July 28, 2025 • 33 mins
Carrie Harris writes novels, comics, and games set in original worlds as well as for exciting licenses including Marvel, Warhammer 40k, Miraculous Ladybug, Arkham Horror, and the World of Darkness. She's also an editor, ghostwriter, and writing teacher, and she's passionate about mental health support for creatives. Her most recent book, THE FORBIDDEN VISIONS OF LUCIUS GALLOWAY (Aconyte Books, 2024) is a slowburn horror about a gay black academic in the 1920s which challenges traditional Lovecraft tropes.
Find out more at https://carrieharrisbooks.com
Tarot Interviews credits
- Host and producer: Finbarre Snarey
- Theme music composer: Amelia Lawn
- Additional music: Nicola Snarey
- Cover art: Rein G
If you enjoy Tarot Interviews, you may also like Tarot DMs by Finbarre Snarey. a companion series where guests chat entirely by messenger apps and draw three cards to shape the conversation.
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Disclaimer:
The Tarot Interviews podcast is intended for entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not constitute professional, legal, financial, medical, or psychological advice. Listeners are encouraged to seek guidance from qualified professionals where appropriate.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Finbarre Snarey (00:19):
Tarot Interviews.
Welcome to Tarot Interviews.
Today, my guest is CarrieHarris, American author who's
been writing professionallysince 2001,.
So it's been quite the odyssey.
(00:40):
Carrie has collaborated withmajor publishers and indie
presses, producing work inuniverses such as Marvel and
Warhammer 40K, where theimperium of mankind teeters on
the brink of annihilation.
Described as a geek of alltrades, Carrie Harris once
worked as an autopsy coordinatorin a lab full of brains in jars
.
She is also the fiendishmastermind behind such titles as
(01:02):
Bad Taste in Boys and the ElderGod Dance Squad.
Carrie Harris, welcome to TarotInterviews.
Tell me it is morning, it isbreakfast time.
What did you have?
Carrie Harris (01:11):
I had a raspberry muffin and a banana.
Finbarre Snarey (01:16):
I've got a craving for raspberry muffin.
I mean, I'm currently lookingafter my children at the moment
and it was just sad crumpets forus.
But you know, as is the Englishway.
Carrie Harris (01:24):
I don't know.
I like a good crumpet.
Finbarre Snarey (01:26):
A good crumpet's good.
These ones had marmalade on,which may be some kind of
crumpet heresy.
Carrie Harris (01:30):
Yeah, I'm not going to judge your choices.
Finbarre Snarey (01:33):
You are very, very kind.
Okay, I have your cards in myhand.
Okay, we'll reveal to thelisteners that we have spoken
before.
Carrie Harris (01:42):
We have had a test run at this, but there was
a technological catastrophe,which means that we've had to
meet again and pull some morecards oh, I was just gonna say I
prefer to think of it as theuniverse wanted us to talk again
because we had so much fun thefirst time, right?
Finbarre Snarey (01:56):
thank you so much.
Right, well, you know what thedrill is.
Cards are here, off they go andtell me when to stop okay, are
here.
Off they go and tell me when tostop.
Stop, okay, boom, okay.
We're starting this episode offwith a major Arcana card, and
(02:17):
this one is the Devil.
Carrie Harris (02:20):
Real happy moment here.
Finbarre Snarey (02:22):
Oh, is it reminding you of I don't know
college years, or?
Carrie Harris (02:28):
I think I have that on an album cover somewhere
.
Finbarre Snarey (02:32):
Okay, what do you see in this card and what
jumps out at you?
Carrie Harris (02:37):
When I look at the devil card, I'm drawn less
to the devil and more to thepeople standing at his feet, and
actually I was fumbling forwords there.
But I think the real thing iswould you really want to be the
person standing at the devil'sfeet?
And my answer is no, I don'tthink I would.
Finbarre Snarey (02:55):
I was speaking to another person in a different
interview.
The person I was talking to,when they looked at the devil
card, immediately drew parallelswith the lover's card and how
it is a more twisted, a morecorrupted version of that card.
If that's your interpretation,does it seem to you like a
positive card?
Negative card?
(03:15):
What vibes do you get?
Carrie Harris (03:21):
To me it's a challenging card, um, you know
it.
It encourages you to face, andmaybe face your personal demons,
face your, your fears.
You're the devil on your ownshoulder.
I think you know that'ssomething that as a as a kid, I
would have run from.
Finbarre Snarey (03:37):
But now that I've grown up, I don't think you
can well, the um, the classicmeanings of the devil are of, of
the, should I say are oftemptation, entrapment, illusion
.
It's all very dramatic, it allsounds very X-Men.
The card exposes the hiddenchains that bind us addictions,
(03:57):
toxic relationships, limitingbeliefs, material obsessions.
So it's not about darkness orLucifer, beelzebub or insert
name.
It's about awareness and it'show we surrender to our own
power sometimes, and sometimeswe convince ourselves that
freedom's out of reach.
So my question to you is whatchallenges have you faced in
(04:20):
confronting societal taboosthrough your work?
Carrie Harris (04:23):
Ooh, that's an excellent one.
So you know, as a writer,especially as somebody, mostly I
write for licenses.
These are properties thatalready fit.
I've written for Marvel, I'vewritten for Warhammer we were
just talking about, I write forMiraculous, ladybug, Arkham
Horror and so on and so forth.
But the reality is that theseare established worlds with
(04:47):
established characters and theyalready have something that they
are saying, and sometimes it'seasy.
I wrote for X-Men and that wasone of my dream jobs, because
what I love about the X-Men iswhat they say about society.
But you also run into issuesthat what you want to say is not
(05:10):
necessarily what the licensorwants to say, that there's this
balancing act between thecreator and the property.
And then there's the questionof you know, how much of
yourself are you willing to putout there?
And I think, more than anything, that's what the devil card
(05:31):
represents to me is that fear ofputting yourself out there,
that fear of exposing yourselfby addressing the things that
mean the most to you.
Especially depending on theclimate that you're in, that
becomes easier or harder For meaddressing that devil.
It's all about bravery andtaking that leap of faith to say
(05:55):
something that you really wantto say about the world.
Lucius Galloway is a gay man.
That's my most recent book.
There are some political andsocial issues that some people
have and for me it was an act ofbravery, maybe to put that on
the page and just show these twopeople in love and let that be
(06:19):
enough.
And people can decide what theywant to decide, but this is the
reality.
Finbarre Snarey (06:24):
Absolutely.
When I go to write poetry whichI never publish, it never goes
anywhere.
It kind of it stays very closeto my chest.
When I put that out into theworld, on the few occasions that
I have, I feel like somebody'sbasically peering into my soul.
I am utterly transparent.
I'm a man made of glass, but asa writer that's produced as
(06:46):
much as you have, there must bethat sense of vulnerability, of
people being able to kind ofjudge, you assess, you wonder
where that particular storylinescome from and speculate so much
about your inner world and yourlife.
I'm curious to know how do youever feel the need to answer to
that, or do you just let peoplemake their own decisions and
(07:07):
conclusions?
Carrie Harris (07:08):
I mean, I did when I was younger and I feel
the same way that you do.
I call it bleeding on the page.
My best work has come when Ibleed on the page.
