The Long Way Down: 1 (Daniel Faust) - Softcover

By the time he was four years old, Craig Schaefer knew he wanted to be a writer. He also wanted to be an astronaut, a private eye, and a fire truck, so nobody paid much attention. Other passions came and went with age, but the love of writing remained. He cut his teeth on the crime thrillers of Elmore Leonard and Richard Stark, which may explain a thing or two about the person he is today. Exploring other genres he soon latched onto horror and weird fiction, falling hard for the worlds of Clive Barker and H.P. Lovecraft. The books of the Daniel Faust series are written in honor of all the writers who shaped him, blending gangsters, guns and black magic in a manner not unlike, he hopes, chocolate and peanut butter. Research for the Faust novels has led Craig down some curious alleys -- sometimes literally -- and to conversations with interesting and occasionally frightening people. His reference bookshelf, stocked with tomes covering the spectrum from criminology to demonology, has been variously described as "disturbing," "a bit eccentric," and "the reason I'm not dating that guy anymore." While he considers Las Vegas his second home and visits every chance he gets, Craig presently lives in Joliet, Illinois, the home of the Blues Brothers. He dwells in what was once a turn of the century convent, though he has never seen the alleged (and obligatory) ghostly nuns. The pipes do rattle in the night, though, and if you're standing in just the right spot, they sound like the pitter-patter of children's feet rushing by on the floor just above you. When he's not behind the keyboard, he can be found visiting Chicago's historic museums, haunting libraries for inspiration, and spending too much time gaming while he should be writing. He also dabbles in sleight of hand, though unlike Daniel Faust, he's not very good at it. Craig Schaefer's home on the Web is at craigschaeferbooks.com.