Robert Creekmore
GENRE: Southern Noir
BLURB:
Death-cult leader Joseph Proffit has met his end! Along with him perishes the secret method for manufacturing indigo, the substance that imbued him with godlike abilities.
To the dismay of Naomi’s family, she succumbed to the injuries Joseph dealt her during their final battle atop the abandoned Coast Guard station, Frying Pan Tower, thirty miles off the North Carolina coast.
Both of their bodies were lost at sea when the one-hundred-foot-tall structure crumbled during Tropical Storm Gabriel.
Naomi’s beloved companions escaped aboard her dive boat, along with Joseph’s final victim, who is on the verge of death.
In the aftermath, Naomi’s family has no choice but to rebuild their lives in hiding, fearing reprisal from the handful of remaining Apostle loyalists.
Soon, their secret, dormant conflict will be thrust onto the world stage by a wealthy benefactor who funnels his personal hatred and unfounded grievances into throngs of ignorant followers.
Is this the end of Naomi’s family? Without her, how will they survive?
Purchase PROPHET'S DEATH @ Amazon
Excerpt:
He guides the boat between the two wooden bunks of the boat lift. Nate fights his way onto the dock through the sheets of rain blasting sideways into his face. He activates the hydraulics. The lift pulls the boat out of the water and level with the dock.
The three of them drag Malcolm off the boat before Nate lifts it higher to avoid the rising water.
Exhausted after moving Malcolm from the dock to the side door, the three can go no further and lie him on his side atop the sofa in front of the picture window.
“We have to call home,” Nate says.
“Telling someone that their spouse is dead isn’t something you do over the phone,” Herschel replies.
“More urgently,” Rebecca interjects, “we have to get electrolytes into Malcolm. He drank plenty of water before passing out, so he’s not in imminent danger of thirsting to death. To regain some level of consciousness, we need to get something like Pedialyte in him.
But, no stores will be open in this storm.” “Would powdered Gatorade work?” Nate asks.
“Yeah,” she responds.
Nate gets up and begins rummaging through Naomi’s kitchen junk drawer. He excavates an old plastic container, half-filled with clumpy orange Gatorade powder. Nate mixes up a batch inside a large plastic cup with a flexible straw. Malcolm mumbles and occasionally opens his eyes. When he does, they encourage him to drink. Within the hour, he’s holding the cup himself. His eyes begin to regain life. He looks around, saying, “Where is the other woman?” “She didn’t make it,” Rebecca answers.
A wave of melancholy washes across his exhausted face.
“The sooner we leave, the better,” Nate says.
“Will he make the week-long boat trip back to Northern Virginia?” Rebecca asks.
“No. That’s why I’m going to take Tiffany’s Corolla.”
“They’ll follow you,” Herschel says to Nate.
Interview with Robert Creekmore
Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?
-I read my first novel alone when I was five. It was Charlotte’s Web. I suppose doing that had a profound effect on me.
How do you select the names of your characters?
-Mostly, the names pop into my head. Occasionally, when I need something unique, I implement other techniques. For example, in Prophet’s Death, I named a monster “Svangi” which means hungry in Icelandic.
Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
-Quite a few, actually.
What was your hardest scene to write?
Of all time? Without hesitation, I’d say the rape of Naomi Pace in the first book of this trilogy, Prophet’s Debt.
In this book? Parsing together a sprawling mythology that takes place over twenty-nine years into to a single endpoint. So, I reckon the final chapter.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
-I attempted to write each of the books in the trilogy so that they could be read as a standalone. My upcoming novel, and some of my short stories, do take place in the same universe.
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
-My intention was to create an allegory about the rise of Christian Nationalism. I achieved my goal. I receive emails and messages all the time about how my series has helped people deal with the trauma and sexual abuse of the church.
What inspired you to write Prophet’s Death?
I wanted to piss off all the right people and comfort those they seek to crush.
Can you tell us a little bit about what you have planned for the future?
I have another book coming out next summer. It’s titled, Diary of Attrition. It’s a literary fiction novel about a young woman’s descent into madness after the murder of her best friend.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Prophet’s Death?
The overwhelming theme, when it comes to the protagonists of this book, is that they are a chosen family. Most are outcasts from their biological families and society as well. But, humans need community and will build one if it doesn’t exist.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
Finishing. Writing a trilogy in three years is no small feat. It’s nearly 1,000 pages and a bit shy of a quarter of a million words. I was always worried that something would happen and I’d screw it up. However, I didn’t. I’m glad that this body of work will be a part of my legacy, and that it will go on to comfort those who need it, perhaps long after I’m gone.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Robert Creekmore is from a rural farming community in Eastern North Carolina.
He attended North Carolina State where he studied psychology. While at university, he was active at the student radio station. There, he fell in love with punk rock and its ethos.
Robert acquired several teaching licenses in special education. He was an autism specialist in Raleigh for eight years. He then taught for four years in a small mountain community in western North Carolina.
During his time in the mountains, he lived with his wife Juliana in a remote primitive cabin built in 1875. While there, he grew most of his own food, raised chickens, worked on a cattle farm, as well as participated in subsistence hunting and fishing.
Eventually, the couple moved back to the small farming community where Robert was raised.
Annoyed with the stereotype of the southeastern United States as a monolith of ignorance and hatred, he wanted to bring forth characters from the region who are queer and autistic. They now hold up a disinfecting light to the hatred of the region’s past and to those who still yearn for a return to ways and ideas that should have long ago perished.
Robert’s first traditionally published novel, Prophet’s Debt, was a Manly Wade Wellman Literary Award Finalist.
His second, Prophet’s Lamentation, was a Lambda Literary recommendation for July 2023.
Connect with Robert Creekmore
3 comments:
This story sounds interesting.
Looks like a good read
Very intriguing author interview!! It was fun to read and learn more about this author and his interesting new book series!!
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