You know, as a young writer, Iwas very concerned with that,
with what other people think WasI too vulnerable?
(07:29):
Was I getting in the way of thework.
But I don't think you can Well.
I mean, yes, you can.
It is possible to prioritizeyourself over the story.
You know what I want to say asopposed to what will make a good
story.
But otherwise, I think allowingyourself to feel things and to
(07:49):
write about the things that youfeel, regardless of what other
people think of them, is whereart comes from I'm thinking that
two of the worlds that I knowthat you've written for are, at
their core, designed totransgress societal norms.
Finbarre Snarey (08:06):
So I mean, say, for example, the x-men.
They are a hot mess ofdysfunction.
There are so many stratas ofstratas, strata let's go with
strata of society that theycould represent, whether
they're're LGBTQ+, we're talkingabout people from different
faiths, religions, cultures, youname it.
(08:28):
It's the other, and writingwithin that environment must be
so freeing, but you must have torein yourself in a little
sometimes.
I can imagine.
Carrie Harris (08:37):
Yes, actually, my first X-Men book.
I thought, oh, this is mychance.
Yes, actually my first X-Menbook.
I thought, oh, this is mychance.
And I wrote a scene that wasyou know, I talked to people, I
got my sensitivity readers outand I really, really worked on
this scene and I turned it inand they said this is great, but
if you want to write this,we've got to run it up the chain
(08:59):
.
You have said some things, sothere definitely is a balancing
act between those two things andand you know you find that
impeccable balance, I think, butsometimes it takes a few, uh, a
few rounds of edits to get youthere and I have to say,
especially with the warhammeruniverse as well, because we
(09:20):
have a warhammer world here innottingham and I occasionally go
down with the kids and they'lldo that.
Finbarre Snarey (09:26):
Sorry, warhammer, I'm about to tell you
something.
My children will come andthey'll paint the free little
miniature that you offer andthey'll have a great time.
And then they'll walk around,look at the miniatures that you
have on offer and then they willgo back to the desk where you
paint a free miniature indisguise.
They'll often swap coats or puton a different voice or just
(09:50):
try and have another go.
No, but what I'm saying aboutwarhammer is and you have this
kind of this, this chaos, thesedark entities, these beings that
are supposed to be evil, but alot of them dress like some of
my friends from london and theyseem extraordinarily queer.
I am 100% rooting for thoseguys and not for the fascistic,
(10:15):
you know, military roman empirein space that worships a I think
it's.
It's a dead emperor.
I don't know, there's probablyspoilers in there, but um, you,
you have to pick a side withthat one.
That was the first time thatI'd seen people dress up like
circus performers and, you know,it catapulted me off into such
(10:38):
wonderful worlds and all of thatwas stuff that I felt as a 14,
15, 16 year old that maybe Ishouldn't be looking at, but I'm
very glad I did yeah, I mean Ithink you know the thing about
warhammer and really the thingabout a lot of these properties
is they give you a safe place toexplore those questions.
Carrie Harris (10:58):
I remember maybe this is off topic and if it is
you can cut it out but Iremember as a kid my next door
neighbor was a huge um star trekfan and he was also a raging
racist.
And I was young, I didn't knowlike I, I didn't understand what
was going on, I just knew thewords that he was saying were
(11:19):
bad I'm pulling faces at thecamera right now because I
cannot square that circle.
Finbarre Snarey (11:24):
I can't square Star Trek fan with racist, sorry
, continue.
Carrie Harris (11:28):
Exactly, and it wasn't until I was older where I
realized those two things donot jive.
But he used to talk and talkand talk about how he wished the
world was like the Federation.
It's stuck with me ever sincethat that's a way in the way to
talk to people about thosethings that are maybe a little
(11:49):
bit too close in the real world.
But maybe if that guy lovedstar trek, maybe he was a racist
until his dying day, or maybeat some point he realized that
star trek was the better choice,big reason I do what I do I
miss that optimism of what thefuture can be like, and that
(12:14):
hasn't gone away in star trek.
Finbarre Snarey (12:15):
It's still there at its very core, and
that's why I love the,especially, you know, the
strange new worlds episodes andthe kind, even the new ones that
are coming out now.
I adore them because they'vemanaged to hang on to that spark
.
Carrie Harris (12:25):
Yeah, yeah, and I think you know it's really
funny to be talking about StarTrek and Warhammer kind of in
the same conversation, becausein some ways they're.
You know, here's the idealizedversion and, yes, star Trek has
this moment but slightly moreidealized vision of what the
future could be, versus here'swhat happens when a lot of
(12:48):
things go wrong.
Finbarre Snarey (12:51):
Absolutely, but , but I think you need both yeah
, you know, when times have beengood in my life, I've liked a
bit of dystopia and I flirtedwith the kind of the zombie
genre and I've, you know,watched Train to Busan and gone,
oh, isn't this great?
And then when you're sat on atrain that breaks down, you
think, is this the zombies?
The zombie genre for me issomething that was something
(13:14):
that was safely enjoyed when itfelt like the world was better.
And now my go-to is optimisticsci-fi.
If it's got a musical episode,all the better.
Carrie Harris (13:25):
Yeah, Hope Punk has its draws and I definitely
find myself gravitating towardthat sort of thing, but I also
there's a certain amount ofprepper in me that loves the
idea of a zombie book, becauseit's a safe, easy way to think
about what you would do if theworld went kaput.
(13:49):
What would you do?
Finbarre Snarey (13:51):
and it's way easier to think about when there
are zombies involved I'm one ofthose people where, as soon as
you mention preparation plans,I've got my hand.
Okay, me, me, me.
I've got an idea.
The one that makes people kindof raise an eyebrow a little is
I quite like the idea of havinga zombie chariot.
Okay, bear with me.
So what you do is get yourselfa cherry picker, yeah, and you
raise it, you basically, off thefront of the cherry picker, you
(14:12):
have, I don't know, maybe a bigsucculent ham or whatever food
you can scavenge, basically, andwe'll sew up a load of zombies.
That's probably easier saidthan done.
Rodeo style.
Attach them to the front of thecherry picker and off you go.
You can just trundle throughthe wasteland on your cherry
picker like the equivalent ofBoudicca in style.
There you go.
Carrie Harris (14:33):
You know, what's funny is my son for a while
drove some of those heavymachinery for a job and we have
had the exact same conversation,but without the ham.
Finbarre Snarey (14:46):
I mean, I'm not sure if a vegan alternative
would work, but okay, give it ago.
Carrie Harris (14:52):
I think we assumed that we would be the ham
.
Finbarre Snarey (14:55):
Ah, yeah, yeah.
Carrie Harris (14:58):
Depending on how sensitive they are smell-wise,
you may or may not need yourhand.
Finbarre Snarey (15:03):
Cut it before things get too silly.
Okay, all right, let me givethose a little shuffle.
Carrie Harris (15:08):
Stop.
Finbarre Snarey (15:15):
The artwork on this particular piece of the
Seven of Cups.
Carrie Harris (15:19):
I always get cups .
Always had to double check itwas the Seven of Cups.
I always get cups.
Finbarre Snarey (15:21):
Always had to double check.
It was the Seven of Cups.
