Author David Morrell
Rob Holden: David Morrell, welcome BACK to ReadersRoom.com -- and thanks for the effort it took to get you here!
David Morrell: Glad to be here.
Rob Holden: Let’s get right to your latest novel -- SCAVENGER -- just out
this month. Can you tell our readers a bit about it?
David Morrell: I call it "a desperate high-tech scavenger hunt for a lost
100-year-old time capsule."
Rob Holden: Okay -- let's start there. As you pointed out in your
fascinating afterward to the book, the term "time capsule" was coined in the 1930's -- but they have, in effect, been around for centuries. Can you tell us a bit about them?
David Morrell: Yes, the first object to be called a time capsule was
built by the Westinghouse corporation for the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, NY. A copper alloy torpedo was filled with objects and buried 50 feet underground, not to be opened for 5000 years. Why that long? Because it was theorized that recorded history was 5000 years old. Thus the time capsule was buried mid-way between the past and the future. To me this is very mysterious and evocative. What secret to life to time capsules hold? What is the profound message they want to send to the future?
Rob Holden: In the book, you touch on a number of "lost" time capsules that
were created in the last fifty years or so, all of them authentic. What sort
of reasearch were you able to do into those?
David Morrell: It's fascinating how many time capsules have been lost. One
town lost 17 of them. Another town asked five men to prepare a time capsule. After they did what they were asked, each died in rapid succession. In the process, they forgot to tell other people where the time capsule was buried. I'm fascinated by the
idea that the secret of life is lost in all these time capsules.
Rob Holden: I would like to leave Time Capsules for just a moment, and look into another fascinating aspect of the book, and that is how you have tied
the story into the video game world. Can you tell us a bit about how that
happened?
David Morrell: A thriller can be defined as an obstacle race and a scavenger hunt. For that reason, I called the book SCAVENGER and arranged for the plot to involve that kind of hunt. I then started thinking about other hide-and-hunt games, such as geocaching and letterboxing. This in turn led me into a much broader exploration of games, in terms of video game theory. Video games sometimes get a bad reputation because some of them have violent content. But I'm interested in their
form and structure. Taking a cue from Stephen Johnson's EVERYTHING BAD IS GOOD FOR YOU, I wanted to explore the way video games can change how we think. The rapid reflexes they require--and the seemingly instantaneous multiple decisions--arguably program players to be capable of parallel thinking and focused multi-tasking. This new way of perceiving reality is ultimately what the scavenger hunt leads to. Time is different in a video game than in reality. It passes at a different speed. In SCAVENGER, I deal with the nature of virtual reality as opposed to so-called actuality. Video gamers will find a lot of interest in the book.
Rob Holden: I suppose I have to ask, have you become a "gamer" as a result of your research into the games themselves?
David Morrell: Years ago, I was obsessed with video games. I played night after night until I fidgeted and squirmed and worked the control so hard that I literally caused the chair I sat on to disintegrate under me. When I fell, I nearly knocked myself out. Since then, I haven't played as often as I used to. Instead I immersed myself in video game theory. The ideas of Will Wright for example. I think we are headed in a new direction in terms of the way our minds operate.
Rob Holden: Without giving too much of the story away -- in essence SCAVENGER seems to be a story about a video style game being played with living, breathing human beings. All of the standard elements are present -- the starting point, specific rules, obstacles, end goal ... did you "see" what this game would look like in your head on a computer screen as you were constructing the story? (God, I hope that made sense.)
David Morrell: It made sense. I didn't want to create the feel of a video screen. I wanted to narrative to feel like reality but to also involve virtual thinking. For example, the average video game takes 40 hours to finish. That's how long the hunt in the novel takes, and if the players don't find the time capsule, they die. But in a video game, a player can use cheat codes to avoid lethal obstacles, or a player might die and then hit "save" and begin the game anew (reborn), able to survive that part of the game the next time because the player learned how to survive. It's possible to be reborn in a video game. But what if you were forced to play a game in which someone believed you would be reborn if you died? Just as you'd be reborn in a video game? To me, this is terrifying. How could you reason with someone like that? And what if the only way to survive the game was to begin to think in that
fashion?
Rob Holden: Which is a perfect segue to my next question. SCAVENGER – like your last novel CREEPERS -- takes place in a very limited, very structured period of time -- in this case basically 40 hours. Do you find the kind of tension created by these limited time frames to be a critical component of modern thrillers in general, and your work in particular?
