Hey Wormies!
I have a very special guest in the
house today. Mr. John Hornor Jacobs! Long timers will remember my last
interview with John after the release of SOUTHERN GODS. If you haven’t read SOUTHERN GODS,
you don’t know what you’re missing.
He’s back today to talk about his
latest novel, THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY (scroll down to yesterdays post for my
marvelous review). We also touch on a few other topics, from writing to our
favourite superheroes and future releases!
It’s starts now!
The Man Eating Bookworm (MEB): John,
thanks for returning to THE MAN EATING BOOKWORM! How have you been?
John Hornor
Jacobs (JHJ): I’m pretty good. Trying to acclimate myself to the writing life.
I recently made the transition to full time writer. Rented a small
out-of-the-home office - $175 a month – and most of my days are spent writing,
editing, and failing to ignore the Internet and social media.
MEB: I’m stoked to hear about the full
time writing. That’s awesome.
Okay, to start off, where did the
inspiration or the ideas for your latest novel, THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY, come
from?
JHJ: The
inspiration for THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY came from my father. I don’t mean to refer
you to another site, but I wrote a big piece on it over at John Scalzi’s blog
for his THE BIG IDEA series. You can read the whole story there.
But the abbreviated version is that Grumps – that’s what my kids call him – is
always throwing ideas for books at me and some of them stick.
MEB: THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY is your
third novel and first YA book. Is there a different mindset to writing for a
younger audience? Were there any scenes you changed after the first or second
drafts because you thought it was too much for the younger set?
JHJ: I do
think there is a difference writing for teens as opposed to writing for adults.
Part of it is content, part of it is tone, and part is pacing. For a book to be
young adult, to me, it means it has to address at least one of the issues of
adolescence: the discovery of sex; finding one’s identity, morals, values;
discovering and assuming one’s place in the world; leaving the shadow and
protection of adults; growing into power. And so many other things. But those
are a few.
One of the
main issues with writing YA is that it can’t really be told from a remove,
“When I was a young boy, these things happened to me…” Truly effective writing for teens has to have
a teen protagonist that’s in the shit
at the time of the story. Which is one of the reasons why I chose first-person,
present tense for THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY. Also, I would add, that most YA
requires an honesty with subject matter; teens have infallible bullshit meters.
MEB: The world of THE TWELVE-FINGERED
BOY has a very epic feel to it, with certain elements only briefly touched upon
(What's in Maryland? Who is Jerry Aaronson and what exactly does Asset
Consulting mean? What is Quincrux up to?). In our last discussion you mentioned
two planned sequels (INCARCERADO and THE END OF ALL THINGS). Is the road map
still the same or have things changed?
JHJ: I’m
going to take these questions out of order, if I may. Okay, yes, the two
sequels are still forthcoming. INCARCERADO’s title has been changed to THE
SHIBBOLETH which is a different sort of title, to be sure, but INCARCERADO was
too close to INCARCERON by Catherine Fisher, so my editor and I came up with
this new title. It has both good and bad points. The bad, it’s a strange word
that will puzzle people. The good, it is actually the PERFECT title for the
book, in many ways. The shibboleth is
what Shreve calls his power.
Anyway, THE
SHIBBOLETH is complete. I wrote it, then rewrote it. Now editing it and
half-way through with THE END OF ALL THINGS. It’s been a long process and now I’m
coming to an end to my time with Shreve and I must say I’ve been getting a
little emotional saying goodbye. I’ve treated him so badly, really just
tortured the kid.
But to
address your questions, no I can’t tell you what’s in Maryland or what Quincrux
is up to, but all that is revealed in THE SHIBBOLETH. Jerry Aaronson is,
simply, a friend of Shreve and a pseudo-father figure, like Assistant Warden
Booth. Asset consulting is financial investment and guidance chosen as Jerry’s
profession simply because that’s what my mom used to do for a living and if I
had to elaborate I’d at least be able to call her up and get the deets for
verisimilitude. Convenience! Never underestimate the laziness of writers.
MEB: I dig that title. SHIBBOLETH
sounds cool, even H.P. Lovecraft-y. I can’t wait to get my hands on it!