Indeed, it is On a playlist Iput together recently of the
Major Arcana and the MinorArcana on Spotify, which you
should be able to find if youtype in tarotinterviewscom
forward slash cups, it'll takeyou straight to that playlist,
and this particular song, for me, reminds me of losing the sky
(15:42):
with diamonds, and that's theone that I've attributed to this
card.
That's the vibe that I get whenyou see this.
What jumps out at you?
What strange objects floatingin the sky.
Do you see?
How does the card feel?
Carrie Harris (15:54):
yeah, and now that you've said that, I'm not
sure I'm ever going to see itdifferently, but the thing that
jumps out at me is the contentsof the cups.
There's so many differentthings in those various cups.
There's a head, there's alaurel wreath, there's a
floating red thing.
(16:14):
I don't know.
I'm blind.
I can't see what that is.
Do?
Finbarre Snarey (16:18):
you know what?
I'm not entirely sure, I wouldconsider that to be a magical
shroud, but it could be anything.
I'm willing to go with that.
Oh, it could be Inky, binky orClyde from Pac-Man.
Carrie Harris (16:31):
Well, you know, I am inspired by video games, so
it could be.
Finbarre Snarey (16:36):
Sorry, I'm derailing you.
What else do you see?
Carrie Harris (16:38):
Yeah, so I mean.
And the other question iswhat's this person who's
standing there looking up atthis cloud full of cups, is he?
I'm not entirely sure what thatposture is.
Is it reaching for them?
Is it pushing them away?
I don't really know what thatis.
Finbarre Snarey (16:57):
Now, this is why I love hearing people's
interpretations, because that'sa detail I've never noticed and
now that will stay with me.
So every time I see this card,I'll be wondering what the
intention of that person is.
I'd always consider it toalmost be like a kind of Harry
Houdini style showman who isgesturing to this magnificent
display.
But you're right, it could besomebody who is haunted like
(17:19):
something from Edgar Allan Poeand has seen this thing so many
times that it's starting todrive them insane.
Hmm, I've not said that.
Seven of Cups, the card ofillusions, dreams, fantastical
or dangerous possibilities.
It's a card of wonderment, as Isay, that kind of that Houdini
performance style magnificenceto it.
(17:40):
Temptation, temptation.
We had the devil before,didn't't we wishful thinking as
well?
There may be paths ahead.
Some of them are probably notparticularly wise, and the seven
of cups challenges you to sorttruth from illusion, move from
dreaming to being discerning.
So the challenge is clarity.
(18:01):
Okay.
So question Kerry Harris, howdo you navigate the multitude of
ideas that you must have on anygiven day?
Carrie Harris (18:11):
I think there's a real balance between you know,
you've got the creative mindthat has the 70 million ideas
and everyone is new and sparklyand it feels so good and you're
so excited about it.
And then there's also the factthat you know this is my job,
this is my full-time job.
(18:32):
I make things up for a living,which is really crazy when you
think about it.
I think you know, in the pastI've I've gone really far into
the letting the creative mindtake the reins and write
whatever I want, and the marketbe damned and it will find a
home where it won't andsometimes it did and sometimes
(18:55):
it did not.
And that I've also tried, youknow, because I've been doing
this for 20 some years.
You know I've also tried justwriting to the market.
What do people want?
I'm going to give it to them,and I think there's an
impeccable balance between thetwo.
I do this because I love it.
So if I only write to themarket, yes, I'd make money, but
(19:19):
I'm not making my health happy,I'm not saying the things that
I want to say and arguably I'mnot making art.
I'm making a product.
I'm inserting tab a into slot bbecause that's what they're
telling you to do, and so, again, I think we're kind of going
back to that fear, or or need toput some of yourself into the
(19:42):
work in order to make somethingthat's meaningful, and so that's
what this card is about to meis the struggle between
balancing those two things.
And if you want to do this, youdo need to be aware of the
market.
You know any creative endeavor.
You need to be aware of whatpeople are buying, but you also
(20:04):
can't stand to lose touch withthe thing that made you love it
in the first place.
Finbarre Snarey (20:08):
I imagine as well, there's a balance to be
struck when, say, for example,you're wildly inspired by this
wonderful idea that you have andyou're scribbling away on bits
of paper as the ideas come toyou and you're caught in that
creative process.
I imagine there's a need tobalance that with doing things
outside of that that you woulddraw ideas from, and I imagine
(20:29):
there's a need to balance thatwith doing things outside of
that that you would draw ideasfrom.
And I imagine when you're soburied into a project, you're
kind of missing some of theinspiration, some of those
little kind of those motes ofwonderfulness that you would get
from a gallery, going through apark, meeting up with old
friends or even looking throughold diaries.
Those inspirations are somehowmissed.
(20:51):
So how do you balance up thosetwo?
Carrie Harris (20:55):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, and one of the
things that I've been doing inthe past few years is actually
building time into my scheduleto refill the well.
So there are times when Ideliberately do not draft, I'm
not writing anything, and I willdo that just so I can cram as
(21:15):
much things as possible into mybrain hole.
I watch, I watch shows, I goplaces, I see things, I enjoy
art, I spend time outside andtalk to actual, real people.
You know I read and read andread and read and catch up on as
much as I can, and then I'mrefreshed and ready to go back.
Finbarre Snarey (21:37):
Excellent.
I need to go off on a tangent,because I did read that once
upon a time you mentioned brainhole, and that word brain had me
thinking oh yes, that was thatthing I was going to ask you Is
it true that once upon a timeyou would have been working in a
lab surrounded by brains injars?
And please say it is Excellent?
Carrie Harris (21:57):
Yeah, you know, out of college I always wanted
to be a writer, but they told meto get a real job and I didn't
know anyone who was a writer.
It seemed like a unicorn kindof job that didn't exist.
So I got real jobs and one ofthem was I managed the National
Center for Research in the HumanForm of Mad Cow Disease, and so
(22:18):
I watched aha feeds and therewere brains in jars and they
delivered brains to me via FedExand sometimes they would
misdeliver them, so you would godown the hall looking for your
missing brains and I've madeevery joke it is possible to
make about that.
Finbarre Snarey (22:36):
Are they in jars with bubbles and is there
like a, I don't know, like aplaque on the bottom or anything
like that at all.
Carrie Harris (22:43):
I wish there's like plastic containers with
stickers on them, so slightlyless enjoy and it's like
exciting, but still I thought itwas really cool.
Finbarre Snarey (22:54):
Okay, Card three.
Here we go.
Stop, we have the Wheel ofFortune.
Now it's quite a weird lookingcard.
I mean many of theRider-Waite-Smith cards are.
They're so artistically dense,rich and wonderful.
(23:16):
This one's just straight uppeculiar.
What can you see here?
Carrie Harris (23:21):
Well, there's a strange compass, sextant
something, but I don't know whatthe directions are.
All the creatures around it.
Some of them are fantasycreatures.
We've got the serpent.
We've got the devil-y lookingguy At the bottom, a pegasus
(23:42):
maybe.
Or there's a bird.
I'm not entirely sure if any ofthose creatures are real or if
they're all fantasies.
Finbarre Snarey (23:51):
They're maybe a sphinx yeah, I I think um
pamela coleman smith.
Old pixie really likes sphinxes.
Either that or it was the guywho's paying her.
Carrie Harris (24:00):
I'm not entirely sure which well, and then you've
got the serpent.
