And All the Devils are Human, pt. 89: Except the What?

“…Gerardine, before you go."
"What, dear?"
"I saw some people in the street that looked like guys I went to high school with. By the Village Hardware.”
“What? One town over? When?”
“Earlier today, on the way here. And over the last few days. Teenagers in jackets and blazers. Running around like they were hungry or lost, sleeping under trees. Like everybody else was. Their clothes turning to rags. It’s almost like they followed me. Or sitting in public, staring into space. It was like they were there so I could see them! Thousands of people, everywhere. Impossible to drive, impossible to take the subway. Couldn’t do anything. To get here on time, what was it, 45 miles? I got up at two AM. One time I saw a kid, he was fighting an older man. They both looked alike. That was the second time I came across something weird. It was early morning. I’d just got up, myself. The sixteenth?”
“You went looking for your wife, yes.”
“And I didn’t have one…”
“…Who knows what it all... You are continuing to distract me. It must be one in the morning.”
“It’s two. The clock is—“
“Then I will be right back.”
“Just tell me I belong here.”
“You belong here. After I come in with your case I will sit with you and finish my coffee, and then I am going to bed. And tomorrow you’ll tell me about all the other weird things.”
“After drinking—“
“Old people can do anything, how many times have I told you that?”
“Except the high hurdles.”

Too amused and annoyed to answer, Gerardine gives him an imperious look, turns away and leaves the kitchen/ Ozzy moves to a chair by the one she’d sat in, and feels even more beached than before/

“almost showtime.”
“the sleeping mind is a magnificent canvas.”
“so you did pay attention while we were being shown dream induction?”
“of course…”

Copyright 2008 by K. Griffiths. All rights reserved.

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And All the Devils are Human, pt. 88: Further Outside the Gate

“anthony locked us…?”
“he’ll pay for that, in the old coin.”
“…so, do we wait for him to come back this way?”
‘ “don’t want ‘our other project’ to get too dry on the vine. so no.”
“fine. did we bring a ladder?”
“if we can’t climb... we’ll look for the servants’ entrance.”
“surely, why not.”
“that’s how the visigoths got into rome, after all.”
“very funny. and do what then? put hand towels over our arms and say, ‘allow me to take your order…’”
“wulf, this is my realm of expertise. no worries.”
“let us not forget who we're we’re talking about. the classical approach is not worth trying. we have been told by our teachers how much good it did.”
“we are not our teachers. i will talk you through this. and i asked you not to call him ‘saint.’”
“pardon! it doesn’t help that he expects us.”
“of course he expects us! a sneak attack was never a possibility!”
“so…”
“what.”
“the direct approach, slightly rejiggered.”
“i am seriously suggesting it.”
“we do need a win.”
“though it is not assured. the man is river deep and mountain high in angels.”
“none of which he can currently see, kindly do recall. whereas he will be able to see us.”
“okay... walk left or right?”
“that’s my partner…”

Copyright 2008 by K. Griffiths.

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Interlude III: Interview with D.H. Nevins

“Given my advanced age, I still think of books as books, and not e-books, which are a completely different tactile experience. I think.”
-Helps t’ write what ya know… --War
“Or, as William Goldman once said, what you can make people believe!***
In any case, Ms. Nevins, I mean a thing and not a file! When one person sees another reading a particular book, they can easily assume something like ‘Oh, yes, they like historical novels’ or ‘Hey! Sci-fi!’ We all know that as writers we’re cut up into genres. John O’Hara was a ‘short story writer.’ Neil Simon wrote ‘theater comedy.’ That may explain why O’Hara got slammed whenever he tried to write a novel (unless you’re talking about BUTTERFIELD 8 or APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA), or when Neil Simon got serious with The Prisoner of Second Avenue. At what point does possibly being referred to as
‘an author of horror fiction’ irritate you, and could you say something about the positives of ‘the bookstore rack divider’? For as long as bookstores continue to exist, anyhow.”

