Ask the Author: Isaac Marion
Answered Questions (59)
Isaac Marion
It's possible that I will broaden the release later next year. But first I have to focus on selling these 3,000 fancy hardcovers I'm printing, which is not going to be easy even with the whole world joining the party. I understand the difficulty of the expensive shipping, but I'm surprised to hear people grumbling about the shape and weight of the book. After following the story all these years, are the aesthetics of your bookshelf the primary concern...? I'd love to offer it in every possible format but keep in mind I'm doing this all myself with my own dwindling money, so there are some limitations. But also, almost every major book is released in hardcover first, then paperback a year later. The only reason that didn't happen with the UK editions of the Warm Bodies series is because they didn't fully believe in the books. But I do! :)
So yeah, it's just these 3,000 hardcovers for now. If I'm able to sell all these, THEN I'll do a paperback run, which will be distributed worldwide through Ingram Spark. But for now...I have to stay on task.
By the way, keep in mind that I added a discount for international orders. It will take $8 off the price of the book to compensate for that nasty shipping. I hope it helps!
So yeah, it's just these 3,000 hardcovers for now. If I'm able to sell all these, THEN I'll do a paperback run, which will be distributed worldwide through Ingram Spark. But for now...I have to stay on task.
By the way, keep in mind that I added a discount for international orders. It will take $8 off the price of the book to compensate for that nasty shipping. I hope it helps!
Isaac Marion
Yes, you can ONLY purchase it from my website. (isaacmarion.com) It will not be in stores. It will not be on Amazon. (Except the ebook) I'm probably only going to see a few thousand copies no matter where I sell it so I might as well actually keep that little bit of money. Also, this allows me to sign them!
"Boarded Window"—the Warm Bodies Holiday Special!—has never been up for purchase, it was an online-only special on the CityArts website, but guess what? I am revising and expanding it and I'm going to include a printed copy, signed and numbered, in every hard copy of THE LIVING.
"Boarded Window"—the Warm Bodies Holiday Special!—has never been up for purchase, it was an online-only special on the CityArts website, but guess what? I am revising and expanding it and I'm going to include a printed copy, signed and numbered, in every hard copy of THE LIVING.
Isaac Marion
Well, it depends on what series, doesn't it? :) I do find it fascinating that most of the comparisons I see are to books I'm not interested in at all. I've experienced this with pretty much all the art I've made, from writing to music to painting. The people who like my stuff like all the stuff I don't like. You would think there'd be some common connection in our interests, but for some reason it doesn't seem to work like that. Opposites attract, maybe?
Isaac Marion
Definitely THE LIVING. After three books of development and setup, this is the big payoff, where all those threads tie together in a big beautiful knot. It has many of my favorite scenes in the series, where I get to really dive into things that I only grazed in the previous books, like the weird fluidity of post-apocalyptic reality, the cosmic Library of all life, and, well...sex. I mean, this is the end of the story. Who doesn't love a good climax?
Isaac Marion
It has indeed been asked before, surprisingly often! I'm still not quite sure I understand the question...are you asking if I'm going to keep writing Warm Bodies books forever? Or if I'm going to completely quit writing once this story is finished? That idea kind of tickles me actually...that I came into this world and learned the craft of writing for just one story...One True Purpose...and when that story is told and that Purpose completed...I ride off into the sunset, never to write again. Haha. I love it.
But no, I am definitely going to keep writing! And no, I will never write about zombies again. I never really meant to get this deep into that niche, it just...happened. I will most likely never write about any big established pop culture thing again...except maybe ghosts. And robots. (Robot ghosts?) But other than ghosts and robots, it's just gonna be original content. People having problems in a variety of strange ways. I'm really excited to get out of this stifling genre box and start writing stuff that doesn't come burdened with a whole truckload of expectations and prejudices.
That said, it's all gonna be weird. Always some twist to reality, either subtle or global. Even if the story is essentially about relatable human relationships, those little twists get me excited and let me look at things from different angles.
