Jerry’s Book Sucks: The Book: Jay Sigler & Justin M. Woodward
Authors Interviewed By Steve Stred
- Paperback: 298 pages
- Publisher: Independently published (11 Sept. 2019)
As you may have seen by my review HERE, Jerry’s Book Sucks: The Book is a fantastic fun time. The surprising thing is that it was written by two authors known primarily for their dark fiction. Jay Sigler delivered us the psychological thrillers Train Thoughts and Unsettled, while Justin M. Woodward has delivered us The Variant, Candy, Tamer Animals and Rotten Little Things.
But Jerry’s Book Sucks: The Book is a different beast all together – close to Futurama and Rick and Morty than The Shining or Boy’s Life.
After reading the book I reached out to Justin and Jay to see if they’d want to answer a few questions. They kindly agreed. Hope you enjoy!
Steve – So what the hell’s wrong with you two goofs for writing something so deliciously silly when all of your fans want blood and gore?
JS: I’ve always loved both horror and comedy. Writing, for me, is about trying to make others feel something, and I believe fear and laughter are two of the strongest emotions one can experience. I’m not aware of Jerry publishing anything prior to this so I don’t think his supporters were expecting blood and gore vs. comedy.
JW: I’ve said it again and again, I may be known for horror, but I never set out to be a horror writer. JBS is kind of what goes on inside my head all the time. I just fell hard into that, and with Jay’s help, I believe we’ve created something truly special. With that being said, my fans shouldn’t be concerned about a lack of horror. I’m definitely cooking some things up.
Steve – This book borders on bizarro but I found it leaned more towards just being a sci-fi romp. Obviously a number of ‘nerdy’ stuff inspired you. Can you talk about what inspired this book?
JS: I can say that we never set out to make what JBS ended up being. Justin and I have very similar interests when it comes to humor so a lot of the time we were writing to make each other laugh and figured that if we liked it, others might too.
JW: I feel like some of our readers think we set out to make, for example, ‘The Dark Tower meets The Office,’ but there was really no plan. I think JBS is a massive blend of…well, everything both of us have ever seen. I feel like we both have a similar sense of humor and just ‘get’ where a joke or storyline is going in the other person’s head. I also have my dad to thank for my “don’t call me Shirley” brand of humor, and, well, Jerry took the lead on a lot of it.
Steve – I think it was last year I guessed that you two were going to be doing something together. You even mentioned it in a podcast at one point. Does that mean in book #2 the unnamed horse gets to trample me to death?
JS: No
JW: Yes
Steve – Seriously, though – I was able to guess that you two were in cahoots. When I did, was Jerry’s Book Sucks the plan from the start or did you have a few other ideas tossed around?
JS: Book 1 was completed by the time we started teasing it out there with our double posts.
JW: I think by the time we started doing the double posting thing book one was already done. It was always JBS, though we have an entire document filled with ideas.
Steve – You two have frequently posted and alluded to music being a driving force for this book. Hell, every chapter is titled after a well-known song. Would those song titles make for an accurate playlist of what you listened to while writing this?
JS: The playlist is quite interesting (thanks Rob) but it wasn’t what I was listening to while writing. We tried to choose titles that were relevant to each chapter in some way.
JW: No, but it’s funny you mention that. Rob actually made a Spotify playlist using all the chapter titles, and I gotta say, it’s quite the listen. I do tend to lean heavily into music in all aspects of my writing, (thrash metal for Candy, etc) but there was nothing specific going on during this book, except LOTS of instrumental beat tracks 😉
Steve – Where do you guys see this going from here? Do you have a predetermined timeline planned out, or you just want to have fun and go with it?
JS: We have a general timeline in place but we are primarily riding the wave and seeing where it takes us. Jerry’s been difficult to reach as of late so there’s only so much we can do right now on our own. Joining the newsletter and Facebook group would be the best way to see if and when we figure out what’s happening next.
JW: we have….ideas. Best I can tell everyone is to join the mailing list on our site to keep up with releases, not to mention ramblings from Rob.
Steve – If you could let people know just one thing about reading this book before they read it, what would that be?
JS: Rob’s title is quite accurate.
JW: Just that it sucks.
Steve – What’s next for each of you?
JS: I’m training to be a headhunter so I can hook up out of work Soviet scientists with rogue, third world nations (Hi Rasputin!)
JW: I can’t really announce anything solid, but I’m definitely hammering away at a novel right now. We’ll have to see how that goes as far as a release schedule. JBS is definitely a big priority for me now though.
Steve – Thanks so much for doing this guys! The book is a blast and I think it’s a breath of fresh air in the sci-fi/comedy bordering on some urban fantasy world!
Jay Sigler & Justin M. Woodward
Jay Sigler was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago where he currently resides. He is an avid reader, influenced by the works of Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk, and Bret Easton Ellis. Jay likes all things horror and comedic which is scary funny.
You can follow Jay on Twitter @train_thoughts
Justin M. Woodward lives in Headland, Alabama with his wife and two small boys, Nathan and Lucas. He is the author of three novels and dozens of short stories.
You can follow Justin on Twitter @justinmwoodward
Jerry’s Book Sucks: The Book
Rob and Jerry were merely co-workers until one happy hour changed their lives forever.
Both trying to impress a girl, they enter into a bet – Jerry’s sweet office up against Rob’s editing services. The competition was fierce until – Okay, seriously, I can’t continue with that crap. As you can probably guess, I lost the stupid bet and had to edit this stupid book. I’ve written (but never edited) a book before. But a bet is a bet, so here it is.
An intergalactic tale filled with absurd (yet somehow very familiar) characters and an even more ridiculous, but predictable plot – guy loves girl, girl loves guy, monster loves girl, monster steals girl and tries to kill guy.
And oh yeah, there’s the whole thing about the universe hanging in the balance of potential destruction.
Jerry didn’t care too much about the editing process, heck, he didn’t even give the thing a title. He left that part up to me, so I came up with the most accurately truthful title I could think of: Jerry’s Book Sucks: The Book
You can buy Jerry’s Book Sucks: The Book from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Steve Stred
Steve Stred writes dark, bleak horror fiction.
Steve is the author of the novels Invisible & The Stranger, the novellas The Girl Who Hid in the Trees, Wagon Buddy, Yuri and Jane: the 816 Chronicles and two collections of short stories; Frostbitten: 12 Hymns of Misery and Left Hand Path: 13 More Tales of Black Magick, and the dark poetry collection Dim the Sun.
On September 1st, 2019 his second collection of dark poetry and drabbles called The Night Crawls In will arrive. This release was specifically created to help fund the 1st Annual LOHF Writers Grant.
Steve is also a voracious reader, reviewing everything he reads and submitting the majority of his reviews to be featured on Kendall Reviews.
Steve Stred is based in Edmonton, AB, Canada and lives with his wife, his son and their dog OJ.
You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevestred
You can visit Steve’s Official website here
Leave a Reply