Debut fiction author Marcus Brotherton is no stranger to writing. He’s been penning nonfiction works for 15 years. However, with his new novel Feast for Thieves (River North), Marcus opens his imagination wide and tells fiction with truth, humor and heart.
Tell us about
your writing background up to this point. What prompted you to begin writing
fiction?
I started out my writing career as a newspaper reporter, then
gradually switched to books. I’ve been been writing and editing nonfiction
books for the past 15 years. FEAST FOR THIEVES is my first novel.
When it came to writing fiction, I knew that the
possibilities for storytelling are endless. So I wrote my novel because the
road beckoned. I wanted to drive down the highway of unlimited creativity. I
wanted to head toward a wide open horizon.
What inspired the
plot for this book?
You start with a character who’s broken, lost, and wounded.
He’s also well intentioned, full of fun, and wants to do the right thing, but
circumstances and his own lousy choices have worn him down.
We’re like this, so many of us. And I wanted to write a book
that was inspired by the story of us. It becomes a larger story then, a story
of ashes to beauty, of heartbreak to hope.
Are any pieces of
this story pulled from real life?
FEAST FOR THIEVES is about an elite incorrigible paratrooper
named Rowdy Slater who comes home from World War II to a small town in Texas. He
robs a bank out of economic necessity, then turns his life around.
The town sheriff knows Rowdy’s dark secret and forces him to
make a deal: survive a full year as the town’s new preacher or go to jail for a
long, long time. So Rowdy chooses the pulpit.
The idea of a former elite incorrigible soldier becoming a
minister was inspired by a real life soldier featured in the Band of Brothers
named Wayne “Skinny” Sisk.
Skinny Sisk was a skilled paratrooper in real life, yet he
was generally thought of as the most incorrigible man in the company.
Apparently he was always getting in bar fights, drinking too much, visiting
brothels while on leave, that type of stuff.
After the war, Skinny Sisk came home, turned his life
around, and eventually became a small town preacher. He died in 1999 in West
Virginia.
Everything about Rowdy Slater’s life has been fictionalized,
including the company he fought with, and none of the specifics of Skinny’s life
were used in this novel.
Yet that one big story idea sat in my mind a long time while
I was planning this novel, and that’s where this story starts—an elite
incorrigible paratrooper becomes a minister. I asked myself, here’s a man used
to solving problems with a rifle or his fists …
What sort of wild-hearted minister might such a man make?
What makes your
characters interesting?
You can look around at your own life and you know them all,
or at least versions of them.
The characters are placed in 1946, a year after the war
concludes, and their lives revolve around finding triumph after they’ve
navigated a time of difficulty. There’s opportunity to be had, but there’s also
the leftovers of difficult times holding them back.
The book itself is sort of a neo-Western crime thriller with
lots of action, poignancy, and humor. Until you read the book, it’s hard to
fully describe. One reviewer described it as a cross between Band of Brothers and True Grit. Another described it as a
cross between Fried Green Tomatoes
and Shawshank Redemption.
The hard-hitting action contains
currents of love. Reverend Rowdy would be hard-pressed to admit it, but he’s
falling for Bobbie Barker, the church’s willowy missionary. She’s smart and
funny and has a penchant for quoting horrible poetry. Rowdy needs to stick
close to her, because she’ll turn out to be exactly what he needs in the end.
What are some
themes readers will find in this novel?
Theme-wise, it’s a book about second chances. We all need a
second chance at something.
Complete this
sentence:Readers who like _____ will
love my book.
Fill in the blank with “the truth.”
People will sometimes say they don’t read fiction because
they want to read only “the truth,” and they insist fiction is untruth because
it’s made up. But there’s huge truth in fiction too. It comes imbedded in the
narrative.
Since the truth in fiction comes wrapped around a story that
captivates your attention, sometimes the truth will be presented so powerfully
that it impacts you more strongly than if you’d read the same truth in a
nonfiction book.
FEAST FOR THIEVES is filled with car chases, gun fights,
parachuting scenes, and kidnappings. You won’t fall asleep or be disappointed
by a lack of action.
It’s also got a poignant side to it with layers of meaning.
The story makes you think and feel and contemplate life. You could read it
once, set it aside for a year and then read it again, and glean more truth.
Are you a
full-time writer?
Yes. Mainly I’m a collaborative writer, although I do a book
of my own every other year or so. With collaborative writing, I help take
people’s stories and turn them into books. I’ve worked with Louie Giglio, Ravi
Zacharias, the elite WWII paratroopers known as the Band of Brothers, and many
others.
Other than
writing how do you like to spend your time?
My wife and I have three children. Two are school age, and
one’s a toddler. So our days are filled with kids, kids, and kids.
What are your top
3 books of all time?
Ah, there’s so many it’s hard to narrow it down. I’ve copied
out long portions of Hemingway books, just to have the feel of his words pass
through my mind and fingers. The Old Man
and the Sea is brilliant. I love C.S. Lewis’ novel, Til We have Faces. Almost everything Cormac McCarthy writes is
fantastic.
Where and how
can readers connect with you?
Come connect at: www.marcusbrotherton.com