Eric S. Brown, author of How The West Went to Hell--a fascinating novel that combines the gun slinging action of the old west with an epic battle between heaven and hell--sits with us for an interview.

1) I would like to congratulate you on this book of yours, not only because of its consistency to the story, but because of the approach you took. The old west, a time period ripe with tension that clearly illustrates the harsh reality of survival in a barren land. What made you take this approach? Were there any obstacles?

Eric:  I love westerns.  Always have.  Blame Jonah Hex.  It's an amazing comic series.  I have written Westerns in the past, in shorter fiction, but I really wanted to try my hand with going all out with it.  I read a bunch of Louis L'Amour and some other well known writers of the genre, which was a blast, in preparation for this book.  I can certainly see why they called L'Amour "America's Storyteller".  And yes, the brutal atmosphere of the Old West seemed a perfect place to set a story about a zombie like demon plague.  As to obstacles, if so, I was having too much fun writing it to notice.  I am very proud of how it turned out.   

2) Being in the old west, tell our readers of any historical character references.

Eric:  There is an Easter egg which is a personal "in joke" that runs through a bunch of my books and that character appears briefly in this book as well.  As to actual historical references, I tried to capture more the feel and atmosphere of the real Old West more than the history of it.  From the stagecoaches to the weapons to the town of Reaper's Valley itself, I did my best to make it all as real as I could.

3) In this story, you engage in active description of characters, bringing even the extras to life, how did you manage that without losing control? Are there any secrets that you wish to share regarding that?

Eric:  Wow.  Thank you.  That's a very kind thing to say.  Adding more depth and life to my characters is something I have been working hard on for a year now.  I am a guy who is all about the action and have been that way since I started my career but these days, I try harder on my characters than ever before.  When you read one of my books now, you can see I intentionally set out not only to blow your mind with awesome battles and gore but to make you cry as well.

4) This story tells of a tale of gunslingers and demons going at one another in full force, no hold bars combat. Tell us, briefly, about the opposing sides.

 Eric:  The human side is a ragged tag messed up gathering of characters ranging from a gambler, a gunfighter, and a barkeeper's daughter to a book editor from New York.  Most of them just end up getting caught up in the chaos as the main demon tries to bring about the end of the world and unleashes a horde of hungry, lesser ones to devour the human race.

5) Out of all the characters, Lee is by far the most flamboyant in appearance and in taste of beverage, what inspired you to create him? Do you plan on using him again in?

Eric:  Well Lee is an evil being close to my own dark heart.  I wanted him to be as dark, sick, and flat out EVIL as I could.  I may have crossed some of my own personal lines with him.  He should scare the crap out of you and almost make you want to cheer for him at the same time.  

6) How did the inspiration for Louis come about?

Eric:  I wanted an odd type of character to throw into the Western mix and a book editor from New York working on a manuscript seemed the natural way to go.  He's a writer who couldn't make it as a writer and ended up editing.  He's intelligent and charming even in a geeky kind of way.  Louis just kind of leaped out of my head and started telling his own story.

7) Nathan is introduced early in the book in a way that clearly captures the reader’s attention, how did you manage to create such a dynamic character like that?

Eric:  Ah, Nathan.  He's kind of that fantasy version of what we would all want to be if the end of the world was really happening.  He's not exactly good but he isn't really evil.  Nathan is deadly and to the point.  When I dream of zombies or demons killing us all and I am trapped that kind of nightmare, I always change myself into someone like him so I can make through the dream.

8) Did you get any help for the female characters?

Eric:  No but I did try to make them as real possible too.  There are three female characters who get page time in this book and two of them are very important to the story, each in their own way.  This book is not a love story and one of these ladies kicks butt just as badass as the males do.

9) For our writers, do you have any suggestions?

Eric:  Write all the time, keep the faith, and always, always work on pushing yourself to the next level in your prose.

10) last, and trademark, what is your drink of choice?

Eric:  Alas, I am hopeless hooked on AMP.  That energy drink has wormed its way into my writing world so much from late nights and crazy deadlines that I almost can't function without it now.

11)  What other books do you currently have available?

Eric:  Too many to list here but if I was forced to name just a few, I would go with Season of Rot from Permuted Press which is a collection of five novella sized wildly different takes on the zombie genre and War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies which is simply just pure old zombie/end of the world fun.  Anyone interested in my work can find most of it on www.amazon.com