KAMARANG…Guyanese supernatural novel puts new twists on local myths and culture

Sep 11, 2017 News

---

 

“My supernatural beings don’t restrict themselves to the countryside, or the interior, or dark, remote places. They roam in modern cities, in daylight even; sometimes in human guise. They sneak into your homes and linger in your dreams….” – Kamarang author Michael Jordan

“My goal was to write the best novel I could. I want my readers to be fearful to learn the truth about this evil, insidious thing, and what it has in store for its victims, but to nevertheless be impelled to read on…”

 “I wanted to showcase in a new, terrifying way, in a modern setting, the myths of my Indigenous ancestors, with Indigenous people as central characters, as heroes, along with other Guyanese. We must do this, lest some Hollywood film-maker steals our culture, and sells it back to us, as are wont to do…”

 

The month of September will see the release of the long awaited and much anticipated first novel “Kamarang” by veteran journalist Michael Jordan. No stranger to writing (see his short stories published in the Kaieteur News), Jordan took time out recently for an in-depth interview.

Kaieteur News: Tell us a little about yourself and your background. Where did your love of books /storytelling /reading/writing come from?
Michael Jordan: I grew up in a home that was always filled with books, with parents and siblings (there were six of us) who loved to read. Going to the library on Saturday with my eldest brother was a great thrill.
There was also the fact that we children, like all children, had vivid imaginations. We had made-up characters, including a fellow who supposedly lived in a light bulb.
I learned to read very early because there were times when there was no one to read for me. The early books were the Enid Blyton stories, the stories of King Arthur and Robin Hood. Of course, there were also the comic books, with the super-heroes, like Batman and the X-Men. Later, there were the westerns and mystery novels. What I learned early, though, was that I was fascinated with strange stories, about ghosts and mermaids and that sort of stuff.
I vividly recall one evening when my eldest brother came home, all excited about some poetry he had learned in school. He had me enthralled as he read a ballad about the ghost of a little girl who had drowned while bringing the cattle home on a misty day; and the poems The Highwayman and The Ancient Mariner. It was like going to the movies.
I also became interested in Guyanese folklore from listening on the radio to Wordsworth McAndrew, and stories some of my school-friends told. That made me aware that our myths; our folklore beings, the old higue and baccoo and moon-gazer, and bush-dai dai were just as fascinating as those from other countries.
But the serious writing didn’t come until much later, which may seem strange, because I was truly fascinated with books. I hadn’t a clue about what I wanted to be, and that I could make a living from this love of books and strange stories, and my wild imagination.

I do remember, as a teen, trying to make my own comic-books and tentative attempts at short stories, and that those short stories always seemed to have a supernatural element.

K.N: How long have you been writing?
M J: By this I guess you mean serious writing. For the past thirty years or so….a lifetime! I published my first story in a local magazine called ‘Survival,’ that was edited by the late dub poet and performer Ras Michael. Then I began writing a novel, which I abandoned. Later, some of my stories were published in the Sunday editions of the Guyana Chronicle, where I was freelancing. I have to thank the late Sharief Khan and former Sunday Chronicle Editor Claudette Earle for this exposure.

KN: What kind of writing did you do before?
MJ: Prior to that, I was working on short story ideas, making my jottings in exercise books. It was at around that time that I had decided that I would be a writer. I was unemployed at the time, but said to myself, “I am going to be a writer,” I felt a weight come off my shoulders.
Finding your true self, going after your dream, as crazy and as grandiose as it may seem, is one of the greatest freedoms one can have. Some of those first short stories were written while I was working as a security guard and were later published.

KN: This is your first book. What made you decide to sit down and actually start something?
MJ: I had been working on an idea for a novel, about a girl who turns to prostitution after a traumatic event. Around that time, I had come to know Harold Bascom, and he liked the chapters that he had seen. Harold, who was teaching a creative writing class, and who is very, very disciplined, would urge me to write. I learned a lot from watching Harold work on his plays, with a large manual typewriter, in his small office at home. He would have deadlines pasted on his walls.
But then I told Harold about an idea that was nagging at me, a truly fascinating supernatural idea. And he, along with my good friend, Gwen Evelyn, liked that idea much more than the one I was working on at the time.
That idea was Kamarang, an idea that gripped me and refused to let go.

