I recently had the pleasure of finishing Immortal, written by Gene Doucette. What a wonderful book this turned out to be. The novel follows Adam the Immortal through various run-ins with magical entities, while he attempts to discover just who or what is killing his friends and leading a path straight to his doorstep. Of course, in Immortal, there's no such thing as magic. And by the way, when I say Adam is immortal, I'm talking 60,000 years and counting.
I first became aware of the book and its author via Twitter, where Doucette often discussed his — at the time — work in progress. One day, I happened to read an excerpt he posted on his blog, I was immediately hooked. Adam's voice comes out so naturally through Gene's writing. So much so, I'm stuck trying to place just where I know this character from. I'm certain we've met before. Of course, he could have been using another name. You see, he hasn't always gone by Adam.
But I digress. And so does Adam. Frequently. It's through these tangents we get to relive interesting tidbits from Adam's past, to help us glean any hint of what's to come in the present of the story.
Today, I have a special treat for you. Not only do I bring you an interview with the author of Immortal, but I also have the title character, who has been nice enough to agree to helm the questioning. Beforehand, though, I would like to stress that due to some language and sexual themes, this novel is strictly for Geek 1.o. That's right, GeekDads, no kiddies this go around. Maybe in a few years, they'll be sneaking it off your shelves, but not quite yet.
Also, stick around after you're finished with the Q & A for a chance to win a copy of the novel itself.
GeekDad: Ok, Adam, if you're ready, then shoot.
Adam: Well, this is awkward.
Gene: It was your idea.
Adam: Was I drinking when I suggested it?
Gene: Yes, but when aren't you?
Adam: A fair point. Why don't you tell everyone how you ended up writing Immortal?
Gene: You showed up at my door one night claiming you had a story to tell me. We sat down and talked all evening while I taped the whole conversation. Then I transcribed it.
Adam: That… isn't even remotely accurate.
Gene: No, you're right. That's Interview With A Vampire.
Adam: That woman has clearly never met a real vampire.
Gene: We did meet over drinks, though, you and I. Several drinks over several meetings for a couple of years.
Adam: How did you arrive at 60,000 years?
Gene: To give people a firm number. I know you prefer just telling people you're really, really, really old, but that's much too vague, so I took your earliest memory and looked at geological history and extrapolated. It would have been helpful if you'd just counted.
Adam: I had to wait until math was invented.
Gene: That's just ridiculous enough to be believable.
Adam: It's true. Pure numbers are abstractions that require both a symbolic system and the capacity to reason about things that are not in front of you. I didn't count anything higher than ten for several millennia. And even then I wouldn't call it counting. What made you decide to write the book in my voice instead of yours?
Gene: I never seriously considered third person. Your voice is what makes the story work, even with your incredible capacity for digression.
Adam: I don't know if I should be insulted by that or not.
Gene: Up to you. I'm just saying the story told in Immortal has a certain cadence and rhythm to it, and that comes from the way you actually tell a story when you're talking. Although I cleaned up some things.
Adam: I should definitely be insulted by that.
Gene: I just mean that dramatic pauses don't translate well. Neither do Scandinavian curse words, half-remembered chants to the gods of the Veldt, or your unfortunate tendency to refer to every woman who brings you a drink as a serving wench.
Adam: That was only one time.
Gene: It was many times over the course of one evening. My wife is still upset about it.
Adam: She's never been fond of me.
Gene: True, but that probably didn't help.
Adam: So you wrote the book roughly how I talk. Did that match up well with your existing writing style? Or did you make changes to accommodate this particular story?
Gene: It matched up pretty well. I'd been a humorist for a while before you and I met, which meant dozens upon dozens of humor columns and a semi-regular blog. What happened is very close to what would have happened if you had started a blog and given yourself a decade of practice before writing this novel without my help.
Adam: I only just learned what the word "blog" means. It meant "phlegm" in at least one tongue I can recall.
Gene: You'd be surprised how many blogs that makes sense for as a working definition.
Adam: No, I don't think I would be. What about influences on your writing style?
Gene: That's hard to say. I've read a lot of novels, of course, but I couldn't identify a stylistic progenitor at gunpoint. But when I say "it isn't like anything else you've ever read before" people think I'm either being egotistical or just lying. And for some reason not being able to say "it's like Highlander meets… Terry Pratchett" is actually a detriment.
Adam: And it's not like Highlander meets Terry Pratchett.
Gene: Exactly. But since it's a cross-genre book — and there are a lot of people out there that hate that too — there's a lot of interest in finding something to compare it to. I've had reviewers reach for everyone from Doug Adams to Raymond Chandler. I think you could fit every novelist in the 20th century between those two guys. So I don't know who my influences are. I spent my teens reading sword and sorcery fantasy and comic books, and grew up to write a fantasy without any magic in it.
Adam: Or superheroes.
Gene: Exactly. Because you're perfectly human, except for the not-getting-old-or-sick part. I could maybe argue a John Constantine influence. And this entire interview is probably Grant Morrison's fault.
Adam: I would have suggested Luigi Pirandello.
Gene: Between theater geek and comic book geek, I'd prefer the latter.
Adam: I wouldn't. I helped invent theater. I told you that, right?
Gene: Yes, but let's save it for the second book.
Adam: Talk about the next book. We're still calling it Hellenic Immortal?
Gene: We are. And it's not done yet.
Adam: I know that, but why isn't it done yet?
Gene: If you had told me about Silenus earlier I'd have been done already. Now I have to go through and work some more details into the narrative.
Adam: Don't blame me; you're the writer.
Gene: Yes, fine. It's just not that easy sometimes. You hold out on me.
Adam: I don't mean to. I have no idea what's important for your version of events and real life doesn't summarize easily into a straight-through narrative. That's why I end up digressing so frequently; I get halfway through a story and realize I need to provide more information or the story won't make sense. And these are things I've never told anyone before.
Gene: This from someone who insists he learned storytelling from Homer.
Adam: I did, but first off, Homer had a great deal of practice with telling the same story over and over again and second, I was lying.
Gene: You were lying?
Adam: I may have been. There was more than one Homer. I knew a Homer, I just don't know if it was the Homer. Should we wrap this up?
Gene: You've barely asked me any questions.
Adam: Fine, one more: are you working on anything else?
Gene: I am! I have a novel called Fixer that I need to rewrite. It's in third person and I've never met any of the characters, so I expect it to go much more smoothly. Also the lead character isn't an alcoholic.
Adam: I'm not an alcoholic; I'm a drunk. This is my only complaint with this century: everything fun is considered a disease now.
Gene: And on that note… Thanks for interviewing me, Adam. It's been weird.
Adam: Any time.
GeekDad: And thanks to you both for coming. We'd love to have you back with the sequel.
So, are you ready for the contest? Yep, thought you might be. Here's the deal. As was mentioned, Adam has been around for around 60,000 years, give or take. He's done it all, to be sure. Put yourself in his place, and post the top five things you would have done if you, yourself, would have been alive for the past 60,000 years.
The best entry gets the goose.
If you still haven't had your share of Adam or Gene, you may check out my blog post for a quick review of Immortal. Please, also take the time to click over to Gene Doucette's website: .
And, hey! Go buy the book.
UPDATE: The contest will be open until midnight on May 15, so get your answers in now!
