Log in member
We caught up with Josh Malerman in Avilés to discuss his creative process, the journey from page to screen with works such as Bird Box and Incidents Around the House, his music with The High Strung band, and what's next, including a third Malorie novel and the upcoming Her Majesty.
"Hi Gamereactor friends, this is the day one for the Celsius 232 event here in Avilés in Asturias in Spain and I'm here joined by Josh, who wrote a bunch of interesting stories, slightly terrifying stories that might have, you know, shaken you. And one of them is very current, very actual."
"People enjoyed it in different formats, which is Bird Box.
So before we talk the adaptation, I want to talk about the book and the message you wanted to convey with this type of horror.
And, you know, what do you want to express, to express with this type of a story?
It's a difficult question to answer because whenever I sit down to write a book, it's not very intentional."
"It's more of just a feeling.
So I had an image in my head of a woman and two children navigating a river blindfolded.
I wasn't sure what it was. I knew that they were running away from something supernatural.
I didn't know. You know, I'm talking day one of writing."
"Then once I started to understand what was happening and that they couldn't look at these things, and then you can't help but think, like, what does this represent?
Does this represent, you know, the world at large?
If you look out your window, are you going to go crazy because of the madness of the world?
But writing the book, those kind of elements never crept in."
"It was a very innocent experience.
It felt more like a Twilight Zone episode.
Like, oh, this is a contained story.
But the minute you finish writing it, then you can't help but start to see these greater themes."
"How do you feel about the adaptation?
You told me there's another one in Barcelona, but the first one with Sandra Bullock.
How does it differ coming from your original story?
Is there something that you would have liked differently in the visual form?
That's hard to answer because it's the greatest thing that's ever happened for me."
"I had written 14 novels before Bird Box came out, and Bird Box was my first.
So the fact that a movie was being made, and not just a movie, Sandra Bullock, who's like the Audrey Hepburn of my generation, it was so mind-blowing.
If someone says, like, do you like this? What do you mean, like it?
This is the greatest thing ever, right?
If I had to make one change, I would have been more strict about the blindfolds."
"There's a scene where they enter a grocery store, and the windows are sort of covered with paper, so they take their folds off. No way.
So that would be the one thing. I would be like a school mom.
I'd be like, leave those blindfolds on."
"Tell me about the power of the unseen.
They are purposefully blinded. They decide to do this because they want to commit suicide.
This is sort of the horror that there is here.
But this is a recurrent sort of device for you, like the power of the unseen and how it makes us fear something that we don't know."
"So what can you tell me about this device and how you go back to it many times during your career?
You know, I think it has, you know, H.P. Lovecraft has this amazing, you know, thing about the fear of the unknown and how, you know, that's the scariest, blah, blah, blah."
"And again, even that wasn't really in my mind while working on it until it was done.
And then it was very obvious to me.
I loved the idea that, okay, in this day and age, when you watch a movie, you know, maybe you saw the trailer, but you know it'll say, like, horror, suspense, da-da-da."
"So you're aware that you're entering a scary story.
What that means is we can wait on bringing the monster on stage because the audience is already like, you know, where is it, right?
And in that book, about halfway through, I'm like, are you going to bring him in now?
No. Now? No."
"And then all the way to the end, like, no, no, never.
Leave him. Leave him off camera. Leave him off page.
So there was this sense, again, it wasn't until the very end that I realized, like, that I was leaning into what you just asked."
"Yeah. Did that same thing happen to you when you were writing Malorie?
And what can you tell fans that might have enjoyed Bird Box in either the book form or the movie form to look forward to from the sequel?
So Malorie, okay, I've written, man, 44 books."
"And again, I had, you know, 14 before the first one came out.
Malorie has always been, as a character, has always been, like, my closest friend.
Like, it's almost like, not a lover, but like, not even a sister, like a twin sister.
Like, I feel like I would react exactly how Malorie acts."
"Now, she's pregnant in the book, in Bird Box, so obviously we don't have that in common.
But I do everything that she was worried about, the people that she was drawn to in the house.
Like, I'm like, that's how, like, I completely relate to her.
So the sequel, Malorie felt like, because in the sequel she was 47 years old."
"And again, it felt like I was hanging out with my twin sister again.
It felt like my closest literary friend is Malorie.
Okay.
I have a fantasy of writing a third one that's like, because Bird Box and Malorie are both like, I don't know, like slim, you know, 280 pages."