----- D.H.: Well, since you’re the first person to classify Wormwood as a horror, I can’t say that classification quite bothers me yet. I suppose if enough people classify my writing a certain way, there must be reason behind it. I believe that The Horsemen said something along those lines, that if enough people believe a thing, it can help make it so. Anyway, if I get classified a certain way, I guess that it means my writing takes on the characteristics of that genre. It is what it is. That wouldn’t bother me. Many authors take on pen names if they find they’re pigeonholed into a certain genre, and wish to write as ‘someone else’ for a while. It’s far too early to tell if I’ll ever need to do anything like that. A writer needs to become popular first!

Readers rely upon the labeling of genres when selecting books to read. We need to classify things in order to find items that suite our personal tastes. A horror fanatic, for example, is looking for certain elements in a story, and would be grossly disappointed if they picked up a romance by mistake.

“Many critics are decrying the current state of ‘horror’ fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, et cetera. Should they?”

----- D.H.: Absolutely not. From the beginning of time, critics have decried the state of everything. As long as times continue to change and people try to adapt and innovate, there will always be someone lamenting the loss of ‘the good old days.’ Always.

“Last question.”
-The sands run/ --Death
“Well, they’ll do that anyway, won’t they?”
-Given --Death
“WORMWOOD is brand new, admitted, but would you care to say anything about what else is on the virtual workbench?”

----- D.H.: Dare I say it? A sequel!

“I want to thank you for your time, Ms. Nevins, and so do my, ah, companions. Hopefully.”
-A bit self-flattering, there, but it will do for now. Our compliments, Goodwife. Nevins. Scribe… --Pestilence
“No offense, gentlemen, but let’s not do this again any time soon.”
-Thought th’ lady had some stuff t’ ask us. –War
“Oh. Right. Well, then…”

D.H.: I appreciate this chance to talk about my work, and … uh … humanity, with you. Thank you so much for asking questions that were both thought provoking and intelligent. I hope my answers didn’t lower the caliber of the conversation too much.

And now, Horsemen, I wonder if I should be worried by your willingness to succumb to my scrutiny in return? In any case, I suppose it’s too late to back out now.
Right this way, if you please….

http://www.dhnevins.com/dh-nevins-interviews-the-four-horsemen.html.

New York, NY
10-4-11

* from King Lear III:6; by William Shakespeare
**From ‘Certainly the End of Something or Other, One Would Sort of Have to Think’ by DFW, from The New York Observer, June 1998
***From THE SEASON, by WG, 1969

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Interlude II: Interview with D.H. Nevins

“And now for a question from Famine.”
-One running concern through much of this book of yours is a ‘sense of entitlement’ which this ’Kali’ has that she has any right to a future; is there anything other than the survival instinct which keeps her going? –Famine
‘As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods,’* after all… --Pestilence

---- D.H.: Absolutely. There’s the obvious fear of death and of the unknown, but she’s also driven by love, by a desire to protect others, and even, to a certain extent, by her trust in Tiamat and in his assertion that she must live in order to fulfill a purpose. And Pestilence, Kali completely agrees with you.

“At what point for you as an artist, personally, Ms. Nevins, does ‘art’ become ‘titillation’, or in this particular genre, if you prefer, where does the red line sit between, say, Stephen King’s THE STAND and the SAW movies?”
-Don’t think any of us can add anything t’ this one. –War
-I would concur. Too subtle. –Pestilence

----- D.H.: To some, art has always been seen as titillation. It simply comes down to one’s perspectives and individual tastes. If the form of art appeals to a person’s senses, hurtles them through emotions and causes them to experience fear, does that keep it from being art? Art and titillation should go hand in hand; one doesn’t negate the other. Of course, this is based on the supposition that what we’re talking about is art to begin with—and even that is based on such subjectivity.
As for a red line between genres, I couldn’t say that there’s always a concrete one. It’s common for elements to overlap, making absolute demarcation difficult when it comes to classifying some books. I think we’d have to look at the frequency of certain elements in order to take a stab at fair classification (excuse the pun). The SAW movies are easy to classify (typical ‘slasher’ film) because they rely on a frequent visual barrage of gore and violence in order to frighten and entertain, whereas a well written horror only needs an intermittent infusion of the same, relying more upon plot and suspense to move the story forward. It’s the potential of this gore or violence that helps to make the story frightening. Now, based on those arguments, I doubt Wormwood could even be classified as a horror. Yes, it encompasses some elements, but there are probably more elements that hail from the fantasy, thriller and even romance genres. I suppose this is why I have such a difficult time classifying it for my readers.

