Although he has been writing for some time — novels, novellas, short stories, comics — Daryl Gregory’s latest novella, The Album of Dr. Moreau, might just be his most weird and wonderful work yet. I mean, where else have you seen a boy band comprised of human-animal hybrids named as suspects in a murder?! Although it is described as a “Bubblegum pop sequel” to H.G. Wells’ classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, there is more to this story. Underneath the fun sci-fi veneer and murder mystery, it also delves into the timely issues of immigration and human rights.
Daryl Gregory recently took time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for The Nerd Daily before the book’s release on May 18th. Read on to learn what sparked the idea for this story, how his son contributed to the book, what boy band song keeps Daryl up at night, and so much more!
Hi Daryl and thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for The Nerd Daily! To start with, tell our readers a little bit about yourself.
This is the question that makes me wish I’d led a more interesting life. Why didn’t I become a bootlegger and run moonshine across state lines? Why haven’t I trained a single baboon to use sign language? Instead I was a high school English teacher, then a technical writer, then, for many years, a programmer. I helped raise some great kids. But for all that time I wrote as much as I was able, and kept writing even when the rejections were piling up. I’ve published seven novels, a couple of novellas, and a collection of short stories, as well as a (short) box of comics. I’ve won some awards, but I’m most proud of the fact that I just kept going. I tell students that in order to be a novelist, you have to have a lack of imagination. You have to wake up on a sunny day and be able to think of nothing you’d rather do with your time than sit behind a keyboard and type.
But maybe it’s not too late to create a more interesting bio. How about this? If this current book becomes a bestseller, I’ll put together a ragtag team of misfits and ne’er-do-wells and attempt an amazing casino heist.
Your new novella, The Album of Dr. Moreau, comes out on May 18, 2021. It has been described as a “Bubblegum pop sequel” to H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau. What a wild and wonderful concept! Can you tell our readers a bit more about the book?
The book’s about the WyldboyZ, a boy band made up of genetically engineered human-animal hybrids who are hiding a lot of secrets. When their manager, Dr. M, is found murdered in a Las Vegas penthouse suite, the boyz are the prime suspects. Detective Luce Delgado is assigned to the case, and she’s got less than 24 hours to solve the mystery before the feds take over.
This book mixes so many elements together: a murder mystery, a boy band, human-animal hybrids, oh my! How in the world did you come up with this concept as a twist on the original H.G. Wells work?
It started with being bored on a long car drive. My pal Dave Justus is one of the funniest people on the planet, and once I told him that I always wanted to write a book called The Album of Dr Moreau, we started riffing. A lot of those terrible, terrible puns made it into the book. A lot of the dirtiest jokes did not.
The murder mystery aspect came about because I’m a lifelong reader of Agatha Christie-style locked-room mysteries. I’m especially a fan of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, because they’re essentially “hangout” novels—Christie puts a bunch of vivid characters into a confined space and lets us listen in.
The next steps were just adding to the levels of difficulty, because that’s what makes it fun for me. I decided the book had to be a science fiction mystery, where the SFnal premise had to be part of the solution to the crime. And I also wanted to honor the spirit of the source novel. Wells wrote The Island of Dr. Moreau as a protest against the vivisection of animals, a huge controversy at the time. Some issues today that I wanted to talk about were immigration and human rights. Somehow the story had to make room for those.
Finally, it just had to be a story about characters you cared about, even though they’re, well, animal boys. Describing all these elements makes me realize that this is a pretty crammed 180 pages.
The format of The Album of Dr. Moreau is great! Each chapter has a track name (like an album) and features a particular character. Could you talk a bit about the decision to structure it this way?
I knew I wanted each member of the band to have their moment in the spotlight, kind of like solos on an album. So from there it was an easy step to turn the chapters into title tracks. It was great fun to make up song titles.
Which band member in the book would you say you are most partial to and why: Bobby the ocelot, Matt the megabat, Tim the pangolin, Devin the bonobo, or Tusk the elephant?
You can’t make me pick from among my children! I do love them all. But I most enjoyed the scenes where I put all five of them in the room and let them argue with each other. In fact, the way I discovered the voices of the characters by imagining them sitting in a hotel room or tour bus, just riffing and fighting and joking with each other.
