Ryan George Kittleman, author of The Great Peace, is kind enough to be answering some questions today on our blog. After reading about The Great Peace and Ryan's writing process, please be sure to enter the giveaway for a print copy of the book.
A small American city is under siege. A group of starving artists – led by a reclusive, sweatpants-wearing billionaire – is determined to overthrow the government by any means necessary. With little hope for peace, a neurotic young gadabout, fresh off a failed suicide attempt, takes it upon himself to save his hometown from ruin. Along the way he encounters revolutionaries, nitwits, weirdos, perverts, dreamers, and something called Danceramics.
Humorous, absurd, and often profound, The Great Peace takes on art, politics, philosophy, and class with unflinching verve and wit.
Hi Ryan, thank you so much for answering some questions for the readers of Bibliophilia, Please. I have to ask you first, what inspired you to write The Great Peace?
I've been in and around the art world in one form or
another for most of my life, so my mind naturally drifts in that direction. Art
brings out very strong and often polarizing opinions (useful in constructing a
narrative) and there's certainly no shortage of eccentrics, so I didn't have to
look far for interesting characters. What began as a series of “small” ideas
and vignettes eventually grew into a fully-formed narrative.