What, I have to ask, is Jason Mott’s biggest claim to fame? There are so many options: Writing a bestselling novel. Starting a Hollywood bidding war. Attracting the attention (and the wallet) of Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company. Becoming the creative mind behind what I fully anticipate being ABC’s next big hit TV series. Any one of those is far more exciting than my biggest claim to fame, which is probably getting to tell people I share a literary agent with the esteemed Jason Mott.
Jason is the author of THE RETURNED, a New York Times bestseller that centers around a worldwide phenomenon in which people’s loved ones begin rising from the grave. But no, it is not a zombie apocalypse. It is an emotional, touching, and extremely thought-provoking look at how human beings–particularly Harold and Lucille Hargrave, who lost their eight-year-old son decades earlier–would react to such an event.
THE RETURNED is the inspiration for ABC’s brand new series, “Resurrection,” which premiered three days ago. I am beyond honored to be hosting Jason today, and to be giving away five autographed copies of his novel. Details follow after the interview.
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1. THE RETURNED centers around a worldwide event in which everyone’s loved ones return from the dead. I’m sure this is something we’ve all wished for—just for a moment—at one point or another. But you took it a step further and began to really look at what that would mean beyond the wishful nostalgia. Can you talk a bit about your thought process here?
I wanted to explore the truth behind how I felt that type of event might happen. The entire project started when I dreamed that I came home from work one day and found my mother sitting at the kitchen table waiting for me. It was a warm, cathartic reunion, and I feel that’s how we all think of this idea initially. However, in the writing of the novel, I tried to take things further. I tried to think how this might play out after the initial hugging and crying and joy of being reunited with someone we’ve lost. After thinking it out, I realized that, if my mother returned to me, she would come looking for the 22 year-old son she left behind. What she would find instead is a 35 year-old man who is very different than he was when she “left.” It’s that change, that dissonance of time that occurs when we lose someone, that I wanted to explore with THE RETURNED.
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2. Today, when people hear that a book is about people rising from the dead, they automatically think flesh-eating zombie apocalypse. Obviously, your story wound up becoming extremely successful, but in the beginning, do you think this unique angle made it easier or harder to sell?
I can’t quite say if it made it harder or easier to sell, but I think it definitely made it a different type of sell. There were times, early on, when I had to pre-emptively tell people “but it’s not a zombie story.” But the more I talked about the book the more people began to understand what I was shooting for and, thankfully, the end product has been well-received.
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A couple months ago, I stumbled upon this article about something MIT students were working on called “sensory fiction.”
Bassinet? Check.
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