David Morrell: It's not a technique that's normally used in thrillers. Usually, the action is a combination of dramatization and summary, as in "Five minutes later, he reached the second floor." The "five minutes" summarizes part of the action, but in CREEPERS and SCAVENGER, I didn't allow that technique to enter the narrative. In each scene, I dramatized every moment of every breath. Every step. It's a challenging method, and it doesn’t allow for people to sit around, ruminating in interior monologues about their motives. That would have impeded the second-by-second technique of the story. I could only characterize people by their dialogue and their actions. I couldn't use interior methods. That's very challenging. On a slightly different subject, the structure of the book is game like, involving 9 levels.
Rob Holden: We discussed how challenging writing in that sort of moment-by-moment style was when you were here last year discussing CREEPERS. In SCAVENGER, however, you run not one but two separate story lines in different locations. Did that essentially double the difficulty for you as an author?
David Morrell: It's the same technique, regardless if I use one character or two as viewpoint characters. Basically I just cut back and forth between Balenger (who is trying to find Amanda) and Amanda (who is doing her best to survive).
Rob Holden: Speaking of Frank Balanger, I was delighted to see him making a return appearance in SCAVENGER (even a little part of me said "oh why doesn't he leave this poor guy alone"! Is there something about the "damaged" quality Balanger has to him that attracts you to him -- or was he simply the right character for the story you wanted to tell here?
David Morrell: Both. SCAVENGER's plot requires that the people who are selected for the game have proven themselves to be world class survivors. Two mountain climbers who survived an ordeal on Mt. Everest. A woman who floated for 2 weeks in a lifeboat on the Pacific Ocean. A Marine aviator who was shot down over Iraq and hunted for 10 days. What Balenger and Amanda endured in the Paragon Hotel in CREEPERS put them in that class of survivor. But I'm also fascinated by Balenger's character. He was in the First and Second Gulf Wars. He has post-traumatic-stress disorder that wasn't helped by the Paragon Hotel. His psychiatrist recommended a form of therapy in which he tries to retreat into the past by reading only those books that evoke the past, by listening to music from former eras, by fixating on the History Channel. The irony is that every time he gets seriously involved with the past, he learns that sometimes the past is buried for a reason.
Rob Holden: As do the other characters in this novel. David, when we announced that we would be chatting with you this month, one of our readers wrote to ask if there were any plans to make CREEPERS into a movie (both she, and I, think it would be a good one!) So -- are there?
David Morrell: CREEPERS is currently under option to a film company. What that means is they have limited time to develop a script and secure financing for a movie. After that, the rights come back to me. So far they extended the option 3 times. MY fingers are crossed that they'll make the film, but over the years I learned that nothing is certain when it comes to Hollywood.
Rob Holden: If only Stanley Kubrick were alive today to do for the Paragon what he did for the Overlook!
David Morrell: I'm fond of a lot of things he did in THE SHINING, but I think he ignored too much great things in the novel--the topiary hedge for example.
Rob Holden: I know that you are touring extensively, and I don’t want to keep you much longer, but I do want to ask you about the video game that has been designed specially for SCAVENGER. Can you tell our readers a bit about that -- and where they can find it?
David Morrell: It's not exactly a video game. Strictly speaking it's an Internet game. It was designed by Deena Warner with some input from Nanci Kalanta at horrorworld.org. It's an ambitious 9 level game that requires problem solving and involves clues. Each level dramatizes a different topic in SCAVENGER: time capsules, geocaching, letterboxing, etc. It's great fun and allows players to win prizes. It can be played at www.SCAVENGERthegame.com. There's also a short game at the end of the book's 1-minute animated trailer (like a movie trailer). That can be found at www.SCAVENGERthebook.com.
Rob Holden: Well, as a pushing -50 fan of internet/video games I thought it was amazingly well done, and a lot of fun. So what is next, writing wise, for David Morrell?
David Morrell: In September, the first issue of my 6-part CAPTAIN AMERICA comic book series begin. Eventually all 6 issues will be collected in a book. Next year, there will also be a new novel, a spy novel, a genre I haven't gone into in almost 10 years. It's called THE SPY WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS.
Rob Holden: And I am assuming that your fans can keep up with both of those projects at www.davidmorrell.net.
David Morrell: Absolutely. Each month, I update the WHAT'S NEW page of my website. Lots of exciting things are happening.
Rob Holden: David, you jumped through a whole lot more hoops to get here today than I think any author we have ever had, and I would like to sincerely thank you for the effort. In closing, is there anything you would like to say to your fans who might read this chat at ReadersRoom.com?
David Morrell: I've been traveling a lot. That's for sure. Basically I just want to thank everyone for their interest in my work. I've been doing this for 35 years, and I wouldn't be able to keep doing it without the support of a lot of readers. I am much obliged.
Rob Holden: As are we. David Morrell, thank you for being with us here today, and best of luck with SCAVENGER, and all your upcoming projects!
