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Rats in a Cage: The Black Box of Misery, Surviving Addiction and Trauma in a Brutal Social Experiment
Christopher Clark’s Rats in a Cage is a raw and unflinching novel about addiction, survival, and the brutal cycle of despair. The story weaves through the lives of Mike, Blake, Pookie, Betty, Bam, Milo, and others who are either lost on the streets of Houston or trapped in a strange underground experiment that tests the limits of choice, hope, and human weakness. This is a thriller about broken people facing impossible odds and sometimes finding a spark of clarity in the middle of chaos. The drops you right into grimy motel rooms, violent corners, and surreal “rehab” cells where the difference between life and death hangs on a decision to open a fridge or not.
Reading this book was like riding a rollercoaster with no safety bar. I admired how the author didn’t hold back on the ugly parts. The writing has a grit that matches the subject matter, and that makes it feel authentic. Some of the dialogue felt so real it was almost uncomfortable to read, like I was eavesdropping on private pain. The multiple perspectives kept the pace quick. I appreciated that it gave me a panoramic view of how addiction creeps into every kind of life. The horror of the “black fridge” experiment stuck with me. It felt both symbolic and terrifying, and it made me wonder what I would choose if I were in their shoes.
Emotionally, this book took me for a spin. I felt angry at times, frustrated at the characters’ choices, then suddenly sad when glimpses of their pasts showed how much they’d already lost. Bam’s turn toward hope gave me chills, and Betty’s struggle was heartbreaking. Milo’s spiral made me want to look away, but I couldn’t. Clark writes with a plainspoken honesty that cuts deep. It’s not polished or poetic, but that’s what makes it work. It feels like he’s lived pieces of this himself, and that made me trust the story more.
I think Rats in a Cage is for readers who aren’t afraid to look straight at the darkest corners of human behavior. If you want a hopeful, easy ride, this isn’t it. But if you want to feel shaken, challenged, and maybe a little changed, then this book delivers. I’d recommend it to people who appreciate gritty urban dramas, those who’ve brushed against addiction in their own lives, or anyone willing to face uncomfortable truths head-on.
Pages: 274 | ASIN: B0FKPKX9FJ
Darkness Lurks Beneath the Surface
Feast of Valentine follows a former ballerina turned bartender seeking a fresh start, who returns home to Pottersville, where the town’s supernatural pull engulfs her in romance she never wanted. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of places that seem to have a will of their own—towns that pull people in and refuse to let them go. Pottersville became that kind of place for Angie, the protagonist. I wanted to explore the tension between free will and fate, especially when it comes to love and desire. The inspiration also came from themes of isolation and how the past never truly lets us go. Angie returns home seeking a fresh start, but she quickly realizes that Pottersville has other plans for her.
The setting is also inspired by small-town mysteries where darkness lurks beneath the surface. The supernatural elements reflect the unseen forces that manipulate us, whether societal expectations, personal demons, or something else.
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think makes for great fiction?
I’m drawn to the complexities of desire, fear, and the struggle for control. One of the most fascinating aspects of the human condition is how we often want things that aren’t good for us—or resist things that are. That push and pull between choice and compulsion creates tension that makes for great storytelling.
Another theme I find compelling is identity—how we define ourselves versus how the world defines us. In Feast of Valentine, Angie struggles with who she is and what is being forced upon her, mirroring a real-world experience that many people can relate to.
What intrigues you about the horror and paranormal genres that led you to write this book?
Horror and the paranormal intrigue me because they allow us to explore fear in its purest form—whether it’s the fear of the unknown, the loss of control, or even love. In Feast of Valentine, the supernatural serves as a metaphor for the unseen forces that shape our lives, often beyond our control.
Paranormal elements give me the freedom to delve into deeper themes through a heightened, almost dreamlike lens. Love, for example, can be both intoxicating and terrifying at the same time. Writing horror also allows me to challenge expectations—because not all love stories are romantic, not every homecoming is a fresh start, and sometimes, the real monster isn’t lurking in the shadows—it’s the one smiling right in front of you.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out and what can your fans expect in the next story?
Yes, Feast of Valentine is the first book in the series. I’m currently working on another project, but the next book will also take place in Pottersville. However, it will feature a new cast of characters and explore a different set of themes.
