r/books • u/[deleted] • Oct 03 '17
ama 1pm I am David Wong, author of the John Dies at the End series and editor at Cracked. The new novel is out today, AMA!
Back again, reddit! The new book - the third in the John Dies at the End series - is titled What The Hell Did I Just Read: A Novel of Cosmic Horror and you can buy it in hardcover or ebook form at any of the places or devices where you normally buy books. There's a convenient list of order links here: http://www.jdate3.com
Proof: https://twitter.com/JohnDiesattheEn/status/908699200011022337
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u/The_Jedi_Hunter Oct 03 '17
Hey Jason / David,
The John Dies at the End series takes a lot of cues from Lovecraft and plays with the idea that cosmically-driven horrors are impossible for human beings to process/understand. At the same time, you ground the narrative with likable characters and fun, comedic scenarios.
How do you strike the balance between confronting these larger-than-life monsters and ideas while still keeping the narrative fun and entertaining without drowning in nihilism?
Essentially, how did you write Rick and Morty before Rick and Morty was Rick and Morty?
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Oct 03 '17
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u/CaptainJAmazing Oct 03 '17 edited Oct 04 '17
Related question: Has Rick & Morty been an influence on your writing at all, or is it entirely, as the above poster asked, just “Rick & Morty before Rick & Morty?”
EDIT: -16 karma? Damn guys, I didn’t accuse him of plagiarism, I was mostly just wondering about the WtHDIJR plot point that he touched on in the other related question. I’ve been a fan of JDaTE since 2011, of course I know it’s generally older than Rick and Morty.
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u/crimsonc Oct 04 '17
He's been writing far longer than Rock & Morty has existed, with the same style, so...
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u/CaptainJAmazing Oct 04 '17
I know, I’ve been reading JDaTE since 2011. I mostly just wanted to know about the WtHDIJR plot point that he touched on without spoiling it for anyone.
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u/cryptyde Oct 03 '17
Hi David - I'm a big fan of your work at Cracked. I hope you don't mind me asking some questions related to it.
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What is your favourite Cracked article?
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How has Cracked changed over the years?
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What do you see in the future for Cracked?
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Digg used to provide a lot of traffic to Cracked. How did Digg's demise affect things at Cracked?
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Cracked's coverage of the 2016 American election was sometimes more thoughtful than most mainstream news sites (For example this article: http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/) could you talk a little about why Cracked was able to produce this?
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More generally it often feels like comedians provide some of the most thoughtful insights about politics. Jon Stewart is another example of someone who was able to speak to - rather than shout at - those who disagree. Why is this?
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Oct 03 '17
Favorite article? Any of Seanbaby's Man Comics. http://www.cracked.com/blog/adventures-dog-who-doesnt-give-f234025/
How has it changed? Try to read that article on your phone! You can't! 75-80% of the readership is on a phone and it COMPLETELY changes the kind of content you can do. Mobile readers have totally different behavior (they don't finish articles, even the ones they like and share on Facebook! They read like the first third and say, "I've pretty much got the idea!"
The future: Video is growing incredibly fast, as is podcast stuff. Like every other site in the world I assume it will be more of that. Hopefully the text part doesn't go away, obviously that's the part I'm good at. But broadband mobile internet means people prefer to just listen to a person tell them the information.
In the internet business, the entire geography shifts every few months. We started getting all of our traffic from Google, then Digg, then Facebook, now tons of it comes in via youtube and the podcast networks. Every time things change you have to adjust. Facebook is changing its system to emphasize personal pages over publishers, so everyone is changing again.
We've always tried to do smart comedy, that was always our niche - actual research, useful information, flavored with silliness. So I feel like we've attracted a good group of writers who are great at that, and when this world-changing thing came along I think we were ready to take it on ... but of course that's very divisive. We have Republicans in the audience! I've voted Republican before! It was never supposed to be a partisan operation but goddamn Trump made it hard.
If comedy is done well, it should be making you question everything the system is hoping you swallow without thinking. It doesn't have to favor one party over another but it should always be pushing the envelope in a way that polite society says not to. It's hard to be purely apolitical as a comedian, even if you never mention a specific candidate. Questioning the system is a political act.
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Oct 04 '17
Try to read that article on your phone! You can't!
That's because Cracked's mobile version is so full of horribly intrusive, scroll-breaking and focus-sapping ads that it is hellish to try and read.
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u/Ellikichi Oct 03 '17
Hopefully the text part doesn't go away, obviously that's the part I'm good at.
You're also insanely good at the podcasting part. I'm a casual fan of the Cracked Podcast, but I always listen to any episode you're in and share it around. If you took up a regular podcast, I would gladly pay for it. And relentlessly evangelize it.
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u/RockyRockington Oct 03 '17
The saddest part (for me) about Jack O Brien leaving Cracked was knowing that Jack and Jason podcasts would be coming to an end.
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u/Kenny__Loggins Oct 04 '17
Speaking of which, has Jack announced his new project? I really miss him and his cute speech patter.
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u/2chainz_1cup Oct 04 '17
i hope the text doesn't go away because it's far quicker to read than watch a video.
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u/Cardholderdoe Oct 04 '17
I'm more of a Dick Whisky guy m'self, but to each their own.
We need more of Seanbaby all the time.
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Oct 03 '17
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Oct 03 '17
I guess just that lots of the world's actual heroes are, in fact, just very tired, flawed people trying to make it through their day. Nobody is Superman, combining amazing ability and pure virtue. The same traits that let a person go against the grain in society or run through gunfire are the ones that make them an asshole in a different situation. John is a hero because he has so little sense of self-preservation, and that is also the reason he will probably die young. You have to accept the good with the bad sometimes, and appreciate that they are often different sides of the same coin.
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u/ProfessorLiftoff Oct 03 '17
If John and Dave looked into the Mirror of Erised, what would they see?
Also, when are you and JK Rowling going to announce the crossover series you've both obviously been planning?
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Oct 03 '17
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u/nsqe Oct 04 '17
This answer makes my heart sing. Amy and Molly are my favorites. The world needs more Molly.
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u/Drewcifer12 Oct 04 '17
I don't know about Molly, there's something I don't trust about the way she exploded and came back to life like that.
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u/erichwanh Oct 03 '17
Hi! I just ordered What The Hell Did I Just Read, and I wanted to tell you very quickly, your books have helped me through very rough times. I have a first edition softcover of JDatE, and that book was with me through a few times that I was committed to psych wards and detoxes.
So this isn't a question, but a thank you. I hope one day I can shake your hand for giving me something that saved me when I was in a very very low place.