But you could say that's a realworld serpent, or is it, you
know, in tandem with the devil?
Maybe it's a reference to the,you know, the, the serpent in
the garden of eden, and all thatstuff, and it's a magic serpent
.
Finbarre Snarey (24:17):
I don't know okay, I mean we had the devil
card and then we had a kind ofillusion and temptations and,
yeah, still got that snake there.
That's very interesting, okay,this particular card it spins
with mystery, fate.
Momentum represents ups anddowns and twists of destiny and
(24:38):
moments beyond our control.
And when the card turns up,it's saying that something's
shifting, luck is changing,returning that life is at that
turning point and it tells usthat nothing stays still for
long.
So, okay, trust in the process,even though it feels chaotic.
That's what the card is saying.
(24:59):
My question is how do youperceive the role of chance and
choice in shaping your creativejourney?
Carrie Harris (25:10):
I mean early on, there's a certain you know
you're just desperate to get in.
You're just desperate to meetthe person who will read or
listen or give you a chance, orgive you a chance.
I think.
At some point I think you feelobligated to say yes to anything
(25:32):
you can get Because you'redesperate.
This is what you know you aremeant to do, this is what you
really have wanted all of yourlife.
So you say yes to anything youcan do and I think you've got to
a point where you have to startlike you can do that your
(25:52):
entire career and probably bequite successful at it.
But will you be happy?
And I think that's where thechoice comes in is to say what
do I want to do?
What is my heart drawing me to,or your muse or your, whatever
you want to call it.
You know that ultimately youare in this career whatever
(26:14):
creative career it is becauseyou have something you want to
say.
You have a picture of the worldthat you want to share.
You have questions or pain orhappiness or whatever it is that
is uniquely yours and thatother people are going to to see
and feel and respond to.
Finbarre Snarey (26:35):
And if you don't choose, that's never going
to come out have you ever doneanything like a short story or
something longer, a, a novelmaybe, where you felt not only
drawn to do it but fated to doit, or destined, should I say,
depending on how good it is?
Carrie Harris (26:52):
I have two, so one of them is out.
Witch is Unleashed, which is aghostwriter novel, and it
doesn't seem like the sort ofthing that would be particularly
Like.
It's a guy who turns into askeleton and rides a motorcycle.
This is not emotional, but thebook is about found family, the
(27:13):
whole thing.
It's about family trauma.
Every single character in thatbook, they all come from Marvel
and I deliberately pick everysingle one of them because they
have family trauma.
Every single one of them.
Because they have family trauma.
They come together and theyeach get something they need out
of the bond that they create.
(27:33):
It's all about coming to termswith those things that happened
in your past that you cannotchange because you have messed
up.
Finbarre Snarey (27:41):
I'm one of these people who, when I've been
asked you know who's yourfavorite Marvel character or
which stories do you like orwhich comics have you read, I
thought I was reasonablyknowledgeable because, yeah, I
help my kids play the LegoMarvel game and I thought I had
a grip on some of the charactersbased on nothing.
And I realized there are somany characters I know nothing
(28:04):
about.
It is, the world is immense, socould you tell me which
characters appear in WitchesUnleashed?
well, there's ghost riderobviously was he played by
nicholas cage in the filmrelease yep, yeah, yep, same one
um, and, but he it's later,he's.
Carrie Harris (28:25):
He's lost his wife, he's lost his children,
he's dealing with that.
And then there are threecharacters that were from um, a
short-lived comic called theWitches.
And it's Satana who is asuccubus.
Her dad is the devil going backto the devil.
Yeah, she has some feelingsabout that.
(28:47):
Topaz is a powerful witch.
She was kidnapped.
She doesn't know who her familyis, and Jennifer is well.
She killed her brother becausehe was evil.
She had kidnapped.
She doesn't know who her familyis, and Jennifer is well.
She killed her brother becausehe was evil.
She had to.
Finbarre Snarey (29:01):
I mean, I'm sure that anyone that is lucky
enough to have a brother wouldprobably think they're evil at
some point.
Okay, no.
Carrie Harris (29:10):
So the Kale family, they are the keepers of
this magic book and the bookpossessed him and it was very
dramatic, but she's dealing with.
You know, this is what I did,and now how do I go on?
So there's that one, and thenI'm working on one now as a
fill-in.
That is my book.
(29:33):
It's called Supermom is NotOkay, and she is my book.
It's called Supermom Is NotOkay, and she is a superhero and
she has hit rock bottom.
And what do you do when you'rea superhero and you don't want
to live anymore but you can'tdie?
Finbarre Snarey (29:49):
Are her kids superpowered as well?
Carrie Harris (29:51):
Nope, which makes it worse, doesn't it?
I mean?
Finbarre Snarey (29:56):
Does she have any job or role outside of
Homemaker, or is this her world?
Carrie Harris (30:02):
Yep.
This is all she has.
Finbarre Snarey (30:04):
Okay, could I ask what powers she has?
Carrie Harris (30:07):
Well, she's kind of a generic superhero.
She's super strong, she's superfast, she can fly.
Yes, she fights things.
That's what she does.
Finbarre Snarey (30:22):
She saves people who jump off buildings
and then thinks about how muchof a privilege it would be to be
able to jump At.
What stage are you up to withthat story?
Is it now finished?
Carrie Harris (30:27):
I have scribbled with it, but this is my fill in
from the heart.
So, in between paying jobs, Inoodle with this.
We'll see.
Maybe it'll never come out, Idon't know, but it's the sort of
thing that I feel I'd love todo more of it.
Finbarre Snarey (30:44):
Is there anyone in particular that you picture
as the main character in thisstory?
Would it be yourself, membersof your family, people that
you've met previously, or is shejust somebody completely new?
That's kind of risen unbiddenand needed to have her story
told.
Carrie Harris (31:01):
Yeah, you know, I really don't picture other
people because I have to doreally awful things to my
characters and I feel guilty.
So the only real people that Iever put in my stories are
teachers that I had in highschool, because they just show
up and they give you homeworkand then they leave, which is
pretty accurate.
So if I need a teacher, I willoften name it after somebody
(31:24):
that I actually had.
Those are really the only realpeople.
I did steal a friend's shirtand his hair for a character who
is really cool, because it wasthe coolest person I could think
of, so I made him look likethat guy.
Yeah, that's it I feel sorry forthese poor teachers who are
literally thrown to zombies orwerewolves or whatever fates you
(31:48):
gave them well, generallyspeaking, if, if I'm gonna do
something awful to them, I makeup a teacher, but yes, otherwise
they're just mean and they getmore.
Finbarre Snarey (31:58):
Right?
Well, looking at the clock,we're almost out of time, so I
need to ask what are you doingwith the rest of today?
Carrie Harris (32:03):
I'm going to run some errands.
I might work on some writing,but we're going to see.
I just turned a bunch of stuffin yesterday, so maybe today
should be filling the well,absolutely, find something to
read or watch and take a breath.
Finbarre Snarey (32:19):
I love the sound of that.
I think for me that's going tobe in a hammock stretched
between two trees.
Carrie Harris, thank you somuch for appearing on Tarot
Interviews.
Again it's been an absolutepleasure, as always.
Carrie Harris (32:30):
Well, thank you for having me.
