old wounds in a war with multiple, powerful enemies, a slavery ring that hits Jesus very close to his heart and two beautiful women. Expect betrayal. Even so, you’ll be surprised from whence it strikes.

Theme: Sacrifice for the greater good…sucks.

I got my groove back, Stella! (That’s a dated book and movie reference, but it made somebody reading this smile briefly.)

~ Get all the books by Robert Chazz Chute here.

 

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NSFW: A fun little excerpt from my work-in-progress Hollywood Jesus

I’ve had trouble breaking through a plot problem with Hollywood Jesus, the third instalment of The Hit Man Series. This afternoon it came to me how to amp up the rush and now I’m plunging forward through the book again, writing madly.

One of the things I enjoy about my main character, Jesus Diaz, is that he’s such a smart ass. That leads to more jokes and fun dialogue amid the heart-wrenching carnage, sex and violence. Here’s a bit I wrote tonight:

“Who’s the client?” you asked your boss, friend and amateur Ving Rhames lookalike, Chillie Gillie.

Chill wouldn’t say. Three worry deep lines appeared on his forehead, so you knew the client was a friend.

“What’d Fitzwald do?”

“Maybe nothing. Right now, all we know for sure is he’s an asshole. This a search for evidence sort of deal. This is not a search and destroy mission, you dig?”

“I dig, Shaft.”

Chill pulls a puss. “Shut your mouth.” 

“What? Just haven’t heard anybody say ‘dig’ in a long time.”

 “I’m bringing it back. I’m also thinking of bringing back the word ‘groovy’.”

“Groovy. I can dig it.”

“There you go.”

~ Bigger Than Jesus by Robert Chazz Chute is #1. Higher Than Jesus is #2. Look for the next book in the series at the end of April. 

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Congratulations to my American friends and readers

I caught a bit of the inauguration today. Five things:

1. I breathed a sigh of relief when it went off well (especially given some scary and relevant plot points from my crime novel, Higher Than Jesus.) This doesn’t mean all is peaceful. It suggests the Secret Service is awesome at their job. I guess when they do a preventive visit, it’s like the 60 Minutes camera crew showing up with the angry ghost of Mike Wallace for a surprise gotcha interview, times 1000. Wouldn’t it be fun to hear Ted Nugent’s interview with the Secret Service after his not-very-veiled threats last year? Given Mr. Nugent’s history with the draft, I’m betting he was privately apologetic in the extreme.

2. The president’s speech was at times pointed though it was also a call for unification. I especially liked “name-calling is not reasoned debate.” I don’t agree with US government policy on lots of things, but the alternative was not an alternative. Four more years! And Senator McConnell? Suck it up. The job is to serve the American people, not to try to delegitimize a democratically elected president to serve GOP avarice.

3. When Mr. Obama’s speech has more poetry and soaring rhetoric than the poet can deliver, dump that poet. The poets at the last two inaugurations gave Poetry a bad name: Overly long, uninspired and flat. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking it was egregious. He got a smattering of golf green applause and wow, were we relieved when Beyonce stepped up to wipe out any memory of the poetry.

4. It’s not supposed to be cool to like Joe Biden. We’re told he’s crass, crazy and a sleepy uncle. Forget it, Faux News. He’s likeable and the more vitriol heaped on him, the more we like him.

5. Michelle, if it doesn’t work out with Barry, I’m here for you. Sigh.