Cheers,
~Erich
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Oct 03 '17
Thank you for sharing that, I get a lot of that kind of message, and try to relay to other writers (particularly aspiring writers and struggling ones) how much even silly entertainment means to people. Even if it's just an escape for a few hours, that can be life-saving in certain circumstances. For instance, I can't imagine my teen years without MST3K. I watched those episodes over and over, and the fact that they were weird and unpopular actually made it better. I liked the fact that only one other person at school even knew what the show was.
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u/Erch Oct 03 '17
Okay, this is fucking weird. I'm also an Erich (with an "h". Believe me, it's not that common outside Germany) that was helped through some tough times by reading your books.
I can't shake the feeling that this is some alternate dimension of myself bleeding through the doors of perception. That, or total coincidence. Whatever works for you.
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u/Ilpalazo Oct 04 '17
Have you watched the new episodes of MST3K? I know this ended hours ago, but I'm curious what you thought of them. I mean it isn't often I see one of my favorite authors mentioning my favorite show ever.
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Oct 03 '17
Hello! As someone who's is interested in writing a novel, where do you even begin to get published!?
Thanks
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u/joox Oct 04 '17
Wow, that's pretty much exactly what the books were for me as well. Glad you made it!
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u/Rekdon Oct 03 '17
Hi Jason David not Frank, as a black man from the big city, it always amazes me how a white guy from a small town and I think so similarly. You often talk about how overall the world is better than it's ever been. Do you think society is becoming more empathetic and we are learning how to escape our bubbles and think more as fellow humans and less as members of our individual tribes?
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Oct 03 '17
We're definitely more empathetic just because we have more access to the suffering of other groups. But the issue is that the human mind wasn't built to process that much empathy, we never had to before. So there are a lot of ways we try to cope with that and they aren't all healthy - hopelessness and nihilism are attractive because they let us stop caring, they take the load off of our shoulders.
I think we need a new sense of morality that is built around dealing with what's in front of us while keeping the whole world in mind. So much of Christian morality is about fairness and charity toward "your neighbor" because in those days that was your whole world. There was very little in the new testament about how a nation should treat another nation, or how an individual should learn empathy for remote tribes. It just wasn't a thing they had to deal with.
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Oct 04 '17
Heck yeah. I link to this article a lot when I'm talking about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_world_syndrome
People who watch television news every day think the world is really fucked up and un-savable, and have all kinds of terrible ideas about it. But, the weird thing is that all that fucked up shit is also the reason they can't stop watching.
Stop watching.
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u/ProfessorLiftoff Oct 03 '17
Hi David! Huge fan of your writing, both on and off and online.
Does it blow your mind to think about the fact that you're currently closer in age and social status to Marconi than Dave in John Dies at the End?
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Oct 03 '17
I try not to think about it. But there's a scene near the end of Spiders where the boys are confronting the bad guy and they're basically talking to a more grown-up, higher-status person who has no patience for the way they do things ... it was much easier for me to see things from his point of view than theirs'.
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u/Deaths_Aiana Oct 03 '17
Hey, I was excited for months because "David Wong" was on the exibitor list for Senshi Con (an anime/comicbook/pop culture convention in Anchorage Alaska). But it was a different David Wong so I didn't get to meet you. Any plans to visit Alaska?
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Oct 03 '17
This makes me want to announce a national book-signing tour and then make all of the stops in Alaska, nowhere else.
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u/fyfkys Oct 04 '17
I would love back to Alaska for that. And then leave again once you were gone, because of all the meth, heroin, and seasonal depression.
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u/40yowhiteDavidWong Oct 04 '17
Did you get an actual Asian guy and not a 40 year old rich white guy? Rookie mistake.
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u/Deaths_Aiana Oct 04 '17
Yep. An actual asian guy. At a comic convention I really should have at least thought of the possibility beforehand. The dude had some great drawings but since I was expecting my current favorite author I was too bummed out to really appreciate them.
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u/Ricc_ASSley Oct 03 '17
your books have been a huge part of my life, ever since i found a jdate pdf online i've been hooked (don't worry i finally got around to actually buying it). i'm curious, the jdate movie got very mixed reviews. I personally liked it as a film itself, but it's not very similar to the book. how do you feel it turned out? are you proud, or do you wish it would've been closer to the original material? also, are there plans for a movie for the second or third book in the series?
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Oct 03 '17
I love the movie, I will fight anyone who disparages it. Fun fact: between Netflix, Amazon and cable, easily 100 times more people have seen the movie than have read the book. I don't have any news on future movies or TV series, talks are always ongoing but it's not really meaningful until deals are signed and creators attached.
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u/ersatz_substitutes Oct 04 '17
Ya know what, I gotta respect that. I stumbled upon your work right before you released the book and loved it. I was a little let down with the movie. But very rarely do movies perfectly capture a book someone has read previously, and it's just as rare for the author of the book to stand solidly with the adaption when there's a bunch of criticism. Even though most people are aware, there's gonna be some sacrifices made, especially when the book is so good.
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u/Ricc_ASSley Oct 03 '17
also, there was a part in jdate where the car skids out, dave and amy are seeing shadow people, and dave briefly sees a vision of himself coloring with crayons in a mental hospital or something like that (it's been a while), and i was for sure the book was going to turn out to be something like he was in an asylum the whole time, or retarded or something. were there original plans to go somewhere with that, or did i miss something?
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u/Morgendorrfer Oct 03 '17
Hey,
I’ve really loved all of your articles/podcasts on the people who support Trump. It helped me understand a group of people I disagree with completely.
I just wanted to ask, do you think there’s any hope of liberals and conservatives bridging the huge political divide? What can a super-liberal such as myself do to reach out to Trump supporters and persuade them to at least support competent leaders (regardless of their political affiliation)?
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Oct 03 '17
I guess the key is to realize there isn't this one monolithic group called "trump supporters", it's a conglomeration of thousands of different sub-groups. Yes, some of them are just straight racists, but others bought Trump's anti-war talk, or think of immigration as an economic issue (and in fact read articles about how undocumented immigrants take jobs from other minorities, not white people), or who are scared of crime and can't understand why expressing those fears gets them labeled as a racist.
After I wrote my thing I got invited on a bunch of TV shows (like Anderson Cooper's) to talk about my article just after the election, and I never did it because that's just playing into it. "What do Trump voters really want?" They want a bunch of things. A lot of them just didn't want more Clintons in office. A lot of them wanted cheap universal health care, which Trump promised repeatedly. A lot of them just hate liberals, and wanted the candidate who would upset Lena Dunham the most (do you realize the right thinks of her as pretty much the leader of the left?). Remember that virtually everyone shares the same concerns and moral code - they all want safety, and peace and freedom. But they have very different opinions about what is threatening their safety, peace and freedom, and often their opinions are backed up by real data.
