My friend, the inimitable, awesome A. Lee Martinez, has a book coming out March 5th! In honor of Emperor Mollusk Vs. The Sinister Brain, I’m hosting an interview (you gotta check out what he has to say about humor and universal themes, guys.) and an EPIC FOUR BOOK PRIZE PACK GIVEAWAY!
Um, did I mention that each of the books is autographed and each one has a different, original sketch with the signature?! So cool.
All you gotta do to enter is read and leave a comment/additional question. Enter by midnight, Thursday, March 1st. Coolest comment/question wins.
Interview:
1. I’m always glad to get a sneak peek of your pages at DFW Writers’ Workshop. For everyone else, can you share a little bit about your latest, Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain?
It’s a story of a great supervillain (who happens to be a squid from Neptune) and what happens after he decides he’s not so happy being a bad guy anymore. He’s not exactly seeking redemption, but he’s not interested in doing the villain thing either. The only problem is that he’s basically too amazing to not be in the center of some sort of grand adventure, and since he lives in a universe where adventure is found in every corner, that means retirement isn’t easy.
Ultimately, it’s a novel in the tradition of pulp sci fi / fantasy. Emperor lives in a reality where every planet in our solar system is inhabited, where lost civilizations are a dime a dozen, and where everything he does is important. He’s Doc Savage, John Carter, or any number of larger-than-life protagonists who rule their stories through virtue of being incredible and absurd ideals. In Mollusk’s case, he’s smarter than you, and he knows it. If Lex Luthor came from Neptune and had no Superman to stand in his way, he’d be Emperor Mollusk.
So on one level, the story is about mutant dinosaurs and giant robot fights. And on the other, it’s about the struggle that we all have to deal with, about figuring out our place in this universe, learning to live with our mistakes, and hopefully, not repeating them. Except Emperor’s mistakes can blow up planets, so there’s extra pressure right from the get go.
2. It’s no secret that I’ve nicknamed you ‘Existential Loki’ because you write books with heft, heart and wit. You’ve mentioned before that humor is underrated in storytelling. Care to elaborate?
Maybe not humor specifically, but just fun in general. There’s this tendency, probably as old as time, to assume that if a story isn’t Serious Business, then it’s just silly and slight. We have always seen humor as an escape mechanism, something it often is, but we also tend to think of it as unimportant or easy. It’s absurd. I think drama is great, but it doesn’t have to equal melodrama. A story can make you smile, have weird elements, and still have some emotional heft.
To put it one way: If a story is about a protagonist’s personal growth as he becomes a better person, that’s generally considered light. If a story is about a protagonist&rsqu
Martinez had me at the acknowlagements. When he gave credit to Victor Von Doom I knew I was in for one hell of a awesome read.
I wonder if Mr. Martinez would ever seriously consider writing (& drawing?) his own comic book? Some of his characters (& situations) seem at least partially inspired from by the great comics of yore (“yore” meaning pre-late ’80s doom & gloom Marvel & DC).
Question: What archetypal character is most in need of changing?
I had a few questions if that’s ok. I was curious what Mr. Martinez does to research for his books, for example when he wrote Divine Misfortune did he just go to the library and look up some of the most interesting/obscurer gods and then just imagine them all partying to get in the mindset to write the book?
Also I noticed that Mr. Martinez switched publishers from Tor to Orbit, I was curious if he felt the editing process changed in any substantial way, and what his opinion was on the switch from paperback books to hardcover that seemed to accompany the publisher switch as well.
Anyway big fan of the books and thanks for doing this. Would love to win the autographed pile of greatness.