Artificial Gods is the last in the Night's Dream trilogy, following We Shadows (4.5 stars) and Danse Macabre (5 stars).All Jasmine wanted was a calm summer in Pine Bush. When she sees a UFO her first night home from college, she is willing to brush it off as swamp gas reflected off Venus, until two men arrive at her door to harass her into silence about a picture she did not take. Soon she realizes Men in Black may be the least of her worries and that ignoring the Grays and their plans for her will only embolden them. If she doesn't figure out why she is so interesting to aliens, Men in Black, and a mysterious man who seems to brush off harm, she may not have an autumn to look forward to.
Here are Thomm's answers to my author interview questions:
1. Where/how
did you come up with the idea for your story? Did it suddenly pop into your
head or were you brainstorming?
My last
published novel was Artificial Gods, about the relationship of two
sisters overshadowed by UFOs and apparent agents one summer. The town where the story takes place, Pine
Bush, New York, is only an hour's drive from where I grew up and really has
played host to near nightly sightings of UFOs and associated strangeness. In my late teens and early twenties, some of
my friends had a small obsession with the town, based in part on the late Dr.
Ellen Crystall's book Silent Invasion, all about her research and
experiences in the town. Though I visited
a few times and, in the course of researching this novel, attended meetings of
their United Friends Observer Society, I didn't feel as though I was the right
person to write another nonfiction book about the phenomena. Aliens and the like fit very well in my
established fantasy universe, begun by We Shadows and continued in Danse
Macabre. I build up two very minor
characters in those novels to be the stars of Artificial Gods. In a lot of ways, this was one of the stories I was always meant to tell. I was a voracious reader of the paranormal from the time I learned to read—I have no idea why—and becoming a fantasy author seemed one of the better uses of this knowledge. When I was five or six, I remember having seen of the one Great Hudson Valley UFOs (frequent sightings of massive, triangular ships in the sky in the 1980s that aroused international attention). I was terrified, but also gratified. Now people would understand how weird the world truly was.
My parents insist they have no recollection of this object and it does seem like the sort of thing that would stick out in one's mind. That experience, especially how baffled people are when I mention this sighting, was seed enough to inspire this book.
My upcoming book, Flies to Wanton Boys, marries the aftershocks of Artificial Gods and Danse Macabre. The daemons—the catch-all term for those children of mythology that quietly roam the earth—are growing more brazen in their interference with humanity and they attract the worst kind of attention.
2. Did you
start with the main character, the world or the overarching concept?
The Night's
Dream universe had its origins in my idly wondering if the world might not be
much stranger than we are led to assume.
Most people are unaware because it is safer to ignore it. Those who are aware of the actual composition
of the world often go insane, if they are not first bled dry by a vampire or
spirited away to a fairy realm that no longer has residents. (It is named in honor of Shakespeare's “A
Midsummer Night's Dream,” where fairies torment and confuse human beings who
are never any the wiser.)I sketched out the rough idea, but it was nothing more than world-building. I needed a protagonist who could realistically inhabit and surmount this world, but everyone I tried to insert felt wrong and the story wouldn't coalesce around them. Around this time, a friend of mine killed himself. I coped by writing a story about it (“So It Passed,” which was featured in my anthology Find What YouLove and Let It Kill You), which I submitted to my local newspaper's short story competition. It was rejected outright, lacking both cheeriness and horse-riding, but I couldn't get the main character out of my mind. I slipped her into the world and suddenly it bloomed. This shy, damaged young woman who retreats into fantasy trying to cope with a death was exactly the sort who could succeed in the universe I created.
4. Are you
a fan of writing contests?
I would be if I
had been more successful. Honestly, I
see a lot of people either pander relentlessly to the flavor-of-the-week or
treat them as a popularity contest, neither of which is assuring that the
winner is a particularly good or marketable story. But, again, I might say this because I have
never won first place.
5. How did
you find your agent? How many query letters did you send?
I am currently
unagented. I have had professional
flirtations with a few literary agencies, but they tend to involve three months
of them emailing me and wanting more and more information, then either going
completely silent or closing up shop.
Double Dragon Publishing did not require the intercession of an agency
and have been unfailingly above the board, though I would not be averse to an
agent now that I am soon to have a fourth book out.In total, I think I have probably sent out a hundred query letters over the years and have gotten back perhaps thirty form rejections.
6. What's
the best marketing tool you've found so far?
I have become
increasingly active on Tumblr (thommquackenbush.tumblr.com). It allows me a more personal connection with
my fans and it's great when I'm reblogged by strangers.
7. What do you like best about your mc?
Jasmine was a new experience for me. Shane in WeShadows and Danse Macabre is a
dreamer and thinker. Presented with the
uncanny, Shane wanted to understand it and her place in reference to it. Jasmine wanted to avoid. She was a popular girl in high school
entirely because she was pretty and active in clubs. Though she is in college, the paranormal has
no place in her conception of the universe.
Like most people in my universe, the urge to ignore is powerful. It was tricky to work with someone who would
just as soon have not been involved with the events of the book. She wasn’t curious or adventurous about the
supernatural, so I had to frame her avoidance as her motivation. Thankfully, she had a more inquisitive
younger sister to goad her along
8. What do you like best about your main antagonist?
Possibly that there isn’t one, at least not a fixed
one. It is much more man-against-himself
and man-against-nature. There are a few
characters who act antagonistic from the viewpoint of the main characters, but
their motivations tend toward internal nobility; aside from the vampires in Danse Macabre, no one has been
explicitly evil. Even with the vampires,
it was more characters acting without a superego, the part that makes us want
to function as social creatures and not sociopaths. One of the main villains there still had
enlightened self-interest that could masquerade almost as a conscience. I am a fan of nuance. 
9. Please share any upcoming news and links so readers can follow you, find your books, etc.
Double Dragon Publishing Author's Page |
Facebook Fan Page | Goodreads |
Shelfari Author Page
Tumblr | Twitter
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