For example: Everything I've read by someone with expertise on the subject says single payer health care would be a disaster in America. Trying to reimburse hospitals and clinics on Medicare's pay schedule would cause massive closings of both, as they are driven out of business (particularly in poor and rural areas). We already don't have near enough doctors - any talk of trying to control costs means driving down their own pay and making it even harder for them to pay back their quarter of a million dollars in student loans. No one has a plausible plan for how to mitigate this.
So to hear people on the far left sneer and say that you either are for single payer, or you just want poor people to die and that no further discussion is needed, makes me want to vote for whoever is running against them. That's somebody who will pass laws that make them feel good but will leave people to die when the system collapses.
That to me is what I think most Republicans feel - that they're the party of hard choices and the left is all about doing what sounds good. At that point, you start taking it as a compliment when people call you cruel or racist. "Well, if not wanting a dozen people to get shot every week in Chicago makes me a racist, then I guess that's what I am!"
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u/vintage2017 Oct 04 '17
You say we already don't have enough doctors and 100% Medicare would put hospitals and clinics out if business. Why don't other countries have those problems?
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Oct 04 '17
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u/Korganis Oct 04 '17 edited Oct 04 '17
In regards to your first assertion: "...nowhere near as large and spread out as the U.S." - greetings from Canada!
Edit: This made me curious about Russia as well since I had not a clue. This is from "Healthcare in Russia" on Wikipedia:
"Healthcare in Russia is provided by the state through the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund, and regulated through the Ministry of Health.[1] The Constitution of the Russian Federation has provided all citizensthe right to free healthcare since 1996."
Heaven only knows what that actually means over there, but I think your assertion about size being relevant is certainly meaningless. 😊
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Oct 04 '17
I'd say that's a fair and unbiased summary, it's good to see someone not jumping on baseless assumptions for a change
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u/pabodie Oct 04 '17
You pretty much just described why, love him as much as I do, Bernie Sanders was never my choice.
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u/desvirtuado Oct 03 '17
Were there any planned, started and/or almost finished sections removed from your books? Can you give an extract?
Also, what about translating any of your books into spanish?
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Oct 03 '17
Oh I think every book is missing pages if not entire chapters that were cut during the writing and editing process. But USUALLY the key moments or lines got used in some other section - for example in Suits there are brief exchanges about the nature of money etc that were originally long discussions, but on review it felt like it stopped the momentum of the story too much. That theme - that the wealth is less of a gift and more of a giant, wild animal she has to now control - used to be stated openly by the characters in several conversations, but on editing instead of saying that to the reader, I try to show them instead. That's just one example - I hate to share those cut sections because if I cut them, then it's because I think they're worse than the book you know, if the editor suggested cutting them, then it's like I'm second guessing ("Hey reddit, here's the parts of the book THEY didn't want you to see!!!") and upon reflection they're always right.
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u/ProfessorLiftoff Oct 03 '17
If you haven't yet, you should look up "John, Dave, and the Temple of X'allna'''th'htu'th'u" or however it's spelled. It's what became TBifoS.
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u/issagirlmoon Oct 03 '17
Hi, Jason!
You mentioned a while ago on the Cracked Podcast that Futuristic Violence was being turned into a tv show. Is that still happening?
Can’t wait to read the new book!
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Oct 03 '17
No news on the show, aside from the fact that people bought the rights with the intention of turning it into one, but this is Hollywood and the decision will be made by a bunch of Hollywood types in some Hollywood conference room. I mean I assume it'd be a pretty expensive show, unless they tweak the premise so that the whole thing takes place in an office or something, so it's a fairly big decision on somebody's part.
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u/issagirlmoon Oct 03 '17
Damned Hollywood. Well if taking longer means it’s closer to the original story, then I can definitely wait. Thanks!
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u/shanez-135 Oct 03 '17
Hi david!
No question just wanted to say thank you for reinvigorating my love and passion for reading and very much being one of if not my favorite author of all time, just bought What the hell did I just read and am gonna start it soon!
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u/Tanglefisk Oct 03 '17
I mostly know you from the cracked podcast, and I was pretty interested by the alternate realities of the rightwing and left wing. One example you gave was 'The Knockout Game' which illustrates the news bubble succinctly.
Do you have any thoughts on how we, as a society, might overcome the echo chamber issue?
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Oct 03 '17
The problem is that any attempt to force a fix comes off like manipulation itself. Remember that a lot of the bubble isn't due to fake news that can be debunked - only the careful filtering of news. So if you're in a bubble that's being fed continual headlines about black-on-white crime, how does some outside authority fix that? Censor those stories? How do you force outlets like Breitbart to include other articles to put that stuff in context? Whoever figures it out should win a Nobel prize.
In a perfect world, teaching critical thinking and fact-checking in elementary school would be required (and I know some countries do that) but remember this goes both ways. The left depends on a lot of pleasant-sounding untruths, too, and some gross over-simplifications.
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u/Tanglefisk Oct 03 '17
No doubt. I was thinking along the lines of a 'read multiple sources with different perspective' campaign. You gotta check out the Amaq news agency from time to time if you want the Daesh perspective on Syria (/s).
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u/tcmJOE Oct 03 '17
Hi Jason,
I find myself rereading your Don't Panic article every few weeks. Given all that's happened over the past year, do you still maintain that sense of optimism?
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Oct 03 '17
Sure. I mean, my optimism wasn't based on everything turning out okay, it was based on the idea that the culture is still heading in the right direction over the long term - if anything, Trump's election was a convulsive response to the progress. But it also serves as a reminder for how far we still have to go; I think as a society we have a habit of moving like 10% of the way toward fixing an issue like racial inequality and saying, "There! Look at all this effort we put out! Now stop asking us for shit!" It's not that people don't want to fix these problems, it's that it's way harder than we think so it's very easy to say, "What, you STILL make way less than the average white person? Don't we have affirmative action laws or something? Get over it!"
I also remember that in my early 20s I totally would have voted for Trump and it took years for me to come around to understanding why politicians who "tell it like it is" are often full of shit. But I did come around.
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u/Sizzle50 Oct 03 '17
Hey Jason! I'm a big fan of your articles and podcasts and it wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that you've helped shape my perspective in a lot of ways; even 10 years ago, reading your take on 'the Monkeysphere' was something that had a relatively profound effect coming from the site I bookmarked for silly photoshop contests :P
My question for you is about what your thoughts are re: politicization as Executive Editor over at Cracked. A recurring theme of your articles and discussions is how facile and counterproductive it is to have reductive, close-minded beliefs about one's political opponents; again and again you help readers and listeners to attempt to relate with and understand various outgroups and find common ground. I don't think it would be controversial to say that your charitableness in this regard makes you one of the more moderate voices on the site, politically
As Executive Editor, how much influence have you had in shaping the Overton Window of Cracked w/r/t what gets published - in both content and tone? How much have you noticed the political slant of the website change over time? Have you ever felt discomfort about any perceived gulf between your politics and those of your uniformly younger, more urban staffers? Finally, has Cracked ever considered bringing in ideologically diverse viewpoints or is there a happy consensus with the growing slant toward progressivism in recent years?