But no, I am definitely going to keep writing! And no, I will never write about zombies again. I never really meant to get this deep into that niche, it just...happened. I will most likely never write about any big established pop culture thing again...except maybe ghosts. And robots. (Robot ghosts?) But other than ghosts and robots, it's just gonna be original content. People having problems in a variety of strange ways. I'm really excited to get out of this stifling genre box and start writing stuff that doesn't come burdened with a whole truckload of expectations and prejudices.
That said, it's all gonna be weird. Always some twist to reality, either subtle or global. Even if the story is essentially about relatable human relationships, those little twists get me excited and let me look at things from different angles.
Isaac Marion
I believe the Warm Bodies hardcover is long out of print, though there are used copies floating around. The New Hunger was released straight to paperback because it's too short for hardcover. And The Burning World...I don't know how that stock works, that's a Simon & Schuster thing. Don't worry about me for that one though, I'm never going to pay the advance back so I won't get any sales money no matter where you buy. For THE LIVING, though, yes! Me! Thank you!
Isaac Marion
What you just said was half of it. There was just something unexpected and sweet about it. But the "in-universe" explanation is that R is drawn to remnants of a brighter, simpler time when there was more to life than survival. To me, Sinatra epitomizes that whimsical "golden age," that innocent joy with a hint of naiveté that encapsulates R's idea of what it's like to be Living.
Isaac Marion
You're so welcome. I don't know if I was aware of it at the time but I was very deeply depressed at the time I wrote Warm Bodies and it ended up being a way of exploring and unpacking that condition in myself. Writing it helped me get through that valley and I'm always happy to hear it helped others too.
Isaac Marion
The Living is currently in the hands of my publisher awaiting a decision on when (and if?) to publish it. I haven't heard any official word on a release date, but since it will be finished within a couple months, I see no reason not to publish it as soon as possible and that's what I'm going to push for. So late 2017 is not official but it's my hope. The Living is I think my favorite piece of this whole story and I'm incredibly eager to share it with you.
Isaac Marion
Well thank you so much! Before you read Warm Bodies again, may I suggest moving on to the sequel? :) According to Booklist, it's not only "intriguing" but also "exciting" and even "epic"!
Isaac Marion
They're not directly connected but they come from a similar idea. Fire can mean a lot of different things. It destroys, but it also provides warmth and light. It can mean chaos and ruin, but it also implies passion and fervor. "The Burning World" is meant to evoke both of those things. In a literal sense, R is entering a world that's in chaos. Various forces are vying for power. There's war and mayhem. And it feels like the Fire Church might be right, that God is coming to burn it all down. But in another sense, it's a positive thing. R is stepping out of his dead gray internal life and into a bright, noisy, colorful world of heat and light and that demands a lot more of him. He's engaging with life again, and it's hard. It's his biggest challenge yet. So the title is meant to evoke both of these senses.
Isaac Marion
Actually, I've gotten very little pushback from Trump supporters, most of it has come from progressives who took a silly Twitter prank as Serious World News and then became enraged when they found out it this absurd dialogue was in fact fictional. Sadly, the left is a group whose sense of humor is rapidly shriveling in the heat of these troubled times. Very unfortunate because I believe humor is essential to surviving all this. When you treat everything with deadly seriousness, you give the antagonists all the power. Evil hates being laughed at. Putting it on an untouchable pedestal of seriousness is exactly what it wants.
Isaac Marion
SIZE.
He is a very large man.
Yes, he's a bit chubby, but he's also just fucking enormous. It's a lot of fun to hassle him because he's just this big pile of flub and floof into which you can dive face-first.
Also, I think he's pretty handsome. He has a black ring around his eyes like natural eye-liner and super bright green irises. Ladies love him. He's a sensual dude.
He is a very large man.
Yes, he's a bit chubby, but he's also just fucking enormous. It's a lot of fun to hassle him because he's just this big pile of flub and floof into which you can dive face-first.
Also, I think he's pretty handsome. He has a black ring around his eyes like natural eye-liner and super bright green irises. Ladies love him. He's a sensual dude.
Isaac Marion
Ok, I've explained this one thoroughly on all my other networks but I haven't covered Goodreads yet so let's do this.