“Why do you suppose ‘man-made’ eschatons (end-of-the-world tales) like Nevil Shute’s ON THE BEACH, the movie THE DAY AFTER, or Walter Miller Jr.’s A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ have fallen out of favor?”

----- D.H.: I don’t think they’ve ever fallen out of favor. Some contemporary examples are the wildly popular Terminator and Matrix movies (apocalypse via man-made machines), The Book of Eli (nuclear war), Resident Evil movies (zombies created from a man-made virus) and even the older Mad Max films (again, nuclear war).

“Why have sequels remained so popular in sci-fi, horror and fantasy? I say ‘remained’ because they’ve been a factor in these genres at least since E.R. Eddison’s WORM OUROBOROUS trilogy, all the way to the TWILIGHT series.”

----- D.H.: Well, I’m hardly an authority on the matter, but I’d be happy to provide my perspective, as flawed and subjective as it is. Firstly, I don’t know of too many horrors novels (not movies) that have sequels, so I won’t discuss them here (what would I say?) I personally find that science fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction tend to lend themselves to sequels due to the nature of the stories and setting. These tales often involve the creation of a completely different world or time, and require far more detail than the average piece of general fiction. This extra detail involves an extra investment of time and energy from both the author and the reader, but if done correctly, completely transports the reader to this other time or world. Perhaps this extra investment, coupled with the excitement of ‘discovering’ a new world, drives the desire to continue on with it through more than a single tale. On a strictly personal level, I’m always thrilled to learn that there’s a sequel when I feel personally invested in the story, characters and setting; I want it to continue.

“Death has the next.”
-Who was that author which said all ‘EOTW’ stories are solipsistic because when the solipsist dies, he or she takes the world with them? –Death
“The late David Foster Wallace.”**
-Thank you. Ah, Mistress Harding? True/ or false/ and why? Or why not? --Death

----- D.H.: Ha! I guess you could look at it that way, especially if the protagonist is the last person standing. But then, any story told from a solipsist’s view will still have the world cease to exist upon their demise, if we were to take a solipsist’s viewpoint that only the ‘self’ can be proved to exist. When they’re gone, does that mean there will be nothing?

-In explanation, assuming it is warranted: you understand, madam, we have never actually read a book. We have come by what little we know of human authors – as opposed to that exposition which is divinely inspired – by other means entirely. Best that I not speak further. –Pestilence
“Can’t help but agree! Here’s one from your humble interrogator. The Abel character’s sense of superiority over the narrator Kali is interesting, given that the Qu’ran tells us how the Creator ordered all angels to bow before the first man but Al-Shaitan (or Lucifer) refused, saying ‘I am better than he. You created me from fire, whilst he is made of clay.’ (Surah 7, verses 11,12) Given how pride is one thing the human race has learned that they should not have (else maybe we might not be the equivalent of, as the late Dr. Terence McKenna once called us, ‘territorial apes with thermonuclear arsenals’)… well, some of us… is this a fault that the Nephilim possibly inherited from humanity? Or is this something already in their makeup which they were forced to suppress?”
-And whence did the human race learn it? Or did they always have that flaw? Your thoughts, if you will. --Pestilence

----- D.H.: Abel had a number of factors working against him. He is half-human, so he is capable of feeling any human emotion, and also has some typical human flaws. On top of that, he grew up knowing he was different and was forbidden to have any type of contact with humans. He had a very lonely childhood, and became incredibly resentful of the humans around him that were able to share love and experience closeness. Finally, Abel had powers that his human counterparts didn’t, and this power corrupted him. Resentment, coupled with his power, turned into feelings of superiority. All of the other Nephilim went through similar experiences as they were growing up, though it affected each one differently.
Pestilence, I believe you are better suited to answer that question than I am. Your 2000 years on the Earth versus my 38 have probably made you more of an expert on the human race than I could hope to be. Besides, I’ve heard about your interest in the human brain!

Continued in Interlude III. All rights reserved.

