Award-Winning Novels, Stories, and more by Christopher Meeks         The Critics Write:"So stunning...that I could not help but move on to the next story." --Entertainment Weekly on The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea
"It is a given, now, that Christopher Meeks is a master craftsman as a writer.... Love at Absolute Zero is a gift--and one of the many that continue to emerge from the pen and mind and brilliant trait for finding the humor in life that makes him so genuinely fine a writer." -Grady Harp, Amazon Top-Ten Reviewer "The only certainty about a Christopher Meeks novel is that the readers' senses will be delighted with his originality, superb writing, warmly sympathetic characters and clever plotting. A Death in Vegas neatly fits in the cozy mystery genre and becomes literary fiction in the hands of this deft wordsmith." -Linda Hitchcock, Midwest Book Review "If the publishing and reading world is fair and just, Christopher Meeks is destined to be widely read and deservedly honored." --Carolyn Howard Johnson, MyShelf.com "The Benefits of breathing" - meeks's 3rd collection of short stories
"The Benefits of Breathing is not some feel-good romantic fantasy of a book," writes Sam Sattler for Book Chase. "This is about the real world." This collection of short stories by Christopher Meeks, his third, is built like a concept album, focusing on eleven stories that, as Sattler describes as "love needlessly discarded, love lost, love settled for, love that withers and dies, love squandered, love that backfires, and love nipped in the bud." It is also at times upbeat, optimistic, and funny--just like life.
Another reviewer, Grady Harp, writes, "Writing of this quality takes you off-guard. His terse, succinct, no-nonsense gift grabs our attention." The book has five formats:
Reviewer Jim Chambers writes, "The art of the short story is very much alive and well with Christopher Meeks." The novel "the chords of war" WINS A BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD
White Whisker Books is pleased to announce that its novel The Chords of War by Christopher Meeks and Samuel Gonzalez Jr. has been recognized as a winner in the 20th annual Foreword Magazine INDIES Book of the Year Awards with a Bronze Prize.
Inspired by Sam Gonzalez’s true story, "The Chords of War" is the tale of teenager Max Rivera from Florida, who seeks purpose as he tries to understand why his life always teeters between music and mayhem. After he's kicked out of his band on tour, he joins the Army to change his life. It's after 9/11, and he finds himself under fire in Iraq, part of the surge in Baquabah. In order to deal with his anger and confusion during battles, patrols, and women fighting alongside him, Max creates a new band with soldiers. Will Max and his friends make it? White Whisker also released a video for the book, which you can see from the press release by clicking here. “’The Chords of War’ may be destined to have the impact of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ as the defining novel of the Millennials’ war in Iraq. It has already made my 2017 Top Three list of books.” --Linda Hitchcock, Midwest Book Review “Wow what a book. This is destined to become an instant classic. The authors really capture the essence of the war in Iraq and what it is like to be a young soldier in the midst of such horrors. Couldn't put this book down. I now have a whole new perspective on the war.” --Tony Walsh, NetGalley Reviewer “With ‘The Chords of War,’ Christopher Meeks and Samuel Gonzalez Jr. have set the bar very high for modern war fiction.” --Jim Chambers, Hall of Fame Top-Ten Reviewer White Whisker Books has had four previous books selected for awards by Foreword Reviews in the past seven years, beginning with Christopher Meeks’ comic novel, Love at Absolute Zero in 2011, a finalist in the Romance category. Then came Shelly Lowenkopf’s The Fiction Writers’ Handbook: The Definitive Guide To Mcguffins, Red Herrings, Shaggy Dogs, And Other Literary Revelations From A Master, a finalist in the Adult Nonfiction category in 2012. E. Van Lowe and Sal Conte’s tense YA novel, The Secrets of Love and Death won a Silver Award in 2015 in the YA Novel category. Click here to get the book in hardcover, paperback, or as an eBook. Podcast Interview with Christopher MeeksPodcaster David Core interviews Christopher Meeks on the genesis of his fiction, on A Death in Vegas, on the state of publishing, and more. To hear the 30-minute interview, click here.