That tweet that's been going around was part of an IMAGINARY dialogue I wrote between me and Donald Trump in which he attacks my book, The Burning World, for increasingly ridiculous reasons and I offer increasingly ridiculous rebuttals.
It was parody. It was fiction. It was not real.
The idea was to channel Trump's famously petty online persona to highlight some of the topical elements of the book--which are very real and sincere. It was a comedic framing device and a minor joke amidst the generally ignored stream of my Twitter feed.
Then to my astonishment, the first tweet in the series went MASSIVELY VIRAL, being ripped away from all context and thrust into a national spotlight for which it was never designed. Suddenly famous activists were reposting it as further evidence against Trump's character--as if any more is needed--and people were rallying to my cause to defend me against Trump's attacks and...
...it got weird. It got out of hand. And a lot people got mad about it, claiming I "lied" and created "fake news" in order to boost my sales. This is a perspective I can't understand, because fiction is not lying. Parody is not lying. And the random tweets of a fiction writer are not "news," fake or otherwise. I did not submit them to CNN to be reported to the world. There is no reason they should be held to the standard of national events coverage. They are a fiction writer's tweets.
I can understand being a little embarrassed for thinking a joke was real, but the fact that parodies of Trump can be mistaken for fact no matter how absurd they get should embarrass only one person.
And yes, the book IS against everything he stands for, so I have no doubt he would hate it if he ever...uh...had someone read it to him.
That tweet that's been going around was part of an IMAGINARY dialogue I wrote between me and Donald Trump in which he attacks my book, The Burning World, for increasingly ridiculous reasons and I offer increasingly ridiculous rebuttals.
It was parody. It was fiction. It was not real.
The idea was to channel Trump's famously petty online persona to highlight some of the topical elements of the book--which are very real and sincere. It was a comedic framing device and a minor joke amidst the generally ignored stream of my Twitter feed.
Then to my astonishment, the first tweet in the series went MASSIVELY VIRAL, being ripped away from all context and thrust into a national spotlight for which it was never designed. Suddenly famous activists were reposting it as further evidence against Trump's character--as if any more is needed--and people were rallying to my cause to defend me against Trump's attacks and...
...it got weird. It got out of hand. And a lot people got mad about it, claiming I "lied" and created "fake news" in order to boost my sales. This is a perspective I can't understand, because fiction is not lying. Parody is not lying. And the random tweets of a fiction writer are not "news," fake or otherwise. I did not submit them to CNN to be reported to the world. There is no reason they should be held to the standard of national events coverage. They are a fiction writer's tweets.
I can understand being a little embarrassed for thinking a joke was real, but the fact that parodies of Trump can be mistaken for fact no matter how absurd they get should embarrass only one person.
And yes, the book IS against everything he stands for, so I have no doubt he would hate it if he ever...uh...had someone read it to him.
Isaac Marion
It's so interesting what a loaded word "zombie" is. When I'm describing my books, there's a visible shut-down in people's faces the moment I say it. You'll notice shows like Z-Nation and iZombie (campy) say it freely, but Walking Dead (serious) avoids it. Even back in 2013 when the Warm Bodies movie was coming out, Summit knew this and tried to avoid it as much as possible. When I attended their press junket, they actually told me and all the actors to say "the undead" instead of "zombie" because their test groups had shown that people shut off when they hear the z-word.
And I totally get it. "Zombies" have become so inextricably linked with a certain aesthetic, a certain bargain-bin realm of ultra-formulaic B-movies and B-books, corny jokes and kitschy merchandise. It's almost a one-word punchline. So if you're trying to do something different with the concept of undeath, you'd be wise to avoid it.
I didn't avoid it in Warm Bodies, because Warm Bodies was partially a joke. It was partially a winking inversion of the zombie genre, so I couldn't avoid that connection. But now that the joke is over and I'm moving on into the deeper implications of a world where the dead come back to life (or half-life), it's a problem.
Because zombies are silly, and this isn't silly anymore. It's not about green ghouls stumbling around groaning "braaaains." It's about people in a dark state of consciousness fighting to recover their humanity. So what do I call these people?
