Ask the Author: Chris Angus
Answered Questions (7)
Chris Angus
There are so many, but my choice may surprise you. It is Ma and Pa Kettle. I watched this TV series in the fifties with my mother who loved it. The story is based on real-life farming neighbors in Washington State. The Kettles were created by Betty MacDonald in her best-selling 1945 novel "The Egg and I."
The novel inspired the 1947 film of the same name starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray and co-starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride as the Kettles. Main was nominated for a best-supporting Academy Award nomination for the roll. She and Kilbride went on to make nine Ma and Pa Kettle movies.
Main is a robust, plain-talking and funny country woman with 15 wild children. Pa is gentle and speaks in a drawl. He tends to be lazy but often gets the upper hand over Ma. The family moves into a modern home early in the series but they devise ways to return to the old homestead periodically. I think these characters may have been the precursor to the TV series, "The Beverly Hillbillies."
I still watch these old movies when I can find them on TV. There is a timeless quality to them and Ma's voice is so distinctive, and of course, they bring back memories of watching the show with my mother.
The novel inspired the 1947 film of the same name starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray and co-starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride as the Kettles. Main was nominated for a best-supporting Academy Award nomination for the roll. She and Kilbride went on to make nine Ma and Pa Kettle movies.
Main is a robust, plain-talking and funny country woman with 15 wild children. Pa is gentle and speaks in a drawl. He tends to be lazy but often gets the upper hand over Ma. The family moves into a modern home early in the series but they devise ways to return to the old homestead periodically. I think these characters may have been the precursor to the TV series, "The Beverly Hillbillies."
I still watch these old movies when I can find them on TV. There is a timeless quality to them and Ma's voice is so distinctive, and of course, they bring back memories of watching the show with my mother.
Chris Angus
I come from a family full of writers, so I think a lot of my inspiration came while I was still a child coming home from school to find a house full of writers pecking away at the typewriter. As a result, I learned early on that writing is actually fun, and it allows you to make anything under the sun happen. The only limit is the author's imagination.
Chris Angus
I am currently working on a sequel to my book FLYPAPER, a science/medical thriller about a pandemic that threatens to destroy the human race. Friends hear this and say: "but everyone on earth died in the first book--how can you write a sequel?"
Well, not everyone died and the big mystery in FLYPAPER was what actually caused the pandemic. Was it a bird flu virus, an alien influence or the result of the actions of an ancient Buddhist monk? The sequel will describe the struggles of the handful of people left alive to determine what actually caused the demise of the human race and where man will go from here.
Well, not everyone died and the big mystery in FLYPAPER was what actually caused the pandemic. Was it a bird flu virus, an alien influence or the result of the actions of an ancient Buddhist monk? The sequel will describe the struggles of the handful of people left alive to determine what actually caused the demise of the human race and where man will go from here.
Chris Angus
Take advantage of every writing outlet you can think of. I wrote newspaper columns, encyclopedia entries, book reviews and magazine articles before I finally published my first book. Write and write some more. Only stop to read!
Chris Angus
My commute to work takes about five seconds to cover the distance from the breakfast table to my study.
Chris Angus
I have never really experienced writer's block. I always seem to be filled with ideas that drive me to the computer. I've got friends who have spent ten years on a single novel. Spending that much time on one book probably would drive me to do anything to keep from sitting down once again to work on the thing. I generally write a book in about a year. And often the day I finish (of course books are never really finished. Tinkering goes on forever, even after publication), I start the next one.
Chris Angus
The life of Winston Churchill has long been a fascination of mine. I've used him in scenes in a number of my books, but this was the first time he became a central protagonist. I love weaving together fact and fiction into an exciting historical thriller. The thought of being able to imagine the sorts of conversations Churchill would have with famous figures such as Queen Victoria and King George was too delicious to ignore.
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