An Interview with John Gaspard by Grace Topping

The Curious Mysteries of Eli Marks

I first became aware of John Gaspard when our books were published by the same company. I was amazed at his broad body of work, including novels about a magician, short stories, books on writing, and film production. It wasn't until I listened to the audiobook of his first Eli Marks book that I came to appreciate how talented he is. I binged through several of his audiobooks and watched some of his films. Eli Marks is a very appealing character. Recently, John released The Curious Mysteries of Eli Marks, stories about Eli's boyhood. It was a pleasure talking to John about his career and getting to know more about him.  

Unleash your inner detective with teenage magician Eli Marks!

Join thirteen-year-old Eli as he moves in with his magician uncle and uncovers the secrets of the magic world in “The Curious Mysteries of Eli Marks.”

With brain-teasing puzzles in each chapter, Eli uses his smarts to solve mysteries while learning about the fascinating world of magic.

Readers can join in the fun and try to solve the puzzles alongside Eli … PLUS learn ten amazing magic tricks with step-by-step instructions and illustrations in the second half of the book.

 

Welcome, John, to Writers Who Kill.

Authors frequently write a prequel to their mystery series, providing additional background about their main characters. In The Curious Mysteries of Eli Marks, you took it a step further and wrote about your main character as a young boy. What inspired you to write about Eli Marks as a middle school student?

There are three main reasons I decided to write the Eli Marks prequel series: First, the adult Eli Marks books hint at details about his earlier life that seemed interesting to explore more. Things like the death of his parents, going to live with his Uncle Harry and Aunt Alice, and learning magic as a kid. I felt there was a good story to tell about his teen years.

 Second, coming up with the mystery plot is always the hardest part for me when writing the adult books. To get better at writing mysteries, I challenged myself to write ten short mystery stories for the last Eli Marks book (“The Self-Working Trick”). That was helpful but difficult, so I thought writing a middle-grade mystery series would be good practice, because it required coming up with ten more mystery plots.

 

Finally, I wanted to attract more readers to the Eli Marks series. I thought that by creating a middle-grade prequel series, I could draw in younger readers who might then continue with the adult books as they got older. I'm still waiting to see if that strategy works!

You used a series of short stories and involve young readers in solving the puzzles presented in each story. Why the short story approach rather than a novel-length book about Eli’s early life?

I decided to use the "solve the mystery" format from the Encyclopedia Brown books I enjoyed as a kid. In my version, young readers get a chance to figure out the solution before it's revealed … and then the story wraps up (which never really happened in the Encyclopedia Brown books—once the mystery was solved, the story just stopped).

Another challenge was that teenage Eli wouldn't be solving serious crimes like his adult self. So, I had to come up with everyday situations where a mystery still needed to be solved—events that might not lend themselves to a full novel. This required creating mundane puzzles versus murder cases.

 

However, although the book consists of ten short mysteries, there is a through-line that follows Eli’s ninth grade school year, from start to finish.

The Young Eli Marks Mystery Series seems like the perfect way to get middle school students interested in reading and in the world of magic. In fact, Master Magician Lance Burton highly recommends your book. What is it about magic that would appeal to kids this age?

I’ve had the good fortune to chat with many, many magicians over the years (including big names like Lance Burton and Teller), and almost all of them share one memory: Seeing a magic trick as a kid and wanting to learn more about magic. It’s the perfect age to look for the tools to fool the people around you. It’s a way for shy kids to connect with their world and for less-shy kids to turn the spotlight on themselves.

In your book, you provided instructions on how young readers can perform several magic tricks. I was under the impression that magicians don’t reveal how they perform magic. When is it appropriate for magicians to share their secrets?

There really are few real secrets left in magic: a quick search on YouTube will reveal the workings of most tricks. If someone has a genuine interest in magic, I’ve found that most magicians are very willing to direct neophytes in the right direction when it comes to learning magic.

There are ten tricks taught in the back of the book; each one of the tricks also appears in one of the stories, where we get to see how Eli struggles to learn each new effect. The tricks are very basic and designed to use props from around the house, so that no special purchases need to be made.

I had the great good fortune to receive input from two magicians who also teach magic, to ensure that the instructions and the illustrations would prove helpful for the reader.

In your Eli Marks series, Eli is a skilled magician. What inspired you to make your main character a magician? Do you perform magic yourself?

When I decided to write a mystery series, I looked around to see what occupation would naturally put my hero into a variety of locations and situations. As it turned out, I knew more magicians than the average person. I’d found them all to be smart, fascinating people who look at the world differently. It seemed like an ideal occupation for the lead in a mystery series.