With the impending publication of your
epic fantasy, THE INCORRUPTIBLES, that will be four very different genres you
have delved into. Do you feel any pressure or expect any pressure in the
future, to stick to one type of book or will you continue to write the type of
book you want to write, genre or publisher be damned?
JHJ: I do
feel pressure to stick to one genre, but that pressure only comes from me. My
publishers aren’t pushing me one way or another. My problem is that I’m
creatively restless and I really don’t want to churn out books too similar
because what’s the point in that? Well, other than money. Series sell more than
standalones.
SOUTHERN GODS
falls pretty much in the horror genre and when it came out, I was a debut
author. THIS DARK EARTH was, in my mind, more of a SF novel but since it had
zombies, it was classified as horror. With THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY, again I was
a debut YA author. And now, with THE INCORRUPTIBLES (which I’m terribly excited
for – I landed the best publisher possible in Gollancz/Orbit) I’m once again a
debut author, this time fantasy. And I’m sure I’ll be a debut author again in
some other genre. I have plans to write a straight historical fiction work, and
a straight fiction piece with no speculative elements, but we’ll see what
shakes out. I was just smacked between the eyes with an idea the other day for
a horror/historical novel and I’ve always wanted to write my take on the
vampire and I’ve already worked out a premise for the book and a title.
However, if
any of my books become successful enough, I have no problems in playing for a
while longer in those particular sandboxes, since they’re my sandboxes. I have worked out premises for sequels to both
SOUTHERN GODS and THIS DARK EARTH (which is pretty much crying out for a
sequel) but right now, my cup runneth over and it will be years before I’ll be
able to get to them. If ever.
MEB: That’s awesome and I’m excited as
a reader hearing about the projects coming down the pipe!
All right, let’s lighten things up a
bit. If I were able to have one super-ability it would be flight. I would love
to fly around everywhere. That would be totally cool.
When I was a kid I wanted to be
invisible, but that was mostly so I could hangout in the ladies change room!
What super ability would you want and
would it be any different from the 13 year old you?
JHJ: That’s a
great (and perennial) question! Invisibility
or Flight. There’s a wonderful This American Life episode called
“Superpowers” which deals with this question.
I would be
hard pressed to choose either of those. Invisibility is a power that can only
really be used for subterfuge and would very easily be misused – spying,
stealing, covert operations. On the other hand, flying is very unpractical. For
example, say you can fly, but do you have the power to resist cold? Do you fly
as fast as you run? Fast as a plane? If you fly as fast as a plane, you’d have
to dress in a wetsuit and helmet to resist the cold and the force of the wind.
If you can’t fly that fast, you still have to bundle up for the altitude and
can you carry your luggage? Put on a backpack? If you ever have a family, like I
do, you’ll never be able to lift them all so you’ll still have to drive to
Michigan in a station wagon.
Flying is an
extremely impractical power unless augmented with other powers. It would make
getting to work a snap, though. But not in winter or when it’s raining.
If I had to
choose a superpower, it would be the ability to heal with a touch. Heal any
disease. I would then set myself up as the new Messiah and make the world
worship me as their ONE TRUE GOD. MUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
But no, I’d
choose healing and try to do some good in the world. Or choose the power to be
a great father. There’s a really wonderful comic that
deals with this…
MEB: That’s an awesome comic! And so
true, right?
Who are your three favourite
superheroes?
JHJ: Ooof.
That’s a tough one. HELLBOY. I love Hellboy. Is Hellboy a superhero? Okay, I
guess if I had to choose three superheroes, they’d be BATMAN, WOLVERINE, and CONSTANTINE
(though I guess he’s not really a superhero).
But,
honestly, I’m not really into superheroes. THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY and the
following books are sort of a critique of superheroes in general. If you
haven’t seen the movie CHRONICLE, it does a great job of punching holes in the
“classic” superhero tropes while still honoring their memory. When I saw
CHRONICLE, I was somewhat alarmed at the similarities between it and THE
TWELVE-FINGERED BOY but, damn, it was such a great movie, who was I to complain?
And the writer went different places than I did, with similar themes. Anyone
who’s into superhero comics and hasn’t watched Max Landis – the writer of
CHRONICLE and son of John Landis - break down the “death” of SUPERMAN should go watch it, now
(or hopefully, you can embed it in this page).
