Thicker Than Water

It trembled, but it stayed aloft while her chest rose and fell three times. Three last, agonising breaths.

She pointed at me.

And I nodded, accepting both the accusation and the challenge in those tortured, furious eyes.

You did this.

You talked to him, and he wound his lies around you.

You gave him to eat, and he grew stronger.

You let fools follow you here, and the fools set him free. Whatever they thought to do - whether to destroy him or to bind him faster - in their blind arrogance they set him free.

You killed me, Castor.

And now you have to kill your best friend.

extras

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about the author

Mike Carey is the acclaimed writer of Lucifer and Hellblazer (now filmed as Constantine). He has also written extended runs for Marvel’s fan-favourite titles X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four, the comic book adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and a movie screenplay, Frost Flowers, soon to be proæ anduced by Hadaly/Bluestar Pictures. He lives in London with his wife, Linda, also a novelist and screenwriter, their three children and a cat named Tasha.

For more information about Mike Carey visit www.mike-carey.co.uk

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interview

This is your fourth Felix Castor novel. Have you found the story branching off in areas you didn’t expect when you started or has everything gone exactly to plan?"

"The plan is crucial, and everything conforms to the plan right up to the point where you start writing - then it instantly becomes irrelevant.

No, I’m exaggerating for effect there. In terms of the big issues, the overall structure of the series, I’ve mostly stuck very close to what I originally had in mind. But a lot of the grace notes, incidentals, supporting cast and their arcs, came to me as I was writing and then were built into the whole. To take the most obvious example, Nicky Heath wasn’t dead in the original Castor pitch: I just had this great idea when I got to that part of The Devil You Know, that he’d be much more interesting as a zombie.

There’s a bit from Mervyn Peake’s journal where he talks about sticking to the plan for Gormenghast while ‘staying on the qui vive for a better idea’. That’s what you find yourself doing: if you’ve built it right, the plan is the structural skeleton that gives you the luxury of improvising without falling apart.