I have done extensive research on magic, to keep the books accurate, and even took lessons from a world-class magician before I started the series. But I don’t have the performer gene, so I’ve limited myself to doing just one card trick, which I do at signings and writer-related events.

Some writers are challenging themselves to write in other genres. You’ve taken the challenge to new heights by not only writing mysteries but also penning books on writing and filmmaking and writing and directing low-budget feature films. How do you balance all of your pursuits?

The filmmaking books were written before any of the novels, but since the topic is evergreen, they continue to sell well. The information in the writing books (the two Popcorn Principles books) was drawn almost entirely from the filmmaking books, but reshaped for a different audience (novelists). So, in reality, most of my time is spent writing and marketing the mystery books.

 I understand that your book More Popcorn Principles, Further Cinematic Storytelling Strategies for Novelists (Book 2) came out recently. One early review described it as you blending your deep understanding of storytelling with the world of film. What do you think aspiring or seasoned novelists can learn from film to help them in their writing? 

 There are so many tricks that screenwriters and filmmakers employ in their filmed stories to better engage audiences: cleaner exposition, sharper dialogue, better characterizations. I found I was using what I’d learned as a screenwriter and a filmmaker when writing my novels. So, the Popcorn Principle books simply take those ideas and inspire writers to look at how the filmmakers did it and ask themselves: “What’s my version of that?”

 How did you get into writing and directing feature films? Are you still making them?

 I started making films as a teenager and have made numerous shorts and about a half-dozen low-budget features over the years. Now that I’m retired, I’m focusing more on writing and marketing.

 In the past, I’ve seen some of your films and enjoyed them. Can our readers find your films online?

 Indeed they can. A few of the more recent ones are available streaming online. Here’s a link to the movies:  https://www.fastcheapfilm.com/the-movies

 I listened to the audiobook versions of your Eli Marks mysteries and thought the narrator did a terrific job bringing Eli and your other characters to life. Were you involved in the production of the audiobooks?

 Yes. My narrator, Jim Cunningham, was one of the inspirations for the Eli Marks series. He’s an actor and voice talent here in the Twin Cities, (and an amateur magician). It was his idea to do the audiobook versions of the books. We record them in my basement sound studio and then I handle all the post-production duties.

 We went on to create a podcast (Behind the Page: The Eli Marks podcast), which is just about to start its fourth season. Each episode consists of an audiobook chapter from one of the books, along with an interview with a guest. Over the course of each season, listeners can hear an entire Eli Marks book for free. Guests have included Dick Cavett, The Amazing Kreskin, Teller (of Penn & Teller) and a slew of interesting magicians.

 You can find the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, or at this link:  https://www.elimarksmysteries.com/eli-marks-podcast

 You frequently present stories taking a different approach. For example, in The Greyhound of the Baskervilles you tell Sherlock Holmes’ story from the dog’s point of view. What inspired this approach?

 My wife and I have adopted a number of former-racing greyhounds over the years. They are a unique and funny breed. One day the title, “The Greyhound of the Baskervilles,” popped into my head. I thought it was a funny idea. The original book is in the public domain, so I sat down and re-wrote it from a dog’s point of view. The story and most of the dialogue is the same as in the Arthur Conan Doyle version; only the perspective of the narrator has changed.

 Last year I added a second book to the series: “A Christmas Carl.” It’s the same story as “A Christmas Carol,” but now the narrator is a greyhound named Carl who accompanies Scrooge on his long night with the three ghosts.

 Readers can learn more about these Greyhound Classics here:  https://www.albertsbridgebooks.com/dogs

 

You’ve had a busy year. I understand that you are also coming out with an adult Eli Marks book, The Professor’s Nightmare. Please tell us about it.

 The new book consists of three Eli Marks novellas: “Lost in the Shuffle,” “The Square Circle,” and “The Professor’s Nightmare.” Each story takes us a little further in Eli’s journey. The book comes out on November 15^th.

 A unique feature of that book is that one of the characters in “The Professor’s Nightmare” has written his own book! The character is a retired philosophy professor and he’s written a book called “It’s My First Time Getting Old (So Excuse Me If I Go Astray): One Philosopher’s Journey Into Aging, Death and Beyond.”

The book (which was co-written with ChatGPT) can be read for free here:  https://dl.bookfunnel.com/q37hoxhx72

 What’s next for both young and older Eli Marks?

 I hope to do a second middle-grade book next year. As for the older Eli Marks … I’m not sure yet.

 What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned since you started writing?

 You don’t need anyone’s permission to write and publish a book.