Christopher Meeks, Author

Award-Winning Novels, Stories, and Play by Christopher Meeks

Christopher Meeks writes novels and short stories. What drives him is that a good story is as important as a great brain surgeon. We learn through stories. He is at work on a new novel, Falling Down Mt. Washington. He teaches creative writing at the Art Center College of Design and UCLA Extension and English at Santa Monica College.

New Novel Debuts

Christopher Meeks's new novel, Love at Absolute Zero, is
out! It's also featured as a Bargain Book at Pixel of Ink.
Click here to see.
     Love At Absolute
Zero is about a physicist who tries to apply the tools of science to finding a soul mate. Specifically, when Gunnar Gunderson, a 32-year-old
physicist at the University of Wisconsin, can only think of finding a wife, his research falters. To meet his soul mate within three days--all time he can carve out--he and his team are using the scientific method, to riotous results.
     "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). "Gunnar negotiates the puzzling world of women who are just not that into him. Finally, the shoe is on the other foot. Refreshing, delightful, and unique."
     "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 $2.99 for a little while longer.

At Amazon: Click here
At Barnes and Noble: Click here

On Kindle: Click here
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.

"The Brightest Moon of Century" just $4.99 on Kindle

Christopher Meeks's The
Brightest Moon of the Century now has the photos that the print version has. "The first Kindle edition of the book," says Meeks, "didn't have the photos because somehow they caused the Table of Contents links to screw up. It required more programming, but now it works." You can get it by clicking here.
The novel, years in the writing, has won awards and earned many great reviews including a lengthy one by 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."

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Love At Absolute Zero

by Christopher Meeks

Giveaway ends February 27, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

"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.

Three New Interviews

Thanks to his recent blog tour, Christopher Meeks spoke about writing and publishing in three new 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 being 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.

From Gabriel Reads: click here

From Book Addict: click here (*interview with a character in the book)

From Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews: click here

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.

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.

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.

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.