By Andy Carroll
Synopsis of The Maddening
Welcome to our exclusive author interview with Carver Pike, author of The Maddening. Diablo Snuff doesn’t wait for you to come looking; it seeks you out. You should have heeded the warning. You should have received the message. Evil isn’t approaching; it’s already here, systematically erasing the world.
The Dark Phases of Diablo Snuff
Step 1: Infiltrate the sexual underbelly – Through hotels, hostels, nightclubs, and pornography, they will pilfer the seed necessary to create the future maniacs: children designed to dominate and annihilate life as we know it.
Step 2: Unleash havoc through the written word – Utilizing novels of all genres, employ the written word to drive readers to madness.
Step 3: Annihilate the rest through digital means – Via an app created by Diablo Snuff, persuade the world’s wolves to slaughter the sheep. The highest reward goes to the most creative killers.
Step 4: Eliminate EVERYONE remaining.
The Maddening is the concluding book in the Diablo Snuff series. Is this truly the end…? You’ll just have to wait and see!
The Maddening: A Finale or Prelude?
All other books in the Diablo Snuff world (A Foreign Evil, The Grindhouse, Passion & Pain, and Slaughter Box) can be read in any order. The Maddening, however, should be read after the others.
This is the culmination of your Diablo Snuff series. Could this change, and why?
Yes, I left something at the end that could still be explored. I like to think of Diablo Snuff as this malevolent entity that infiltrates all aspects of society, so you never know. It could be a year or two from now… even ten years from now, and I might present a new Diablo Snuff book because Diablo Snuff always remains out there.
The continuity between the books was outstanding. Did you have to revisit your past works to ensure their coherence in The Maddening?
Absolutely, man. This was the fifth book, and I penned the first years ago, around 2015 or 2016. I tend to forget a lot, or what I call “brain dump” when I move on to my next book. Since other books were released between the Diablo Snuff novels, I had a lot of catching up to do. I needed to consult the earlier books while writing The Maddening and took copious notes along the way. It was a substantial undertaking, which made it take a long time to write. I was apprehensive about messing it up.
The Maddening is the lengthiest installment in the series, yet its pacing doesn’t make it feel that way. Was it always your intention for The Maddening to be a more extensive novel?
No, not really. I typically anticipate my novels hitting the 70,000-word mark, which is a decent size for a novel—neither too big nor too small. But I try not to halt a story when it’s flowing. I let the narrative evolve naturally, and The Maddening just continued to grow. It became massive. I was aiming for 70k words but ended up with 130k.
Without revealing spoilers, some characters in Psalm 71 meet their demise in The Maddening. How did you decide on the book’s conclusion?
I used to write by the seat of my pants, having no idea where my stories were headed. I’ve evolved a bit and now create a skeletal outline. I structure my chapters in advance with a vague idea of what each one needs to accomplish. However, I typically can’t complete the outline because I don’t know how the book will conclude. With The Maddening, I followed the same method. I had to, particularly since it’s narrated from the perspectives of several different characters and cycles through each of them. I had to keep that all in order. That method worked for about 2/3 of the book, but for the remainder, I wasn’t certain about my plans. As for characters dying, none of it was initially planned. The story seemed to demand it when I reached that point.
Who is your favorite character in The Maddening, both as a positive character and a flawed one?
That’s a tough one. It’s like asking me to pick a favorite child! It changed with each book, but overall, I think Kong is my favorite. I grew to like him a lot while writing Slaughter Box, which is essentially his book. As for the antagonists, I kind of liked Trixie Treats in this one. She was quite twisted, and how she exacts her revenge is quite wild.
The Maddening is my favorite novel I’ve read this year. What is your favorite entry in your Diablo Snuff series?
Thank you so much, brother. That means a lot to me. Honestly, I’ve mentioned before how it’s one of my personal favorites among my books, but it’s challenging to get people to read through the first four books (which are necessary before reading The Maddening) so they can appreciate the effort that went into The Maddening. So, I suppose that answers your question. The Maddening is my favorite. Slaughter Box is probably a close second. But I can’t definitively say which one is my absolute favorite between Slaughter Box and The Grindhouse.
I loved the concept of the tower being a living entity. How did you come up with the idea and the different characters revisiting their past experiences?
Honestly, I’m not sure. When I started writing the tower chapters and the scene where Killjoy was partying in the tower, things got weird. I decided right then to depict it as a living entity. I thought, “What if… oh, that’s sick.” If you know, you know. That scene was quite intense. As for each character reliving their past experiences, I think it came about because Diablo Snuff is adept at exploiting people’s fears, and each of these characters had survived something rather sinister in the past. So, having to confront those experiences again would be terrifying. I believe it evolved naturally because that’s Diablo Snuff’s modus operandi.
How long did it take to write the entire Diablo Snuff series?
A Foreign Evil: Diablo Snuff 1 was published in 2015. The Maddening was released in 2021. So… it took about six years from start to finish.
How did you maintain the narrative and write each chapter from different characters’ perspectives without confusion?
I addressed this earlier when I discussed structuring my chapters. I cycled through the characters and designated the character’s name whose point of view the chapter would focus on next. I learned this from reading the Song of Ice and Fire books (Game of Thrones) by George R.R. Martin. His chapters are labeled with character names to indicate whose perspective you’re following as you begin reading.
For example, I set it up as Chapter 8 – Trixie Treats, Chapter 9 – Lee, Chapter 10 – Nina, Chapter 11 – Kong, Chapter 12 – Killjoy. I then repeated the cycle with Chapter 13 – Trixie Treats and so on. Under each chapter heading, I included a couple of sentences to remind me of what I needed to accomplish in that chapter.
I also divided the book into parts: Part 1 was The Scissors, Part 2 was The Novels, Part 3 was The App, and Part 4 was The Tower. Each part had to be completed before moving on to the next, helping me stay organized. I hope this explanation isn’t confusing.
What is your primary inspiration for the Diablo Snuff series, especially The Maddening?
I’m not entirely sure. Diablo Snuff began as a one-and-done book, a short story or novella intended to leave readers hanging. I had no intention of turning it into a series until I had a vivid nightmare that served as an outline for The Grindhouse: Diablo Snuff 2. Subsequently, I added Passion & Pain, Slaughter Box, and finally, The Maddening. By the time I finished book 2, I knew I wanted to create this dark and twisted world, very much like our own, with Diablo Snuff lurking behind every malevolent act.
Where can you find The Maddening?
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