And Murmur sounds like a fantastic character. Sharon: That is a pretty clever premise for a story. I also liked the name, as it suggests seductive whisperings in the ears of suggestible humans, which Murmur does a lot of. I liked the idea of a demon being pissed off that Lucifer, Mammon, Baal and the other big boys were getting all the glory and wanting to do something about it. Murmur was mentioned but once, and he wasn’t doing anything terribly exciting, the wee lamb. The name arose after an extensive search of the crackpot religious website that believe demons are real and give listing of who they are, what they get up to, and how you can spot them. This is his chance, and he means to take it by any means necessary. He is one of the wannabes of the title, and dreams of getting on the front cover of Fire & Brimstone, Hell’s top lifestyle mag, for egregious skullduggery. Michael : Murmur is a low-born demon who, by virtue of accidentally being invited to a high-level meeting in Hell and impressing the anally retentive Satan with his use of a Filofax, is sent up to Earth in 1959 to bump off rock stars in an effort to stop music inspiring creativity in humanity. Sharon: What can you tell us about Murmur and where did that name come from? It satirizes modern society’s lust for fame and, in a grumpy old man, when-I-were-a-lad-things-were-much-better way, bemoans the rise of prefab music and what this means for our creativity. There are three interwoven stories: that of Jackie Thunder, a washed-up pop star who does something very stupid in an attempt to regain fame Gareth Jones, a misguided and supremely untalented young man who is killing celebrities and taping their tattoos to his body because he thinks he can gain their power by doing so, and thus stop himself turning completely invisible and Murmur, a demon who is directing Gareth behind the scenes for his own nefarious purposes. Michael : Wannabes is a big old genre mash-up: horror, fantasy and thriller held together with the stitching of satire. Working on the cover of Wannabes, which she also designed, was a bit more fraught at first, but we’ve managed to figure out how get it professional. Collaborating on the book with my wife has been fine.
Michael: You could keep your keys, mobile phone, hankies, notebook, cigarettes, tablet, wallet and whatever other crap you have lying around in the bags under my eyes.
Sharon: I got tired just reading all that! How has it been collaborating with your wife? I’m also working on a kids’ book with my wife, who is an artist, and forming a band with a friend. I’ve also spent a lot of time flipping back-and-forth between the many novels I want to write, and completely failing to decide which one to run with. Michael: I’ve been busy juggling my day job with finishing the Apocalypse Cow sequel and Wannabes, writing short stories, and dealing with two hectic kids (the baby of undetermined sex turned out to be an insane boy, who only stops breaking things when he decides it’s time to jam his hand down his nappy and fiddle with himself).
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