Interested in any responses you care to give. Thanks for the great content!
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Oct 03 '17 edited Oct 03 '17
The trick is that no writer or video creator on the staff thinks they're being biased - they just try to be honest and tell the truth and source all of their claims. But the idea of having, say, an anti-abortion columnist just seems weird. Not because we're running some secret George Soros operation to brainwash the public, but because it would feel like a betrayal to the women on the staff. It's seen as a moral issue, not a political one. That is no doubt partly due to the bubble we all exist in, I fully acknowledge that.
And I look around at the entertainment landscape and I see the same everywhere; can you imagine an anti-abortion skit on Saturday Night Live? Or an anti-immigration bit on Jimmy Fallon? Almost half the country would be in favor, but if you saw it, you'd think they were doing it as a prank. I can go to The Onion or Deadspin or The Ringer and see a string of anti-Trump jokes and not one letter of support. That's just the voice of comedy, in my world, and virtually every writer who shows up on our doorstep speaks it. If you're a conservative comedian, that immediately becomes your "thing" and suddenly that's all that matters about you.
For us, the goal was and is always to be smart and fair, and if we're going after something, we should be attacking institutions and people in power, not regular people who are just trying to get by. That's the part that I have some ability to enforce but that I don't think I have to - the people I work with all agree with it.
So I think that's the best I can offer anyone who feels like our politics don't align with theirs; that probably won't change, but what we can always do is be fair and truthful. I feel like our point of view is less about being in favor of one party or another and more about standing up for the little guy where possible - the minorities, the immigrants, the poor. I'm fine working for a site that says everyone deserves health care whether they can afford it or not. I don't want to be in a position of saying that, say, we must enact single payer, or whatever. The former feels more like a moral position, the latter a political one.
But that sentiment, too, may be a result of my personal bubble. All I can say is that if we ran a column about how maybe poor people should be allowed to die, I wouldn't just see that as offering political balance.
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u/Level3Kobold Oct 04 '17
Have you rejected a conservative applicant because you didn't think their political beliefs fit the company culture?
Or have there simply been no good conservative writers applying?
Do you think that a pro-lifer and a pro-choicer (and by extension a conservative and a democrat) can be friends despite their disagreements?
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u/TheMysteriousDoc Oct 03 '17
Hey David I'm someone who marathoned your booked due to a friend recommended the first one and me falling in love with the story and characters.
My question is this: For me,John and David are symbols of the nihlism, cynism, and hope for humanity. They are brash and impulsive. They ignore much more educated people and powerful people. What they do is out of necessity or what they seem as such.
Are they good characters? Do you see them as good people? Do you think good characters even exist? The second book explored that a bit. Even going as far as to imply they were villians at one point. I don't expect a straight binary answer but I'm just curious to see what you think of them.
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Oct 03 '17
The whole point is that they don't know. At no stage of this struggle do the have all of the information they need. Yet, they still have to act. That's exactly what adulthood feels like, you're forced to make choices in situations you don't understand, in circumstances where it's impossible to know the outcome of your actions. So a lot of their terrible attitude toward things is perfectly understandable, even if it's very frustrating when viewed from the outside.
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u/TheMysteriousDoc Oct 03 '17
You just perfectly explained why their struggle reasonates so much with me and so many other people as fantastical as it is. Thank you for the response and I can't wait to see what this new book has to hold
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u/Mr_Tarradiddle Oct 04 '17
This so perfectly describes the appeal of your writing, and adulthood. If I were a book critic that mattered, I would describe you as "Existentially perceptive".
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u/awwman25 Oct 03 '17
Hi David! Really big fan! So, the other night, since I hate myself, I looked up JDATE fanfictions. I'm wondering what your thought on that kinda stuff is. Some authors really hate fanworks, especially of that type, but most seem to just kinda accept that it's a thing. What's your stance on it?
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Oct 03 '17
I've never sought it out but I'd never, ever discourage it, either - somewhere out there I'm sure there's one that's better than the original. Then that writer will be encouraged to go out and create their own thing. That's how everybody starts, I think - you're imitating somebody else until you learn how it works. Like a musician doing covers.
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u/gotjane Nov 11 '17
Do you say this as being aware of the violinist who shares your name ("David Wong") and does covers, or no? I'm just curious because I saw your book on Goodreads and a search for whether you're the same person brought me here. XD
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Oct 03 '17
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u/jdllama Oct 03 '17
We were discussing this in the JDATE3 ARG Discord, actually.
John Comes At The End - The Slashfic
"And are you familiar with the old human saying, 'I want to fuck you so bad my dick's hard?'"
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Oct 03 '17
Hey David/Jason. Thank you for being the Douglas Adams of horror--and so much more than that too.
I am coming home to my preordered copy of WTHdIjR today and can hardly wait.
Meanwhile, I have a couple questions about "spiders":
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Is the demand there for some adaptation of it (be it a film, mini-series, or something else)?
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What is your favorite out of all the themes you got into in this book? There were certainly a lot, from the unknowability of most reality, to responsibility and "manning up." (I feel like these two are connected, since they both involve accepting hard realities).
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Oct 03 '17
I don't have anything to announce on that end, but with this (and any popular series, I guess) there are always conversations about doing this or that. But it's Hollywood and there are all of these properties just kind of floating around, waiting to get the right people attached.
I think just the overall concept that true horror is in confronting a problem that is impossible to understand. Most modern horror movies are very straightforward - a monster or ghost is lurking, it wants something, and all we have to do is figure out what it wants or what its weakness is. In my books, the characters never really know if their actions did any good. They're trying their best but they are at best bit players in a very complicated and messy game with no rules. That's the idea that attracted me to it in the first place, and I like exploring it as the characters continue to mature and find new ways to fuck up.
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u/agentfrankie Oct 03 '17
Hi! Huge fan - JDATE was the only book I finished and immediately started rereading again. Looking forward the WtHDIJR.
I'm a designer/writer of tabletop RPGs, have you ever thought that JDATE would make an awesome game? Like Call of Cthulhu with more gags!!
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Oct 03 '17
I of course don't have time for tabletop games due to my intense crossfit regimen, but I would not turn down any merchandising opportunities. I need the money for additional fitness supplies, and "supplements."