I never found a great solution to the problem. I do say "zombie" here and there in THE BURNING WORLD but I usually say "the Dead" instead. Or "Dead man" "Dead person" etc. It's not perfect, because it only works in prose where you can see the capital D. In real life, you'd have the problem they had in the movie where they called them "corpses"—those words already mean something. How do you differentiate? You can't use the same word for an inert carcass that you do for a walking, talking human body. That's confusing.
So...basically, I don't know. I have generally been going with "dead people" and just making sure the context implies that they're "not QUITE dead." It's a bit imprecise, a bit poetic, but I guess that's the type of story I'm writing.
And I totally get it. "Zombies" have become so inextricably linked with a certain aesthetic, a certain bargain-bin realm of ultra-formulaic B-movies and B-books, corny jokes and kitschy merchandise. It's almost a one-word punchline. So if you're trying to do something different with the concept of undeath, you'd be wise to avoid it.
I didn't avoid it in Warm Bodies, because Warm Bodies was partially a joke. It was partially a winking inversion of the zombie genre, so I couldn't avoid that connection. But now that the joke is over and I'm moving on into the deeper implications of a world where the dead come back to life (or half-life), it's a problem.
Because zombies are silly, and this isn't silly anymore. It's not about green ghouls stumbling around groaning "braaaains." It's about people in a dark state of consciousness fighting to recover their humanity. So what do I call these people?
I never found a great solution to the problem. I do say "zombie" here and there in THE BURNING WORLD but I usually say "the Dead" instead. Or "Dead man" "Dead person" etc. It's not perfect, because it only works in prose where you can see the capital D. In real life, you'd have the problem they had in the movie where they called them "corpses"—those words already mean something. How do you differentiate? You can't use the same word for an inert carcass that you do for a walking, talking human body. That's confusing.
So...basically, I don't know. I have generally been going with "dead people" and just making sure the context implies that they're "not QUITE dead." It's a bit imprecise, a bit poetic, but I guess that's the type of story I'm writing.
Isaac Marion
That's a really interesting question, and the answer is...I have no idea! I have essentially zero communication with any of the foreign publishers. But it's something I wonder about all the time, because translation isn't just a clean conversion from one language to another, like GIF to JPG. That might work for a textbook, but the more distinctive and stylized a piece of writing is, the more the translator has to filter it through their own creative lens. In some cases, the translator must be basically writing a novel of their own, loosely based on the original.
The weird reality is, I play absolutely no role in that process. WARM BODIES has been translated into 25 languages, and not once has a translator contacted me to ask about an idiom or clarify the intention of a sentence. They are 100% winging it. And I have no way of ever verifying the quality of a translation because—duh—I don't know the language.
So I really have no idea what's in those editions. I know that a lot of them change the title—without my input, of course. Most of them I never even hear about, but I know it's HOT BLOOD in Portuguese, MY PALE FRIEND in German, and MR. ZOMBIE in Dutch. And one can only assume if they change the title, they're changing other stuff too—possibly even major edits, abridgments, censorship, etc. But I'll never find out either way, because I have a hard enough time communicating with the publisher right here in New York, so the ones in other countries speaking other languages might as well be on other planets. It bothers me, not knowing what's being put out there with my name on it, but there's not much I can do. I can only hope some eager bilingual fan would let me know if they see anything egregious!
The weird reality is, I play absolutely no role in that process. WARM BODIES has been translated into 25 languages, and not once has a translator contacted me to ask about an idiom or clarify the intention of a sentence. They are 100% winging it. And I have no way of ever verifying the quality of a translation because—duh—I don't know the language.
So I really have no idea what's in those editions. I know that a lot of them change the title—without my input, of course. Most of them I never even hear about, but I know it's HOT BLOOD in Portuguese, MY PALE FRIEND in German, and MR. ZOMBIE in Dutch. And one can only assume if they change the title, they're changing other stuff too—possibly even major edits, abridgments, censorship, etc. But I'll never find out either way, because I have a hard enough time communicating with the publisher right here in New York, so the ones in other countries speaking other languages might as well be on other planets. It bothers me, not knowing what's being put out there with my name on it, but there's not much I can do. I can only hope some eager bilingual fan would let me know if they see anything egregious!