Forgive me, but I’m admittedly a fan of boy bands across the decades, and since they are a key part of your new novella, I have to ask … What is your favorite boy band? (Or at least the one you dislike the least?!)
You are forgiven. Early in the writing of this book the boyz morphed from a regular rock band (think The Monkees) to a boy band, and that’s because my daughter, when she was ten, was a huge fan of The Backstreet Boys and NSync. This was around the year 2000, when those bands were at the height of their popularity. She subjected me to hour after hour of their music, and I saw The Backstreet Boys live with her, and damn it if they weren’t fantastic singers and entertainers. But some of the songs haunt me. Even now I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the lyrics of “I Want it That Way.” What is the “it” that they want? Why do they need someone else to tell them why? Tell me why!
Emma still writes music and performs in musicals, and my second oldest, Ian, writes electronica and performed in a band in college. They’ve taught me a lot, and one of the things I wanted to talk about in the book was how complex and sophisticated these “simple” pop songs are. I asked Ian to write a defense of bubblegum pop, and the rant late in the book by Tim the Pangolin was written by Ian.
What drew you to the genres of science-fiction, fantasy, and horror? Are there particular books you read growing up that inspired you in this direction?
I wasn’t drawn to science fiction, I was made by SF—and fantasy, and horror. Those books lit me up and wired my brain, for good or ill. I became an English major and studied the canon, but when it came time to write my own stories, there was no question that I would include the weird. That’s where the juice is. In this interview I could talk about how the genre writer uses these fantastic tropes to illuminate essential qualities about life and humanity… and okay, maybe that’s true? But I write this way because it’s the most fun.
You have also written for a number of comics, which is very cool. How has this been similar to or different from your short story and longer form writing?
I grew up reading comics, and was very jealous of my friends who’d gotten into the field. It felt like they got to run off to the circus, and I felt very lucky I got to follow them! I had a blast writing comics about vampires and talking apes. (My take on Planet of the Apes ran for a couple years.) But I came to comics after writing novels, and one thing I realized is that story is story is story. What changes is the structure, and how to let the visuals do most of the work. I collaborated with some fantastic artists, but it was almost criminal how much easier my job was than theirs.
I understand you teach writing workshops as well. What are some of the most frequently asked questions you get from students about the craft of writing? What is the best piece of advice you think burgeoning writers need, but usually don’t ask about?
The most common question from new writers is, How do I get published? But that’s the easiest question to answer, especially now that self-publishing has come of age. The most important question is, How do I get better? Nothing happens unless you get better at your craft, and that you keep trying to get better. I tell students that writing is hard, and that if you’re doing it right, it never gets easier. The difficulty is the sign that you’re on the right track.
Let’s Get Nerdy: Behind the Writer with 9 Quick Questions
- First book that made you fall in love with reading: The first chapter book I ever read on my own was a novelization of the movie “Herbie the Love Bug.” I’ll never forget the excitement.
- 3 books you would take on a desert island: Little Big, by John Crowley, because it’s my favorite book, and a masterpiece. The Complete Works of Shakespeare because who knows how long it will take to get rescued. And also the nonfiction book, How to Survive on a Desert Island.
- Movie that you know by heart: “Caddyshack.” I was in college when HBO first came on the air, and this was one of three movies that played in constant rotation.
- Song that makes you want to get up and dance: “Dr. Worm,” by They Might Be Giants.
- Place that everyone should see in their lifetime: Deadhorse Point, a Utah State Park. I lived in Utah for a year, and every weekend we could my wife and I would visit another incredible park: Arches, Canyonland, Bryce. But Deadhorse makes me weep, every time.
- Introvert or extrovert: Apparent extrovert, secretly an introvert.
- Coffee, tea, or neither: Coffee!
- First job: Cooking burgers and swirling up ice cream cones at Tastee Freez. I was 14. I’m still a snob about the proper way to make a milkshake.
- Person you admire most and why: There’s a saying that comes from Abraham Joshua Heschel: “When I was young I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.” And now that I’ve been a parent for so long I admire Fred Rogers. He made kindness and thoughtfulness an art form and a lifelong mission. He helped raise me, and helped raise my kids, and the company and organization he put together is still teaching kids empathy and creativity and joy. We all owe him.
