Jonathan Barnes Justifies Himself

UK CoverBelow find a short interview with Mr. Jonathan Barnes, author of the creepy and delightful novel, The Somnambulist. It's his first novel and I recommend you pick it up when it appears from William Morrow (with a different cover) in early 2008. Barnes has an degree in English literature from Oxford University and lives and works in London. He writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement.JeffWhy should readers pick up your book when it's published, as opposed to, say, just about anybody else's book?Hmm. Self-promotion's not my strong suit. I really must get the hang of this "bigging yourself up" business. Well, hopefully, The Somnambulist is funny, a little bit scary, a little bit strange, sometimes alarming, sometimes gory and often plain weird. And unexpected. I worked hard on that, its unpredictability... But don't let me stop you picking up lots of other great books as well. Just so long as mine's in the basket somewhere!Does your book have any socially redeeming qualities? If so, what are they?Good grief. I hope not.Does your book have any medicinal or mental health value to readers?Funny you'd mention that. It's regularly prescribed in Britain for readers suffering from a life-threatening deficit of comical/sexy/violent Edwardian Adventure.Assume your book has been filed under "Ages 8 to 12" in the children's section, perhaps by mistake, perhaps not. How horrified do you imagine a child would be after reading your book, and why? How many years of therapy would the child take to recover from the experience?I think they'd probably be more curious and bemused than mentally scarred. Certainly, I think that I'd have enjoyed it at twelve. But then I was a very peculiar twelve year old.If no one buys your book and you are unable to continue publishing your fiction due to the intense vilification that occurs in the media, what line of work will you go into?Nice question. Anything but a dog-handler. Dogs scare me.