David Morrell: Thanks to you as well. I'm glad to have been a part of this.
David Morrell: Glad to be here.
Rob Holden: Let’s get right to your latest novel -- SCAVENGER -- just out
this month. Can you tell our readers a bit about it?
David Morrell: I call it "a desperate high-tech scavenger hunt for a lost
100-year-old time capsule."
Rob Holden: Okay -- let's start there. As you pointed out in your
fascinating afterward to the book, the term "time capsule" was coined in the 1930's -- but they have, in effect, been around for centuries. Can you tell us a bit about them?
David Morrell: Yes, the first object to be called a time capsule was
built by the Westinghouse corporation for the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, NY. A copper alloy torpedo was filled with objects and buried 50 feet underground, not to be opened for 5000 years. Why that long? Because it was theorized that recorded history was 5000 years old. Thus the time capsule was buried mid-way between the past and the future. To me this is very mysterious and evocative. What secret to life to time capsules hold? What is the profound message they want to send to the future?
Rob Holden: In the book, you touch on a number of "lost" time capsules that
were created in the last fifty years or so, all of them authentic. What sort
of reasearch were you able to do into those?
David Morrell: It's fascinating how many time capsules have been lost. One
town lost 17 of them. Another town asked five men to prepare a time capsule. After they did what they were asked, each died in rapid succession. In the process, they forgot to tell other people where the time capsule was buried. I'm fascinated by the
idea that the secret of life is lost in all these time capsules.
Rob Holden: I would like to leave Time Capsules for just a moment, and look into another fascinating aspect of the book, and that is how you have tied
the story into the video game world. Can you tell us a bit about how that
happened?
David Morrell: A thriller can be defined as an obstacle race and a scavenger hunt. For that reason, I called the book SCAVENGER and arranged for the plot to involve that kind of hunt. I then started thinking about other hide-and-hunt games, such as geocaching and letterboxing. This in turn led me into a much broader exploration of games, in terms of video game theory. Video games sometimes get a bad reputation because some of them have violent content. But I'm interested in their
form and structure. Taking a cue from Stephen Johnson's EVERYTHING BAD IS GOOD FOR YOU, I wanted to explore the way video games can change how we think. The rapid reflexes they require--and the seemingly instantaneous multiple decisions--arguably program players to be capable of parallel thinking and focused multi-tasking. This new way of perceiving reality is ultimately what the scavenger hunt leads to. Time is different in a video game than in reality. It passes at a different speed. In SCAVENGER, I deal with the nature of virtual reality as opposed to so-called actuality. Video gamers will find a lot of interest in the book.
Rob Holden: I suppose I have to ask, have you become a "gamer" as a result of your research into the games themselves?
David Morrell: Years ago, I was obsessed with video games. I played night after night until I fidgeted and squirmed and worked the control so hard that I literally caused the chair I sat on to disintegrate under me. When I fell, I nearly knocked myself out. Since then, I haven't played as often as I used to. Instead I immersed myself in video game theory. The ideas of Will Wright for example. I think we are headed in a new direction in terms of the way our minds operate.
Rob Holden: Without giving too much of the story away -- in essence SCAVENGER seems to be a story about a video style game being played with living, breathing human beings. All of the standard elements are present -- the starting point, specific rules, obstacles, end goal ... did you "see" what this game would look like in your head on a computer screen as you were constructing the story? (God, I hope that made sense.)
David Morrell: It made sense. I didn't want to create the feel of a video screen. I wanted to narrative to feel like reality but to also involve virtual thinking. For example, the average video game takes 40 hours to finish. That's how long the hunt in the novel takes, and if the players don't find the time capsule, they die. But in a video game, a player can use cheat codes to avoid lethal obstacles, or a player might die and then hit "save" and begin the game anew (reborn), able to survive that part of the game the next time because the player learned how to survive. It's possible to be reborn in a video game. But what if you were forced to play a game in which someone believed you would be reborn if you died? Just as you'd be reborn in a video game? To me, this is terrifying. How could you reason with someone like that? And what if the only way to survive the game was to begin to think in that
fashion?
Rob Holden: Which is a perfect segue to my next question. SCAVENGER – like your last novel CREEPERS -- takes place in a very limited, very structured period of time -- in this case basically 40 hours. Do you find the kind of tension created by these limited time frames to be a critical component of modern thrillers in general, and your work in particular?
David Morrell: It's not a technique that's normally used in thrillers. Usually, the action is a combination of dramatization and summary, as in "Five minutes later, he reached the second floor." The "five minutes" summarizes part of the action, but in CREEPERS and SCAVENGER, I didn't allow that technique to enter the narrative. In each scene, I dramatized every moment of every breath. Every step. It's a challenging method, and it doesn’t allow for people to sit around, ruminating in interior monologues about their motives. That would have impeded the second-by-second technique of the story. I could only characterize people by their dialogue and their actions. I couldn't use interior methods. That's very challenging. On a slightly different subject, the structure of the book is game like, involving 9 levels.
