Author Spotlight: James Moser, on Chasing Prophecy
I have always wanted to build a story around someone or something like Boo Radley, my all-time favorite literary character. I love how he dominates that book while remaining largely off-stage. I looked around the Seattle area and the closest thing I could think of was our local legend of Bigfoot. Once I had my own version of Nathan Arthur Radley in place, I started thinking a lot about monsters, especially monsters we make bigger in our imagination. I also thought about Boo living in society without being a part of it, which made me think of different separatist groups turned into cults. My young characters are based on bits and pieces of hundreds of former students.
The setting of Boulder Creek, Washington, like everything else in the book, is based on bits and pieces of lots of things. There is no town called that. Boulder Creek is where my wife and I hiked for our first date, in the foothills of the north Cascade Mountains. The mountains in my book look like the ones around Darrington, in Snohomish County. The main street is like Arlington (where I had my first teaching job). The log bridge is something I remember from a family trip to Yellowstone National Park, 1,000 miles away. People who have read Twilight will think Boulder Creek feels like Forks, which it does, because that’s what every small town in Washington feels like. The Bethlehem compound is the Boy Scout camp I attended in northern Idaho, complete with the same wood carvings on the fireplace.
My mission in writing this is to entertain adults and inspire young adults. Teenagers inspire the heck out of me, which is why I’ve been a high school teacher for so long. I wanted characters who transform themselves to overcome obstacles, which is what I watch them do, every day!
INTERVIEW Q & A
Q: How long have you been writing?
A: All my life, really. I’ve always kept a journal, written short stories, that kind of thing. Growing up, my mom drove us around in a lime green Pontiac station wagon with a broken radio. On long car trips, mom or my siblings would ask me to make up stories, to replace the radio. I’d look at the scenery and just start talking: “The dead body was found in the K-Mart parking lot.” And “The vampire looked for fresh blood in the Denny’s bathroom.”
Q: How did you come up with this story?
A: I always wanted to build a story around someone or something like Boo Radley, my all-time favorite literary character. I love how he dominates that book while remaining largely off-stage. I looked around the Seattle area and the closest thing I could think of was our local legend of Bigfoot. Once I had my own version of Nathan Arthur Radley in place, I started thinking a lot about monsters, especially monsters we make bigger in our imagination. I also thought about Boo living in society without being a part of it, which made me think of different separatist groups turned into cults. My young characters are based on bits and pieces of hundreds of former students.
Q: Where is Boulder Creek, Washington?
A: Like everything else in the book, it’s based on bits and pieces of lots of things. There is no town called that. Boulder Creek is where my wife and I hiked for our first date, in the foothills of the north Cascade Mountains. The mountains in my book look like the ones around Darrington, in Snohomish County. The main street is like Arlington (where I had my first teaching job). The log bridge is something I remember from a family trip to Yellowstone National Park, 1,000 miles away. People who have read Twilight will think Boulder Creek feels like Forks, which it does, because that’s what every small town in Washington feels like. The Bethlehem compound is the boy scout camp I attended in northern Idaho, complete with the same wood carvings on the fireplace.
Q: What was your mission in writing this book?
A: To entertain adults and inspire young adults. Teenagers inspire the heck out of me, which is why I’ve been a high school teacher for so long. I wanted characters who transform themselves to overcome obstacles, which is what I watch them do, every day!
Q: If you had to explain your book in one sentence, what would that sentence be?
A: Real monsters don’t always hide in the woods. Sometimes they turn out to be people we’ve known all our lives. OK that was two sentences, but not bad, right???
Q: Nicely done. How about interests? Hobbies?
A: Hitting refresh on Amazon’s sales ranking every 5 minutes. That’s been fun lately! Also, walking around with a silly smile on my face after our beloved Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl last weekend. You should have seen the people running around the streets of our neighborhood. It was CRAZY!!! Hanging with my eight year old son, Zachary, and my lovely wife, Laura. Reading and writing, of course. Learning to ski. Starting to suck less at it.
Q: New projects?
A: Yeah, I have a couple of things going on. I don’t think I’m done with young people and Bigfoot so I’ve been considering some kind of epic quest trilogy with those characters. The other thing I’ve been messing around with is a series of humorous essays (a la David Sedaris) about growing up, family, etc.
Q: What’s been most exciting about the book, so far?
A: The fan reaction, both on my facebook page & e-mail. Got my first couple of fan e-mails the other day—both from teens who know each other in New Zealand, of all places. That’s where my literary revolution is going to start, people: Down Under!
Thanks so much for such a beautiful and thoughtful presentation of my story! I LOVE IT!!! Good luck to everyone in the raffle & I hope you enjoy the book, Chasing Prophecy.
Jim the author in wet ‘n windy Seattle, Washington