KN: How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book? What is your novel about?
MJ: Kamarang is partly based on a little-known and quite intriguing myth from the Indigenous people. It’s also about something evil and vengeful that relentlessly stalks its victims from Kamarang to Georgetown. At the centre of the plot is a mysterious woman, who seems to have come from nowhere and yet who seems to be everywhere, and a teenage boy who is drawn to her.

KN: Why did you choose to write in this genre?
MJ: If you’re referring to the horror/supernatural genre, maybe I can say that the genre chose me.
I remember writing my first published short story. It was supposed to be a straight story about a guy in prison. Half-way through, the horrific truth of what was really happening to this guy hit me.
I am fascinated by the unusual, the unknown. One writer passing by the Lamaha Conservancy may see a body of black water, I would think of what lies beneath; a mermaid perhaps, who would lure me to my doom. I am drawn to watersides, like kokers, the Lamaha itself.
My mother once said that she had read a lot of stories about the supernatural when she was pregnant with me. Who knows, that may have something to do with my own fascination with the unknown.

KN: Where did the idea for this novel come from?
MJ: From several sources. It came first, I think, from idle ‘gaff’ I had with a friend when we were teens. He fantasized about waking up and finding a strange woman in his bed. I told him I would be terrified, because I knew that this stranger would actually be something evil, in the guise of a beautiful woman.
Part of the inspiration also came from two novels; one by horror writer Peter Straub, and another from the great novelist Somerset Maugham. Both novels had alluring women as their central characters. The third thing, and perhaps the real catalyst, was having an intense relationship, during by boyhood days, with a truly, truly beautiful young woman I named ‘Lucille.’
Then I read of a certain Native American myth, and of an Indigenous Guyanese myth, and heard, much later, of a certain experience that ‘bush men’ claim they have sometimes had. Eventually, after years, it all came together.

KN: What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
MJ: My goal was to write the best novel I could, to make my readers feel the things I felt about the central character…fascination…obsession…terror…a sense of unease and mystery.
I wanted to pull them so deeply into this story that they would no longer feel that they are reading a book, but actually living that lives of its characters.
I wanted my readers to be fearful to learn the truth, about this insidious, evil thing, but to nevertheless feel compelled to read to the end.
I sought to write a horror story…supernatural story, particularly a Guyanese supernatural story, on par with any story in that genre. A story that was more than about blood and decapitations, but also about obsession and lingering rage, and the real horror of losing someone you love. A novel with a heartbeat, with a story that you would think about, long after you had closed the pages.

I want to showcase in a new, terrifying way, in a modern setting, the myths of my Indigenous ancestors, with indigenous people as central characters, as heroes, along with other Guyanese,before some foreigner does it and sells the idea back to use, as Hollywood and writers from the developed nations have been doing for far too long.

KN: Can you share some stories about your research for this book?
MJ: Because Kamarang is also about the interior life, I interviewed men who worked in the ‘bush.’ I hung out with them. I went to a house in D’Urban Street where some of them lived. I later learned that one of these men was in fact a bandit, who preyed on miners in the interior. Someone shot him dead a few years later.
I befriended three guys who operated brothels in the city and also befriended some of the girls. I also befriended a criminal whose hunting ground was Lombard Street and who had a girlfriend who was a hustler. I also stayed for a few days in a mining camp at Cuyuni, where, practically every night, I sensed, or imagined, a presence staring at me from the forest.
All this was years before the crime wave, and some of it occurred when I was a rookie journalist. I would be very hesitant to walk those streets now.
I also had a long interview with a Toshao from Kamarang, who told me about some of the binas for protection and hunting, and enlightened me about some of the myths. I also made a brief stop at Kamarang, and spoke to others who had experienced the life on the ‘landing.’
I also did research at the National Library, where I stumbled on this fascinating myth that is worked into the story.

