So for something different today, I have decided to start a little series of interviews with authors I think deserve more notice and attention. I hope you enjoy it and please let me know your thoughts!
Hi Chris, thank you for agreeing to do the interview with me!
Let’s start with what are you focused on right now- between your novel Shitshow’s debut and the very special, illustrated edition of Daytide, you have your fingers in all sort of interesting pies! What’s the main focus?
It does seem like I’m dancing about quite a lot lately. And that’s true to an extent. As you know, publication order does not always mirror the order in which you write things. I wrote DAYTIDE originally in 2020 and finished it in 2022 after two full re-writes. I wrote the bulk of SHITSHOW in 2023 and it sort of sat there while I worked on some other things. Then, early in 2025, the opportunities came to publish both, so that’s how that all happened. Having now done pretty much the final art and polishing of DAYTIDE for publication, I’ve turned my attention chiefly to two new projects. One is a horror novel I’m writing with a friend of mine that we are doing mostly for fun. The second is my 2027 novel for Angry Robot. Very excited about that one, but can’t say a lot about it now (not being cute, I’m still figuring it out myself).
I loved reading Daytide many moons ago, and remember thinking at the time that it has a real “cult favourite” potential. It’s a big book – what was the big idea behind it?
I remember you reading this book and giving me some great feedback! It is a big book! I remember being in college and law school and thinking that it was a crime against humanity that anyone would ask me to write a paper exceeding thirty pages and this thing tops out at over five hundred! Who am I? Anyhow, the big idea behind DAYTIDE was that I had answered a question my daughter posed about why churches have steeples. Now, my answer was entirely made up, and she understands that her father regularly makes up answers to her questions as a matter of entertainment, but it did get me thinking…what if steeples were an antenna of sorts, or a waypoint for beings from somewhere else? It all bloomed from that epicenter. Sprawled, you might say. To your point, I think most people who read DAYTIDE will find themselves in a type story they’ve not seen before.
The special edition includes a lot of your artwork. How does your art inform your writing and vice versa?
When I’m writing, all I’m thinking about is the writing. That isn’t to say that visualization isn’t important, because I’m doing that constantly as I’m drafting. I do think that I tend to paint my scenes cinematically, and that’s just how I think. As a visual artist, I’m a visual thinker. But I’m not possessed of any specific ideas about how I would paint or illustrate certain aspects of the story. On the other hand, the writing certainly informed the art that I ended up doing to accompany the story and I found myself reading back through it to make sure I had everything right, but also making my own decisions about visual details that I’d not given in the words. That’s one of the reasons I’m not rushing to put art with my stories. Most of the time I like to leave visualization up to the reader. But DAYTIDE was asking to be illustrated.
I really enjoy the playful aspect of your writing. You seem to really enjoy highlighting the grotesque in your books and visual arts. Do you simply enjoy them as a form of artistic freedom or do they serve another purpose as well?
If I have a modus operandi for my visual art and my writing, it is to be as evocative as I possibly can. And I suppose there’s a sort of sanguine joy pervading my descriptions, whether written or illustrated. I think that comes from my recognition that life isn’t to be taken for granted and I want to express my joy at being alive in everything I do. Part of that is by burying my teeth all the way up to the gums when I’m describing violence, body horror, or emotional arcs.
We live in very turbulent times. Do you use your writing as a means to process what is happening in the world or as a way to distract yourself from it?
I am one hundred percent using my writing to work through what is happening in the world. It’s not intentional, though it seems to be inevitable. From my debut THE PHLEBOTOMIST, through MORGAN BRIGHT, DAYTIDE, and even SHITSHOW, I’m attacking issues facing our society. Sometimes it’s very on the nose, and often it’s more of an oblique approach. But yeah, I can’t help but do it. And I do feel it helps me to understand our world better, even if I’m not solving all its problems.
The publishing industry is currently undergoing a lot of changes, not all of them great. What direction do you think publishing might go in the next few years?
Whew that’s a biggie. Some things about publishing are very exciting. I think indie is having a heyday right now. I publish on both sides of that ledger, with a steady diet of traditional work to go along with my indie stuff and there are well understood pros and cons to each. I think the best part of the indie world is the freedom. Look- I’m incredibly proud of SHITSHOW, but no traditional publisher was going to put that out. Sobelo Books did and it’s been very successful for them and for me. Indie is metal as fuck and I love that. Traditional pubs, on the other hand, mostly love to play it safe. They say they want to publish “genre-bending” work, but usually not until someone else has the courage to do it first. So, I have a pretty clear head about all that. At the end of the day, my job is to write. I don’t worry about where it will find a home or if it will find a home when I’m writing. On my toughest days, I try to remember that writing and creating are the things I love. If I can publish it too, then great.
What’s next for you?
Great question! I have stories coming out in the Punk2 Anthology as well as in the Taylor Swift “Look What You Made Me Do” horror anthology coming from Sobelo Books. DAYTIDE arrives on February 26, 2026, WORRY BOX hits shelves from Angry Robot on September 22, 2026, and then another horror novel in September of 2027. I also have yet another novel (KILL ME WITH FIRE) on submission right meeeeow!
You can grab an exclusive illustrated copy of Daytide here!
To learn more about Chris Panatier, check out his website!