Why Gavin Patchett, and Why Clifton Heights? A Guest Post from Author Kevin Lucia
Author Kevin Lucia has been touring the blogosphere discussing his upcoming book Things You Need from Crystal Lake Publishing. The entries thus far have been centered around fictional author Gavin Patchett. Today, we "hear from" Kevin himself:
So Gavin
Patchett's going to take a backseat today as I talk a bit about where the idea
of a fictional altar ego came from, and why I seem to keep writing stories
taking place in my fictional town of Clifton Heights, New York. First of all,
Gavin Patchett.
Where'd he come
from?
Well, I've
always been intrigued by fictional authors meant to stand in as altar egos of
their creators. Probably the first I ever encountered was Timothy Underhill,
the “author” of Peter Straub's Koko, Mystery, The Throat, In the Night Room,
and lost boy lost girl. To me, it seemed like an amazing concept. As
writers, we spend so much time crafting our fictional worlds, and depending on
the subject matter, even though the plot details are fictional, we lovingly
craft tales which seek to convey “truth.” The idea that we could craft
characters which stand in for us, in some ways speak for us, conveying
those “truths” we hold so dear?
I loved it.
Other authors
have done this, of course. Stephen King not as specifically as Straub, but his
Narrative Voice is so often very present, and – though many fans criticized it
– I loved it when he wrote himself into the Dark Tower. The idea that
King was fated to create and chronicle Roland's story, that all the universes
depended on it, and that something sought to prevent King from finishing
Roland's story, that King himself was frightened of what he had to
write?
Again, I loved
it.
From the very
beginning, the thought of both a mythos and a fictional chronicler of this
mythos as a stand-in for me held great appeal. I remember, one year, when Abby
and I were on a short vacation down in Pennsylvania, driving through the
Camelback area. I wish I could remember the exact location. In any case, we made
a wrong turn and found ourselves driving through what was, for all intents and
purposes, a boarded up and closed vacation town of sorts.
Right then I
thought: what a great framing device! Abby and I – actually using our real
names – make a wrong turn while on vacation in the Adirondacks, and find
ourselves in a ghost town. Exploring a few buildings, I come across a
manuscript (I never exactly worked out where or how) which detailed the events
leading to the town's demise.
Now, that
initial version of Clifton Heights never came to be. Does destruction loom in
my small town's future? Do I someday need to blow it up, so I can move on to
other stories, much like King did to Castle Rock in Needful Things?
Who knows? Let's
be honest, for a moment: I still operate, for the most part, in the small
press. Even with forthcoming releases from Cemetery Dance Publications – two
novellas, entitled Mystery Road and The Night Road (unrelated,
despite the similar titles) – I'm not exactly at the point where I'm too
concerned that I've written myself into a corner. I teach full-time, and that's
not going to change any time soon, so my “living” doesn't depend on my art.
Though I want to make good business decisions, I also only want to write
stories I feel personally drawn to.
I only want to
write Truth.
So I can't
really say what will happen to Clifton Heights. In some ways, it's sad that
Charles L. Grant left us before answering the mysteries behind his
haunted small town, Oxrun Station (sadder still that I never got to meet him),
but in some ways: maybe it's for the best. Maybe knowing why Oxrun
Station is cursed would've proved to be a disappointment. And who knows? Maybe
Grant never would've told us.
So maybe that's
what I'll do. But then again, I'm Kevin Lucia, not Charles L. Grant, nor could
I ever hope to be him. I have to
be me and write what's in me, so I guess we'll just have to wait
and see what the ultimate fate of Clifton Heights is.
Why write so
many stories in one small town? I know I'm leaving the Gavin Patchett issue
dangling, but this feels like a natural segue. Anyhow – why keep writing
stories one small town? Don't I see it as...limiting?
Not at all. I
mean, I can confess to thinking lately that I'd like to write something else
completely unconnected to Clifton Heights, and in different genres. Those ideas
are still percolating, however, and are very unformed. For the moment, most of
my extant projects are solidly rooted in the Clifton Heights/Webb County
mythos.
Why?
On one level,
simply this: I write what I love to read. I love King's Castle Rock stories.
When I discovered Gary Braunbeck's Cedar Hill, I leaped for joy. I was floored
to realize Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes by
Ray Bradbury occurred in Green Town, Illinois, as does many of his short
stories, and The Halloween Tree. When I discovered Charles L. Grant's
Oxrun Station, and the series of anthologies he edited about the fictional,
cursed Greystone Bay?
I felt like I'd
come home.
At the end of
the framing narrative for one of his novella quartets, when Charles signed his
name Charles Grant, Oxrun Station, identifying himself as the
unnamed author living in Oxrun Station, fated to chronicle the events of his
strange town, I knew I wanted to do that, too.
So I've always
wanted to do this. Even before I discovered all these other wonderful
universes, I realized that one of my initial failed Clifton Heights novels
contained many small vignettes which might be turned into short stories. The
idea occurred to me of selling those first, before writing a full length work
in that town. Quite simply, this is what I've always wanted to do.
