Q&A with Jon Evans (summer reading)
BOOKS & AUTHORS | A short Q&A with Jon Evans.
In the summer of 2005, I was asked to produce a huge summer books preview piece for Dose magazine. I conducted short email interviews with authors who had books coming out that summer to get quotes for the piece. This Q&A with Jon Evans is one of those interviews, reproduced here in full. A clipping of what published in Dose appears below.
Jon Evans’ Dark Places, 2004.
Jen Selk: What do you think makes a good summer book?
Jon Evans: “A summer book should transport you into its world like a daydream.”
“Anything that makes you dwell on your own life or your own problems is all wrong for summer.”
How would you rather vacation in the summer? Beach, wilderness or cottage country, road trip, or city, and why?
“I’d combine two. Do a beach-hopping road trip down one of the world’s great ocean highways. Say, California’s Highway 1, South Africa’s Garden Route, India’s Goa Coast, Croatia’s Dalmatian Highway, or Australia’s little-travelled west coast.”
“Spend a couple days at a beach lounging around, then hop into your car and vroom a few hours up the shore to the next; repeat forever.”
If you were stranded on a desert island (sorry, dorky question, I know), and you only had one type of book with you, what would it be and why?
“Hrmmm. This is embarrassing, but I don’t actually read much in the mystery/thriller genre. I used to be a huge science fiction fan, but that ended about ten years ago for some reason. I think I’d go for magic realism – Salman Rushdie, Ben Okri, Gabriel Garcia Marquez – because they teach you to see magic wherever you are, even a desert island.”
Your book Dark Places seems to be marketed mostly to men. Do you think men prefer that sort of story (or genre) and if so why? And why would women like it too (assuming they would)?
“I think men imagine themselves as the worldly traveller/investigator, a la Dark Places’ protagonist, more so than women. Although that’s changing. Nowadays you’ll find as many women as men travelling in Africa or Nepal. And beyond the obvious hooks – the intrigue, the murders, the exotic locations – the book is really about community, modern tribes, a theme probably more interesting to women. (Most of my fan email is actually from women, which is interesting.)”
Anything else you want to say about summer books or your book that you think might appeal to Dose‘s 18-34 year old demographic readership?
“Go travelling! Life is short. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow. So seize the day, think of that faraway place you’ve always wanted to go, Peru, or Namibia, or Turkey, or Indonesia, and this summer, never mind the cost, never mind the consequences. Don’t just think and talk about it, actually do it. Actually go. I guarantee you won’t regret it.”
“This is heartfelt, but also obviously a canny marketing ploy on my part too. People who do this are suddenly smack in my target market.”
Jon Evans is a Canadian writer (author, novelist, journalist), as well as an adventure traveler, and software engineer. Find him on Twitter, @rezendi.
More from this series:
Published in Dose, June 24, 2005.