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Interlude I: Interview with D.H. Nevins

THE FOUR HORSEMEN (and their humble scribe) INTERVIEW D.H. NEVINS,
Author of WORMWOOD (Black Wraith Books, Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

“On the third night, I heard a voice/ and it spoke in a tongue that was strangely familiar/ I felt the breath of an angel, I thought/ as it grazed across my cheek…”
James Matus/ Thorne Palmer, from “Monuments” (1998); copyright by the authors

About the Author:
D. H. Nevins earned a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Windsor and a Bachelor of Education from Brock University. As a teacher, she had spent years encouraging students to write before she decided to follow her own advice. Two years later, she published “Wormwood.” She lives in a rural part of Ontario full of forests and lakes, and incorporates her personal experiences and beautiful scenery into her works.

She loves to connect with others and can be contacted or followed a number of ways:
Website: http://www.dhnevins.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/dhnevins
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/133020440053518/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5158514.D_H_Nevins

About Wormwood:
Wormwood by D. H. Nevins is a post-apocalyptic thriller you’ll never forget. Against a devastated landscape, a legion of one hundred fierce half-angels is hell bent on purging the Earth of all humans. But one of them, the tormented Tiamat Wormwood, struggles against his mission, and when he rescues a beautiful woman named Kali, he finds the attraction as troubling as it is miraculous. Can Kali trust the one creature who could be responsible for her ultimate demise? Beautifully written and excitingly told, Wormwood creates a world that is as strange as it is compelling. Filled with brilliantly executed twists and turns on every page that are guaranteed to keep you guessing, Wormwood is one of the most exciting debuts of the year.

Please visit D.H. Nevins’ website for more information and purchase links: http:www.dhnevins.com/

“Good evening, Ms. Nevins. I am your humble interrogator. Often over the last 3 decades, I have also been the humble scribe for four personalities who claim to be characters from the Book of Revelations. Well, more than enough about them. I have read WORMWOOD and think it’s very good. I think that there are points in which the narrator, Kali Michaels, tells us what she is feeling as opposed to exhibiting those feelings, but that’s as close to a negative evaluation as I have. She’s still young, after all, so that might well be the way somebody her age talks (I certainly wouldn’t remember).
A good example of your contrasting sense of subtlety is, for example, your having Kali call one of her horses ‘Paris’ (the female one, naturally); I got a chuckle out of that because one of my least favorite Roman emperors, Domitian (81-96 C.E.), had an actor named Paris murdered in the street after his wife began an affair with the man. He was supposedly the most handsome man of his generation, and had an ego to match, so says Suetonius in his LIVES OF THE CAESARS. That was what I immediately thought when I saw the reference. You of course may well have meant a different Paris altogether. Oddly enough, it works both ways. I did want to mention that no ‘spoilers’ will be added in or referred to here!
Another positive is that the structure of the story (if not the plot) is classic in its sense of horror fiction history. It comes directly out of Poe, Bierce or Blackwood. H.P. Lovecraft could have read this and understood it from his point of view, in his own time—

[Something yawns, somewhere. Four immense shadows approach from the background]

-Is that time, or Time that you mean? –Famine
“Welcome.”
-We don’t have long. Or would that be yourself? -- Pestilence
“Very funny. Ms. Nevins, let me introduce the Horsemen. I believe you know all their names.”
-There are veils and there are veils/ either we, or you, wear them all/ --Death
-Like my bro’ said, we don’t have long. –War
“So glad you qualified that. Do you know, I believe this is the first time we’ve all occupied the same space.”
-It sure is th’ first time we’ve actually conversed, I’ll tell ya that. --War
-For that very reason, among others, I will request that you not turn around. –Pestilence
“No problem there. What about Ms. Nevins?”
-Your correspondent can’t see us from where she sits/ why do you think I mentioned the veils, before? –Death
“Oh. I thought that you were improvising one of those poems of yours. Gentlemen, the lady doesn’t have all day.”
-I believe I said that first. –Pestilence
“So you did, sir. First question for our interogatee. If that’s a word. As I said, congrats on coming up with a very fine read. Authors who use eschatology for their stories often tend to muddle the details, as John Updike does, for example, in his 1998 novel Toward the End of Time. The problem with this gambit, to my mind, is that there are certain paths to apocalypse which have been laid out for us which are well-worn due to their having been handed down to us from generations which can’t be counted. No one knows who wrote Gilgamesh. No one knows who ‘invented’ Ahriman, the very first known anti-deity or primal evil spirit—“
-Ya never know, maybe he invented himself. –War
-Very funny. –Pestilence
“That said, how does one retell the path to the eradication of the human community without following one of the many prescribed paths and still make it believable?”
-Let me qualify that further. The human survival instinct; what disadvantages does it have? --Pestilence