"I have a fantasy of like a 1,200 page epic third volume that's just this beast of a, because I love writing about her.
I love writing about Malorie.
I just relate to her, her reactions, her philosophy, her thinking."
"She's an optimist, but she's worried.
She's, she does it, but she's afraid.
And like, and I relate to her, like, on every level.
Will that third huge part happen anytime?
Oh, man, I hope so."
"So I haven't, I've told you this before I mentioned this to my publisher.
Like, literally, this is a, hi.
So I'm just saying this for the first time.
Just scoop."
"Game of Rats is scoop.
This could be, yeah.
I feel it coming.
I feel it coming.
And I just finished a new book literally 10 days ago."
"Wow.
Gold?
It's called Her Majesty.
And, and I am kind of thinking like, what's next?
What's next?
What's next?
And the idea of just this sprawling bird box epic sounds, sounds fun."
"Okay.
Tell me about that new book of yours that you just finished.
Just a little bit, just a synopsis for, for fans to look forward to.
Oh, okay."
"Her Majesty.
It'll come out in 2027.
Let's just put it this way.
It opens with four siblings who are debating what to do about their mother's really weird last wishes."
"All right.
Their, their mother's scary last wishes.
And it's a debate of, can we carry out these last wishes?
Should we, should you honor any last wishes?
Like, let me ask you, like, if a loved one said, hey, listen, when I pass, I want you to put me in a casket and kick me out the seat."
"You would be like, I can't, I can't do that, man.
I can't.
But what if they asked for that?
Yeah.
Right."
"So the book opens with four siblings having a conversation like this.
And, and it all just escalates from there.
All right.
Interesting."
"Tempting.
And let me ask you about incidents around the house.
We've talked about adaptations, of course, with Bird Box.
And you told me there's a Barcelona version of it."
"I have to watch it.
So what can you tell me about this one?
You know, kind of the same question, but the adaptation is not out yet.
So what can you tell me about the adaptation and how you feel about the book being adapted?
Oh, my God."
"Okay.
So I saw it and it's great.
All right.
I saw it and it's freaking great.
I was, it's funny."
"I was, I had this thing in my head that I was like, Hey, if it's, if it's not great, who cares?
Let's have a drink.
Right.
But then, but then I was like, but wait, what if it's good?
And then I started getting nervous."
"I was like, Alison.
That's my wife.
I was like, Alison, what if it's good?
Oh my God.
And we started it and like three minutes in, I'm like, you'll see."
"Three minutes in, we were like, oh, this is good.
I mean, the credits are good.
You know, I was like, this is good.
So, so it's called Other Mommy."
"They changed the title from Incidents Around the House to Other Mommy.
Okay.
And it's, it's good, man.
Jessica Chastain is the lead."
"And, oh, and Arabella (Bela), a 10 year old girl, plays, the book is narrated by an eight year old girl.
Yeah.
Arabella is in every single scene."
"So the movie is told from this child's perspective.
All right.
Yeah.
Wow.
I love that as well."
"And finally, how would you say it shaped you to be a musician?
I want to ask you about the High Strung Band.
And, you know, being a writer is two different types of art.
How do you feel it really changed you or shaped you or made you different?
Okay."
"I love that question.
So in my band, I've been in the same band, like we've been best friends since we were like 11 years old.
And we didn't really start playing until we were 19, 20, something like that."
"And the other, the boys are amazing, the bass players out of this world, the guitar player, the drummer.
And so I kind of just, I'm the rhythm guitar player.
But what that has led to is I'm very aware of the, like, just the behind a book."
"The pace.
Right.
The pace.
The rhythm.
Yes."
"And when I was writing Bird Box, the whole time I was writing it, I could feel that.
The whole time.
And there are other books I've written where, you know, chapter by chapter, the pace might change, but not Bird Box, not Malorie and not Incidents Around the House."
"All three of those had the same beat through the whole.
And so that, but that, that was a big thing to discover.
And in terms of just, you know, for me alone in an office to recognize that there was a musicality to writing a novel."
"And I guess they have a bridge.
It's not that they are bridge-less like nowadays music.
Like you have your beat, you respect your beat, but you take your time to reflect and come back."
"Right?
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah."
"Yeah.
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
Thank you so much for your time.
Enjoy the rest of the Celsius."
"It's been a pleasure to meet you here.
Thank you.
And thank you all.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you."
