Photo by Ray Coco Smith

Master of Pulp Fiction

Although writer Charlie Huston’s novels are about bad things—really bad, really violent things—he insists he is a pacifist by nature. “I swear nonstop, I have a black sense of humor, but I don’t like gore for gore’s sake,” he notes. “Depicting violence is my way of reflecting what’s going on in the world.”

Huston has made a name for himself as the very profane and exceedingly graphic author of seven (and counting) crime noir novels, but he’s OK with the irony of also being a peace-loving guy with a degree in Information and Communication Studies. The 1991 CSU, Chico alum is originally from Oakland but currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and infant daughter.

After graduating from CSU, Chico, Huston earned a graduate degree in his first love, theater, at UC Irvine. He then moved to New York to pursue an acting career. It was there, as a struggling actor/bartender, that Huston first began reading crime novels. “Someone turned me on to The Black Dahlia, by James Ellroy, and I just started looking for other writers who possessed that kind of energy,” he says.

In between acting gigs, Huston tried to keep his creativity flowing by writing. He was a “scribbler” of short stories as a youngster, but had never considered writing as a profession. Eventually, however, Huston found himself with the manuscript for a crime novel, Caught Stealing, on his hands—the result of his downtime from acting. His future mother-in-law, an author, suggested he show his work to her agent. The agent passed but liked Huston’s style and encouraged him to keep writing.

Then a fellow Chico alum put Huston in touch with a film and television agent, who purchased film rights to the novel. “Nothing came of it,” says Huston, but the manuscript soon found its way into the hands of his current literary agent. Two weeks later, at the age of 34, Huston had a book deal.

In the six years since, Huston has been prolific, producing six other well-received novels that one reviewer described as “a potent fusion of hard-boiled noir and contemporary crime fiction.” His novel Six Bad Things was nominated for a 2006 Edgar Award, the most prestigious award for crime writing. Stephen King is a fan, calling Huston “one of the most remarkable prose stylists to emerge from the noir tradition in this century.”

Huston’s work is often compared to acclaimed novelist Elmore Leonard, although Huston prefers to describe his personal style as “neo-noir.” “There’s a great deal of black humor in my work, but it’s not by design,” he explains. “In fact, my forthcoming book, The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death (winter 2009), has more focus on characters and relationships, in order to give myself a break from writing unrelentingly dark and violent material.”

As for his years at Chico, Huston credits his major and theater minor as providing him with the analytical tools for “looking at the world, and for perspective on how others view it.” For more information on Huston’s work, go to www.pulpnoir.com.

Laurel Miller is a freelance food and travel writer and cooking instructor in Colorado. A columnist for The Oakland Tribune/BANG Newspapers and a contributor to Gourmet and Outside magazines, she also owns The Sustainable Kitchen, an independent contract culinary business.