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u/Iambecomelegend Oct 03 '17
Hey David,
First off I wanted to start by saying that I'm a huge fan of your work. Being in my mid twenties I don't find myself picking up books very often, but your books always get me excited and reading for hours on end. My question for you is what is your favorite (Non-spoiler) line out of all 3 JDATE books? And as a bonus question, could you ever see Dave and John in an Adult Swim style cartoon series?
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Oct 03 '17
Favorite non-spoiler line is probably Marconi seeing John in the middle of a particularly ridiculous situation and greeting him with, "John. I would ask you what you are doing but I fear you would actually tell me."
An animated series would be amazing. That process would drive me nuts, it seems to take years to get a season together. So many moving parts.
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u/YoullShitYourEyeOut Oct 03 '17
I have no question, just a demand. Bring back Molly. Also I just started reading the third book so if Molly comes back I retract my demand.
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Oct 03 '17
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Oct 03 '17
Sure! The stunt dog was male and it would have cost millions to use CG to paint female genitalia on it, and also it responded better on-set to its real name, because dogs do not understand acting. That's a great example of the real challenges that come with having to actually shoot a movie versus just imagining one in your head! Writing a setting is easy, building it is hard!
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u/SolemnCultist Oct 03 '17
Hello Jason!
Thank you so much for doing this AMA, I'm a huge fan.
I'm a graphic designer and made tons of art based on John Dies at the End, even my final school project.
I have a few questions:
What is your favorite novel and why?
Did David Lynch and movies like The Evil Dead inspire you? if not, what did?
I'm getting your new novel tomorrow, I can't wait!
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Oct 03 '17
Favorite novel: I get asked this all the time, and the weird thing is I never feel the need to rank things I like (even though I literally write lists for a living). I love Confederacy of Dunces from John Kennedy Toole, and Song of Kali by Dan Simmons, before I realized how racist it was. The Great Divorce, by CS Lewis (a striking and funny short tale about how Hell would just be giving people exactly what they want). But they're all so different, I couldn't assign them scores.
I saw the Evil Dead movies when I was a teenager and they changed my life. I don't think I get David Lynch, to his movies/shows feel weird for the sake of being weird, but I probably am not paying close enough attention. Like every kid who grew up in the 80s, Ghostbusters changed my world - I loved the idea of this battle between demons and this crew of working Joes, kind of slouching around in their filthy exterminator jumpsuits, smoking cigarettes and just wishing they were somewhere else.
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u/kriegelch Oct 03 '17
Hey David! Big fan.
A friend of mine (of Asian descent) once expressed some discomfort in your using an Asian-sounding pen name in spite of not being Asian, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why, seeing as you weren't trying to claim an Asian-centric point of view or some such thing.
I figure you've probably given more thought to the matter than either of us--what's your take?
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Oct 03 '17
I mean not even when I started using the name in 1998 did I play a Chinese character or mock that culture or anything of the sort - from the very first day the character of David Wong was a white person who got stuck with the name some ridiculous reason. That's it, that's the extent of it. In the books, it's a fake name he chose because he heard that statistically it's the most common surname and thus would make him harder to track down, which is of course ridiculous logic that is emblematic of everything David does. There's never been any commentary beyond that - the person doesn't match the name. That's it. I'm sorry if she or anyone else is unsettled by it but I feel like on the whole I'm pretty good on these issues, and I do listen when people raise concerns.
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u/wantmyusernameback Oct 03 '17
Hello author,
I like your books, I like reading, and I like reading your books. Why did you decide to release your book while I don't have time to read it? Was it on purpose to spite me? It's cool if it was, I just want to know for sure.
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Oct 03 '17
I actually have a very good method for dealing with that, which is I'll hear about a cool book, then go add it to my kindle, then simply never read it. I've got a really strong list on there, anyone who sifted through it would be impressed by my taste. Their covers look very impressive on my home screen.
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u/Notte27 Oct 03 '17
Hey, I really liked Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits. Two questions about it:
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Any chance of a sequel in the near future?
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IIRC it was mentioned somewhere that it would be developed into a TV series (?). What's going on with that?
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Oct 03 '17
That will be my next book, I haven't signed a contract yet but that's what I'm going to write either way and the publisher agrees. 2) I mentioned in another question that the TV situation is occurring somewhere far away from me, they tend not to loop in the author unless they specifically need me for something. Like if they need me to star in the show, or be someone's nude body double.
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u/Rekdon Oct 03 '17
Do you miss Jack yet or do you see him as a traitor who should be pelted with pencaps?
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Oct 03 '17
I will sacrifice everything in my life to see that Jack is destroyed. My own happiness means nothing, I am living vengeance.
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u/Notte27 Oct 03 '17
Can you recommend a book (or any other medium) that would help me understand what life in Rural America is like nowadays? Your articles in Cracked about that were great, but I'd like to know more.
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Oct 03 '17
I've read hundreds of articles on the internet before and after I wrote mine, my favorite is this one: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/01/30/staying-classy/ which itself is a review of other essays and there are some books cited that I have on my to-read list. It's not specifically about rural America, but about class, and how we wrongly assume it's only about income. These regions have their own cultures and see the world very differently - for example, Trump's "grab 'em by the pussy" talk was seen as somewhat loutish and crude, but not rape. Many of the things the media sees as scandals barely register a shrug, and they think racism is overhyped as an issue the same way the left thinks Islamic terrorism is.
But I never read a single book that really nailed it, there's always an attempt to over-dramatize it or romanticize it. Would be happy to get recommendations myself.
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u/Soloandthewookiee Oct 03 '17 edited Oct 03 '17
You've written articles and posted about the changing tide of online media, so what do you see in the future for Cracked and is there any truth to the rumor that this shift is due to massive loss in staff following the purges that occurred in the power vacuum left by Jack O'Brien?
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Oct 03 '17
You're making it sound like Game of Thrones when the reality isn't that entertaining. The internet economy changes every few years and everybody has to adjust - there isn't a media outlet around that hasn't been through huge changes due to fluctuating ad rates or whatever. I mean, Cracked as a brand has been around since 1958, it's been bought and sold like half a dozen times, and changed formats three times just in the time I've been involved.
Each time you hopefully come back better than before and know that a few years from now everything will change yet again. If you like routine and stability, this is not the business for you.
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u/CaptainJAmazing Oct 03 '17
Here’s one we’ve been discussing on the JDaTE Facebook page: Is David (the character, not you) actually fat, or does he just think he is?