----D.H.: First of all, thank you for having me here. It isn’t every day that a person has the privilege (or the misfortune, depending upon the situation) of speaking with the Four Horsemen and their knowledgeable scribe.

I’m pleased that you found my eschatological approach—that is, my approach to the end of the world, and to humanity—to be believable. Instead of focusing on a single path, what I did was combine elements from a variety of myths about the apocalypse. The predominant religions that influenced Wormwood’s plot are Hindu, ancient Babylonian, and of course, Christian.

And Pestilence, there are always disadvantages to the human instinct to survive, especially in fiction (it really provides some juicy fodder for the author). A person’s desperation to survive could have negative consequences upon another, for example. The fight for survival takes a person down to the basest of instincts, and much can happen in the absence of morality.

“Lovecraft was quoted to have said that the greatest human fear is fear of the unknown—“
-I would have said, fear of punishment/ but never mind –D.
“How could we put that fear aside? Would a search for transcendence
help?”
-Yeah, and is art a form of transcendence, and is it transcendent enough? What about this ‘horror fiction’ that so many of humankind seem to like? Is that transcendent enough? Or is it something else? –Famine

---- D.H.: That’s quite the philosophical question. To start with, I believe transcendence, in this sense, is a state of mind. As for quelling fears, I imagine that a search for transcendence could potentially do that, though a person that’s unsuccessful may inadvertently increase their fear of the unknown. But I really think it all comes down to one’s perspective. Person A might experience a form of transcendence simply through contemplation of a blade of grass, while others might never experience it. Art probably helps, but you likely have to be in the right frame of mind to begin with. I have doubts over whether horror fiction would qualify, however! I don’t think escapism is synonymous with transcendence. Additionally, I think that if anyone is hoping to reach a form of transcendence through the pages of a book, they should probably skip Wormwood.

“Why do tales of conflicted angels interest us as much as they do? Equally, your Tiamat character has instructions from Above, but he clearly has not been told what the endgame is, or given all the necessary background. Is this one reason for his inner conflict? How much does his, to put it delicately, human side play a part? Moreover, all we appear to know of angels is that they do as they are told. Where did you get the notion that they can have their own opinions?“
-Given how our own experiences with them have dovetailed with your suppositions nicely… --Pestilence

---- D.H.: Yes, his lack of information certainly adds to his personal anguish, and this conflict does stem from his human side. He knows he’ll be required to carry out horrific deeds, though not knowing specifically what or when grind him down. He also fears he’ll be required to kill someone close to him, particularly Kali.
Half-angels have a significant role in my book, so I needed to have characters that were layered and interesting. Angels that mindlessly follow instructions would not provide very stimulating interaction, so I made them into half-angels, which would allow them to realistically take on human qualities and weaknesses.

Continued in Interlude II. All rights reserved.

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Commentary may go to the hyperlink at the end of any post, or to the following email addresses:

war@warfampestdeath.net

famine@warfampestdeath.net

pestilence@warfampestdeath.net

death@warfampestdeath.net

"A good writer is an expert on nothing but himself. And on that subject, if he is wise, he holds his tongue." --John le Carre

Exactly how interesting can the author be, anyway, when nobody has any idea where their creativity comes from or how the mechanics of inspiration works? Maybe it's something we all have access to. Maybe it's a sluice that empties into your head when you're facing in a particular direction and thinking a particular series of things. Then again, maybe not.
However benevolent inspiration really is, to say nothing of what it is, I suspect that any good fictional character is a lot more interesting than the person who dreams it up. So mine speak for me here.