Interviewer Brian: What is The Man in the Seventh Row about?
Author Brian: It is the story of a man who loves his movies and then finds that he is actually being sucked into the films that he sees. He becomes part of the action in classic films like The Graduate, Brief Encounter and The Magnificent Seven.
Interviewer Brian: Sounds like a dream come true for a film fan?
Author Brian: Not quite, because he is finding it increasingly difficult to get free again and return to the reality he formerly lived in.
Interviewer Brian: Tell me a little more about the style of the book.
Author Brian: Well, I guess I am influenced in the early chapters by Nick Hornby and I am trying to do for film what he did for pop songs, reference them and rekindle happy memories for readers. I heard of a guy who read the book and then bought all the old movies off amazon to watch again. And then as the narrative gathers pace it moves into magic realism and the tradition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. So Hornby segueing into Marquez. Does that sound pretentious?
Interviewer Brian: Eh, um, no, no, not at all.
Interviewer Brian (smiling at the cleverness of his question): Are you The Man in the Seventh Row?
Author Brian: Everyone asks that.
Interviewer Brian looks crestfallen.
Author Brian: No, it is too close to the screen for me. And, also, I have never been sucked into the movies. Some of the little stories, anecdotes and jokes are mine and I lent them to the protagonist. But some are things that happened to other people. The big things are just completely made up.
Interviewer Brian: The book is sub-titled The Movie Lover's Novel - do you have to be a movie lover to enjoy it?
Author Brian: Well, the sub-title applies both to the main character and also the principal target audience. There are a lot of movie lovers out there. Do you need to be familiar with the movies it references to enjoy it? I don't know. But you don't need to be an East European farmer to enjoy A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. It was a big hit.
Interviewer Brian: Don't you? Did you enjoy A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian?
Author Brian: I haven't read it.
Interviewer Brian: Anything else you want to say Brian?
Author Brian: Not really, just suck it and see Brian.
Interviewer Brian: Thank you.
Cute interview. Clever concept.
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Fin