To hear Meeks's three newest short stories in a free podcast, click here. DEATH IN VEGAS - A REVIEW
Linda Hitchcock, a reviewer at the Midwest Book Review, gave permission to use the entirety of her review. It explains the book well:
The only certainty about a Christopher Meeks novel is that the readers' senses will be delighted with his originality, superb writing, warmly sympathetic characters and clever plotting. A Death in Vegas neatly fits in the cozy mystery genre and becomes literary fiction in the hands of this deft wordsmith. Patton Burch, the president of BenBugs, wakes up to a very bad day in A Death in Vegas. The demand for organically produced foods has fueled the demand for natural pest control giving rise to numerous companies selling "beneficial insects" to clients that include individual hobby gardeners who buy the odd Ladybug packets to large scale commercial farms and nurseries. Patton has a booth at a major Las Vegas Convention and Trade Show to promote and sell his wares while looking to secure financial backing. To attract customers, his business partner and wife Tess hired by phone from a reputable agency a dazzling cutie model, asthmatic Culinary Arts student Chatterley Langstrump, to dress us as a ladybug. The tiny French maid's costume embellished with red dots set off by red stockings, towering black platform shoes, complete with wings and antennae made the well-spoken girl look like a film star which effectively drew a crowd of buyers. Exhausted after a long day of making pitches, Patton generously invited the model to dinner. The next morning, he finds the girl lying dead under the suite's air conditioning unit. His world crumbles as the death is ruled a homicide and with himself as the primary suspect. Tess assumes infidelity and threatens divorce. The situation becomes more complicated when Chatterley turns out to be a "Jane Doe" using a fake name. Knight-errant Patton Burch has to uncover Chatterley's true identity and solve the murder before he loses his wife, freedom and business. He bolts from Las Vegas and drives to northern California to search for the truth with a nebulous trail that leads him from Santa Rosa to Sonoma County's Valley of the Moon and Boyes Hot Springs. Patton Burch is another entry in the succession of likeable, capable and successful yet somewhat socially inept male protagonists' author Christopher Meeks has introduced in several novels. His realistically penned heroes are not bumblers but generally by their chosen singular occupations are outsiders who use their wits, ingenuity and determination to solve problems. A Death in Vegas, like previously read, dissimilar, Love at Absolute Zero and Blood Drama, left this reader wanting more books from this very creative writer. --Linda Hitchcock Kindle Version of "LOVE AT ABSOLUTE ZERO"
Grady Harp that says, "Christopher Meeks has crossed that bridge [to novels] so successfully that his stance in the echelon of new important American writers seems solidly secure."
A DEATH IN VEGAS now available.
For you crime book lovers and those who like a strong story, A Death in Vegas is now available in bookstores and online, both as print and eBook.
In A Death in Vegas, the president of a company that specializes in beneficial bugs for organic gardeners discovers a young woman dead in his Las Vegas hotel suite. She had worked as a sexy lady bug at his convention booth—and he had nothing to do with her death. While that’s being investigated, the FBI raids his booth on a money-laundering scam, which he knows nothing about either. Soon, the coroner doesn’t have good news. The police and FBI are against him—and his wife cannot be found. He flees to find answers and his wife. “With his tongue planted firmly in cheek, Christopher Meeks spins a charming and surprisingly sexy tale of murder, betrayal, and the importance of beneficial insects.” –Mark Haskell Smith, author of Baked and Raw: A Love Story “I've never, ever wanted to go to Vegas. I don't care if what happens there, stays there. But Christopher Meeks makes me want to go so I can find out who done it. A fun, exciting read, with Chris's usual wonderful writing and great sense of humor. “ –Jessica Barksdale Inclan, author of Her Daughter's Eyes and How to Bake a Man. “Christopher Meeks had me at page three. I couldn’t wait to find out how Patton Burch was going to explain the naked body he woke up to in his Las Vegas hotel room – first to the cops and then to his wife.” –Sam Sattler, Book Chase You can read more about A Death in Vegas on Amazon by clicking here. To hear a new and live interview on John Raab's Suspense Radio, click here. To buy any of Mr. Meeks' books and learn about his upcoming publication party at Skylight Books, a wonderful and independent bookstore, click here. BLOOD DRAMA for another dip into crime.
Blood Drama is the first crime novel coming from Christopher Meeks--and just $3.99!. It focuses on graduate student Ian Nash, who, after taken hostage in a South Pasadena bank robbery gone awry, must find a way to survive once he realizes one of the robbers is going to kill him.
The publication party was held at Book 'Em Mysteries Bookstore in South Pasadena, which, alas, no longer exists. Thank you Barry Martin for so many years of your great passion for quality crime novels. You can read more about Blood Drama on Amazon, by clicking here. Months and Seasons, $3.99
Months and Seasons has recently been reduced to $3.99 for Nook and Kindle. The collection was a finalist in the prestigious Frank O'Connor International Story Award, which offers the highest prize money for short fiction. Months and Seasons is the follow-up story collection to Christopher Meeks's award-winning The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea. With a combination of main characters from young to old and with drama and humor, the tales pursue such people as a supermodel who awakens after open-heart surgery, a famous playwright who faces a firestorm consuming the landscape, a reluctant man who attends a Halloween party as Dracula, and a New Yorker who thinks she's a chicken. "Christopher Meeks's quirky stories are lyrical and wonderfully human. Enjoy," says Sandra Tsing Loh, author of A Year in Van Nuys.)
