Aug. 19, 2020
I was privileged to invite
Author Joshua Grant for an interview to
discuss his latest book The Lost Boy and the inspiration behind it.
Enjoy!
*********
What's your book The Lost Boy about, and what inspired you to write it?
|
The Lost Boy is my retelling
of the classic Peter Pan tale as a modern beat em up vigilante superhero
thriller! It follows Peter Barrie as he seeks revenge against crime
boss J.M. Hook after the murder of his best friend. A lot of little
things inspired me to make this weird conglomeration. I was watching
The Dark Knight around the same time I was playing the great video game
series Kingdom Hearts and it sort of clicked in my head. I wanted to
make a gritty examination of justice versus revenge like in the movie.
At the same time, Kingdom Hearts is this weird mash up of Disney
characters with Final Fantasy, two genres that don't seem like they'd fit but
it works really well. It's fun to see who from the two franchises will
show up next and I thought it'd be really fun to do something like that, a
different take on a popular story. After that I couldn't stop thinking
about it and decided I had to write it.
|
Who is your target
audience, and why do you think this book will appeal to them?
|
The Lost Boy can
be enjoyed by a diverse audience. It's definitely for the comic book
lovers out there, but even people who don't normally read comics have enjoyed
it. People who love revenge thrillers, crime dramas, superheros, or
redemption stories can definitely get into it. It's a story packed with
emotion and depth that can appeal to a broad audience!
|
What message do
you wish to pass across to your readers with this book?
|
I wanted to make a
comic book with a lot of emotion and examine some deep moral issues.
It's my hope that readers will pull from it that nothing is truly
broken beyond repair, and that differences and diversity are what makes us
strong.
|
What was the
hardest thing about writing your latest book?
|
Writing The Lost
Boy was a challenge simply because it's not what I usually write. I'm a
bestselling author of novels, but I've never written a comic book before.
It's a lot of fun, but challenging! With novels, you can write
and write and just pull stuff out later without thinking about it. In a
comic, you have to have it pretty well figured out while you're writing it,
because every time you pull something out or change something, you have to
change all the panels around it. It's like building a house of cards
and yanking one out each time! It's really challenging, but honestly I
have a lot of fun with it!
|
As a writer, is
there anything you've learned about yourself while writing this book?
|
One of the many
things I love about writing is how each thing I write changes me or gives me
a different look at the world. This book was all about reinventing an
old story and is also about examining diversity and innocence. It
challenged and forced me to think in new directions and try entirely new
things, both in the writing and in life. I'm kind of a guy that likes
the safe thing, so it was good to be forced to be adventurous.
|
What is your niche
genre, and if you were to write in a different genre, what would it be?
|
I typically write
Young Adult Fantasy or Sci Fi, but I'm also a bestseller in Horror/Thrillers.
Someday I'd love to write Lit Fic since I love a good tear-jerking
drama though!
|
What books and
authors have most influenced you?
|
A weird mash up of
books have really influenced me. Mostly S.D. Perry and her novelization
of the Resident Evil video game series. Lois Lowry is truly the best
(The Giver, Number the Stars). And I love a lot of Dean Koontz too.
|
Do you have any
more books in the works?
|
The Lost Boy
Episode 2: Neverland has entered into the art stage and I'm almost done
writing the whole first season of the series (6 episodes). I'm also
continuing books in almost all of my series (The Ascendants, The Hollow Men,
Albanon, and The Organization). It's a lot right now, but I'm almost
there with a couple of them!
|
Do you read your
book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
|
I love to read
reviews! It's so much fun to see what readers latch onto and what they
don't like. It always stings a little when you get a bad review, but
it's also helpful because readers are super diverse and you want to try to
get a little something for everyone in your book within the boundries the
story will allow, so different opinions matter. I basically celebrate
all reviews because they all mean I made someone feel something!
|
What is your
preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e.,
website, personal blog, Facebook page, Goodreads, etc.)?
|
I love to engage
with readers (and authors) on my website Diabolic Shrimp! I'm also very
active on Goodreads if you'd like to stop by and say hi there!
|
------------
Joshua
Grant is a self-proclaimed Bond villain and a thousandaire philanthropist (like
a billionaire philanthropist, just with a lot less money). He has
survived a flash flood, encountered numerous bears, and sailed the ocean blue.
Josh loves to read, write, play video games, and occasionally read up on
the crazy science that’s happening in the world, but most of all he loves just
getting people together to love, laugh, and grow alongside each other.
Currently, Josh makes a living teaching and working with kids in various
environments, with the occasional novel always in the works. To learn
about his work, please visit www.diabolicshrimp.com.
-------------------
You might also like:
No comments:
Post a Comment