Today, Writer Wednesday welcomes Jeffrey J. Mariotte. Jeff is a writer whose work I’ve long admired. We’ve become social media acquaintances and we have quite a few mutual friends, but I’ve never had the chance to meet him in person. I’m very happy to have the chance to chat with him.
During his decades-long career in the world of books and publishing, Jeffrey J. Mariotte has written more than sixty novels, nearly 200 comic books and graphic novels, dozens of short stories, magazine articles, and much more. He has received multiple awards for his writing, including four Scribe Awards for Best Original Novel, presented by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. He’s also won the Inkpot Award from the San Diego Comic-Con for his career contributions to science fiction and fantasy, the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America for editing and publishing, is a co-winner of the Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and he has been a finalist for the Peacemaker Award from the Western Fictioneers, the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, and the International Horror Guild Award, among others. He has owned and managed independent bookstores and has worked in publishing as the vice president of marketing for WildStorm Productions/Image Comics, a senior editor for DC Comics, and the editor-in-chief for IDW Publications.
Jeffrey works in multiple genres, including thrillers, mysteries, horror, westerns, and science fiction and fantasy, for adult and young adult audiences. He’s been entrusted with world-famous intellectual properties including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, Narcos, Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Tarzan, and many more.
He lives in the Arizona desert with his family, pets, and a massive collection of books.
Hi Jeff. Thanks for joining me for today’s Writer Wednesday!
It’s my pleasure, Anthony!
You’ve written two novels for Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc as part of the “Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe” (Tarzan and the Forest of Stone and Beyond Thirty: A World Reborn). What was your first encounter with Burroughs as a reader, and how has he influenced your writing?
I don’t have a specific memory of my first Burroughs book. I was introduced to Tarzan early, thanks to the Johnny Weissmuller movies playing frequently on daytime TV in the late 1950s/early 60s. At some point I discovered that there were books (it’s possible that I discovered him in comics first). In the mid-to-late 60s there was a boom in fantasy/adventure/sf paperbacks, and I was constantly reading ERB, Robert E Howard, and their literary kin. That continued through the 1970s, and in 1980 I became a bookseller at Books Inc. in San Jose, CA, a general bookstore that had the best sf/fantasy/horror section of any bookstore in the southern Bay Area. That was when I became acquainted with the fandom community, started meeting authors regularly, and started writing semi-seriously myself.
I can’t say that Burroughs has specifically influenced my writing per se, but he influenced the direction of my life, along with the many other writers that I read obsessively in those days. And, obviously, my life influences my writing all the time.
Who were your other early writing influences?
I’ve read so widely, and in so many different genres, that it’s hard to pin down specific influences. I don’t really recognize anybody else’s work in mine, and I’m not sure that mine reads like that of anyone else—unless, as in the case of a Burroughs book, I’m trying not to imitate his work, but to suggest it.
The Burroughs characters are not the only licensed properties you’ve worked on. What is your process like when approaching licensed work?
First, I want to be very familiar with the underlying property. I’ve read a lot of Burroughs over the decades, but before digging into a work of my own, I re-read some (specifically ones related to the project, like Tarzan books before writing Tarzan, and obviously Beyond Thirty for the new one). In the case of Burroughs, I also read what others have written about the works, because they can usually point out specific aspects of it that I might not pick up on my re-read. One of my bibles for that is Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure by my old friend Dick Lupoff.
If it’s a work based on a TV series, I’ll watch as much of the series as possible and read things about the series. I want to know what the fans respond to, how they think about the characters, etc.
Does your writing process differ at all when working on your own original characters? Do you approach writing novels differently than short stories?
When writing original stuff, I still do research for locations, professions, anything the characters would have to know or do, etc., but I don’t have to read particular authors or watch particular TV series—the research is more focused based on who my characters are and what their setting is. Those things, I have to know for licensed work as well, but for my own characters I don’t have to know all the details of their previous adventures, because I’ll be inventing any of that.
When I’m writing a short story, I’m more likely to just dive in and do any necessary research as it comes up, rather than before I start work. Beyond that, my process is pretty much the same for both formats.
It feels like you have worked in almost every genre. What is your favorite, or most “comfortable” genre to write in? And is there any genre you haven’t worked in yet that you’d like to?
I guess I’m most “comfortable” with thrillers or novels of suspense. Even when I’m writing in other genres, I tend to include elements found in thrillers. Tarzan and the Forest of Stone, for example, was a Tarzan adventure but also a crime novella with a prolonged chase scene. Many of my horror novels are really supernatural thrillers, as well. I like writing plots that keep the reader turning pages to see what’ll happen next.
I think I’ve written in every genre that I’m truly interested in. I’ve written sword-and-sorcery, science fiction, horror, adventure, mystery, thriller, western…maybe others I’m not thinking of right now. I’m not particularly interested in writing romance or romantasy (although I wouldn’t entirely rule out cozy romantic mystery). I think mainly I want to stick with the genres I know, but to do new things within them.
Beyond Thirty: A World Reborn comes out later this year from ERB, Inc.. What else do you have coming out in the near future?
Nothing in the immediate future. I had two book releases in August—Billy the Kid: Cheat the Hangman, an “untold tale” of Billy the Kid in the last weeks of his life, and Flesh of All Sorrows, a fairly epic thriller that’s earning some of the best reviews of my career. The Burroughs book will be the last of this oddly busy season—three books in three different genres from three different publishers. I do have a horror novel finished that’s out with an agent. I’ve been working without one for years, but this particular agent is someone I know and would like to work with, but I’m still waiting to hear if she wants to rep it. I’m pretty sure everything else that I’ve placed is already published.
Where can you be found online?
My website is jeffmariotte.com, and I try to keep it up-to-date. There’s a blog there where I write about what’s happening in my professional life. I also have a Substack (https://substack.com/@jeffreyjmariotte), which is a substitute for the autobiography that people have been bugging me for years to write. It’s occasionally about my writing projects but more often about other aspects of my life and my long career in the world of books and publishing. Facebook is the social media site I use most, but all of my socials (and more) are on my Linktree.
And my standard final question: what is your favorite book?
This is the world’s hardest question, because there are so many books that I love. Our library comprises thousands and thousands of volumes, on thirty-some bookcases spread throughout just about every room of the house (with more books boxed in the garage because there’s no room for them). My sentimental favorite is probably Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose, a historical novel set largely in California’s Bay Area, where I lived for ten years and still love. Stegner’s work resonated with me when I was getting to know the American West, and he was a brilliant writer, a faithful activist, and a wonderful man with whom I was privileged to spend most of a day once.
On different days, though, I could just as easily pick books by William Goldman or Joan Vinge or Ross Macdonald or James Lee Burke or…well, it’s a long list. Books have been the most constant feature of my life, and I’ll never stop reading them.
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