~Post by MysteryPeople Crime Fiction Coordinator Scott M.
One of the coolest things that happened to me this year was a rumor that went around for a while about Christa Faust and I having a fling at the Bouchercon Crime Fiction conference. Even cooler was that Christa didn’t deny it. For her reputation, I will, even though I’ve been in love with her and her writing for some time now.
I was introduced to Christa through Megan Abbott, another noir crush. Megan had edited a collection of short stories focusing on different types of femme fatales called A Hell Of A Woman. Christa contributed the tale “Cutman,” about a lesbian cutman’s unrequited love for a female boxer and her need to protect her from a sleazy boyfriend/manager. It embodied everything great about her work, how she has the ability to take those people on the margins we view as “different” or “weird” and draw us into their stories, making them human and relatable, and also linked that original voice to the past. It was a moody hard boiled style that spoke to this generation.
With her Hard Case Crime novel, Money Shot, Christa’s voice became apparent to hard boiled fans everywhere. She gave us Angel Dare, a porn star unwittingly pulled into a fight with white slavers. She treated the adult film industry with no judgement. It was a mix of good and bad, victims and victors. Most of all she presented it as a job, which provided some humor and a good amount of understanding and insight.
Christa has approached the genre in the same way. Money Shot was pure pulp with no apologies. She avoids the “irony” many authors seem to think they need when writing in this form. I think it’s one of the major reasons for her following. There is an undercurrent to her writing that expresses her love for the genre. She’s a fan who speaks to other fans.
It wasn’t long before I got to meet her in person at Houston’s Murder By The Book. Once again it was Miss Abbott who introduced us. She was outspoken, funny, and smart, very smart. She held her own with Megan, who is one of the most knowledgeable writers I know. She was also kind enough to call in to our 7% Solution Book Club, one of the most entertaining author Q&As I’ve experienced. Her friend and fellow author, Scott Phillips, said, “Christa will say anything, but you can tell she’s already thought about what she says.”
After four years of writing some great short fiction, TV and movie tie-ins, and one of the books in the Doc Savage style Gabriel Hunt books (featuring Nazi Amazon women in a rain forest under the Antarctic), Christa brought back Angel for Choke Hold. On the run from her experiences in Money Shot, Angel finds herself helping a mixed martial arts fighter beholden to some shady characters in the business. The story takes many of the standards of boxing noir and updates them, treating the world of boxing in the no-nonsense way Money Shot treated the porn industry. The book also looks at two people exploited for their physical talents, and how one teaches the other to exploit oneself. It all comes to a conclusion of poetic heart break in a hard boiled world.
Much like her books, Christa is someone to be experienced. Trust me. So join us Thursday November 3rd at 7PM as she signs and discusses Choke Hold, and anything else she decides to.
Oh and if that person who started that false rumor is reading this- thank you.
BookPeople 