Richard Kadrey, BALLISTIC KISS (Sandman Slim series) author

I’m joined in this episode by Richard Kadrey, author of the long-running urban fantasy series, SANDMAN SLIM.

These novels follow the paranormal misadventures of James Stark, a hard-to-kill, half-human magician who spent 11 years stuck in Hell as an arena gladiator and pet hitman for his demon masters. After carving a bloody path back to earth, Stark re-emerges in Los Angeles, hellbent on killing the circle of humans who sent him to suffer Downtown.

But to live and avenge in LA requires grit, gear, and allies, plus the occasional occult odd-job to keep you in kevlar. When your companions are carnivorous spider people, fallen angels and disembodied talking heads, and your enemies are kill-happy sorcerers, undead legions and Hellion lords….well, you’re gonna need a grim sense of humor, a fistful of supernatural powers, and an eagerness to get way down and very dirty.

For better—or probably worse—Stark has a triple helping of all that, which is how he earned his nickname—Sandman Slim, the monster who kills monsters.

The ten previous high-octane novels in the SANDMAN SLIM series are available now, and the eleventh—BALLISTIC KISS—is also out now from Harper Voyager.