Indie Book Promo would like to welcome Jonathan Gould to the blog!  He’s here to answer a few of our questions as well as tell us a bit about his books – his newest being Magnus Opum. I hope you enjoy what he has to share, and if any of his books sound interesting, please use the links at the bottom of the post to pick up a copy or two!

 

IBP – Tell us about your new release?

 

Jonathan – My new novel is called Magnus Opum. I like to think of it as an epic fantasy that’s slightly skewed. It’s set in a typical Tolkien-esque sort of medieval world, but that’s where the similarities with most conventional fantasy stories end.

 

The world of Magnus Opum is a most peculiar world, full of most peculiar beasts. There are the Doosies, a race of incorrigible gossips who spend their time sticking their (rather long) noses into other peoples’ business. There is the Blerchherchh, a rather brutal and unpleasant beast who eats all passers-by, but only after he has cooked them using the most refined gourmet techniques. There are the Kertoobis, a simple rustic folk who spend their time tending to their pflugberry crops with their borses (beasts of burden that look nothing like horses). And there is the seldom seen but much discussed diperagoff, but as it is seldom seen, it plays little part in the story.

 

Magnus Opum is really the story of Magnus, a mild-mannered Kertoobi who does the unthinkable and leaves his village in search of adventure. In the end, he finds himself in the middle of a major war, between the wise and fair Cherines and the beastly Glurgs. And he learns an awful lot, both about the big wide world around him and also about himself.

 

There’s a little bit of Tolkien, but there’s also quite a lot of Lewis Carroll, a smattering of Terry Pratchett, and even a dollop of Dr Seuss (according to readers anyway).

 

IBP – When did you decide to become a writer?

 

Jonathan – I’m not sure I ever decided to be a writer. I just wrote. Writing is how I try to make sense of the world. I look around and I see people behaving in strange and bizarre and unpredictable ways and I just don’t understand it. The only thing I can think of to do is try to turn it into a story. I still don’t understand it, but I guess it gives me a chance to turn some of that confusion into a creative outlet.

 

The idea of being serious about trying to establish some sort of “career” (possibly the wrong word but I can’t think of a better one) as a writer is something that only came to be several years after finishing university (where I studied things that were completely unrelated to writing in every way).

 

Since then, it’s been a big juggle to balance expectations, opportunities to write, and the reality of daily life, work, and family.

 

 

IBP – Do you read reviews written about your book?

 

Jonathan – Always. When I get good ones, I dance around the house and sing and give great big hugs to everyone I meet. When I get bad ones, I go into a dark corner and don’t come out for days.

 

Seriously, I think it’s worth reading reviews, as how else can you know whether your books are hitting the targets you’d like them to. I try not to get too upset by bad ones and too carried away by good ones, but it is nice to know that your writing can connect with others in really powerful ways.

 

IBP -  What are your guilty pleasures?

 

Jonathan – I refuse to feel guilty about any of my pleasures.

 

To be honest, I’m a pretty simple soul who can get by without too much in the way of luxuries. I do enjoy good food, especially Indian and Thai, but I am totally not into highbrow gourmet sort of stuff (I’m no Blerchherchh). And Lindt 70% cocoa dark chocolate is pretty special – but not the 85%, that’s just too bitter.

 

IBP – What’s the hardest part of writing a book?

 

Jonathan – I think it’s about the translation of your ideas into actual prose. You can get a fantastic idea, whether it’s for a scene or a character or an entire story. The craft of writing is taking the idea out of your head and turning it into a piece of written text that manages to capture the essence of that idea.

 

Often that idea which seemed so wonderful when it first came to you looks pretty lacklustre once you see it in its final written form.

 

Then again, sometimes it’s hard to even know whether you’ve captured the idea or not. That’s why having a few readers while you’re developing your book is especially important.

 

IBP – Did you know the title before you started writing?

 

Jonathan – Absolutely not. I always struggle with titles – I’m usually well progressed with the narrative before I can think of one. With this one, for a long time it was just my “fantasy story”. When people at work asked me about it, I began referring to it as my “magnus opum”, partly because I’m a sucker for spoonerisms and partly because it was bigger and longer than other things I’d written. A while later, it hit me that this was actually a pretty cool title (well, cool in my definition of the term), so all I had to do was change my main character’s name to Magnus (previously it had been Philo) and I had my title.