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Oct 03 '17
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Oct 03 '17
The strange thing is I've never followed an ARG myself, I'm not smart enough to do the puzzles or really keep up with it. But I love the idea of them. It seems like they've gone out of style, right? It used to be lots of big movie and video game releases would do one for months and months leading up to release. Didn't Trent Reznor do one that lead to someone finding the new album on a USB drive hidden in a random public restroom?
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u/alittlevoice1 Oct 03 '17
You introduced me to The Last Psychiatrist, and holy moly, the rabbit hole of a backlog on that site is full of the most mesmerizing and intelligent content I've ever seen. I'm only 19, so that's not a very impressive claim, but what are your thoughts on the blog now that it's been inactive for so long? Do you think it's a good idea to read what's written there today?
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Oct 03 '17
Yeah I just finished typing a reply to another question that mentioned it - the last thing was he said he was taking time to write a book, and books do take time, but maybe his real life got in the way. He was a mental health professional and maybe he got promoted to a position where it would be awkward to have those writings out there (I mean, he gets pretty blunt at times).
Then again, he didn't take the page down, so he's still paying to keep it alive (for the domain if nothing else). So I don't know. He's an amazing writer. Or was, if it turns out he's dead.
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Oct 03 '17
If you ever come to the Dallas, Texas area, can I buy you some barbecue and stare at you from across the restaurant while you eat it?
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u/Superbra Oct 03 '17
Hellooooo
Does What the hell did I just read work as a stand alone book? Thinking of recommending it for my book club, but no one except me has read the first two books. I've been trying for years to get friends to read John dies at the end, to no success. But next time it's my turn to pick a book I can force them.... mwahahahha!
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Oct 03 '17
Every book I write should work as a stand-alone book, I work very very hard to make sure that's the case. If you have doubts, read the first few chapters and see if you agree that it does a good job of easing somebody into the universe. There's a ton of backstory but they are each contained adventures. Hopefully.
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u/jdllama Oct 03 '17
Playing any video games lately? (In what little spare time you have; those long hours at Cracked are distracting, and I don't mean that facetiously or anything)
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Oct 03 '17
Played Breath of the Wild and hated it. There are several hours of fun buried in about 50 hours of frustrating mechanics, endless menu clicking (it takes, what, eight clicks to cook a power-up dish? And who enjoy sifting through their pile of swords every time they open a chest?) and boringly identical shrines. I thought all of the boss battles were unimaginative and easy, while routine things were stupidly frustrating for no reason. I spent more time waiting for it to stop raining so I could climb a cliff than I did fighting Ganon. The game wants me to get excited about loot, but the loot is worthless - why would I solve some complicated side puzzle in a shrine just to get a sword that will break after five swings?
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u/CaptainJAmazing Oct 03 '17
Has Rick & Morty been an influence on your writing at all, or is it entirely, as the earlier poster asked, just “Rick & Morty before Rick & Morty?”
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Oct 03 '17
As I mentioned in the answer to that one, it's more about me and Dan Harmon having similar tastes in some things (we're both from the midwest, around the same age, and were a fan of the same things growing up). There's a plot point in the new book that's similar to something that happens in a Rick and Morty episode that aired about eight months after I started writing mine, I don't doubt some readers will think it's a nod or homage but the reality is we just have very similar sensibilities. We're both into the science of story structure and make it a point to use it to play against audience expectations. Both of us sound really pretentious when describing our own writing processes, and make it sound way more complicated than it is.
I mean I'm making it seem like I know him but it's only from us following each other on twitter. Some other Cracked writers have been on Harmontown before but I'm not in LA.
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u/CaptainJAmazing Oct 03 '17
Hey Dave,
Thanks for answering so many questions. Can you give us a quick rundown of your creative process? Like do you come up with your ideas randomly while doing everyday chores or while you're intentionally brainstorming, do you use a notebook for writing down those ideas, and how long is the editing process?
Or to put it another way, I got a short story published in an anthology a few months ago and I'd say it was about 30% ideas I've had rattling around in my head from as far back as high school, 50% stuff thought up specifically in the few months before publishing it, and 20% made up at the actual moment of typing or revising, and I don't generally use a notebook. How about you?
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Oct 03 '17
Remember that I now do this full time - my day job is writing and editing essays, my side job is writing novels. So 100% of my work week (and to be frank, most weekends) is developing ideas.
These days I just have word docs on my desktop of every computer, and a note pad app on my phone, to write down ideas, lines, jokes, etc as they occur to me when I'm standing in line at the grocery store etc. As for the editing process, for me writing and editing happen all at once, there isn't a sentence in these novels that hasn't been rewritten probably 20 times. I continually circle back, and move things around, and just keep fussing with it until I have it right.
I've heard of authors who write straight through, who will type up and edit a chapter and then declare it done. That's not me - I'll be going back and rewriting the first chapter at the very end. That's why these books have so many callbacks and running jokes/references. I'll write the callback and then circle back and write the setup. There's nothing linear about it.
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u/me_hill Oct 03 '17
How much of this book was inspired by your brief time working as a body double for Axl Rose?
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u/dyll Oct 03 '17
Jason - I wanted to say thank you while you're here and might actually see this. You've been a huge influence on me over the years and were one of many voices that brought me out of a weird life and into one that I actually want.
I was raised in the Jehovah's Witnesses. It's weird and bad and blah blah blah. My friend made me read JDatE years ago - it was the kind of book I was supposed to self-censor and avoid, but I fell in love with it, and with Spiders. Then I found your writing on Cracked (separately), and some of the conversations you had on the Cracked Podcast, and the points of view you helped me see both in your books and in your other writing and podcasting were a huge help to me waking up and leaving to the real world.
I just wanted to make sure that you're told that your work does more than just entertain and comfort (even though that's awesome and good enough in and of itself) - you helped save my life.
Thank you for everything you do.
edit I'm 4 hours into the audiobook while at work and it's really, really good. Can't wait to finish it and get my printed copy, too. Interesting that they went back to the reader from JDatE after switching for Spiders.
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Oct 03 '17
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Oct 03 '17
A few, we started doing more episodes with a third guest so it got too complicated trying to do one for everybody on the show and I didn't want to leave them out. Perfect sunday would be planning a huge party with all of my family and friends only something happens at the last minute and we have to cancel it, and I wind up having to eat all of the food myself while watching a Bears game.
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Oct 03 '17
I think I've heard you say that you like to have bad/weird movies on in the background while you write, if that's still true, how do you feel like that helps you?
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Oct 03 '17
I need SOMETHING in the background - I guess due to attention deficit reasons. But it can't be anything that distracts me - a movie with a compelling story or that needs careful attention to dialogue will only pull me off the task. So I'll find some kung-fu movie or slasher movie or something where it's just a series of crazy things occurring in sequence. So I can glance up at it while trying to think of a word or phrase, and it's just kind of there, like garish wallpaper.
