Ask the Author: Brad Abraham
Answered Questions (11)
Brad Abraham
Magicians Impossible was conceived and written as a one-and-done story. That said if an opportunity to tell more stories in the MI world presents itself (and if I can come up with a killer idea) I'd be happy to dive back in. It all really depends on whether or not the demand is there.
Brad Abraham
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Brad Abraham
Middle Earth. The Shire, specifically. Some nice quiet bucolic agrarian paradise where I can just read, smoke pipe-weed, garden. Let the Bagginses of the world have great adventures. I'll happily mind the store.
Brad Abraham
Favorite fictional couple? That's easy - Hap Collins and Leonard Pine from Joe R. Lansdale's Hap and Leonard series (which I've been reading since 1996).
Hap and Leonard are part of that grand tradition of great partnerships - Holmes and Watson, Batman and Robin, Bert and Ernie - only more profane, more profound, and all-around more entertaining than all of the above combined. A black, gay, Republican Vietnam vet and a white redneck liberal peace activist would seem like an unlikely pair of friends and you'd be right - that's what makes them click as characters who don't feel like characters at all; they feel authentic - a rare feat but one Lansdale pulls off again and again and again.
Any time a new H&L book arrives it's like re-connecting with old friends who you've spent twenty years getting to know, who nonetheless find new ways to surprise you. Yes, I am excited the new H&L book Rusty Puppy arrives later this month - on my birthday, actually. Needless to say I know what I'm reading on my day of days.
Hap and Leonard are part of that grand tradition of great partnerships - Holmes and Watson, Batman and Robin, Bert and Ernie - only more profane, more profound, and all-around more entertaining than all of the above combined. A black, gay, Republican Vietnam vet and a white redneck liberal peace activist would seem like an unlikely pair of friends and you'd be right - that's what makes them click as characters who don't feel like characters at all; they feel authentic - a rare feat but one Lansdale pulls off again and again and again.
Any time a new H&L book arrives it's like re-connecting with old friends who you've spent twenty years getting to know, who nonetheless find new ways to surprise you. Yes, I am excited the new H&L book Rusty Puppy arrives later this month - on my birthday, actually. Needless to say I know what I'm reading on my day of days.
Brad Abraham
Thanks for your question, Esmira! Right now the hope and plan is for a collected edition sometime in Spring-Summer of next year. We're still trying to figure out the best way to do that. Hopefully a decision and announcement can be made soon.
Brad Abraham
As for what influenced creating this comic called Mixtape, you'll find that on page one, panel one of Mixtape #1. I was packing my things to move to New York, and I found this box full of old mixtapes and music magazine,s high school yearbooks, cards, letters -- I think everyone has a box of memorabilia like that. But I hadn't listened to these tapes in years, so I dusted off the old boom box and popped them in and it was an amazing experience. hearing those songs in that order just unleashed a wave of memories -- things I'd completely forgotten. And it made me think about that time in my life -- in everyone's life, really, when the music you listen to and the friends you listen to it with are the most important they'll ever be. It's such a short time too - five, maybe six years -- and then it's gone. It's a time in life that rarely gets documented, and by the time I got through those tapes I realized there was a story that everyone no matter their age could identify with. I just needed to figure out how to tell that story. Luckily I found some boxes of old comic books too, and Mixtape was born.
Brad Abraham
When you've been a professional writer for 17 years, "inspiration" often takes a back seat to "assignment". I do this for a living so my live is basically broken down into deadlines and scheduled writing periods. But I still need inspiration, and for me it's the idea that everything I write is just one big story, and I'm constantly adding chapters, scenes, and stories to it. Despite the long hours, the frequent disappointments, and the rare triumphs, writing still gives me an enormous sense of satisfaction. I can't imagine doing anything else with my life.
Brad Abraham
Currently I'm finishing work on Magicians Impossible, my debut novel coming from St. Martins Press in 2017. I'm also developing a WW1 set television series for Copperheart Entertainment, and a children's sci-fi series with Little Engine Motion Pictures. Oh, I also recently became a stay-at-home dad, so I'm a little bit busy these days.
Brad Abraham
Treat writing like it's your job, even if your actual job is something else. Set a schedule, set goals and meet them, work towards deadlines. Do that consistently, eventually writing will *be8 your job.
Brad Abraham
Being able to wear pajamas while I work.
Brad Abraham
By writing through it. That, and by having a plan of attack before I sit down to write.
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