SJWG’s in-person presenter in late February, Glenn Herdling, spent his early years creating stories at Marvel Comics in New York, aka the House of Ideas. This meant that his formative creative experiences came under the mentorship of such luminaries as Stan Lee, the father of the Marvel Universe, and Robert McKee, one of the most sought-after lecturers on the art of story. The process at Marvel, Glenn explained, was a parallel creative effort of writers like himself and the graphic panel artists. Sometimes, as he offered, the graphical representations that were paired to events in his stories said something more or slightly different than what he envisioned. Thus, the final combined effect was often greater than the sum of the parts. This made the experience richly illuminating for Glenn, now an author of YA novels.
As an author, Glenn Herdling wrote his first novel in a largely uninterrupted yearlong sprint. The germ of his story was one that he had in some form envisioned and even pitched to Marvel. That early idea did not however catch on there, so its essence stewed in his thoughts for some years to come. After several transformative revisions, he found himself considering the story of a young heroine in an historically accurate early 20th century, featuring the very real characters of Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle, along with several very unreal characters and fantastic occurrences. Glenn explained that no matter how fantastic the story, the basis for everything in the world being portrayed must be faithful what is known about it. Glenn was therefore a studious researcher of what life was like and what actually happened in the time of his story. It is precisely this disciplined approach to reality that shapes the fantasy and supernatural components of a story into a powerful compelling narrative.
So what is the novel about? Piper Weis is a stranded child, at times in foster homes and at other times in the orphanage. But at twelve years of age she discovers she is the long-lost niece of Harry Houdini, the brother of her darkly mysterious, seemingly fanged and clawed, but never present father. Houdini, whose last name Piper takes as her own, is also the former dear friend of Arthur Conan Doyle, a spiritualist by this time, ever trying to reach and communicate with the dead (just as was the author’s story in real life). Set in the Roaring Twenties in and near to New York’s Coney Island, Herdling’s novel is populated by vampires, demons, mystics, carnival freaks, secret organizations, silent movies, secret speakeasies, duplicity, intrigue, and much more (Ahem, some of this is purely fiction).
Piper Houdini the novel:
https://www.amazon.com/Piper-Houdini-Apprentice-Coney-Island/dp/1504349725
Glenn Herdling on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B00QL8M8VE
Glenn Herdling on Barnes and Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/glenn+herdling
Glenn Herdling at Inkwood Books:
https://www.inkwoodnj.com/search/site/herdling
