Cooper D. Barham writes dark, fantastical fiction from a Christian perspective. I talk with him about his stories and writing experience, including his fiction featured on Geeks Under Grace!
Q. As a writer, what kind of stories do you like to tell?
I think it’s important to be able to show adaptability with your writing and storytelling abilities, so I try my hand at many things. However, my preference has always catered to fantasy and science-fiction. Even then, you can become more specific and say I prefer soft sci-fi over the strictness of hard sci-fi, or epic fantasy over dieselpunk. Even deeper, I am more inclined to writing stories with a dark undertone. “Dark” can be translated in so many different ways though, that summing it up into a single word is nearly criminal.
Yet, even though I have all of these preferences and such, my stories require something of me beyond their literary cosmetic. When I write, I always set forth with a few goals, which may not always be perfectly evident on the surface, but constantly thread themselves through the background. I write to convey the message of Christ (which can be done with dark stories, for the record). I write to inspire. I write because I’ve been inspired, and am notorious among some of my friends and consistent readers as somebody who plants an abundance of Easter Eggs within their work. I do this with the vague hope that readers will absorb what I write, and somehow make their way through the underpinnings and into those things which originally captivated me.
Q. For those that haven’t read our Fiction Spotlight about it, can you tell us what “Iscariot” is about?
“Iscariot” is a short-story where the various sins of men manifest themselves into a body-altering virus. This virus, Penance, transforms humanity into a more physical representation of their inner struggle, taking on traits of our own Kingdom Animalia. For example, the sin of sloth gives you characteristics of a mole, and pride dons your body with the various menaces of a winged bat.
In this afflicted world, a special sort of officer named Iscariot works alongside his partner to track down and annihilate the victims of Penance’s infection. But because he’s only human, Iscariot finds himself in a personal conflict where the love of his own daughter might compromise his ability to get the job done.
Q. Stephen King thinks every author has an ideal reader. Who is the ideal reader for “Iscariot”?
Well, Stephen King is brilliant, so he must be right. Let’s see… When writing Iscariot, I wanted something that would cater specifically to a Christian audience, without showing any signs of being exclusive to them alone. At the same time, because this fiction work was part of a “test-fire” for the Geeks Under Grace website to see how well it might be received, I also wanted to play to my skills, so I gave it a surreal, decrepit, urban setting.
In my experience, the more shadows you have in a story, the greater the power of the light when it shows face. That’s what I wanted to convey to the readers. Yeah, things might be dark and brutal, but that’s how our world can be sometimes, and that’s why it’s so important to strive for hope. Because hope is a cure for the darkness.
Q. What is the inspiration behind your characters, and the unique world you’ve built in “Iscariot” ?
The concept of Penance came to me as I was studying under some of author Brandon Sanderson’s lessons about “magic systems” and how to orchestrate them as a device for narrative theming. Originally, I thought of “Iscariot” as a better fit for long-form fantasy, and it had a very different shape from the short story published on GUG. In fact, it used to simply be titled “Penance,” but I modified the name based on the primary attack of the protagonist from one of my older stories, thinking it would be a good name for an actual character. It took some time for me to become comfortable with having a character named Iscariot who wasn’t like Judas Iscariot.
As for Iscariot himself, he’s not overly special. He is basically a manifestation of two characteristics: “Jaded Officer” and “Loving Father.” To this day, I don’t have an image for Iscariot in my mind. He’s sadly faceless. Yet, I put relentless detail into his every word. I wanted the reader to know that he had a refined brand of understanding and empathy, but was still very much a fragile human.
Iscariot’s partner, Arthur, was vaguely inspired by a companion character in the horror video game The Evil Within. Ultimately though, I had Arthur function with more comedic value as a brother-in-arms than the character who he was originally derived from, as that person was rather boring.
Writing isn’t the only thing he has good taste in. He knows how to dress, too!
Q. If you had to cast actors to play the characters in your story, who would you choose?
This is going to be difficult to answer, as I am bad at assessing these things. “Iscariot” really only has three characters of focus. I, for the love of me, can’t think of somebody who actually “fits” the mold of Iscariot in my mind, so I will say Jeremy Renner as that’s the closest I can conceive. Arthur could be played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, though I’m probably only saying that because he played a character named Arthur in Inception. As for the Pride, I’d cast Ulquiorra from Bleach, as he would fit perfectly.
Q. Do you listen to music while you write?
Yes I listen to music while I write. I have about two dozen playlists formed specifically to capture a certain vibe or ambiance for whatever I’m trying to write. Consequently, I listen to a lot of instrumental music. Two Steps From Hell, various video game and anime soundtracks, Audiomachine, tons of no-name Youtubers worth far more attention than they receive, stuff like that. However, I also listen to a lot of rock music, rock being the most ambiguous definition for a genre ever. I listen to both Christian and mainstream rock and metal, but I bounce all over the place. For reference, as I’ve been answering these questions, I have jumped from Project 86, to Breaking Benjamin, to The Glitch Mob, to Run Kid Run, to Dragonball Z, to The Fountain, to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Now I’m back on a mainstream artist called Starset. I love music.
Q. Have you published other stories, besides “Iscariot”?
My website, cooperdbarhamwriter.com, is host to many of my stories, particularly the short fiction I wrote during the apex of my college career. I can take the time to briefly sum up two or three for any interested readers.
“Ghost” is the tale of a humble but lonely spirit who passes his days waiting for people to come to his cottage in the woods. In the meantime, he cultivates the small home into something warm, where he and his imaginary friends can laugh and sing. This is a very soft story, which I was asked to orally present for a small reading at my alma mater. Themed in shades of autumn, “Ghost” is without argument one of my favorite personal works.
“The Drums” is an attempt at the horror genre, which had a greater result than I’d anticipated. It follows a curious intellectual named Noel, who is descended from a vile heritage of the Whitewine family, as she enters a decrepit manor left behind by her ancestors, in search of understanding. What begins as an innocent adventure into her own history leads Noel to find that the horrific aftermath of her family has not completely subsided and the rain which protects her sanity is slowly beginning to fade.
“The Interview” was an exercise in first-person. The protagonist is a superhero-gone-rogue, now interested in siding with the alliance of men and women he once held as enemies. But he must pass their interview first, and the company is tough cookies. Masterful supervillains aside, he must maintain composure under intense questioning and the very presence of one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Q. Who are the writers/storytellers that most inspire you?
Ah, another painful question.
The ones who most inspire me are also usually my favorites, and having reviewed my questions in advance, I don’t want to start repeating myself in the upcoming questions, so I’ll just throw out some names. Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), Tsugumi Ohba (Deathnote & Bakuman), Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist), and all of the brilliant minds writing for studios like Bioware, Pixar, Telltale, Studio Ghibli, Naughty Dog, and so many more. I am also frequently inspired by words, feelings, or ideas derived from the music I hear.
9. What is your Desert Island book?
The Kingkiller Chronicle. Yeah, that’s two books, not one. It would be three. Hopefully someday it will be three.
A happy Cooper meeting one of his favorite writers, Patrick Rothfuss, author of The Kingkiller Chronicle.