#BlogTour #Interview with Satirical Fantasy Author Josh Hickman

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.”

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Thanks for this interview, Josh.  Congratulations on your new book! Would you say it’s been a rocky road for you in regards to getting your book written and published or pretty much smooth sailing?  Can you tell us about your journey?

It’s been pretty smooth sailing so far, with perhaps a few wily sea serpents and an occluded front or two. But this book was perhaps the toughest to write so far. The controversial subject and mixture of tragedy and comedy were at times a tightrope walk of taste. This is my fourth comic novel and deals with the fascinating, frightening, and sometimes funny world of cults. My job was to reveal the pathos in the fragile side of humans that makes us all vulnerable to such deception and even self-deception.

If you were to pen your own autobiography, what might the title be?

…Whose Name Escapes Me At The Moment, or Ibid. or perhaps Italics Mine, self-conscious autobiography titles all. It will be funny and self-effacing to be sure. I’d like to write one soon, then write several more in the ensuing decades, constantly rewriting, rehashing, and correcting my own inflated life. I think that’s the best way to do it.

When not writing, what do you like to do for relaxation and/or fun?

I’m a big film fan, so I love watching and studying old movies, good and bad. I like both ends of the spectrum, just not the ones in the middle. I also paint, and I play music. I write more than I read, honestly. I also love to cook and eat, a wide international array of cuisines. When I’m not busy getting my hovercraft un-stuck from the moat of my castle.

What makes your book stand out from the rest?

The Kinfolk: Cult of Sex & Cheese is perhaps closer to the bone than my other comic novels, deeper in the heart of the human condition. It’s poking fun at how we lie to each other and how we lie to ourselves. It concerns how we pacify our own personal pain with delusions and by reading meaning into insignificant occurrences and people. Writing about these things wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, but it was cathartic, and in the end, fun and funny.

Can you give us the very first page of your book so that we can get a glimpse inside?

“…and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” – Acts 2:17, New Testament

Why did it happen? How did it happen? How could it happen? How, in late-20th century modern America? Sometimes it seems all we are left with is lingering, painfully haunting unanswered questions. But it did happen. And, although we may never fully know why, amassing fairly accurate answers to the when and how questions seems to be possible—an achievable task of hope, the beginning of an end. That is, I hope—I pray—what this excruciatingly-researched, exhaustively-composed tome will reveal—that and perhaps more.

How do these aberrations which seem to crop up time and again like deadly weeds through the decades in the veldt of humanity ever begin? Lost souls searching for meaning, sometimes utterly unaware they hunger for it. A charismatic leader. Proselytization. Conversion. Belief. Maintenance. Control. Easy words to throw around, but very difficult acts to conjure. At first, the shepherd serves his flock, but soon the flock must serve their shepherd.

If your book was put in the holiday section of the store, what holiday would that be and why?

April Fool’s Day. No, just kidding. What do I look like? Christmas, of course. Give the gift of laughter—the gift that keeps on giving.

Would you consider turning your book into a series or has that already been done?

No. All of my books are stand alone comic novels. Each one is about one subject, and I get all my thoughts and theories out in that one book. End of story. There are no sequels, prequels, or series. Not even for the money. (Well, I guess it depends how much money exactly we’re talking about. How much money are we talking about here?)

When you were young, did you ever see writing as a career or full-time profession?

Yes. And then I didn’t. And then I did again. Creative desperation can make one do strange things. Sometimes, when you figure out you can’t do anything else but write, you write.

Did any of your books get rejected by publishers?

No.

What is your view on co-authoring books; have you done any?

The idea gives me the creeps. Though I have been able to collaborate in other artistic endeavors such as painting and music. So, who knows?

What’s next for you?

I’m writing my fifth comic novel, a historic biography of a late 19^th-century/early 20^th-century British playboy and occultist dubbed The World’s Naughtiest Man, Beardsley Bancroft Luney. It should prove to be quite a hoot and will be out sometime next year.