THE HORROR OF HUMANITY: THE INSANE GOD BY JAY HARTLOVE

16/5/2022

Now that may seem like a bridge too far, but consider that my son is a transgender man, and my seventeen-year-old is openly non-binary. I have seen first-hand the changes my kids have endured, both from body dysphoria on the inside and rejection from the outside world.

I started writing The Insane God with three tools in my hands. First, I am a firm believer that protagonists must be uniquely qualified to tell their stories. A character’s upbringing, their loves and fears, their talents and shortcomings, all create a shape that should fit into their story like a glove. This is because when they solve the story conflict, it must be entirely within their character to do so. Second, I write thrillers. I have developed many ways to put my characters in danger. Different characters react to danger differently, and I love to explore that. Lastly, I believe no story notion is too extreme to be discounted until it has been given a chance to play. Science fiction and SF horror are all the literature of “what if,” right? A critic once said I show a mad scientist level of bravery in my storytelling.

So, when I got the idea of godlike creatures destroying one another in space, and fragments of their shattered bodies falling to Earth and rekindling their war in humans, I had to think long and hard about who would tell the story. I didn’t want the meteorites to affect everyone. In fact, I wanted the effects to look like gifts to the victims. What if the radiation from the meteorites cured extreme mental illness, but replaced schizophrenic visions with visions of the old war. People would be “cured,” but compelled to join in the old cosmic conflict.

My protagonist would face a great deal of unwanted change. As the story took shape, I realized it was about change. I needed someone who had already faced huge change and was ready to make the changes needed to face this war I was engineering. What if they were transgender?

Now that may seem like a bridge too far, but consider that my son is a transgender man, and my seventeen-year-old is openly non-binary. I have seen first-hand the changes my kids have endured, both from body dysphoria on the inside and rejection from the outside world. My kids have learned to roll with the punches and adapt to change in ways that continue to amaze me. To be clear, I am an old white straight man. I am also an experienced author who does his research and respects his subjects.

As the plot took shape, so did my protagonist Sarah. I read a lot and talked to a lot of people to expand on my personal experiences with transgender issues. I did a lot of research on modern psychology and planetary science (to get the meteorites right too). In fact, I spent the two years in pandemic lockdown doing the research needed to be able to tell this story with integrity.

When I finished the first draft, I looked back and saw that I had an opportunity to destigmatize schizophrenia by showing the human faces behind the illness. The book could also be a way to mainstream a transgender character as the hero of a story. Not a sidekick, not a curiosity, but the hero. Neil Gaiman has said the second draft is where you make it look like you knew what you were trying to say all along. I agree. With the second, and subsequent drafts, I refined these messages and brought them out to center stage.

Sarah spends much of the story dodging and struggling with all the turmoil I throw at her. But throughout, she is brave and adaptable, which is what she needs to be in order to win.

Triggers: The Insane God contains scenes of graphic violence, foul language, and references to gender identity and mental illness.

Jay Hartlove

Bio

Jay Hartlove is the award-winning author of the urban fantasy Goddess Rising Trilogy (Goddess Chosen, Goddess Daughter, Goddess Rising), the fantasy romance Mermaid Steel, and the science fiction thriller The Insane God. He is also the playwright, director and producer of The Mirror’s Revenge, the musical sequel to the Snow White fable, which had its theatrical run in the San Francisco Bay Area in August 2018 to rave reviews.

His stories are filled with conspiracies and the supernatural, gods, dreams, angels, and hidden connections. His creative motto is Dark Secrets Revealed. He loves to take stories where the reader does not expect, with sympathetic villains, heroes with very dark pasts, and lots of plot twists. He turns victims into heroes.

He is often compared by critics to Michael Crichton. Goddess Chosen (under its original title The Chosen) was endorsed by horror master John Shirley. Science fiction master David Brin endorsed The Insane God. Jay was selected as one of the 50 Authors You Should Be Reading by The Authors Show. Jay is a former competitive costumer, having won Best in Show at both San Diego ComicCon and WorldCon. You can read more about Jay’s creative adventures, including much of the research he put into his books, at www.jaywrites.com.

Links

www.jaywrites.com

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09T67G12S/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

https://waterdragonpublishing.com/book-author/jay-hartlove/

The Insane God
by Jay Hartlove

“Nightmare on Elm Street meets The Stand.” - Kirkus Reviews
A meteorite fragment cures a teenaged trans girl’s schizophrenia, but leaves her with visions of ancient warring gods annihilating each other in space.
As the Earth hurtles toward the cloud that is the shattered bodies of those eternal enemies, their eons-old conflict is rekindled on Earth to divide and destroy humanity.
Can she and her brother stop the spread of global disaster?