Meet Chuck Lang

Join us in welcoming Chuck Lang to our horror crew. Chuck creates terrifying settings where he places characters and sees how bad he can truly make it for them. His novel Dead Gods uses exactly one of those locales, haunted Saint Andrew, MN, for his debut supernatural horror.

Author Bio

Chuck Lang is a horror and science fiction writer influenced by his years as a carpenter, four years in the US Navy, and two decades as an English teacher with an MFA in Creative Writing from Lindenwood University. He lives and writes near the frequently flooded Red River in Fargo, ND with his wife and two redhead sons.

Asked and Answered

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

There wasn’t a single epiphany for me. It was a slow process that took years, maybe even decades, and perhaps the start of it was when I was behind my aunt’s couch playing with my new Star Wars action figure back in the early 80s. My mom and aunt were talking about Lord of the Rings in the dining room as if the characters were real people, sharing a moment of fascination and analysis with each other that sparked my creative interest in writing that evolved to the point where Kevin J. Anderson expressed his faith in and love of my writing. Kevin is the kingpin that connected me with hope and confidence that kept me writing and pitching.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I always burn a candle while writing, and it must be Bath & Body Works’ three-wick Leaves. And, since we’re on the subject, the only keyboard I write on is Razer’s Ornata Chroma: Mecha-membrane.  

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Game. I love gaming. I’ve been a Game Master of several RPGs for nearly 30 years now, and I have no intent to quit. My current campaign is the Alien RPG from Free League Publishing.

Do you remember the first book you fell in love with?

The Hobbit. It’s the third book I ever read, and I was in the fifth grade at the time.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

The idea of debasing language to match the POV character was a turning point in my writing. I wrote a series of posts about this on my blog, but when I came to realize that I needed to sacrifice diction, remove myself from the writing, my prose soared, and I identified with my characters fluently.

If you could tell your younger writer self anything, what would it be?

I wouldn’t tell my younger self anything because I wouldn’t want to disrupt my current timeline with which I am completely content.

As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?

Well, humans are part of the animal kingdom, so I would choose Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She is strong, conflicted, and flawed, and needs her friends like every hero should.

What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of the opposite sex?

It used to be simple things like women rarely if ever walking alone in specific settings that tripped me up along with maybe what they talk about when men aren’t around. Thankfully, a lot of women have read my writing and helped me understand their perspectives. My wife has also played a key role whom, while it might not always seem like it, I listen to intently, share frustrations, and see my own faults. Mary Wollstonecraft has also guided me through her Vindication of the Rights of Woman; it’s incredible what she accomplished and wrote in a jaded and polar era rife with conflict.

Why did you choose Cursed Dragon Ship Publishing?

Are you kidding me? I feel like this is a trick question because the answer seems obvious. Everyone at CDS is genuine, safe, honest, and kind. They are my people. I love working with them, talking with them, and being a part of their community. I have absolute trust in them and that they want only the best. I hope that one day I’ll be able to meet them face-to-face rather than through screens.

Do you Google yourself?

Yes, frequently, but only to make sure my author website is still the first hit when searching for “Chuck Lang.”

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

I tend to have an unreliable narrator, but with an unreliable narrator, there needs to be moments where they tell truth. Those moments of truth are the toughest because I want to make sure I don’t break my voice into author intrusion.

What is one of your most vivid life experiences?

While in the Navy, I once worked with Explosive Ordnance Disposal team to clear out a football field-sized lot covered with refuse and expended ordnance a civilian had stolen from a military bombing range in the Sonoran Desert. During this mission, we handled a lot of deathy stuff, but it was the first and only time I held (unknowingly) a piece of depleted uranium. This prompted the use of a Geiger counter where my hands read above normal, but they said I was good-to-go, which is a common phrase in the military that means anything from “We nailed it” to “We don’t know what we’re doing, so fuck it.” Anyway, it was a unique experience hearing that Geiger counter click just a bit too fast as they scanned my hands. It felt like Spengler was swiping me with his PKE Meter and asking me if I was waiting for a sign. And, honestly, who wouldn’t want to feel that cool? Right? … Right?

If you were immortal and could watch only one movie, what would it be?

I think everyone would agree that Blade Runner is a clear choice with which to spend the rest of eternity.

A Glimpse at Dead Gods

What was your hardest scene to write?

There’s a scene where I reveal the personal damnation of one of the characters. That one I struggled with, not because of the content, but because I wanted to make it so personally and intimately relevant to that character. I had to continually ask myself, “How can I make this character suffer most?” And that question would go through my mind while driving to work, walking hallways, eating dinner, over and over again.

Did anything inspire this story?

While it may make you think, “Yeah, right,” it honestly came from a dream I had while attaining my MFA. I’ll be fairly vague to avoid giving away too much. The dream was set in a rotting mansion where one of the characters had done something terrible and bloody and said, “I need to tell you something. I need to tell you … I did it to myself.”

Tell us about your main characters?

An author can’t avoid having their writing influenced by their life experiences, so both the main characters in DEAD GODS are part me and part everything else. I identify with Rhea most strongly, and I love her. (I imagine her preferring the RAY-ah pronunciation.) She’s my version of The Breakfast Club’s Molly Ringwald trapped in Silent Hill. She struggles with reliance and independence during the 80’s cultural shift and unique style while being tempted by the darker side of that era. Eddie, well, I love him too, but in a completely different way. He’s a goth-punk skeeze that moms and dads would secretly hate while they pull their children away; those same children would gape in awe or fear. Meanwhile, retired folk would gawk, sigh, and wag their fingers or cast hexes as he passed. Both characters are a jigsaw who I was, wish I was, or had become during that time.

What are some interesting tidbits about your world?

Saint Andrew is heavily influenced by where I grew up, but you may notice there isn’t a single town in Minnesota called Saint Andrew: That’s part of the point. That name is also an allusion, which is heavily referenced late in the novel and guides some of my plotting and conflict. In addition, mirrors play a significant role and are incorporated into my expanded world beyond Saint Andrew and timeline that stretches back about 10,000 years. One of my main objectives with Saint Andrew was to make it a living setting where it was filled with tiny details and tertiary characters to the point where it became a character in and of itself. To do this, I created a map complete with elevation and scale. With this map, I tracked my primary characters’ movement throughout the novel to guarantee their paths intersected or diverged down to the minute.

Welcome to the crew, Chuck!

Dead Gods is set for release in October 2025. Meanwhile check out Chuck’s author website to learn more about him and his work: https://chucklang.com/