Andrew Barger Interview
on
(Book #1 Infernal Trilogy)
Q: Dan Brown has
written a novel called
The Inferno that includes symbolism from
The
Divine Comedy. Are there any similarities between your book and Dan
Brown's?
A: I say this without
having read his book, but I am pretty sure no two novels that draw from the
same poem could be any farther apart. I wrote the first draft in 2008 and
revised it in 2009. The book was also registered the copyright tin the book. Then
I shelved it and finished off my first short story collection:
Mailboxes -
Mansions - Memphistopheles. My wife, Kyra, kept referring back to the
characters and different scenes in The Divine Dantes: Squirt Guns in
Hades. After a few months of this I finally got the hint that she wasn't about
to let me quit on the novel or the trilogy. In 2011 and the early part of 2012,
I finalized book I. With the dialogue and idiosyncrasies of the characters
fresh in my head in 2012, I immediately wrote
The Divine Dantes:
Paella in Purgatory (Book II) and
The Divine Dantes: Cruising
in Paradise (Book III) in the last half of 2012 and first half of 2013, respectively.
Q: What is your
favorite English translation of
The Divine Comedy?
A: The Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow version is the one I favor because there you have a nineteenth
century poet translating a poet from the Middle Ages. To me, a poet stands in
the best position to understand where another poet is coming from even though
centuries divide them. It takes one to know one.
Q: Why did you include
some of the classic illustrations of GustaveDoré in the books?
A: I think Doré has come
the closest of any illustrator to getting it right, to drawing on paper what
Dante must have been envisioning in his mind. Ray Bradbury in
Something Wicked This Way Comes said that
"Hell never looked better," when referring to the Doré illustrations of
The Divine Comedy.
There is a scene in book I where Edward T. Nad is forced to walk around Washington D.C.
in his bathrobe. This fit perfectly with the illustration of Dante walking
in his robe. I had to use it for that section of the book.
Q: Speaking of Edward
T. Nad, you did a great job capturing the unique speech and actions of a
twenty-something rocker. Were you ever in a band?
A: Unfortunately, no.
It would've been a lot of fun, but the problem is I can't play any instruments.
As Eddie would say, "That never stopped the Backstreet Boys!" My youngest
daughter is crazy good on the piano. I have no idea where she got it seeing how
I can't play one note.
Q: Do you have a dream
band you would have liked to be in?
A: The Cure. I even
blog about the band once in a while at disintegrationnation-cureblog.blogspot.com.
The four hour, epic sets they have been playing from their extensive back
catalog are unbelievable. I wish they would put out a new album, but I won't
get into that here.
Q: In
The Divine Comedy
Dante does not meet Beatrice until the end of the second book. How was this a
challenge in drawing parallels to the original poem?
A: That was one of the
biggest obstacles I faced when starting to write
The Divine Dantes.
Eddie is a larger than life character. I wanted Bea to be even larger. The
problem is, as pointed out, that Bea does not make an appearance on the chariot
until the end of the second book. To introduce her sooner I used back-story and
introduced her right in the prologue. Certain flashbacks keep her in
Squirt
Guns in Hades, along with the lyrics she wrote for the band's songs.
Q: You mentioned the
songs of the band. Edward Nad has trouble settling on a name for the band.
A: Boy, does he ever. I
had a lot of cool band names kicking around in my head and so I incorporated
them in the story. There are over sixty of them. I dedicated a page on my
Website that contains the entire list. For any fledgling band that adopts one
of them, I give them free advertising.
Q: Do you have a
favorite?
A: "Beelzebubbas" for a
Southern rock band always puts a smile on my face. "Apocalips" for a girl band is
cool, too. Don't get me started!
Q: Why did you set book
I in Florence, New York
instead of Florence, Italy?
A: There are a couple
reasons. I wanted Eddie to be an American rocker and to be from New York. I set the
start of book I in the fictional city of Florence
venued in Upstate New York. Eddie, who has never flown, is not a Big City
guy.
Q: You created a
Facebook page for your main character, Edward Nad. Why?
A: It's a way for Eddie
to live on outside the pages of the trilogy. Maybe it's digital therapy for me.
I was sad when I finished the trilogy. I felt like I knew the characters better
than most of my friends. When Eddie posts at facebook.com/Edward.nad.9 about
all things rock-n-roll, it allows him to live outside the books and to have
friends in the real world.
Q: Is there any Edward
T. Nad in you?
A: (Laughs)
More than I would like to admit.