Author Website
“It held me spellbound until the very last page, leaving me eager for more.” –Literary Titan
In the quaint town of Pottersville, Angie, a former ballerina turned bartender, seeks a fresh start away from the demanding world of ballet.
However, her quest for independence encounters unexpected challenges during the town’s legendary Valentine’s Day festivities. As romance and mystique intertwine, Angie finds herself irrestibly drawn to a man she doesn’t truly love, struggling to maintain her autonomy.
With the towns’s historical secrets slowly unraveling, Angie must confront the dark forces of an ancient tradition.
Can she reclaim her will or will she be forever caught in a supernatural struggle that dictates the heart?
Feast Of Valentine: Where Love Binds More Then Just Hearts (Pottersville’s Dark Valentine Book 1)
Angie had no clear vision for her future, but she knew one thing for certain, love had no place in it. Her return to Pottersville was born of necessity, not nostalgia, spurred by the passing of her mother. Though she found herself back in her childhood home, her stay was meant to be temporary. Yet, Pottersville had a way of holding onto people, especially as Valentine’s Day approached. The town’s very identity was entwined with love, its defining statue, the Heart Binder, standing as a symbol of unity, reinforced by the town’s mantra: Bonded by Heart, Together We Stand. But for Angie, love was about to reveal itself in starkly contrasting forms, one freely given, the other imposed. How she responded would shape the course of her future.
Christopher Clark’s Feast of Valentine is a gripping romantic thriller that threads the eerie history of Pottersville into the lives of Angie, her sister Alicia, and the men who orbit them. Angie, after more than 15 years away, is only just discovering the town’s unsettling past when she suddenly finds herself drawn almost inexplicably to a mysterious stranger. As her fascination teeters on obsession, the lines between folklore and reality begin to blur. The deeper she falls, the more bizarre and perilous her world becomes, forcing her to question whether Pottersville’s legends are merely stories or sinister truths waiting to be unearthed.
Clark’s prose is immersive, laced with dreamlike imagery and shifting perspectives that mirror Angie’s spiraling sense of uncertainty. The novel thrives on atmosphere, treading the delicate space between reality and fantasy, pulling the reader into Angie’s growing unease. Each revelation is a fragment of a larger, enigmatic puzzle, one she must piece together with only fleeting guidance. Despite its compelling premise, Feast of Valentine falters where it should shine. The Heart Binder, a central symbol of the town’s legacy, remains frustratingly underexplored. Hinted at rather than truly dissected, its significance lingers on the periphery rather than being meaningfully integrated into the narrative’s climax.
At its core, the novel brims with potential, delivering moments of gripping tension and intrigue. The suspense builds masterfully, reaching exhilarating heights that keep the pages turning. While the conclusion unfolds with an unexpected abruptness, it leaves room for interpretation, encouraging readers to ponder its deeper implications. Feast of Valentine is a fascinating enigma, both captivating and thought-provoking, compelling yet open-ended. It held me spellbound until the very last page, leaving me eager for more and reflecting long after the final chapter.
Pages: 291 | ASIN : B0DTGXQR1H
Dreamers Like Me
Christopher Clark Author Interview
Wyatt is an average kid with aspirations of serving in the Imperial Army when a strange dream leads him down a harrowing path that changes his life forever. What was the inspiration for the original and fascinating idea at the center of The Humming Blade?
The story is, in all honesty, the story I would’ve wanted to read in my youth. The Campbellian hero is relateable for a lot of reasons, and that blueprint is, in many ways, the blueprint for Wyatt’s journey. A dream or a prophesy are often found in those stories, and this is no different. Wyatt has to discover not only what it means to be a hero, but also what it means to truly have no say in the major life events that define the book.
I find the world you created in this novel brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from and how did it change as you were writing?
All of my ideas start out very small – a place, a specific thing, a person, etc. The Humming Blade was born of the idea of a world where the things everyday people see are built upon the bones of of something much older, greater, and harder to understand. It became necessary to make this setting familiar, because it had to feel easy to understand and subsequently easy to subvert. The idea that the familiar and the normal can be built upon the foundation of something completely alien is something that I love to think about our own world all the time. I think that dreamers like me will really find an easy home in this setting.
Wyatt is a well developed and intriguing character. What was the inspiration for his character traits and dialogue?
