In his latest novel, The Children of Red Peak (out November 17, 2020), Craig DiLouie takes an unconventional approach to the classic horror trope of religious cults. Only five children survive the mass suicide and murder which brings an end to the infamous cult The Family of the Living Spirit. Now adults, four of these five survivors are reunited when the fifth takes her own life. Compelled to understand what really happened on that fateful day in their childhood, the group considers returning to their former home, Red Peak, in an attempt to put their traumatic experiences behind them once and for all.
Read on to learn more about what inspired DiLouie to write this novel, what real life events and cults influenced his writing, and the three books he’d pick (this month anyway!) to keep him company on a desert island.
Hi Craig! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for The Nerd Daily! To start, tell our readers a little bit about yourself.
Thanks for having me as a guest, Beth! I’m a professional journalist, educator, and novelist with numerous books published. I’m an American who has lived in Canada since 2003. My partner is horror author Chris Marrs. Mostly, I identify as a father of two wonderful children who are my world. All the way around, I’m an incredibly lucky man.
Your latest novel, The Children of Red Peak (out November 17th 2020), is a twist on the typical horror novel about a religious cult. Without giving too much away, how would you describe the premise of the book to readers?
The Children of Red Peak is a psychological and supernatural horror story about a group of people who grew up in and survived the horrific last days of an apocalyptic cult. Now, years later, the trauma of what they experienced never feels far behind.
When a fellow survivor commits suicide, they reunite to confront their past and share their memories of the apparition that appeared on the final night. Why did their families go down such a dark road? What really happened on that final night?
The answers lie buried at Red Peak. But truth has a price, and escaping a second time may demand the ultimate sacrifice.
How did you come up with the idea for this novel?
While many tropes are well worn, I enjoy stories that either turn them on their heads or examine their consequences. The Children of Red Peak does both.
Many people see cults as diabolical organizations, but I wanted to point out the fact that aside from some new and sometimes very strange ideas, they are not that different from the evangelical brand of traditional religions or even political groups. What makes a cult a cult is the level of harm they might do to their members or their community.
So, I was fascinated with the idea of examining a cult from a perspective that is both realistic and takes a hard look at belief. The group the survivors grew up in is a simple zealous Christian community. Then one thing changed—the voice of God commanding them to prepare to ascend to Heaven, just as they’d hoped all their lives—and the group quickly transitions into a cult because this ascension has a very hard price.
For about half the book, we see the survivors as children growing up in this community and surviving its horrific end. That’s the aspect of The Children of Red Peak where a common trope—cults—is turned on its head. The other is in examining the trope’s consequences, specifically how adults would deal with the ongoing trauma of having survived such an ordeal, which allows me to explore memory while adding dimension to the exploration of faith and belonging. That half of the book is about the survivors as adults coping with both what happened to them and the unsolved mysteries that will bring them together and ultimately back to Red Peak.
I found it interesting that, as indicated by the title, The Children of Red Peak follows the story of not the adult cult members themselves, but their children. What was the draw of centering this novel on the children of the cult members as opposed to the adults?
The Children of Red Peak is really two stories that combine to become one. The story set in the past is about the transformation of a religious group into a cult, which the children must survive. The story set in the present is the adult survivors living with the trauma they experienced and desperately seeking closure, which is hard for them as there are several nagging mysteries about what happened the final night. This will lead them back to Red Peak, where they’ll face the mystery that claimed their parents.
The cult in the book, The Family of the Living Spirit, was founded after 9/11, which the leader took as a “sign.” Could you talk a bit about deciding for this event to be what sparked the inception of the cult?
After the World Trade Center attacks, many Americans turned to religion. This is only natural as whenever some horrific, large-scale event happens, people tend to try to ascribe meaning to it. It was a catalyst for decades of war and growing division at home. For me, it was the perfect starting point for a group of like-minded Christians to go off the grid and try to create a safe, strong, religious community away from civilization to prepare for the end of the world. Unfortunately, the end finds them.
You do a really detailed job of delving into mental health issues and different types of therapy or treatment within the book. I’m curious how much research this required on your part and why you wanted this to be a key aspect of the novel?
I always do a ton of research for my novels, which I enjoy for two reasons. First, I learn a lot! More important, I discover so much great material that influences the direction that character and plot take while spicing the story with wonderful titillating details.
Mental health is a big part of the novel, as the characters are all living with the trauma of what they experienced, and you can see how their coping mechanisms as adults are runaway versions of traits they exhibited as children. It also provided a lens to examine the thin line between faith and delusion, the very human desire to assign meaning to chaos and life itself, and the hope and longing for certainty there is a God watching over us and that death is not the end.
