Welcome to our Indie Spotlight series, in which TNBBC gives small press authors the floor to shed some light on their writing process, publishing experiences, or whatever else they'd like to share with you, the readers!
Today we are shining the spotlight on Marc Joan's
Hangdog Souls
Described
as "ambitious and spectacularly accomplished literary fiction for fans of
David Mitchell and Haruki Murakami", Marc
Joan’s debut novel, ‘Hangdog Souls’ (literary horror; Deixis Press) is set in India over a 300-year span
(1770-2070). But what was the genesis of this
idiosyncratic, label-defying work? Marc explains-:
“Some of the inspiration behind ‘Hangdog
Souls’ clearly comes from my upbringing in South India – I spent the first 12
(and most formative) years of my life there, and the memories remain vivid. So
the settings in the book come directly from places where I grew up – Tamil
Nadu, the Nilgiris, the Palni Hills, Bangalore, Ooty, Kodai, Mysore -- and the
books’ characters are flavoured with the habits and personalities of people I
knew in those places. Regarding style, the book reflects my natural inclination
towards dark/speculative fiction: it is somewhat gothic, somewhat macabre, and
has elements of horror and subtle sci-fi. At the same time, it has a strong
literary edge, and I don’t apologise for that – I like reading literature which
feeds the cerebral appetite, so naturally that is also what I like to write.
“Interestingly, however, I was not aware
of a (likely key) driver behind the book until well after I had finished it. I
am what is known as a ‘Third-Culture Kid’ – brought up in a country and culture
other than that of one’s parents, a home which one later leaves to ‘return’ to
one’s passport country. The TCK experience is different for each TCK, of
course, but for some it can be quite difficult, perhaps wrenching. Anyway, I
recently found out that there is a growing body of work, by researchers such as
Antje Rauwerda and Jessica Sanfilippo
Schulz, on TCK-authored literature. It turns out that TCK authors often write
about similar themes: notably, guilt, migrations (and the losses that thereby
arise), and the lack of a sense of home. When I heard that, the penny really
dropped: in retrospect, I can find those elements in probably everything I have
written, and they are clearly there in Hangdog Souls. For example, one of the book’s
protagonists is struggling with guilt and shame – which have arisen through
deaths associated with his migratory life – and is trapped between alternative
realities! It’s just not possible to get any more TCK-ish than that.
“Perhaps this shows that authors are not
always conscious of, still less in complete control of, what they write. We are
all products of our histories as interpreted by our memories; in each of us,
the subconscious weaves a story to make sense of those recollections; and when
authors write fiction, their narratives inevitably emerge from that same
subconscious loom. Writers can tinker with characters and settings, I think, but
the fundamental themes they return to come from some hidden, unknowable place,
and I suspect are quite resistant to change.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marc has been placed
in various competitions as follows: he was a finalist in the Aesthetica
Creative Writing Award 2017/2018; Runner Up in the Ink Tears Short
Story Competition 2017/18; received a Special Mention in the Galley
Beggar Short Story Competition 2017/18; long-listed for the Brighton
Prize 2017; reached the last 60 (from nearly 1,000 entries) of the 2018
BBC National Short Story Award; received an Honourable Mention (placed in
the top 4%) of the 2020 CRAFT Short Fiction Prize; was winner of
the 2020 Punt Volat Short Story Competition, and finalist in the
same competition with a second entry; was long-listed in the 2020
William van Dyke Short Story Prize (one of 20 semi-finalists from over
400 entries); achieved Highly Commended in the Gatehouse Press New
Fiction Prize, 2020; was finalist / selected for publication in the 2020/21
Aesthetica Creative Writing Award; was short-listed in the 2021
Short Fiction / University of Essex International Short Story Competition (one
of seven short-listed from ~780 entries); was long-longlisted in the 2021
Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize; proceeded to the second round (top
5% of entries) of the 2021 Bridport Short Story Prize; and had two
stories long-listed in the 2021 Exeter Story Prize.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnfcPFqBme8
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