Wyatt is a little bit of every late-teens kid – smart, fast-learning, driven, and well-meaning. He’s bored of the only hand he feels is available to him and desperately wants to find a way out, which is certainly a feeling that I know a lot about. He’s something we’ve all been or all will be at some point in our lives. But he has a few bad traits of teenagers, too – he’s a bit mouthy, selfish, and stubborn. His motivation for most of this story is not to save the world or avert catastrophe; he just wants his mom back home where she belongs. He’s forced into making choices that he never wanted to make, and realizes that maybe the old and familiar life he lost wasn’t so bad after all.
I enjoyed the ending of the novel, although it left some things unanswered. What will book two cover and when will that be available?
The ending was definitely a deliberate choice on my part. Wyatt will begin the next book struggling with the ramifications of what happened, as well as a greater question: what place is there in the world for the “Chosen One” once he has fulfilled his destiny? What does he do now that he’s served his purpose? All throughout the first novel, the reader sees glimpses of things happening behind closed doors. Those scenes are like seeds – in book two, those seeds will grow and bear fruit. As far as when the book will be available, I hope to have it written soon. The first thirty-thousand or so words are already written, and the rest will come easily. I’m working on another project (some stories just have to be written!), but once that draft is complete and I’m off editing it, writing will resume on The Humming Blade’s sequel.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Wyatt Arden thinks he leads a pretty normal life. He lives on a boring, everyday farm outside of a sleepy little town called Ven, doing boring chores for his mom when he’s not in school. He yearns for a chance to enlist in the Imperial Army and bring some excitement to his life, but he’s sure that will never happen. Wyatt soon learns that it only takes one strange dream for everything normal about his life to change. In that dream, he envisions a beautiful, powerful sword, a blade linked to deep magic and even deeper mysteries. The dream precedes an unexpected series of events that lead Wyatt into a harrowing, life-altering struggle for the lives of his friends, his family, and the world as he knows it. Wyatt must face vicious killers, dark schemers, and beings of such great power that their existence was erased from history. His only weapon? The Humming Blade.
The Humming Blade
In the beginning, everything seems normal. A normal young man, leading a normal life in a normal village. But Christopher Clark has plans for destroying the image of ‘normal’ in his tale The Humming Blade. We meet our protagonist, Wyatt Arden, as he wakes from a dream that seems more like a premonition than anything else. He stumbles out of bed to go about his normal day only to have his entire life turn upside down before the night is even over. He’ll soon learn he’s not so normal and that his entire life and history is more fantastical than any tale he has ever read before. Our young farm boy who has grown up with a single mother learns that you can never assume that life is what you already know; there is so much more to learn.
Clark writes in a fashion that is very easy to read and understand while being engaging and almost poetic. The words flow on the screen in such a way that not even the dialogue seems choppy. His descriptions are fantastic and truly draw the reader in the world he has created. Clark slowly builds his world without drawing anything out longer than it needs to be. Explanations are placed accordingly and nothing seems forced or useless. The introduction of Wyatt and his life on the farm is simple and careful. He doesn’t over embellish anything and doesn’t confuse readers by giving them too much information at once. The narrative is broken up nicely between what is occurring the in the present of the story and the past of the world as well.
Without drawing anything out, Wyatt learns quite quickly that the simple life he thought he has is anything but. After his best friend leaves for military duty and Wyatt is feeling a bit bogged down by responsibility to the farm and his mother, he is thrust into the center of a typical fantasy-adventure plot. He finds a magic sword, a talking, slightly invisible cat, discovers that his lineage is not what he thought it was and that he possesses incredible power that has been hidden from him. These are necessary in Clark’s fantasy story and while they are stereotypical, nothing feels forced or overdone. After Wyatt learns that the friendly village blacksmith has a more intimate connection to him than he initially thought his entire world literally goes up in smoke and Wyatt is faced with a journey of self-discovery. This journey holds not only his future, but the future of his world in the balance as Wyatt uncovers more truths than he cares to.
The ending is slightly abrupt with a big reveal and no indication whether the story is going to continue. That aside, the book is a well done stand-alone as other questions are neatly wrapped up and answered. Clark knows his craft and has delivered a satisfying ending. Hopefully he decides to delve once more into the world of The Humming Blade and give us a final answer on the surprising plot twist he left us with. Readers who are looking for a fun adventure filled with interesting world development and exploration of the foundations of the world itself will not be disappointed with this tale.
Pages: 426 | ISBN: 1483447154
LITERARY TITAN 