Isaac Marion
I think that's the first time I've ever heard "fucking" used as an adverb. I like it!
I'd say it's highly unlikely The New Hunger would ever be a movie in itself. If The Burning World gets adapted, though, I could imagine key events from TNH showing up in flashbacks. If the adaptation is anything close to the book, they'd have to get it in there somewhere, because some of those events become very important in the sequels.
I'd say it's highly unlikely The New Hunger would ever be a movie in itself. If The Burning World gets adapted, though, I could imagine key events from TNH showing up in flashbacks. If the adaptation is anything close to the book, they'd have to get it in there somewhere, because some of those events become very important in the sequels.
Isaac Marion
If my publisher and I do our jobs, you will definitely know when the sequel is published! I'm planning to make quite a circus out of this one because I've never been more excited about a book. It's called THE BURNING WORLD and it comes out February 7th, 2016. The final book, THE LIVING, will probably come out around the same time the following year.
Thanks for the support; I can't wait to share the rest of the story with you.
Thanks for the support; I can't wait to share the rest of the story with you.
Isaac Marion
Well, I've been working on two sequels to it: The Burning World and The Living. And despite having declared them "finished" several months ago, I'm still working on them! Books are like TV characters: they're not really done until you see a body and a funeral, and maybe not even then. I'll be editing The Living throughout 2016, but The Burning World is very very close to done. I'm currently waiting for notes from my editor and then I'll be tackling my final draft. And then I'll be turning it in to the copyeditors, and then doing another final draft. And then another. And then drinking a lot.
Isaac Marion
Speaking from pure, innocent speculation, I'd say it's certainly possible. On a practical level: the first movie made a profit, was a minor hit even, so Lionsgate has every reason to pursue a sequel. But there are so many pieces that have to come together--writers, directors, actors, etc--that it's far from a certainty, even if it makes sense on paper.
On a story level it's challenging, but not because of the changed ending, which would be fairly simple to integrate into the beginning of The Burning World. It's more a question of what kind of movie they need to make. If they need to keep it in the exact same mold as Warm Bodies-- a sort of bittersweet comedic fairy tale--they may struggle with the adaptation, because The Burning World significantly expands the scope and scale. It's kind of an epic now, exploring a bigger, more complex world and dealing with characters and relationships in a more complex way. So if they do decide to adapt it, I think they'd have two options:
1. Embrace the escalation and make two movies, a little darker and more mature, willing to commit to a big post-apocalyptic fantasy with serious themes--without dropping the sweetness or the wry touch.
2. Chop up both The Burning World and The Living and mix them together to make one film in the same template as Warm Bodies, which will only loosely resemble the books but hopefully retain some of their spirit and be a good film in its own right.
Obviously I'd prefer option 1, but I think 2 could still be good. Or--in the wrong hands--both options could be disasters! That's the gamble of these things and the reason no choice is obvious. More than anything I just want people to read these books. I'm so excited for 2016.
On a story level it's challenging, but not because of the changed ending, which would be fairly simple to integrate into the beginning of The Burning World. It's more a question of what kind of movie they need to make. If they need to keep it in the exact same mold as Warm Bodies-- a sort of bittersweet comedic fairy tale--they may struggle with the adaptation, because The Burning World significantly expands the scope and scale. It's kind of an epic now, exploring a bigger, more complex world and dealing with characters and relationships in a more complex way. So if they do decide to adapt it, I think they'd have two options:
1. Embrace the escalation and make two movies, a little darker and more mature, willing to commit to a big post-apocalyptic fantasy with serious themes--without dropping the sweetness or the wry touch.
2. Chop up both The Burning World and The Living and mix them together to make one film in the same template as Warm Bodies, which will only loosely resemble the books but hopefully retain some of their spirit and be a good film in its own right.
Obviously I'd prefer option 1, but I think 2 could still be good. Or--in the wrong hands--both options could be disasters! That's the gamble of these things and the reason no choice is obvious. More than anything I just want people to read these books. I'm so excited for 2016.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more