Art by Amy Salomone
I’m an emotional motherfucker. People think I’m stoic and composed because of my Capricorn Sun and Capricorn Rising, but I have a lot of water in my chart. Basically, this makes me sensitive and emotional as hell. I cried earlier this week reading some of the reviews for God’s Leftovers from complete strangers, other writers, and friends. It feels good to know people are actually liking my books.
God’s Leftovers officially dropped yesterday so I figured I’ll talk about the birth and conception of the novella. The roots probably began somewhere in my teenage years when my mom handed me books by Richard Laymon, Bryan Smith, Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Brian Keene, and Wrath James White. These were fucked up, gory books with a lot of heart, and entertainment. Shifted my creative world in a good way. Sprinkle in some Poppy Z. Brite and Clive Barker into my imagination, and I really started going…
Around this time I was watching Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Lucio Fulci, Takashi Miike, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and French horror flicks, which were brutal and fucked up. All of these influential ingredients were percolating in my brain for years. Even though I was writing bizarro and having fun, I had this itch to write extreme horror growing in the back of my mind. What if I tried my hand in this world? I wanted to whip up some sort of homage that was fun and weird. I originally pitched God’s Leftovers to Kevin L. Donihe for the New Bizarro Author Series back in 2009 when I was 20, not even old enough to drink alcohol. What follows below is the exact pitch I sent via email, which is nowhere near the final product.
“God's Leftovers doesn't really have a plot yet. It's about a guy who kills himself and is reborn as a nuclear bomb. This bomb drops and kills just about everyone on earth. The survivors think of themselves as leftovers that God left behind. There's mutants, cannibals, and zombies as well in different parts of town. The main character is a woman who tells the story. Also, the man who committed suicide, his depressive consciousness has seeped into the earth and the world reacts to his emotions at times. That's all I have for now. It seems like a difficult story to pull off, so I'm not sure if I should even touch it.”
The first draft I could find was back in 2015. I was listening to a lot of Gaslamp Killer’s trippy music and that dripped into the narrative. This was when I was stationed in Spain during my Navy days. I was drinking and partying A LOT. Right before I went to Spain, I visited the OG Kris Saknussemm in Vegas. We went out to the Valley of Fire and he told me about the rich history and tried to shoot a music video out there with a crappy camera for my song “Oscar Wilde.” The music video never came out and the footage is lost. Nonetheless, this experience stuck with me and helped inspire one of the characters Big Redd who gets stranded in the desert with his videographer friend.
While I was in Spain, I did shrooms with a few friends for the first time. Crazy yet illuminating experience that I’ll sum up. I saw grids in the sky, geometric patterns, birds with colors trailing behind them, and the plants having sex. I felt immense love for the world and everything in it. I cried with joy and laughed freely for hours. When I returned home, the lights were flickering in my presence. This was a pivotal experience that bleeds into the psychic seams of the narrative.
I paid J. David Osborne to edit the book, which helped a lot. Jordan Krall read an early draft too for his micro-press Dynatox Ministries. I don’t remember if we talked about publishing it or not. I sent it John Skipp at Fungasm, where it was rejected. Skipp said and I quote…
“Any book that starts with corpse-fucking is probably not a Fungasm title (even if it does end with "Namaste", which is a very good touch).”
He suggested I send it to Jeff Burk at Deadite, which I did. Based off the pitch, Jeff said it was too similar to some other titles so that was a no go. I sent it to Sinister Grin and they were interested but closed to submissions. Plus, my book was too short, sitting at 15k words. Then I sent it to Max Booth over at Perpetual Motion Publishing. He read it, liked it, sent edits backs to me in 2016 and I have no idea what the hell I was doing. I think I transferred to South Korea at this time and shit was hectic. Never sent edits back. Sorry, Max. Fun Fact: Max is one of the few people to have read an early draft of Project Bullet Baby. One day I’ll get into the Ghoulish door.
Last year I saw an open call for POC & LGBTQ writers for Bizarro Pulp Press. I did a deep revision, sent it in, and it was accepted. Here’s the pitch and logline I sent in for transparency purposes.
Logline: A group of strangers in the desert seek help from cannibalistic hippies and try to survive the mayhem and violence.
Synopsis: A ragtag group of survivors are left to fend for themselves in the scorching Valley of Fire and make sense of the desolate world they're faced with. They run across a group of hippies who turn out to be a cult of cannibals intent on reaching God through any means necessary. Hallucinations, blood-drenched metaphysics, and existential angst run rampant in this gritty splatterpunk novella.
The version of the book that’s published today is vastly different from the original idea/pitch, but I’m proud of it. It’s available on Amazon here, available on Bookshop here, and you can buy signed copies directly from me here.
https://www.whispersandwonder.com/2022/08/26/gods-leftovers-by-grant-wamack/
Art by Frank Quitely
So I’m about halfway through Sandman Season 1, and I’m enjoying it. However, I don’t think I’ll rewatch it though. I’m a big fan of the comic book series. This is part of my personal mount rushmore of great comic books. I read it sometime in high school and it had a deep impact on me. Black Orchid and The Sandman are some of my favorite works by Neil Gaiman. Matter of fact, I’ve read a lot of his fiction. Didn’t really care for his first novel though.
I used to love Death (I wanted to find me a nice cute goth girl), the Endless, and the library of dream was fascinating to me. I used to think about this imaginary library holding all of the book ideas I’ve ever conjured up in my head, sitting on a dusty shelf. Anyway, I like the show, but something feels like it’s missing. The show is a bit too clean for my tastes. From what I remember, the comic had a grittiness to the fantasy, a slight edge beneath the magic. There is a darkness present in the show, but it feels like it’s checking a box. The darkness gives balance to the light in the comic and I don’t feel like there’s much weight to the conflicts in the show, but that could be me being too much of a fan.
On the writing front, things are trucking along. Business as usual.
Currently Watching: Moon Knight & Ozark Season 1 & Sandman Season 1
Currently Reading: Ill Behavior by M. Steven S. & Berserk by Kentaro Miura & God Damn Chainsaw Murderer by Sean M. Thompson & Nudes by Elle Nash & Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto
Currently Smoking: Create: Kosher Kush Flower
Currently Listening to: Black Tapes Podcast & The Danny Brown Podcast
B.O.B. is pretty damn good at making conspiracy raps that actually sound good and aren’t preachy. “I put the chi in Fibonacci.”
It’s cool seeing the rap greats embracing A$AP Rocky, and this powerhouse combo of artists coming together to craft this single on their phones. Everyone carries their weight and I can’t wait for the album to drop.
Destroy Lonely is such a badass name for any music artist. He’s been making waves with his new album. Hoes, hellcats, and fashion flexing. Nice track.
TiaCorine invokes the spirit of Dipset on her new record. Triumphant horns blare in the background as she vents about a man doing her dirty and her coming up out of the trauma. Dope ass song. Keeping going Tia…
Until next time…
This is awesome. Always fascinated by this kind of stuff. Cool to see where ideas come from