If this recording goes sideways, I'd love to come back again.
Finbarre Snarey (32:36):
And that wraps up our conversation with the
brilliant Carrie Harris.
Be sure to check out Carrie'swebsite: carrieharrisbooks.
com and if you enjoyed today'sepisode, don't forget to follow
us on Spotify or Apple Podcastsor Audible or wherever you
listen to us, so you never missan episode.
Until next time, keep creatingand sharing your stories.
Thanks for tuning in and we'llsee you in the next episode.
Until next time, keep creatingand sharing your stories.
(32:56):
Thanks for tuning in and we'llsee you in the next episode.
Tarot Interviews.
Welcome to Tarot Interviews.
Today, my guest is CarrieHarris, American author who's
been writing professionallysince 2001,.
So it's been quite the odyssey.
(00:40):
Carrie has collaborated withmajor publishers and indie
presses, producing work inuniverses such as Marvel and
Warhammer 40K, where theimperium of mankind teeters on
the brink of annihilation.
Described as a geek of alltrades, Carrie Harris once
worked as an autopsy coordinatorin a lab full of brains in jars
.
She is also the fiendishmastermind behind such titles as
(01:02):
Bad Taste in Boys and the ElderGod Dance Squad.
Carrie Harris, welcome to TarotInterviews.
Tell me it is morning, it isbreakfast time.
What did you have?
Carrie Harris (01:11):
I had a raspberry muffin and a banana.
Finbarre Snarey (01:16):
I've got a craving for raspberry muffin.
I mean, I'm currently lookingafter my children at the moment
and it was just sad crumpets forus.
But you know, as is the Englishway.
Carrie Harris (01:24):
I don't know.
I like a good crumpet.
Finbarre Snarey (01:26):
A good crumpet's good.
These ones had marmalade on,which may be some kind of
crumpet heresy.
Carrie Harris (01:30):
Yeah, I'm not going to judge your choices.
Finbarre Snarey (01:33):
You are very, very kind.
Okay, I have your cards in myhand.
Okay, we'll reveal to thelisteners that we have spoken
before.
Carrie Harris (01:42):
We have had a test run at this, but there was
a technological catastrophe,which means that we've had to
meet again and pull some morecards oh, I was just gonna say I
prefer to think of it as theuniverse wanted us to talk again
because we had so much fun thefirst time, right?
Finbarre Snarey (01:56):
thank you so much.
Right, well, you know what thedrill is.
Cards are here, off they go andtell me when to stop okay, are
here.
Off they go and tell me when tostop.
Stop, okay, boom, okay.
We're starting this episode offwith a major Arcana card, and
(02:17):
this one is the Devil.
Carrie Harris (02:20):
Real happy moment here.
Finbarre Snarey (02:22):
Oh, is it reminding you of I don't know
college years, or?
Carrie Harris (02:28):
I think I have that on an album cover somewhere
.
Finbarre Snarey (02:32):
Okay, what do you see in this card and what
jumps out at you?
Carrie Harris (02:37):
When I look at the devil card, I'm drawn less
to the devil and more to thepeople standing at his feet, and
actually I was fumbling forwords there.
But I think the real thing iswould you really want to be the
person standing at the devil'sfeet?
And my answer is no, I don'tthink I would.
Finbarre Snarey (02:55):
I was speaking to another person in a different
interview.
The person I was talking to,when they looked at the devil
card, immediately drew parallelswith the lover's card and how
it is a more twisted, a morecorrupted version of that card.
If that's your interpretation,does it seem to you like a
positive card?
Negative card?
(03:15):
What vibes do you get?
Carrie Harris (03:21):
To me it's a challenging card, um, you know
it.
It encourages you to face, andmaybe face your personal demons,
face your, your fears.
You're the devil on your ownshoulder.
I think you know that'ssomething that as a as a kid, I
would have run from.
Finbarre Snarey (03:37):
But now that I've grown up, I don't think you
can well, the um, the classicmeanings of the devil are of, of
the, should I say are oftemptation, entrapment, illusion
.
It's all very dramatic, it allsounds very X-Men.
The card exposes the hiddenchains that bind us addictions,
(03:57):
toxic relationships, limitingbeliefs, material obsessions.
So it's not about darkness orLucifer, beelzebub or insert
name.
It's about awareness and it'show we surrender to our own
power sometimes, and sometimeswe convince ourselves that
freedom's out of reach.
So my question to you is whatchallenges have you faced in
(04:20):
confronting societal taboosthrough your work?
Carrie Harris (04:23):
Ooh, that's an excellent one.
So you know, as a writer,especially as somebody, mostly I
write for licenses.
These are properties thatalready fit.
I've written for Marvel, I'vewritten for Warhammer we were
just talking about, I write forMiraculous, ladybug, Arkham
Horror and so on and so forth.
But the reality is that theseare established worlds with
(04:47):
established characters and theyalready have something that they
are saying, and sometimes it'seasy.
I wrote for X-Men and that wasone of my dream jobs, because
what I love about the X-Men iswhat they say about society.
But you also run into issuesthat what you want to say is not
(05:10):
necessarily what the licensorwants to say, that there's this
balancing act between thecreator and the property.
And then there's the questionof you know, how much of
yourself are you willing to putout there?
And I think, more than anything, that's what the devil card
(05:31):
represents to me is that fear ofputting yourself out there,
that fear of exposing yourselfby addressing the things that
mean the most to you.
Especially depending on theclimate that you're in, that
becomes easier or harder For meaddressing that devil.
It's all about bravery andtaking that leap of faith to say
(05:55):
something that you really wantto say about the world.
Lucius Galloway is a gay man.
That's my most recent book.
There are some political andsocial issues that some people
have and for me it was an act ofbravery, maybe to put that on
the page and just show these twopeople in love and let that be
(06:19):
enough.
And people can decide what theywant to decide, but this is the
reality.
Finbarre Snarey (06:24):
Absolutely.
When I go to write poetry whichI never publish, it never goes
anywhere.
It kind of it stays very closeto my chest.
When I put that out into theworld, on the few occasions that
I have, I feel like somebody'sbasically peering into my soul.
I am utterly transparent.
I'm a man made of glass, but asa writer that's produced as
(06:46):
much as you have, there must bethat sense of vulnerability, of
people being able to kind ofjudge, you assess, you wonder
where that particular storylinescome from and speculate so much
about your inner world and yourlife.
I'm curious to know how do youever feel the need to answer to
that, or do you just let peoplemake their own decisions and
(07:07):
conclusions?
Carrie Harris (07:08):
I mean, I did when I was younger and I feel
the same way that you do.
I call it bleeding on the page.
My best work has come when Ibleed on the page.
You know, as a young writer, Iwas very concerned with that,
with what other people think WasI too vulnerable?
(07:29):
Was I getting in the way of thework.
But I don't think you can Well.
I mean, yes, you can.
It is possible to prioritizeyourself over the story.
You know what I want to say asopposed to what will make a good
story.
But otherwise, I think allowingyourself to feel things and to
(07:49):
write about the things that youfeel, regardless of what other
people think of them, is whereart comes from I'm thinking that
two of the worlds that I knowthat you've written for are, at
their core, designed totransgress societal norms.
Finbarre Snarey (08:06):
So I mean, say, for example, the x-men.
