What inspired you to write this book?
An explicit answer to this question would, unfortunately,
be full of spoilers! But I will say that 21 Grams was originally
conceived as a single novelette, rather than the “three novelettes in a trench
coat” that it became. I wrote part one back in 2017, when I first began turning
around ideas of gender identity, and what they might mean in relation to the
soul. That was all I intended to tackle, but the Operator continued to haunt my
mind. I wondered about the stories of other customers who had strapped
themselves into the Godwin. Ultimately, those ponderings resulted in parts two
and three.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters
in 21 Grams?
Manon Bramley, Zel Perrimon, and Pastor Douglas Elliot
are vastly different characters who have led vastly different lives in vastly
different time periods. And yet, they all end up in the Operator’s funerary
parlor, willing to exchange their souls in the hopes of resurrecting the dead.
I think that’s all I can say without giving away major plot elements!
Where did you come up with the names in the story?
After deciding on a character’s “core trait,” as it were,
I searched the internet for names with that particular meaning.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
The combination of challenges and freedom that its format
provided. Each segment stands alone, connected only by the Operator and their
resurrection machine, the Godwin. This afforded me the opportunity to attack an
assortment of divergent ideas, and I’d like to think I took full advantage of
that. However, I was also very cognizant of the fact that I would be forced to
answer questions that I didn’t want to if each story followed the same arc.
(Not to mention how boring that would be.) I decided I’d counter that issue by
never allowing the Godwin to work the same way twice. It took a decent amount
of brainstorming to figure out how to manage that, but it was fun! And I’m
pleased with the results.
Did you learn anything during the writing of your
recent book?
I learned a lot about myself. As I mentioned before, the
first part of the book deals explicitly with gender identity and dysphoria, and
writing it played an integral part in my own journey of self-discovery.
How did you come up with the name of this book?
In 1907, a physician named Duncan MacDougall published a
study entitled “the 21 gram experiment.” In it, he postulated that the human
soul weighs roughly 21 grams, based on the changes in body mass that he
recorded before and after six of his patients died. While the study was
rejected by the scientific community at large, the idea of a 21 gram soul has
lingered in pop culture, and serves as one of the foundational bits of lore on
which the whole of my book was built.
If you could spend time with a character from your
book, who would it be? And what would you do during that day?
The Operator. We have similar tastes in music, so we’d
probably jam out. Take tea. Maybe I could convince them to tell me a story or
two of their own.
Do your characters seem to hijack the story, or do
you feel like you have the reigns?
My characters tend to be the hijacking sort. Which is
just as well, since they often have a better idea of where the story is going
than I do.
Convince us your book is a must read.
Hey, you! Yes, you! Do you like gothic literature? Do you
want more queer characters on your shelves? Do you enjoy mentally grappling
with the moral and the metaphysical, while having more questions asked than
answered? Do you really, really love quotations? Then boy howdy, have I
got a book for you!
Have you written any other books that are not
published?
A few, yes. I do hope they’ll see the light of day.
If your book had a candle, what scent would it be?
It would smell very subtly of white stargazer lily.
I love horror books but this one sounds really scary, I know I would love to read it.
ReplyDeletesounds good :]
ReplyDeletemia2009(at)comcast(dot)net
Interesting cover. Perfect for this horror read.
ReplyDeleteA machine with the ability to bring back the death it a good storyline. I love the horror genre. Thanks for the chance.
ReplyDeleteM. Regan is new to me, but I love meeting new authors. Thanks to this blog for the introduction.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the author guest post and book details, this sounds like a fascinating read
ReplyDelete