Assume about Interview with Fantasy/Science Fiction Author
Barry Maher is the author of “Legend,” a book that has attainted cult status in several science fiction circles.“Legend” is the dark urban fantasy’s answer to “Dune.” The novel can electrify readers, challenging their views on such societal ideas as groupthink and religion.
When reading “Legend”, I had the chance to raise Barry Maher concerning his novel, his work as a consultant, and whether he’ll contemplate returning to the world of speculative fiction.
Q1: One in all the most putting aspects of "Legend" is that the remarkable job you did in creating the story's universe. The City, the "Massive Eaters", and also the Regent (the poor, the privileged, and therefore the Spiritual/superstitious) are absolutely realized representations of the sort of social fracturing you'd expect in a dying world. Did this stem from a vision of a post-Cold War environment, or something larger?
Fully, Jason, the world of "Legend" is dying. The City is isolated and feeding on itself. What passes for a government has become divorced from the folks it ought to be serving. It's entrenched, self-serving and uncaring. Brutal. And whereas the realm the Disciples management is vigorous and powerful, it is a cancerous power, one that is twisted and perverted. And even additional brutal than the inept stupidity of the government.
The planet of Legend could be a world of constant, unremitting worry and
danger: Everybody is in peril: Martin and Gena, the bureaurers, the Disciples, the folkers-everyone. Ironically the danger was generated by the society's obsession with security. The Town isolated itself only to find that it had been trapped within that isolation with something even worse than the
unknown horror lurking outside.
Civilizations, cultures, governments, religions, people: do not we have a tendency to all need to shield ourselves from the harmful of the skin world:
Dangerous individuals, dangerous concepts, dangerous otherness? The harmful unknown. The obscure place on the map where "Here there be monsters." It may be an actual place, or it may be the dark areas of stranger's mind that nurture unsettling beliefs and, quite probably, unpredictable and threatening behavior.
After all it's solely by exposing ourselves to that otherness that we have a tendency to both test and nurture ourselves and our ideas. That is how we have a tendency to adapt. That is how we grow: a minimum of it's how we grow in a very manner that tries to adapt to outside reality.
However In "Legend" there is solely isolation. The isolation of the bureaurers leads solely to atrophy and ultimately death. The isolation of the Disciples ends up in the twisted, perverted, brutal growth of a cancer, that of course ultimately devours the life that feeds it.
Q2: An interesting maxim you set forth and realized by Gena is that of the power of collective thought. Through our own superstitions and beliefs, we, ourselves, are the 'ties that bind'. Does this ideology represent personal belief or a piece on the typically one-mindedness religion creates in large sectors of individuals?
It was intended a lot of as commentary on the way we tend to all tend to assume, instead of merely a commentary on spiritual thinking.
To me, the a lot of conformity in thought a society has, the more danger it's in. That is as a result of "What we have a tendency to all recognize to be true" so often seems to as wrong as several of the commonly accepted truths of the ancient Egyptians or Romans or Druids or Aztecs. In two,five hundred B.C., the Egyptians "knew" that the simplest use of their wealth and labor was to providing their pharaohs with ludicrously large tombs filled with huge stashes of treasure for the afterlife. Not that long ago, we have a tendency to all knew the sun revolved around the Earth. In 1939, Germany knew that Hitler was a hero. In 1966, we have a tendency to knew the Viet Cong and Ho Chi Min were such an imminent threat to Yankee society we have a tendency to sacrificed fifty,000 Yankee lives to prevent them.
What terrifies me is that even the foremost independent people can easily be swept up in this kind of collective thought: no matter how vigilant we tend to may be. Even our dissents fall into sure accepted channels. Individual divergences are usually pathetically slight.
Q3: A common criticism of "Legend" is that Martin is ready to endure several horrible trials and tasks, however you never bestow Martin with something additional than a regular man's persona and endurance. What do you say to the present criticism?
I say it's completely correct. I am inquisitive about the extraordinary heroism of standard individuals rather than the ordinary heroism of extraordinary people.
If James Bond or Superman endures and overcomes, who cares? They're supposed to. They don't seem to be like the rest folks mere mortals. However if the guy across the road triumphs against overwhelming odds, that hits home. That might even amendment what I feel I can do and what I feel I will become. Hey, if that schmuck will do it, why cannot I?
In "Legend," Martin could be a little bit of a schmuck. And, in that sense, perhaps the book might be considered a triumph of the schmucks. I hope it will inspire "regular men” - and women. Superman and James Bond will look elsewhere for inspiration.
This autumn: What's it that draws Gena to Martin?
I think it is just that: that extraordinary strength and courage of an normal guy, the fact that this most normal folker somehow taps into something inside himself to become far a lot of than he or anyone else ever imagined he could be.
Someone asked me recently if Martin extremely was the Jefuson. I said I didn't think so. However that perhaps the $64000 Jefuson wasn't either.
Q5: Across the web, "Legend" has attained a cult status. I am positive several would love to work out a sequel, prequel or something that expands on the "Legend" universe. Any hope of this happening?
Each a prequel and a sequel have possibilities. I might love to discover the small print of how the planet of "Legend" came to be. I might be even additional fascinated by what happens to Martin and Gena and this strange world from this point on.
There has been a group of dedicated "Legend" fans who have spent a nice deal of time and effort spreading the word and promoting the book. I truly appreciate their efforts. If it wasn't for them, this re-creation would never have been released. If there ever may be a sequel or a prequel, it might in all probability be due to the thrill they created as well. As a result of of their efforts, by the way, I've authorized the writing of a screenplay based on the book.
Q6: You write one critically lauded novel, then drop out of the literary world. What happened?
As you would possibly grasp, when "Legend" was first released, it made the UPI's "10 Most Underrated List" for that year along with the New York Knicks, who never even created the playoffs, and a Meryl Streep movie regarding a dingo that ate a baby. It stayed underrated for quite a whereas, build up a following solely gradually. As I said, that following is splendidly devoted however the book still is not that widely known, perhaps it never will be.
After "Legend" was initially released my agent approached me with an idea for a unusual, funny, off-beat non-fiction book. The book proposal sold immediately. The book did well and is of course still selling today. Different books followed, together with "Filling the Glass: The Skeptic's Guide to Positive Thinking," a book "for anyone with employment or anyone who is aware of anyone with a job." Among other things "Filling the Glass" was cited by Today's Librarian as "[one of] The Seven Essential Popular Business Books." From that point on, the amount of requests on behalf of me to speak to businesses and different teams exploded.
In many ways in which, all my books and speeches are in the same mould as "Legend," exploring the identical issues and ideas. Too several people these days have lives that aren't what they may be. Hell, too many of us even have jobs that aren't all that abundant different from Martin's job as a bureauer.
Q7: You've become a highly success company speaker. What do folks say once they learn you once wrote a dystopic urban fantasy novel concerning the perceived Second Returning of Christ?
I speak not solely to businesses but to associations and groups of all types. (I try to speak to at least one writer's conference per year.) What's astonishing to me is how much interest even the individuals at those business meetings have in "Legend." They may not face the type of journey, danger and excitement that Martin and Gena do, but they will all relate to the characters in "Legend." The worlds might be vastly totally different however the lives are a lot of similar than it would possibly 1st appear. We could all use a touch of the heroic in our "regular guy" or "regular girl" lives.
Q8: What are some of your favorite sci-fi and/or horror novelists?
There are so many, I might hate to list them and accidentally leave anyone off. But I do need to cite Frank Herbert. "Legend" has been compared to "Dune" which is always flattering. However it some ways in which the story in "Legend" is a commentary on the story, the theme and the action in "Dune."
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