Buy On Kindle: Click here Buy On Nook: Click here |
 Christopher Meeks writes stories that have a unique twist all his own. Whether short fiction, a drama, or his novels, each story, while serious, is layered with the odd. As author Gina B. Nahai says, "If the object of art is to capture the reality of the human condition one glimpse at a time, then Christopher Meeks succeeds gloriously." Critic Grady Harp says, "Meeks is a master craftsman."
tWO new stories online to sample
Two new stories from Christopher Meeks's book-in-progress can be read online at Barbar Online Literary Magazine. Click on the following titles to read them:
"The Aviator, Eastward" is about a young college woman, Callie, meeting her secret boyfriend in a cemetery near an airport. She's dealing with her domineering mother. "Views from an Italian Bridge" glimpses in two short parts a professor and a student during a semester abroad in Florence, Italy. Sample a story on amazon
If you don't want to read a lot, grab the Amazon Short Joni Paredes, for the Kindle by clicking here.
Read it on your Kindle or download the free Kindle app for your phone, tablet, or computer to read it instantly. "A Death in Vegas" Video on YouTube
Book trailers can be inventive. In fact, director Samuel Gonzalez, Jr., has created a short narrative film inspired by Christopher Meeks's new novel, A Death in Vegas.
Gonzalez looked at a number of book trailers and saw most of them were either author interviews or ones that looked like film trailers with snippets of scenes. “I wanted to do something different,” says Gonzalez. “I approached him with ‘What if you fell into your own novel?’ You would be in the same situation as your protagonist.” “That was bold,” said Meeks. “It meant I had to act—not just be a talking head but actually perform as if I was someone else, Christopher Meeks the character. It stretched me as a person. Samuel is a talented director, not only visually but also in working with actors. He turned me into one.” The final piece is short for a narrative film—only seven minutes without the credits—but it’s long for a traditional trailer. “But it’s not a traditional trailer,” says Meeks. In today’s book marketplace, one has to stay nimble and try new things. Ten Interviews
Thanks to his recent novels and his blog touring, Christopher Meeks spoke about his stories, writing, and publishing in a number of interviews. In one, he explains, "Absolute zero was the furthest from my mind when I started this," and then reveals how his main character ended up becoming a physicist who falls in love.
In another interview, one of his novel's characters, Ursula Nordstrom, is the one questioned. "I had fun being in Ursula’s POV," he says. To read the interviews, click on the links below. A DEATH IN VEGAS: From Suspense Radio (audio), click here From Writers and Authors: click here With Laurie Jenkins, click here BLOOD DRAMA: From HBS Author Spotlight, click here From Small Press Reviews, click here With Teena in Toronto: click here With Cheryl Mash, click here With Kate Eileen Shannon, click here From Digital Book Today: click here With Ty Johnson: click here From Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews: click here |
Novel An Unusual Romance
A ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Finalist, Christopher Meeks's new novel, Love at Absolute Zero, like his short stories, lasers in on relationships, yet this one involves a physicist. (Hey, skeptical reader--physicists can love!)
Love At Absolute Zero is about Gunnar Gunderson, a 32-year-old physicist at the University of Wisconsin. After being given tenure and channeling his inner salmon, he's determined to meet his soul mate within three days using the Scientific Method. When he accidentally steps on the toes of a visiting kindergarten teacher from Denmark, his world turns upside down. "Watching Gunnar and his band of nerds apply the scientific method to romance will keep you laughing and deliciously engaged," says author Lynn Hightower (High Water, Fortunes of the Dead). "Refreshing, delightful, and unique." "Speed-dating and other events are laugh-out-loud funny,” says best-selling author Darcie Chan. "As if Einstein didn't struggle hard enough failing at a unified field theory," says Philip Persinger, author of Do the Math, "Meeks ups the ante by tossing philosophy, anthropology, hashish and love (with a capital L) into the mix. And while we're so sorry, Uncle Albert, in Love At Absolute Zero, Meeks succeeds absolutely." "I've read both of Meeks's short story collections and The Brightest Moon of the Century," says author Kevin Gerard (Conor and the Crossworlds). "I roared through Love At Absolute Zero in a day and a half. Meeks's prose is carefully crafted, his characters compelling and entertaining. I love everything he writes, and I recommend Love At Absolute Zero without reservation." You can get it in print at $14.95, and on Nook, Kindle, and other eBook platforms for $3.99. Buy At Amazon: Click here Buy At Barnes and Noble: Click here Buy On Kindle: Click here Buy On Nook: Click here If you don't have a reader, you can get apps for your computer, phone, and other devices. Kindle apps: Click here Nook apps: Click here Critic Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews says, "As engaging as it is amusing, Love at Absolute Zero is, ultimately, a heartfelt study of the tension between the head and heart, science and emotion, calculation and chance." "It is a given, now, that Christopher Meeks is a master craftsman as a writer," says critic Grady Harp. To read more of his review or about the book, click here to go to Amazon. |
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"BRIGHTEST" FOR KINDLE NOW MATCHES PRINT
When the Kindle version of The Brightest Moon of the Century first came out two years ago, the photos in the book were throwing off the Kindle display, so the photos were not included. Now the Kindle programming has become easier, and a new version is now available for the Amazon Kindle. [Click here.] It also has a hyperlinked Table of Contents to make it easy to zip to chapters.
