So much more than just another warped mind with an innate gift for capturing the strange and the bizarre, Leeds-based twentysomething, Chris Wade, is currently celebrating the release of his latest audiobook, The Snatcher.
Since the success of his first effort, Cutey and the Sofaguard (the first part of a "demented saga") in 2009, the former shop assistant has kept himself busy with a number of different projects. These include books on actor Malcolm McDowell and the lead singer of The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell.
Chris Wade: Exciting Times
"I’m just promoting the release of my new audiobook, The Snatcher, and the surreal Cutey trilogy that started with Cutey and the Sofaguard, continued with Home in a Tick, and that now concludes with the new one, Tales from the Nanna Home," confirms the man described by author, Tony Hill, as a "Twisted comic genius."
"The third installment finds our character in the 'nanna home', after some complications in the previous two stories. He is now experiencing life in the constraints of an institution which he finds is just as dangerous as the outside world he found it so difficult to become a part of. It’s all very twisted and darkly comic, with the lines between reality and fantasy blurred."
"I've also just finished a book called Who Killed Beaky Wilson? which I’ll release later this year as an audiobook and paperback and a book of short stories and more audio book ideas, which are written and ready to go someday.
"Also, I will be doing some other projects with comedian, Charlie Chuck, who I just did an audiobook called You Only Live Once Thank Goodness. There’s also the free downloadable podcasts, Hound Dawg Radio, a mix of music and comedy I do with my dad and Linzi, my girlfriend. There are always new ideas coming along as well, so it should be interesting to see what happens."
Chris Wade on the Cutey Trilogy
Suite 101: Where did you get your ideas from for the trilogy? Was any of it based on real-life experience?! How long does it normally take you to write a story?
"Funnily enough, I started the first one when I was working in a stationery shop in Leeds and found that some of the more odd customers were easily turned into characters for a story. That’s where Cutey first began and then I naturally progressed to having a more structured plot line.
"Also, the main hero of the trilogy uses a lot of my language because anyone who knows me will tell you that I have weird phrases and words that people don’t normally use. So while I pulled a little from real life, most of the tales are wildly fictional and pretty out there. It’s all fun though and nothing too heavy, but it’s open to interpretation.
"This brand of surreal fiction is just what comes out naturally and I feel it is the one type of writing I am good at. I can spend months on a full-length book or sometimes weeks, as has been the case recently, and a short story can be done in a few days if the ideas are coming fast to me."
Suite 101: Which of the three best captures who you are as an author?
"That’s got to be Cutey. I wrote it as fun firstly and when Rik Mayall read the audio version and encouraged me to write more, that’s when I really thought it was something I could have a proper go at.
"I think Home in a Tick probably captures my typical style more, but I don’t know to be honest. It’s a tough question for an author to answer about his own work. They’re all barmy really."
Chris Wade: The Snatcher
The above-titled book is a twisted tale about a mythical figure said to haunt a canal. It is Chris's sixth audiobook, following Cutey and the Sofaguard, The Blandness of Strangers, I Caught Her Gambling For A Daddy Treacle, Clowns and the aforementioned, You Only Live Once Thank Goodness.
To demonstrate just how far this imaginative writer has come in a relatively short space of time, and the high regard in which he is clearly already held, this darkly comic slice of surrealism was narrated by musician-turned-voiceover artist, Hannah Melbourn.
"The Snatcher came from an idea I had a while back," explains Chris. "I was thinking of what lengths people will go to for money, how low they will sink just for some cash, and the story developed from there.
"It follows this young couple who are in debt to a rich monster of a man called Danny Bruce. He invites them on a trip on his barge and they feel they can’t say no, seeing as he’s helped them out of a gambling debt.
"On the trip, the trouble starts and the barge pilot tells the passengers of a strange figure called 'The Snatcher', who lurks around the canals on his leather barge. I won’t give the rest away because it gets pretty odd and creepy, but it’s still funny as well.
"I found Hannah because she auditioned to an online post I put out looking for an actor to voice it. I had never thought of a woman doing it before for some reason, but when she did a sample for me it was far better than I could have imagined.
"She is really talented and gives the story real power, bringing the characters to life with exuberance. I’m glad she came on board, she’s great."
Cutey and the Sofaguard: Narrated by Rik Mayall
Hannah Melbourn is not the only vocal talent to have brought Chris's irreverent characters and weird and wonderful ideas to life. For the audiobook version of Cutey and the Sofaguard, he enlisted the help of none other than Rik Mayall, one of his all-time comedy heroes.
"Yeah, I have loved his comedy all my life, as far back as I can remember actually. We were always watching Drop Dead Fred and The Young Ones and I was 10 when the last series of Bottom was on. I remember watching it, feeling really cool for doing so, then talking about it with my pals at school the next day.
"He came on board the audiobook project because one day, as a kind of spur-of-the-minute thought, I imagined how great it would be to do an audio version of Cutey and have Rik do it. I never gave it a lot of thought or anything, but his agent said they’d pass it along to him.
"I didn’t expect a reply, but within a week he’d read it twice and really wanted to do it! I was thrilled and amazed. Working in London with him was so exciting, like some weird dream. That was when I really started to think of myself as a proper writer, so to speak."
Chris Wade: Proudest Achievements and Future Ambitions
"I think I have to be honest and say I am proudest of working on Cutey the audiobook with Rik," replies Chris, when asked to reveal the stand-out moments of his fledgling career to date. "I don't know where Chris gets his fantastic imagination," was what Mr. Mayall had to say about his new collaborator.
"It’s one of those things that, no matter what happens in my writing 'career', I am always going to be able to look back fondly on it and feel like I did something cool. I would love to see Cutey and its sequels as films.
"Ken Russell would have been perfect to direct, but he has sadly just died. I loved his work because it was fearless and absurd in parts; he was an inspirational guy. Hannah Melbourn said that The Snatcher would make a great animated film.
"Other than that, I would love to keep doing arresting audiobooks with a wide range of actors, maybe some theatre some day, and definitely a film script."
Adrian Peel - Adrian is an English freelance writer and journalist currently living in Mexico. Over the past eight years, he has had articles, features ...
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