They are a hot mess ofdysfunction.
There are so many stratas ofstratas, strata let's go with
strata of society that theycould represent, whether
they're're LGBTQ+, we're talkingabout people from different
faiths, religions, cultures, youname it.
(08:28):
It's the other, and writingwithin that environment must be
so freeing, but you must have torein yourself in a little
sometimes.
I can imagine.
Carrie Harris (08:37):
Yes, actually, my first X-Men book.
I thought, oh, this is mychance.
Yes, actually my first X-Menbook.
I thought, oh, this is mychance.
And I wrote a scene that wasyou know, I talked to people, I
got my sensitivity readers outand I really, really worked on
this scene and I turned it inand they said this is great, but
if you want to write this,we've got to run it up the chain
(08:59):
.
You have said some things, sothere definitely is a balancing
act between those two things andand you know you find that
impeccable balance, I think, butsometimes it takes a few, uh, a
few rounds of edits to get youthere and I have to say,
especially with the warhammeruniverse as well, because we
(09:20):
have a warhammer world here innottingham and I occasionally go
down with the kids and they'lldo that.
Finbarre Snarey (09:26):
Sorry, warhammer, I'm about to tell you
something.
My children will come andthey'll paint the free little
miniature that you offer andthey'll have a great time.
And then they'll walk around,look at the miniatures that you
have on offer and then they willgo back to the desk where you
paint a free miniature indisguise.
They'll often swap coats or puton a different voice or just
(09:50):
try and have another go.
No, but what I'm saying aboutwarhammer is and you have this
kind of this, this chaos, thesedark entities, these beings that
are supposed to be evil, but alot of them dress like some of
my friends from london and theyseem extraordinarily queer.
I am 100% rooting for thoseguys and not for the fascistic,
(10:15):
you know, military roman empirein space that worships a I think
it's.
It's a dead emperor.
I don't know, there's probablyspoilers in there, but um, you,
you have to pick a side withthat one.
That was the first time thatI'd seen people dress up like
circus performers and, you know,it catapulted me off into such
(10:38):
wonderful worlds and all of thatwas stuff that I felt as a 14,
15, 16 year old that maybe Ishouldn't be looking at, but I'm
very glad I did yeah, I mean Ithink you know the thing about
warhammer and really the thingabout a lot of these properties
is they give you a safe place toexplore those questions.
Carrie Harris (10:58):
I remember maybe this is off topic and if it is
you can cut it out but Iremember as a kid my next door
neighbor was a huge um star trekfan and he was also a raging
racist.
And I was young, I didn't knowlike I, I didn't understand what
was going on, I just knew thewords that he was saying were
(11:19):
bad I'm pulling faces at thecamera right now because I
cannot square that circle.
Finbarre Snarey (11:24):
I can't square Star Trek fan with racist, sorry
, continue.
Carrie Harris (11:28):
Exactly, and it wasn't until I was older where I
realized those two things donot jive.
But he used to talk and talkand talk about how he wished the
world was like the Federation.
It's stuck with me ever sincethat that's a way in the way to
talk to people about thosethings that are maybe a little
(11:49):
bit too close in the real world.
But maybe if that guy lovedstar trek, maybe he was a racist
until his dying day, or maybeat some point he realized that
star trek was the better choice,big reason I do what I do I
miss that optimism of what thefuture can be like, and that
(12:14):
hasn't gone away in star trek.
Finbarre Snarey (12:15):
It's still there at its very core, and
that's why I love the,especially, you know, the
strange new worlds episodes andthe kind, even the new ones that
are coming out now.
I adore them because they'vemanaged to hang on to that spark
.
Carrie Harris (12:25):
Yeah, yeah, and I think you know it's really
funny to be talking about StarTrek and Warhammer kind of in
the same conversation, becausein some ways they're.
You know, here's the idealizedversion and, yes, star Trek has
this moment but slightly moreidealized vision of what the
future could be, versus here'swhat happens when a lot of
(12:48):
things go wrong.
Finbarre Snarey (12:51):
Absolutely, but , but I think you need both yeah
, you know, when times have beengood in my life, I've liked a
bit of dystopia and I flirtedwith the kind of the zombie
genre and I've, you know,watched Train to Busan and gone,
oh, isn't this great?
And then when you're sat on atrain that breaks down, you
think, is this the zombies?
The zombie genre for me issomething that was something
(13:14):
that was safely enjoyed when itfelt like the world was better.
And now my go-to is optimisticsci-fi.
If it's got a musical episode,all the better.
Carrie Harris (13:25):
Yeah, Hope Punk has its draws and I definitely
find myself gravitating towardthat sort of thing, but I also
there's a certain amount ofprepper in me that loves the
idea of a zombie book, becauseit's a safe, easy way to think
about what you would do if theworld went kaput.
(13:49):
What would you do?
Finbarre Snarey (13:51):
and it's way easier to think about when there
are zombies involved I'm one ofthose people where, as soon as
you mention preparation plans,I've got my hand.
Okay, me, me, me.
I've got an idea.
The one that makes people kindof raise an eyebrow a little is
I quite like the idea of havinga zombie chariot.
Okay, bear with me.
So what you do is get yourselfa cherry picker, yeah, and you
raise it, you basically, off thefront of the cherry picker, you
(14:12):
have, I don't know, maybe a bigsucculent ham or whatever food
you can scavenge, basically, andwe'll sew up a load of zombies.
That's probably easier saidthan done.
Rodeo style.
Attach them to the front of thecherry picker and off you go.
You can just trundle throughthe wasteland on your cherry
picker like the equivalent ofBoudicca in style.
There you go.
Carrie Harris (14:33):
You know, what's funny is my son for a while
drove some of those heavymachinery for a job and we have
had the exact same conversation,but without the ham.
Finbarre Snarey (14:46):
I mean, I'm not sure if a vegan alternative
would work, but okay, give it ago.
Carrie Harris (14:52):
I think we assumed that we would be the ham
.
Finbarre Snarey (14:55):
Ah, yeah, yeah.
Carrie Harris (14:58):
Depending on how sensitive they are smell-wise,
you may or may not need yourhand.
Finbarre Snarey (15:03):
Cut it before things get too silly.
Okay, all right, let me givethose a little shuffle.
Carrie Harris (15:08):
Stop.
Finbarre Snarey (15:15):
The artwork on this particular piece of the
Seven of Cups.
Carrie Harris (15:19):
I always get cups .
Always had to double check itwas the Seven of Cups.
I always get cups.
Finbarre Snarey (15:21):
Always had to double check.
It was the Seven of Cups.
Indeed, it is On a playlist Iput together recently of the
Major Arcana and the MinorArcana on Spotify, which you
should be able to find if youtype in tarotinterviewscom
forward slash cups, it'll takeyou straight to that playlist,
and this particular song, for me, reminds me of losing the sky
(15:42):
with diamonds, and that's theone that I've attributed to this
card.
That's the vibe that I get whenyou see this.
What jumps out at you?
What strange objects floatingin the sky.
Do you see?
How does the card feel?
Carrie Harris (15:54):
yeah, and now that you've said that, I'm not
sure I'm ever going to see itdifferently, but the thing that
jumps out at me is the contentsof the cups.
There's so many differentthings in those various cups.