KN: What are some of the references that you used while researching this book?
MJ: There was a book by a Roman Catholic Priest; and Walter Roth’s books on indigenous myths and customs were of great assistance.

KN: Are there misconceptions that people may have about your book?
MJ: The name Kamarang may lead some to assume that this story is located solely in the interior. But many of the scenes are in Georgetown. My horror, my supernatural beings, don’t restrict themselves to the countryside, or the interior; or dark, remote places. They roam in cities, in daylight even, sometimes in human guise. They sneak into your homes and linger in your dreams. I like to set my horror in modern and familiar settings, with real places. It increases the sense of reality and unsettles your readers.
There are also some people who would not read a supernatural or horror novel; not out of fear, but because they see such writing as ‘trash.’ They don’t understand that the supernatural…horror, whatever you may want to call it, is perhaps the most difficult genre to work in. A writer of the supernatural has to write so well, that he convinces his reader that the things he writes about can happen. A good supernatural novel asks deep questions, such as about a possible after-life, of whether a building, a place, could absorb and reflect the evil or grief of past inhabitants, and much, much more.
Another thing I wanted to do is to take our ‘jumbie stories,’ which we tend to trivialize, and make them into something impacting.
Instead of merely having someone walk past a burial ground at night in the country and “hear a sound and see a jumbie,” I want that man to walk past that cemetery in daylight, in the year 2017, and sense something follow him to his home, most likely a place and street in the city, that is eerily familiar to my readers.
I want the character, and the reader, to wonder about the existence of such things. I want to put new twists and new life into our old myths.
I fear we have trivialized and dismissed our ‘jumbie’ and ‘Anansi’ stories.
We only seem to appreciate these myths when some foreigner takes them and puts them on the screen and sells them back to us, the way Hollywood has taken the zombie myth of Haiti and repackaged it and resold it.
The Anansi we (except for my friend, graphic artist Barrington Braithwaite) have discarded has turned up, I understand, in Marvel’s comic books, along with Spiderman. I understand the creator of the Marvel books has described Anansi as “the first Spiderman.”
What you don’t value, dies, or is stolen from you.

KN: Are there words or concepts in your book that may be new to some readers? Define some of those.
MJ: Some of the lingo from the interior, like “taking a fresh”, which means taking an early morning bath or swim in a river or creek. The guys here talk about a ‘gold shout’ rather than a ‘gold rush.’ There are also a few beings from Amerindian lore that some may not know about.

KN: What makes your book stand out from the crowd?
MJ: It may well be the first novel to use the myths of our first peoples in a modern setting; to have people of Indigenous ancestry as the central characters. I have read a lot in the supernatural genre, and I can honestly say I don’t believe that the myth at the centre of my plot has ever been explored.

KN: What was the hardest part of writing this book? What challenges did you face as a first time novelist? For example, how did you make or find time to write and, did other responsibilities affect your writing?
MJ: I think one of the biggest challenges was understanding that the writing must often be bad, before it is good. I had to learn to write without agonizing over every phrase or sentence, or implausible aspect of plot, without the critic in me looking constantly over my own shoulder, but to just let it hang out. Nit-pick like that and you never reach the end.
One of the articles that was of immense help was called ‘The Crucial First Draft.’ You must get that first draft out, badly written as it may be. So, I had to learn to write and just trust myself that I would eventually get it right.
The 2002-2007 ‘crime wave’ was another thing that had a negative impact on my writing. So much was happening, day by day, seemingly hour by hour, that it was difficult to settle down to write, since, as a crime journalist, I was running from one gory scene to the next. It became exhausting. Aside from the crime wave, we live in a country with so much tragedy for such a small population.
Someone said, “Writing is hard, but not writing is even harder,” and that seemed to be my fate.
I felt that I was losing my identity as a writer; slowly letting go of my dream. At one point, I wrote in large letters on my computer “I AM A FICTION WRITER!” to remind myself of who I am, and that I had a novel to complete.
But I think the greatest stumbling block to a writer is doubt. I knew I had a unique idea, and that this would make a terrific story.
But was I up to the task? Did I know enough about the material I was writing on? After putting my novel down for so long, had I lost touch with my characters? Did I still have the talent?
I had to scare myself into finishing. About two years ago, I gave myself a deadline to complete my first draft. I told myself that if I failed, I was going to destroy the pages I had, and delete everything in my computer. Then, I took five weeks’ leave and devoted myself entirely to writing.