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Oct 03 '17
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Oct 03 '17
I like writing really stupid car chases, or slapstick chase scenes in general, and probably always will. It's a great chance to see the character string together a lot of terrible decisions in a very short period of time. The whole thing with Andre and the cats near the end of FVaFS is one of my favorites.
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u/halcyionic Oct 03 '17
Oh my god I’d just like to say I was obsessed with John Dies at the End my freshman year of high school. I’d carry around my paperback copy that had the film edition cover. My teachers thought I was a sociopath from the syringes and nail covered bat and the axe. I told literally everyone I knew about it. I even wrote my essay in a standardized test about it. Now I’m a sophomore in college and looking forward to reading your new book!
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u/thunderous_pr0phet Oct 03 '17
What kind of lighting would you suggest for reading the new book?
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Oct 03 '17
Actually if you turn off all of the lights in your house, the blue LED lights from all of your various electronic devices will provide more than enough to read comfortably. I have a power strip that, to announce it is working, has an "on" light that literally lights up my entire bedroom at night. I had to put black tape over it to get some sleep.
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u/krakolich Oct 03 '17
I just had a baby. Is What the Hell Did I Just Read appropriate as a bed time story for a week old? Or will it cause irreversible damage to her reality?
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u/FruitPunchCult Oct 03 '17
I just had all my top teeth removed and am in a lot of pain but the drugs aren't working. What do you recommend?
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Oct 03 '17
Do some work, distract yourself. If you can't sleep then that's the only thing I know to do, take your mind off of it. Oddly enough, really difficult or even frustrating work can do the trick - the more of your mental energy it requires, the more your body will adjust and stop sending you pain signals.
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u/The__Good__Doctor Oct 03 '17
Hello Jason! I was wondering after reading This Book is Full of Spiders if the story was always meant to be a sequel to JDATE. It doesn't seem to have many ties to the original book's plot aside from the characters. Did you ever think of making it set in the JDATE universe with different lead characters?
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Oct 03 '17
You'll have the same impression of JDATE 3. They each are their own stories, featuring the same characters but at different points in their lives - these people have been through a lot and have grown a lot. By the next book they'll all be 30 or so and things will change again. That's an intentional choice - I don't even recognize the person I was at 22 and I feel like that should be part of the saga.
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u/RockyRockington Oct 03 '17
Hi David, I've been a huge fan of your writing for years and when I first heard that you were releasing a book (all those years ago) I was first in line to preorder.
Having read so much of your work for Cracked I went into the book thinking I knew what to expect, and you didn't let me down.
One thing I didn't expect was your ability to write a genuinely unsettling horror. I was delighted as horror is probably my favourite genre of literature after comedy (I blame Terry Pratchett).
Would you ever consider writing a horror story?
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u/alittlevoice1 Oct 03 '17
Hello Mr. Pargin/Wong/Cool Author Guy,
Last night, I had a dream where a trout turned into a person and was my best friend. Do you think this heralds any significance in the grander scheme of the universe?
Thanks!
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Oct 03 '17
Related: I had a dream last night that Cracked's Robert Evans talked me in to going to a city that was about to explode into a revolt, because he wanted to do an article on it. Then once I was there, he told me he was actually joining the revolt and wanted to overthrow the local government, and was trying to convince me to go along. When the government's tanks rolled in I just kind of sneaked away and blended with the bystanders and pretended I didn't know him.
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Oct 03 '17
Hi Jason,
Completely random and not-related-to-your-new-book question.
You and Scott Alexander are two of my favorite internet writers. I've seen you reference/tweet Slate Star Codex before, and in some of your Cracked articles, I can tell you've been exposed to some of the ideas of the rationalist community. My question: what is your opinion of the rationalist community? Are you a regular SSC reader?
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Oct 03 '17
Love SSC but don't agree with everything he says or thinks (which shouldn't be required, of course). I don't fully understand the rationalist community or necessarily get what it even is.
I like that Scott works extra hard to try to get past his own biases, even if he still clearly has them (he still seems to think feminism is a bunch of really mean women on Tumblr posting memes at him). If I could build a new religion or moral system from scratch, it would start there - with teaching people to always be examining their own prejudices and to always be very wary of attempts by others to control them.
I still wish I knew what happened to The Last Psychiatrist, his work on narcissism changed my life but then the guy just vanished.
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u/ann-the-bean-can Oct 03 '17
Hey David! If you had words of advice for a character in any of your books, who would the character be and what would you tell them?
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u/jdllama Oct 03 '17
Hey yo, I just got a package from you for the work I did on the recent ARG, wanted to say thank you for that!
I have a spoiler for the new book here as my question:
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Oct 03 '17
I've decided I'm going to avoid plot-specific JDATE3 questions even if they're hidden, because only a few people have read it and I know some people can't resist clicking on spoilers. Lord knows I can't.
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Oct 03 '17
hi, can I just say 'this book is full of spiders' is one of my favourite books!
I have always wondered if your inspiration for the 'soy sauce' come from a personal experience with dmt?
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u/kethepe Oct 03 '17
When you're writing, do you see it more as a way to escape from reality, or a way to confront it?
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Oct 03 '17
I don't think those are different, I think fantasies are a way to process reality. Like if you're lonely and fantasize about having friends, you are hopefully either going to A) decide you want that and motivate yourself to go out and get friends or B) feel momentarily better about the fact that it isn't your reality.
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u/nsqe Oct 03 '17
Hi, David! Haven't read What The Hell yet (I mean, it just came out!) but it's pre-ordered.
You mentioned at one point that you'd be going back to Futuristic Violence & Fancy Suits once JDATE3 was done. Will you be doing a sequel to that, or doing something wildly different?
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Oct 03 '17
A sequel to FVaFS will be the next book, the next John and Dave book will come after that. I don't know that I'll just alternate between the two for the rest of my life but that's the plan for the next few years, assuming I don't die.
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Oct 03 '17
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Oct 03 '17
I almost never start at the beginning. In Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, the first part I wrote was the first confrontation between Zoey and Molech, in the park, the casual insults they trade.
Pick the part you are most enthusiastic about writing and just start writing. You can always circle back and figure out how you got there. I always hop around, I don't know how other authors are able to just write A to Z.
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u/CaptainJAmazing Oct 03 '17
In the first book, Dave is constantly plagued by "demonic" voices that tell him terrible things all the time. Is this based on Intrusive thoughts? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrusive_thought
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u/PNGeek Oct 03 '17
This sounds like a juvenile question even as I type it, but I would love to know how you cultivated your ability to explain things so well. Would you say it necessarily went hand-in-hand with the daily writing you did for so many years?
