Interview with Frank Creed

Continuing our coverage of Frank Creed's just-released technothriller Devil's Hit List, we're sitting down with the man for an interview.

Greg Mitchell: Here we are, for Devil’s Hit List: Book Three of the Underground! Did you ever think you’d make it this far when you sat down so many years ago to begin this series?

Frank Creed: I hoped to make it this far. I really had no notion of what it would be like to be published so many times. You learn so much with every book release.

GM: What’s Devil’s Hit List all about?

FC: The hottest new thing on the street isn't a drug-it's a virtual reality experience that makes crack cocaine look like cotton candy. There is, however, one side-effect: it's lethal. When the One State contracts the Ash Corporation to produce Virtual-e, a highly addictive entertainment intended to reduce global population levels, Calamity Kid and his crew are tasked to stop its introduction in North America. But how far can the Underground heroes get when battling the combined forces of global government and mega-corporation? That’s the back cover copy. The series is about the notorious Calamity Kid and the crew, and their continuing struggles in the cracks of the Underground. The overall story is more about the character than the action.

GM: Is this what you always imagined Book Three would be about, or did it change over time? Care to discuss any old ideas that didn’t make it into the final cut?

FC: I’ve worked out of a writer’s notebook created mostly in the nineties. I’ve had a rough outline for these first three books for a long time. One leftover idea I’ve not yet shown is human trafficking.

GM: These books take place in a cyberpunk version of the Biblical account of Revelation and the Tribulation. According to most interpretations of the Scriptures, the Tribulation is a 7 year period, marked by 3 and a half years of peace followed by 3 and a half years of hell on Earth. Where are we at in the timeline by Devil’s Hit List—or do you even subscribe to that timeline?

FC: If indeed that timeline proves to be accurate, Flashpoint starts at the beginning of the last three and a half years. I eventually want to show the second coming and deal with the rapture, but those would likely come in the last book in the timeline.

GM: So what prompted you to combine something like the role-playing game Shadowrun with Biblical End Times prophecy? Do you consider yourself a student of eschatology?

FC: I followed eschatology for a few years after being saved. I bought, and never wound up playing the Shadowrun RPG. I’ve read almost all the Shadowrun novels though.  Cyberpunk just seemed the perfect genre for end times fiction because it’s near-future sci-fi. Many think the end times are upon us, so one get to twist the modern world to fit—or not fit—what we believe prophecy to say.

And I’d like to point out here that the Jews in Christ’s time were looking for their Messiah to come as a king, and lead them out from under the Roman yoke. They missed Jesus. Can you imagine? We really need to keep a wide open mind about what exactly we think prophecy says.

GM: I know there are at least two more books coming out in the Underground series (because I’m writing one of them :p). Do you have any idea how long the series will go or do you prefer to be surprised?

FC: The Underground could go on a long time, and I hope it does. Reality is that Christian cyberpunk is not paying the bills. I’m toying with another universe that would be much more subtle in its Christian content. I may have to write novels in such a place out of necessity, and who knows what the Boss will do with it.

GM: A lot of the themes that you deal with in the book—such as transhumanism—are actually rooted in today’s headlines. Do you feel that we are headed for the sort of dark humanistic world of the Underground?

FC: I’ve read a lot in the cyberpunk genre, and have seen many things come true. The rise of what I call the mega-corp is a cyberpunk staple, and something we will see. The wealth of nations, the power of bio-ethics, and security forces bigger than most country’s standing armies.  As corporate and government power tangle, I see wide cracks in society into which those we now call the “uninsured” will fall into. How frankensteinish transhumanism will get in the coming decades, one can only guess.

GM: Thanks for stopping by, as always, Frank. Any parting words? Plug your books, man!

FC: Each of the Underground books is written to be a stand-alone novel. While everything is explained to the reader, one can best appreciate the characters by reading Flashpoint and War of Attrition first. And I’ll let Calamity Kid sign off . . . “Y’all ain’t ace enough to trump the King of Kings.”

GM: Fitting words! Thanks to Frank for another great interview and thanks to everyone for dropping by.

And don't forget--a HUGE announcement is coming your way on Halloween morning!! You won't want to miss it, "Coming Evil" fans!