KN: Did you write every day, five days a week or whenever you could?
MJ: I wrote almost every day. When I wasn’t writing I was making notes, or walking to clear my head, trying to ‘hang out’ with my characters, get to know them. Then I would write, sleep, wake up write…start the process over the following day.
But then my leave was up and I was still not done. It meant that after leaving work, I would write from around midnight to three.
That’s how I completed a second draft, and a third, and a fourth, and now I have a 511 page novel. I cut out stuff like watching movies, but it wasn’t that big a sacrifice. I actually became excited about going home to write.

KN: Did you write on a computer or longhand?
MJ: I started writing in longhand, then with a typewriter, then with a computer. But I would also write with longhand when I was someplace where there was no computer. I started the first chapters at the Chronicle. Back then, we didn’t work on Sundays. I would pack a bag with my lunch and go into that silent office and write from midday to seven in the evening. There were times when I would pack a bag and go into some cheap hotel room to write. Later, when Kaieteur News was a weekly, I stayed overnight on Fridays to write. I should say that I always write longhand at some point, since I keep a notebook close-by, to scribble ideas down or sometimes entire paragraphs and dialogue that might come to me.

KN: Do you ever get writer’s block? Any tips on how to get through the dreaded writer’s block?
MJ: Yes. I remember one time in particular, when I had no idea where I was heading, how to continue. It seemed that no matter where I went to write, I was still stumped. It all came together, eventually.
In the end, the only answer to ‘writer’s block’ is to write. Writing is an act of faith.

KN: What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
MJ: For one, I enjoyed what Stephen King described as “The dreadful exhilaration” of seeing an idea that had been in my head, finally come out in the way I had wanted it to, in a way that was even better than I had expected it to. I look back at parts of my manuscript, sometimes with a sense of wonder, at what I have achieved.
Two, I liked the ‘magical’ feeling, when the writing is coming from some deep part of you, so vivid in your head, that it almost seems as if you are in a sort of trance, a medium, dictating a story that is being told to you. When that happens, you write, and suddenly it’s two in the morning, and you still have the energy to do more.
But the best part about writing Kamarang was finishing it. I had finished this monumental task, writing through adversity, sometimes through ridicule, through doubt.

KN: Do you write more by logic or intuition, or some combination of the two? Summarize your writing process/ style.
MJ: A combination, I guess. I get an idea; I try to do a rough outline of where I think the story should go. But then, in the midst of writing, something might happen that would change the direction of the story. Sometimes, an entire scene or sentence would pop into your head, and you scribble it down before you forget. Outlines are in some ways just a prop to reassure you that you know where you are going, but the outline is not something you cling slavishly to. One should experiment, ‘play’, so to speak, with all possibilities, dare to take a wrong turn, and sometimes, many times, you are wonderfully surprised.

KK: What most characterises your writing?
MJ: Trying to entertain, to write simply, honestly, without frills and pretentions.To be truly Guyanese.To bring out the uniqueness of our people and our myths and culture, and place them in a modern, believable setting; putting, as I said before, new twists to old myths.
For example, does the ‘old higue’ have to be an old woman? Does she have to shed her skin? Live in some remote country area? Can’t she be pretty? Can’t she be a good, innocent individual who was unwittingly ‘infected’ and agonizes over her lust for baby’s blood?