Critic Grady Harp said, "Christopher Meeks has produced up to now two of the finest, most intelligent, entertaining, and socially sensitive collections of short stories... Christopher Meeks has crossed the bridge [to novels] so successfully that his stance in the echelon of new important American writers seems solidly secure." "A thoughtful, fresh-feeling portrait of who we are," said the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The book is also available in print. |
Launch Party at Vroman's Bookstore SRO
Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena was the setting for the launch of Love At Absolute Zero. Book critic and Amazon Top-Ten Reviewer Grady Harp introduced Mr. Meeks with how the new novel fits in among his four other books, reading from his newest review in which he says, "[Meeks] is likely to continue on his climb to one of America's more important writers this decade." Here are some photos from the evening.
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Meeks Short Story in English Literature Text
Christopher Meeks's short story "The Farms at 93rd and Broadway" appears in the new college textbook English Literature from Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, authored by Lawrence Driscoll.
Meeks's story joins those by Jhumpa Lahiri, Martin Amis, Junot Diaz, Sandra Cisneros, Donald Barthleme, and 11 others. Each of the stories has questions after it to lead students to a better understanding of what they just read. The book also contains poetry and guidelines on how to write the literature essay.
"The Farms at 93rd and Broadway" originally appeared in Meeks's second collection, Months and Seasons. English professors can get an evaluation copy of Driscoll's textbook by clicking here.
Meeks's story joins those by Jhumpa Lahiri, Martin Amis, Junot Diaz, Sandra Cisneros, Donald Barthleme, and 11 others. Each of the stories has questions after it to lead students to a better understanding of what they just read. The book also contains poetry and guidelines on how to write the literature essay.
"The Farms at 93rd and Broadway" originally appeared in Meeks's second collection, Months and Seasons. English professors can get an evaluation copy of Driscoll's textbook by clicking here.
The Brightest Moon of the Century wins three "Best" Awards
The Brightest Moon of the Century, a comic novel about a Minnesota boy's travails through high school, college, a trailer park and more, has landed at the top on three literary websites. First, the Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty selected the novel as one of ten Best Books of 2009, which you can read by clicking here.
Second, Sam Sattler at the website Book Chase also placed The Brightest Moon of the Century in his top ten books, which also includes books by Pete Dexter and Jon Krakauer. Sattler says, "Meeks's characters, and his slightly off-centered view of life, continue to remind me of John Irving's early work, definitely a good thing." You can read more by clicking here.
Third, The Brightest Moon of the Century won a Noble (not Nobel) Award in MyShelf.com's seventh annual end-of-the-year awards, created by Carolyn Howard-Johnson in her "Back to Literature" column. In listing the award, Howard-Johnson says, "If the world is just, Christopher Meeks is destined to be widely read." To read more about the Noble Awards, click here.
Meeks's short story collection, Months and Seasons, was on the long-list for the prestigious Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award in 2009.
Second, Sam Sattler at the website Book Chase also placed The Brightest Moon of the Century in his top ten books, which also includes books by Pete Dexter and Jon Krakauer. Sattler says, "Meeks's characters, and his slightly off-centered view of life, continue to remind me of John Irving's early work, definitely a good thing." You can read more by clicking here.
Third, The Brightest Moon of the Century won a Noble (not Nobel) Award in MyShelf.com's seventh annual end-of-the-year awards, created by Carolyn Howard-Johnson in her "Back to Literature" column. In listing the award, Howard-Johnson says, "If the world is just, Christopher Meeks is destined to be widely read." To read more about the Noble Awards, click here.
Meeks's short story collection, Months and Seasons, was on the long-list for the prestigious Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award in 2009.
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Left, protagonist Edward's first trailer in a trailer park in Alabama is where some of the wild action of The Brightest Moon of the Century takes place.
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