There's a head, there's alaurel wreath, there's a
floating red thing.
(16:14):
I don't know.
I'm blind.
I can't see what that is.
Do?
Finbarre Snarey (16:18):
you know what?
I'm not entirely sure, I wouldconsider that to be a magical
shroud, but it could be anything.
I'm willing to go with that.
Oh, it could be Inky, binky orClyde from Pac-Man.
Carrie Harris (16:31):
Well, you know, I am inspired by video games, so
it could be.
Finbarre Snarey (16:36):
Sorry, I'm derailing you.
What else do you see?
Carrie Harris (16:38):
Yeah, so I mean.
And the other question iswhat's this person who's
standing there looking up atthis cloud full of cups, is he?
I'm not entirely sure what thatposture is.
Is it reaching for them?
Is it pushing them away?
I don't really know what thatis.
Finbarre Snarey (16:57):
Now, this is why I love hearing people's
interpretations, because that'sa detail I've never noticed and
now that will stay with me.
So every time I see this card,I'll be wondering what the
intention of that person is.
I'd always consider it toalmost be like a kind of Harry
Houdini style showman who isgesturing to this magnificent
display.
But you're right, it could besomebody who is haunted like
(17:19):
something from Edgar Allan Poeand has seen this thing so many
times that it's starting todrive them insane.
Hmm, I've not said that.
Seven of Cups, the card ofillusions, dreams, fantastical
or dangerous possibilities.
It's a card of wonderment, as Isay, that kind of that Houdini
performance style magnificenceto it.
(17:40):
Temptation, temptation.
We had the devil before,didn't't we wishful thinking as
well?
There may be paths ahead.
Some of them are probably notparticularly wise, and the seven
of cups challenges you to sorttruth from illusion, move from
dreaming to being discerning.
So the challenge is clarity.
(18:01):
Okay.
So question Kerry Harris, howdo you navigate the multitude of
ideas that you must have on anygiven day?
Carrie Harris (18:11):
I think there's a real balance between you know,
you've got the creative mindthat has the 70 million ideas
and everyone is new and sparklyand it feels so good and you're
so excited about it.
And then there's also the factthat you know this is my job,
this is my full-time job.
(18:32):
I make things up for a living,which is really crazy when you
think about it.
I think you know, in the pastI've I've gone really far into
the letting the creative mindtake the reins and write
whatever I want, and the marketbe damned and it will find a
home where it won't andsometimes it did and sometimes
(18:55):
it did not.
And that I've also tried, youknow, because I've been doing
this for 20 some years.
You know I've also tried justwriting to the market.
What do people want?
I'm going to give it to them,and I think there's an
impeccable balance between thetwo.
I do this because I love it.
So if I only write to themarket, yes, I'd make money, but
(19:19):
I'm not making my health happy,I'm not saying the things that
I want to say and arguably I'mnot making art.
I'm making a product.
I'm inserting tab a into slot bbecause that's what they're
telling you to do, and so, again, I think we're kind of going
back to that fear, or or need toput some of yourself into the
(19:42):
work in order to make somethingthat's meaningful, and so that's
what this card is about to meis the struggle between
balancing those two things.
And if you want to do this, youdo need to be aware of the
market.
You know any creative endeavor.
You need to be aware of whatpeople are buying, but you also
(20:04):
can't stand to lose touch withthe thing that made you love it
in the first place.
Finbarre Snarey (20:08):
I imagine as well, there's a balance to be
struck when, say, for example,you're wildly inspired by this
wonderful idea that you have andyou're scribbling away on bits
of paper as the ideas come toyou and you're caught in that
creative process.
I imagine there's a need tobalance that with doing things
outside of that that you woulddraw ideas from, and I imagine
(20:29):
there's a need to balance thatwith doing things outside of
that that you would draw ideasfrom.
And I imagine when you're soburied into a project, you're
kind of missing some of theinspiration, some of those
little kind of those motes ofwonderfulness that you would get
from a gallery, going through apark, meeting up with old
friends or even looking throughold diaries.
Those inspirations are somehowmissed.
(20:51):
So how do you balance up thosetwo?
Carrie Harris (20:55):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, and one of the
things that I've been doing inthe past few years is actually
building time into my scheduleto refill the well.
So there are times when Ideliberately do not draft, I'm
not writing anything, and I willdo that just so I can cram as
(21:15):
much things as possible into mybrain hole.
I watch, I watch shows, I goplaces, I see things, I enjoy
art, I spend time outside andtalk to actual, real people.
You know I read and read andread and read and catch up on as
much as I can, and then I'mrefreshed and ready to go back.
Finbarre Snarey (21:37):
Excellent.
I need to go off on a tangent,because I did read that once
upon a time you mentioned brainhole, and that word brain had me
thinking oh yes, that was thatthing I was going to ask you Is
it true that once upon a timeyou would have been working in a
lab surrounded by brains injars?
And please say it is Excellent?
Carrie Harris (21:57):
Yeah, you know, out of college I always wanted
to be a writer, but they told meto get a real job and I didn't
know anyone who was a writer.
It seemed like a unicorn kindof job that didn't exist.
So I got real jobs and one ofthem was I managed the National
Center for Research in the HumanForm of Mad Cow Disease, and so
(22:18):
I watched aha feeds and therewere brains in jars and they
delivered brains to me via FedExand sometimes they would
misdeliver them, so you would godown the hall looking for your
missing brains and I've madeevery joke it is possible to
make about that.
Finbarre Snarey (22:36):
Are they in jars with bubbles and is there
like a, I don't know, like aplaque on the bottom or anything
like that at all.
Carrie Harris (22:43):
I wish there's like plastic containers with
stickers on them, so slightlyless enjoy and it's like
exciting, but still I thought itwas really cool.
Finbarre Snarey (22:54):
Okay, Card three.
Here we go.
Stop, we have the Wheel ofFortune.
Now it's quite a weird lookingcard.
I mean many of theRider-Waite-Smith cards are.
They're so artistically dense,rich and wonderful.
(23:16):
This one's just straight uppeculiar.
What can you see here?
Carrie Harris (23:21):
Well, there's a strange compass, sextant
something, but I don't know whatthe directions are.
All the creatures around it.
Some of them are fantasycreatures.
We've got the serpent.
We've got the devil-y lookingguy At the bottom, a pegasus
(23:42):
maybe.
Or there's a bird.
I'm not entirely sure if any ofthose creatures are real or if
they're all fantasies.
Finbarre Snarey (23:51):
They're maybe a sphinx yeah, I I think um
pamela coleman smith.
Old pixie really likes sphinxes.
Either that or it was the guywho's paying her.
Carrie Harris (24:00):
I'm not entirely sure which well, and then you've
got the serpent.
But you could say that's a realworld serpent, or is it, you
know, in tandem with the devil?
Maybe it's a reference to the,you know, the, the serpent in
the garden of eden, and all thatstuff, and it's a magic serpent
.
Finbarre Snarey (24:17):
I don't know okay, I mean we had the devil
card and then we had a kind ofillusion and temptations and,
yeah, still got that snake there.
That's very interesting, okay,this particular card it spins
with mystery, fate.
Momentum represents ups anddowns and twists of destiny and
(24:38):
moments beyond our control.