Secondly, as
I've sought to refine my craft and tell more human stories trafficking in “Truth,” I've thought more and more about
the kind of people who inhabit a town, and what kind of stories they have to
tell. I'm not sure I'm always successful, but even as I'm writing “weird,
strange” stories with speculative or horror tones, I'm always thinking about
the main character's story, and what it has to tell us. Once my mind started
down that avenue, I realized that the stories in Clifton Heights were
limitless...as well as the shadows which lurked in them.
When I'm
solicited for a story, or am writing a story for submission, I don't
consciously think: “I am now writing another Clifton Heights story.” I focus on
that character's story first, and go from there. It just happens to take place
in Clifton Heights, is all. If all these strange stories build up the
foundation of my strange town? All the better.
So where did
Gavin Patchett himself come from?
As I said, the
idea of a fictional author standing in for me has always lurked around in my
head. The name Gavin Patchett, however, actually comes from a close brush I had
with writing under a pen name.
I've talked
before about how I initially considered seeking publication in the Christian
Bookseller Association, simply because I felt as a Christian I was “obligated” to write a “Christian” novel for
a “Christian” publisher. Through those early years, I built up some contacts
with acquisition editors at CBA houses, and I kept in touch with them, even
after I'd started selling my first horror short stories to secular presses,
even after my first solo work, Hiram Grange and the Chosen One, was
published as part of the The Hiram Grange Chronicles from Shroud
publishing.
In the course of
that, discussions grew between myself and the acquisitions editor of a CBA
publisher that actually wanted to start publishing horror and supernatural
thrillers (ironically, they now only
publish Amish Fiction, and have regressed from being a traditional, royalty
paying publisher to POD publisher; last I heard, anyway). I was working on a
supernatural thriller, and upon hearing the synopsis, this editor was
interested.
I did point out Hiram
Grange, however, which was PG-13 or at best a very mild R in terms of
language, innuendo and violence. She agreed that she probably should read it
herself, first. The odd verdict?
She loved it and
thought it was exciting, fast-paced and engaging. It could, however, prove
problematic if I wrote a supernatural thriller for them, which might in turn
lead readers to Hiram, if they liked my work. She had to admit that for the most part, even
considering the fact they were intentionally branching out to horror and
supernatural thrillers and suspense, the majority of their readership was
“Christian soccer moms.”
So, we decided
on a pen name. Gavin Patchett and his unfortunate fall from New York publishing
was born. Several things thwarted Gavin's debut as my pen name, however. First,
I wasn't able to wrangle that novel to its conclusion (which sadly happened to
several other novels afterward).
Most
importantly, however, was the reality of Christian publishing. This publisher's sales of “Christian” horror
and supernatural suspense simply weren't promising, were indeed falling. They
decided that new authors would be published through a POD platform first, with
no royalties, and no distribution. Distribution and traditional publishing would
only occur if said author's sales showed enough “potential.”
Sadly, talks
fell through (which, again, proved moot point, as I was never able to finish
that novel). There seemed no advantage
to writing for this publisher under a pen name, because even if their reach is
somewhat limited, the horror small press at least has a long, respectable
history, and holds an important place in the horror community. I don't know if
anything has changed, but at the time, there very little place in the Christian
fiction community for small press publishers. Ironically, the fate of this
publisher proved very ironic, as they eventually reverted from their bold
experiment of pushing Christian “horror” to producing the most bankable kind of
fiction in the CBA: Amish Romances.
In any case,
Gavin Patchett was now at loose ends. I didn't want to get rid of him, because
I'd gone to the trouble of crafting his background . I wasn't sure what to
do with him, but eventually, he became the main character of the first short
story I ever sold, “Way Station.” He then popped up in another short story,
“Lament,” which takes place five years after “Way Station.” By the time Joe
Mynhardt from Crystal Lake solicited a short story collection from me, I knew
what I wanted to do.
Gavin Patchett
was born. And then, in Devourer of Souls (though Gavin doesn't make an
appearance), I committed to his meta-fictional existence by having Chris Baker, (Clifton Heights sheriff) and
All Saints priest and headmaster, Father Ward, talk about Gavin's return to
publishing with the release of his new short story collection, Things Slip
Through. Gavin Patchett writing as me was born.
Where will I go
with Gavin? Unsure. I just finished edits on the first draft of Gavin and
Father Ward's first full-length novel, The Mighty Dead, in which I
embrace him completely as the meta-fictional author of most of my
stories. I say most, because another Clifton Heights resident, Kevin Ellison –
framing device character of Through A Mirror, Darkly and new owner of
Arcane Delights, a used bookstore he inherited from his father, Brian Ellison –
is really the author of A Night at Old Webb and the forthcoming Mystery
Road, both of which are much lighter, more optimistic tales of Clifton
Heights. “Kevin Ellison” also recently finished an extensive outline for a
sprawling coming of age novel, When We Were Young, a book Gavin
Patchett, unfortunately, could never write.
THINGS YOU NEED is now available for Pre-Order at http://getbook.at/Thingsyouneed
"Kevin Lucia is this generation's answer to
Charles L. Grant." - Brian Keene, Horror Grandmaster Award Winner, author of THE END OF THE ROAD
"This is sophisticated adult fiction. With an edge. At times,
the book virtually becomes folklore: clever, witty, elegant folklore, with a
sting – many stings – including moments of iconic dread." - Robert
Dunbar, Bram Stoker Award Winning Author of THE PINES and WILLY
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