Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Impetus and Research in Josh Hickman's The Kinfolk: Cult of Sex and Cheese & Giveaway! #interview #giveaway @thenoblegasses

Impetus and Research in Josh Hickman’s The Kinfolk: Cult of Sex & Cheese

By Josh Hickman

Sometimes you have the impetus for your next book right in front of your face, and you can’t even see it. I did quite a bit of research for my new comic novel The Kinfolk: Cult of Sex & Cheese, but what I hadn’t realized is I had already done a lot already. I had been interested in cults since college or before and for years had read books and watched documentaries about them, at the time, daily checking news on Scientology and the falling NXIVM cult. Out on one of my soul-searching early morning walks, browbeating myself for an idea for my next book, it hit me. I called a friend of mine and gleefully admitted the obvious, “A comedy about a cult! Of course! I’ve already done half the work!” Well, I hadn’t done half the work as I was to find out, but I had made a very good start, and not only was the inspiration and interest already there, they had been for years. So, for the next month or two, I refreshed my memory on tales and facts I had known, and I dove far deeper into the shadowy subject. I read books and articles and watched videos on every cult I found quirky or interesting, also bothering to absorb information on some I didn’t. And I consciously chose to research a broader spectrum—not just making notes on Synanon, Jonestown, the Manson Family, Scientology, the Source Family, the Center for Feeling Therapy, and a dozen or more others, but I also read at least portions of Without Conscience by Dr. Robert D. Hare, Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and Snapping: America’s Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change by Flo Conway, among several other excellent books. Don’t just stick to Wikipedia, obviously. I think researching a little beyond your original intended scope can often give you a broader, better perspective. I also found lectures on youtube easy, helpful, and concentrated, such as those on cult thinking and mind control by Robert Jay Lifton and Margaret Singer. I usually find a point, after a certain amount of work taking notes and jotting down ideas, scene scenarios, and snippets of possible dialogue, when I say to myself, “I think I kind of know what I’m doing now. I know what this is about and what I’m going to say.” And then I start writing. That is not to say I don’t go back often for new details and information, or that I don’t get stuck at times and have to momentarily return to the drawing board or even clean the slate partially. In the end, a fact-based or fact-inspired novel should, of course ,still be your own, coming from your own mind, in your own voice—be it a faux biography, a historical parody, fictional political satire, whatever. Your book should not just be a dry collection of slightly altered facts or a pile of rehashed internet searches. Keep most of the harsh facts in your head and more of your voice at your fingertips.

About the Author

Equally fascinated with horror movies, comedians, and true crime since early childhood, Josh Hickman spent equal time wading in the heady waters of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, the Three Stooges comedy shorts, and Helter Skelter while growing up in various parts of Texas. When he became a writer, Hickman incorporated his comedic sensibility and lifelong love of the horror and true crime genres into his satiric writings. His past comic novels also include the fictional comedy bio THROUGH TICK & TINN: THE TRUE STORY OF THE GREATEST UNKNOWN COMEDY TEAM EVER KNOWN and the illustrated surreal, cautionary high-seas treasure-hunt saga AMBERGRIS. Hickman lives and works in Hollywood.

His latest book is the satirical fantasy, The Kinfolk: Cult of Sex and Cheese.

Visit his website at http://www.joshhickmanbooks.com.

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About the Book:

Title: THE KINFOLK: CULT OF SEX AND CHEESE
Author: Josh Hickman
Publisher: Polyester Press
Pages: 299
Genre: Satirical Fantasy

BOOK BLURB:

Hollywood Author Josh Hickman will release his latest brand of satirical, humorous books in mid-November. In the author’s new book, THE KINFOLK: CULT OF SEX AND CHEESE he explores the maddening world of cults. Mr. Hickman’s new novel follows his last satirical fantasy book, FIVE SLICES OF FEAR, that has received much critical praise from book reviewers.

Hollywood writer Mr. Hickman releases his new book as the fourth in a fantasy book series he has created and published. In THE KINFOLK: CULT OF SEX AND CHEESE he chronicles the rise and fall of a “seductive, fanatical cult” led by the enigmatic Dillman “Papa Dilly” Bradford.

With THE KINFOLK: CULT OF SEX AND CHEESE once again fact meets fiction in the funny fantasy worlds author Josh Hickman creates. This time his fascination with cults has produced a fresh, yet familiar cast of charlatans, rubes, losers, and lucky fools, finding laughs in the cult impulse, religious fervor, and the common pathos of the average person who will do anything to find solace and belonging. Once more, author Hickman focuses his gaze on tragic comedy that is human existence--with all its fears, pitfalls, trials, and triumphs--and again he speaks hilarious truth to power in his latest entry THE KINFOLK: CULT OF SEX AND CHEESE.

“For as long as I’ve read books I’ve always been a huge fan of comedic novels,” Hickman asserted. “It was time I decided to start expressing my own comedic side of creative writing.”