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Oct 03 '17
Thank you for the compliment, I never had a lot of friends growing up so I was always kind of detached from things, and I think as a result wound up observing them from afar. Like I didn't understand these cliques that would form so I would kind of watch them and try to figure out what they were doing. The moment you declare yourself an observer instead of a participant you kind of have a different view of things ("Oh, he's doing favors for her because she's pretty and he thinks it will make her like him").
So then my reading would gravitate in that direction and that just became my hobby, trying to understand how the world works and how to explain it. I'm not any kind of an expert, I think I just have this one skill, which is coming up with simpler comparisons that will make complicated things a little easier to understand. It doesn't sound like that useful of a skill but people really value it a lot.
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u/Big_Jamming_Burst Oct 03 '17
When you read or watch fiction do you put more value interesting ideas or successful execution?
Are there books/shows/movies/comics that are less than perfect as a narrative that you enjoy or recommend just because of the unique ideas in them?
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u/Mito_sis Oct 03 '17
This might be a dumb question but I'm getting What the Hell Did I Just Read from Amazon but I have a collection of your books that have been signed by you. Is there a way to order a signed copy or ship you a copy to get signed to complete my collection?
I'm so excited to read this new book and am already wondering if there will be a forth someday!?
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u/TheStoneyPothead Oct 03 '17
I didn't even know you had a new book coming out.When you play Skyrim what race do you play as?
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u/From_Wentz_He_Came Oct 03 '17 edited Oct 03 '17
Hi! Your book blew my mind when I first read it and I'm so glad that you've found success with your work. Have you read the Southern Reach/Area X books? If so what did you think? While the tone, setting, and style are totally different, I got really similar vibes from Annihilation as I did from my first read of John Dies at the End.
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Oct 03 '17
Hey John!
What happened to cracked? It used to be full of informative articles and fun lists, but over the last five years it's gotten really preachy and (in my opinion) not as fun to read. Is this a conscious decision on your part?
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u/blitchton Oct 03 '17
David, first, thank you for such amazing books. Secondly, will John ever settle down? Is there a significant other that is just as out there as he is and makes John ten times more John, or is David the only person for John.
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u/sethmoth Oct 03 '17
how can i get my hands on some soy sauce? i know the risks, just give me the sauce man!
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u/thenoblitt Oct 03 '17
I like your books, but I wish cracked hadn't gone downhill.
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u/UncleBlob Oct 03 '17
When you write JDATE books, do you envision John and Dave as their real-life counterparts, or do you see them as different in appearance?
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u/watchusetts Oct 03 '17 edited Oct 03 '17
Hi Jason, I pre-ordered What The Hell Did I Just Read pretty much the first day that it was possible because I love and support you. Yet Amazon tells me that I will be receiving it TOMORROW aka October 4th!!!! What do you have to say for yourself and what steps are you going to take to rectify the situation?
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u/cylinderofantigod Oct 03 '17
When is the fourth book coming out?
Also, do you have any advice for those of us dealing with real-life interdimensional predators?
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u/mynemesisjeph Oct 03 '17
Hi David/Jason! Huge fan! Is this going to be the last John and Dave book? I preordered it and am going to start reading ASAP, but I need to be mentally prepared if this is the last.
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Oct 03 '17
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Oct 03 '17
I feel like people think that the Tea Party was actually very successful because while proposing unrealistic radical ideas, they pulled the country to the right and made less radical ideas possible (immigration reform, Muslim travel bans, relaxed gun laws, Obamacare repeal) so they figure that's what the left needs, a radical fringe that will pull the whole country that direction.
I personally disagree - I think the fear of collectivism is baked into the American identity to a degree, due to our history and culture. I think the rise of a radical left promising that what we REALLY need is for the government to seize your land and money to make sure it is distributed fairly will turn the mainsteam off to those ideas completely. But of course I am not an expert and have no education in this field, I am just a regular person who reads a lot. They may turn out to be right.
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u/WarbossTodd Oct 03 '17
Hey David! I love your books but I don’t have time to read so I listen to almost everything on Audiobook. If I listen to them on Audible do you get a cut?
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u/jyakscoe Oct 03 '17 edited Oct 03 '17
javid,
you said on a q&a with john that every successful person who has ever lived had 3 things- talent, drive, and opportunity.
talent, (or something they were good at)
drive (or determination, cause if you dont have that youll get left in the dust by people who do)
and opportunity (which is the one most based off of luck) then you said
"ive never met a successful person who got to where they were without at some point meeting someone who could help them and then impressed them."
who was a successful person you met that made you surprised is a total asshole
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u/Tleprie Oct 03 '17
Who would win in a fight, John, Dave, and Amy, or Brockway's Carey and Kaitlyn?
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u/givenblue Oct 03 '17
Hey David ! Huge fan, do you have any plans for future books?
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u/Drainout Oct 03 '17
I really enjoy the videos you post on youtube. Any stories behind some of the older ones such as the Star Wars curse or Ghost Investigation?
I'm glad you recently started posting videos again.
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u/tori_chibi Oct 03 '17
Hi David! My roommate recently found John dies at the end and we're absolutely loving it. Out of curiosity we looked to see if it had a movie and it did! After watching the trailer though we were less then thrilled and didn't end up watching it at all c':
How do you feel about the way your characters were portayed in the movie?
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u/eggsistoast Oct 03 '17
How do I convince my mother to read your books?
I know that she'll love them, because she loves horror, comedy, and books. However, she has so far ignored my recommendations for new books to read, despite her constantly asking me for them.
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u/TheBawlrus Oct 03 '17
Hey Jason, love your books (and the movie).
Have you ever thought about doing a sci fi book? And how much input does John get on your writing?
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u/Samnutter3212 Oct 03 '17
I have no idea who you are or what your books are about...
BUT... why should I buy your book and become your newest fan? (Congrats on the release).
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Oct 03 '17
David, I have yet to read one of your books. However, machine guns and suits is on my list to read. Why are you not just another generic author ? ( In your own opinion)
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u/PNGeek Oct 03 '17
Jason / David, your Cracked articles always impress me as being so cogent and thoroughly thought through. Do you ever review any of them and disagree with your points?
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u/huggiesdsc Oct 03 '17
Hi Wong! I've been a huge fan ever since your entire novel was just a blog. You're work is incredibly good, putting me on edge with intense horror elements, then relieving tension by making me laugh with excellent comedic timing. Really cool to see you here.
One thing always confounded me in those early days, what was up with that balloon in the trashcan? You spent like a whole page talking about it. Were you high that day? Also, is the sauce real or can we interpret this whole thing as like an Alice in Wonderland fever dream?