But the
classic superheroes? Meh.
I guess I
like BATMAN because he’s flawed and tragic and Nolan should have killed him
off, at least in the movies. I’m going to digress here for a moment.
In one of the
last spate of BATMAN movies, there was this moment when the Morgan Freeman
character – Lucius Fox – is discussing getting a cowl for Batman that will
allow him to turn his head but he’d have to buy 10,000 of them to hide the cost
of purchase or something. At that moment in the film I yelped EUREKA! and
thought I knew how the series was going to end. Batman was going to die at the
climax but not before defeating the baddies. And afterwards he would bequeath
thousands upon thousands of Batman suits to the populace of Gotham, free for
the taking, in essence giving them the power to regulate and police themselves.
The image of Bruce Wayne surrounded by thousands and thousands of bats would
come to fruition and Wayne would be subsumed, free to shuck off his burden,
free to die. And in dying, the whole populace of Gotham would BECOME THE
GODDAMN BATMAN. I get goosebumps thinking about it. But Nolan didn’t do that
and we got the shit ending that what we got.
My ending
would’ve been far better. End digression.
So I like BATMAN
because he’s flawed. I like WOLVERINE because he’s flawed. Ditto for DOCTOR
STRANGE, the HULK, IRON MAN and others.
SUPERMAN? THOR?
They’re not really interesting without any weakness, either overt or interior.
Actually, I think THOR (both the movie and the comic) is ridiculously silly.
I’m far more
interested in comics that tell stories about conflicted and complex characters
and, really, if your superhero runs around in tights and flies, I’m sure you
can tell engaging stories about how deep and scarred and wounded they are, but
they’re still running around in tights.
So, if I had
to list my top three comics – above all the superheroes - I’d say HELLBOY, NORTHLANDERS,
and Cullen Bunn’s THE DAMNED (or THE SIXTH GUN). It’s a toss-up, really.
Funny,
despite all my talk about conflicted, flawed characters, my favorite isn’t
conflicted at all. Hellboy knows who he is, he knows what he’s gonna do (and
not gonna do, namely become the apotheosis of the apocalypse, hence the
sundered horns) he’s really just a everyday average schmoe, a gumshoe, a
blue-collar guy, but it’s the world that’s conflicted about him. And he never
stops. Inexorable. A force of nature with a sense of humor. I love that about
him.
MEB: HELLBOY is my favourite, too, and
for the exact reasons you mention (SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION is one of my all time
favourite comic books). I have not seen the movie CHRONICLE but will correct
that shortly. I like your idea about BATMAN. That would have been a great way
to finish it off.
Who are your favourite villains?
JHJ: Is this
a comic, literary, or film villains? Screw it, I’ll just sample from it all.
Dracula, of
course, he was prima facie evil for
me because I read that book when I was so young, it was a trial to even make
out the words. Belloq from Raiders of the
Lost Ark because he was understandable and even sympathetic. And I’ve
always loved stories featuring Old Scratch, Lucifer, Satan. The Adversary. You
can’t really get a better villain than the Devil.
MEB: There have been a number of superhero
type books published in the last few years (Rob Rogers DEVIL'S CAPE, Paul Tobin
PREPARE TO DIE, Austin Grossman SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE, to name a few). Any
favourites?
JHJ: I’m
ashamed to admit I haven’t read any of them. I hear good things about SOON I
WILL BE INVINCIBLE. I loved Adam Christopher’s EMPIRE STATE but I wouldn’t
really classify that as strictly a superhero story.
MEB: Finally, are you a Marvel man or
D.C.?
JHJ: Neither.
I’m a Dark Horse / Oni / Image comics man.
MEB: John, once again, thanks for
taking time out of your busy schedule to drop in and answer a few questions.
Much appreciated!
JHJ: Hey,
thanks for having me, P.A.L.! I really enjoyed it.
END.
I would like to take this space to once more thank John for taking time to thoughtfully answer my questions. I
hope you guys dug the interview. It’s been a while since I have done one, and
John made it fun. Please run out and grab THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY today, or one
of the other books John has out.
