Although it’s not NBC, the New Books Network has quite a reach with academics. That’s why I was glad they accepted my pitch for an interview about Nightmares with the Bible. The interview is now live and can be heard here. The experience of getting the interview made turned into quite a saga with my pitch going back to at least November, and acceptance coming early in January. The actual interview was over a month ago and it was posted only yesterday. I’m not naive enough to think it will boost the sales of a hundred-dollar book, but maybe a few more people will become aware of it. Even in academia there are too many books published for all of them to get notice proportionate to the work that goes into writing them.
Some publishers are of the opinion that editors shouldn’t try to be authors. Obviously I disagree on that particular point. Author-editors share the ups and downs and know what it’s like to put in the work only to have a book disappear. I haven’t received any royalties at all for Nightmares. I have no idea how many copies have sold. Many writers publishing into the teeth of a pandemic fall into the same category. While trade books—including fiction—did remarkably well during the height of Covid-19, academic books languished. Nightmares is, of course, its own kind of hybrid. A monster, if you will. Written for educated laity it’s packaged and priced for the academic monograph market. That’s why I pitched it to NBN. I’m glad to see the recording is now available.
Nobody writes this kind of book to get rich. I’ve had friends ask me why I bother. Believe me, that question occurs to me too. Some of us have something to say but the auditorium’s empty. The Bible’s at a low point outside a specific cross-section, and that cross-section generally doesn’t pay attention to horror. Of course, that’s another reason I do this. Bringing opposites together offers the world, even the staid academic world, something new. Horror is at last being taken seriously by literary and cinematography scholars. Some biblical scholars are realizing that apart from comforting words of love, and towering demands for justice, the Bible itself contains plenty of horror. When unlike things mix, monsters are born. I’m grateful to the NBN for taking a chance on my book. If you’ve got some time, and the inclination, you can listen in here.
