“WALKING DEAD” WRITER READS FROM HIS NEW NOVEL, “LUCID”
Published in AXS.com, May 2015
“Walking Dead” writer Jay Bonansinga read an excerpt from his new novel, “Lucid,” to an intimate crowd at Bucket O’Blood Books and Records in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood on Wednesday night.
Standing next to a wall of paperbacks near the front window of the shop, the author introduced the story’s main character, Lori Blaine — “a prodigous, young 18-year-old girl” who has “skills she’s not even aware of” — in a passage that describes the moment when she “finally works up the nerve in her dream” to go through a door that has been haunting her while she sleeps.
“This is the inaugural reading for this,” explained Bonansinga, who has written or co-authored dozens of novels, screenplays and video games in addition to the wildly successful “Walking Dead” series. “So it’s really cool for me.”
Once through the door, Lori walks down a dark hallway to an industrial space that appears to function like the utility basement of her imagination. There, she encounters a number of blue collar type workers who seem to run the machinery of her subconscious, all of them brought to life with distinct vocal personalities in Bonansinga’s thrilling presentation.
The inspiration to write “Lucid” came from an Ivan Albright painting of a door titled, “That Which I Should Have Done, I Did Not Do.” According to Bonansinga, it is “the creepiest door you will ever see in your life.”
“There’s a lot about that door in this book,” he continued. “She dreamt about this door and she was terrified of it.”
Although “Lucid” is categorized as a young adult novel, Bonansinga assured the audience that he “didn’t change anything” of his signature writing style — one that has prompted his friends to joke that he has “come up with more ways of describing fluids jettisoning from skulls than any other writer in the history of western literature” — while completing it.
“It’s just as scary and intense and edgy,” he says. “It just may not include all the brain tissue flying out of skulls.”
It will also come with a merchandising line including t-shirts and a sleep mask conceived by Bonansinga’s wife, photographer Jill Brazel.
Jay Bonansinga and his wife, Jill Brazel
Early reviews of the book are beyond positive. Chicago Now’s Kelly Konrad described his foray into the genre as “Riveting.”
Before he began reading, Bonansinga told the audience, “This is all stuff that I’ve researched. Only 11% of human beings have the ability to know they’re dreaming while they’re dreaming.”
“That’s surprising,” remarked a woman in the crowd.
“Do you have that skill?” he asked her.
“Yeah,” she said. “I just thought that everyone does.”
Bonansinga then conducted an impromptu survey to determine that half the people who came to hear him read were lucid dreamers.
“Wow!” he exclaimed. “We have 50 percent. How erie is that? You’re my demographic.”
Then, he began: “On the other side of the door stretched a deserted black tunnel like a root cellar or a forgotten bomb shelter…