Interview with....a Main Character?

Posted by Postado por Dulce on às 17:42 | |

Interview with....a Main Character?

Interview with....a Main Character?

Posted: 07 Apr 2011 05:00 AM PDT

Yes, you read that correctly. I like to make things interesting so when author Gene Doucette approached me about participating in his blog tour for his book 'Immortal' I knew I needed to do something different. I have posted many interviews with authors on here and we have learned a great deal from them; however, I wanted a new direction. I talked to Gene about this and an idea sparked - why not interview the main character or Immortal instead? I took it one step further and below you will find an interview session with both Gene and Adam. Enjoy because this is a good one. The interview starts.....now!

We're talking today with author Gene Doucette and Adam, the main character of his book Immortal. It's great to have you both here!

First question: the book is written in Adam's voice but by Gene. How did that work?

Gene: I made a decision early on to write it in Adam's voice in first person rather than my own in third person. I don't think I seriously considered any other option. The story is too personal.
Adam: I didn't really have a say, but it made sense. Gene got the stories from me.

Is the "voice" in the book yours? Does it read like you?

Adam: Well sure. I'm not quite arrogant enough to suggest I dictated the book exactly as it's written and Gene just jotted it all down for me. My thoughts aren't nearly that organized.
Gene: He actually said that just last week. Loudly, as I recall, and to a full bar.
Adam: That wasn't me; that was the ouzo.

Ouzo?

Gene: We were working on Hellenic Immortal. Adam loves to talk, but his recollections can be sort of all over the place. If I need to know about early Mesopotamia and he's suddenly drifted off into twelfth century Scotland, it's not particularly useful. Even if the Scotland story is fantastic. I discovered that sometimes finding a food or a drink that matches the era we're discussing helps him stay on-topic.
Adam: He plies me with drink.
Gene: That's another way to look at it.

I noticed you're not drinking now.

Adam: I don't drink all the time.
Gene: That's actually one of the things I find interesting about him.
Adam: That I drink?
Gene: No that you stop when you have to.

You covered a lot of ground in Immortal. Did you leave anything for future books?

Adam: Oh god yes. Granted a tremendous number of things that haven't been brought up weren't brought up for a reason.
Gene: Not that he has anything to hide.
Adam: I mean that not everything is worth telling. I may be an occasionally gifted storyteller but it's nearly impossible to make farming interesting. But Gene's already finished a second book on my time in Greece, and we haven't even touched on the Enlightenment yet. Or my merchant days on the Silk Road and the Orient, or…
Gene: Or Scotland.
Adam: Or Scotland.
Gene: And I'm only nearly finished the second book.
Adam: You're still not done?
Gene: I've been busy.


Is there a lot of philosophy in the second book?


Gene: Hardly any. Which I was surprised by.
Adam: I knew most of the big names, but to be honest the philosophical discursions weren't as interesting at the time as you might imagine. Attic was a fascinating place to visit, and those guys made for fantastic drinking buddies. But their ideas were only world-altering in hindsight.
Gene: Gods and religion come up more in the book. And wine. Lots about wine. You know, I should really get around to writing a tagline for it sometime.
Adam: In a way what the old philosophers talked about was a variant of religion. The even organized themselves into cults. Oh, and I misspoke. I said they all made fantastic drinking buddies, but not Descartes. He was just nuts. Aristotle was kind of anal too.

You knew a lot of famous people.

Adam: I knew my share. It was easier when there weren't as many people on the planet, just in general. As long as you were in the right city at the right time you had the odds in your favor.
Gene: I tried to downplay some of that. It occurred to me if I overdid it in the name-dropping I would have a Zelig on my hands. Or Forrest Gump I guess.
Adam: Zelig, please.
Gene: I also can't ever be completely positive he's not kidding.
Adam: I never kid about things like that.
Gene: "Shakespeare, Marlowe and Bacon walk into a bar…"
Adam: That was clearly a joke.

Last question: Is Adam going to be going to any book signings?

Gene: No.
Adam: That might be fun.
Gene: No.
Adam: No of course not. I have too many other things going on. But I wouldn't put it past Gene to pretend to be me once or twice.
Gene: I totally could not pull that off.
Adam: But you've thought about it.
Gene:…maybe.

Thanks to both of you!

You can learn more about Gene and Adam at Gene's website HERE.
If you would like to purchase Immortal, you can do so HERE.

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