Along with The Children of Red Peak being a thrilling horror novel, it also tackles some very serious themes: faith, sacrifice, the meaning and purpose of life, just to name a few. Could you talk a bit about the underlying message you hope readers will take away from the book?
Part of the inspiration for the novel was a passage in Genesis where God instructs Abraham to bind his son Isaac and sacrifice him. Abraham goes through with it, but at the last moment, God releases him from the command. I asked myself, what would it be like to be Isaac after that experience? And: What if God hadn’t stopped Abraham? And: What would I do if God told me to do the same? What if God offered a perfect deal, only it required me to break everything I love most? I found that such a psychologically unsettling and destructive idea, I just had to write about it. For me, the best horror novels hold up a fractured mirror to the human soul and the truths we hold dearest.
As you point out, the story’s main purpose is to entertain, which I hope it accomplishes for anybody who reads it. At the same time, I hope that when readers close the covers, they will reflect on its challenging themes. Everybody in the book is trying to find meaning, everybody puts their faith in something that helps them find purpose, everybody believes they are doing the right thing for the right reasons. What I hope will happen is the reader will be inspired to ask themselves questions about what they would do in the same situation, the mark of a good story.
On a final related note, I should probably add that in no way does the novel ridicule religion or faith. If somebody gets offended, so be it, but that’s not the intent. Everything is handled with extreme respect. But the uncomfortable truths are there. As with all my books, moral questions are asked rather than definitive answers given, and the reader is invited to decide whatever is true for them.
Were there any real-life cults which served as inspiration in your writing?
I was interested in the psychology of cult adherents and survivors, along with the manipulation techniques that cults use, so I guess all of them were inspiration. I wanted to try to answer the question, how does anybody get themselves into such a bad deal? Why would somebody surrender their identity for love and a comforting worldview? And how do they escape? This led me not only into the world of cults but also the people who try to get them out, notably cult deprogrammers and exit counselors.
One thing that struck me during my research is how even if somebody leaves the cult, the cult rarely leaves them. The experience leaves a psychic imprint that must be overcome the rest of one’s life.
Does writing about such dark subjects ever bleed over into your real life or affect you personally after you are done writing? If so, how do you manage or balance this?
Oh no, not at all, though that’s an interesting question! “For all these years, my neighbor has been such a nice, mild-mannered guy. I never would have guessed he was a horror author.” [laughs] Now, while I’m writing, part of my creativity comes from the gut, so whatever my characters are feeling, I’m feeling, which can be grueling for sure. But also satisfying, because if I’m feeling that way, I know I’m getting it right. Overall, I feel accomplishment when a dark novel is finished, along with hope readers will enjoy it.
Have you been reading and writing more or less this year, considering the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic?
I’ve written about and therefore researched pandemics before, so last November, when the city of Wuhan went into quarantine, I knew then we were in for a world of trouble. When lockdown arrived in my city, like many people, I cycled through social media in a mental fog and constant low-grade anxiety, and I accomplished exactly nothing as a human being other than simple survival. Everything was fine today, but I had no idea what was going to happen tomorrow, and that’s not a comfortable state for humans.
Over time, I gradually just got used to it. I already worked at home, and while having the kids there instead of school was challenging, we pulled together as a family and made it work the best way possible. After a while, I returned to my normal productivity level, and I’ve been producing steadily ever since.
What can readers expect to see next from you?
The novels I write for the major publishing houses like Hachette and Simon & Schuster tend to be standalone, big-idea novels, and typically darker fiction. I also self-publish pulpy dime novel actioners, however, with my first two being focused on World War 2. No big themes, just a simple story well told. They’ve done phenomenally well. Next year, I’ll be launching two, both about carrier pilots, one set in the early 2020s and the other during the Pacific in the fight against Japan during WW2.
Let’s Get Nerdy: Behind the Writer with 9 Quick Questions
- First book that made you fall in love with reading: Conan of Cimmeria by Robert E. Howard
- 3 books you would take on a desert island: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, The Iron Heel by Jack London—but ask me in a month, and I’ll probably give you a different three
- Movie that you know by heart: The Three Musketeers (1973 version)
- Song that makes you want to get up and dance: “Go” by Tones on Tail
- Place that everyone should see in their lifetime: Death Valley, California
- Introvert or extrovert: Both!
- Coffee, tea, or neither: Coffee all the way, though I’d love to be a tea guy
- First job: Stock boy at a hobby shop; after they refused to hire me, I started helping customers until they gave me a job like something out of a bad movie
- Person you admire most and why: I’m not very good at favorite anythings, but the first name that popped into my head was Kurt Vonnegut, a brilliant writer, and as an anthropology student, his thesis about seven basic story structures being universal in human storytelling—and every bit as anthropologically significant as discovering pottery and arrowheads—was revolutionary