 

IBP – What inspired you to write, you took any ideas from other books, movies etc?

 

Jonathan – The ideas for Magnus Opum came from a few places. Obviously, one of the main ones was Tolkien. When I decided I wanted to write a big epic fantasy, that was the template I went to. And some of the key ideas in the story are based on twisting around some of the ideas in Tolkien’s work (which is why one of my pitchlines for it is Tolkien with a twist).

 

But Tolkien wasn’t the only inspiration. One thing I was interested in doing was throwing away some of the archetypes of fantasy and trying something really fresh. So instead of relying on stock character types like elves and wizard and goblins, I wanted to fill my world with a completely new set of races and beasts, with characteristics that I was free to invent as I went along. That was definitely one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing this story.

 

The inspiration for the different races came from a bunch of places – various news events, characters in books and on TV. Each of the various characters and races, the Pharsheeth, the Plergle-brots, the Great Oponium, and all the rest, evolved from a different idea and then found their natural place in the narrative.

 

IBP – Do you have an all time favorite book?

 

Jonathan – I’m not sure I can name an all-time favourite book. When people ask me this, there are always two I like to put forward. They’re a bit obvious and predictable but if I have to talk about the two books that most influenced and inspired me, they would be it:

 

•        The Lord of the Rings – for showing me the possibilities of story-telling, and creating worlds and characters that are utterly enthralling
•       The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy – for showing me how funny books can be, and how effective humour can be in a purely written form.

 

IBP – Where can readers find your books?

 

Jonathan – At good old Amazon of course. The link for Magnus Opum is:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Magnus-Opum-ebook/dp/B007QGNO1I/

 

My other books are also on Amazon, and at various other stores. You can check out my website for further information: http://daglit.blogspot.com.

 

IBP – If you could write outside your genre what would that be?

 

Jonathan – I don’t think I can answer this question. Everything I write is my genre. If I was to write something different from what I have previous written, it would still end up in my genre.

 

I like to call my stories “dag-lit”. Dag is Australian slang for someone who is unselfconsciously uncool. My stories have been described as combining a childlike innocence with an adult knowing. Sometimes I use the term “modern fairytale” to describe them.

 

Whatever story I might try to write, whether it’s an epic fantasy or a detective thriller (yes, I’ve had a go at that) or something else entirely, would always contain a strong strand of dag-lit running through it.

 

IBP – What is in the works for you next?

 

Jonathan – Always a bunch of things on the go and never enough time to work on them.

 

Next cab off the rank is a sequel to my novella, Doodling, tentatively titled Scribbling. This will relate the further adventures of Neville Lansdowne. In Doodling, Neville managed to fall off the world (because it was moving too fast). In Scribbling, Neville is sure to be thrown into more unexpected adventures, meet more bizarre characters, and experience more strange phenomena that defy the rules of both logic and physics in equal measure.

 

Hoping to have it up and running by the end of the year.

 

About Jonathan Gould

 

Jonathan Gould has lived in Melbourne, Australia all his life, except when he hasn’t. He has written comedy sketches for both the theatre and radio, as well as several published children’s books for the educational market.

 

He likes to refer to his stories as dag-lit because they don’t easily fit into recognisable genres (dag is Australian slang for a person who is unfashionable and doesn’t follow the crowd – but in an amusing and fun way). You might think of them as comic fantasies, or modern fairytales for the young and the young-at-heart.

 

Over the years, his writing has been compared to Douglas Adams, Monty Python, A.A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, the Goons, Dr Seuss and even Enid Blyton (in a good way).

 

You can connect with him, and follow his random thoughts and scribblings, at:

 

His blog, Dag-Lit Central    *   Twitter   *   Facebook   *   Goodread

 

Books by Jonathan Gould

 

Magnus Opum

 

An epic fantasy that’s slightly skewed – Tolkien with a twist

Purchase on Amazon

 

 

 

 

Doodling

A Goodreads Choice Nominee.

 

The unexpected adventures of a man who fell off the world (because it was moving too fast). Douglas Adams meets Lewis Carroll (with just a dash of Gulliver’s Travels)

 

Purchase on Amazon

 

Flidderbugs

 

A political satire, a fable, or maybe just a funny little story about a bunch of bugs with some very peculiar obsessions

 

Purchase on Amazon