Author Spotlight on Justin Gustainis

Author Justin Gustainis is making quite a name for himself among fans of Urban Fantasy. Often compared to the likes of Simon Green and Jim Butcher, Mr. Gustainis is on the fast track to literary success. I recently had a chance to chat with the esteemed professor for the relaunch of this website. I believe you’ll find him as insightful and interesting as I did.

Thank you for joining us here at The Occult Detective. You have a very distinct style and your prose flows easily between genres while keeping the reader grounded in your own version of reality.

I will assume based on the cross-genre nature of your work that you were an avid reader growing up. What type of books did you enjoy reading and what authors do you find influencing your own writing?

I read mystery/suspense/crime fiction for many years before discovering fantasy and horror. That may explain the kind of stories I write now – I started out with interest in the “detective,” and the “occult” aspect came later.

Thus, the writers who have influenced me most tend to be drawn from the mystery genre. They include Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane, John D. McDonald, and Ross Thomas.

What is it about the Occult Detective Genre that you find so appealing?

The occult detective stands between us and supernatural evil. He has the knowledge to understand what he is dealing with, the tools or skills to deal with it effectively, and the courage to risk his life (and maybe soul) in doing so. I used “he” for the sake of convenience, although there are many fine female occult detectives out there.

The occult detective is like a knight who fights for the powerless, which is a metaphor that Chandler once used to describe the “traditional” detective. I’ve thought about writing a nonfiction book about occult detectives in popular culture. If I ever do, the first chapter is going to be entitled, “Down These Mean Crypts a Man Must Go….”

You have painstakingly built a viable world with its own set of rules, in which the Quincey Morris series exists. Tell us a bit about Quincey and Libby and the world you created for them in Black Magic Woman.

Quincey Morris is an occult investigator who is descended from the Texan who died near the end of Stoker’s Dracula. My Quincey is his great-grandson, and I guess you could say that he’s gone into the family business. Quincey’s a Texan, but he also has a degree from Princeton. He’s kind of a good ol’ boy intellectual.

Libby Chastain is a practitioner of “white” witchcraft, and Quincey often employs her as a consultant (although she is quickly assuming the status of partner, and I don’t mean in the romantic sense). White witchcraft (unlike its “black” counterpart) cannot be used to hurt others – although, as some of Libby’s enemies have learned, it does not prevent evil people from sometimes hurting themselves.

Quincey and Libby operate in a world much like ours, except all those stories and legends we have about “ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedity beasties” – they’re all true. The supernatural exists, but it is underground. Vampires, werewolves, witches – they’re all out there, and sometimes prey upon humanity. Protecting us from evil is the job of the occult detective, and Quincey and Libby are good at it. Their talents and abilities complement each other very well.

And now you’ve continued the series with Evil Ways. Tell us about your latest novel and where you see the series headed.

At the beginning of Evil Ways Quincey and Libby find themselves in trouble, but of different kinds. Quincey is blackmailed by the FBI into investigating a series of child murders with occult overtones. Meanwhile, Libby is the target of professional assassins who have the means to overcome her magical protections. She survives, but has no idea who wants her dead, or why. Quincey and Libby decide to work together again, so that each can watch the other’s back. What they don’t know is that each of them is holding a different end of the same piece of string – the two cases are connected, all part of a plot by crazed zillionaire Walter Grobius, who has ambitions to stage the greatest black magic ritual of all time.

Ultimately, the battle lines are drawn at Grobius’s immense estate in Idaho – and it is a battle in which no quarter will be given, by either side.

The third novel in the series, which is in progress, is called Sympathy for the Devil. In it, we learn that a major party’s Presidential candidate is possessed by a demon, as part of Hell’s plan to destroy humanity, once and for all. Eventually, Quincey and Libby figure out what’s going on, but then they face an immense problem: how do you exorcise someone, against his will, who is under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service?

Do you consider yourself a disciplined writer? What’s a typical writing session like for you? Where do you do the majority of your work?

I’m not nearly as disciplined as I wish. Some days I don’t write at all; others I can put in three hours at a stretch. Whether I’m doing one or the other depends on how close my latest deadline is. The knowledge that your manuscript is due in three weeks stimulates the mind wonderfully, as Samuel Johnson once said about something else.

I do most of my writing in my office at home, which is decorated with “occult detective” memorabilia. I’ve got movie posters from Hellboy, Constantine, and The Dresden Files, Scully and Mulder action figures (and Frank Black, too) and a souvenir from the set of Kolchak: The Night Stalker. There’s more, but you get the idea.

What has been the key to your literary success?

Talent, persistence, and luck. And the greatest of these is all of them.

What’s on the horizon for Justin Gustainis?

I’m negotiating a three-book deal with Angry Robot Books, a new imprint of HarperCollins. The books will be set in an alternate world Scranton, PA. Unlike the universe that Quincey and Libby inhabit, this one openly acknowledges the existence of supernatural creatures. My protagonist is Stan Markowski, a cop on the Scranton PD’s Occult Crimes Unit, which everyone calls “The Supe Squad.”

I’m setting the books in Scranton because I’m from there (well, nearby), and the place has started to become well known, what with the TV show “The Office” being set there, and the fact that it’s Joe Biden’s hometown.

Finally, where might we find you online?

My website is at www.justingustainis.com