Rob Holden: We discussed how challenging writing in that sort of moment-by-moment style was when you were here last year discussing CREEPERS. In SCAVENGER, however, you run not one but two separate story lines in different locations. Did that essentially double the difficulty for you as an author?
David Morrell: It's the same technique, regardless if I use one character or two as viewpoint characters. Basically I just cut back and forth between Balenger (who is trying to find Amanda) and Amanda (who is doing her best to survive).
Rob Holden: Speaking of Frank Balanger, I was delighted to see him making a return appearance in SCAVENGER (even a little part of me said "oh why doesn't he leave this poor guy alone"! Is there something about the "damaged" quality Balanger has to him that attracts you to him -- or was he simply the right character for the story you wanted to tell here?
David Morrell: Both. SCAVENGER's plot requires that the people who are selected for the game have proven themselves to be world class survivors. Two mountain climbers who survived an ordeal on Mt. Everest. A woman who floated for 2 weeks in a lifeboat on the Pacific Ocean. A Marine aviator who was shot down over Iraq and hunted for 10 days. What Balenger and Amanda endured in the Paragon Hotel in CREEPERS put them in that class of survivor. But I'm also fascinated by Balenger's character. He was in the First and Second Gulf Wars. He has post-traumatic-stress disorder that wasn't helped by the Paragon Hotel. His psychiatrist recommended a form of therapy in which he tries to retreat into the past by reading only those books that evoke the past, by listening to music from former eras, by fixating on the History Channel. The irony is that every time he gets seriously involved with the past, he learns that sometimes the past is buried for a reason.
Rob Holden: As do the other characters in this novel. David, when we announced that we would be chatting with you this month, one of our readers wrote to ask if there were any plans to make CREEPERS into a movie (both she, and I, think it would be a good one!) So -- are there?
David Morrell: CREEPERS is currently under option to a film company. What that means is they have limited time to develop a script and secure financing for a movie. After that, the rights come back to me. So far they extended the option 3 times. MY fingers are crossed that they'll make the film, but over the years I learned that nothing is certain when it comes to Hollywood.
Rob Holden: If only Stanley Kubrick were alive today to do for the Paragon what he did for the Overlook!
David Morrell: I'm fond of a lot of things he did in THE SHINING, but I think he ignored too much great things in the novel--the topiary hedge for example.
Rob Holden: I know that you are touring extensively, and I don’t want to keep you much longer, but I do want to ask you about the video game that has been designed specially for SCAVENGER. Can you tell our readers a bit about that -- and where they can find it?
David Morrell: It's not exactly a video game. Strictly speaking it's an Internet game. It was designed by Deena Warner with some input from Nanci Kalanta at horrorworld.org. It's an ambitious 9 level game that requires problem solving and involves clues. Each level dramatizes a different topic in SCAVENGER: time capsules, geocaching, letterboxing, etc. It's great fun and allows players to win prizes. It can be played at www.SCAVENGERthegame.com. There's also a short game at the end of the book's 1-minute animated trailer (like a movie trailer). That can be found at www.SCAVENGERthebook.com.
Rob Holden: Well, as a pushing -50 fan of internet/video games I thought it was amazingly well done, and a lot of fun. So what is next, writing wise, for David Morrell?
David Morrell: In September, the first issue of my 6-part CAPTAIN AMERICA comic book series begin. Eventually all 6 issues will be collected in a book. Next year, there will also be a new novel, a spy novel, a genre I haven't gone into in almost 10 years. It's called THE SPY WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS.
Rob Holden: And I am assuming that your fans can keep up with both of those projects at www.davidmorrell.net.
David Morrell: Absolutely. Each month, I update the WHAT'S NEW page of my website. Lots of exciting things are happening.
Rob Holden: David, you jumped through a whole lot more hoops to get here today than I think any author we have ever had, and I would like to sincerely thank you for the effort. In closing, is there anything you would like to say to your fans who might read this chat at ReadersRoom.com?
David Morrell: I've been traveling a lot. That's for sure. Basically I just want to thank everyone for their interest in my work. I've been doing this for 35 years, and I wouldn't be able to keep doing it without the support of a lot of readers. I am much obliged.
Rob Holden: As are we. David Morrell, thank you for being with us here today, and best of luck with SCAVENGER, and all your upcoming projects!
David Morrell: Thanks to you as well. I'm glad to have been a part of this.
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