Books to Die For

Sinister Seven: LANCE TUCK on THE PALADIN SEQUENCE

Fans of holy horror take note: there's a new series of novels called THE PALADIN SQUENCE that goes deep into the world of exorcisms and demonology, spanning several world religions and several decades. I caught up with author LANCE TUCK just before Christmas to discuss this expansive and ambitious story, of which the first two novels - DEVIL'S GARDEN and DEVIL'S NIGHT - are available now.

Your series THE PALADIN SEQUENCE is heavily rooted in religious horror (exorcisms, demons, possession, etc.), what is the appeal of this subgenre for you?

Religious horror has a broad spectrum of characters and archetypes which provide intense emotional involvement for the reader. Religion is designed to be universally appealing to the human condition, and it differs from empirical observation in that there is no measurable element in religion. It does not exist as a constant detectable force in the real world, and as such represents an unknown. It is manipulation of this unknown that drives the supernatural elements of the story. Supernatural activity manipulated by intelligences greater than our own, especially intelligences that mock our ignorance of what is really going on, is the impetus of the story. It is like a detective tale as our protagonists try to deduce what is "real" in an unreal situation, and attempt to correct what has gone wrong by finding the "truth" that allows them to stop the supernatural threat. These sorts of stories give me as a writer a chance to reinterpret what has been written in religious lore in a way that may cause the reader to reflect differently upon their own interpretation of their respective mythologies. It provides a writer a unique opportunity to really blow their readers' shit.

Your bio mentions that you've been a tattoo artist for a quarter of a century, what drew you to writing at this point in your life?

Tattoo machines get heavy! Not really, but twenty-five years of eight-to-twelve-hour days of constant repetitive movement while producing an image in two dimensions on a living three-dimensional object who may or may not have the pain tolerance necessary to endure the procedure (oh, and did I mention that they are moving all the while?) has taken its inevitable toll. The industry has changed because of those godawful tattoo reality shows. Now people think a quality piece can be done in thirty minutes because of the distorting effects of television. There is much less creativity now due to the Internet. People all get the same damned image they found on Pinterest. We literally do ten to twelve iterations of "birds 'n' words 'n' infinity loops" per week. Not as much art involved there, even if the images are deeply meaningful to the people who want them tattooed. Plus, my vision is going, I can't do the microdetail work that I am famous for as easily as I used to. But I can still tell one hell of a story...

For the uninitiated, can you give us a brief "the-story-thus-far" teaser for Books 1 and 2?

THE PALADIN SEQUENCE describes Matthew Paladin's attempts to unravel why he is being visited by the Angel of Death, and what role he plays in the coming Apocalypse. In Book One, we learn that Paladin is inhabited, not possessed, by an Infernal. It will not reveal its name or why it is there, but the most disturbing thing is that it helps him from time to time. His main ally in his quest to learn why the demon has come, and how that connects to the Angel of Death is the Reverend Gerald Ironblood, the Holy See's Alpha Exorcist, and a man who believes he shares some responsibility for Matthew's plight. Their first meeting and their first adventure together introduces us to the ancient foe that the Church has forgotten: the Shadows. Book Two details Matthew's encounter with a fiery Fallen Angel contracted by an innocent victim of Church corruption to punish the men responsible for the crimes perpetrated against him. In Detroit the night before Halloween is filled with fires, and they will keep burning as long as the Demonic Contract is fulfilled. The demon has many foes, but it is unimaginably powerful and clever. To send it back to Hell, the exorcists and their allies must discover what ties the demon to the fires of Devil's Night!