KN: Who are some of your favourite authors that you feel were influential in your work? What impact have they had on your writing?
MJ: Stephen King, Peter Straub, Somerset Maugham, John. D. Mc Donald, with his beautiful and insightful prose, Sheridan Le Fanu, with his great vampire novel, Carmilla.
Earl Lovelace and Naipaul, John Hearne; poets like Walter De La Mare, with his wonderfully strange poems, Keats (La Belle Dame Sans Merci) and Coleridge.
Local writers like Harold Bascom and RasMichael and Jan Carew and Barry Braithwaite and Edgar Mittelholzer, and the oral tradition of the great cultural icon, Wordsworth Mc Andrew. I also love Mark McWatt’s poetry.

KN: Who edited your book and how did you select him/her?
MJ: Multiple-Guyana Prize winning playwright Harold Bascom. He’s a friend, a mentor, and he’s honest and tells you straight-up if the work is not up to par. He will question every motive of your characters; grill you about your plot if he picks up on something implausible. It’s something we do with each other’s work, and it brings out the best in you. You want to have an editor/fellow writer who challenges you to dig deep.
His mantra: “The art of writing is rewriting.” I did a lot of that.

KN: Are you a full-time or part-time writer? How does that affect your writing?
MJ: I am a journalist who, works six days a week, has a large family and still finds time to write. There are 24 hours in a day, and if you truly want to write, you will find the time. You will shut out anything that impacts negatively on your writing. I learned to multi-task, write while doing other stuff, like writing while on assignment.

KN: How did you get to be where you are in your life today?
MJ: By having a very supportive family, my parents, my siblings, who were there for me in the tough times, my wonderful children…great friends; by stubbornly refusing to give up on my dreams; by being me. By putting in years of very hard work.

KN: What are some day jobs that you have held? If any of them impacted your writing, share examples
MJ: I have been a truck porter, and this impacted on one central character in my novel; a security guard, which gave me time to write and read. Journalism, of course, helped with my writing and exposed me to unusual situations.

KN: What do you think is the future of reading/writing?
MJ: I believe that books are here to stay, though I know this generation does not read the way mine did – reading that comic book beneath the desk during classes, reading that western when you should be in bed, going to the library every week.
Writing is definitely here to stay. The movies, the songs, the advertisements, were all created by writers. I hope reading is, too. I feel almost sorry for people who have never read a novel.

KN: What do your plans for future projects include?
MJ: I have the beginning of a crime novel about a truly heinous unsolved killing that impacted on me. I have my short stories that I want to compile. And I also have some plans for Kamarang; either as a film or a television series.

KN: What is your advice to aspiring writers?
MJ: You must read a lot and widely, not only in the genre in which you are working. Read the writers who are also not so well known, for different styles and perspectives; the Indian writers, the African writers and other non-white writers.
You must also write a lot. Take your writing seriously, and understand that success is seldom an overnight thing. You must have that self-belief that you can write something that someone would want to read.
But you should also be humble. Don’t assume that the man with holes in his shoes, or no college education, has nothing to impart to you. Be a listener, an observer of people, of life. Everything, good and bad, impacts on your writing.
Sometimes I am in a bus, and the driver is playing some truly trashy, vulgar song-loud of course- or some passenger is drunk or singing off-key; loudly, of course-and I feel irritated, but then I think: hey, you are a writer, listen to the lyrics, observe the drunk and the woman singing off key. It was only the other day that I realized that a certain Jamaican dancehall singer had a lisp.
All of this is material. Observe, observe…observe.
But at the end of the day, you must write. But don’t write in isolation. Find a mentor; seek the company of other writers; read books about other writers and their techniques and struggles.
You cannot be thin-skinned. Find someone who can honestly critique your work and offer advice, and be willing to accept criticism that is valid, and listen even when you think it is not warranted. But also trust that inner voice, because you are the person who truly understands the story you are trying to tell.

---

---