And when the card turns up,it's saying that something's
shifting, luck is changing,returning that life is at that
turning point and it tells usthat nothing stays still for
long.
So, okay, trust in the process,even though it feels chaotic.
That's what the card is saying.
(24:59):
My question is how do youperceive the role of chance and
choice in shaping your creativejourney?
Carrie Harris (25:10):
I mean early on, there's a certain you know
you're just desperate to get in.
You're just desperate to meetthe person who will read or
listen or give you a chance, orgive you a chance.
I think.
At some point I think you feelobligated to say yes to anything
(25:32):
you can get Because you'redesperate.
This is what you know you aremeant to do, this is what you
really have wanted all of yourlife.
So you say yes to anything youcan do and I think you've got to
a point where you have to startlike you can do that your
(25:52):
entire career and probably bequite successful at it.
But will you be happy?
And I think that's where thechoice comes in is to say what
do I want to do?
What is my heart drawing me to,or your muse or your, whatever
you want to call it.
You know that ultimately youare in this career whatever
(26:14):
creative career it is becauseyou have something you want to
say.
You have a picture of the worldthat you want to share.
You have questions or pain orhappiness or whatever it is that
is uniquely yours and thatother people are going to to see
and feel and respond to.
Finbarre Snarey (26:35):
And if you don't choose, that's never going
to come out have you ever doneanything like a short story or
something longer, a, a novelmaybe, where you felt not only
drawn to do it but fated to doit, or destined, should I say,
depending on how good it is?
Carrie Harris (26:52):
I have two, so one of them is out.
Witch is Unleashed, which is aghostwriter novel, and it
doesn't seem like the sort ofthing that would be particularly
Like.
It's a guy who turns into askeleton and rides a motorcycle.
This is not emotional, but thebook is about found family, the
(27:13):
whole thing.
It's about family trauma.
Every single character in thatbook, they all come from Marvel
and I deliberately pick everysingle one of them because they
have family trauma.
Every single one of them.
Because they have family trauma.
They come together and theyeach get something they need out
of the bond that they create.
(27:33):
It's all about coming to termswith those things that happened
in your past that you cannotchange because you have messed
up.
Finbarre Snarey (27:41):
I'm one of these people who, when I've been
asked you know who's yourfavorite Marvel character or
which stories do you like orwhich comics have you read, I
thought I was reasonablyknowledgeable because, yeah, I
help my kids play the LegoMarvel game and I thought I had
a grip on some of the charactersbased on nothing.
And I realized there are somany characters I know nothing
(28:04):
about.
It is, the world is immense, socould you tell me which
characters appear in WitchesUnleashed?
well, there's ghost riderobviously was he played by
nicholas cage in the filmrelease yep, yeah, yep, same one
um, and, but he it's later,he's.
Carrie Harris (28:25):
He's lost his wife, he's lost his children,
he's dealing with that.
And then there are threecharacters that were from um, a
short-lived comic called theWitches.
And it's Satana who is asuccubus.
Her dad is the devil going backto the devil.
Yeah, she has some feelingsabout that.
(28:47):
Topaz is a powerful witch.
She was kidnapped.
She doesn't know who her familyis, and Jennifer is well.
She killed her brother becausehe was evil.
She had kidnapped.
She doesn't know who her familyis, and Jennifer is well.
She killed her brother becausehe was evil.
She had to.
Finbarre Snarey (29:01):
I mean, I'm sure that anyone that is lucky
enough to have a brother wouldprobably think they're evil at
some point.
Okay, no.
Carrie Harris (29:10):
So the Kale family, they are the keepers of
this magic book and the bookpossessed him and it was very
dramatic, but she's dealing with.
You know, this is what I did,and now how do I go on?
So there's that one, and thenI'm working on one now as a
fill-in.
That is my book.
(29:33):
It's called Supermom is NotOkay, and she is my book.
It's called Supermom Is NotOkay, and she is a superhero and
she has hit rock bottom.
And what do you do when you'rea superhero and you don't want
to live anymore but you can'tdie?
Finbarre Snarey (29:49):
Are her kids superpowered as well?
Carrie Harris (29:51):
Nope, which makes it worse, doesn't it?
I mean?
Finbarre Snarey (29:56):
Does she have any job or role outside of
Homemaker, or is this her world?
Carrie Harris (30:02):
Yep.
This is all she has.
Finbarre Snarey (30:04):
Okay, could I ask what powers she has?
Carrie Harris (30:07):
Well, she's kind of a generic superhero.
She's super strong, she's superfast, she can fly.
Yes, she fights things.
That's what she does.
Finbarre Snarey (30:22):
She saves people who jump off buildings
and then thinks about how muchof a privilege it would be to be
able to jump At.
What stage are you up to withthat story?
Is it now finished?
Carrie Harris (30:27):
I have scribbled with it, but this is my fill in
from the heart.
So, in between paying jobs, Inoodle with this.
We'll see.
Maybe it'll never come out, Idon't know, but it's the sort of
thing that I feel I'd love todo more of it.
Finbarre Snarey (30:44):
Is there anyone in particular that you picture
as the main character in thisstory?
Would it be yourself, membersof your family, people that
you've met previously, or is shejust somebody completely new?
That's kind of risen unbiddenand needed to have her story
told.
Carrie Harris (31:01):
Yeah, you know, I really don't picture other
people because I have to doreally awful things to my
characters and I feel guilty.
So the only real people that Iever put in my stories are
teachers that I had in highschool, because they just show
up and they give you homeworkand then they leave, which is
pretty accurate.
So if I need a teacher, I willoften name it after somebody
(31:24):
that I actually had.
Those are really the only realpeople.
I did steal a friend's shirtand his hair for a character who
is really cool, because it wasthe coolest person I could think
of, so I made him look likethat guy.
Yeah, that's it I feel sorry forthese poor teachers who are
literally thrown to zombies orwerewolves or whatever fates you
(31:48):
gave them well, generallyspeaking, if, if I'm gonna do
something awful to them, I makeup a teacher, but yes, otherwise
they're just mean and they getmore.
Finbarre Snarey (31:58):
Right?
Well, looking at the clock,we're almost out of time, so I
need to ask what are you doingwith the rest of today?
Carrie Harris (32:03):
I'm going to run some errands.
I might work on some writing,but we're going to see.
I just turned a bunch of stuffin yesterday, so maybe today
should be filling the well,absolutely, find something to
read or watch and take a breath.
Finbarre Snarey (32:19):
I love the sound of that.
I think for me that's going tobe in a hammock stretched
between two trees.
Carrie Harris, thank you somuch for appearing on Tarot
Interviews.
Again it's been an absolutepleasure, as always.
Carrie Harris (32:30):
Well, thank you for having me.
If this recording goes sideways, I'd love to come back again.
Finbarre Snarey (32:36):
And that wraps up our conversation with the
brilliant Carrie Harris.
Be sure to check out Carrie'swebsite: carrieharrisbooks.
com and if you enjoyed today'sepisode, don't forget to follow
us on Spotify or Apple Podcastsor Audible or wherever you
listen to us, so you never missan episode.
Until next time, keep creatingand sharing your stories.
Thanks for tuning in and we'llsee you in the next episode.
Until next time, keep creatingand sharing your stories.
(32:56):
Thanks for tuning in and we'llsee you in the next episode.
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